vincent-ferrari
—>You've got pink slip! AOL plans to reduce its workforce by a third as it prepares to be spun off from its ill-fated Time Warner marriage. Who will be left to "cancel the account?" [AP] (Photo: RogueSun Media) More »
—>Yesterday we brought you the story of Vincent who got "gold misted" at a Chevy dealership. After his story went up he learned that his brother-in-law's cousin works at a Chevy dealership and will get him the car he wanted. "Life is good :-)" announced Vincent. More »
—>UPDATE: Vincent To Get Car He Wants More »
—>AOL has avoided what was certain to be an entertaining court battle by settling with 48 states and the District of Colombia over allegations that it made it, uh, difficult to cancel for the many customers who were fleeing to broadband. More »
—>Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Vincent Ferrari's famous "Cancel The Account" recording of his attempt to cancel AOL. More »
—>This gut-spilling from a former AOL employee helps confirm what we suspected all along: While it definitely spurred them to action, AOL already had the plan to switch over to a free, browser-based, ad supported system well in hand before Vincent's call blew up. More »
—>Vincent Ferrari uploaded his famous AOL cancellation call on June 13th, 2006. A screenshot from AOL's internal database shows that 10 days later AOL revised its policy for what reps should do if a customer says they're recording the phone call. More »
—>A former AOL employee laid down a diss rap on America Online and wants you all to hear it. Because it's mad funny. It uses a sample of Vincent Ferrari saying "cancel the account." More »
—>Broadway Photo is a New York area camera cabal infamous for ripping customers off. First they lure in people with camera kits below market value. Then they try to upsell customers on all sorts of accessories and try to make them believe their gear won't work without it. People have experienced unauthorized charges and report being verbally abused when they try to dispute the charges. More »
—>Salutations. Here's the Top 10 Biggest Business Debacles 2006 mentioned in, "The Lazy Top 10 Anything." More »
Vincent ordered two scanners from CDW. One arrived, the other didn't. More »
Welcome, New York Times readers. Here's a bit of an intro to The Consumerist, if you're curious and want to learn more. More »
The Florida Attorney General successfully sued America Online for their abusive customer billing practices. The State's Attorney office received over 1,000 consumer complaints about cancellation requests being ignored, erroneous charges and unauthorized account reactivations. More »
To readers coming from the New York Times or the NY Daily News, thanks for visiting The Consumerist! More »
—>Vincent Ferrari interviewed us a few weeks ago for his new Side Salad podcast. We talk for 53 minutes about exploding batteries, Mike Krempasky, why blogs are neat, and why companies need to listen to their customers better. More »
—>Remember John? He was the other man on the phone in the AOL cancellation call heard round the world. Despite his voice being played, without his permission, over the internet, on radio and nightly news, no one's heard a peep from him. More »
We think we just called up John, the AOL rep fired after giving Vincent Ferrari a hard time when he tried to cancel, a rough time that was company policy. John ain't saying much and didn't want to talk to us. He wouldn't even verify his identity, but the pauses are a dead giveaway. More »
—>TimeWarner announced yesterday an AOL makeover ot make more money with less subscribers. The profit hinged on $1 billion in cost cuts mainly coming from, "the company's extensive marketing effort to attract new customers and retain old ones," NYT reports. More »
—>Confirming rumors that it itself spread, America Online formally announced plans to give away email and other previously subscriber-only service for free at AOL.com. More »
—>The Washington Post asked Jason Calacanis, an AOL exec and headmaster of Weblogs Inc, what he thought of the infamous AOL call. Here's our responses, in brevis, to what he blogged. More »
