CenturyLink Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have talked to 5 people regarding the billing and each person said they would straighten it out but I am still getting billed. Just recently they sent my account to a collection agency. The last Qwest representative I talked to said she would make sure I didn't get any more disconnect notices but I got one about 3 weeks after speaking with her.

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

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

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

We spoke to a Qwest representative who acknowledged that the plan was changed but he didn't know why or how it happened. He assured us that we would be put on our original plan and be refunded the difference for as long as the change occurred. A week later, we received a credit for $198.00 which was only a third of the overages. We then spoke to several representatives who refused to send us paper copies of our billing history and also refused to honor the calling plan we contracted into.

They claim that they can keep the other eight months of payment because I did not tell them they never hooked up the line. The line is one of four to my business and was used exclusively for DSL, was not part of our answering service or roll over service for incoming phone calls. They claim it is my fault for not discovering their mistake sooner.

They feel they should keep eight months and one week of payments for a line they NEVER INSTALLED. I think this is just wrong. The state PUC which never met a business it couldn´t protect sides with Qwest who says the phone was out of service when in fact it never was in service.

I made arrangements to be there and no one showed up between 8am and 6.30pm. I called repeatedly and was told eventually by a supervisor that someone would be there at 8am the next morning. Again, I took time off work and had Direct TV showing up during the morning but they needed a phone line. No one showed up or called. Eventually, someone from Qwest arrived at 1pm. Direct TV meanwhile couldn't come out as they were given the wrong address by Qwest, so that was reschedule for Aug 3rd.

When I subsequently called to ask for compensation, I was told I would have a month’s credit. I have just got off the phone after receiving a bill with no credit - and being on hold to speak to someone yet again who could authorize a credit. If I could change my service I would, but living in a remote area it is difficult to get other service providers.

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

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

After waiting today again for someone

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

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


We should be doing 10 times the volume of business
that we currently have. This translates to big, lost dollars that cannot be made. Out customers are on vacation and here for 1 or 2 weeks. They plan their

None yet but I'm sure they will turn off at least my DirecTV because I deducted one month when making June payment.

We never had any collections. We have negative consequences in our credit report beside the fact that it is nerve wrecking to get these calls and not being able to end it.

I have been diligent about paying my bills to get my credit rating back up. If this goes to collections, it will be an unwarranted scar on my credit.

While talking to the sales department to get my service turned back on she convinced me to change to MSN Internet which would provide me with faster speed for less money. The changeover was due 3 days from the date filed. Two weeks later I had not been changed over and had to call Qwest servicecs to find out why. I was told that the order was cancelled by sales and they apologized to me and, after pointing out the misrepresentation, they gave me a $200 credit (20 a month) for the contract I was supposed to have in the first place.

At this time I was also told that my current email was going to continue for between 30-90 days. Today I woke up and found my email service was shut off. When I called Qwest I was told that it was due to the changeover and that the mailbox was deleted. However, my new MSN packet had not arrived yet so I have no email. My service had not been changed over and I have to wait until the end of the day to have my service changed over to MSN 5.0. Repeatedly I have had misrepresentions from the company. Each time I get a 'sincere' apology and the promise it will be fixed.

My downtime this time with my email will cause hours of my time to fix since I am on mailing lists and servers which delete me if I am not reachable. My first problem with Qwest cost me over 200 in ovechrage charges because I spent so much time trying to get my services on.

Qwest is trying hard to figure out how it happened, and has acknowledged that there was a problem that they are attempting to ameliorate. For me, the broader problem is how to prevent this sort of situation from recurring in the future as I do not wish to be charged for and held responsible for purchased of any kind that I did not order, but especially this sort of material. I was informed by a Qwest customer service employee that there are more charges for *********** on my next bill. They stated that their corporate policy does not allow them to remove these illegal charges to my account and that although there was some kind of problem that allowed the charges I would still have to pay them.

