Briefly About the Show

Just yesterday we reported about a hilarious "and" infuriating audio recording posted by the guy over at the Insignificant Thoughts blog. (Our original story)

Well, it seems there's an update on that story as of... well, today. It seems that AOL found out about the incident, fired the customer service rep and issued this public statement...

At AOL, we have zero-tolerance for customer care incidents like this - which is deeply regrettable and also absolutely inexcusable. The employee in question violated our customer service guidelines and practices, and everything that AOL believes to be important in customer care - chief among them being respect for the member, and swiftly honoring their requests. This matter was dealt with immediately and appropriately, and the employee cited here is no longer with the Company.

Normally I'd just link to the updated story, but it's on Netscape's new beta news site and I'm not confident the link will stay active forever. So here's the link to the Netscape.com update and then here's a follow-up IM interview with the customer (the guy at Insignificant Thoughts) who posted the recording.

Netscape Anchor Dakota Smith conducted an IM interview with Vincent Ferrari, the blogger behind Insignificant Thoughts and a 30-year-old Bronx resident, this morning. Here's an excerpt of their IM exchange:

Dakota: What led you to post this?

Ferrari: Well, I had heard the horror stories about canceling AOL, and decided to post it. Honestly, I'm always looking for something interesting on my site, and this seemed to be something my readers would be interested in.

Dakota: For you, what was the most surprising part of the whole exchange?

Ferrari: Well first, the part about asking for my dad. I mean, I'm 30 years old, and both the card and the account are in my name.... Secondly...

Ferrari: When he told me he could "stall me" all day. I couldn't believe he was going to make me wait just so he could cancel my account.

Dakota: What happened after? Did AOL reach out to you after or anything?

Ferrari: All I got from them afterward was a survey that asked (ironically enough) if Jonathan met my needs. Other than that, I've not heard a single word from AOL.

Dakota: Did you know the guy got fired? How do you feel about that?

Ferrari: Honestly, before your e-mail, I had no idea. I don't know how I feel. Honestly? I'm not going to shed any tears for the guy. It sucks that he got fired, but maybe he'll learn from it.

Dakota: Is it just AOL, you think, or just the nature of customer service in general?

Ferrari: Well, I think it is actually the nature of customer service to be honest. I think retention people are particularly bad because they can never accept that someone wants to cancel...

Ferrari: If I'm predisposed to canceling, just let me do it. I'm not staying no matter what. Retention people are the worst.

Ferrari: I don't mind a token effort, but aggressive pursuing is really not appropriate.

Ferrari: Jonathan was definitely aggressive about it and wasn't listening to me at all.

Dakota: They must be so bored with their jobs that they lash out...

Ferrari: Well, I know what it's like. Their performance is basically "how many people did you keep today?" Under that kind of pressure, we'd all probably crack.

Ferrari: Doesn't make him a bad person, just a guy in the wrong position for his skills or whatever."