Rant: Century Link

[anonyme]

I just wrote out my entire latest horrific experience with Century Link, but deleted it. There’s just no point; these A-Holes have no accountability. At all.

I already know this is a futile question, but are they any alternatives for internet service without cable? I just wish there were a way to give CL a big middle finger once and for all.

One more request: does anyone have a CL compatible wireless modem they’d like to sell/donate, so that I can return their junk to them and stop paying for it? I currently have a ZyXel Q1000Z. Thanks in advance.

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[clark5080]

Only alternatives would be to get a 4g tablet or that hughes net satelite internet (not good at all)

You can just buy internet from comcast

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[suzanne]

I was swearing at them today since they were supposed to come out today and set up Prime TV. But since they hadn’t called to confirm, I called them, only to find out they had no record of the order even though I gave them the confirmation # and complete details of everything we were told regarding installation and price etc. Had to do the whole thing over again.This is not the first time I’ve had problems with their customer service. I waste so much time on the phone with them and it drives me crazy.

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[shihtzu]

We just switched to Comcast. We tried to upgrade to faster fiber service, but after two months of no-show appointments, wrong orders, very wrong bills, not honoring agreed-to price, hours long calls, etc, etc, we had to give up.

Definitely the worst experience I’ve ever had with a company!

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[shihtzu]

Oops duplicate

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[Franci]

I feel your pain. I tried for MONTHS to get my bills fixed. Was promised a credit – which never came through and bills are still higher than what they offered me initially.

I’ve spend hours and hours on hold, only to have the call dropped and have to start all over – it happened soo many times – I’ve decided its simply a strategy when they don’t know what else to do.

I’m curious how Comcast is as a provider. I really dislike sending so much money to company that completely disrespects their customers this way.

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[jissy]

So one of their salesrep’s just showed up at my “No Soliciting” stickered front door…. but I opened it, advised him they should follow the WSB Forum section to see about their reputation in this ‘hood, & that based on all I’d read and heard I would never switch. If I had to make 1 call like I’ve seen anonyme describe, I’d likely be arrested. He asked if I was sure there was nothing he could do to change my mind — “NOPE!” and goodnight!

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[jissy]

Oh, and anonyme…. he said they’d be in the neighborhood for a few days in their snazzy green jackets if I changed my mind, you might want to stalk him b/c he said he has a direct line phone number to someone in Omaha where it’s “not very busy” in the customer service dept. HAHAHAHAHA, I could hardly keep from laughing!

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[trickycoolj]

I’ve had Comcast for Internet only and used an antenna I purchased at Costco and get all local channels very clear in High Point (your neighborhoods may vary in signal). It was around $75/mo for Blast! Internet which is the second speed tier at 105Mbps. After 2 years with that set up they sent me a deal I couldn’t refuse and I bit, $99 for X1 DVR full digital cable HBO and streampix (a Netflix like service on the X1) plus the Blast! Internet I already had. No brainer $20 for all that extra for 2 years? I read all the fine print and made extra sure the price would be firm for the 2 years offered. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever had DVR. It was so cool to pause and rewind something that happened in a football game. I grew up on antenna and limited basic so this is like way overkill for me. I have also enjoyed being able to watch the Huskies on PAC-12 and ESPN without “borrowing” someone’s login. The new cable box was a quick 15 min install appointment with a 2 hour window on a Saturday morning. Been working great for 6-ish months.

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[anonyme]

There is absolutely no incentive for Century Link to provide honest, appropriate, or reasonably priced service. They operate as a monopoly. The one and only reason I’m still a customer after 30 years (which counts for nothing) is that there are no alternatives.

Yesterday was the worst CL “customer service” experience ever. The agent actually mocked me in a singsong voice, and told me that no one else had ever complained about the modem price. He also informed me that CL has eliminated the customer retention/customer loyalty section and any discounts that were available. What a surprise. They no longer make even the most empty gestures in regard to customer satisfaction; they don’t have to.

Thanks again, City Council, for making sure Seattle gets no municipal broadband for at least 10 more years…

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[pennidogg]

anonyme — I use a Mac and when my Qwest modem died and CL said I’d have to either purchase one from them (at what I thought was a very high price) or lease, I decided to give buying my own and setting it up a try. I went down to West Seattle Computers told them my carrier and they sold me a modem that they assured me would work with CL, it was pretty easy to set up and all is well.

