Embarq

Embarq is our ISP and we have had nothing but constant trouble from practically the time we started with them. We have had numerous calls because our service is so erratic that we have gone for days without internet service and had the tech men out here time after time. They cannot seem to resolve the problem and the men who come out seem as baffled as we are.

I originally had Dish service through Embarq Corporation reformed as Century Link and moved to a different part of the state. I called Century Link to ask about the move and billing. According to their instructions, I was told to pay only a portion of the current bill, due to the fact that Century Link billed ahead, and I would be transferred to DISH Network who would bill me the rest of the payment. I payed the bill in full. Dish Network did, in fact bill me the setup fee, and the charge that Century Link did not charge me.

The next month, I got a phone call from Century Link stating that I was delinquent for $75.99, the amount they stated I should not pay in the original phone call. I paid that to them, assuming that in the end, everything would get straightened out. However, one week later, I got a letter from a collection agency representing Embarq Corporation stating that they were given my account to collect, again, the $75.99! So far, I have paid the $75.99 twice, how many times do I need to pay them? And now they are sending it to a collection company, when they owe me money!

I must take the time to contact Embarq/Century Link, and Dish and gather all the data related to the last three or four months of payments. Additionally, I will need to spend the funds to have copies of the bank drafts printed, to show that I have paid these figures and that they have cashed them, and write the various companies. I will also have to contact all three companies that collect data relating to credit card scores and enter a rebuttal pertaining to the collection company.

Finally, I will have to monitor that all of the above actions are resolved by the various companies, and that appropriate letters to the credit card scoring companies removing any and all information. Time and anxiety are incalculable, especially during this time, when the credit companies are scouring our credit scores with a fine tooth comb!

The issue is that I never received the $150.00 rebate Mastercard incentive offered to me to establish Embarq's Bronze 100 service. I agreed to this service early in 2009 and followed-up regarding this throughout the year. I was told in two seperate calls to expect the rebate in the mail. Not having received any rebate I called back and was told there was a delay in getting out Program cards and to wait a few more weeks. I called again in December 2009 and was told I would not receive since I do not have a home phone in place with them.

Through my calling I was told that two Supervisors were included in this determination from yes I will receive, to no I won't. What does not make any sense to me is that I did not have a phone on the wall at my home when I signed up and that they were informed of. Embarq has always had record of this as they need a number in order to look up my account. This was the situation when I signed up and has not changed, and was not a concern from then through setup to install. Because I don't have a home phone line, I do not have the ability to dial-up to watch the PPV or VOD channels that they include in their Bronze 100 service.

Also, when the internet connection was established, the installer from the phone Co. informed me that the service level would be poor and not to the level advertised. The reason was the distance to the next service point from them to my home location. He said it was simply too far away to expect close to the service advertised. I can confirm this as I have to press the reset button on the modem several times a day.

This now appears to me as a bait and switch. I believe I was baited with a package with a rebate incentive, and was informed I would receive this rebate on several occasions. I was then switched to being told they do not have to honor since I did not have a telephone in place with them. All the account details are with them and this is very unfair and deceitful.

I know something is wrong here, and I realize now I cannot take advantage of the full Bronze 100 service since it cannot dial out, the modem service speed is not as advertised, and I cannot get the incentive as I was told I would receive. I have read online see I am not the only one and this is not an isolated event. I feel it is reasonable that this is a valid complaint. Thank you

I've had DSL for almost a year, I ordered on Feb of 2009. I told them that I need a NID box. Which I never had. I demand credits for such lousy DSL internet service for those months. I probably only had internet access 10 to 15% of the time since then.

I called for high speed service. I was told by the sales representative that I would pay a set up fee. This was not the problem. I was told that I would pay $35.95 for the first 6 months then it would be $59.95 per month. When I received my first monthly bill it was $62.84 not $35.95. When I called customer service they basically told me too bad. They cannot and will stand behind what an employee promised me on pricing. I feel that the company deliberatley baited me in with a cheaper price and have defaulted on this. I was told that if I did not like it to just cancel the service. They said that there is no contract and there would be no cancellation fee. Do I believe them now? The CSR that I talked with was named Alison. I am very unhappy with this Company's response to their deceptive practices by employees. I blame the Company.

Aug of 2008 embarq call to sell me a phone,internet service, dish network package. The plan was to cost 65.99 for 1 year and 85.99 for the second year. It has never been that amount. Every month I need to call and go over my plan. Now embarq is telling me that my plan is going to cost me $150.41 a month. I ask them if they could get the phone recording from when I first sign up with them, because they got a third party to record the contract over the phone. They tell me that I cannot hear that taping. That is is for embarq only to hear. I think that is wrong a deceiving to me as a costumer.

make us buy one of their wireless routers saying its the problem. they replaced the router with theirs and it never worked even then. after this going on for three weeks they agreed to let us cancel because they couldnot rightfully provide us the service. well they mailed us a bill after that saying we owed them money. when in reality all the credits they gave us for our patience we would have been payed up for a month and a half easily. now we are getting calls from a collection agency 5 times a day

When we called Embarq to request repair, their technician came out for 45 minutes at $99 and said there was no problem. Yet the problem has persisted and we can see the internet connection failing repeatedly no fewer than 3 dozen times per day. When I called Embarq, they either hung up on me or claimed the problem was our ethernet switch (which they supplied but do not service) or the bill payment software. We had the switch replaced by a local IT professional. Embarq wants to collect their fee for service but not rectify problems with the internet service. I have been repeatedly hung up on by their so-called customer service representatives. They need to fix this problem, because as it stands now, they have committed fraud by charging for service (3MB DSL speed) that they haven't provided.

I called to advise Embarq I was being slamed with unauthorized charges by I.L.D. to the tune of $14.95 a month. Embarq rep suggested I may have "accidentally signed up for a service" online by clicking on something. Told her that was ridiciulous and that I had seen other complaints online from others this is happening to. She said they could remove the I.L.D. charges. I said cancel my Embarq landline. She then told me I could contract I.L.D. about the charges and dispute them.

I intend to tell them to take my final bill and try to collect from I.L.D., since Embarq enabled them to steal from me for several months.

I was charged $14.95 for a call that I neither made or authorized on my Embarq statement. When I called Dan he said the call was made June 21. A few minutes later I called Jan and was told the call was made june 23. She said she will credit my Embarq bill for the charge but will not know for sure until I receive my next statement.

adjust your statement for the unauthorized billing.

It is amazing that in this day and age that a person cannot get local phone service. Yet, here I am not able to. I have been trying for weeks to get phone service from Embarq for a new home I am having constructed. I am building in a gated community and the first phase customers have access to Embarq service. When I called Embarq, they gave me so many excuses as to why I could not get service, from "your not in the e991 directory" to no such address to "we do not have an egress contact with your developer".

After weeks of going through each reason and proving them wrong, they come back and tell me that they cannot give me a phone because it would be cost prohibitive for them to hook me up. When I ask for the price tag to see if I can self fund this exercise, I got told it is too expensive and sorry they can't help me. They told me that they did not make enough money on the first half of the development, so too bad for me.

I am the first of several houses in this phase almost completed and several others have started, yet there is not enough money to be made to run a cable. I am less than 4 miles from where the cable comes into the development. I have also learned that Embarg has received money from the federal Government for the expansion of service into rural America and my area is one of these areas where money was received. With lack of phone I have no access to a medic alert system I was in the process of installing, for the three elderly persons who will be living with me let alone I cannot get other phone services vital for my day to day business.

