CenturyLink Reviews

Go to Century Links' site, you run a test and gee, lookee there, they say there are NO issues with my service or in my area? Except, while using their own POS email, their own home page constantly pops up a window saying, "Something's wrong with the server... somethings slowing down can't complete the action, want to shut down?" Well no, I don't really want to shut down, I want your service to work correctly since I'm paying you. Long story long... no matter if you call, which we've stopped doing because it only ends in, "Sorry we can't help you, it must be on your end.." Well yeah, I guess it's YOUR router POS IN my house, YOUR cables and wiring in MY house, but certainly not us - since we're just using the stuff CLink put in here... nothing fancy.

No crew of teenagers streaming their butts off on 7 devices, nope... one TV on at a time... maybe the computer but it's not streaming it's just trying to get email. So, if you can find a company in CO that actually gives a fat rat's about service, quality, helpful customer service, and providing something you contracted with them for, rather than just taking your money... you should go with them. And, FYI, your site is so top heavy with links, and scripts, and spam ads it blows, too. Why aren't we surprised? Shame on you, CenturyLink C-team. Truly. Shame that everywhere we look CLink gets a 1 star rating. Have some self respect and do a better job.

So, when we finally checked out the website later to order service, we typed in the address in the way he told us it had to be formatted for their system to recognize it... it didn't work. We were dissatisfied with the results and so we went back to just using cellular internet. Months later, we decided to try again. This time, the website recognized the address format he gave us and we were able to sign up to receive internet. We chose self-install and our own equipment. We received an email with the new account details (order number, payment confirmation number, service activation date, broadband identifier number, billing account ID, and a CenturyLink website username... but no ACCOUNT NUMBER).

When the date of activation arrived, I tried the method in the email to get the account setup. The options on the activation site only provided one method in which you didn't have to supply the account number, since we were never given one. We tried that method, giving the information we were provided in the email... it told us it couldn't find us and to call tech support. We called tech support and they couldn't locate us or our account using ANY of the provided details from the email (which we can obviously prove we have). So, they asked for our address. When provided with that, they said on their end it showed service IS active and you should be able to access the internet.

Okay, that was obviously no help. When we tried logging into the online account, we were able to do that and were presented with a message that our service had been terminated. There were 2 transactions, one for the initial charge for service and then a reversal of the fee paying it back to us - hey, at least they were honest about that, right?)

Back to calling customer service, once again, they couldn't locate our account using ANY of the supplied numbers we rattled off from the email. What's the point of sending emails and having databases if you can't even access the information from them? The order number wasn't in the system. (Sidenote: so, let me ask this, for accounting purposes, how do you account for a debit and credit to an order number that doesn't exist? What do you cross-reference a monetary transaction with? Interesting to ponder, potentially some fraudulent accounting methods). She proceeded to tell me that their system just went down and couldn't look up any information and asked me to call back later. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU CALL ME BACK, I'm the customer.

Okay, called back the next day, once again, customer service isn't able to look up any information. I explained the situation again, they decided to transfer me to the retention department because it must be a billing issue. Was hung up on. I called again and said I was just told I'd be transferred to the retention department but was hung up on, the rep. apologized and said it was probably just a mistake. (Thanks anyway but it was no mistake). She successfully transferred me, I waited for 32 minutes before someone finally answered, Aaron. I explained my situation again while listening to girls laughing in the background talking about how Aaron was the only person on the phones right now. (Excuse me, well maybe you should get on the phones and do your job).

After another 12 minutes, Aaron was finally able to conclude that there was a bill associated with our address that needed to be paid before we could get service there. He provided me with a fax number (1-800-725-7721) and told me we needed to fax a lease agreement and 2 utility bills there, then call 1-800-448-2531 to confirm the fax was received. To summarize what I gathered: the previous tenant (who passed away, mind you) left a bill with CenturyLink and they were denying us service because that tenant had an unpaid bill. Do you do this to ALL residents of a new address???

After faxing the requested documentation and then calling 5 days later to give them time to receive and process the fax, once again, they weren't able to look up the account by any of the information other than by service address. We were not only told that they received no fax but that they didn't even recognize that fax number and saw a note on the address that a lease and 2 utility bills needed to be sent to them but she couldn't help in that department and that NOW, we need to contact the Offline Department at 1-866-689-5582 and then email dslqueues@centurylink.com.

To explain and summarize how frustrating this is, is just plain absurd. We signed up for service using the website which also promised a $50 gift card for signing up and fulfilling a set of pre-requisites. I guarantee I come back here after trying to call THIS department and find out that even if we are somehow able to get service, we won't be eligible for the offer anymore which was a bait-and-switch tactic. The offer was valid as of the date we tried establishing a service contract with CenturyLink, and therefore should be honored since it would be invalidated through no fault of our own. Just remember, SpaceX world satellite internet will be upon your heels soon, maybe why CL just seems like they're trying to bleed the system dry while they still can.

It feels terrible and leaves a person with a dirty feeling that the last resort they feel to solve an issue is to make a long-winded complaint on a consumer action board on the internet. You can't put this stuff on their Facebook page, they'll delete it, Twitter, they'll delete it, even the news and class-action suits don't dissuade them from this poor customer service treatment culture. I will leave you with the famous quote from Lord Acton, "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Anyway. Two weeks later, the date is gone, and no service change. Though, the date reported by webpage has changed: same day BUT year 9999. So here I call again. And the poor support person can't do anything but give me a phone number for yet another unfriendly person. Here comes a new date, one month after the first one... Will anything ever happen?

I can understand there may be technical problems and delays, though 1 month for service heavily advertised and offered seems a bit 'unusual'. But the most infuriating is the fact that DO NOT BOTHER to let you know about their problem. To add insult to the injury, their support gives you a number to call - instead of dealing with the problem (I mean, why can't THEY call that number?).

July 23rd: I closed escrow on the house, ordered CenturyLink service online and was given 7/30 install date. July 30th: I received a call saying “no ports available at this time so service cannot be installed”, the representative wasn’t able to explain what that meant, when a port might be available, or provide any further info. Was told I should hear more in a few days.

Aug 6th: Called back and was told order was in “held orders” department, representative was not able to tell me why. I attempted to escalate and was told to call back in 24 to 48 hours for more details. Aug 14th: Called back, told to expect a call with an install date on Aug 31st. Representative said they would note this conversation and expected date on my account. Never received a call. Sept 10th 10:30 am: Called back, told order still in engineering without any further info, spent an hour on hold waiting to talk to a manager and then my call was disconnected shortly after getting through to someone.

Sept 10th 11:30 am: Called back, transferred a few times, on hold for 40 minutes told “unfortunately it’ll be another 3 to 5 days”. I asked for something in writing with a confirmation of that and was told I would be transferred to “loyalty department”. I’m not sure why I was being transferred to loyalty, the representative said she was new. My call was then disconnected.

At this point I've spent probably 6 hours on the phone with them just trying to confirm they'll actually be able to service my address and get an install date. They could tell me it'll be 6 months and I'd be OK with that because I have no alternative. It's unreasonable and unethical to claim you can provide service and then not even be able to provide an accurate install date.

I called Account and Billing Support, was transferred to Move, Disconnect, or Cancel, and was told no, the 12mbs wouldn't work for what I was going to use it for, yeah I'd need a different modem and jack install. I also found out there isn't 24/7 customer service available, which I specifically asked about. The technician was professional, friendly and apologetic. The salesperson just spewed lies, lies, lies.

The first agent at least expressed some frustration and sympathy that they entirely drop the ball. The second essentially communicated that this is business as usual for Century Link. Why am I bothering him? Please, just leave the chat. I live in a townhome complex. I'm certain many of my neighbors also have Century Link service. Their system immediately indicated top level service is available at my address. A couple of days before ordering online, I had spoken to a Century Link rep who said service is available here.

Despite knowing that service is certainly possible here, I understand there could be some other explanation of some problem that came up. But if that's the case, shouldn't Century Link communicate that? Call the client instead of have them waste a day waiting? When the client has to call in, shouldn't the Century Link representatives be able to have basic tools to communicate and help clients? My experience thus far is Century Link is the mirror image of the old Qwest. They are understaffed and generations behind in company/department organization. Customer service just isn't part of their equation because they are incapable of moving past their disorganization.

Now here I am waiting on them again, they promised me an install on September 7, when I called to ask why they had not shown up, they stated it is scheduled for September 14. I'm through with this company. Oh by the way, they also promised to remove one payment since I have not had the mbps I've paid for. That did not happen. They also keep hanging up when I would tell them I wanted to cancel and send back the equipment. Childish!!!

Anyway, yesterday (9/6/18) our internet wouldn’t work again so I tried to play a game offline and it needed an update or it would erase everything I had saved. I’ve put two years into this game. By the way - it’s not a game that requires online - but it does have online features and updates do require internet. So, I couldn’t play anything since everything else I have Are online.

So, today the internet is working; but some reason it deleted YouTube off my Xbox and says I’m not able to download it. Now, that may not be your company’s fault but I’m pointing my finger at you due to all the other issues you’ve caused me when all I’m trying to do is enjoy the entertainment I’m paying for. I feel disgusted. I feel taken advantage of. I feel that I’m not a valued customer even though I kept my cool for 4-6 years with the horrible services CenturyLink provides. I will never recommend this company to anyone and I will make sure to talk people out of signing up for CenturyLink. I’m very sorry I had to say this and come off as rude or complain full but enough is Enough.