I do not understand a policy that does not take into consideration the fact that these kind of mistakes in the system happen and remove the charges that obviously do not belong to me, a long term, customer who does not have a history of purchasing this sort of material at all. it is clear that someone obtained access to my account and then proceeded to order daily this filth. I do not want to pay for the present nor future charges to my account for ************ material. If you were to go over my account it would become clear that I rarely order movies of any kind and especially not ***********. I have already been a recent victim of identity theft and I do not wish to be victimized again.

A few more months went by and then I got a notice from Qwest that they were raising the rate again to $4.99/mo. I decided that I was definitely not going to pay $5/mo for a service I don't use. Within 3 or 4 days of receiving that notice, I called Qwest to request that they cancel my long distance service and after sitting through the whole procedure, I was notified that I would be charged a $5 cancellation fee. I called back and explained to the customer service rep that I had never even implicitly agreed to long distance service at $4.99/mo and therefore a cancellation fee is completely bogus. She adamantly disagreed and said that every long distance carrier does this, etc.

Finally, when I threatened to do whatever necessary to resolve this, including filing a complaint with the FCC and getting a lawyer, she relunctantly backed down and said that IF I called back after I get my bill, they'll most likely reverse the cancellation fee just to be nice and just this once. Now... I understand raising rates on services. I also understand charging a cancellation fee if that was the agreement from the start. But it seems like it ought to be illegal to charge a cancellation fee for me not agreeing to continue service at a higher rate than I originally agreed to. If it's ok for them hike the rate by $2 and then charge me $5 for not agreeing to continue the service, then why couldn't they hike the rate by $200/mo and then charge me a $1000 cancellation fee if I want out?

I have been notified that I will incur financial damage of $5. While not a significant amount, I believe the principle is significant.

I have lost business, since I spent years building a reputation, but with my advertizing going to another number. Now I can't advertize at all with Qwest unless I spend even more money and get land line phone with Qwest- which I would have had in the first place...

Talking on the telephone is almost impossible. My son works in the evenings, I am always concerned that in an emergency, our line will be out and he would be unable to contact us.

After I got hooked-up and dumped cable I recieved my first bill which looked nothing like my verified sign-up page. I was charged another 5$ for not being a quailfying plan and I was also charged for the modem that was supposed to be free rental for the same reason. When I called to get it corrected Qwest reps told me I was out of luck unless I wanted to change to a more expensive plan that qualified. I tried that plan before and it took over 6 months to get the bill straightened out. No Thank You. I feel bad for getting screwed but even worse for telling other people about the deal they could get. Please don't give Qwest any more money.

I was charged more money than advertised. I had to go through hassle of stopping previous service and restarting it after I cancelled DSL. I was charged for shipping on Modem that was part of bundle. $$$$ lots of it.

While on a call with a internal Qwest accounting person earlier this year, some information leaked out on what could turn out to be a major design flaw in their billing system. I am a professional software tester and Quality Assurance Analyst and can see how my problem could result in millions of dollars (or tens of million) when multiplied across Qwest's customer base. After I terminated my service with Qwest in July 2005 (with Qwest's even sending me a $2.62 refund check), then on Oct 3, 2005 - out of the blue - a collection agency notice appears in my mailbox. Not only is this notice bogus, but Qwest made no effort to contact me - and remember, they just refunded me!

While the billing problem is a small amount, it has taken a lot of my personal time. I have let Qwest know that I plan on billing them at $75/hour for my research. This has affected my work, my cell phone charges and general health (I can't get as much rest as I need).

Now I am in the hole and it is going to take me quite some time to get out.

I called wanting to cancel my phones, because they did not hold up to their end of the agreement. They said that I had a contract and I was going to be charged $200.00 for each phone if I canceled the service. I was told if this kept happening I could cancel the service with no problem. That was a lie. I am still on the phone every month for corrections having to be made on my bill.

