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2.0 768 Reviews

CenturyLink Complaints Summary

187 Resolved
571 Unresolved
Our verdict: When using services from CenturyLink with a poor resolution rate, be vigilant. Understand the common pitfalls other customers have faced. Prepare thoroughly for any interactions with their customer service, and consider alternative solutions if your issues are not addressed satisfactorily.
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1:01 pm EST
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CenturyLink billing/phone shutoff

Here are the facts:
I have ALL of my phone service through Qwest: local and long distance services, Internet connection via DSL, Qwest voice mail, and Qwest caller ID. I have been a Qwest customer since 1976 when they were Mountain Bell.
Qwest shut of my phone because they did not receive my mailed-in payment.
1. Qwest said they mailed me a notice that they hadn’t received my payment, but I never received this mailed notice. I am not upset about the mail because this happens – my checks aren’t delivered on time and notices from Qwest don’t get delivered to me.
2. From a personal check dated 12-19-08, I paid Qwest for phone services.
3. From a personal check dated 1-20-09 I paid Qwest for phone services.
4. On or about January 6, Qwest attempted to contact me about my bill via automated call or “robo-call” - to my phone. I did receive a call on that day and here are the details of that.
• I received a message on my Qwest voice mail around 1:00 p.m. and ALL that was on the Qwest voice mail message was “… so please give us a call.” The first part of the robo-call message was not recorded.
• On the Qwest caller ID, an 800 number was listed BUT there was no name, phone number, or any other form of identification left on my Qwest voice mail by the robo-call.
• Qwest caller ID recorded the phone number but the name recorded on the caller ID was “unknown caller”. I do not return calls to “unknown caller” and that is one of the reasons I have caller ID and one of the reasons that Qwest touts caller ID.

5. On January 22, Qwest shut off my phone. I could not call in or out from my phone and I had no Internet access.
6. I called from my fiance’s cell phone to report no phone or Internet service or access. The first person I spoke to at Qwest said that there “was snow in the Seattle area and that Qwest was having some problems”. I was told later in the call that they had not received my recent payment. I asked them where the nearest Qwest office was and I drove there and made my payment so that I could get my phone turned on again and access the Internet.
7. I called Qwest customer service AFTER my phone service was returned to find out more about the problem was. I spoke with Jane, employee ID unknown that, that Qwest records showed that they made a robo-call on or about January 6 regarding payment. When I explained the problem of Qwest robo-calls/Qwest voice mail, she said, “Hmm. No one has ever told us this before.” At least the people to whom I spoke to this day understood the problem with Qwest robo-call/Qwest voice mail/Qwest caller ID name blocking.
8. On February 23, I received a bill from Qwest and they are charging me $50.00 per Qwest order number C31115521 to “restore service on January 22”.
9. On February 23, I called Qwest customer service and spoke with Satami, a supervisor, and Satami’s supervisor, Jo (employee ID A68) and explained this problem and they said they will not remove the charge. Satomi also told me that the robo-call “was a courtesy call and that Qwest didn’t have to make a courtesy call anyway.” The first time I heard about this attempted contact from Qwest, they referred to it as an “attempt to contact” and never as a “courtesy call” which, according to Satomi, “We don’t have to make”.
10. On February 23 when I read the “Information About Your Account” on the Qwest bill, it says “Your basic telephone service will not be disconnected for non-payment of service or charges that are identified with an asterisk.” On my bill, this means that IF I SOMEHOW SELECTIVELY DO NOT PAY THE LONG DISTANCE DOMESTIC PLAN AND IN-STATE PLAN AND VOICE MAIL, CALLER ID AND INTERNET SERVICE, my basic telephone service will NOT be disconnected – who in world puts separate checks in the phone bill for these separate services? This is a completely unreasonable and outrageous expectation by Qwest or else it’s a flat-out lie.
11. Continuing with item 10, when you have Qwest DSL and Qwest shuts off your phone, you lose your Internet connection, I don’t care what Qwest’s totally uninformed and unwilling-to-listen employee, Jo, ID A68, says.
12. When I called back later after speaking to Jo, Wendy took the call and I told her I wanted to speak to Jo and gave her Jo’s ID number. Wendy said she wasn’t sure who Jo was and she asked me if I knew which city Jo was in: I’m supposed to know to ask a supervisor’s city where they work? What kind of communication – especially from a telephone company where their employees can’t even find another person within their screen notes and system – do you call this? An abomination? An abortion?

Here’s the flaws in Qwest’s alleged integrated systems and alleged customer service.
1. Qwest’s robo-callers aren’t smart enough to interact with Qwest’s voice mail system to know when the Qwest robo-call message should begin and therefore, a Qwest customer misses important calls despite of the alleged benefits of Qwest voice mail.
2. Qwest blocks its robo-call outgoing caller ID name from the Qwest caller ID system. If the caller ID name would have been shown as “Qwest billing” or Qwest accounting” I sure as hell would have called someone.
3. Qwest’s statement –on page 2 of the bill states, “Your basic telephone service will not be disconnected for non-payment of service or charges that are identified [with an asterisk]” is outrageous and unreasonable. Who pays separately with check or otherwise for the services with or without an asterisk?
4. Some of Qwest’s supervisors are ignorant and/or ill-trained and/or unwilling to listen. If I can explain the situation to a front-line customer representative (Mary, Wendy, and Jane) and they can understand the problems with Qwests’ poor system integration (i.e., voice mail, robo-call, and caller ID name-blocking), why can’t Qwest supervisors get it?
Supervisor Satomi told me “we don’t have to place a courtesy call to you” and Jo – employee A68 and Satomi’s supervisor – who just did not get it and argued with me that “we didn’t shut off your Internet service [by shutting off your phone] even if you do have DSL” and both statements by these supervisors are ignorant and display poor customer service skills.

