AOL review: Restoration of access of my e-mail accts. to my control.

I have lost access to several AOL emal accts., which were mine. I don't know why this happened. In attempting to resore access to these accts., I engaged AOL on many occasions. I give them the information they ask for, and the discussion spirals downward from there. I ask for help in resetting my passwords. They go into a deep discussion about landlines, cellphones, when did I use the devices last, etc. Initially, I said my first cellphone acct. was no longer available. This was not satisfactory. They repeated their demand on several occasions that I use the number of a cellphone which I no longer had. Recently, I bouight a new cellphone to use as a means of gaining access to my e-mail accts. Now, they excuse themselves for a few minutes to confer with an associate to determine whether I should now have access to my e-mail accts. The "counselor" returns to talk with me but merely says he must step away from the phone again for further consults with another person. This happens each time I talk to AOL. When the person returns to the phone, I ask what information do they need that they could not receive from me.There is no answer, merely that they must leave the phone to talk with someione else. They repeatedly state they are "verifying" my information, but how many times must they do this in the same call? All I want to do is offer a new cellphone number to place in my account, but they won't allow this. Everything I say must involve time away from talking with me to "verify" with another person.AOL will not permit a simple solution for any issue brought up by a member. I just want to place a cellphone number in my account so that I can freceive coded texts that will give me access to my e-mail accts. The one good thing is, AOL membership is free, but the stress in dealing with their people is so aggravating it m akes me crazy. It is as if they only want to wear me down for some other reason. I just want to resolve the issue I face, but AOL wants me to sit on "Hold" while they waste my time with whomever they choose. I would like to know how I might overcome their reluctance to deal with me in an honesl and straightfoward manner. How do I convince AOL to restore access to mey e-mail accts. and give them what they want? Why do they make it so hard to help me? Why are they evasive and uncommunicative? What ias the benefit to AOL?