Phil Huang

Category: General Thoughts

General topics that I rant about. Or I’m too lazy to categorize it.

  • The Nightmare of Cancelling AOL

    06/22/06 UPDATE: The guy trying to cancel the AOL account, Vincent Ferrari, was featured on a NBC segment with Matt Lauer and they played part of the his phone conversation. AOL has even issued a public apology to him. It doesn’t matter. If it has to take this much attention on the web and TV to make you issue one apology to one former customer, then there is something fundamentally very wrong with how your company does business. The rep apparently got fired according to AOL but I’m sure that was what he was trained to do. There’s no fixing this PR mess. See the NBC segment after the jump.

    Originally posted 06/15/06:
    Here’s another example of how AOL systematically works against its customers. Listen to this phone conversation of a guy just trying to cancel his account. It’s pretty unbelievable how the rep keeps refusing to just honor the caller’s wishes. If it were me I’d be pretty damn pissed off.

    (Audio recording no longer available)

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  • Verizon DSL Sucks

    At home, for my Internet connection, I use Verizon DSL and I’m pretty unsatisfied with the service. I initially signed up for Verizon DSL last June because my mom wanted to go online. She’s a pretty light Internet user and only visits a handful of websites. So it wasn’t a big deal. But during school breaks when I came home and especially now, I’ve found that Verizon DSL is slow and unreliable.

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  • Why AOL Still Sucks

    Remember my old rants about how America Online basically lied to me? Well, they’re still at it. And I’m not sure why they keep doing this. Their dial-up members are leaving in droves. It doesn’t really help your brand when you keep deceiving people like this.

    A story in the Chicago Tribune describes how a man was persuaded to keep his AOL account for just $4.95 a month which included unlimited access but ended up getting charged $1,595.69.

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  • Under Pressure

    Pressure pushing down on me
    Pressing down on you no man ask for
    Under pressure
    That burns a building down
    Splits a family in two
    Puts people on streets

    It’s the terror of knowing
    What this world is about

  • What She Doesn’t Know Will Kill You

    This was an article that appeared in the UMass college newspaper, The Daily Collegian, written by Matt Brochu, dated November 21, 2003. I didn’t write this and just reposted in on my blog a long time ago. Apparently this piece gets passed around a lot and I got a ton of requests to put it back up so here it is:

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  • Gunhill Residences Sucks

    Gunhill sent me a letter that’s addressed to all of the housemates indicating an amount of money we owe, giving us 3 days before legal action. These people are ridiculous. None of us are living at Gunhill right now so obviously we wouldn’t have received any previous notices in our Gunhill mailbox – they KNOW this, the asses that they are. The manager even called me the other day to indicate repairs were finished (much later than originally indicated, when I was considering staying in Ithaca for the summer). No mention of this money. Perhaps if they just called instead of sending threatening letters, I wouldn’t be so peeved.

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  • My Shit List

    Gunhill Residences is going on my shit list. So now the list includes:

    • America Online
    • Royal Rent-a-Car
    • Gunhill Residences

    Gunhill refuses to give me my deposit because my housemates and I are “jointly and severably liable” even though I’m not responsible for the damage. Additionally, they are taking their sweet time in getting the repairs started. Not only that but they’re repainting walls and replacing carpeting in second floor areas that weren’t even affected. Uhm, sure insurance covers it but you’re making us pay the deductible. That’s just wrong.

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