The loyalty department gave me a 3 month credit. I thanked them and asked over and over "So, I don't have to make a payment for the next three months?" May was included in this making my next payment in August. Then, at the beginning of September 2018, my service was shut off. CenturyLink said I owed 200 dollars. The credit was not put onto my account. I spent five hours on the phone with CenturyLink yesterday only to get a response of "We can take the 18 dollars off of the final payment...". I was transferred for the (not exaggerating) 17th time that day to another person (who was lovely). I had to explain my story for the last time.

I finally said in a direct tone "I will pay you 60 dollars right now to get service on and erase those previous payments from June and July which you promised me. That is seven over what I owe you for the month. If you cannot give me that, I want to cancel service immediately." The representative put me on hold to speak with her supervisor. It was the only time I was on hold for less than 20 minutes. She immediately told me "I'm sorry Mr. ** but we cannot do that." to which I immediately answered "Then I need you to cancel service for me." She did. The final representative I spoke to was excellent. She was understanding and truly cared about my plight. I will gladly pay what remains of my CenturyLink bill and go somewhere else just to never deal with CenturyLink again.

A few things that drive me crazy: - After four years of service and partnership with CenturyLink, why back-door me on a deal only to give me the run around for 5 hours to only infuriate me to the point of cancelling service? Is that what my business is worth to you? 200 dollars? 4 months (or 2 from back in April) of service? Is your company in the red or bleeding that you need 200 dollars from me immediately? I know nothing of internet service. As disappointed as I am with you charging me 100 dollars a month, you could have just lied to me back in May and continued your amoral business practice. I would have kept paying it. Instead, you lower the price and then blindside me with a 200 dollar payment and no service.

I understand I'm not a customer. I understand I am just a number to you. However, after only two years of service, I know plenty of people that get free stuff from their internet/cable provider. Sunday Ticket, Showtime, free phone line, etc. Those end up costing upwards of 200+ dollars. I'd put more but I must go in... The fog is rising. Au revoir CenturyLink et benne chance à tous ceux qui les choisissent.

Updated on 09/08/2018: I called to reconfirm my transfer date of 9/8/18 and was informed that it was pushed back yet again to 10/8. I immediately asked to speak with a manager. This gentleman was A LOT better than the woman I spoke to the day before. He actually did try to help, but failed. Needless to say, 21 years of loyalty does not get you anywhere. I would not recommend CenturyLink to anyone. If this is how they treat their loyal customers, I would hate to see how the employees are treated. Someone needs to take them over and make some big changes. It wouldn't surprise me if they went under. I will never do business with CenturyLink again!!!

I have contacted my local state attorney general's office and the FCC, and Better Business Bureau to see if they can intervene. As of now. CenturyLink is unwilling to change their stance. CenturyLink has a monopoly over landline and internet service. Me and my grandma may just get cell phones and turn off both of our landline and internet services. My grandma only get 660.00 on social security and her phone bill went from 42.00 to 85.00. If you are considering using their services, I would strongly urge new customers not to buy anything from them.

Most told me it was impossible to get same-day (not true) and at least one intentionally disconnected me while I was supposedly on hold waiting for a supervisor to accelerate my case. When I finally got a supervisor on the line 5 hours later, they said they could have accelerated it and gotten someone out that day if I had gotten to them an hour earlier! I threatened to cancel (for the 3rd time that day) and the supervisor got me on the schedule for a next-day (Sunday 8/5) repair. Things were looking up, and the technician came on time and replaced the modem again and tinkered with the phone line and said there was a short in the line coming in. Other than continued internet speeds at less than half what is advertised for the plan I am paying for, everything has seemed to work well since.

I should mention that during each of the multiple phone conversations I had during those few days, every person I talked to had specifically stated that all repairs to "their" line & equipment would be free, repairs to "our" line would cost $85 service fee, and the technician would get explicit approval to do any repair that would result in cost to us. NEITHER technician indicated any such thing. Now a month later, I receive a bill that I expect to be somewhat lower due to the promised bill credit for service downtime, and instead it is ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS more. Yep, I was charged for the repair, even though the technician did not state that his work would incur a charge. I believe they lied about this because I had already indicated my willingness to just cancel my service and move on with another provider rather than wait longer for another ineffective "repair."

Because their customer support hours are ridiculous for a service company, I tried their internet chat feature this evening to emphatically state that I wanted the $100 charge removed and the bill credit I was promised. The person on the chat instead offered to find additional features for my account that would "benefit me" (?) and eventually informed me that they have no access to prior customer support records so there was nothing they could do about my problem. Why would you tout the online chat support if they have no access to anything and can't actually help with any problems? Why, of course, to try to up-sell you more services! As if someone contacting them about a $100 overcharge is going to be willing to talk about paying them more!

All of this is on top of the fact that every time I do independent testing of my internet speed, it is less than half of the mbps that I am paying for to begin with. I am ready to move on - this is beyond bad customer service and into deceptive practices - a total racket. I am going to contact the MN State Attorney General's office tomorrow to see if there is any way to report them or get any advocacy.

I then call later this afternoon and get told that nobody was home when the tech came by, no true. I then ask for his supervisor and was told that he just happened to be in a meeting. Still no resolution. I come home and call the tech line. The tech checks the order ticket and tells me that the order is still open. I ask him to check my lines to see if I have service and he tells me that I have no service. He then transferred me to customer service. The guy who answered the phone acted like he couldn’t hear me and hung up. I then call back and a lady finally helps me. However, she tells me that I have no service confirming what I already knew. She tells me that she will need to transfer me to the orders department, but they are closed. I will get them one more try tomorrow morning. If I do not get resolution Cox will get a new customer. This has to be the worst customer service in the industry!

I told them to cancel all services. They said, well, you'll be charged a $180 cancellation fee, because your contract expires Sept 7th. I was happy, I can wait a few weeks to cancel. I called today, now they are saying my contract doesn't expire until May 2019!! Screw it, I said cancel the services. Then they put me on hold to "cancel" my service and hung up. What a joke. Do not go with this company... You will be pulling your hair out by month two.

Updated on 09/25/2018: Haley called me on Thursday to resolve some issues with my previous complaint with CenturyLink. She said she would call me back on Saturday. It is now Tuesday and no callback. Also, my service was just turned off and we have no internet.

So here we are, almost a full 4 months since service was interrupted (no internet to the house whatsoever) and still not fixed, that they are still getting paid for through auto-pay. Called CenturyLink to get auto-pay turned off and all you get is bounced around then conveniently hung up on. Called CenturyLink to get a refund for the months that we have not been getting the service we are paying for, get bounced around to different departments and then conveniently hung up on. Called CenturyLink to get the name on the account fixed because the person who initially set up the account added some extra letters (maybe for flair because 'Alex' was too boring?! , get bounced around and 7 months later, the name is STILL misspelled.

Just today (9/4/18) we have had to call CenturyLink back twice from conveniently being hung up on (and I say conveniently hung up on because it can't be coincidence that their phone lines work perfectly right up until you start criticizing their service EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.YOU.CALL). The current call we were on lasted just over the 1 hour mark, 90% of which was on hold and the balance of the time was simply trying to locate the account information. Truthfully, I am a little annoyed that I had to select any stars - frankly one star is giving them too much credit. Does anyone at CenturyLink read the reviews and complaints on virtually every Social Media platform there is about their overall service as a product, but also the poor customer service?!

On top of this, the billing never makes sense. You sign up for a particular service and rate, but each month my bill is different, sometimes varying by a great deal. Watch out for when your introductory rates end - they've doubled my fees a few times, to the point where I was paying $80/month for the 40 Mbps service even though they have faster services available for cheaper... How does that make sense? Don't even bother with tech support, they have no intention of fixing your problems, they just try to fool you into not calling back and complaining for a while. As long as nothing else is available, I'll have to stick with CenturyLink, but they are by far the most unethical business I've ever dealt with, and it really bothers me that I don't have alternatives. They DO NOT deserve my business or yours. Avoid them if you can.

This past week, I called once more to correct my bill (as I have been getting double billed for DISH and DTV) and was told I needed to cancel with DISH. They then put me through to DISH. This was the first time I was told this. Now, Embarq tells me that I owe for July and August DISH services (which I haven't had since DTV cut the DISH cable to do their install on July 5th). I sent a written complaint to Embarq but am basically being told there is nothing I can do about this. What I would like is a proper contact in which to escalate this issue. I am a long time customer of Embarq (at least since 2000). The amount in dispute is close to $200. Thank you.

Our broadband is completely unstable according to personal testing and testing from the technicians and supports at CenturyLink. No amount of optimization helped our situation. Our ping/latency whichever you prefer to call it would always spike to a height that is unacceptable for what we are currently paying (which is $45 a month plus tax). Something as simple as downloading a picture would send our ping through the roof to about 400+. There were even times where it would go over a thousand. I have tried everything in my power with all the knowledge of wireless and hard-wired connection I possess to try and at least solve the unstable portion of the problem, but it bore no fruit.

