From: bilimoria@inland.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Prodigy - Don't even think about it!
Date: 10 Nov 92 08:56:38 CST
Organization: Inland Steel Company; East Chicago, IN

In article <1992Nov02.162920.105086@watson.ibm.com>, rubin@watson.ibm.com (Bill Rubin) writes:
> In <aa.720292810@hela.iti.org> aa@iti.org (Aayush Asthana) writes:
>>Prodigy is not worth the diskette their software comes on!  If you
>>or someone you know is even considering getting this service
>>consider this:  you'll pay $14 bucks for information you can get in
>>any public library and have the honor of being inundatd with
>>advertisements throughout your sessions.  The bottom line is that
>>although they claim to bring information to you, it turns out to be
>>an excruciating experience since everything that you see is already
>>there in your daily newspaper and your mailbox!  
>>--
>>Here's how this story goes:  you are offered one of these special
>>deals which you accept on a trial period [the catch:  you get
>>software ten days later and have actually 20 days to evaluate the
>>junk]; you set-up and log-in and suddenly you realize that every 
>>session takes up twice as much time and is hardly entertaining as
>>some of the newsgroups are [if you read WSJ, BusWeek, Money, daily
>>paper, and have access to a phone you've covered 50 percent of the
>>content of prodigy anyway] and all special offers are really bad
>>deals [eg. the on-line Amer.Airlines ticket res. system gives you
>>listed fares which are typically 25% above travel agent specials; the
>>on-line bargain-hunter actually recovers evrything via the S&H
>>charges plus you could get the same stuff in any store anyway at
>>clearance prices; BillPay USA charges a $9.00 dollar monthly service
>>charge!! compare that to PayMate's $2.00 per mo. service charge and
>>$0.10 less per electronic payment and almost all bank's have this
>>now]  -- so needless to say I tried to cancel;  called their
> 
> It's not often you see a post with so much misinformation in it.  Where 
> shall I start?  How about that the trial period is 30 days from the first 
> day you sign on, not the day you ask them to send the software (this should 
> seem obvious to most people since you can buy these packs in the store and 
> obviously they have no idea when you will be signing on).  It is true that 
> you can get the same information in your daily paper, but then you have to 
> wait for that paper to arrive and go out and get it.  On Prodigy you get 
> news as it happens, and you don't have to buy the WSJ, Business Week, etc to 
> supplement your local paper.  What else?  Ads..  yes, Prodigy has ads.  You 
> get used to them after awhile and learn to ignore them if you choose to.  
> Your newspaper has ads, too, and you pay to read them.  Does anyone complain 
> about that?  And information by phone?  Would this be by way of a 900 or 
> other special charge call?  As for home banking, you say that "all banks 
> have this".  Well, not here in NY, only a couple have it and one is on 
> Prodigy.  The AA ticketing service is standard Eaasy Sabre you will get 
> anywhere else, and it includes all published fares.  You are probably 
> talking about consolidator tickets with lower fares and you won't get those 
> directly from any airline.  However, you CAN search for the lowest normal 
> fares and flights and become a better educated consumer.  It's true, the 
> shopping and prices are not really that great a deal, but that's not 
> Prodigy, it's the merchants who have signed on and if you don't want to buy 
> anything there's nothing that says that you have to.  How great a deal is 
> the shopping on Compuserve?  I doubt anything is a real bargain if you know 
> to shop around.  
> 
> As for the bulletin boards, I agree with Adam Lasnick's earlier reply here 
> that you get a much better "mix" of people on Prodigy than here on Usenet.  
> While Usenet is nice, and sometimes useful, there is something to be said 
> for having conversations with housewifes, doctors, and others who don't 
> happen to work somewhere that they can get a news feed.  
> 
> Anyway, if you're interested in Prodigy, give it a try.  You may like it, 
> then again you may not.  It all depends on what you're looking for and what 
> you're willing to pay.  Personally, I am unwilling to pay by the hour for 
> any service, so Compuserve is out.  
> 
> -- Bill rubin@watson.ibm.com
> 
> Disclaimer: Yes, IBM owns half of Prodigy but I am just a satisfied user...


I'm not crazy about Prodigy, but I must point out an error re. CompuServe.
True, they have a billing plan to pay by the hour, but they also have a monthly
rate for a certain number of minutes (I forget how many) and the monthly rate
is less than Prodigy's $14.95 which has gone up 25% in 2 years.