AOL UK users strike back

A small but militant band of AOL UK subscribers is threatening to hold a 24-hour strike in protest against the service provider's decision to delay the introduction of 0800 access. Although no date has been set for the direct action, it's clear there is a mood of discontent among some users against the service provider. What's not known is just how deep this feeling is among grassroots members or whether this latest outburst is just the result of a vocal few. A Web site has been set up to canvas opinion on the issue of AOL's new pricing structure. In the poll of more than 3,000 AOL UK users only 200 people (six per cent) supported the new "off-peak all the time" tariff. Almost 1,100 (34 per cent) people said that the new tariff "won't benefit me at all" while 1,400 users (44 per cent) complained "it stinks and I'm really angry". But despite the protestations, only six per cent of those people who took part in the survey said they would be prepared to leave AOL UK. While the results don't make good reading for AOL UK it is not known whether this is a truly representative sample of the service provider's customer base. A spokeswoman for AOL UK said she was unaware of any strike, maintaining instead that the matter was little more than a "storm in a teacup". ®