For approximately the last 2 months, my daughter has had the ability to make outgoing calls most of the time. But, she is unable to receive incoming calls. This has been reported to the repair service numerous times. A repairman came out. Maybe it works for a day or so, maybe not. On incoming call, it sometimes rings once and then nothing but static. She never receives the call. Luckily, she has a cell phone that she is able to use most of the time. I don't understand why Embarq cannot locate the problem and fix it.

Due to terrible customer service and an on-going problem with my internet connection, I canceled all services with Embarq on about April 23rd. My bills have always been set to "autopay" with Embarq my bank account was automatically deducted the 4th of every month. On May 4th, after my account was closed, Embarq deducted my April bill from my bank account as per usual.

A couple of weeks ago, I received my final bill from Embarq for $44.60. Very clearly (in bold) at the bottom of the bill it says "Do not send payment. Your bank account will be drafted $44.60 on or after June 4th." Expecting that to be the case, I did nothing. Imagine my surprise when yesterday morning I received a call from collections for the $44.60. I had to pay a $10 fee in addition to the $44.60 in order to take care of the payment immediately and not subject to credit bureau reporting.

When I called Embarq this morning, two different customer service agents admitted that it was Embarq's error for printing the message on the bill (apparently their policy is that any bill after the disconnect date cannot be paid via autopay but my May bill was paid that way), but they both refused to reimburse me the $10 fee I had to pay the collection agency. A supervisor actually hung up on me when I pointed out that my May bill was paid via autopay (after my disconnect date) after she said that all payments made after April 23rd would have to be paid over the phone or by check. Another agent told me I "misunderstood" the bill. How do you misunderstand the sentence "Do not send payment."?

I hope to never do business with them again! I had to pay $10 to the collection agency to rectify the situation before my credit rating was adversely affected.

Upon my initial subscription to Embarqmail, my monthly statement is never correct. Each and every month, there is a problem and when telephoning, the people refuse to allow me to talk with a supervisor and they are constantly rude. It varies from several hundreds of dollars to a few dollars, but is never correct. When I telephoned to cancel my account, I was informed that Embarqmail would fine me for the cancellation.

I feel that Embarq is guilty of fraud as my monthly bill never changes and was given an amount to pay. That amount was $84.00 a month plus tax. The amount of $84.00 was agreed upon and to date I have never paid that amount. It is a constant game of Russian roulette wondering what the bill amount will be.

Please check my account and you will note the constant changes to my bill. After over ten months one can only take so much incompetency. Also, when I telephoned for the information requested by your Department, address, etc. Embarq refused to give me that information. Please help me. How much is a person supposed to tolerate?

We purchased a home in Naples, Fl in July 2008. I contacted Florida Power and Light to switch the previous owner to my name for electricity. Once done they asked me if I wanted to speak to someone about telephone service. I told the woman that I had no need for telephone service since I was living in NJ and only visiting FL intermittently. She said I could speak to someone and get some information on phone service. I said okay since i would be eventually moving to FL full time in a year so I just wanted to know what they offered.

I was transferred to a person named Steven who went through various products including internet and surge protection and alarm systems. He asked me if I wanted to go ahead and start up service I told him no, that I had no need for such service but will most likely need it in the future. He said he would give me a telephone number that would be reserved for me when I called back to initiate service. I wrote it down and said again this is not going to be for now is it? He adamantly said no! He then gave me his phone number. I said thank you and hung up.

In August of 2008 I got a call at my home in NJ from a person at Embarq saying that a technician was on his way to my home in Fl to set up service. I told her no, I have not requested service I live in NJ please do not send anyone its a mistake. She apologized and hung up. That was it until yesterday when a collections agency called my daughter and harrassed her about a bill I supposedly owe EMBARQ for $420.

I called them back immediately, and spoke to 3 people at EMBARQ the last person being an Accounts Receivable rep. I said to him what I mentioned above and told him I never consented to telephone service and what is the $420 for? He could not answer saying he didn't have an itemized bill in front of him. I asked what kind of scam is EMBARQ pulling? I never received a bill because certainly if I had, I would have responded immediately. He said they were sent to my address in Florida I said impossible, no mail was every sent. He then gave me a number to contact the collections agency to dispute the charge.

I called and spoke to a very nice woman who had babies crying in the background so I know this person works from home for the collections agency. She could not find an account with my name on it or number that was given to me by the accounts receivable rep. I told her thank you and I would contact EMBARQ again in the morning. So right now I am so angry that some representative of EMBARQ had the audacity to open an account for me without my consent. Can you help me? I refuse to pay for something I did not order or use.

One other thing, when I arrived in FL in October 2008 for the first time since May, the person who takes care of my home brought in a box that contained cables and a modem from EMBARQ. Evidently they sent that and I received it so where are the bogus bills? I still have the equipment and told the rep I would gladly return it, he had no knowledge of any such equipment. I feel like I am being expertly scammed and I want to resolve this matter as expediously as possible. Thank you for the forum.

i am starting a new business and am locked in to them with e mail & internet info or i would run right now

Consistently harassed by collections calls, apparently name and phone number are published in white pages directory for embarq. I do not owe money and do not want collections calls. They are calling for someone who used to have this number. The only way I am told by EMBARQ that I can stop this problem is to pay for an unlisted number. I get calls days, nights, weekends by multiple collection companies. EMBARQ told me I could change the number to a new number (I paid) and collections immediately started calling this new phone number. EMBARQ offered me 3 months of free service and even 158.55 for my inconvenience and I said no I would be pursuing this at higher levels. They would not have paid anyway. They offered a $50.00 rewards program for referrals and never paid the referral clients they had. EMBARQ denies they are at fault. Only my family has this phone number.

EMBARQ is unfairly putting out information and harassing people, violating their privacy, refusing to block phone numbers from collections agencies and deny any responsiblity for this. When I had voice over IP with comcast. I never had this issue. I just want my contract which has been extended without my knowledge by EMBARQ cancelled. I will never use them again. They are disreputable, dishonest, they have the worst customer service and consumer affairs departments I have ever dealt with in my 30 years of computer experience and they should be shut down. People should be asked if they want to provide information that is accessible on the internet, not by default have all information posted.

There are many complaints about EMBARQ's policies and practices and yet no one does anything about it. I have reported this to the FTC, I am on the do not call list, I will be reporting it to the Florida Public Services Commission and next will be ACLU. We are stuck with this phone company and once they get you under contract they will never release you and they don't tell what you will be forced to endure. They lie, they cheat, they do not inform, and they will not change their business policies. You tell me why they should remain in business without stronger regulation and punitive damages? You need to pursue a class action suit against this company.

emotional harassment verbally by EMBARQ and collections companies, many hours spent on the phone with EMBARQ, collections companies, writing compaints about these issues, who reimbruses me for my time? Why isn't there better regulation of all phone companies and their policies regarding release of personal informaton. We have it in the medical world, it is called HIPAA, there is nothing that correlates to this for privacy in real world. I'm sure ACLU would be interested to hear about these violation of privay issues. Maybe they'll file a class action suit.

I was under a long distance plan that allowed me to make 30 calls free per month. This was indicated on my bill both in paper and on line. In November, 2008 without contacting me or negotiating another agreement, I was charged an automatic $1 per month for this alleged free long distance. I contacted an Embarq representative who credited me the $6 that I was being charged for the long distance. Let the buyer beware seems to be the position in these economic times.

Embarq continues to deny responsibilty for these charges from ILD and ESBI. They said I had a courteous credit (?). I advised Embarq to look up the complaints. I advised them to get out this 'agreement' they have with ILD and ESBI. They still maintain they have done nothing wrong.