Mark should complaint to the Arizona Attorney General and the Arizona Public Utility Commisison. He can find them both in our Consumer Resources Guide.

I never got what they told me! I've asked twice now for a investagation on my charges, from my bills I have, they are taking away the minutes that I've used between cell to cell, and cell to home. Which in turn would cause my bills to be so high!

I have never been as irritated as I am with Qwest. I include being a Marine, licensed foster parent (DSHS) but this company has no idea what is going on and how they are treating loyal customers as hostages who are "stuck with the company." I cannot drop even two of my phones because somehow despite spending close to $2,000 the past sixteen months for a service that is supposed to be $89.95 a month, I would be hit with big penalty charges. I want to give up but hundreds of kids that are high risk and need sometimes to talk depend on the one number.

I discovered Wednesday 21st that I had Qwest extra-services that I never requested, such as caller ID, security screening, along with other undesired services. I spent 40 minutes on the phone Wednesday evening with four different Qwest employees for having these services removed. Five days later, we still have these services active. Still in the same period of time, we discovered that people who were trying to call us from outside Arizona (either from another state or from outside the country) could not reach us when our phone was plugged in. Actually, these people reached someone else's home at each call attempt, despite the fact that they were dialing our number correctly. I called Qwest about that problem. I was told that I had a kind of filter on my telephone line, and that I should dial a certain number in order to de-activate that filter ... but when I did it, I heard an automatic voice saying me "try again, try again, try again". Thus, five days later, we still could not receive long distance calls.

Economical damage of $108.90. I feel that I have been cheated and taken advantage of. I have given Qwest all of my business. Home phone, two cell phones, Internet, and DSL services. As a result of this charge I have cancelled my DSL through them I will be looking for a new Internet provider and a new wireless company. They will not be getting any more of my money than necessary from now on!

Also, I was told I would receive three $50 credit cards after I paid for the three phones and I only received two. When I received the first bill, the residential line was not included in the wireless plan and Qwest had a $193.22 equipment charge (first of several equipment charges). I called and complained and was told the mistake was mine and they couldnt change anything. After several phone calls and complaints, and nothing being done (they did give us a one time rebate of $150), I canceled my wireless plan in May and was charged a $200 per phone fee for canceling my wireless plan. For the time I had the wireless plan, and if the agreement I agreed to had been honored, the total cost should have been $638.99; Qwest has charged us $1808.45.

OK, in order to correct it we have to start from scratch and lose our e-mail address. Too much headache. Next, we discover that my husband is sending out e-mails that show up under my name. Qwest screws up the account setup. Both Qwest and MSN say there is no fix other than to set up a whole new account. However, they do not recycle e-mail addresses, so we'll lose those as well as being without service for 3 weeks. Next, we receive a package addressed to a man we have never heard of, at our address referencing our second telephone number (fax line and supposed to be DSL). Turns out it is the modem for DSL service on our second line. It will be billed to us, although the user name is someone else and the e-mail is something we never requested. Again, they have completely botched this order - I spent 3 straight hours on Friday, July 12, as well as numerous calls to Qwest and MSN.

The phone was shut off, no one knows who Natalia is, and I am now stuck with bills that I am not responsible for. Their only reply is that they dont have any record of the call that was placed from SF so I am responsible for the charges. I am a longtime customer and have always paid my bills. I did what I was told to do and am still being held accountable for chargers that I did not incur. They would rather lose a longtime customer and potentially thousands of dollars from an honest customer than to admit that their system did not work properly. Unfortunately I don't have that refernce number but I have reference number for another call that they have no record of. But of course their system is infallible.