The amount of disappointment is immeasurable for we have dealt with problems evolving becoming worst as time went on from day one. We can't even switch to another company with DSL or Fiber cables due to our location which just adds insult to injury. I apologize if this sounds too harsh, but all honesty I cannot put into words how infuriating this is. Gaming is nearly impossible, uploading music to Youtube takes literally all day, downloading of ANY kind can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours depending on what is being downloaded. Lastly, our only other options are to simply continue deal with the awful service, switch to satellite internet (which is not ideal considering we live in Florida and it's been raining almost all year), or relocated which is rather difficult at the moment.

In Colorado they sent modems I never requested and proceeded to charge me every month. I explained I never requested or used their modems and should have a refund of the charges. They wouldn't refund the charges and asked for me to send the modems back. They sent a return label so I sent it back. The next few months I was still charged? Another few hours and several calls later they finally took the modems off the bill but, never returned the payments I made?

It has been 7 months now still the bills come in wrong and after at least 10 phone calls to billing, customer service, customer retention (what a joke) and more still the bills are wrong. We are now going to try to figure out how much we overpaid and take another run at it before we are forced to find other phone service. I would NEVER recommend anyone to deal with this company. All our friends have had similar experiences.

I had called their customer (abuse) service so many times over the past years I lost count. They had no written proof or a recording of the conversation, and I called them on it. They didn't like that. And like I expected, they refused to do anything about it. They could have, at the least, reduced the "cancellation fee", but would not. I filed a grievance with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, and am waiting on a response from CenturyLink. ConsumerAffairs will mediate this sort of thing but it's all voluntary, so I don't expect them to participate. I am a 62 year old veteran living on a limited income. I still work a $12 an hour job. My 61 year old wife is unemployed. This is how CenturyLink treats ten year customers.

Now I need the "customer loyalty" department to cancel the service. Had I not insisted on getting the phone number before being transferred I would have another hour on hold to get the number of transferred. When I was transferred to the loyalty department it simply said it was after hours and hung up on me. Unless you enjoy poor billing practices and quality time with your phone on hold I would recommend avoiding CenturyLink completely.

One day no one was on any devices, except me and my old smartphone at his home and it didn't work at all. My data plan worked instead. It seems to work better, after midnight, during the week when everyone else in the community is in bed. His home is located less than 2 miles from the station, or main box, or whatever it is called, according to the tech guy. This is a growing, popular area, which they seem to have a monopoly on, but instead of upgrading the equipment to meet the new demands CenturyLink does nothing. Are they rationing the services instead? I just recently moved from a small community in Texas where I had CenturyLink and never had issues like this. A lot of people here are disgusted and will leave them if another viable option becomes available.

CL doesn't mention DirecTV at all, but collections has my 2016 account. Service in CO wouldn't let me use old AZ account because service levels/prices weren't the same and for local phone line so no way it's 2015 service. Want letter from CL pulling it out of collections sent to me and actually pulled, never had DirecTV service through any carrier.

Updated on 09/11/2018: I filed a dispute with TransUnion at the same time CL was 'reviewing my account' to get back to me about this issue, after responding here on Consumer Affairs. CenturyLink was still 'reviewing' when TransUnion settled the dispute on 8/31/2018 and removed the $150 from my credit report. I had asked CL to send me a letter stating that the account had a zero balance, and to tell the collection agency to send me a letter showing the account had been pulled/closed with a zero balance.

As of 9/11/18 CL has not responded to me since 8/30, before TransUnion removed it. I contacted the collection agency, EOS CCA on 9/11/18 asking them the status of the account; they told me that CL 'never sent them a copy of a bill proving the debt is real' so it can't go on my credit. However, the account is apparently still open as a collection - CL not being able to prove these charges only means it can't go on my credit report, and they say I 'still owe the $150'. I believe CenturyLink is just ignoring this altogether; without a letter stating this has been pulled from collections, it could get sold to a different collection agency at any time, and wreck my credit again. This one collection dropped my credit by 90 points.

I want CenturyLink to send me a letter stating this has been pulled out of collections, and to tell the collection agency to send me a letter showing the account has been closed, with zero money owed. EOS CCA stated they can't do that unless CL tells them to, as the company who placed me in collections in the first place. They couldn't send a copy of a final bill because one doesn't exist, because these charges are fraudulent; I had hoped it was a mistake, but now I think CL is tacking on bogus charges to an old customer, hoping I'll just pay out to fix my credit.

I never write reviews and when I do it's because I'm super impressed. This is the complete opposite. I'm going out of my way to do this because customers' voices need to be heard. I feel that this company should NOT exist and will eventually flush itself down the toilet if it stays on this same path. Century may quite literally be "THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD". Please DO NOT respond to this review CenturyLink because I quite frankly DO NOT CARE about ANYTHING that you have to say. Your company is PITIFUL.

I called customer care today on 08/25/18 and automated system said I can only chat with an agent and can't talk. I chatted with an agent and she said I will get a prorated credit and have to wait for 2-3 days. I Asked why I even got the bill in the 1st place for $45 for the period I canceled my account and all she says is I get prorated credit. I used different internet services in my life but this is the worst internet and customer service I ever received and slammed with bills. Never recommend CenturyLink to anyone.

At 8pm, I turned all my lights off and laid down. I did not receive any notification of rescheduling. Today I’ve called all the telephone numbers provided to me and those online. Every one goes straight to a non-functioning number. I am now trying to find a more reputable and dependable carrier. Wish I had seen these reviews first.

I wish I had a copy of my original contract. I would pursue it further but I don’t unfortunately. And of course CenturyLink doesn’t have their record straight either. I spoke to a representative when I first transferred my service and he said my price would be good for another two years and then when I received my bill it was three times higher than what I was expecting. When I called and they said if I send back the modem that I didn’t even want they would reduce my price. I don’t find it professional on their side to make me have to send back items that I never asked for. These people and this company are very confused. They don’t have good recordkeeping nor do they actually care about the independent person only the final dollar figure.

When I called to cancel the representative told me there was no such contract that ever existed that I was previously on. I asked him not to disrespect me further considering I know what my contract was and said. I had also spoke with a representative who was familiar with my previous contract. When I moved they change my account number which wiped out my pre-existing contract and I never requested that to happen nor did anyone tell me that would happen. I had a five-year contract that was transferable as per their contract and they did not carry through with their side.

If I had more time and money I would’ve definitely take this to the next level but I’m sure their lawyers are better than mine. The words class action lawsuit come to mind. CenturyLink is a scam and if you do go with them I suggest you keep very close records to every person you speak with including their employee ID number because CenturyLink is not keeping good notes on their side.

I have called the billing department/customer service organization 4 times this morning (they use of foreign call center so... enough said), spent over an hour being routed from department to department, verified the account five different times, and yet to speak with anyone who could actually get into the account and verify the final billing balance. Unbelievable, but to be expected in dealing with CenturyLink. As stated earlier - they are the worst and do not seem to care.

Even when I negotiate a new rate, their first new bill is always incorrect and chock full of fraud and deceit and then I have to battle endlessly to get the bill adjusted down to where they promised it would be. I have had to complain to the FCC and the state attorney general office of consumer affairs three years in a row. They cause me fear and terror every time I have to deal with them because I know they will try to cheat me. They are terrorists. The State of Minnesota is currently suing them for fraud and cheating their customers. The US Justice Dept should sue them as well. Currently, my internet and phone go out every time it rains or drizzles where I live. They refuse to come out and fix it. They couldn't care less. Think long and hard before you choose CL as your carrier if you have a choice.

We only have internet service, and in a month we will have to unplug the modem at a minimum of 2-4 times a month! When you are finally fed up with crappy service and customer service and you get them to send someone they give you a time frame between 8am-6pm! Yes, that’s right! Please wait ALL DAY! In the end, it’s the worse service that I’ve been a part of. The only redeeming quality is when and only when the internet is up it’s good, but that’s only when it’s running.

Updated on 08/24/2018: Today is 8-24-18 and we have been trying to get a simple service for 20 days of phone and internet. I have sent pictures to CenturyLink on social media and online show the temp phone line on the ground not buried. Many people said they will escalate the process and get the telephone line buried. NIP... it ain't happening, just saw the temp telephone line out in the grass. Just got the phone line attached on 8-21-18 .. Every time we call CenturyLink company we get rookies asking the same questions and repeating the same story. The left hand does not tell the right hand. What is going on. We need another phone company to provide services.

Second Update on 09/03/2018: Did you know that the Social Media clerks online have sent my problems and escalated them to the level of getting them fixed. The Social media clerks advised that the exposed temporary telephone wire will be on a ticket to be buried today 9-03-18. We had one day of service and 21 days of A lot of PROMISES, LIES, BUT no service or NO tech or NO communication from CENTURYLINK. BUT today is the day to really see if CENTURYLINK can provide the customer service and bury the exposed TELEPHONE LINE. WE will be talking to the Local Television station if they don't.

We called and complained about the long wait for a technician to come out and they promised us a month's credit for our 1990's level internet speeds. We never received that credit. They began raising our bill about the same time as the repair ticket without any notice, which became a strain on us. In July I arranged to make a partial payment using my SO's debit card. During the process, it is presented as an open arrangement in which you pay half now using whatever payment method and the other half by a certain date, using whatever payment method. Well, sure enough, they hit my SO's account for the other half without us ever authorizing them to.

My SO finally got sick of the internet speeds, which at that particular moment had slowed to a whopping .333 Mbps (relatively common to our experience.) We decided to switch to another service offering 50 Mbps. I called today to dispute the unauthorized payment taken from his account and to end service with CenturyLink. I spent an hour and 40 minutes, 3/4 of it on hold.