My credit rating 'if' I don't pay, collection agencies in the forecast. I have chose to fight this. I have written the Better Bureau and also filed a complaint with Consumer Affairs. I have been in banking for over 33 years, I know what happens when there is a collection agency involved. I am not about to loose my rating over a 'fraud charge'.

Additionally, we have been charged $2 + taxes for a non-listed number. Not only is the number listed, but the full name and address.

Time spent waiting on hold with Embarq. They then told me they don't handle this, but to call the third party. Time spent waiting on hold with OSB.

Received monthly bill with a charge of $14.95 + tax for 800 mail box and message service. Have not and would not need or request this service. I called Embarq and complained. They said I had agreed to this service thru a contractor and would have to talk with them. Called the contractor and was told I had signed up for this service on the internet thru one of their advertisers. I have never signed up for this neither has my wife. Talked to several ex employee of Embarq and was told that this is common.

Had a close friend who had the same charge and was told the same thing about signing up on the internet. He doesn't even have a computer and has never used one. My complaint is that a Company such as Embarq would contract or deal with such scandalous contractor who are definitely scamming people for money. Isn't creed the reason they are in the financial shape they are in today. I guess partnering with these contractors is an making a profit in this manner is company policy.

Embarq ageed to take the charge off, but my guess is I will see it again next month knowing the history of the company. Concerned about my credit rating.

I was only going to install Embarg as a phone service provider when the man who came to do the installation talked me into also installing the internet by telling me that Cox Communications Internet service was inferior and that everyone could see what you type. He told me to contact his friend and I would get a good deal. It was so hard sell and inappropriate. It made me very uncomfortable. Then he slammed down his tools on my desk and gouged the side. I didn't say anything and he never apologized.

After many months of being overcharged, having my long distance cancelled because I chose to keep my carrier and then being told I will have to pay more because I wanted to stay with my Long Distance carrier I finally received a bill which corresponded with the services I ordered. When my phone service was out for the last couple of days my husband who is 76 years old and I decided to drop this service. I contacted Cox Communications and they are in the process of installing new phone service -- which because I want to keep my same number will take at least a week.

After being told they would wave the cancellation fee I am now being told I will have to pay $100.00 to cancel this service. They told me they had a verbal contract with me. They never told me about any verbal contract. I asked if they had my voice on tape they said no and that I signed no contract but that was the way every large company did business today. How can you have a contract where there is no voice, signature or written correspondence of any description? They said they mailed me a letter but I received no letter saying I was under contract to them.

I will pay this cancellation fee although I think its a scam however, I am concerned that I will continue to receive bills like others whose comments I read here. These people are rude and incompetent. When I went to their phone store today I spoke with the woman in charge who said that I was given $29.95 because I lost my phone service from last September until now. I said I never received $29.95 and I never lost phone service for 6 months. She said well I have no idea what you're talking about. When Sprint was our carrier this phone store was so busy now they appear to be doing no business at all. In the hour I was there they waited on only one customer. I think the word has gotten around about Embarq.

I am depressed at the possibility that cancelling with these people won't end this saga. I cannot deal with them and cannot afford to keep paying for something I no longer have. To say that this has made me very nervous would be putting it mildly.

Embarq called me and said they wanted to save money for me by changing my phone service. I told them I could not have any disruption to the way my phone lines work together. Kelly Woods assured me that everything would work, despite the fact that I had already done this once and my phone lines no longer rolled over (hunting) to an empty line if someone is on the first line. I relented and the problem occurred as soon as the change was made. Now my lines are all independent.

I have wasted at least four hours trying to put it back the way it was before they called me and interfered. The last time I complained to Embarq my calls mysteriously started being routed to an outside provider on the day of my complaint, causing my bill to triple in one month.

We've just signed up again with Embarq as we're moving back to our residence- and because of our area, this company is the only way right now to get internet and phone service (I need it because of my work). In lieu of our past experience with Embarq, we specifically asked this company not to publish out number, not to give us a pre-used number, and not to allow solicitors calling our number. They stated they could do this for an additional $3.00 per month on their service, and signed us up for such. Today is the first day I moved into my home, and with phone/internet service. I stayed up until 5:00 AM unpacking and moving furniture. I was awakened at 9:00 AM this morning by a solicitor trying to sell me the newspaper, asking to speak to the family member that signed us up with Embarq.

Several months ago we swtiched to the bundled services - phone (including long distance),internet & satellite - all is going great until we get a letter from Embarq that our long distance doesn't qualify - I called, supposedly got it switched -from AT & T thought it was taken care of, bam another letter, another call, bam November 17, I called again (yep another letter), talked to the person, got it swtiched, was given an 700 # to call to confirm long distance carrier - called - all was confirmed. Alas, today I get my bill, there is guess what charges - AT & T - to date - they have billed us $96.77 for AT & T - I have freaking had it. I have gone thru the confirmation process three times, and told the lady that on November 17, that was the last time. I will call them tomorrow, and tell them that if it is not corrected, and our account credited for $96.77, that I will be filing an official complaint with the PUC.

Extra time and money.

I had internet & home phone service connected through Embarq in the Winter of 2007. I was working part-time at home and was using the services for my job. In August of 2008 I no longer needed the services, as I was working full-time outside the home. I called Embarq and told them to disconnect the home phone but I still wanted internet service. The woman stated she would set up a ghost line so I could keep the internet serice. She assured me that I would only be charged for internet service of $49.99/mo.

I asked how much I owed so I could pay them. The woman said around $60. I thought everything was fine. Not so. Later that week I tried to connect to the internet and could not. I called Embarq and they told me my internet service was disconnected when they disconnected my home phone. I told the woman to leave it disconnected and send me the final bill and be done with it. I thought that was the end of that. Again, not so. I received a bill for $103.00.

I immediately called Embarq back and asked for an explanation of the charges. No one could explain exactly how my bill got so high. I talked to 3 different people. The last woman I spoke with that day told me I just needed to pay the bill because that's what I owed. I asked to speak with her supervisor and she hung up on me. I called back and spoke with a gentleman who tried to explain the charges but couldn't give me a straight answer either. He said he would have his supervisor call me within 24 hours. The next afternoon the gentleman called me back and said he spoke with his supervisor and those were my final charges and I had to pay them. Still no explanation.

I received another statement that was $130. Then I started getting collection notices. I called the collection agency and they said that Embarq took the bill back so I had to talk with them. I called Embarq back and spoke with another gentleman who finally explained to me that they had charged me a $99 early termination fee. That was the first I heard of that. I told him I would pay my final bill amount which turned out to be only $35, but I wanted to speak to someone about the $99 fee. I got tossed around to different people until I spoke with another lady named Jasmine. She was trying her best to help me but said she couldn't do anything about the $99. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she asked me to hold. She came back and said if I got the internet hooked back up for another year they would waive the $99.

I told her I didn't need or want the service and if I had been told in August that there was an early termination fee, I would have just finished up the remaining 4 months. She said that the first woman I spoke with put in her notes that she told me about the early termination fee. I told her that was not a true statement and I was never informed about it. She asked me to hold again and after talking to her supervisor, she said I could finish out the last 4 months of internet service for $49.99/mo and she would waive the $99. I told her I thought it was unfair but agreed to it. I asked her to send me a letter or e-mail stating the terms and conditions of the agreement. She said she would. That was over 2 weeks ago and I still have not received anything. My internet service was supposed to be reconnected a week ago. We tried to connect to it tonight and couldn't. When we called Embarq support, they said it would be at least 48 hours to repair because they were having problems in our area.

This has been a complete waste of time, energy and money. I feel I was taken advantage of and forced to buy service I didn't want or need. It shouldn't take over 4 months to resolve this. To me it's real simple, I don't want the service and I don't feel I should be penalized for discontinuing it. Embarq has left a very bad impression on me due to the poor customer service. I will not use or recommend them in the future.

