CenturyLink Reviews

I spoke with a manager today & I was told there was nothing he could do for me. The manager stated it was my responsibility to ask if I should return the modem. I asked them to check the account notes & they were unable to document anyone telling me to return the modem. I feel they have terrible customer service, considering no one thought to mention the modem to me. The manager was rude & arrogant, suggesting it was my fault & I could sell the modem on Craigslist. Additionally, they are only allowing me 2 weeks to pay the modem balance before they send me to collections. I would have happily returned the modem if I had known I needed to.

Since yesterday, when just all these happened, this time I have received nothing higher than approximately 3 Mbps. I have even been disconnected from Facebook running only the computer! They advertise for DSL, “Your connection 100% yours, 100% of the time, true speed all day every day.” Isn’t that misrepresentation?

This isn’t the only time they have goofed. When we moved here and heard that they were the only ones who provided services in this area, I called to set up at our new house. Our Internet service was not working. Someone had put a fence on the line severing it. So they ran a new line from our house to the backyard laying the line on top of the ground up the neighbors fence post and ran it along the top of their chain link fence, threw the line into a tree branch at the alley, down the alley wrapping it around another tree, back on the ground to the green phone box, throwing the extra line on the ground and connecting it. Then a couple of days later, the city came around to mow (I lived near the city park, the park is at the end of the alley where the line was dropped and connected to the box). I was online doing a very important online application for employment, which consisted of a test. (By the way, CenturyLink’s main office for techs and their trucks in my town was across the street from me, too.) I was disconnected. I was so upset to say the least! So I went through everything making sure nothing was accidentally disconnected. Then I took a nice walk outside leading all the way to the end of the block down the alley and to the box. You could only guess what I found. My cable had been cut by the park mower. (It wasn’t his fault.) CenturyLink had carelessly thrown the cable on the ground and never did come back to hang or bury the cable. This was a house I rented. The people that are in the house now are friends of ours. The cable still lays there. It took them nearly the entire day to fix this, as I watched their techs sitting outside smoking eating and talking.

Because CenturyLink refuses to give any unrude, helpful information or look into any of the wrongs they have done to me and thousands of other people, I have looked into other services as our little town is growing. I have found that CenturyLink has them limited as to what they offer and requires them to sell at least a basic phone line ($25.00) to each of their customers in order for them to operate in this area. This company can only offer me 1.5 Mbps with CenturyLink’s limits and I need at least 3.0 consistently if not more. I guess we have a contract that I was unaware of with CenturyLink and it comes due February 5 2011. I plan to cancel with them totally. I’m not sure what we will do as there is no other company that CenturyLink will allow in this area without their limits.

I also have a small photography business, and I have my own lab online that I work with. I get disconnected in the middle of customer orders constantly and have to call the company, cancel the order and then start all over.

I copied and pasted this straight from their website: “But why share your network connection? Why is a private, dedicated connection between you and our network so important? Simple. It lets you have true speed to go consistently fast all day, every day. CenturyLink gives you a direct connection to our network that's 100% yours, 100% of the time. A network designed to give you consistent speed every time you log on. So you can watch Hollywood's latest hits online, stream videos on YouTube or Hulu, and play games no matter when you're online. You get a private, direct connection to our network minimizing the impact of Internet rush hour. With a CenturyLink connection, you get instant access to our national network. So you can download full-length HD movies, play games online without slowing down and stream concerts in real time, all the time.”

And every bit of it we have done and it’s a line of **. With 10 Mbps, we should not be having any problem. In fact, talking to a real gaming expert, we only need at least 3.0 Mbps to run sufficiently. This is all misrepresentation, and they should not be providing services to anyone. I truly think this company is crooked. Someone needs to investigate this further and look deeper into this company’s deepest hidden files. Something is not right, and they are getting by with it! if I had a chance to sign against them, I will!

My small business cannot operate correctly and efficiently. My husband and I have no extra money for entertainment. This has been our only source and we enjoy doing this together. We have wasted our money and that has stressed us. We could have spent that money somewhere else ($65.00 per month just for 10 Mbps DSL).

I called Qwest on several occasions to try and get this resolved and to get a credit in the amount of $69.99 for the August and September auto-payments, after the August 4th disconnection of my internet service. I spoke to several representatives who would transfer me to other reps. They sometimes hang up on me or send me to another line where no one would answer when it would near 5 pm (closing time). I finally spoke to a rep named Andrew and a loyalty department rep named Dennis. They told me that the reason for the issue is because the person who was supposed to transfer my internet service from my old house to my new apartment did so incorrectly and caused 2 separate accounts. Andrew then told me that he would see to it that I receive a check refund in the mail for the overcharges. He then informed me that the person who originally transferred my account incorrectly would be fired. I found this quite unethical, as though I were to feel guilty for reporting these issues and for the over-charges.

Time passed and no check refund arrived. Out of the blue, I received a Qwest automated collections call stating that I owe $62.32 due to "non-payment". I spoke to another rep who said she could do nothing, but put a note on the account saying that I dispute the charge. She then said I'd receive a call within a few days from a credit manager. No one called. I then received an actual collections notice from a company called ER Solutions. Qwest had sent me to collections, not for non-payment of service as originally described, but now for non-return of equipment (a cheap internet modem), which I paid $20 for upon sign up. They conveniently changed the reason for demanding more money, after they actually owe me $69.99 for the additional auto-payment debits, which occurred after the August 4th disconnection due to "non-payment". And now they are attempting to damage my credit! I find this company to be one of the most unethical and non-responsive companies to ever exist. I cannot see how they are allowed to stay in business. I have already filed a complaint with BBB.

I called to cancel the Internet, and for two months, I was trying to pay off what I owed. And then this guy from another state told me that he can get me the Internet for $19.99 a month so I tried again. For the first month, my bill was okay. And then the second bill was to high again and they claimed that I was a month behind on my bill. So I went round and round with several different people and got really mad and told them that I did not want their service anymore and will never get it again because they have too many different people and states taking their calls, and everyone tells you something different.

Qwest is not as great as they make themselves out to be. When I had Clearwire Internet, I never had a problem with my bill. But with Qwest, every month it is something different, it is never the same amount that they quote you in the beginning. Qwest is not reliable either, their service is not always available, it always freezes up when I try to go to different sites. I will never own Qwest Internet again because they are not reliable at all. I am disabled. They have caused me not to trust anyone anymore. I feel that people today don't care what they do to disabled people. All they care about is making money.

Century Link has so many extra and unexplained charges that are beyond customary. The total charges for 4 weeks and 2 days for a phone and Internet service was $260.40. I think that it shows the excessiveness of the charges. They over charged me for the phone service; they charged me for additional local and optional services when I only wanted basic service. I was supposed to get credits, but was not. I was supposed to pay $19.95 for Internet, and for some reason, for the month it is over $109.00. There are taxes, surcharges, service charges, federal fund charges, central office charges, two service order charges and the list goes on. I am willing to pay for the month plus two extra days for Internet and basic phone service. I never signed any agreement.

There are too many complaints written in this space and I am completely unsatisfied with CenturyLink!

I do find it interesting that they have a link on this website to sell services. What a joke!

Most recently I had an issue with the internet and received the poorest service from IT techs to a manager, that I sought out another service. On 12-09-10, I noticed the internet flashing out of service but figured it would come back on as it does in most cases. On 12-10-10, I came home from work and it was still flashing out of service, internet light out all others lit.

Later that night, I called to speak to an IT tech Robert. I went through the reset motions and it was discovered after 35 minutes there was a major outage and was told it would be resolved in 24-48 hours and I would get a call when the repair was completed. The engineer said there was a card burnt out at a main station. On 12-11-10, I received a call to survey the repair that had been handled. I checked the service and it was still not working. I called Mark at tech support went through the reset motion 38 minutes later and was told the ticket was not worked yet. Then Mark said maybe it was the phone cord, power supply then said it was getting worked the weekend since it was an outage. On 12-12-10, no internet.

On 12-13-10, I came home from work and there was no internet. I called tech support and spoke with Heather that explained that the others were right about the outage and they needed more time. But we did do the reset motion and 23 minutes later, she stated they do not work on the weekends even if there is a major outage. And perhaps I was not understanding the 24-48 repair time frame. They would however schedule someone to come to my house and check the service. On 12-14-10, tech came to the house and said there was a card burnt in a box down the road and has been replaced and confirmed there was not a problem at the house.