The financial services department was completely unhelpful and condescending. I explained to them that I never authorized a second payment be taken from my SO's debit card, they tried giving me a story that I'd somehow inherently agreed to it by agreeing to make the first payment, even though it was never implied in any way, shape, or form at the time. The first woman went as far as telling me "I've never had anyone call that didn't get that." She promised me she wasn't implicating I was stupid for not "just knowing" it was that way, though it's never even hinted at during the process. I explained that, had it been, I would have taken a different route.

After speaking to her, to no avail, I spoke with her supervisor - who was even more condescending and uncaring of the situation. By the end of that conversation, I ended up on hold for 20 minutes to talk to the supervisor’s boss. She seemed friendlier, but stuck me on and off hold for 30 minutes just to come back and tell me they couldn't do anything because I authorized the 2nd payment. (I didn't.) I finally told her to transfer me to customer support to end my service with them.

After waiting another 30 minutes on hold, I finally get transferred to the guy who can end my nightmarish service with them. I explained what had happened with our consistently terrible internet speeds, unannounced bill increases, and finally unauthorized bank charges that financial services didn't care to fix. He offered to transfer me back to financial services and I told him "no, just please end my service." He agrees, puts me on hold for 15 more minutes only for financial services to show up back on the line to tell him and me "We can't do anything because she authorized the 2nd payment." (I didn't.) I wanted them to make note of why we were leaving and end my service at this point. (I was an hour late back to work on my lunch because of all of this.)

I finally got my service ended after two hours of being treated as if I were stupid for not being psychically able to foresee their future theft from an outside bank account that they had no right to. (My SO's name isn't even on my account.) The only offer that was made to reconcile the .5 - 1 Mbps service I'd paid 10 Mbps prices for going on two years, was a $10 per month lifetime credit for future service. I told them "no thanks, I'm never using CenturyLink again."

This corporation abuses its customers and rips them off because they know they can. They don't even have to be nice about it, because often, they are the only company offering service in many areas. They falsely advertise and sell speeds that they don't even deliver one tenth of. My last bill was $112 for the month of July for .250 to .5 Mbps internet and basic landline phone service. We couldn't stream anything at all by the end of it. To top it off, they stole money from a 3rd party's bank account without authorization to do so. Their defense, well - we say you okayed it - so that's what it is. I guess it's my word against theirs, so I lose.

This company is a criminal monopoly (duopoly in my town, we're lucky enough to have a second company to attain service from) and I can't wait until the day they get put out of business and the ones in charge who are pushing this false advertising and theft are put in jail! We aren't rich, we work hard for every penny we earn - these people are exploiting, abusing, and stealing from their customers and it makes me sick!

Original Review: Aug. 20, 2018

I've been with CenturyLink for several years now, with a modem that they didn't give me the option to buy until I had leased it for over 3 years, then they wanted me to pay $100 to buy the old modem I already had paid 3x that much to lease? And was outdated? AND the lease price keeps going up?!? Also my speeds keep going down and the price keeps going up - it's gone up over $15/month for worse and worse service. Every time I try to talk to a person they can't help me, no matter which number I call or which department I ask for, and they transfer me to a different person. After that I am either on an interminable hold or get hung up on, or have to be transferred to another person.

It's a vicious cycle and nothing ever gets accomplished except I get angrier. I've finally given up on trying to do anything since I only end up wasting my time and nothing happens. You win, CenturyLink. Except now I want to cancel because I'm moving and they don't even offer service in my new area - but they won't let you cancel except by talking to a person and I've been on hold for over an hour today. And you can only cancel during business hours. Who has time to take out of their regular job to cancel service? You're the worst.

They admit that there is no stable internet service to my home. I’ll give them one more Tech visit, but if they BS me again. I am done. They also oversold me and my home could not handle the higher speed. Along with crashing 1 day after adjustments every time. Customer service is awful!!! They answer call after cue and disconnect. Very frustrating and rude experience all around. Good thing I kept my Xfinity account open. I just rewired my boxes. CenturyLink could care less about inconveniencing its customers. This is what I have learned engaging with this outfit.

"Dear Sirs: You have been impossible to deal with on the phone. I have been disconnected 4 times trying to resolve this matter. I put up with terrible service with you for 5 years with it consistently getting worse. The last time on Feb. 28, 2017 after the technician left it stopped working within 30 minutes and the tech would not come back and I was told it would the following Monday before a technician would come fix it. I told you at this time to disconnect me because I was finished with your incapability to serve me. I had told you earlier in February I would not pay my bill until it worked without interruptions for 30 days.

I spent numerous hours on the phone with you and waiting for technicians to arrive over the 5 years to repair my service. I paid you for 24 hour 7 days a week service which I never received. I sent you a bill for $935.00 for you wasting my time trying to restore your service over a period of 5 years. You did not disconnect my service at the time I requested but ignored me and keep charging me which I will not pay for. I am going to pay for the last month of DirecTV which is $112.02. I expect you to pay me a sum of $935.00 as billed to you prior. When I receive a check from you I will consider this matter closed."

After 5 months, I finally received confirmation from a customer service representative that we have not been under contract since February of 2018. I asked to have this resolved by a supervisor. I spent 30 minutes on the phone thinking I was being transferred to a supervisor, when I was, in fact, transferred to an out-of-service phone number. Now I have to start this process all over again. This practice is clearly deception and may violate consumer protection regulations.

After giving me my contact number, I was disconnected. I am still waiting for someone to call me back. Went to their website and found through customer relations their "Unresolved Issue - Email Us" website. Sent message about not being able to terminate service and received a reply email saying someone will contact me in 24 hours... Still have not hear anything from Century Link after two days. My strategy now is to stop paying bill until they figure out that I am no longer paying and they automatically terminate the service. It will screw up my credit, but it will be easier to repair my credit than to deal with CenturyLink. I can't light no more of your darkness, I'm letting the sun go down on Century Link. Good Riddance.

I just want my one month refund and my new modem so my internet works. The whole MONOPOLY of Centurylink is like dealing with a bunch of untrained idiots reading from a script. The moment a new provider comes to our area, I'm out (along with a good share of my 1800 other acquaintances in the town)... Train your help Centurylink...and do right by your customers, I shouldn't have to pay for something I never received. And fix my stuff!!!

When I ask to speak to a supervisor I'm put on hold until I give up and write this review on my PC. At this point I don't need a phone or internet from CenturyLink. I'm going to switch back to cable and cancel all of the CenturyLink and DirecTV accounts since they can't make them work. It's very frustrating talking to someone in the Philippines who doesn't speak very good English and can't help with anything other than what comes up on his computer screen. It's time to get rid of this poorly run company and let everyone I know how terrible the customer service is with CenturyLink. Good riddance to a lousy company (that used to be great).

Original Review: Aug. 13, 2018

I want to start by saying that the people I have talked to on the phone have been very friendly. However it seems that that is as far as their skill set extends. I am a long time customer with CenturyLink. However, for the last few years, it is because I have no other choice. They are the only provider in my area and I don't get a strong enough cell signal to switch to a wifi hotspot and cell phone service.

The trouble started when they offered to move me from 3Mbps to 6Mbps at no extra charge. That sounded great. The minute they did the switch, my phone line became riddled with static and almost unusable. I contacted customer service and the service tech arrived within a reasonable amount of days. They said the problem was in the house. I had worked as a sub-contractor for Time-Warner and had the skills, equipment and know how to install a phone line so I did just that. I confirmed that the line had static at the NID. I disconnected all other lines in the house and ran a single new line to the location of the modem just so I could tell them with confidence that it wasn't an inside problem.

The second trip out, the tech swapped out our old modem for a newer model and told us that was the issue. Still no joy. I asked customer service several times to check their new connection at their panel. After several weeks of horrible phone service, they finally checked their own equipment and found out they had a bad board. After they fixed that, service went back to normal.

Since then, it has been a long, extremely trying relationship. From billing issues to issues with returned/ exchanged equipment. We suffered a lightning strike about a year ago now and lost the modem. I went through a month or more of being told several times the replacement modem would arrive in two business days, only to finally find out that the modem was discontinued and couldn't be shipped. The order also seemed to disappear a few times. During this time I was forced to purchase a modem of my own. I got it working and was able to use the internet again. Finally, the replacement modem shows up, but it has the wrong power cord with it. I took it to the closest CL storefront (which is over an hour away) to get the correct cord and to return the fried modem. I thought all was finally back to good. Once again, no joy.

The modem wasn't returned properly. After several months went by, I noticed that I was getting billed for two modems. I was forced to go back to the store to get this corrected. Luckily, I had my receipt. I was happy to see a credit for the double billings. The bill I was receiving kept creeping up. I had noticed that somehow, the monthly charge for in home service had been slipped back into the confusing mess that their statement is. I had refused this charge from the beginning since I only had the one phone connection and could repair that myself. I had that removed and decided that since the modem bought was working just fine, I didn't need to keep paying a rental fee to CL.