Sincerely,

Mary E. Cummings

I called Embarq to cancel my phone service in October. The customer service agent told me that they could not find my account since I could not provide my 3 digit account number from my bill. I had just paid my bill and thrown away the statement the week before. He told me that I would have to wait to get my next statement before canceling the account so I could provide the 3 digit number. This would have taken several weeks to receive! I called again at the end of October and only using the last 4 digits of my social security number successfully closed my account. I never received my October statement.

The bill I received in November did not have my itemized long distance charges on it, which I needed to charge my company back for work calls to get reimbersed. I called customer service on November 10th to request the itemized information and they said they were sending it out but I never received it. I called again in November and was told that I had requested the information from the wrong department being transfered from customer service to closed accounts to long distance! Very frustrating! I was aggressive in trying to resolve my final bill and Embarq did not appear to want to help me!

I called Embarq again on December 4th to again request the itemized information! I was again sent to 3 different departments before talking to somone in the long distance area. I told her that I did not trust to get the information in the mail but I needed it faxed to me that same day! She did get me the information and I mailed a check to pay the bill the very next day. December 8th I received a letter from a collection agency dated December 2nd! They send my $101.39 bill to an agency without ever providing me with the itemized information!

They never attempted to help me I made all of the calls to them to try to settle my account of almost 5 years (which never had 1 late payment!) I called on December 9th to let them know that I had sent the check and asked when they would notify the collection agency. She was very rude and said that they would once they received the payment. I am not sure that I trust anything they tell me I know I will need to follow up. I have a great credit rating and am now concerned that this could show up on my credit report!

it's the repare center and insulatrion. i have been married for 37 years and they won't conect me with my husband i think that sinks. my husband work for many phone companys i never had problems like this.

This is exactly what just happened to me with Embarc and the free dish and the 15 dollars long distance fro 15 dollars. The bill is never lower than 100 and it was promised to be less. The original custumer repressenative promised something that was never delivered to me and they continued to lie and say it was all my fault. This is what the lawyer at work told me it was happening to me. Please investigate this company.

Financial problems for me.

I joined a plan with them back in June that included: Free Dish, High speed and other charges for voice mail and long distance calls fro 15 dollars and 29.95. They told me the final bill would be around 86. Every month. I get a Bill for over 100 and their story is that I never signed for long distance with them, yest I have in my poer the confirmation letters, then the next excuse was that I did not pick the right packege from dish to qulify for the free dish for a year.

I told the lady that what they offered fro that prize was what I picked, then every month suppouseley thye credit things and fix things but they still do not fix anything because when they tell me, just pay part of the bill because we credit the mistake, then the next month is what supousely was credited, plus the bill and it never goes down and they expect me to pay the bill and they come up with a bunch of explannations that never make sense. they never fix the problem and the bill continues to be high. The credit never reflects what they say they fix.

I talked to a lawyer at my jb and he told me that the company just tricked me into a scam and they will continue to do this until the contract ends and they actually never gave me a deal. Please help me. I am a single mom hardly making it and this is not fair, Please help.

I dont want to ruin my credit and they are causing this to me. Not only that. I am a single mom and financially they never gave me what they offered and then they blamed me for not picking the right plan. They allowed other long distnce carrier to take over when I had two letters stating that they were my carieers, financially I am struggling trying to pay for soemthing it would benefit me and I trusted what I was offered in the begining.

After agreeing to all T&C's and having phone, internet, and satellite TV service activated, low and behold a notice from DISH Network arrives notifying me that I do not qualify for their promotional package due to a credit report from Trans Union. Upon further investigation DISH Network will not reveal what their criteria is for approval or non-approval. (Coincidentally my FICO score is above 800).

I am now locked into a 2 year contract with these jerks, paying $70 more a month than I was promised by a customer service sales rep. I am not a proponent of any type of government regulation, my intent is to inform the general public and let them know to avoid Embarq at all cost including the retention of legal services if necessary. I'm certain that the issue described above has been met by thousands of other consumers making it fodder for a perfect class action suit and teaching these bastards a lesson.

Fraud and Dishonesty from numerous Embarq employees. I am looking to start a class action lawsuit against company. Fed up with dishonest companies. Wasted time, financial loss and grief.

My current bill had a charge from a third party the Ebarq says providing billing on behalf of ESBI any questions to call. I called on 9/17/08 and spoke to Loreto who told me that I must have signed up for a voicemail/e-mail service on line as of Aug 27 (I had surgery that day) which are new services + tax to the government for a total of $13.86. When I called Embarq the people on the line said (i spoke to two the last person was Andrea ID# SWF) I had to settle this with the third party and I said that Embarq was where my bill and money are going to/from.

As of now, I am backing out any suspicious charges such as the $13.00 of extra local & state taxes.

I have had repeated problems with this company involving billing, customer service issues, service issues, not having my address correct not recieving a bill causing my account to become past due, being hung up on, transferred to the wrong department, transferring service to the wrong address, order issues not recieving everything i ordered, relentless complaints and calls to embarq consumer affairs not completly rectifying or resolving the issues only to say i have had a terrible experience with the company with on going problems

It has been very frustrating and stressful dealing with all these problems

In June of 2008, I paid a bill of 174.00 and cancelled my order because the promised me a package deal, consisting of Internet, Phone, Satelite tv. Well I recieved the Internet, and Phone, but no satelite.The bile was to be 68.00 a month, but they sent me another for 154.oo, after I had closed out their service. MY recent bill is $410.00.

I am now being charge up to Sept.for services I am not recieving from them. I am getting numerous phone calls from the collection agency RPM, daily, night and day, It is beginng to be very depressing and effecting the medication I am taking for depression.

We are military and a month before we move I always put in cancellation notices with all our utility companies. This time I cancelled my phone/internet service with Embarq for Jun 25. We get to our new duty station and the Embarq bill was forwarded to us with an amount due of $96.65. I noticed the entire bill was for Jun 25 thru Jul 24. I immediately called them up to confirm I didn't need to pay this. They told me no and to just wait for the final corrected bill.

Today, Jul 23, I get a letter from Allied Interstate, a collection agency, saying I owe $96.65. I call up to find out what I owe for (as I have excellent credit and pay everything on time). The lady is rude and acts like I should know. She then informs me it's for Embarq. I explain to her that I cancelled my service and spoke with them when I got this bill and I was awaiting the new bill. She then proceeds to tell me that I actually only owe $22.36 and I can pay it over the phone. I don't even know if this company is legit so I tell her I'll call Embarq myself. She continues to be rude and says she is noting that I'm refusing to pay my bill.

I call Embarq. The first guy is very nice and shocked that I was sent a notice as my service was just cancelled a month ago. He refers me to accounts receivable so that I can tell them about the notice. The guy I talked to there said I should have paid the $96.65 and then waited to be reimbursed from Embarq. I was like, are you crazy! I know it takes months for these companies to pay you back. So I complain about the letter and how I have never had a company do this to me and I have moved numerous times. He said the letters were automatically generated. I asked that a complaint be filed about this procedure and he refused to do it. I am just shocked. I have honestly never been treated like this from a utility company before. This guy also tried to get me to pay him over the phone today and I told him absolutely not...that I would wait for my final bill and go over it myself to ensure the final charges are correct.

I guess I should have foreseen this as they had terrible service right from the start. We went for days where our phone line kept cutting out and it took 2 technicians to figure out it was their problem and not ours. Then our internet service with them was very slow for the price we were paying. I just wasn't impressed at all and would never get service with them again.

