AOL suspends AIM account for no reason at all

My AIM account, which I have used for a grand total of one day, has been suspended by AIM. There was no explanation, no email, no nothing. To date, I have sent about 20 IMs with the AIM service, and I have attempted but failed to have a video conference using iChat. Perhaps they've suspended me for that, I don't know.

What I do know is that attempting to log on produces this error message:

Unknown Authorization error when connecting to AIM, error = 17 More information | OK

Clicking on 'More information' leads me to this generic webpage:

Your Screen Name is blocked from signing in to the AIM service.   Your Screen Name is blocked from signing in to the AIM service. There are several reasons why you may have received this message: 1. Screen Names that were previously used on AOL but have been cancelled or suspended, can no longer be used on AIM. This includes both master accounts and sub-accounts. In order to continue using this Screen Name on AIM, please reactivate the account on AOL.

2. AOL Screen Names that have one or more of the following Parental Controls set will no longer able to use AIM, even if they have previously been able to do so:
- Instant Messages are Blocked.
- Kid's Only age category.

To access AIM, the Master Screen Name on the AOL account must go to AOL Keyword: Parental Controls and change the above settings for this Screen Name. In addition, your Screen Name must also be set to one of the following age categories: Young Teen, Mature Teen, or General (18+).

3. Users who identify themselves as a child under the age of 13 may not use this service at this time. If you are an adult and have entered your birth date incorrectly, you may use a credit card to complete our age verification process now, or anytime within 30 days of the date when you identified yourself as a child. You will not be charged for this credit card verification.

Click here to sign in to our age verification form to reactivate your Screen Name.

4. An account may be terminated for violations of the terms of service.

Pretty useless huh? I don't know why I expected more from AOL after the iChat-AIM team-up, but I shouldn't have. Evidently their level of competence is pretty much what it's always been. I've heard horror stories about their UK broadband service too.

I wouldn't even mind so much if there was some way of contacting AOL. But they deliberate make it impossible to do so. The only help you get is the inscrutable page shown above, or a ridiculous FAQ page with one entry.

Related entries

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Damn you Apple, stop deleting old forum posts - 18 November 2004
20GB Digital Mind - 14 December 2004

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