Randi Kreiss

‘You’ve got mail’ — except you don’t if it’s AOL

Posted

I look longingly out the window of my office and think about taking Zoe the dog for a meandering walk on this exquisite fall day. She is looking longingly at me, too, because she’s got to go, but forces greater than either of us keep us housebound.

I’m waiting for an AOL support person to pick up the help line. This is my fourth call in two days.

Across the street, a cascade of red leaves tumbles down from my neighbor’s tree. A young woman jogs by wearing just leggings and a T-shirt. There’s every reason for me to get outside and grab this bonus day, but I can’t.

I’m waiting for an AOL support person to pick up the help line.

A friend just called, suggesting we go down to the beach on this unseasonably warm day, maybe just to stroll the boardwalk and watch the waves. But I can’t, and you know why.

I’ve had an AOL account basically since Al Gore invented the Internet. And I pay for my account. I don’t remember why I pay, since many people get it free, but I do, and every day I get emails from AOL touting the new benefits coming my way because of my membership.

Apparently, Internet service isn’t one of those perks.

For decades, my AOL, originally known as America Online, worked quite well. Then, a couple of weeks ago (around Halloween??), dark forces began disrupting my email. I use a MacBook Air, and suddenly I was getting error messages referring to problems with the server.

I deleted and reinstalled the AOL email account. It began to work, and then it stopped sending messages but could receive. Then it stopped receiving, but, you got it, it could send. Two days ago it didn’t want to do either.

So, my first call was to AOL, and after a mind-numbing 20 minutes on hold, I got to a person who could not communicate very well in English, and he told me that AOL was having problems with new software on Apple’s computers. Since even I learned several months ago that Apple was offering new upgraded software, I wonder how AOL managed to miss that memo.

The support guy danced me through a few unhelpful moves, then said he would pass my call to a “supervisor.” He also suggested I download AOL Desktop, a new app, on my computer. I did. It crashed 12 times and I trashed it.

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