We did a payment by phone for $137.00, the amount of our bill, however, Embarq took over $970.00 out of my checking account. This was Monday night, July 7th. We have called Embarq to correct/reverse this transaction that was THEIR ERROR almost every day since it has happened. Luckily, it did not overdraw my acct, however, only b/c I hadnt yet paid bills that were already due. Im behind on my car payment, daycare, and other misc bills that that money was to be used for.

It is July 15th and they still have not resolved the problem. We have been told by several different representatives that the money was going to be credited back to our account that night or the following day and we still have not been given our money back. This is creating a financial hardship and there is no end in sight as to when we are going to get our money back as every time we are told something it is not the truth. Sooo frustrating. I find it interesting that it took Embarq all of 5 minutes to take the money out of my acct and is now over a week and we still dont have our money back- after several promises of it being returned each day.

Unable to pay bills and now behind.

My home telephone company is Emvarq. For the past three months, I have been billed for a charge made by a third party on my bill called ESBI. I have given no authorization for anyone to add any additional third party charges to my bill for any reason. I called ESBI and they said they would delete these unauthorized charges; however, each month I get a new charge added to my telephone bill in the amount of $14,95.

When I inquired about what was charged they said someone charged a Blue Tooth. I am the only one at this residence. How can some unknown person make charges to my bill without my authorization and why can't ISBI remove this from my telephone bill. They keep promising each month that it will be removed and each month I get a new charge of $14.95 on my bill and these charges that I refuse to pay are now adding up. Embarq says they can do nothing about it.

I am retired and on a fixed income. I do not have the excess money to pay for unknown, unauthorized ESBI charges that are being added to my bill. I will have to do with out a home telephone if they can not stop these charges.

After my landline developed static so bad it was unusable Embarq was called out to fix the problem. The DSL signal was also dropping offine every 2-3 minutes. They have now sent 2 techs out to fix the problem each one being extremely nice but did not fix the problem. The tech that came to the house yesterday made the problem worse than the first tech.

This problem is going on week 2 with no positive results yet. We have tried everything to resolve this problem including replacing the DSL modem but to no avail the problem still exsists. They need to get their act together quickly because they are going to lose yet another customer!

Many phone calls and yet no results. Wasted time and loss of work.

I originally scheduled five phone lines to be opened for a new business, at a new construction site. Embarq called me on their scheduled date and stated that the site was not yet ready for them and they would, therefore, rescheduled my installation services for another date.

When that date came, Embarq did not show up and when I contacted them, I was informed that the order had been cancelled because the construction site was not ready on the initial date. I rescheduled the lines to be installed; one main line, with two roll-over lines; a separate fax line and a separate DSL line. Having separate lines was recommended by the Salesperson, as well as signing up for their Business Bundle account. I informed their representative that I was a new business in child-care and needed the most economical system set up because the business will be based on enrollment. She assured me this would be economical for me and said Embarq would waive all installation charges because I was agreeing to purchase the Business Bundle plan.

When I received my first billing - two separate invoices, one for the main line and one for the two roll-over lines, the fax and DSL. To my surprise, the invoices totaled over $700.00 When I reviewed the bills, I noted that Embarq had placed their Business-Bundle on every single line, rather than only the main line. It has taken me more than two months to clear up this problem of getting them to consolidate the bills. Also, I was forced to pay these bills, or be disconnected, and wait to be credited for the removal of the Business Bundles and other charges.

On top of the billing problems, we have had repeated mechanical problems. The main line drops calls constantly and will then suddenly connect to the fax machine, giving the caller the annoying fax ring. I can honestly say that I have spoken to at least a dozen different representatives of Embarq (too many to list) and have still not had the problem taken care of. I have had repairmen tell me they do not know how to fix the problem and don't know what to tell me.

In the meantime, I am losing customers to another Child Care Center, due to the fact that calls cannot always reach us and Embarq basically could care less. I have spent hours on the telephone with repair service trying to take care of this and still the problem is not resolved. I have been on hold for 58 minutes, while typing this complaint, and now am finished and still no resolution. This has been utterly insane and I need some direction of how to proceed from here.

Serious loss of business

I received my Embar bill today and it was over $300.00 and this was after paying a $175.00 bill less than 3 weeks ago. I called and was told that this was due to all the changes made to my account (not approved by me) and the fact that these changes although small warranted huge fees due to changes being made in the middle of a billing periods. I called in a few weeks ago because I moticed that there was features on my bill that I hadn't ordered or authorized andn this feature was not taken off and more features were added without my knowledge.

High fees paid

They are the ONLY option for local phone service and high speed internet in Fayetteville NC if you have no access to cable. From the beginning they have been nothing but rude, incompetent and exasperatingly unresponsive in their customer-no-service dept. They stood us up 3 separate times as we waited for installation that never happened; when called I was transferred multiple times to people who did not exist or only had voice mail and then was told my address was not in their system.

The phone service went out almost immediately the first week so I had to wait for repair people to come. BTW, the repair and tech people are good--they are just at the mercy of relentlessly terrible management. they are even AWARE of their reputation as the worst customer service in the country and simply shrug it off saying, yes we are aware of that. Hmmm...wouldn't you try to change that? Apparently not.

Now after being told I would have most of the first month's bill waived because of the horrible service, I find I have instead been signed up for optional services not listed, not asked for, a complete mystery for a charge of $61.86 per month! I specifically asked for the BASIC phone service, no long distance, no voice mail, nothing but the basic local phone plus high speed internet. I have no idea what the optional services are and when directed to an on line chat I was given only to tech support who was clueless and suggested I call ( and stay on hold for up to 2 hours) customer-no-service in the morning.

Loss of wages based on waiting for service that never came; loss of business because it took them more than 1 month to get internet to us and I work for myself from home so that was a direct hit to my business.

I canceled my account, but they didn't cancel it on their end. I kept getting billed for services I don't use. I must of called three times before I got this confirmation number, but I still ended up with monies that I owed. I paid everything I owed, but they keep charging me. It's June 2008 and I initially canceled my phone and internet service September of 2007.

I called again because I figure I open one of these mysterious collection agency mails and sure enough, Embarq sent me to a collection company. I called Embarq to tell them that I have a confirmation number of my canceling my services and it's paid in full, but they don't have records of it at all. I'm ready to file suit to these guys, who's going to court?

My credit is damaged and their is definitely psychological damage as well.

A storm went through here 11 days ago and I lost power to my phone and internet. I called the company and they told me that there was no storm and if I made them come out here and it wasnt outside that I would have to pay them. My mom lives three blocks from me and her power went out for the same reason. They said they would send someone out that monday and no one ever showed. We called them back to see what happened and they said I NEVER CALLED THEM!

So we set up another appointment with them and for 11 days no one has come to take care of this problem. Now they are claiming that they are busy because of the storm, which I understand but if they came when they were supposed to then it would be taken care of. Every day I talk to someone to check the status and they tell me that on that day someone will be here to take care of the problem. I am still without a phone and the internet comes on/off every so often. i want to be reimbursed for all the problems they have given me and find this to be an awful company to do business with.

I have gone over in my cell phone minutes because of lack of home phone for so long and will have to deal with that. I deal with my work online and cannot do anything with them.

I signed up for Embarq phone service 1 month ago...and after only 1 week of service I have no long distance. I have called everyday since the first week of them telling me different reasons for no long distance.. first story was that I am new customer it takes 5 days to activate(when I was already making long distance calls? they had no explaination for how I had been making long distance calls for the first week!) Then I call after the five days and then the story switches to... we are changing long distance carriers and it will be on in 4 hours..then next day I called again the story is it will take another day..on and on the stories have changed as to why or when the long distance will be on. The customer service is no good the straight out lie to you and promise you service that does not happen! and poor communication within that company. Here I sit with no long distance after 3wks of getting the run around from Embarq. I am now deciding to switch to Vonage!