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[anonyme]

Thanks, pennidogg. I may give that a try. I used to own my modem, but a lying salesman at CL told me that I had to get a new one due to a slight upgrade in speeds. I later found out this was total BS, and I was out $115. I agree that their price is way too high. These modems used to be readily available on Amazon, but no longer. I wonder why not…(sarcasm)?

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[JKB]

Speaking of CL rants, how about those door-to-door salesmen?

Tonight I worked my way from polite turndowns like “not going to be interested” and “I don’t think so” to “thought I made myself clear, the answer is no”. “Please leave” wasn’t enough. I stepped out onto the porch, put my hand on the guy’s shoulder and said “You need to leave now”, and finally they did.

An hour later they were back. Probably by mistake, but yes.

Didn’t feel like a 911 call was warranted, but criminy. At what point can I file trespassing charges?

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[Franci]

I have a relatively new modem that works with CL, I dumped them recently. I’d be happy to make you a great deal on it. I think I paid around $100.00 for it last year. It was working fine on my high speed service from them. You can email me at fpease at gmail dot com.

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[GamingGirl]

On Tues, Feb 23, two Centurylink representatives came to our apt building on California. One white woman likely in her mid-20s in a purple jacket. One black man in his mid 30s? wearing a centurylink blue jacket. They first came around 3PM and banged extremely loudly on all the doors repeatedly and rang the bells on each apt over and over, including mine. I saw them through my door peephole but did not answer as I was not interested in solicitation and it is not allowed at our complex regardless.

Not getting any answers, they left and then came back at 5PM and repeated this behavior, very loudly pounding repeatedly on each door and ringing the bells over and over. Then I heard them intercept one of my young neighbors as she was arriving and start talking at her very loudly and fast as she was trying to get into her apartment. At this point, I stepped outside and saw that they had her cornered by the door of her apartment and were not allowing her inside. Her hands were full and she obviously just wanted to go inside, but she is a very shy and terribly polite person. So she was trying to just nod and move past them and be polite, but they were being aggressive in pushing their product on her and why she needed to leave Comcast because they were a terrible company, and Centurylink has high speed fiber and doesn’t she understand fiber is so much better, etc. etc.

(BTW, we still DON’T actually get the high speed Centurylink fiber to our building as far as I am aware — which I know personally from going through an hour phone call with the service last year where they promised it to us repeatedly and then right at the end during activation said, oh sorry, we don’t actually have that for your address. At which point we cancelled the order because of being misled. And they have been reprimanded in the press in Seattle for misleading customers about this.)

So, that aside, since my poor young neighbor looked harried and distressed at being cornered by these reps, I stepped in. I told them very politely that we had no solicitation on the property and as a resident of the property, I was asking them to please leave and stop harassing my neighbor and let her into her apartment. At this point, the young man became very rude, aggressive and belligerent. He told me to shut up, get out of his business and they could do whatever they want, it’s a free country and it’s his job. Well, he didn’t tell, he YELLED.

I once again told them there was no solicitation and that I would call management and have them tell him directly if that needed to be done. At this point, him and his female companion both began yelling at me and being aggressive, saying I needed to shut up and get out of their way. There was name calling and insults. They told me I probably had Comcast and so I must be totally stupid, because obviously I was too stupid to understand Centurylink is better because they have “fiber”. Meanwhile, they are also basically yelling at my poor neighbor they still have cornered at this point about why Centurylink is so much better and only stupid idiots would believe otherwise and if anyone with BRAINS would do their research, they would know that. So she really wants to switch and get rid of that horrible Comcast right?

At this point, I called the apartment management and asked them to send someone to escort the reps off the property and told them I was doing so. They would not accept being told to leave by phone as I couldn’t ‘prove’ I was actually talking to the owner of the property. And they continued with yelling and insulting me, telling me go ahead, we aren’t leaving, we can do whatever we want, this building has Centurylink boxes in it so it’s our property and we can come here whenever we want. I told them again there was no solicitation at the property and they (basically screaming at this point) told me this property was on their list and they were doing their job and I needed to shut up and go the F away.

