CenturyLink
reviews and complaints

Ordered internet service on the 7th of February online for free install. Once address was confirmed I went through the process filling out pertinent information it gave me information to call which I did not do because it was late evening. Early morning on the 8th a representative contacted me and asked if I would like to finish setting up install she told me my install could be done on the 13th. Once we started she then told me I do not get the free install offer because of my address and it would cost me 149.00. After complaining I agreed to pay her it but with a bad taste in my mouth. Well the 13th came and no show for the install. So now no install and aggravated for their false online advertising. What a scam and poor communication and deception.

During Hurricane Ian in Sept 2022, our Century Link Internet and VOIP service were disrupted due to a down line. We called the company to report the down line, but they could not give us a date of when they would repair it. After a month without internet or phone we decided to go with Verizon because they could give us immediate service. So we began the process of having our number ported over to Verizon. Century Link gave us 1/27/23 as a port date. On 1/30/23 Century Link informed me that the number was ported, so I cancelled our account with them. (They told me later I shouldn't have done that.) Verizon was not able to complete the port because it was not available. I called Century Link back and they said the number was dropped because I cancelled the account, so I had them reinstate the account and they gave me my number back (or so they said) They told me that on 2/10/23 the number would be working by 5pm. At 5:11pm on 2/10/23 I called Century Link to let them know it wasn't working yet. The cs rep told me it would be working by the end of the day. So on 2/13 I called to let them know it still wasn't working. They passed me back and forth from customer service to tech support, dropped me, I called back, passed back and forth again, then told they would work on it and call me back. still waiting... We are losing business because we are a restaurant that gets a lot of take out orders.

Since the new format was implemented in November, I have had to call weekly to be able to get my emails. Also not being able to correspond to any emails that need an answer. Now I am not getting any acknowledgement's or confirmations from one of my vendors. Last week I was on the phone to Century Link for all of the above problems 4 days out of 5. Still not getting any emails from one of my most important vendors. So how many other emails am I not receiving that I haven't been aware of. I have supposedly had my emails completely shut down with 20 different emails from Century Link telling me that the Compose feature of my account has been disabled due to suspected spam activity. Then I have to call to have this reactivated. They stated I had a second phone number on my account but wouldn't tell me the number and I tried to contact at customer service and the recording would not let me talk to a person unless it was about my bill, or new internet line set up. Very Frustrating.

on th29th of Jan 2023 CenturyLink froze my ability to COMPOSE any responces in my email account...I cannot "SEND" any messages because I cannot use the COMPOSE feature because of being frozen out...they did this accordi9ng to centurylink because of suspected SPAM activity...but not by me! and because they have done away with 800 numbers you have to use their chat feature...but oh yes guess what that is tied together with the email system and because the idiot person that designed the system didn't think of that little boo boo... I have over 16 helpdesk tickets submitted at this point in time (2/6/23)

I have been dealing with this situation for 30 days now! I have spent over 70 hours on hold, been transferred hundreds of times, tech support says there is a "suspension ticket" on the account and customer care and billing says there is not.

I successfully installed a new modem...that was not the problem, a tech was supposed to come out but he closed out the ticket w/o coming to the house and left w/o helping even though I waited all day for him to show up.

I am just constantly on hold and no one will help! It's almost time to pay my bill again and I haven't had service for the last month I paid for!

No one will transfer me to a supervisor or give me another number to call so I don't know what to do now...

7/28/2020 a coax cable which runs from our home to a telephone pole across the street was snagged by a box truck driving up the road. As a result, our internet provider who was century link was notified and that we need this coax cable repaired. The following day or the next day a technician showed up (Believe to be Rob S.) who repaired the coax cable. The line was reinstalled to a higher attachment point on the house. Fast forward 2 yrs later to present day 2/2/23 and we have now discovered what appears to be fungus or mold growing on the wall in a closet on the second floor which is directly on the opposite side of where this cable attachment was installed. It appears that when the technician Rob installed the hook which is fastened to coax cable to the house, he never weatherproofed around the hook or the hole he had drilled into the vinyl siding. As a result moisture was migrated through this opening and collected in the cavity between the vinyl siding and plaster and lathe. The home which is rather old has settled and has some hairline cracks in the plaster which is where this mold/fungus can be found growing which is directly on the other side of this hook attachment point.