Internet was working for a while but went down by 7:30 pm for the rest of the night. On 12-16-10, 5am the internet was working. On 12-17-10 morning, the internet was not working. I called tech support spoke to Benjamin and he said they would set up a Saturday call since there had been such a history of problems. On 12-18-10, I waited all day and there was no call and no one showed. On 12-19-10, I called and ask for someone to check on service since it was still not working and spoke to Alex.

Alex was not able to give me an answer but we did try the reset. Forty minutes later, I was finally transferred to a supervisor, Larry. Larry checked the account and said he did not understand why there was so many issues. Larry said sine it was a weekend night he would call back on Monday after 2pm when he stated his shift to give some answers of why the "poor service had been dropped." I finally got the hint and sought another phone and internet company. To this day, I have not heard back from Larry or any other techs and as far as I know I cannot have service from Centurylink since the repair has never been done.

Dear Residents: I wanted to tell you about some hidden charges associated with the Qwest / DirecTV offer that you will not know about until you have signed up for a two-year contract. Then it is too late. I basically recommend you do not get Qwest and DirecTV but instead explore other alternatives. The hidden charges are: A BSI charge of $6.56 to $8.88 a month and a DirecTV DVR Services fee which is a monthly service charge for DVR programming of $7 a month. So you altogether will be paying at least $13 more a month than advertised. Supposedly the BSI fee was in the fine print when my DirecTV was installed, if so, the installer didn't tell me about it. The other wasn't.

In any fine print, I could fine. Here’s the short story: BSI used to be a fee to service and maintain the dish receiver even though we only have one shared amongst us. The first few people didn't know what it was and I was bounced back and forth between Qwest and DirecTV trying to find out. One said that it was something our apartment manager had agreed to but she hadn't since I checked. Another who said that she had worked in that department said it was now optional but if you didn't pay it, you may have to pay $100 or more if your equipment needs servicing. The DVR fee is for the programming that changes month-to-month. It doesn't matter that they say you've leased the DVR for free in their ads. They didn't mention the programming, did they? Surprise! That's extra.

Here’s the rest of the long story for those interested in more details: You’d think all these things would be included in the Choice Xtra package I ordered. I was expecting to pay $34.99 as in the ad for the DirecTV plus $29.99 for the DSL for a total of $64.98. Instead, my last bill was for $125.72. The one before that was $92.32. The one before that was $105.02. I had it installed September 1. Part of it, they say, is that it turns out you also have to put in the rebates online before ordering. And apparently I signed up for the BSI fee during the installation but I can't find it mentioned on the work order receipt.

Other problems I've had with Qwest and DirecTV: Qwest tried to charge me a $20 installation fee for my DSL even though no technician ever came out since I already had a modem so did not an installation visit. They also tried to charge me an HD Access fee for $10 / month. While trying to sort out all these hidden fees a service representative mentioned some Starz Game application which I knew nothing about. I asked him to just send me a link, as I wasn't sure I wanted to sign up for it. Instead he signed me up for it.

I later asked another representative when trying to deal with one of these other billing problems, to make sure I wasn't signed up for this service and they assured me I wasn't. But I was and a charge of $45.96 appeared on my last bill. I had to track down and this was the cause. I made sure they canceled it this time and they said they would credit me the next bill. You always have to pay for their mistakes the first time you find them and then they will credit you next month. I exchanged several emails over a week with a service representative in Utah before buying into Qwest / DirecTV precisely to avoid these kinds of problems.

She assured me that the cost was only the $36.99 for the DirecTV and $29.99 for the DSL. Unfortunately, with Qwest once you join and call their customer service, you will talk to someone different each time and they will not honor what someone else has told you. I did talk to Ron, the local representative about this mysterious BSI charge and that problem was escalated within Qwest but I never heard a resolution. Eventually, it appears they removed it from my charges for one month but then it re-appeared the next.

Now, supposedly, it's an option but dire events will happen like huge charges if you do not have this and there is ever a problem with your equipment and a technician has to come out. I've spent hours literally trying to sort all this out. You're put on hold, bounced from Qwest to DirecTV and back again. Once, I had to wait 12 minutes to talk to a Qwest representative then she redirected me to DirecTV and then that representative then redirected me back to Qwest but said I'd have to start over so I gave up on that call. The bills are hard to read as they first charge you for myriad things and then credit some of these back so it is challenging to sort out what you've really paid for.

You will get a disconnect notice if you are late paying even if they have over billed you or charges are in dispute. Technically, it's generally okay. My DirecTV did freeze up once, I had to call and they explained there was a reboot button I didn't know about then it was fixed. For Qwest, the DSL works fine but every time I try to use their online file storage I have to change my password. I don't know why. In summary, if you're thinking of signing up for Qwest and DirecTV, I'd recommend you don’t.

But Today the same thing is going on, the tech was suppose to be at betwween 11:oo and 3:oo, I got home at 5:00 and the wife said the tech was a no show, so I called and I was told the tech was running behind and that he would show up between 5:30 and 8:00 pm at 9:00 PM I called to see what happened to the tech. I was told he was here at 7:15 to 7:45 and fix it. "Thats a lie" and now it's friday and the time that Qwest can get a tech out here is tuesday, Thanks alot Qwest for your great service

I have called numerous times and spoken to more than a dozen people at this point to get the payment situation resolved. I've never received credit for payments I made to the company in June and July. They have had my money for six months now. The problem is that they have still failed to credit my account. I was assigned a case number that was issued as they were "looking into" the payment disconnect. I've called multiple times since I was assigned that number and have not had any assistance getting the problem resolved.

I get the run around and the explanation that it takes time to track down the payments. I've provided any information they've asked for to resolve the issue but as of today's date, it is still not resolved. I've had a case number for four months. I called in total disgust today and told them that the issue needed to be resolved today. Speaking with supervisors has not worked. Calling has not worked. They have three months worth of payments sitting in their account that they have still not given me credit for.

Internet service is limited in my location and I have a cable alternative and CenturyLink. Neither is an acceptable option at this point. I have to have internet at my house, but will not pay the late charges which they are accruing as they fail to resolve the situation. I work as a vice president in a customer service environment and would be fired if I had let this go on. I know that dollar amount is insignificant to a company of this size with a CEO that is being compensated over $6 million annually. I am trying to find the CEO and regional president's email address so I can contact them about the horrible customer service that they offer.

I explained in my frustration that I had a contract with Qwest to provide my internet and that they should have told me in advance if they knew my modem would not work with the new line. All should could do was apologize and agree with me that this was poor customer service. I said that was not satisfactory and how quickly could they get my internet working. She then told me that would have to ship a new modem which would take two more days.

I explained that this was not satisfactory and needed a faster way to get my internet working. She offered no solution except to say that they would charge me over $100 for the new modem. I was flabbergasted that they would not only disrupt my current satisfactory internet service in violation of the contract that I had with them, but then charge me for the new equipment needed to get me back on line since it was Qwest that violated my contract to provide service with their change of equipment.

Because of their failure to notify me in advance causing a major disruption of my internet service and their demand that I pay another $100+ for a new compatible modem even though they were the ones who caused the change in equipment, I am cancelling their service and going to another provider. I believe Qwest should be responsible for the installation costs and lack of service while I obtain a new provider and equipment due to their negligent way of disrupting my internet service.

Thank you - Ann

I have not recived any records of internet bandwidth useage and am concerned that this is nothing more than consumer abuse. I also am aware that I am not alone in this matter. Many others have had the same, nasty experience with this outfit.

This has not happened, in fact, now there are new charges for a phone number that is not in service and DirecTV that we have never had ever! We have been trying to get a hold of Qwest and we have explained what has happened. They have put my wife on hold twice for long enough for her to get fed up on waiting on permanent hold and would just hang up. They then said that we signed up for this account. This is very wrong and we are thinking of filing a civil suit in small claims court to get this taken care of. Today, we got another notice in the mail stating that they are sending us to collections for an account that doesn't exist. Can someone help us?

When I called to fix the problem, of course they said they would but then I received another bill for a partial month of November. Then I got a letter from a creditor bureau saying I am past due $81. So now my credit is being ruined for services I have never even had through this company.

Shortly afterwards, I began to receive emails congratulating me on ordering high speed service and I would be receiving a modem (costing an extra $100) from them soon. I wrote back several emails explaining that I had not ordered any service from them and would not be responsible for any modem or anything they were planning to send me. I also made it clear that I would not pay to return anything if it was shipped to me.

I also called Heather back at her extension, and told her what was happening with the emails. She apologized profusely, and said she had made a mistake on my order as there was another lady with my same first name who had ordered that same day. She assured me that she had cancelled everything and I was not responsible for any further charges.