5/8/2008 Been waiting for 10 days for long distance service on a fax line we had installed on 4/28/2008. nobody can seem to get anything done. We are a Business which uses the fax constantly. I have to keep unplugging the main lines to use the fax(note:no calls can be made or taken). Promised every day will have the situation repaired by 4:00pm.Hah!

Unable to properly run our business. Billing of THOUSANDS of dollars is being delayed. This office generates $10,000.00 to 50,000.00 sales a day, every delay costs us money.

Embarq caused me nothing but headaches from the get go. We signed up for bundled services phone/Dish and Internet since they were offering better prices than Time Warner. 6 months into the deal we started getting seperate bills from Dish. I called Embarq and they did not show me being bundled. They said there was a computer glitch and several people had come unbundled. It took over a year to fix this problem. They also had a problem finding my account since it was in my name and my husbands name they were just looking for my name. I thought that's what phone numbers and account numbers were for. Anyway that problem fixed.

Then Embarq decided to switch to their own e-mail client and quit using earthlink. I had to switch over my email address through their site. I quit receiving bills through e-mail and started receiving late notices in the mail! I called Embarq again and they had no record of my new email address. I told them they should since I changed everything over online through Embarq. My husband and I had had enough. We were ready to cancel everything with them. I called Dish to see when our contract was up. They had us having 18 more months to go!!! We had been customers already for over a year. Embarq when they fixed the bundling problem renewed our contract with Dish as a new customer!

We have switched back to Time Warner and I have been making payments on the Embarq bill that has now gotten up to $250 because they quit sending bills to me. Even though I have been making these payments Embarq sent my account to a collections agency this week. I cried I had to come up with the full amount or make 4 payments with a $7 processing fee attached each time! My advice to all. GET RID OF EMBARQ or DONT USE EMBARQ FOR ANYTHING! Their customer service is well....They really don't have one! I will be writing a letter to Embarq Consumer affairs if I can ever find their address!

I discontinued service with Embarq in November 07 -switched to Time Warner phone service (which has been great) only to receive a bill from Embarq -no usuage on the bill but charging me the monthly fee, they state they did not receive the disconnection notice. When they had to of because I was digital now. The person who helped me checked my account and said yes you have not used it in a month, I'll see that this gets waived. Next month same bill & I call back, can't help me, I should call back in a week. Not sure why.

So I call after being on hold for more then ten minutes, I finally get a live person they have to transfer me guess this means I have to hang up on you in thier code. I call serveral more times only to be transfered each time. I finally get a person today & she can't find my name or number in thier system am I sure that I was an Embarg customer. I can't help you mam thank you have a nice day. Is this how Emabrq deals with everyone when they don't know what to do? It was a $25.00 bill they can't manage to waive the fee when nothing was used? If you haven't already get rid of EMBARQ worst customer service ever!

They are sending me to collections due to non payment of the service I didn't use.

Switched Internet carriers from Hargray to Embarq as the Sales Dept stated that they could provide a bundle service of Internet, Phone and Sattelite TV for $90.00 a month. They further stated that they could provide high speed internet service of 3.0 which turned out to be 1.5 which ran my computer at a snails pace. They also stated that we would get 6 months of HD TV for 6 months for free and 2 premium channels for 2 months for free.

The 1st months bill was over $296.00 and the 2nd was over $200.00. We were billed right away for the 6 months of HD TV and for the 2 premium channels. My daughter complained and Embarq subtracted $50.00 from the bill.

I called Embarq to cancel my DSl Service as the double speed I was told I would get for my internet service was never trully double the speed. It was more like 10% - 20% the speed. I was told they were giving me more speed with better phone service for my business as they had this new program and that being that I was with Embarq since February 2004 and that my bills were to be less that I was paying. I was also told that there would be no additional contract and additional fees whether I would keep the service or cancel it.

Now I call to cancel the DSL so I can switch to Cable DSL as the speed is twice as fast and that the Embarq DSL is still slow and keeps giving me problems when I am connected. Come to find out, now they are telling me that there was a 2 year contract on this change, and that there is a $199.00 early terination fee! Which I was never told about or was mentioned about. I called Embarq and they would absolutely do nothing at all to help me, refuse to deduct this canellation fee I was not aware of, would not even try to offer to reduce it or anything at all to work with me on this subject.

Their customer service is terrible, unhelpful, and the people have no friendly helpful service to work with you, they just absolutely don't care. They are polite but totally unhelpful. Not even the manager I talked to try to work with me, she just completely refused to remove the $199.00 fee! I can't wait to have a new phone company too so I can also cancel my phone service with this horible company. Even my neighbors are looking to switch service and cancel Embarq as they are getting the same kind of service, that is bad service.

So far I have probably lost a total of about 12 hours over the phone with all the calls I had to do for problems with my DSL service and connection problems to get repairs done or check up of the connections! Which everytime, they blamed my inside lines or computer, but was everytime, their lines outside the building! Way to much time waisted and and money on my end!

I live in Ocala, Fl and I order the upgrade from 5 to 10 megs download speed in the DSL Internet service form Embarq on March 18 and was told that the work can be done until next Friday March 21 and that the job will be done around 7 PM. This never happened.

After so many phone calls to Embarq and every customer service rep giving me a different answer I decided to file this complain because 9 days after that order I still with my old speed and sometimes is worse now.

All of the customer services people or the technical guys talking to me have a different answer ( they are guessing because don't kn o where is the real situation or problem) about the problem but nobody can fix it.

Today is Wednesday March 26 and the last service rep guy I spoke with, told me the issue was with the DSL modem that need to be replaced. I got the new modem, Modem was connected and situation still the same and the worse issue is that before when I was on 5 megas plan I was able to surf at speed faster that 6 megs and now my speed is intermitent, sometines coming down to 300 and other times going up until 6 megs. Now I'm worse that before upgrading.

As I said everybody is giving me stupid answers, telling me if the first guy who came to my house ( a contractor) did the wrong connections, that if the DLSM is unable to accept 10 megas downloads and I need to be connected to other DSLAM, that my alarm is conflicting with the DSL ( when the alarm never conflicted before) and now that the modem needed to be replaced because a new firmware will enable that modem to surf and 10 megas. Everybody is guessing. Too much talk and not a real solution.

This is not my first issue with Embarq. When I installed Embarq the first time I had the same issues and take more that 15 days to be resolved thanks to Ann Rochester in the headquarters who took the matter into his hands.

I need a fast response from Embarq.

I signed up for Embarq security for my PC in June of '07. It failed, and I got a 48 Trojan horse virus. I had to have the hard drive cleaned--$260. Embarq first claimed that their anti virus soft ware does not protect you against everything so they are not liable, but in the same sentence say their service is among the top three in the world for pc protection. Then they claimed I did not turn on my computer often enough for their system to connect with my computer. Then they said that while I signed up for their service in June 07, for some reason I had no protection (was unaware of this) from June '07 to August '07 when they got to putting it on. They still maintained that it was not their fault, and then said that I must have had 2 anti-virus protections running at the same time. Now why would I sign up for another one if I had one?

They refuse to reimburse me for the cost of the repair and the loss of programs. When we called the morning after we got the virus, the tech said I had a virus; they later claimed they would never say that and all but called my husband a liar. They offered us one month free service; then when we got the bill, they shorted it just enough to not be considered a full month. I have asked them several times to reimburse me for the problem, and they still refuse. On the repair bill the tech put several customers have had problems with Embarq--use at your own risk still. They refuse to even admit that there was a problem. In typical Embarq fashion, they try to find a way to make the problem their customer's fault and not theirs.