As a consequence of the improper installations the hook must be property weatherproofed but in addition all of the interior plaster and lathe must be demolished and the cavity will need to be mitigated for mold. the extent to which the mold exist is unknown but may be extensive.

I have been contacting Century link regarding this problem to no avail. Techs come to fix it. It is not within our home. It is on the main lines running along the road.

This problem started about 11-20-2022, and is ongoing. No phone service.

We are older, 76, one of us has had a stroke. This is the only way to get emergency services.

I just want the line to be repaired in a timely manner.

I discontinued service on 10/21/22 at 4:56 PM CST - over the phone with a customer service representative after calling [protected].
The CSA assured me that service would be discontinued.
Since then, I have evidently been charged every month without my knowledge, and have not received any paper bill like we normally received in the past.
I learned this because you reported me as delinquent to the credit bureau and hurt my credit score - and I got an email from my credit union.
I would appreciate you rectifying this as soon as possible.
I have no problem paying my last month of service, but I didn't even know what that was because you never sent a final bill.
My phone number is [protected]. My account number was [protected].

Jan 11, 2023 I contacted century link to disconnect our internet service.
On Jan 13, 2023 I received an email that our home phone AND internet were cancelled.
In the process of correcting this error I've been told that we will be without home phone service until Feb 8, 2023.
What took them 1 day to disconnect will take them 21 days to recoonect!
This is unacceptable.

I've been with centurylink for years, and not by choice. I recently had to have my line redone because there was damage done by the storms and water saturation on the ground. When the guy arrived we literally asked him would there be a charge for this job? He said no. Had I known up front it would be $500.00 I would've told the guy to just leave and I would deal with what I had. I called centurylink to get a refund because I can't help natural causes making the line go bad. The supervisor told me he couldn't do nothing about it because the money was already given to the contractors. He gave me not even a refund but a credit for the tech coming out which was $120.. NO! I want my $500.00 Refunded back. That's not how you treat your customers. You don't tell them one thing then a month later hit them with a huge bill.

Over THREE WEEKS, endless phone calls, flipped from representative to representative. Jumping through their endless recordings over and over and over again, calls dropped, repair coming out to fix a problem that was NOT the problem EVER. I still get the recording: "YOUR LONG DISTANCE SERVICE AHS BEEN RESTRICTED". Every time I get to a live person they say, "Your long distance is not restricted. I cannot call any area code outside of the 2 local ones so CANNOT DO BUSINESS. One decent person in repair who took over 20 minutes came back on the phone and said, "There is a block on your phone for long distance". He said, it is not a repair issue. I will call Customer care for you and he did. He tried to get the block removed for TWO DAYS and still could not get it done. Big corporate is here and I wish they would ALL fail so we can get back to companies that care about customers, and if they don't THEY FAIL. I hope every Century Link office collapses (without the people inside).

We have been long-time Internet Users with CenturyLink and had great service and repair service prior to December 2022.

Situation

- Our older home is on Lake Sammamish at 2815 East LK SAMM PKWY SE, Sammamish WA 98074.

- Feb 2022 l We had Construction above the home and property that damaged the CenturyLink Internet lines and service (outside) the home, as well as our neighbors on each side. The CenturyLink Repair team responded and was VERY GOOD with communication and return-to-service actions.

- Dec 2022 l We had Construction above the home and property that damaged the CenturyLink Internet lines and service (outside) the home, as well as our neighbors on each side.

- We called to authorize Repair Service with 1) attempt being scheduled for 24 Dec but based on HIGH WIND weather condition the repair was rescheduled to 26 December.

- 2) On 26 Dec we received IM that said Justin (Technician) was on his way to the area. Then we received IM saying the Technician was not able to "enter the house" with fact we had not seen technician and were in the house. We called and the Customer Service representative said it had been transferred and rescheduled to 12/31 between 8-5PM.

- 3) On 12/31 we were again ready but did not receive IM or Call and later in the day the CenturyLink Customer Service representative said it had been transferred yet again to 1/6 for repair (inside) the home with VP880903 Ticket. We stated the repair is needed (outside) the home and the Customer Representative creates (with Dispatch) an additional Job Order [protected] for Expedite work on 1/1 with back-up on 1/2.

