I keep seeing online and TV advertisements for America Online; sign up for free for 45 days, get free spam blocker, virus protection, and a dozen other features. These ads always say “No Credit Card Required” to sign up. I just turned on the TV to see if anything interesting was on, and saw the same ad on two different channels for two different companies, advertising the same trial offer of 45 days. Once was for America Online, and the other was for PeoplePC.

I’ve used AOL in the past as a backup, in case my broadband connection ever went down, or while moving to a place and waiting for a broadband connection to be setup. The “No Credit Card Required” slogan is wrong and misleading; you are required to give out your credit card information when taking the free trial offer. When I asked the customer support why this is the case, they said “We only take the credit card information in case you decide to continue using AOL after the free trial period, in which case you don’t have to go through the hassle of calling us again, and you can continue to use your AOL account uninterrupted.” I think AOL can easily identify trial users by their names, phone numbers and addresses, and taking a credit card is in simple terms cashing in on the idea that the person will be charged automatically for at least one month in case they forget to cancel, and thus will be charged.

I’ve recently noticed PeoplePC, a newcomer in the field, advertise its service heavily. They’re trying to take dial-up customers away from AOL, using the same ads that have annoyed the living daylights out of many AOL customers. Be careful if you sign up with any service that says it will take your credit card information and yet won’t charge you; many times, such as in the case of AOL, you have to send a written letter to get your credit card information and your account deleted from their servers. Still, that won’t take you off their “spam with AOL offer cd and emails” list, but that’s a topic for another day.

May be I should get a TiVo and do away with advertisements all together.