Then about a week later, a heavy box arrived by UPS. I hadn't ordered anything, so I didn't know what it was. There was nothing on the box to indicate what it was. I opened it and found the $100 modem that Heather told me I would not get. Again, I called and said I would not pay to reship it back and what was I to do now? I have received my phone bill recently, for this month.

Qwest has added an extra $50.00 making my phone bill $85.00 for this month. I have it paid automatically from my checking account and I am very fearful that I will be stuck with paying the full amount of $100 for a modem that I have no use for as I can not afford high speed internet at this time. I called Heather again, and told her to get the extra fees removed from my phone bill before it is taken out of my account but have serious doubts that will happen. I left a message for her to call back as it is now a weekend and they are not at work.

After reading all the other messages about how Qwest has cheated other people, I wonder if I am yet, another victim of their highly unethical business practices? I am a Senior citizen on a limited income and surely can not afford the phone bill they have just sent me. What recourse do we have in this predicament?

2) Adding features not requested, I called several times to discuss this with a billing agent to have the bill adjusted. Below explains the economic impact.

When I called for an adjustment, I was told that I would be charged $300 per line for breaking a contract. This would not be the case because additional feature were added that were not requested.

Now I’m no legal expert but on there it says provide high speed internet, but the dictionary's definition of high speed internet is faster than 560kb/s which is dial up speed. Now since I am always running at this speed and under it that sounds like false advertisement to me. I am getting to the point where if I could I would press legal charges against this company for false advertisement and leading people to believe they are getting what they pay for when they are not.

She then told me that I could get a credit for the call amounts but that they would cut off all my long distance calls from then on. Sounds exactly like extortion to me! All this over 90 cents worth of calls I didn't make and 30 years of being a customer. I'm now looking for another provider! QWest stinks!

Now I am starting to wonder if my paperwork was ever submitted because my lender just sent me a default letter in the mail, I would think if they have submitted this paperwork since June I should not get any default letters. This company in the past has told me not to speak with my lender which I have also done, but I think they may be hiding something and thats why they don't won't me to contact or speak with them. I am very fed up and upset, I am out $2,500 right now, I have a physical contract with this company that if they don't complete my loan mod I get my money back, but I can't even reach this company to speak with anyone. I feel like I have either been scammed already or about to be scammed. All I really want is either my money back or complete my loan mod like I was promised and have a contract for.

I called Qwest for an explanation and was told that because the changes were made in the middle of a billing cycle, they had to change my billing date, so the bill included charges from my current month as well as those in the upcoming month. I was assured by the next billing cycle that my bill would go back down to the $59 and some change plus a penny. Well, this month I received a bill for $63.40! Certainly more than the penny I was promised. This time when I called Qwest, I was told that they did not know why the salesman would tell me the upgraded package was only one penny more when the package was actually $5 more! That means, instead of 12 cents more a year, I am now paying $60 more a year! But, hey, Qwest was real sorry for the mix up. Well, what's a duped consumer to do? I want Qwest to honor their price quote.

The following month I call and was assured again that all will be taken care of. Now, I receive a bill again and called to speak with Eric at 1-888-661-0005 ext** and he assures me that someone will call me back from residential and that our bill will be credited. Two weeks have passed, I got no call so I call Eric and leave a message to call me that I have not heard from anyone. This is mentally draining and I have to deal with this on my work time which stresses me out. It affects my work. I get paid by the time that I put in on my work. Each time I have called, I spend more than an hour on the phone.

I have not used Qwest internet services since 2004 and returned my modem to them when I transferred to my new ISP. Apparently, there was a 5.35 equipment lease charge on my bill every month which I did not recognize as a charge for a service I no longer used. He then deleted the last month's rental charge from the total I owed making my past due amount $4.99. I looked up several old Qwest bills and there is no indication on the bill that the charge for leased equipment is for a modem. After speaking to a Customer Support supervisor and then to her manager, I realized that they would not refund their erroneous charges and that they blamed the problem on negligence. While the overall financial loss is under $400 dollars it's really irritating to me that they can get away with this kind of crooked behavior.

The CS manager told me that Qwest would not refund, that I probably never returned the modem as they had no record of its return, that Qwest never made mistakes and that I might have sold the modem on eBay. I believe I am a victim of unscrupulous policies. The replacement cost of the modem should have been exceeded several times by my $5.35 monthly payments yet Qwest never bothered to change the plan, inform me of their charges or shut it down in any way.

Failing to resolve the disconnect issue through Qwest Customer Service I began filing complaints with the local regulatory authority: the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, hereinafter referred to as the WUTC. After several complaints had been filed with the WUTC I was promptly contacted by Qwest Customer Service. I informed them that the regular disconnects had (temporarily) stopped. Shortly following the calls from Qwest Customer Service I received a call from a Qwest engineer admitting that Qwest monitors long distance calls and uses programmable timers, as a precaution, to disconnect telephone circuits that they believe may have been accidentally or inadvertently left open for long periods of time.

Once again the disconnects temporarily stopped. This was followed not long after by a continuation of the regular disconnects. Each time the disconnects began I immediately called the WUTC to complain. The disconnect problem continues to this day, with brief periods of unlimited, uninterrupted long distance calling.

Throughout this ordeal Qwest representatives persist in blaming my local telephone carrier, Verizon, the carrier of the receiving party I call most often, CenturyTel (now CenturyLink,) as well as my telephone equipment, which I have long since replaced to no avail. Over the last couple of years Verizon has placed traps on my phone line in an effort to determine if the source of the disconnect problem is the result of Verizon's equipment. According to Verizon, each time the results have shown Verizon's equipment to be operating properly. Qwest has never explicitly informed me - by phone or in writing - that they have performed similar troubleshooting efforts. After five years the WUTC, adding further insult to injury, continues to accept excuses from Qwest Communications thereby holding Qwest unaccountable for its actions or lack thereof.

As someone who is on Social Security Disability and has long suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, depression and other psychiatric disorders, I feel greatly betrayed by Qwest and the local telecom regulator. I unequivocally believe Qwest is solely responsible for the regular disconnects and that they are not the result of equipment malfunction or any other random act. In other words, as a frequent caller I firmly believe that I am being targeted by Qwest in an effort to coerce me into discontinuing my current, unprofitable Qwest long distance calling plan. It is my contention that Qwest must honor their UNLIMITED calling plan as promoted and advertised. Enduring regular disconnects for five years and counting is simply unacceptable and I intend to hold Qwest accountable.

I re-scheduled all my morning appointments in order to be able to meet the service tech. At 2:30 pm, I called customer service. After another long wait, the "customer service" rep told me that it would be Friday between 8 am and noon. Again, I re-scheduled all my appointments and spent the day waiting. By 5:30 pm, it was apparent no one was coming to fix my phone. Since it was the weekend, I would have to wait until Monday. I called back this morning and found a very nice young lady who was very helpful and sounded understanding. She actually spoke with her supervisor and called me back, assuring me that someone would be out today.

I received a call from our regional repair offices, who told me that they were following up and would call me right back. That was this morning. It is now nearly 4 pm and I have yet to get a call. I am convinced that CenturyLink could not care less about their customers. They know that we have no choice but to use them because they have a monopoly in our town. This is not the first time I have had problems with CenturyLink. Their DSL service is slow and unreliable and calls to get it fixed are totally ignored. They have the worst customer service of any company I have ever written a monthly check to.

My first contact with your company was on July 4 to set up service on August 2. I was assured that this was plenty of notice. It would be no problem at all to set up service that far in advance on our newly constructed house. So we arranged for our electrician and security systems people to meet us on August 2nd to tie everything in. Did I mention that my husband and I took a day off from work to drive 5 hours from Atlanta to Greeneville to do this? Did I mention that electricians get paid by the hour to sit there and wait for telephone people? Well, there you have it. August 2 comes and goes, no service call, no explanation. August 3, still no service, no explanation. August 4, finally reached someone at your company who could read! (Joy!) ‘Oh, someone cancelled this order. So sorry. Don't know why. We've had some problems with database conversions since we merged.’

Really? This from an NYSE listed phone company with illusions of becoming a communications company? But wait. Have no fear. On August 4, four different people, with different levels of competency and literacy, assured me that on August 6 there would be service. ‘Yes, we understand you're not there. Yes, we have your cell phone number, just in case. Yes, we understand this is new construction. We understand that you already paid once to have an electrician twiddle their thumbs all day. We understand that there is no cell reception at your location, so having a land line is kind of important and we are obligated by law to provide it if you request and pay for it.’