- 4) On 1/1 and 1/2 and 1/3 we did not see anyone or receive IM or Call.

This was followed up with call today 1/4 to Customer Service who confirmed the 1/6 VP880903 Ticket was on track but could not explain the previous Job Order status other than they could not see any record.

- 5) Job Order [protected] was created for expedite technician on 1/5 (for outside troubleshooting) and to compliment the Ticket Order for 1/6 (for inside) troubleshooting that should not be needed, other than confirm service when outside repairs are completed.

Century Link stopped sending me paper copies of my statements which ended up with me missing some payments. They didn't even send me any past due statements. So once I realized what had happened I called them to get my account up to date. The last payment I made was in August 2022 in the amount of $45. When I called they said I owed $173.52 past dues and $45 for current month. Which was incorrect but they wouldn't listen to me. I owed for Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec which would of been $45x4=$180. They made me pay $218.52 which was $38.52 more than it should be. Then I get another bill for $45 for Dec again which I paid so my internet would not be disconnected. Now I have paid $83.52 more than I owed. I would like that amount returned back to me or issued as credit towards future bills.

Almost impossible to speak to a representative! Extended outages with standard response of "techs are working on outage". Current one for me and my neighbors is SEVEN DAYS. Completely unacceptable. Last year according to a tech working in our area on a 5-day outage they needed to get a "part" from the Seattle area that is easily one day delivery for us here in NW Montana. He insinuated they keep no spare parts locally. Last month was a 5-day outage again. We do get some severe weather but no hurricanes or earthquakes. When power goes out is typically repaired within hours, not days.

I have tried two times now to correct this billing error. I have been paying my bills on-time for years using my banks bill pay. No none ever contacted me like they say they would. So two times now I have had to be on the phone for over 20 mins. jumping through the hoops to have a payment investigation.

This last call connected me to a customer service rep in the Philippines, to a very patient woman named Ann. The only problem is these service centers you can hear all the chatter and conversations going on in their "battle" room. So Centurylink has to contract out their customer service to third world countries overseas?!

How sick we have become to allow such practices by these corporations. Do you think being a Republican or Democrat even matters in such regards? NO, this is out right corporate greed, and as a consumer you would think we could have a say!

How much longer will we allow ourselves to be hood winked?

I have been a Centurylink customer for years, too many evidently. My internet is out since December 22. I had a service appt scheduled yesterday between 8-5. Even received a text message confirmation. No show, no call, and now I cannot get another appt until 12/27. I guarantee I am going to have to threaten to get credit for those days. Customer service is horrible. They all have different lies they tell you, and one even guaranteed they would be there. Once fixed, I'm looking for another Internet provider. Worst company ever. Avoid them at all costs and save yourself a lot of grief.

We have been Century Link customers for 16 years.We have constant connectivity issues.We have spent countless hours with CS trying to resolve the issues.They have come to check our modem-replacing it several times.Can’t watch stream at 2am-Takes 2 hours to watch a 40 min show due to buffering. We have called & been told it’s fine. Called STARLINK!

I am an 85 year old woman and made an online payment for my CenturyLink Internet bill. At the time I was very stressed and my husband wanted to go someplace so he was pushing me to hurry up. I wanted to pay my bills before 5:00 PM on a Thursday so it would pay the next day. If you pay on Fridays the payment doesn't go out until the following Monday. Instead of paying $49.00 somehow I paid $4,900.00. I have tried to get the $4,851.00 refunded from CenturyLink and they just don't care. They said it would take 30 to 45 days for them to refund me. Here we sit struggling trying to exist and I had to borrow so I wouldn't be charged bank fees for the other payments I made. Not to say buy groceries. CenturyLink just doesn't care about their customers it is a way Big Tech operates these days. No compassion, no respect and we're just an account number for them. Doesn't matter if we quit their service because they are so large one little old woman quitting isn't an impact on their bottom line so customers don't seem to be that important. Plus, I live in the country and there isn't another service in this area so I'm stuck. The Lords have spoken and it's just not important for us low level Serfs. Oh plus, of course, CenturyLink is earning interest on my money while I struggle.

We are two days w/o internet. This morning, 12/15/22, I was told via text a tech would be here by noon. And then, at around 9am, another text said he had arrived (funny thing: I can see for a mile, and I couldn't spot his truck). It's now 12:15, and he's not here.