Returning the modem was a huge hassle. I returned the modem I had to the storefront and got a receipt. (This turned out to be the last time I could talk to someone in person since that storefront was closed soon after.) The returns didn't work for some reason. I was billed for a piece of equipment I didn't have and was told I didn't return and was still getting charged a rental fee for the second modem. I did finally get this worked out, but not until several attempts were made and copies of receipts were sent in (email and fax). The worst of which was during a chat session where after explaining my billing issues, they answered with a sales pitch for their price for life program.

I am now experiencing line troubles after yet another storm. The first week, I could have a static filled phone line or DSL service, but not both at the same time. The tech "fixed" the problem by removing the repair the tech of almost a year ago put in place. I was out of town for a week, during which we had another heavy rainstorm which toppled several trees in the area and knocked out our power for almost 12 hours, and now I don't have a dial tone at all. This was tested with a phone that is known to be working on the port at the back of the house. I entered a service request Saturday evening and was given an AMAZING window of ONE WEEK! No specific day, just a "We'll be there before Friday at 5 pm." I truly hope they take the time trace the problem to the source this time.

I am stuck with CenturyLink for communications service right now. At least their new plan doesn't have the "loyalty" discounts. Why should I be the one to have to ask for a discount for being a long time "loyal" customer in good standing. However, a competitor is moving into my neighborhood. It may be a year or two more before they reach my street, but I will be switching just as soon as I am able if CenturyLink can't get it together. Good luck CenturyLink.

Original Review: Aug. 12, 2018

We have had Centurylink since they were CenturyTel, more than 10 years. We live in a rural area and have not dropped them primarily because we want the phone service. However, the internet we receive is completely unreliable. When it rains even a little, service goes bad. Often during any given day, the speed wavers from less than 1/10 of a Meg per second up to what we pay for, which is 1.5 Meg per second. When we call, they insist on strenuously explaining to us EVERY SINGLE TIME, that the plan we pay for is only 1.5mps.

We walk through all the solutions -- how things are connected, etc. They give us a different excuse every time - it's the devices, it's the modem, it's the connection. We purchased a better modem which worked better, but then when the system throttles down again they tell us it must be the unsupported modem so we have to switch back and pay them another $11 a month for a crappy modem.

The last thing really takes the cake. We pay $10 a month extra for their "service" which is supposed to provide us with checks of the system inside our home. After calling and begging multiple times, they finally agree to send someone out. We take off work for an entire day to be here, but no one shows up. When we call and ask why, they tell us they came out but nothing was found.

The first CSR tells my husband that they came and didn't find anything so they left. When he pressed, a different CSR said that if they check from the outside and find nothing wrong, they don't go to the door. Yet another said they did go to the door and spoke to someone but they don't know who. When I called, the CSR (extremely condescendingly) told me the technician came to our door and spoke to "the customer" who told them they did not call in a ticket and there is nothing wrong with their internet. Why on earth, after begging and pleading for someone to come out, would we tell them there was nothing wrong and we don't know why they came???

Needless to say, I asked for a supervisor, at which time she hung up on me. As they usually do. They provide us our phone, so they know our phone number - plus the fact that their automated system and every person you speak to asks for phone number and social security number at least twice in every conversation. But they never call back or apologize for hanging up. CenturyLink service is so terrible that it borders on the ludicrous. We're trapped into this rinky-dink slow internet, that works only about 70% of the time, until someone (anyone, please) runs fiber down our 1-mile country road, or until we pay another $100 a month for satellite internet. Which will also go out when it rains, right? So much for living in 2018...

Original Review: Aug. 10, 2018

This is not a complaint regarding the Internet. CenturyLink (CL) internet is the best. When I moved about three months ago, I called CL and a young lady arranged with me to transfer my account over to my new address. She related some confusion over managing the necessary phone number change but eventually said my name would no longer be associated with the old address, but there might be a final bill. Subsequently, I've been getting bills from my old address, my name on the website is associated with three phone numbers only one of which is actually mine, and according to a CL rep, the person now living at the old address has somehow become associated with my acct!

She mentioned his name and wanted to know if we were friends or something. I've tried solving these problems online numerous times with and without assistance (never got beyond attempted address changes which all failed), and that's when the lies started. Multiple times I was told that the problem had been corrected, only to find it had not. Today, some three months later, I got another bill forwarded to me for an account I have no real association with in any way. So I spent a frustrating hour on the phone with CL reps who passed me around, lied and hung up on me. There is no customer complaint or quality control phone number but was able to email the issue to them. If or when the mess is cleaned up I may come back here and update the review.

I called 2 days later and still not done, finally got a Supervisor of Finance, now being told can take up to 90 days, and now the "old" account can't be found??? Something is obviously wrong. How can one person find it, and now it just be gone? We got rid of our land line so they changed our number, accounts have to follow a person!!! How hard is it to transfer the payment from a closed account and credit the new? Obviously very. I am very, very unhappy. They treat you like you are a liar! I'm sure this review will not help me get this issue taken care of, but I have nothing to lose at this point except my $148.60. I have records to back me up so they will not get another penny out of me!

Long story short it was an hour away. When I finally got the package I noticed that it was correct but my name and apartment number was missing. A CenturyLink technician even stopped by exactly a week after I initially set up my service to verify that my Internet was working and when we told him we still haven't received our modem he didn't seem surprised. So here I sit, an hour away from home, trapped in traffic with a screaming baby in the back seat! I'll update my post if I decide to stick with CenturyLink.

It appears I was not told the truth that he had checked out the panel as this would have been obvious had he done so. He was going to change me to another line but then called back again to tell me the office was closed. Not trying to be Captain Obvious here but after 5 on a Saturday evening, duh? I was told he would be back by Wednesday. So here I am on Wednesday, waiting on the technician only to find out my work order has been cancelled. Even though the modem is presently connected, I have 4 logs from the modem where it has disconnected, retrained and reconnected over 15 times in the last day. Their last attempt to resolve the problem is to send another DSL modem. As I am informed by the support person, these are repaired modems. I have to question the quality of repair since this will be the second modem, and the service on the line and their panel equipment has so far proven subpar.

I have contacted support a number of times and they say they can't detect anything wrong with the connection. I requested a technician who was scheduled to stop by between 1pm-4pm but then shows up at 10am so I have to run home from work to let him in and of course my internet is working just fine as it's not peak hours so he can't do anything. He offered to switch out my equipment but we both agreed that it most likely wouldn't fix anything as the equipment performs just fine during non-peak hours.

They seem to throttle connections during peak hours or just don't have the infrastructure setup to handle the traffic. Whichever it is there is absolutely no point in ordering anything more than their lowest speed plan in my area as the performance of the higher speed plans when most people use it is an absolute joke. I attached an image of some speed tests that I have taken recently. The peaks are tests during non-peak hours and the dips are the speeds I get during peak hours. Can't say I would ever recommend their service but thankfully I have 1 other option in my area that I will be looking into.

8-1-18 No delivery, called back. Upset customer, sent up to manager after 31 minutes. Spent another 19 minutes with manager during which we determined that our area now has “bonded DSL lines” This requires a VDSL2 modem that we do not have. All this to say, CenturyLink knew they changed lines in our area and chose not to notify customer and wasted over 2 hours troubleshooting a problem they already know that we had and THEY actually caused... Amazing. By the way, so far no confirmation numbers have been traceable when we call back so they are apparently made up by the tech on the spot and not logged. Not impressed for a technology company. But anyway so sorry for the problem, they will send one out to arrive by 8-4-18.

8-7-18 Still no modem. Since the last confirmation number is also not trackable we start from the beginning once again. Folks, you can't make this level of incompetence up. Spent another 33 minutes starting over with tech support and they don't actually know about VDSL2 or bonded lines and that the product we have is not compatible. Let’s try a supervisor! She decides this warrants a discussion customer retention which feels a lot like an attempt to anger the customer since her delivery time for the product they caused us to need has an 8 business day delivery now! Then she accident dropped the call, but in my mind it was a hang up.

Yes they have our number because we pay them for phone service but no they don't call back. Same day, call #2. Manage to get the “parts dept”. They are happy to ship one today!!! Amazing, they will add to our bill. So TWO weeks in on a problem they caused and now we have to buy a part that we just hope they actually ship. In any other business, this would be an epic fail... but based on the reviews from the last few days it's just business as usual.

They will spend hours and sometimes days trying to rectify our connection issues. Sadly, for them, they support a sub-par product that is inferior in every single aspect. If it rains, our Internet DSL drops constantly, getting as many as 1,000 resets in a 24 hour period! Additionally, the phone line gets a VERY LOUD BUZZ that continues for days after the rain clears up! We are hostage to this service because of where we live - if you have a choice - choose someone else.

On June 14th, the phone line having seemed to have been cut off when I tried to see if I had, at least, a dial tone so I could make an attempt to speak to someone again, as we were contemplating terminating the account and wondering if things had improved. The service being unsatisfactory anyway, I then called CenturyLink to officially and permanently terminate our phone account. My wife and I both spoke to "Alex" on this occasion, from about 12.15 p.m. to after 12.30 pm, each listening to the other's conversation as witnesses, and he agreed to terminate our account officially. He gave his badge number as **.

A subsequent CenturyLink billing included a charge of over $200 for this disconnected "service" (added to our usual monthly internet billing of just under $70) and we are refusing to pay, due to the service being cut off by CenturyLink without notice within a week or two of installation. It is true that a fellow had "installed" it, which involved punching a few numbers into our system in a visit which seemed to last about three minutes at the most.