My hard drive had to be cleaned ($260). We lost $300 in factory installed programs (ie. Microsoft office) and $300 worth of games that were purchased. Our total loss was $860.00

Embarq is 'cramming' my phone bills with a monthly $15.00 charge from ILD for voice mail box that I did not subscribe to. Total of 12 months of charges before I noticed it. Embarq only refunded one month's charges and ILD agreed to refund on three. Watch your phone bills closely.

Economic consequences is that they charged me for twelve months at $15 a pop for something I did not apply for or use.

I am an Embarq customer for my landline because they have the monopoly here that's basically my only choice besides internet phone service. So we have their DSL service too plus other subscriptions through Embarq, we pay quite a lot. Out of convenience only, not because they had the best deal or they were the cheapest or had extra perks, we decided to get Embarq wireless, because we would only get one bill. We started wireless service in July of '07.

The free phone we got recently broke, it still works mostly a cosmetic issue, so I thought this would be a perfect time to purchase a new one, they had a great one on sale for $29.95, WRONG, sales and rebates only apply to new customers and people renewing their contracts. They do nothing for their current customers. If I want that phone then I need to pay 200 bucks for it or replace my current phone for my 50 dollar deductible, the phone I got for free. Which is not worth 50 dollars. I feel this is horrible and backward customer service policy. Wouldn't you want me to renew my contract in two years by giving me the best service and the best deals during my contract? When I complained I was basically met with a SO What we don't care if you renew or not attitude. So I am just going to duck tape my phone for the remaining time and let everyone know that embarq treats their current customers like garbage....and they do not care if you stay or go at the end of your contract....because they certainly are not going to pass any savings on to you while your there. I will do not do business with Embarq after all our contracts are up.

I just want a new phone that's on sale!

My home phone has been out for 4 days. Every time it is called in they say it will be repaired that afternoon by 4:00 pm. I still don't have phone service and have not seen or heard from a Technician. I have been home everyday.

I'm worried about an emergency situation arising and not being able to call out.

I moved my office so I faxed a request to Embarq to transfer my service and phone numbers. When I was not contacted in a week, I called and spoke with Betty. She told me I couldn't transfer the numbers so I setup new service. When the long distance person called to verify, Betty had entered the new numbers incorrectly. I had to call Embarq back and they said my new order was canceled in the system and she never canceled my old service. I had everything re-done and never received a call authorizing the long distance. My old phone # was supposed to have a recording stating the number has changed. I called in two weeks after my old number was supposed to be disconnected and my old voicemail was still picking up.

I called Embarq again and Kevin said he took care of it. One week later I called in and instead of the recording saying the number had been changed, it said the number was disconnected. So I called Embarq customer service again, waited on hold for 20 minutes and finally got to Jason. After I went through everything with him, he tells me that he's in Accounts Receivable and I needed customer service. The automated system automatically transferred me because I owed them money even though I didn't call them! AND I never got a final bill. Cambria in customer service told me that she doesn't handle business accounts after I waited on hold for 20 minutes.

Then I get transferred to Will who sounds like I woke him from a nap. I tell him what happened and he says they'll take care of it and if I have any questions to call customer service. He gives me an entirely different business customer service number than what's on my bill. I ask to speak with a supervisor, Sharee, who listens to me but doesn't really care about my issues or how Embarq has severely failed in their customer service to me as a paying customer. She then tells me that I was charged $199 for early termination of my business package which Betty NEVER mentioned; otherwise I would have kept the Embarq DSL. So now I have the same problem and somehow I owe them for not fulfilling my obligations to them.

For the last three weeks my customers have not been able to get a hold of our office - we have no doubt lost sales over it. I have wasted over 4 hours of my life on the phone with them (at $30 per hour), and now I have to pay $199 that was not disclosed to me.

I have been asking for high speed internet for several years. While the service is all around my area, I have not been able to get connected and have to use dial up at 26.4 kbs--and satillite service is very expensive. Everyone has been nice, but I'm frustrated with substandard service. Satillite service is at least twice the cost.

I called directory assistance for my doctor's phone number ($1.50 charge). I given the number for a wrong doctor. I recalled directory assistance and was given the correct number, however instead of giving me an immediate credit for their mistake as they have always done in the past, my call was forwarded to another operator who informed me that I would get my credit after my my phone bill came out. Here's how the new procedure works: I receive my bill and at that point I am to make a note of their mistake on my paper bill, attach a 40 cent stamp to the paper bill (please note, I, like millions of others, pay all my bill electronically) and once received, Embarq will credit my account.

On the face of it, this is not a real big deal taken individually. The problem I have is that the motivation behind Embarq's change in policy is so transparent. It started years ago when the phone companies decided to charge people for directory assistance calls knowing full well there was a significant segment of their market who would not only pay for this service but were foolish enough to pay through the nose to get it. OK, shame on me, I fall into this category. I have been paying this fee for years and not complaining but when Embarq chooses to target this same market segment, (knowing full well our bad habit of overlooking the small stuff) by sticking it to us further, knowing we are not likely to remember or even go to the trouble of correcting a $1.50 charge on a monthly bill, it is not only contrived but despicable as well. It amounts to nothing less than an effort on their part to charge the public for THEIR initial mistake. I am leaving Embarq over this issue

In April, I requested that Embarq put my phone service on vacation hold effective May 6. They didn't put it on vacation hold, instead they turned off my phone service. After this was rectified, I called to have both phones lines taken off vacation hold and have the voicemail, call waiting, freedom plan long distance, etc installed on the first line only effective Oct. 31. The phones weren't turned on and once turned on it didn't have the features on the first line. Once this was straightened out I received a bill for long distance calls (shouldn't have long distance calls -- supposed to have a bundled plan and can call anywhere in the US for a fee) also charged for call waiting, 3 way calling, call forwarding, etc on second line which is a fax line. I never told them to do this.

I was charged a $30 turn on fee while they were promoting a $10 turn on fee. I complained about this in November and still it is incorrect on my bill. I'm tired of having problems with Embarq, a month isn't a month without talking to Embarq. I've spoken to many representatives and rarely have things been rectified. I just spoke to a supervisor by the name of Duncan in the Fort Myers office and we'll see if the billing issues are resolved. I feel like I have to check my bills with a magnifying glass. I also have to pay the entire incorrect bill that was sent to me or I'll be charged interest. I think this is a HORRIBLE COMPANY with totally unqualified people. If we had another phone option they'd be history. Why isn't Verizon in the Naples area?

We moved here earlier this year and have dealt with numerous phone companies over the past 40 years as adults. This is absolutley the worst phone company we have ever experienced. Recently, we have found that our long distance service was cut off without notice so we called and the person was unable to determine the reason, but reinstated the service. A few days later the service was turned off again, also without notice.

This time after speaking with two different people we were told that the reason was that Quest had slammed our service. We have no idea whether or not this was true as we have never discussed this service with Quest. The service was then reinstated and a freeze was put on both our phone lines so that nobody else could slam them.

Again after a few days our service was not working and we called again and the Embarq person stated that we appeared to be accessing data lines. We were not told what this meant but assumed that since our satellite service had been down and we had been accessing the internet over the phone line - that this was the problem. The person said we would need to purchase a metered line.

We stopped using the phone as a backup before this incident (about a day) because our other service was working again. We still don't have any idea what the reason was as it has been our practice for a number of years to use the phone line as a backup when our satellite service was down - with no issues with the phone company(s) until now.