The text said I could track his location, but when I did just now, that ability had timed out, since it was "outside the appointment window." It took me 16 hours just to get scheduled. Via chat and info on CenturyLink.com, I was provided 3 telephone numbers to call, all of which were promised to be answering when I called between 4:30 and 5:30pm. None worked at that hour. I was connected with a text chat. It strung me out for six hours, replying to all inquiries with "... An agent will text you back as soon as possible."

After many tries of climbing their tall phone tree with numbers that didn't work after 3pm local time, I finally reached an agent via one of the numbers the next morning (yesterday). I noted my problems and the agent hung up on me. I climbed the five-minute tree yet again to reach a second agent. She managed to schedule today's visit, but not without trying to charge me $16 per month - on top of modem/router rental - to protect from future charges for fixing our internal wiring.

CenturyLink seems to do everything it can to avoid effective communication - and service.

UPDATE: The technician did arrive shortly after I wrote the above. He quickly concluded (as I had two days previously) that the router/modem I lease from CenturyLink had failed. He had a new one on the truck, and we're back running at close to our promised 15 mbps down,.75 up, which is about a third of what folks in the city with CenturyLink get for the same amount we pay.

Hello,

On November 12th the area where I live experienced an outage that lasted for five days. During that time period, I received the worst customer service. Today’s customer service wasn’t any better.

I woke up Saturday morning (11/12) to jump on my computer to do some schoolwork but couldn’t do so due to my internet not working. The router showed a red light for DSL and nothing else was green except the power. I did the standard unplugging the router and the phone line without success. Finally, I called the CenturyLink phone number hoping to speak with someone in repair. That call was also without success. Apparently, it is impossible to speak to a live human being on the phone outside office hours. Terrible customer service! I can’t go online to the website to communicate with anyone because I don’t have internet. I did the phone thing where I could text with someone who was obviously from India trying to resolve the issue. Since she couldn’t reboot the system or resolve the problem, she said she would set up an appointment for a technician to come out and work on the issue. She never asked me when a convenient time would be for me and apparently CenturyLink is inadequate with their scheduling to be able to narrow down a smaller window of time other than “someone will be out next Tuesday”. The ability to communicate with this person through phone chat was frustrating and non-productive. After we completed our chat, I drove to the store and discovered several CenturyLink trucks working in a construction zone approximately a block and a half from my house.

I waited out my lack of service all day on Sunday (11/13) because speaking with a representative was impossible according to CenturyLink standards. I did receive a text telling me that a technician was scheduled to come to my house on Tuesday (11/15) but I had no ability to text back to ask questions or get more information. Terrible customer service!

First thing Monday morning, when I was scheduled to start work (from home), I called CenturyLink to talk live on the phone with a person that could possibly help me. To my dismay, I ended up speaking with a gal from India with poor English listening and speaking skills. I told her what was going on and that a technician was supposed to be coming on Tuesday. I asked her to try to narrow down a more specific time frame because now that I don’t have internet, I must drive close to 100 miles round trip to my office to work from there. She told me she could not narrow down the time and I would just have to make myself available for when the tech gets there. I told her I wouldn’t be anywhere near the house because I must go to the office to work. After we went back and forth several times, she asked me when I would be available. I told her I would be at the office and had meetings all day and had meetings up until 4pm. She finally told me that she could put on the work ticket for the tech to come to my house after 4pm. I had to again explain to her that it takes me an hour and half to drive home so if I left my 3pm meeting early at 3:30pm I probably wouldn’t make it home until 5pm. She said she could send a tech out to my house after 5pm. Very frustrating conversation! Then I told her about seeing the CenturyLink trucks in the construction area close to my house. She put me on hold and said she would look into it. When she came back on the phone, she told me (in a snarky tone), “Ma’am, they have the right to be out there working and they are trying to do upgrades to the system so I can’t send them to your house to fix your problem. So, you will have to wait until Tuesday for the technician to come out.” I told her that I wasn’t asking for her to pull them away from the construction zone but wondered if they may have accidentally done something that is impacting my not having internet. She assured me that I was the only one impacted and it had nothing to do with their upgrade work. It was about an hour later I received a text on my phone saying there was an outage in my area. Huh, guess the construction zone did have something to do with the outage. Terrible customer service! While still on the phone with this gal, I requested several times to be able to speak with a supervisor and was refused. I also requested several times to be connected to someone in the U.S. and was refused. Eventually, she said she would have her supervisor call me back. I never received that call. Terrible customer service!