Care to guess why I am writing to you today? Someone, someone likely drawing a salary from your company (from your shareholders) scribbled a note that no one in your company can presently decipher. If you're curious, try it yourself! You can look it up under our potential, someday, maybe in the future, number of **. That should be fun. As a result of said note, the project was put on hold until August 20th. No one bothered to call. No one bothered to contact the writer of the note to say ‘What the ** does this mean?’ Today I spent over an hour just to get someone to admit it.

Tell me, Mr. Post, is CenturyLink a company I should be happy with? Or does CTL deserve its very own ‘centurylinksucks.com’ web page or Facebook group? Should I tweet your list of analysts to see if they can help me out? Or will someone finally do something that shows a shred of competency? How hard is it to get phone service? I'd like to hear from you.I paid an electrician for a day of doing nothing!

Sometimes it's for a few minutes, sometimes it's for hours. This is a major inconvenience as I work from home and work for an Internet-based business! Every call to Qwest is met with their pre-recorded voice thanking me for my patience and informing me they're aware there's a problem (meaning with the entire neighborhood, not my individual service). On a frigging daily basis? How long does it take them to figure out there's a major problem in this neighborhood and fix it? Over three months, evidently! Unable to work due to no Internet connection--this is affecting my livelihood!

I called Century Link. These companies furnished them with my phone number so they charged me on my bill and they would do nothing. I called each company and said that they'll cancel the charges but it will take a couple of months after some heated discussion. What a way to make free money! How many people don't read each entry on their phone bill? Telephone company not even asking questions, refusing assistance and service and driving us to internet service.

My mental and physical damage is severe from having to deal with this. I am protected under the privacy of the Disabilities Act to have to tell anyone what my disability is, so don't ask, but keep in mind, I am affected by the poor business policies this company has. So are a lot of other people, if I read some of these comments from others. I need help. Today, email, or snail mail, as my daughter calls it, isn't working for the most part. I don't have time to wait around for it to boot up. Hope this eventually gets to them. Feel free to contact me if you like.

I blame both DirecTV and Qwest Communications for their poor customer service, deceiving sales practices and unprofessional installation. It was a horrible experience and every time I get an ad in the mail from either company, I use it as a reminder to get online and spread the word about this awful experience. I hope to keep others form falling into this trap with DirecTV or Qwest Communications. Beware, go with another company for these services.

Now I'm out $150, still don't have DSL (which I need for my job), have spent more than 5 hours on the line and will have to take a day off next week to have someone come. On my last call, they were going to have a supervisor call me back, but that was 4 hours ago and unless I want to listen to their sales pitch while on hold, I'm stuck.

A few months later, we received a bill, because Qwest had not canceled the phone line, as we had agreed to. We contacted them, and informed them that we had canceled the account previously, and they should not be charging us. At that point, they went through the "cancellation" process with them again. We informed them that since we had already canceled, we shouldn't be charged, and we had already removed them from automatic withdrawals, when we canceled the account.

We never received any further notices from Qwest. However, upon attempting to refinance our mortgage, we have discovered that Qwest sold our account to a collection agency, who reported it on our credit report! We no longer qualify for the rate we wanted to get, because Qwest screwed up our cancellation, and didn't do anything to fix our billing account.

Collections has been reported on our credit report, which the collection agency refuses to remove, even if we pay in full to settle the dispute. This has cost 100 points to our credit score! In addition, we were denied the refinancing rate that we applied for, due solely to the account being in collections (we did not know it had been turned into a collection dispute, and did not pay it).

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

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

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

All around me there is service except for my address. It is now 10 months. They have not called me as they promised that the first available service would be issued to me. It is an economic obsolesce not having the internet tools in the town Pueblo West, 81007. If it holds true they are the only phone and internet service. Using WIFI as alternate right now limits Internet time.

The reasons why I am making a formal complaint in regards to this company is because I have been having billing problems and they have wrongfully bundled me in the past with Dish Network, and issues with our initial deposit which we needed payment arrangements and they charged us extra amounts on top of our bill nor did we see credit on our bill. We believe we got cheated by this company in regards to our deposit and when we had enough to pay it all they couldn't cancel our original payment arrangement but we paid the deposit twice. The quality of service is awful and had line issues. I have had echoing in the lines even though when I do my best and try to explain toCenturyLink's Customer Care about the issues were having they don't seem to care at all. I've been hung up on by their associates. They give me poor customer service.

When I mentioned how to make the situation right, they don't properly help us resolve our issues. Customer Care doesn't take the time to listen and understand what I am saying. Due to my girlfriend and I being low income, this company charges us way too much and makes it extremely difficult to pay them. I have made an effort to information validated in the customer notes. For example, this is what one of the CenturyLink's Rescue-It Tech Support said on 04-23-2010 at approximately 8:20 pm, he validates what I have been saying and knows there are line issues.

A CenturyLink tech came out to the house a total of three different times. The one time, the CenturyLink tech didn't do his job and wasn't prepared and didn't really solve the problem so again we had to call the repair people again and again. The CenturyLink tech came back out and he stated that some CenturyLink techs were suppose to check the green boxes but failed to do it and the tech couldn't finish the job and didn't know what's causing the issue (static on our phone line).

What I would like to happen is investigate everything that has gone on since we have had service with them (especially with CenturyLink's Rescue-IT Tech Support) and see what can be done to help us. We have had a constant battle with them and it is extremely overwhelming and frustrating for us.

So I wrote the company on 09-19-2009 wanting to know why I was treated this way and they informed me that they did call and someone answered (check my personal phone account), so since I did not respond, that gave them the right to come to my house and install something I knew nothing about. They said since I didn't respond to spam like phone calls, which I didn't get, they could do this.

Well, I had sent them the letter plus 6 emails which they never responded to so they have a double standard. Since they wouldn't answer me, I wrote to state agencies and they did respond to them, but in every letter, the customer service department wrote they were full of misinformation about how they handled the problem and a lot of misinformation about me. They even said they sent me two modems which if they had, I would have been more aware of the new update. I did not get the modems and they implied that I was lying. However, I personally found out where they went and they had sent them to the wrong address.

Since I could not get any satisfaction from their service department, I wrote to the CEO and he informed the girl to call me and see what she could do for me. I said all I want is for you to rewrite your letters to these agencies and give them the correct information and she said she would not do that. So she defied the CEO plus the customer, and after numerous letters to her and the CEO, this problem is still not resolved. What is so weird is that they said they installed the DSL the way they did because it was the most cost effective way.

However, look at the time and postage spent on this problem, four people in customer service and the CEO and they can't get this taken care of. I think this cost effective is rather bogus. As of 4/28/2010, it has not been resolved. I have spent a lot of time on this which I did not create and I am being treated as the villain and I didn't write the wrong information. I have had wrong information about me personally that has been sent to different agencies and Century Link is aware of their errors and won’t correct them. I think I have damaged my credibility with these states as they believe the company and think I am just a complainer.

She is a manager as well but I can not get through to her either. They both gave me so called direct phone numbers that do not work. In essence, Qwest is cramming a bill down my throat that is unacceptable, and there is nothing I can do about it. I am in a 2-year contract with Qwest that I desperately want out of, for all the reasons I have mentioned above. They also have cost me about 200 min. on my cell phone. It has caused me a tremendous amount of undue stress. I am unemployed and only have so much to spend. If I stop paying Qwest, then there will be collections and a mark on my credit. All will have unforeseen reproductions.

My computer advisor informed me that the proposed Qwest service was not adequate for the speeds and volumes that I utilize and that my needs were well serviced by Mediacom. In a good, honest and equitable world, you would have simply shook hands and continued with the voice portion of my service. But, no, it is your concept to be confrontational and divisive to your clients. You are a very unpleasant company with which to do business. So be it known.

I had placed several calls to Qwest starting within 15 days of proposed commencement of service; however, none of those calls are recorded on your one sided data base of contact. Truth be known, you only log the conversations to your advantage. Legal research shows that this is a Qwest scam and has caused legal problems for you in the past.

I ate no lunch, I will pay for no lunch.

Communications with your communications company are very difficult since your "customer service " personnel, refuse to give their real names, or numbers to call them and contact them further. Also, there are no accurate records kept of conversations, except as it may serve your interest.

The March 10, 2010 conversation was with a "Mark", who refused to give any identification number or telephone number, although I had to identify myself completely, address, phones, social security, etc. It's unjust. It was agreed that I shall send you the enclosed $110.10 to totally pay the voice telephone portion, and each month, I shall pay $50.12 for voice service.