My poor neighbor escaped into her apartment finally, but the reps still refused to leave, at this point basically engaging in a standoff with me. I told them at this point I was now going to call the police. Still yelling and insulting me, they were like, oooo we’re scared now, why don’t you do that B, go ahead! So I called the police, explained the situation, and they advised they would send someone. I informed the two reps the police were on their way, and that I was going to go inside because they were frightening and intimidating me and had done so to my neighbor as well. I said they were welcome to continue to refuse to leave the property and the police could deal with them. Also, they refused to give their names or what store/supervisor they reported to so that I could contact them to speak to them about their behavior.

When the police arrived not long after this, the reps had vanished. I simply cannot believe this kind of rude and aggressive behavior by the reps of any company. I might have understood if they had politely said they did not have to leave unless asked directly by the property manager, and then left when they told them to (but they wouldn’t even take the phone to listen to the management rep). Our no solicitation sign seems to be missing, so perhaps it was missing before… or maybe it is just missing NOW, I don’t know. But for them BOTH to become so incredibly rude, aggressive, insulting… it is entirely unacceptable. Even their pre-screaming match behavior was way over the top with the POUNDING on the doors, ringing bells over and over and over like teenage hooligans, and what sounded like loud and pissed off cursing any time no one answered a door.

And trying to report this to someone by phone or email was an absolutely impossible experience. I got put on hold twice and hung up on while on hold. I attempted to use various customer service email forms only to have them spit out error pages when I clicked submit. Finally I resorted to sending a message on Twitter to @CenturyLink but other than a “so sorry you had that experience” so far, I haven’t heard anything else back.

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[PangolinPie]

Awful! GamingGirl, good for you standing up for your poor neighbor. I would recommend using your phone’s camera to FLIM the CL reps if it ever happens again. It’s that kind of video evidence going viral which would eventually get those people fired.

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[mark47n]

I hate to come to the defense of CL or Comcast but I’ve never had interactions that were less than polite with actual CL personnel. Pushy? Yes. Aggressive? Yes. But never rude. I have been solicited by fake CL personnel before, however and they were awful.

I will also mention, however, that I’m a 6’2″ man and have my own aggressive manner about me as well. That may explain why I don’t have those interactions.

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[gburke]

Oh man, I feel all of your pain. For 10 years I’ve been with CL and every year, something goes wrong with the bill. Have any of you guys seen this KOMO article?

http://komonews.com/news/consumer/seattle-man-says-centurylink-bills-still-full-of-errors-after-6-months

Well, I found this supposedly very helpful Caitlin Jenney on the web and emailed her my situation. Whatya know, she never responded because I was not a news oultet asking or from the utilities commission. I’m switching to comcast just to make a statement. Anyone have a cable modem they’re willing to sell me?

Here’s my letter to them:
Caitlin,

I noticed your name because I was reading in our local news about David Israel, the consumer that cancelled his land line but was still getting incorrectly charged for his remaining internet (http://komonews.com/news/consumer/seattle-man-says-centurylink-bills-still-full-of-errors-after-6-months).

I wanted to let you know that the issues he had are very widespread throughout Centurylink’s corporation. I have been loyal to CL for 12-13 years now (xxx-xxx-xxxx), through a lot of pain. Every year, when I renew my promo rates for my internet and phone that I bundle through you, it’s a nightmare and fight for at least 2-3 months before the bill gets straightened out. This time was no different.

I called, got the loyalty department, gal put me on hold for about 3 minutes, came back and said she can get my after tax rate down from my current $59 to $41.44. Gave me the confirmation code of C34676631. Said it would apply starting my next bill because I caught it in time. I asked for a confirmation email and she said they don’t do that whereas every other company (even airlines) does that. I guess I had to trust her, what else could I do?

Well, got my new a month or so later and it was $96. I called up loyalty and the first person said this gal had done it wrong, and there’s nothing he can do except charge me MORE now to the tune of $75 per month! $15 MORE a month. I asked for a one time credit of $180 dollars that would cover 12 months of $15 extra (over my old higher price) since it was clearly her mistake but he said no. Not even the $34 more than what the gal had quoted me…I was trying to be reasonable. About 5-6 years ago I had a billing issue somewhat similar that they did this one time coverage no problem. They wanted to keep me as a customer. How could she/I received a confirmation number if she wasn’t supposed to have been able to give me that price? If the computer kicked it back 5 days later which is what I was told, why was I never emailed or better yet, CL has my phone number, called me and tell me to call back there was a problem with my order?!