But the service was not good, was shut down by CenturyLink, according to the CSR, within one or two weeks without notice, and we had both asked for the account to be terminated on June 14th. We have had internet service for two years or more with CenturyLink and have always paid our bills until now. We are disgusted with this whole situation. The tech who had come to our house to 'install' the service, claimed he was increasing our internet speed but it has actually been a lot slower since his visit.

Summary: We don't want the phone service. It was not "as advertised" and there was horrible static; we had service for two weeks at the most and actually stopped using it after a day or two; then we were disconnected with no forewarning and charged well over $200 by CenturyLink. We are disgusted with what we had thought was a reputable company.

We asked if they could waive those charges given the circumstances... They said "oh the last department could have done that for you at the time of reconnect, now you need to wait 30 days until the next billing cycle to request the charges be removed". Waited, called back, account was STILL inaccessible and could not pay on app/site/phone. After a maddening amount of time spend transferring between departments again Tech Support was able to get us back into the account and finally credit the $25 reconnect fee. While on the website I saw "price for life $55 1 Gig (1000 Mbps) speed for the same price we are paying for 40 Mbps. Asked if they could bump us up to the advertised speed on the website after we verified the deal was available in our area. Tech said "no we can't in this department, call back tomorrow and have The Loyalty Team take care of it for you".

Called the next day to have The Loyalty Team say they couldn't do it... We had to chat with The Online Team. The Online Team said the deal was for new customers only... But to call back The Loyalty Team because that department FOR SURE can honor the deal for us. I took screenshots of this information including the name of the agent. When calling back The Loyalty Team they said "we apologize for the misinformation... But there is no way for us to honor the advertised price". Eventually I gave up and had spent way too much time wrestling with them. At the end I asked "well can you at least credit my bill for all of the trouble we've been through from the start including this!?" They said they would issue a $35 Visa gift card...then...Wait! "The system won't allow me to issue you the gift card. Let me give you the phone number to our Visa Gift Card department..."

I laughed, and had basically gone numb from this extreme nonsense. About an hour later I said "** I'm calling that #". The Visa Gift Card department said that The Loyalty Team put a note stating to issue us a $30 gift card (somewhere we lost five bucks lol). HOWEVER... The Loyalty Team MUST be the ones to issue the card and The Visa Gift Card department has nothing to do with issuing Visa gift cards. I told them that I do not want their gift card and I will be shopping for better service. Maybe I should take some of the blame for entertaining the idea that something would eventually go smooth and continuing down their "rabbit hole" of **. I bet most normal people would have just left sooner.

Some of the employees couldn’t find my account and when I talked to someone who could finally find it they said there was nothing they could do even though they said they saw that I called in May to cancel it and again in June. I finally asked to talk to a supervisor. He basically told me it was out of their hands and that I should learn to pay my bills. He also said it would be more expensive for me to try anything legal so might as well just pay it. At this point I was in tears and explained that it was a mistake on their end and it needs to be fixed. He continued to say “Why would I keep listening to you when there’s nothing I can do, just pay it lady.” I can’t believe they would treat anyone like that! The internet never worked either. DO NOT USE CENTURYLINK!!!

Jump forward to August 2018 -- get a collections notice from a third party company requesting I pay them $125.00 from CenturyLink, AND they posted it to my credit, which made my credit drop 40+ points overnight. I called CenturyLink today, and Anita (employee **) as HORRIBLE -- kept telling me I didn't return the equipment, but did they bother to call and tell me anything-- did they send me collection notices the past year or two? I did get collection notices at first, but then verified with them that their service sucked, and showed billing from Comcast that I had switched back to Comcast during the times they said that I still had active service from them. Why would I keep two active home and internet connections simultaneously? Going to deal with the collection company now, but IF ANYTHING SOLIDIFIES MY HATRED OF CENTURYLINK--- this just reinforced WHY I QUIT THEM!!! Stay away from CenturyLink at all costs!!!

Updated on 08/10/2018: DAY 4 STILL NO REPAIR SERVICE. The bill came, no service, great way to make money. Now I have taken off a total of 4 days to wait for CenturyLink's verified service date, no one ever called or showed up. MONOPOLIES ARE THE NEW SOCIALISM.

2013-2014: Residential phone transferred to my son’s name because he was working from Las Vegas and need to use it exclusively. Mid May, 2018: Called to transfer the phone from residential to business and change name from my son to my business because he was going to work out-of-state. We were told it could not be done on the phone and we needed to go physically to a store.

May 29, 2018: My son and I went to the store. It took approximately 2 hours for the rep to complete the transaction because he had trouble with the computer. All the while, the wait line was getting long with irritated customers and the store only had one rep and one manager. The manager of the store did not help in any way, shape, or form, as customers started to complain and leave. She simply could not be bothered to help the rep. We left the store when were told that everything was complete and the transfer would be effective in 4-5 days. The rep confirmed that call forwarding (very important to my business), call waiting, and call block were reinstated. Approximate time wasted: 2 to 2.5 hours.

Mid-June: Called CenturyLink because I was unable to block unwanted calls or forward calls. I was put on hold for over an hour and then transferred at least two more times and put on hold again. Finally, I was able to get a hold of a live person and was told I should be able to block and to press *60 to block and to press *72 to forward. I tried and neither worked. THE REP LIED TO ME. I was too busy growing my business and was frankly, tired of having to deal with CenturyLink, so I decided to get an additional cell phone for the office. In other words, CenturyLink was charging me for a phone that I was told would function to my needs, but in reality, it did not. Approximate time wasted: 1.5 to 2 hours.

July 29, 2018: My son was visiting and gave me a statement from CenturyLink (sent via U.S. Postal Service). Per the bill, there were no changes made whatsoever; in fact, CenturyLink lied to me and even had the nerve to tack on late fees for errors they had made i.e. Century Link neglected to transfer the account to my business resulting in failure to send me the bill.

July 30, 2018: I called CenturyLink and was put on hold, transferred and put on hold, transferred and put on hold, for over an hour again. Finally, I spoke with a live person who adjusted my bill for the late fees. However, I had paid a deposit of $25.00 and asked what it was for. I was informed that it was due to bad credit. I almost had a coronary and told the rep that this was a direct insult to me because my credit score is near perfect and since my business is brand new, my credit score should have been used. I asked for a refund of the $25.00 and was asked if I had a receipt. I told her I had a receipt. She stated that I should take the receipt to the store and get a refund.

I vehemently refused because I was sick and tired of the run-around, lies, insults, and inefficiencies at CenturyLink and was not going to waste another 2-3 hours in the store. I informed the rep that if she refused to refund the $25.00, I would contact the local TV stations and get my money back through that channel. I demanded to speak with a supervisor and was transferred and put on hold for a long time again. Finally, I spoke with a Supervisor and after a few back-and-forth conversations, he adjusted my bill. Approximate time wasted: 2.5 to 3 hours.

July 31, 2018: Paid the bill in full. August 2, 2018: I saw a news broadcast on local Channel 13 about CenturyLink refusing to fix an elderly lady’s landline services damaged due to a powerful windstorm. It had been a month and true to CenturyLink’s horrible Customer Service, they lied to this poor lady and the blame was passed on from one department to another. This poor lady did not have access to call 911 in case of an emergency. Her granddaughter contacted the TV station, and progress was made. Shame on CenturyLink.

August 3, 2018: Checked online. Still no changes made. I called once again. I was transferred and put on hold for over an hour, again. While my landline was on hold, I called the Sales Department on my cell phone and voila, a live person answered instantly. Imagine that!!! Total Shock and Awe!!! I told the sales rep that I really did not need the Sales Dept. but I was sick of CenturyLink wasting my valuable business time by transferring me and putting me on hold. She told me that she can handle customer service issues and was more than happy to help me. She was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and went the extra mile to take care of the transfer. Of course, I asked for her supervisor’s email and sent an email with a glowing review. All the time that it took the sales rep to fix my phone problem, my landline was still on hold. Approximate time wasted: 3 to 3.5 hours. Really, CenturyLink???

August 4, 2018: Checked online. Changes made. Nevertheless, I decided to transfer my phone service to another carrier. It is unfortunate that as a decades-long customer, I had to switch. CenturyLink needs to up its game in customer service, limit numerous transfers and minimize hold times, if it wants to retain customers. As shown above, I have lost business income by wasting so many hours of my productive time to straighten out the mess that CenturyLink created. No wonder CenturyLink has such poor reviews. If I could give a zero rating, I would.

July 17 - I was expecting a tech appt to assist me with the IP setup. In the morning, I had NO internet service so I contacted CenturyLink customer service to see if the IP had been activated (still had not received the new modem needed to activate this IP). Huge runaround to confirm that yes, they activated my Static IP, making my current modem useless. Fortunately UPS showed up sometime that afternoon and I was able to get the internet service back online. Today - my IP address has changed. I contacted customer service again to see what was going on. Multiple phone calls, only to provide my personal information to three or four different customer service representatives each time, who then in turn would transfer me to fax machines and nonexisting phone numbers.

Finally, I was informed that there was failure on the agent's part who set up my static IP address on July 17th. And now the engineering and programming team is working on giving me a new static address that should be available August 10th (another 7 days). Of course, the agent could not provide any of the additional steps, so I will be contacting again on Friday next week to see if my IP address has been set up and get direction in the final setup process on my end.