Qwest in an effort of goodwill and improved client relations, will take legal action against me for the disputed amount of $ 218.09. Voice service shall not be disconnected as long as voice charges are paid in a timely manner. See you in court.

No show again. I called and was told the tech could not find the address again and canceled. The numbers are wrong on the street, and if I had another phone, they could contact me at? The last number in my five digit address is a 2 instead of a 5; the rest of the numbers are correct. So if for example, it is 12345 and Qwest has 12346, they cannot find the house. Well, there are 3 houses on this street and 100 acres of desert across the road. So if the tech can't find my house, do I really want him working on my phone?

I have had this problem many times in the past and have corrected the address through billing many times and been assured it is correct. 8 out of 10 techs can find the house. I have provided an alt phone number to "call for directions" in the past, and no tech has ever called it. I think Qwest is so backed up with repair orders that they can't get a tech out for the next week but don't want to tell the consumer that.

Magically, the tech will find my house after the phone has been out for a week or more. This would explain why for the last 2 days I have been watching for a Qwest repair vehicle and haven't seen it. It's not like I have a lot of traffic on my road, maybe 4 cars a day, and I can hear them. Plus if they call on my phone, I can answer through the static and talk somewhat. No one called.

Now, I get phone calls every day and all the time from someone different. I will not pay this because I did not mess this up. Whenever I ask to speak to a manager, I am told that they are in another call and I do not get a call back from them. It is sad when a communication company has problems communicating. I ended up having 3 accounts then some were closed but they still say I have to pay the balance! I hope they will figure this out any time soon because I have better stuff to do then to talk to them every day about the same stuff they messed up.

I immediately canceled autopay when finding these things out. Sleazy Qwest is scamming us because if we were two months late. Thinking autopay activates immediately is wrong! And they take our money before it’s due. Duh! Multiply a few million customers by a few days early and boom--it's instant billions of dollars in "too big to fail" style. I told the CSR that I hate Qwest!

Two people I spoke with at Qwest put a hard call forward on to a local number for one of the cab drivers who ended up having to dispatch all the bar rush weekend calls while still trying to drive people around. How safe is that? How can a cab company function without a phone with long distance and call forwarding to their dispatchers? We can't! It's a university town, the college students are from all over the USA and we have to use our long distance to notify them that their cab has arrived to pick them up.

Today, I spoke with this obscenely rude ** of a supervisor, Kathy Stock, who absolutely refused to do another hard call forward even though they could. She said they wouldn't because it's against policy. Then she actually said that I'm the one who requested the change! There is absolutely no way I would do that to the company I've worked so hard to build. They have done irreparable damage to my 3-month old business, our customers were angry that they were not able to reach us when they needed us. They have cost me over a thousand dollars in lost business and they simply refused to admit they screwed up or to remedy the problem. Yes, please have an attorney call me because of all the damage they have done to my business and all the money they have cost me due to some ** high school dropout customer service ** who doesn't know the first thing about business phones, I'll be suing Qwest over it.

Also, I accepted their offers to upgrade my speed, at additional cost of course, but found my computer was never any faster than before. Again, I called with this problem, but yes, you guessed it, no record of these calls either. So after years of poor service, I decided to cancel their service and was surprised I had a two-year contract and would have to pay $200 for cancelling seven months early.

When I called and told them I was not aware of any contract, they informed me it was on my bill every month so they would not waive the fee. Ha. Who reads everything on an 8-9 page bill every month? I, like most, checked the bottom line and made sure the dollars were correct. I was sent to a collection agency so I contacted the Attorney Generals office for help. They did their best but QWest is unwilling to drop the fee. As of today, I will be sending my complaint to the BBC and FCC. I also plan on taking them to small claims.

They told me I might see another bill because of billing being automated, but to ignore it. This whole experience had taken place mid 06. From what I gathered on the phone with Qwest today (information that the first two times I called "was too old to find out info on" supposedly), I finally talked to a Darrel, a manager, who has been working 12 years with Qwest who I guess had the ability of gods and could find the transcripts of my old 2006 account. He told me there was $37 outstanding in my account (the note from the collection agency that I got a letter from a few days ago is asking for $31.77?). I owe these people nothing. They are charging me for services never rendered.

When they cut off my service, I still remained a customer, I guess, although I didn't know it and had no phone connection or service. I had no Qwest service but they charged me for the final month that my service was cut off apparently (how can you shut the connection, never reconnect the connection but still be considered a customer? That's what I was). So 4 years later, without any previous mail from Qwest that I hadn't responded to, I get a letter from a collection agency, wanting the sum of $31.77 for Qwest. What I think happened is between Qwest shutting off my service and me paying them off within a few days , but never getting hooked up, their automated billing shot me the next months bill out of the pure mechanical method of pre-billing (their bills are always a month ahead). So I'm saddled with this bill for a month I never had service.

I repeat, I did check my line over the few weeks after I had made payment after being cut off, because it took a couple of weeks to get my first internet phone up and running. It was never reconnected after that cut off. I never went back to Qwest. Please be reminded, after my service was shut down and I paid the $71, I did try the land line a few times during that month, but there was no connection, not even 911 service. What can I do? How do I respond to the collection agency?

First, they were confused because I already had a Directv account at my home in Dallas. It was difficult for them to comprehend that I did not want to transfer my service. I just wanted a second account here in Phoenix. Apparently, their computer, or its operator, had problems setting up my account because I already had an account. When they needed a credit card number, I gave them a number and a billing address, which is the same one that Directv already has on file.

They called back to tell me that it was declined. I asked them to read the number to me and they missed 2 digits so I gave it to them again. It was still declined. I suggested that they check the billing address, then they saw that they had used the service address, not the billing address. On the third time, it went through and we scheduled the installation for TV and internet. On the next day, I got voice messages and finally they got through to me while I was taking my mother to the doctor. I was informed that my credit card was declined once again, with the implication that I was some sort of ** deadbeat.

I gave up and told them to just cancel the whole thing since they obviously did not know how to enter a credit card and billing address. Who knows what more they would have messed up if they actually knew how to enter my credit card. In the meantime, I got multiple fraud alerts from AMEX because someone kept trying to charge my card but they didn't know the correct billing address.

I have been a Directv customer for over 10 years and have always received excellent service. I fail to understand why Directv would affiliate with an irresponsible, customer-unfriendly provider like Qwest. I sent a complaint to Directv and Qwest. Directv promptly answered, apologized, and referred my complaint to management. Apparently irate customers are common at Qwest, and since they have a monopoly in this apartment building, they don't really care about my complaint.

I am really glad that I am the only one here in their monopolized building for a few months, and would never again consider moving anywhere where Qwest has a monopoly. Multiple phone calls implying that I am a deadbeat without any credit. Maybe someday, I will get good enough credit to use their crummy service. There was reduction in my credit score by 2 points due to inquiry and fraud alert from AMEX credit card.

I returned to a phone turned off and because I bundled with Qwest my DirecTV turned of also. Monday Feb. 1st, I went into my bank, they called the bill pay dept. Took my info called Qwest (Carissa) to help them find my payment, BofA was told they can not work with BofA without me being on a 3rd party connection and my phone is turned off by them. I bought me an other phone at WalMart and if I can get this cleared up, I do not want to do business with Qwest. I have never been late on a bill payment, I am now 62 years old. I had Qwest before for many years and never missed a payment. I am on Disability, need my phone for doctors and I am very lucky I was able to contact my kidney doctor by computer.

How can this company get away with this without penalty? I am a small business owner just starting up and these people have robbed me. What can a person do? I cannot afford this amount per month for telephone and Internet service. I cannot pay them $400 to cancel. I think the sales person who did this to me should be fired and Qwest should release me from my contract. This is just bad business and imprisonment.

While talking to their collection person, she was giving me incorrect information about my account, the billing dates were wrong. She stated that I did not make a payment, that I owed them the modem, which I purchased, and stated that I was billed in arrears. First of all, Qwest always bills in advance never in arrears and while I was on the phone, I hopped online and pulled up the cancelled check showing I made my payment. The girl said either way. She shows my account is past due and I will have to contact the billing department to sort things out. I talked to Chase in the Des Moine's office and he said he didn't show there were any problems with my account besides the final bill.

While I was on the phone with him, he credited my account the proper amount so the final bill would be $9.66 and confirmed that I purchased the modem and could keep it. Two days later on Sat 1/16/10 at 9:30 am, I get another collection call. I called them back only to be told I still have outstanding amounts. I asked to speak to a manager and Morgan the supervisor got on the phone. She said that the $9.66 was past due and asked what day they can expect my payment. I said I will pay it as soon as I receive a bill and asked her to tell me when I can expect a bill. She stated I will receive the bill in 7-10 days, which shows they haven't sent me one yet, and demanded I make my payment.