So Many things have happened I dont know where to start. First when Sprint changed to embarq It was supposed to be just a name change and that was all. But that was not true. Because me cell phones were through sprint along with my dish network, my dsl and my home phone I got a bundle discount for the cell phone.

But when the name changed my cell phone bill increased 100 dollars. So I called and asked if my cell phones could be switched to embarq also. And was told yes. But I have to pay 150 dollar early disconnection fee. Which I agreed to. But when I got the bill it was 780 dollars. Then when I added the embarq cell phones the first month they told me wasnt on my bill because the phone was activated 1 day before the bills were sent out. So when I recieved the next bill it was doubled for the cell phones and then I was in the hospital and was late paying a bill Embarq sent me a bill for the next month that was 854 dollars. I argued but got nowhere.

Then after I paid that I got the next bill for 500 or more dollars then I got another bill after that for 400 dollars in a 2 month period I paid embarq 1400 dollars. A normal bill for me is 321 dollars. So even if I missed 2 months completely how could that amount to that much. So today was the beat all incident. I was on my cell and it went dead. It was fully charged and I had a full signal. When it went dead I had been on hold for 20 minutes and the man had just answered the phone. So I turn the phone back on and dial the number again. And the phone rang and then nothing. So I look at the phone and it is on my home screen. Like I never dialed a number. So I try again and now the number pad isnt even working.

My wife and I reside in Florida where we purchased and signed a contract for bundled services (i.e. long distance and local phone service, High speed internet and DISH TV. We are both a traveling nurse and mechanic. We purchased this package for its convenience and the ability to pay the bill through the EMBARQ website via our internet banking/checking.

I recently had my DISH TV cut off. I called DISH TV because EMBARQ could not give me a straight answer and was informed I owe close to $400. I have also been sent over to a collection agency for payment recovery!!!! I called Embarq and they related to me that some time in the past the service was un-bundled.

I was paying on time the bill they sent to me via their website billing. I was never notified of the error. Now I am being penalized for their mistake. I was promised a good price and good service and recieved neither.They are also ruining my great credit standing and wasting a large amount of my time.

Consequences: The CSRep took off the $6.99 without question and had no explanation for why the charge was added. Further, she said she didn't know how long we had been over-paying ($39 vs $29) and couldn't do anything about it because it's our fault if we don't seek out lower rates.

Wireless. When we signed up for the service we were guaranteed that Embarq was not part of Sprint and they had totally seperated from them and they were a new company. They mentioned to us that they might use their towers from Sprint since they were new and they did not have their own at the time. We signed up and we were happy for a few months.

As the months past we were having issues with Embarq and as were going to transferr our service from them, that is when we found out how much they are connected to each other. Now in Janurary, we decided to switch services from Embarq to Cingular wireless.

As we started the transistion from one service to another service, we had porting issues from Embarq. Long story short, we had two lines that needed to be ported out of Embarq to Cingular. My wifes line went out with only one issue, but my personal line took over a week and a half to be ported out.

We have record of the people and departments that we talked to with these issues. As we talked with these departments we discovered that Embarq is a third party seller for Sprint Wireless which proves false advertisement and lead me to believe that I was not part of Sprint. I was given credit about my early termination of service from Embarq but nothing else relating to the issues with my service. I am currently refusing to pay my bill that starts from Janurary to the current day.

After reading an article about the FCC and its increased interest in rural developments of broadband internet, I wanted to take a moment to bring to your attention the lack of motivation Embarq has to provide higher quality services to its seemingly remote customers.

My family moved to a rural part of Virginia in October 2004, from a fast-developing city in North Carolina. When we inquired about anything more than dial-up internet, with both Embarq and the local cable company (formerly Adelphia, now Comcast), we were met with a complete lack of concern for development, regardless of the fact that the lines to bring the services to our home are within one half mile away, and several of our neighbors are on the same waiting lists.

We were told on several occasions that progress would be made in our area soon and we would receive notification by mail once available. At one point we were even given a deadline of early 2006, which came and went with not a sign of progress in the entire area.

We ourselves contacted a contracting company (Camvera) used in other states to bring wireless broadband service to any customer who wanted it, and forwarded all the information given to us by the company on to all state government officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor, and the head of the technology department, with barely a response that it was something they were working on.

We do not consider satellite broadband an option, as it is very expensive and unreliable at times, and cannot understand why after all this time there has been no progress made, when we live on the same road as the local office, just five miles away. The money that we invest every month in a second line and dial-up internet, not to mention the time wasted waiting for internet pages to load and emails to come in is certainly something that needs to be addressed not only for my family, but for every family who would like to have more.

I recently heard that AOL increased its rates for dial-up service, regardless of the fact that the for the most part, the only people still using this ancient service have no choice in the matter.

My local phone services have been disconnected and they continue to say I owe for these charges.

My problem started in June 2006. I called Embarq because I had no dial tone in my home, they sent out a technician and he said that the problem was inside the house. I told him no, it was outside, the box on the outside of the house had an intermittent dial tone, it just happened to be working when he was there. He still insisted that the problem was inside and said he would gladly fix it for $50.00 for every 15 minutes he was there. I was unable to afford that so I told him I would figure something out and I told him I still thought the problem was outside because sometimes you got a dial tone in the box and sometimes you didn't.

Months went on and I paid my bill every month and had no phone. I couldn't afford the outrageous price they wanted to look at the inside wiring. On the morning of December 15, 2006 they ran a new phone line to my neighbor’s house and they put a new green "box" in my front yard that apparently holds the controls for all the lines in the area.

Then on Monday December 18, 2006 my phone rings, after 6 months of paying for a phone that did not work, it is suddenly working! After speaking to several customer service representatives, they refunded my $50.00 service charge since they admitted that the problem was corrected by the new equipment and it was NOT inside my home. But the fact still remains that I paid for 6 months of service that I did not receive and I would like a credit for that amount. I am locked into their company, they control the market and I have NO other choice for phone service.

We cancelled our phone service on June 2 of this year (switching to an Internet phone service). We received a confirmation number and the date was confirmed.

However, we continued to receive a bill from Sprint who then sold to Embarq. We spoke with a supervisor, G Lang who assured us the balance was zero and it was an error on their part.

We still continue be to harassed by Embarq, claiming that moneys are owed to them.

for the service because the gave me misleading information just so i would sign on with them.

rollover line when the main number is busy. It does not roll over nor go to voice mail but rings once and then drops the call. We are in the tourist business and when we don't get calls we don't get income.

Since the end of July we have lost $1000.s in revenue and documented pages of problems

ranging from bad service to no service with no end in sight.

After waiting today again for someone

to show up and fix the problem we received a message on a cell phone that they were unable to come today but no word when they could come.

They have been at least a 1/2 doz. times and each time tell us it is working but it is not. I have spent hours on the telephone( I am in the business office and not at the location) on hold waiting to speak
with someone, I have to make these calls daily and frequently. We are not only at wit's end but nearing the end of the tourist season as well. I have employees with families who depend on this job
and I have had to cut staff. I may be next.


We should be doing 10 times the volume of business
that we currently have. This translates to big, lost dollars that cannot be made. Out customers are on vacation and here for 1 or 2 weeks. They plan their
itineraries and make their reservations but when they can't get through to us they are forced to make another choice and we have lost them. This is

more than expensive to us. It is devastating

I used directory assistance to gain a long distance telephone number. Once given the number a recorded message came on stating for no additional charge your call can be directed automatically; so I did that. To my horror I was charged at the Assistance rate 16.84 for a 15 minute call; when I called the phone company they said there was nothing they could do Directory assistance charged that.