After being made aware of an outage in the area, I got a text cancelling a tech to come to my house. I was fine with that except there were NO updates sent out indicating a time frame on when the outage would be repaired so now, I’m left hanging on whether or not I will have to drive to the office on Tuesday as well. As it turned out, I had to drive to my office in Longmont on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because the outage wasn’t completed until the evening of Wednesday (Nov 16th). I finally received a call from a tech on Tuesday afternoon telling me that he thinks the repairs will be done that evening. However, the repairs went into Wednesday, and I did not receive any updates until I called the tech back on Wednesday and he gave my number to his supervisor who eventually called me back later in the afternoon. Why isn’t it a standard to send out group text messages to the impacted area letting people know the updated situation and possible resolution time? Terrible customer service! The tech I had been speaking with did call me to let me know when the service was back up again and asked me if I was still having problems. He still needed to come over to reset my router and get the service up and running at my house due to the troubleshooting that had been done did not allow it to come up on its own.

It cost me $54.00 in gas money to have to drive to the office and back for 3 days. I missed several online classes for my college classes which impacted missed deadlines. When I must spend 2 ½ hours on the road every day traveling to and from work, I don’t have as much time to spend with my school obligations. Not having service for 5 days was quite unacceptable and not necessary had it been handled properly to begin with.

So, the service was restored, and December 2nd I receive my CenturyLink bill online for the full amount owed at $45.00. You have got to be kidding me! CenturyLink did not indicate any kind of credit for the time and inconvenience of not providing service. So, now I must call CenturyLink again only to be transferred twice before finally having to speak with India again. The man I spoke with initially offered me a $7.70 credit for the 5 days. I thought perhaps he was joking but he assured me that was what was owed to me. I told him I wanted to speak to a supervisor and was told that he is an expert, and the supervisor would do nothing more for me than what he has already offered. I made several demands to speak with a supervisor and to be connected to someone in the U.S. which was denied. Terrible customer service! He then said he spoke with a supervisor who approved offering me a $30 credit but was still refused speaking directly with a supervisor. Eventually, I was told the supervisor was on another line helping a customer and he would give me a call back. I heard that line already and wasn’t buying into it and told him so. I let him know if I didn’t hear back from a supervisor that I would continue to call in until I spoke with one. About an hour later, I received a call from a supervisor telling me he was giving me a credit of $30 and would take corrective action with his employees. I didn’t buy into that either.

I am contacting you at this point because the website indicates you are in the U.S., and I assume you listen to and understand English. Is it really the policy of CenturyLink for their customers to not have any availability to speak with a technician when there is a problem with their service? Is it also standard for all customer service to only be located “offshore” and not allow customers to speak with someone in the U.S. when a request is made? Do you have any residential customer service employees in the U.S.? Is it also standard practice for your customer service representatives to refuse access to their supervisor when the customer is requesting it? Do you have policies regarding outages where the company communicates with their customers keeping them aware of the problem and a time frame for getting it fixed? Is it really the best CenturyLink can do to set an entire day as the scheduled time for a technician to come to someone’s home instead of a 2 or even 4 hour time frame so your customer’s can manage their personal and work time accordingly? Terrible customer service! Does CenturyLink care at all about their customers or just care about making money and hoping their customers are too stupid to notice how poorly they are being handled by the CenturyLink employees?

I am aware that outages can happen, and repairs need to be done. My complaints lie with how the outage was handled before, during, and after. I believe CenturyLink should reimburse me for my gas usage ($54) at minimum for the 3 days I had to drive into the office when I typically work from home. I will be generous and not bring up how much of my precious time was wasted by your poor standards. I have had problems with CenturyLink in the past with having difficulty “getting it right” when initially setting up my service at a new location. But usually, once it is set up the service was decent enough. This last incident has pushed my patience and understanding to a point where I think it is time for me to look for another provider. Whoever they may be, may not be perfect. But perhaps their customer service and company policies will be more geared toward taking care of their loyal customers without attitude and disregard.