Although she admitted this billing fiasco is Qwest's mistake and also admitted they have not billed me yet she was still very adamant that I was past due and will continue to receive collection calls until the amount is paid. Who in their right mind is going to pay a bill before having a chance to review it especially after the many mistakes and problems Qwest has caused? I questioned the logic of harassing a customer for a payment they have not even been billed for and was told that collection calls will continue until I make my payment. That doesn't even make sense. Once again, how can I pay a bill they haven't even sent me?

So in the meantime, I am supposed to just put up with collection calls? I have had their service for over two years and have always paid my bills and now as soon as I discontinue service I am being harassed over their mistakes. They could severely damage my credit over $9.66 and to top it off I am also getting sales calls. Do they really think someone is going to again do business with them after being treated this way? How do they justify this and how do I get the calls to stop? They are harassing me with phone calls early morning, during work and at home. If they send me to collections for this $9.66, it could damage my credit for years to come.

That alone was a challenge. When you contact the Billing Department, they are totally in the dark. They pulled up my info and were not able to provide me with a phone number or name. I was informed that normally the Fraud Department does not even talk to us, the customers. But, I persevered and found a phone number which I gave to the Billing Department (that way the would have a phone number if they needed in the future). After a very long conversation and my increasing annoyance, I was able to have my long distance turned back on. They would block international. I told them fine by me because I do not do international calls.

Now, at that time, I was not able to dispute the charge. I was told I would have to wait until the actual statement came out, which it did the following month. That again was a nightmare. Nobody was listening to me; I was bounced from one person to the next with no help at all. Except I was told that maybe someone broke into our place. Well, no, nothing was broken and some of the calls were made when we were asleep or getting ready in the morning plus we have a dog that is part boxer & rott. I can't think anyone would be alive if they broke in, not with Holly, our dog.

Anyways, someone then implied that someone in the house made the calls. There are only 2 people, 1 dog and 1 cat. My daughter and I did not make the calls. Now unless the dog and cat are smarter than I think, they couldn't have either. But, the Qwest employee suggested that maybe the cat or dog did and maybe I should turn around and charge them. For 2 months, I have been ignored and belittled. My last conversation with another investigator went something like this, they would not call the number on the bill themselves. They would not provide me with a copy of the report or who the number belonged to (the calls to the UK was made to one number along with one in Singapore).

I would have to have a subpoena for that. Makes you wonder, if they won't dial the number to see where it goes there must be something "tied" to it. Maybe a virus? But, I had an interesting conversation with someone this weekend. During that same time period, I was having computer problems. Well, guess what, a major virus right after my daughter downloaded updates from Qwest. Right now I am in the process of compiling info to turn over for further investigation. I am not lying down and paying this $3000 bill. Not ever! So, a word of warning, do not utilize Qwest. Do not accept updates with them. I would like to hear from anyone else that may have had a problem. Thanks!

Our next bill was with a disconnect notice. (October 7th, they had taken $188.65 out of our checking account through auto pay). November bill came with a charge of $275.93. Again, on the phone with Lavinia in Idaho, Jinnie, Anthony, Judy. They finally said it is all straightened out, and we had a $180 credit coming. December bill came through with $218.85 in charges. We spoke to Arianna, after all the credits, and she told us to mail in $38.85, and the bill would be squared. They cashed that check Dec.16, 2009.

Jan. 2nd we got a bill with a seven-day disconnect notice. Now, they were looking $180.00 which was our credit according to Arianna. I feel secure in saying that the whole system is peopled with **, out and out morons or criminals. On Jan. 3rd, I will appeal to the Attorney General's office here in Tucson, the Daily Star--Tucson's Newspaper, and Channel 9 TV and BBB. Then, I will visit an attorney and see what recourse I have for these rise in blood pressure. I will also try to research others who have had these problems with DirecTV and Qwest, and perhaps get a class action going very angry.

Despite my repeated calls to customer service, they continued to bill me monthly. I finally thought progress was being made after one customer service rep. reviewed the history and I was told my account would be credited. The next month, I did receive a credit for almost $100 but the following month, they began to bill me again. Even with the repeated calls to Qwest, the bills continued until I was notified that my service was being disconnected (even though there had been no service through this entire process). At this point, my bill was in excess of $165 (including late charges) again. Finally on 2/26/09, I spoke with another person from customer service who reviewed the entire history and said the entire balance would be credited. This time, I asked that he email me confirming our conversation that my account would be credited and again once the credit was applied. I received both confirming emails that day and was so completely relieved this was finally put to rest.

No more than a week or so later, I began to receive phone calls from Qwest's internal collections department saying that I still owed the balance. I was told by the same person in customer service that had credited my account that their system may not be showing updated for the collections department yet. It would show soon and not to worry. After several weeks, I was still receiving calls and "the systems was not showing as credited.” I was involved in a conference call with customer service and Qwest internal collections as well as I also have proof of forwarding the two confirming credit emails to the person who was then responsible for handling my account (3/20/09). Once again, their error was admitted and the situation was cleared up.

Approximately a month later, I received a letter from an external collection agency regarding this same balance. I explained the situation, sent them the confirming emails and contacted Qwest yet again. With sincerest apologies, the situation had once again been cleared up. Today is December 27th, 2009, well over a year later and yesterday, I opened a letter dated December 14th, 2009 from ERSolutions, Inc. (collection agency) regarding a Qwest balance of $165.97. I've spent many, many hours on the phone during my normal working hours trying to get this situation settled. I've also had credit problems in my past and have worked extremely hard to get my credit back on track and keep it that way. I cannot have blemishes like this showing just because giant companies like this think they can do whatever they want to whoever they want without repercussions.

Later, I received an email from auto pay saying my statement was ready - when I accessed the statement, it said payment was made. I called and spoke to two representatives, Christa and Kathy, then was sent to Susan in Billing. Susan assured me that auto pay was no longer active because my account was inactive. She was going to send a final bill of $54.02 because the payment on Oct. 24 was not paid and not to cash the refund check. I verified with my bank that payment was not made but I said I would not pay until I received an itemized statement.

I then received multiple duplicate bills, two of which were dated for Oct. 25, - saying I'd paid the $54.02. One said it was paid and there was a credit of $36.49. The other said $0.00 balance - payment made on Oct. 28th. I also received an email bill saying that I owed $58.02 and that it was due on Dec. 16th and that auto-payment would take place on Dec. 13th. I attempted to log on to the account - and was unable to view the bill. I then received a phone call today, 12/12/09, saying that a payment of $58.02 was past due (Stephanie - **). I explained I had not received a final statement showing me my itemized charges and it appears that they are still using auto-payment and I am not able to deactivate and remove their access to my checking account.

When I asked why there was an additional $4.00 charge - she stated that it was for a long distance call on Oct. 13th. I asked why I could be charged for this when my service includes unlimited long distance. She just said that's what's on my bill. I said I wouldn't know because I haven't received it or been able to view it online. I asked for a manager - she came back and said the manager was in a meeting. I said I'd call the Billing rep. I spoke to earlier as she had said to call if anything else came up. When I called her number, I got a recording and left a message.

I believe I am being overcharged and I am concerned that they are not honoring my request to no longer access my bank account electronically. I have spent 2-3 hours on the phone dealing with this.

About six months ago, I was phoned by a Qwest representative, out of the blue, about switching back to Qwest business phone service from our then current service provider Impact Telecom. The sales rep was very aggressive and promised me two months free service just for switching back to Qwest because they wanted to keep and earn my business. I had left Qwest just two months earlier because of bad service, but I was willing to give them another chance for the two free months of service offered. Under those terms and those terms only, I switched back to Qwest.

Five months had passed. I was looking through my third bill and it stated that I was on a 36-month term agreement (ETF) with a $300 penalty for early cancellation printed on the fourth page. I immediately called Qwest and told them I never agreed or even heard of this agreement. The customer service representative laughed at me and told me that I did agree to it and they had a third party monitor to confirm the contract.

After being transferred to the manager, I asked to see and/or listen to the recording of this contract. The Qwest manager (Christy **) called me back 3 to 4 days later after speaking to her superior. She told me that they do not have a copy of the agreement, but because five months had passed, paying my bill in itself was agreeing to the contract. Angry, I canceled my service and paid my last service bill adding a refund for the minuscule $7 a month discount they credited me for agreeing to their term agreement, or (ETF). Soon after, they sent me a bill for $503.51 for the one business line we canceled.