CenturyLink customer service is **, nobody knows anything, whatever happened to assisted transfers so that I don't have to provide my information seven different and explain the issue over and over and over again? The third time that I had called and informed the gal not to look into my account on her end and just transfer me to the advanced tech people - I was hung up on. Thanks Trish/Krish.

Now I'm going on about a month here trying to get the static IP address setup and for some reason your tech gurus can't even make that work. What about expedited service? You failed to set it up a month ago, why make me wait another week? The way I see it... I've already spent 3 and a half hours on customer service lines with you guys and multiple hours of missed work because the situation hasn't been handled. Now, I expect more time next week and thereafter. My small business relies on reliable internet service and the static IP address to do certain tasks. So, where do I send my invoice for time spent with you and recovery of time lost due to CenturyLink's insufficient ability to do their job?

Updated on 08/20/2018: I got a canned reply "We feel bad about your trouble with CenturyLink" and offered no help and nothing more from them. I think this is a waste of time here as all you get is lip service from CenturyLink. Thanks Consumer Affairs for helping. Off to look for another provider for me and my customers.

I still planned on switching to CenturyLink even though I couldn't get the promotion that I wanted until I was so rudely hung up on by the agent. Needless to say I will not be switching to CenturyLink now. If they hang up on customers who are trying to sign up and pay them money, I can just imagine how they treat their current customers when they experience problems. Even though Xfinity is more expensive and not as good as a deal, I would much rather be able to call them without being hung up on for no reason. I guess I should have just listened to all my neighbors who told me not to go with CenturyLink because they have had the worst experiences with them. If you're reading this, don't waste your time calling to figure out that they have the worst customer service out of any business I have ever had to deal with. Look for service elsewhere!!!

I drive to the other side of Naples, to the store, because silly me that it would be best to deliver it to them directly. At the store I was told that they can't submit the return for my refund because I purchased from a third party. He gave me the # for customer service and said to call them immediately upon leaving. I knew this was about to get worse. Customer service told me to return to the store and have the man from the store call them. The manager of that store and the man who helped me, told me that there was nothing that they could do. They gave me the equipment back to me and wished me good luck. The manager also said that if I had had the modem for more than 14 days, I would not get a refund. News to me!!!

I again find myself hanging out in CenturyLink Purgatory. Long waits to talk to someone, terrible music and finally a new answer. "If you purchased the equipment, you cannot return it". Seriously? I paid $105 for this modem, because it is cheaper than renting monthly. It had never been taken out of the box! When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that it would be a 45 to 60 minute wait. I asked if one could call me back and he said that they will only do it if it for something extreme. Really? This is extremely important to me. I asked him to check with a supervisor and ask if my problem qualified as extreme. I was told that he would have to wait until one walks by and had no idea how long that would be! Every person with CenturyLink told me something different. How is this possible?

I have wasted hours dealing with CenturyLink. Not to mention gas and mileage, going to and returning to the store. There's more. I could continue, but I'm tired of wasting time with this horrible company. I am so frustrated and disgusted! And, before CenturyLink tells me in their Robo Reply that they would like to help me with this, tell me who to contact. And it must be someone other than customer service!

Two weeks later and 5 (sent emails) I call again to find that nothing had been received. So AGAIN I resend the documents and immediately call back to confirm. I was then informed about the 48 hours to process again. Here we are 6 days later and I am (currently as I type this) again on the phone... getting ** nowhere at all. I am 1,000% fed up with this whole experience. This is the single worst, most unprofessional transaction I have been involved in with a company in my 33 years of life. I will be writing reviews on EVERY major website, social media, BBB. etc.

The afternoon of July 13th, I called CenturyLink to cancel my service and heard all the normal surprise when I detailed the missed appointments and failure to call back as stated by previous reps. I was offered reduced pricing at which point I told her that I wanted to cancel as I doubted that CenturyLink would ever be able to complete the service installation. She finally agreed to cancel with an effective date of July 20 (current end of billing period). I told her that my service was terminated shortly after 8:00 am on July 3rd. She put me on hold for a minute and then came back on and stated that they would backdate the service to July 3rd and make the cancellation effective July 16th. She gave me a cancellation confirmation number **.

Checking my account, I see that they have billed me for the full amount for the next period of service. After seeing this, I used the CenturyLink Escalation form for residential customers to detail my cancellation and billing adjustment request. I received a reply acknowledging a cancellation request made on July 13th, but that CenturyLink had failed to place the order. They also said I needed to call "customer service" to request the cancellation and billing adjustment. My experience tells me that talking to "customer service" is a complete waste of time. My next steps are contacting the MN State Attorney General and the FCC to file complaints.

After 30 minutes of waiting on hold, I hung up, with the knowledge that we will soon be moving and will NOT be using CenturyLink in the future. I am disheartened by this experience. I feel lied to. I feel taken advantage of. I feel as if I have wasted hours of my life on the phone with incompetent/uncaring customer service employees. I feel as if I am simply a pawn in CenturyLink's corporate capitalist game of monopolizing a service that in this day and age, has become a need. I can live with paying the unjust bill, but I cannot live with the greed that has become the new normal.

Call my representative. Was told it was all worked out. Second month got another bill for double the amount plus a late charge. Call my representative again. Couldn't get anywhere. Called CenturyLink. Couldn't get through. Went to live chat. Was on live chat for over an hour and a half. Still didn't get anywhere even after talking to a supervisor. They refused to honor my quote that I have written down in black and white. Be forewarned. Do not go with CenturyLink. Read their reviews. They suck. Should not have switched. I am regretting it deeply now. Not worth all the hassle. Please do your research. They are not worth it!!!

June 26, 2018 I called customer service and downgraded my service to a cheaper plan, which they told me was for a one year term, with prorated termination charge and ending in June of 2019. They tried to sell me internet for life, but that price was higher than I am paying, so I told them NO. Early morning July 12 they downgrade my service as I requested, but they totally messed it up and cut my internet to 1.5 Mbps or nothing at all, which meant neither my Prism or internet was usable, so I was dead in the water. Tried to explain to customer service that they messed up my order and it wasn't a physical problem at my end but a programming issue. I wasted my breath on them, they asked me "did you change anything, move wires around etc." This happened in the middle of the night.

Trouble ticket ** was given me with a possible dispatch of over 24 hours and a promise they'd call me if they needed to come to the house. July 13 late morning a CenturyLink truck pulls up, no phone call at all. He is in his truck for over an hour then comes in saying it's fixed. IT WAS PROGRAMMED WRONG. The technician was very nice and I mentioned another problem I was having and he said my year old modem is no longer supported so he swapped it out and fixed my problem. He also mentioned I had signed up for "INTERNET FOR LIFE", which I had not done, plus my internet speed went from 15-20 Mbps to 10 Mbps.

July 20 Tried chatting online to cancel TV and they kept pushing DirecTV telling me how happy I would be, etc. I got nowhere so I called customer service to straighten this out and we worked out a deal for $116 plus taxes on my bill. Was told there was no early termination fee on the internet and the Prism TV was prorated fee. July 24 get a letter stating my termination fees are back to $400 to disconnect their service. Next week I will cancel Prism TV after trying to get this termination fee resolved. It also is very hard to understand people in customer service and they fail to explain details about how your billing and termination will change. They need to stop pushing DirecTV.

At my new house, I made a conference call with the previous owner of the house about transferring services as we were instructed by CenturyLink. When I recently called about issues with the service, I was told that they could not discuss the account with me since it was under the previous owner's phone number. The account however, shows my email address as the contact address. I was told that it could only be addressed with the previous owner's permission as they had no notes of any transfer of service. I have not been able to get a hold of him so I went ahead and got service from a new provider.

Today I tried to cancel the service but as I figured it can't be done without notification from the previous owner and no one has a solution. So I am seemingly stuck now having to pay for several months of service on my previous account and may be stuck with bills over several months on a new account when the mistakes were made by the CenturyLink employees. Absolutely ridiculous!

My mother who barely uses the TV, doesn't use internet (her grandson does) is about fed up and is about to call and cancel her service after having this line for over 30 years. I'm sure I'll have to deal with CenturyLink charging her early disconnect fees then which will be fine because we'll see you in court as I have recorded every phone conversation she has had with CenturyLink and DirecTV through a wonderful cell phone app (ACR Automatic Call Recorder, free on Android) and I encourage everyone else that's having issues do the same if it's legal in your state as it is in NC. It's a shame a company has this bad a reputation and is still the only option for service in most of this area.

Original Review: July 25, 2018

I have been a customer of CenturyLink for 3 years and always paid my bill. My bill was 140.00 then went to higher amounts and currently 256.00 and they say they cannot help me get it lowered. I feel no customer allegiance and am ready to discontinue service. Cannot afford it anymore on fixed income.

When I talked with the customer rep they clearly were able to look up the information on their system and recited correctly all the key data items associated with my account (acct #, email address, username, etc.) and they said I should be able to log on and be recognized by their system. I told them it wasn't working and they said they couldn't help me because it should be working. Again -- laughable! I guess I will just end up getting cancelled when I can't pay my bill because apparently I don't really exist in their system... Then I will just switch over to Cox Communications for my internet service. Thanks for making me feel so welcome, CenturyLink!

