Snarky consumer champion Ben Popken at the Consumerist blog has published excerpts from AOL's Customer Retention Manual -- the bible of customer-service reps trying to dissuade AOL members from canceling service -- and in the process has set off a gleeful stir in blogland.

Why is AOL's customer service so much in the news these days? It was just last month that blogger Vincent Ferrari called AOL customer service to cancel his account. The AOL rep was reluctant to let him go, and the recording Ferrari made of the resulting phone call wasn't pretty. Ferrari's customer service nightmare became an instant sensation, and the man made the tour of CNN, Today, and finally Nightline. The Washington Post wrote: "Not since Linda Tripp chatted with Monica Lewinsky has a recorded phone call attracted so much attention."

The rep who spoke to Ferrari was fired, but now we're beginning to think it was for incompetence at selling, not for treating a customer badly. Courtesy of Consumerist's scoop, the world is now privy to AOL's heavy-handed sales techniques. Among the priceless bits: "If you stop and think about it, every Member that calls in to cancel their account is a hot lead. Most other sales jobs require you to create your own leads, but in the Retention Queue the leads come to you!"

The Web's response, which includes outrage on Digg, has also drawn out a confession from a former AOL "retention specialist."

Popken and others hope that all the negative publicity will teach AOL -- and others -- a lesson. This is called learning the hard way, no?