Well, we finally got over that pain in the neck and then were shocked at an even deeper level by Qwest. We received a threatening letter from a collection agency saying that we hadn't paid a $600 bill we owed to Qwest for cellular service. Well, first of all, we have never owned a cell phone of any kind. Secondly, they didn't even have our correct address or phone number on the bill. Thirdly, we never received any prior warning about this bogus bill until it had been sent to collections and damaged our credit. Qwest was - as usual- confused and befuddled and rude at every level. They verified that we never had cellular service with them, but weren't going to fix the problem they had created with our credit. That was going to be up to us. Well, after some serious threatening, we got them to agree to call the collection agency and explain their mistake. But until it is all taken care of we will have that scar on our credit. What is their problem. Why are they so messed up?

I then received my April 1st 2002 phone bill and there was a charge on the bill of $2.00 that showed up in the section "Optional Services" -- this is a charge that is a monthly charge. The name of the charge is "Toll restriction services Individual & key lines." When I called to inquire about what this is the representative stated that this is a charge that will be charged every month in leau of choosing to pay the deposit for access to a long distance line. I was apalled. Not only have I been denied acess to a long distance line, I am being charged for them blocking the account EVERY MONTH!

Then, after never having paid for a particular directory assistance number - (602) 555-1212 - they charged me for a huge quantity of these calls last month. This was totally without warning. I could not find any listing for that particular number in reference to charges being incurred for its use, nor could the customer service representative direct me to such information. Additionally, I had previously paid a special surcharge to block all additional charges from my phoneline (to avoid this type of situation), and I still have this huge bill.

I know that I incurred at least $15 in charges for the directory assistance calls, but the other amounts probably add up to at least anoth $10 or so. I have also called the phone company twice, yielding no results other than waiting on hold for long periods of time. I made one call to the state's corporation commission which was never returned. I am disgusted with the amount of abuse that these guys are allowed to commit without penalties.

Actually Qwest is US West. Same company, different name. Oh, and there are plenty of new charges too, now that local telephone service is largely deregulated.

Bell South told me it was not their fault and if We did not pay then the service will be discontinued so we paid the bill. We rang the Qwest and they said I can enroll in the new plan and then they will give me the credit.

Willie needs to stop wasting time on the phone. He should write a very clear and detailed description of what happened and mail it via certified mail, return-receipt-requested, to Qwest with a copy to Verizon. He should state in the letter that the company is wrongfully charging him for service used by another party and state that he anticipates Qwest's timely action in voiding the charge. If this doesn't work, Willie can send copies of the letter to the Federal Communications Commission and his state Public Utilities Commission asking for their assistance.

I believe there is a lot they owe me for loss of clients in 1999 and 2000 that have been lost or money I would have made via technical support call I would have received if they did not overcharge me $700.00 and then shut our phones off that I use for business. They really hurt my business and my time I could have been spending with a client.

Outrageous phone bill -- one call for $104.12!

No damage reulted to me. I am concerned, however, about the thousands or even millions of extra dollars Quest is collecting this month if, indeed, "everybody" got double billed. Will Qwest voluntarily refund the overpay without to everybody without being asked? Why do I doubt that?

I contacted Qwest and was informed that the plan was no longer available since October 2000. They could sign me up for a new plan at 22 cents a minute for France and 10 cents a minute for Canada as of today with a monthly fee. I complained that the fees were outrageous and no notice was sent to me about the changes. The response I got was, "Sorry."

Finally, I had to call the Corporation Commission and file a formal complaint. They were required to respond to my complaint within a certain period of time and "Mary" from their executive office called and apologized, saying that the company has grown so quickly that they cannot keep up, and cannot provide good customer service. Supposedly the bill was settled, however I have yet to receive the requested confirmation letter. The damages that I suffered in the end were the result of my anger about this whole situation. It got to the point that I couldn't even talk about it without getting absolutely furious. Now that it's over I don't feel any better, the representative from Qwest that called apologized, but what does that do for the hours and hours that I spent on the phone trying to get this straightened out and how close my credit came to being damaged by something that wasn't my fault?

Sanjay should file a complaint with his state Public Utilities Commission and with the Federal Communications Commission.

I believe Qwest is on a quest to rip off their customers. Needless to say, I cancelled my account.