I have started dropping connection again some of which are happening while on the phone with clients resulting in disconnection from my work network which then results in disciplinary action. I get charged whenever I am late paying my bill, but not once have I been compensated for lack of service or for lost wages due to these issues. All I want is to have uninterrupted internet connection at the speeds I am paying for. I have kept notes of the time & date of every call with customer service as well as all tech visits, & modem changes & the results from every interaction I have with the company/employees. I have not nor do I really want to seek legal advice but feel I have no other options at this point, & since this last deal of not even having a phone for 3 days & dropping connections now 2 to 3 times a day for the past 2 weeks, which has resulted in loss of pay & frustration beyond imagination.

I resent, while on hold for 30 minutes for an Internet issue to be continually told by the robo recording to "go to Century Link.com and chat" (rather than waiting 30 minutes for a live voice in the tech dept.) I asked the tech person about passing along my complaint about #3. She said there's no connection between the tech and customer service. I then waited another 20 minutes to talk to a customer service person (who said she was actually with the sales department). She said, after listening patiently to my complaint, that she would pass along the complaint to the "highest levels" and offered, after my insisting, that someone would email me back, acknowledging my complaint.

Agents on the phone tell me my account was closed other agents tell me it's active. They told me today that they can see me account was cancelled but it didn't go through. Then another person. Tells me sorry no one put notes in your account so you will only get refunded two months. I was hung up on when transferred after a 50 minute call and 1 hr and 24 minutes on the chat online and when the conversation was almost over I was under able to print the conversation but thankfully took a bunch of pictures before I closed out of my screen. I've been stolen over 400.00 without giving consent no one will help me and no one will send me information I need nor can I get through to someone to get my money back because they all just keep transferring me saying wrong department!!!

This truly epitomizes poor customer service. The misinformation I receive from technical support is the norm. Just one of many examples is this: I called this morning (the call ended up being 1-1/2 hours long) to follow up on any progress with this issue. I finally (after going through 2 tech support people who could not tell me anything helpful), was told that the slow internet speed in my area has been a problem for the last "month" and that CenturyLink is working on it, but there is no information about how long that could be. I was assured that I would receive a communication within 24 hours re. this problem. If I do not hear anything, I will keep trying until I get some resolution.

I have literally spent a total of five hours between chatting online and speaking over the phone with representatives about a billing issue. Apparently my bill was under a promotional offer, CenturyLink's promotional offer had expired on my bill and two months later I realized what had happened. They directly withdrew unauthorized astronomical amounts from my bank account. The amount that they withdrew was three to four times the price of my original internet charges, this was all while CenturyLink claims to have their prices for life, etc. CenturyLink had not notified me that my discount had ended, or was about to end. CenturyLink never notified me of the rate increase when I was under the impression that the price was set for life.

After my five hours of dealing with terrible service representatives, now my price is set for life at the same price it would have been but they left me with a bill that was four times my original amount. Thank you CenturyLink for the false claims, false advertisement and a false sense that you care about your customers. I didn't want to switch companies but unfortunately, you were unable to fix the problem this time. Xfinity, offers the same prices for better speeds and better customer service. CenturyLink you lost a loyal customer.

Each time took a whole bunch of effort to resolve. Then the customer service person said that she would fix the issue, and didn't. Also they are overcharging by continuing to charge for Movie Channels I haven't authorized. I tried to cancel a few times (on weekends) but I have to call back during business hours (when I'm working). This whole company is a sham. I am so angry with them for messing up my account, taking NO RESPONSIBILITY, and having very poor customer service. They owe me a few hundred dollars and I don't know how to get it back.

Updated on 07/24/2018: This is a follow up for the review that I wrote a few days ago. After calling again and being transferred at least 5 times, calls dropped, disconnected, told that they can't find my account, etc. etc. I finally hung up and called back again this afternoon. That time the man told me he sees a credit on my account and that everything is fine. He said they fixed the problem. That he sent a signal to the t.v. and it should be fine when I arrive home. I was happy. I arrived home and that is NOT what happened. Service still suspended. I tried reaching CenturyLink, but of course I couldn't reach anyone in tech support because they said they couldn't help because the bill wasn't paid. BACK TO SQUARE ONE!

After calling again a few times I gave up - called DirecTV. They said they can't help because I'm bundled with CenturyLink - She gave me a different number to call. I called that and after the round and round, someone said she found my account. GUESS WHAT? IT'S not only suspended it's DISCONNECTED! I said that was impossible. Once she got her supervisor, and of course I'm verifying everything over and over and over... She said the previous person brought up the wrong account! So I verified everything again. OOPS they now found my account and she "sees notes". She puts me on hold to talk with DirecTV herself. I have to give her the error messages... The saga goes on and on. MEANWHILE they are still overcharging every month - I don't have service, but I have paid my service and wasn't even late. This company is HORRIBLE.

Moved to new house in May 2017 where CenturyLink was the sole internet provider for the area. Round 2 began with their poor practices. Canceled account in June 2018, and returned the modem to them. I received a bill in June (expected) and paid it. Then received another bill in July. Service period on that bill was after the date they received the modem. Basically they will not cancel your account until you just quit paying them, at which time it will go on your credit as a collection account.

The sales person told us we could use our current router. It turns out, no we had to rent one from CenturyLink. It was supposed to be mailed to us, we waited and waited and waited, gave up and went to the store to get the modem. The one that was sent to us never came!!!! We made numerous calls to CenturyLink and just got lied to, it's on the way... As it turns out one was never sent!!!! I could not more strongly tell people SAVE YOURSELF. DO NOT!!!! get DirecTV/Century Link!!!!

I had to first talk to another sales rep in "retention" whose job was to convince me to stay. After I repeated my story, instead of an apology I was told I misunderstood the deal and that it was actually two separate deals. After I turned down being "retained" due to the mistrust I developed from the initial sales call, the retainment rep hung up on me. I called back again, explained my situation to another detainment rep, only to get put on long hold and disconnected again. And this happened a third time! I waited another day to call back and finally received a receptive voice who said my service order was cancelled and I would not get a bill. I received a bill and equipment in the mail. When I returned it to a local office in Las Vegas the woman at the counter said my account was still open. I asked her to cancel it and she said she couldn't. I had to call the "retention" office. I told her I already did. No apologies. Just "have a nice day."

So the following routine occurred through June: I would get a monthly bill from CenturyLink for service never received; I would call their customer service number and explain all over and they reassured me my account was cancelled. When the bill arrived again in June I noticed something new. A number to call at the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to report complaints.

I called and spoke with a PUC person who said she had a contact with a CenturyLink employee in their Bloomfield, CO regional HQ whom she worked with to get issues resolved. I had to give my story details, account number, etc and notes over the phone. Within a week I received a call from a woman from CenturyLink saying my account balance "received a credit." When I asked for clarification she said I had a zero balance. No apologies. I should have done more homework on this company. Research the lawsuits. See how CenturyLink claims they have no customers. This is a heart of darkness.

That was great until the service didn't work. Long story short, after numerous phone calls they sent a tech out to replace modem. Still didn't work, was told it was trying to connect to the previous modem I was asked to send back. That modem was in another state, the 2nd tech installed another modem. Still didn't work, yet I continue to pay my bill so I wouldn't fall behind as I struggled very hard that year due to unfortunate circumstances. They say, "Thank you for being so patient and a long time customer. We will adjust your bill for the time you didn't have service." That never happened. The 3rd tech came out and find the last two modems were not the correct ones for the upgrade.

He installs the new one. Says, "You should be up and running now." Well it was then got a huge bill. My service was $55 per month. Suddenly I had $150 charge on the bill. Call in. Spend 2 hours finding out why and explained I couldn't pay that amount and why would I if it's advertised as free modem with upgrade? They "suspended" my account but continued to bill me monthly and late fees. I found out today what their suspended means is they still provide the service to your address but block you from using the internet.

Because they provide service to the address you still get billed plus late fees. I requested they come pick up their equipment and I will get another company for internet needs. They refused to work out anything even after I said I would pay for the service I did not receive but would not pay $150 for a modem which was advertised as free only to have 2 others installed then months later put the correct one in and bill you for it. That's not free at all and caused nothing but wasting my time, causing me loss in money from my business. That's how CenturyLink says thank you for being a long time great paying customer. I hope this helps others to not be taken advantage of.

The last lady asked if I had the receipt and then gave me a fax number to fax it in but no one specific to talk to. I looked all over the bill for the fax number and there isn’t one on the bill. I have to say if this is not resolved I’m going to disconnect my CenturyLink and use a different provider. I am completely irritated and can’t even begin to express my frustration with this.

I am giving them this last chance to correct this issue and I am done! I would highly recommend you finding another provider. I'm a small-town guy I don't have a lot of options but anybody, and I stress anybody has got to be better than this! I'm not even going into the story that I've had to go through since having these guys. I am serious! The worst experience I've ever had! I will tell you the service technician was awesome and very friendly and very apologetic. That does nothing for the company though who provide shotty and crappy service!

I was told that since I wasn’t at home, they wouldn’t be able to assist me today. Clark ** was the representative I was chatting with, he continued to end our chat session! The 2 hours I spent chatting and on the phone with CenturyLink was a complete waste of my time! I furthermore called them back and this lady representative took my phone number and said she would call me back as to why the appointment we had on July 24th was canceled! At this point my service technician appointment was pushed out to July 30th was the earliest! Find a different internet provider!!! CenturyLink is junk!!