We are keeping the two months they promised PawsCorp and refute the validity of the invented $300 early termination fee (ETF) including all taxes associated with these false charges. Qwest's criminal behavior is shameful and PawsCorp vigorously refuses to pay this outrageous and invented bill. Qwest's culture of corruption is a disgrace and we are seeking to aid the law firm of Sprenger Lang PLLC; in any way possible, expanding their already existing class action suit against Qwest for their illegal use of ETFs.

The next day, the Qwest technician came to the house and told my fiance that he could not find a problem. The next day, the internet came back on, and we haven't had a problem since until the bill came. I was charged an extra $112 for the technician to come to the house! We called Qwest Customer Support and spoke to a representative. She said that they had informed us of the charge (which they hadn't) and that the problem was in our house. The technician had said that nothing was wrong.

So we now have to pay because he couldn't find anything? We asked to speak with a manager. She said that we owe that money and there is nothing we can do. She refused to let us speak with anyone else at this point. Why should I pay for a technician to come out when I wasn't informed of the charge and he never found a problem in my house?

Today I checked online to pay my bill through Qwest. It's only $85. I went on to DirecTV as well to find out why some programs were not coming in only to find a bill for $209 past due. Qwest informed them I no longer have service and now all my bills are through DirecTV. Qwest admitted that it was their mistake that the bill wasn't combined but it's going to take at least 2 months before it is fixed. Now I know I owe but this was such a shock to me and it's unfair that the communication of both these companies were weak and they failed to communicate with me.

Each month, the fee of $39.99 that I paid for wireless services would be deducted from my checking account at the beginning of the month. No problem. Then at the middle of the month, I would get a bill from Qwest after they had already been paid from my account. This bill would always detail random charges from MSN and would come to $55.11. Each month, I would have to call Qwest, spend about 30 minutes on the phone, and have them remove the charges. They always admitted the charges were not correct and stopped my account from being charged again for no reason. This was good. But still, it was annoying to have to waste time doing this each month, have the person tell me the problem would never happen again, and then, lo and behold, it would happen the next month and I would be calling again.

Since I didn't get charged, I put up with the inconvenience. Here's where the real problems with Auto Pay began. I moved to Southern California. There's no Qwest there (thank God). I terminated my wireless service in June, making sure that my last auto payment would be $39.99 for the service I received from June 22 (the day I canceled) to July 22. The man I spoke with assured me there would be no other charges. I bought my modem. I always paid my bill. There was no termination fee. He told me all these things and after I told him about my monthly trouble with Auto Pay, he told me he would make sure I would only be charged the $39.99.

Well, July comes around, they auto-deduct the $39.99 like they are supposed to, and I assume I'm done with Qwest. My internet stops working on July 22 exactly, and I'm pretty pleased that it seems like they were true to their word. Then, on August 15th, I received a bill from Qwest stating I owe $55.11, again. The bill is dated August 3, but I have mail forwarding from Seattle so it took that long to reach me. I called Qwest that day, was completely polite, explained my situation, and the lady I spoke with assured me that the charges were a "mixup" and "because your account has been closed, the charges could not go through." I told her about my problems with Auto Pay the last four months, and she assured me that I do not owe anything, the error was from Qwest Billing, and she will see to it nothing gets deducted from my account.

Then, on August 18th, Qwest tried to grab $26.50 from my old Seattle bank account, which I had kept open with about $0.50 before I decided what to do with it. My bank rejected Qwest's attempt because I had insufficient funds. Then, my bank charged me a $25 overdraft fee. I called Qwest the next day, furious. I demanded they put the $25 back into my account. They told me they cannot do that, but admitted that it was their error. They told me that after an account closes, sometimes it takes a while for billing to catch up, and that $26.50 would eventually be credited back to my account. But not today, when I needed to bring my account back to positive.

I got put on hold, a lot. No one seemed to be able to help me. Then, a nice male Qwest rep agreed to conference with my bank in Seattle, my bank told me that they cannot refund the $25 fee because it was not a bank error. Fair enough. Qwest told me they couldn't credit back the account until it cleared in billing, which may take weeks, even though it is my money Qwest essentially stole from my account by making an unauthorized transaction because of their error, weeks after I had canceled service with them.

We hung up with my bank. I demanded to talk to a superior. At this point, I had been on the phone with Qwest for 50 minutes. I waited some more. Even though this was Qwest's error and I had been civil and understanding, the supervisor I spoke with was very rude and acted like I was wrong. She reiterated that there was no way to credit back the account today, then told me that since Qwest's first attempt did not go through, the Auto Pay will try to go through again tomorrow. She was powerless to stop this. I needed to take it up with the Auto Pay robot.

For my troubles, she finally (begrudgingly) agreed to mail me a check from Qwest for the $26.50. Then, I can close out my bank account today to prevent Qwest's Auto Pay robot from trying to take even more money from me that I don't actually owe. The only problem with mailing the check is that it will take an extra 2 weeks or so to reach me, because it will go to my old Seattle address and then be forwarded. There is no way, despite talking to several different Qwest departments, to have the check sent to my new Long Beach address to speed up this process because I have closed my account and "am no longer a customer." Ha! Again, Qwest employees are at the mercy of software they apparently cannot change or control. So, I have to go to a shared branch that recognizes my bank down in Southern California, pay the $25 I owe because of Qwest to settle the account, close the account so Qwest can't grab more, and open another one.

A week later, I got a letter from Qwest saying they would be crediting the $26.50 back to the account that I closed. I called Qwest and the woman I spoke to assured me there would be a check arriving for the same amount. I am still waiting for this check. It's been over 3 weeks.

First, the satellite people had to reschedule because my phone line was never turned on. So by the time Embarq got out to us, they said they couldn't set up internet in my office because we didn't have a phone line already installed in there, and they don't go in attics anymore. I had a wireless router we used in the house we just moved from so they set it up using that. The internet would go on and get booted off the minute you tried to use the computer.

After many hours of technical support (by the way I had to use my cell phone because the phone line never worked), they tried to make us buy one of their wireless routers saying it's the problem. They replaced the router with theirs and it never worked even then. After this going on for three weeks, they agreed to let us cancel because they could not rightfully provide us the service. Well, they mailed us a bill after that saying we owed them money. When in reality, all the credits they gave us for our patience we would have been paid up for a month and a half easily. Now we are getting calls from a collection agency five times a day.

They insisted that I had to pay. So, I canceled Qwest and went to Cox. I got a bill stating that my account was going to be sent to a collection agency. The letter stated that I have to call and set up a payment schedule. This bill stated that I owed the $100 plus $64 for the modem, which I sent back. I talked to a Chris and he said the modem had been returned and he would take it off the charges. But I worry that it will not happen. He then transferred me to the collection office and I spoke to a female and I asked if I could set up a payment schedule, so I could pay $25 for the next 4 months and pay the $100. She said they don't do that. I have to pay it within 30 days. I told her I was no longer with them and I didn't have $100. She insisted that she could not help me. They sent me my final bill last month and it was $118.81. I sent the $18.81 in, on Aug. 1, 2009 and they accepted it. Then, I was going to make arrangements to pay the balance of $100. I have perfect credit and I do not want this to be sent to a collection agency. If you can, could you please help me to convince them to accept a payment schedule? Thank you for your time.

When I called Embarq, they either hung up on me or claimed the problem was our ethernet switch (which they supplied but do not service) or the bill payment software. We had the switch replaced by a local IT professional. Embarq wants to collect their fee for service, but not rectify problems with the internet service. I have been repeatedly hung up on by their so-called customer service representatives. They need to fix this problem because as it stands now, they have committed fraud by charging for service (3MB DSL speed) that they haven't provided.

Then they called to confirm the phone service and then it changed from what we had been quoted. They said it was for 6 months and then for the first 22 days, they would have to charge us $175.00 and then it would go back down to the normal price and then said the special was only for 6 months. However, what they are offering for a year for the internet and phone are cheaper than what we were quoted, so something was rotten in Denmark. So we called and cancelled and we are still trying to deal with Comcast Communications. We were in good standing when we left Qwest; however, what they did to us is stupid and just something very fishy. My wife has been stalked by a dangerous ex-husband for years and he had an illegal wire-tap on her phone line and the past and there was one when we had Qwest and - well, something is just not quite right.

We have friends that have Qwest and they too said something is not right and they were never told that they had to pay for something other than what they were quoted. They all said that we were being scammed and I firmly believe that they were right. My father-in-law said the same thing.

