v067hll6@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Marshall A Kelly) (03/26/91)
I'm am try to locate information on PRODIGY. ANd access numbers and Rate for Buffalo, N Y Can anyone provide information and or direction to look for such information. Please e-mail... Thanks MArsh!!!
mauler@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (04/03/91)
In article <67371@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, v067hll6@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Marshall A Kelly) writes: > I'm am try to locate information on PRODIGY. > ANd access numbers and Rate for Buffalo, N Y > > Can anyone provide information and or direction to look for such information. > > Please e-mail... > Thanks > > MArsh!!! If you are looking for a cheap substitute for CompuServe, FORGET IT! These people cannot understand the words (at least when they are in the same line together), "CANCEL ACCOUNT", anywhere from small Pica letters on a letter, to big red letters scrawled all across the bill. Their services suit the average business professional who doesn't get the Weather Channel on TV. Their games suit people who have never played anything even close to arcade games, casino games, or computer games. They have burned people in the past; their policies cause more people to move away as quickly as possible; their advertisments may have gotten more people using modems and computers for telecommunications than ever before, but they sure don't seem to want to keep customers, UNTIL the customer wants to discontinue the PRODIGY service. I have NOT used the Prodigy service for at least three months now, but they still want to charge me $12.95 a month for the priveledge of getting on their junk mailing lists. Just wait, there's more: I began my PRODIGY account under a special offer, an offer promising that one could use the service free for 30 days, then either pay the fee or cancel the service. I used it for two weeks, decided I did not like it, and sent the bill back with a nice letter asking them to discontinue service. They sent the bill back the following month with the next month's fee tacked onto it! I sent another letter, firmly and clearly asking for a discontinuance of the service, remarking on the bad memory of the people who offered the "no-risk" (yeah, right) guarantee, mentioning that I had not used the service at all since I sent the last cancellation letter, and no payment (usually people get hit hardest in the pocketbook). I received a bill in the mail the following month, with a respectful letter asking why I had not paid up to then! I then sent back the bill with big red letters saying "CANCEL SUBSCRIPTION" written *all over* the bill and a fairly nasty letter. Since the bill last month, I think I'll give a call to whomever is in charge of seeing that businesses live up to their word (I have documents proving that the offer exists, and that I began it under the offer), and send a copy of the original offer to PRODIGY, just in case their computers have a better memory than the people who run PRODIGY. All I can say, is that PRODIGY is a bad idea, and you should stay away from them until they announce publicly that they have changed their policies of lying to and cheating customers. Leo Mauler mauler@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
dmalkson@well.sf.ca.us (David Malkson) (04/08/91)
In article <1991Apr2.211616.29412@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> mauler@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >> MArsh!!! > >If you are looking for a cheap substitute for CompuServe, FORGET IT! > >These people cannot understand the words (at least when they are in the >same line together), "CANCEL ACCOUNT", anywhere from small Pica letters >on a letter, to big red letters scrawled all across the bill. > ...text deleted... >All I can say, is that PRODIGY is a bad idea, and you should stay away from >them until they announce publicly that they have changed their policies of >lying to and cheating customers. Based upon my experiences with Prodigy, I would have to concur. I, too, tried Prodigy's free trialoffer, and I came away with the impression that nobody's home. While I did not have nearly as much trouble in cancelling my Prodigy account, what prompted me to quit in the first place was in part the total lack of response to my E-mail inquiries. Every message I posted to the system operators seemed to be completely ignored. Admittedly, the system was new when I tried it, but many of my messages were queries about services that other systems, such as CompuServe, have been offering for years, and the Prodigy personnel never bothered to respond to me at all. Even when I sent questions to the "Encyclopedia Britannica" mailbox, no response... As a last resort, I sent a message threatening to quit Prodigy if they did not respond to that message. Again, nothing.... I interpreted this non-responsiveness as an indication that Prodigy was too busy trying to sell toaster ovens to be bothered with something as "trivial" as customer relations or E-mail, and judging fr some of the horror stories I've read in computer publications and on the net, I I get the feeling I'm not alone in my views.