America Online Expands Refund Offer

America Online Inc., settling a class-action lawsuit brought by frustrated subscribers, agreed Thursday to expand its offer of refunds to millions of customers with trouble getting on line.

The agreement, approved by a court in Chicago, gives subscribers partial refunds of their $19.95 monthly fees to compensate for problems dialing into the online service in February and March.

An AOL spokeswoman said the refund agreement was available to all its 8 million members nationwide.

The deal extends an agreement reached in January with 36 states to give millions of dollars worth of credits and refunds to customers with difficulty dialing into the online service in December and January.

It also is an acknowledgment that AOL’s network bottlenecks continue despite costly efforts to remedy the problem.