I received the order and everything was connected. When I got the bill, it was $126.43. I called Qwest and a lady picked up. I demanded to talk to the guy who sold the service to me and she denied. She hanged up on me. I called again and a gentleman picked up. I demanded to talk to the guy and he said he can't, but would like to transfer me to the loyalty department to handle it. I got transferred and a gentleman picked up. He told me that Qwest couldn’t offer me $24.99/month, but he can give me $35.99/month. I told him I need the service that the guy sold to me. If you can't give it to me, then you have misrepresented me with your services.

He said he couldn’t. I told him that I want the service terminated and I will not be responsible for Qwest’s misrepresentation. Qwest sold it to me and turned around and gave me a different service. He terminated the service and now Qwest is sending a bill for early termination of $294.58. Qwest had damaged my personal business and time with lies and cheats. If Qwest did not swallow Qwest's mistake and continue to cause problems like this, I will terminate my phone with Qwest and will seek legal action against the damage that Qwest caused.

I called customer service and spoke to a representative. He said he had taken care of it and I will be receiving the promised rate for one year. I go to pay my bill over the phone a week later and it’s back to being overcharged because now they say I cannot get that rate because I do not have a home phone through them. The customer service is completely pitiful and if they think that I am going to pay anymore, they can think again. So basically they have tried to change my promotional rate three times now with the last offer being $35.99. How can they do this?

I am working out of a hotel/motel where I have the internet service & paying $60.00 per day. I paid for one day & I don't know how many more days I will have to pay; as, no one in the entire Qwest organization knows the time frame that this problem will be resolved. Once this problem is resolved (God knows when), I expect Qwest to pay for my unwanted stay at the hotel, plus compensate for the mental torture that is caused by this unpleasant experience. But first thing first, get the internet working. How can an organization as big as Qwest, in this day & age allow that kind of delay in resolving the problem? Since Friday, everyone I spoke to, gave me a different answer & time frame on the problem or the time when it will be fixed.

I am staying at a hotel costing me $60.00 per day; I will post the final total once the service is restored & I check out. Being on the phone with them trying to figure out what's going on and getting different answers from every staff that I spoke to (at least 10 of them), & still not know when the service will be restored, it is a royal torture. I hope Qwest has a good lawyer, as I am about to get one of the best in these issues. I had no choice to but stay at the hotel where I am sitting at the most uncomfortable chair (as oppose to being at my home office); this is causing me pains all over my body. This is in addition to the mental torture they put me through.

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

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

I called and spoke with a "supervisor", who did finally send me the correct modem, but told me that all I had to do was take the packages to a UPS store and tell them that I refused the shipment. I asked if I needed a return label and she assured me that I didn't. I had another friend drive me to two UPS stores (the only two in my town) and both told me that they do not accept packages to be returned. I called again and was told that a UPS agent would come to my home between 10:00 and 2:00 to pick up the packages. Of course, no one showed up and I called back that night at 9:30PM and another supervisor told me that UPS would still be there that night. Of course, I knew that he was lying. I called again and spoke with another supervisor and was told that she would call me back, which of course, she still hasn't. I spoke to another supervisor and was told that I had to wait on the phone while she contacted UPS. I explained that I was using a cell phone and was already over on minutes trying to talk to someone from Qwest and she refused to help me.

I also had to stay home from work waiting for an installer who never showed up and a UPS guy who never showed up. I am out over $200 and I still have to pay overage fees to try to get this resolved. Each agent and supervisor told me that even though every mistake was Qwest's fault, I would be responsible to have the modems returned because I picked them up off of the porch even though I never signed for them. They told me that they would charge me for modems that I didn't want, didn't ask for and never signed for even though they won't let me return them. I feel like I'm on Candid Camera or in an Abbot & Costello routine. Why am I responsible for their mistakes that they won't take care of? They won't let me return them!

Of course, they lied about the price and the commitment terms when I ordered it. While on hold for most of the time, I keep hearing about Qwest's award winning spirit of service. I find that hard to believe. The mistakes made should not have happened and even after the first mistake, one call should have gotten everything resolved. Qwest agents go through intensive training, so they say, yet they don't know what they are talking about nor how to do their job. Then they blame the customer for their mistakes. After all the mistakes they make, they have the nerve to tell customers that they are locked into a commitment and will be charged for canceling their service. Amazing! Save yourself some aggravation and spend a little extra for service from someone else. It will save you a lot of money in the long run.

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

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

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

Today I got my bill for my first month of service under the new order. It is for over $80! I called in to Qwest customer service and was pretty upset. The woman put me on hold for 10 minutes only to come back and tell me that she talked to two separate departments and in fact the $19.99 rate is only good for new customers. I asked her why they would have included (and continued to include these past few months) a flyer indicating that price in the bill of a current customer.

She claimed the flyer goes into every business customer's bill regardless of what service they have with Qwest on the chance that they don't have internet with them yet. Shame on you Qwest for your deceptive marketing, false advertising, and unethical business practices. I am going to get started with another provider immediately.

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

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

He kept on and on. He said, “Last Call Return you can dial *69.” I said, “Nope, I don’t use that.” I told him to check my last 4 years’ worth of bills to see when was the last time I used that feature. He also said, “You have six free directory assistance calls per month.” I told him I used Goog411 or the internet because that’s the truth. And he continued saying, “And you have LineBacker.” To which I said, “Which I want to get rid of.” So basically, they put three crappy features in this package, which I never ever use, and then were charging me $10.75 per month extra for the one that I actually want - Caller ID with Privacy Plus, which could have been included as one of my wonderful features in the phone package that I was paying $25.99/month for. Way to take advantage of a disabled person, Qwest. You should be proud. You got me!

I was getting pretty irritated at this point but the rep’s obstinacy continued. He asked me, “Do you have a cell phone?” I said, “Yes. And my provider isn’t Verizon [because I know they try to push you to bundle it from previous experience].” Then he asked, “Who’s your provider?” I replied, “Why? It’s AT&T.” (I was getting really peeved at this point). He further inquired, “Are you in a contract with them?” I told him, “Yes, I am. Why is that any of your business?” Then he goes, “Okay, let’s see what other ways we can save you money”! I responded saying, “You can save me money by giving me the exact features I’m asking for and nothing else.” His next question was “Who’s your TV provider?” So I told him, “[Sigh] For real? DirecTV, which I have had bundled before, but I opted out of it because it was a billing nightmare.”

(I had the unfortunate experience of getting constant error messages on my TV even though I was paid up. DirecTV even sent me an empty box to ship my DVR back stating I was in breach of contract. I was paying Qwest as I was supposed to, but for some reason, DirecTV wasn’t getting notified that I was current on my payments. It was one of those annoying call one and they tell you to contact the other deals. Finally got that straightened out by just separating the bills as they were before. In my experience, when Qwest isn’t involved, everything tends to run smoothly).

The rep continued saying, “Well, I’m sorry to hear that [I’m sensing victory]. Okay, let me remove the Choice Home package from your account [yes, yes!].” And then he said something that I thought was particularly nasty: “Well, I hope you had a good weekend at least.” Like I was the difficult one. I even told this arrogant ** heel that I was disabled earlier in the conversation, but it was clear that he was going to stick to the script and offer every rebuttal in the book, regardless. Finally, he says he’s going to give me a confirmation number, and then suddenly he said, “I’m getting an error message. Let me put you on hold.” (The error message probably relates to the fact that I am now saving money). Five minutes later he gives me the stupid number. The entire call took a little over 25 minutes. Unbelievable. Hey Qwest, last time I checked, I’m paying you.

So now I have a $200.00 disconnection fee and not even the corporate office could care less about my issue. As a matter of fact, they are supposed to handle their customers on an ever greater professional level, but Brenda was just as rude as the local managers. I can't wait to purchase another home so I never have to deal with Qwest again. I am going to tell everyone I can about their poor service and how they treat their customers.

I called again in March of 2009 and they credited me and said they would fix it. Each month since September 2008, my bill has been an extra $3.00 per month. I called them today (5/7/09) and they explained that there was a $13.00 promotion per month in October 2008 and that it was only a $10 promotion when I made the change for life but was not informed this and hence nothing can be done. I said,"Had I known it would go up even 1 cent, I would have canceled and since you have not lived up to what I was told, can I cancel my service now since my DSL is as slow as dial-up anyway?" They said that it would be over $200 in early cancellation fee. Can someone there help me get the extra $3 per month removed or my DSL canceled without penalty fee?