I got to a supervisor who was not only insolent but also combative. He said no such price or confirmation was in her notes, just that she got me a new price. That’s all her notes said. How is that possible? What recourse after I hang up with a CL representative do I have to prove what they said? Seems like nothing! I told him this was not fair and he went on to tell me that, and I quote, “he was getting laid off at the end of the month so don’t tell him what’s fair” and that “CL was a much better/different company 5-6 years ago when I was given that credit to make up for a call centers mistake”….SERIOUSLY!? This is how I get treated after 12 loyal years. Comcast is looking very enticing right now. I’m even looking at their cheaper deals for higher internet speeds as we speak.

It looks to me like CL is okay with giving up a loyal customer that always paid on time and about $60 a month for life rather than understand their error meet me in the middle and and reimburse once, $180 to cover their mistake and keep a customer from switching to Comcast. Again, not even asking for the $34/month difference I should be asking for.

I know that article from the ProblemSolvers is definitely not good PR for CL as I see in the forums what people are saying about CL. I really don’t want to have to go to them too and maybe have them take on a more serious stance but this issue is very widespread in your company. I even have a post on facebook about this but am holding off on posting it until I hear back. Not to mention I even have the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission complaint form half filled out about this experience just like David’s. Since you were very helpful with David’s situation, and I and I’m sure you would not like another news article about CL from the ProblemSolvers along with complaint filed with the WA State UTC, I will give you the chance to solve this problem that your customer loyalty was not able to be human about and see their error, prior to me submitting the claim and calling KOMO4 (ProblemSolvers).

I hope you can help, again, it appears you did for David and you understand real life situations…that’s how you got to where you are. I really wish I didn’t have to bother you about this but this is VERY frustrating and it was the last straw. It just seems to happen on what seems like a yearly basis and this is the worst customer service I have ever had or been treated by from any company today. Please let me know if you need any more information and feel free to email or call.

Thank you,

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[suzanne]

Century Link does not care about long term customers. I just switched to Comcast after being with CL over 25 years. The bill was always messed up and I spent hours on the phone trying to resolve issues. But the final straw was when I tried to get Prime TV, ordered it twice, but both times no one came out on the scheduled date and then when I called to complain, they had no record of either order. I even had confirmation numbers which were apparently totally useless. I’m keeping my fingers crossed about Comcast. The sales guy who came to our door was super friendly and very helpful in getting everything set up. So far so good, but I’ve heard Comcast is no picnic either.

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[Franci]

I agree that CL doesn’t appear to value their long term customers. I had been a customer since 1994, and when my internet service went down and they promised to send someone out the next day – they were a no show for the next 3 days, PLUS I had been going round with them for months to get my billing straightened out after switching to their new fast internet, I cancelled all my services with them (phone and internet). They barely batted an eye, and I can say they were Johny the spot about issuing the refund they owed me. I’m shocked really – I figured that would awhile, but 1 week after the statement that showed I had a credit, I was holding the refund check. Its really a pretty sad state of affairs when the best service you get is when you cancel.

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[suzanne]

Franci, the same thing happened to me. I thought I’d need to fight for the refund, but they were very prompt. Apparently, they WANT to get rid of customers.

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[gburke]

Suzanne, can you give me some specifics on what level and price you got from Comcast? Did they comp your install and modem since you were switching from CL? Curious as I might have to go this route. Thanks!

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[gburke]

To be fair, I wrote one last email to Caitlin at CL and she responded saying she forwarded the issue on to an executive in customer advocacy. I got a call from him and will be calling him back today.

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[suzanne]

If I were you, I’d email this guy and have him come over and talk to you. dave_bajra@cable.comcast.com He happened to knock on my door when I was totally fed up with CL and he signed us up for Comcast. He can tell you what deals they have right now. He was very responsive to emails and phone calls as we were getting things lined up, and I didn’t have to go through the toll free number. That was the biggest selling point – talking to an actual person instead of dealing with a different person every time. Super nice guy.

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[Franci]

gburke – I recently switched from CL to Comcast. I didn’t pay for an install. Since cable was already run to the house, from a previous activation – all they had to do was reactivate it. I did have to go purchase a new cable modem – went to Best Buy at Southcenter, it was around $100.00. It was sooo easy to set up and get working. I got the 75 mg service – the 1 year intro price is 49.99 per month. Regular price is 74.95. fyi

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