What do I want? I want the $50 charge taken off my my bill. I believe that $50 means a lot more to me than it does to a coproration the size of Qwest and if I’m only worth $50 to them, then how does that speak to their “spirit of service”?
I would hope that Qwest looks into this and sees the major flaws in their systems and does something about it.

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11:02 am EST
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CenturyLink fraud and lies

Qwest is incompetent. We were repeatedly getting ever higher bills from Qwest so, like everyone else in this economy we switched our extensive home service to Vonage to save money. This angered Qwest beyond belief who promptly terminated our internet service along with our home and office phone lines (without being requested to terminate the internet portion of our service). This took us a week to restore while our business was out of touch. Now we have our internet and cell service only with Qwest having a remaining cell phone that is under contract.

Qwest deliberately set up these accounts to all be separate and switched them from MY name to my husband's name so that when we called and paid over a $200 bill (in it's entirety) before Christmas they failed to inform us we had $32 outstanding because *QWEST* had set the billing up fraudulently.

So, in addition to terminating our internet service on our business Qwest now, on a Friday evening, shuts off our cell phone over a $32 balance we had no knowledge of. So we find ourselves in a snow storm traveling across country the day after Christmas with no cell service over Qwest's deliberate anger over losing our primary home line service. In addition, the office is only open M-F so as you, in your desperation to contact them can only be directed to a Qwest office that IS CLOSED adding insult to injury.

When you ask to have your service terminated (prior to the arbitrary termination date Qwest enjoys for YOUR service regardless of when your contract expires coming up 2/09 when they switch to Verizon). When you ask to terminate YOUR service early they charge you $200 but Qwest can terminate your service, move it or do whatever they want with it whenever they please.

Qwest, as you know, has a long history of doing nefarious activities to legitimate customers. Anyone interested in taking further legal action let me know. This company needs to be stopped.

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QWEST ARE BULLIES
Sandy, US
Aug 29, 2011 12:33 am EDT

Our company was a 16 year customer of Qwest with a broad system on connections in 8 states. We switched to Qwest T1 access at our store locations and the outages were so bad that we sent them a demand to improve service or let us out of our contract to find another carrier. Qwest recognized their bad service (41 outages, some for several days, in 5 weeks) and promised to keep our service going, and let us out of our contract, while we looked for another carrier. We have written documentation promising "no liability" to our company from Qwest employees. Then the bills came they had doubled and tripled our rates. When we contacted them about the overcharges they said we would need to sign up for a new contract. Figure that! We did not sign the new contract so they told us we had sixty days to find other carriers or they would cut off our service! We raced to find a new carrier and converted. As we switched the circuits to a new carrier and called to cancel each line with Qwest, they said that we couldn't and had to wait for 30-45 days to stop the billing. We got a three inch high bill from their company each month. As the circuits went away and the bill got smaller, we noticed that they were charging us for 4 duplicate services over a 18 month period. We have paid for all the services provided at the contracted rate up to the business day after our cancellation, but the remaining overcharges are $200, 000. This company is the most fraudulent group of thieves that I have ever dealt with in my 35 years in business. Any other businesses out there with similar Qwest bullying experiences? Qwest is without conscience they need a hugh class action lawsuit to stop this kind of fraud.

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twocansandawire
, US
May 28, 2011 6:31 pm EDT
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Qwest has recently merged with a large corporation, so is in the process of having more paperwork and crapola-hoops-to jump through to even talk to a customer, let alone try to help. I've been laid off from work for 2 years, and wanted to lower my bill, so I bundled my long distance, with local service, and instead of dropping 25$ as expected, was raised 22$. I was hit by Sunday tornado got phone service on Thursday, now its gone but rep said its localized trouble, then why did my friend who live 30 miles away have a similar problem 2 days ago, I think corporate transitions are messed up, and getting messier...

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msw26
Ogde, US
May 13, 2010 5:38 pm EDT

My mother is currently on the phone with Qwest because they have been billing her for long distance service even after she cancelled. They have these "unlisted" long distance numbers that have been called by her phone apparently.

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asdfasdfa
, US
Oct 07, 2009 9:06 pm EDT

Qwest sucks. I sign up for the $35 internet and canceled it after 2 weeks. Later I received bill for $106
I took me an hour to get real balance $25
I hope I won't receive any crap from them

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Julie50
Des Moines, US
Sep 28, 2009 12:19 am EDT

Carl: I would be GLAD to go after these liars. They did the same thing to us, only they didn't shut off our service, they're trying to say we own them $429. For what? You know that no phone company on this earth would let you rack up that high of a bill without terminating your service. We didn't even know anything about this until we checked our credit report. We got rid of Qwest over 2 years ago over increasing fees every month. They wouldn't even bother to notify you, just send you a higher bill. They also tried to say that we still owed them $54 (that was our last bill), I sent them receipts, etc. argued with them for 6 mos. and they aid they had it taken care of . Now they come up out of nowhere with this $429 bill they pulled out of their a#@. Nice duplicate fake bill copies too.

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6:22 am EST
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CenturyLink scam and cheating

I had Qwest wireless back in 2002 or 2003, (can't remember exactly) and at the time was disputing a $200 contract cancellation fee they began charging me after I canceled my service for mistakes they had made on my bill. I kept the home phone service, and still have it now in 2008.

As I recall in the best way my memory can offer me after 7 years, Qwest was charging me full-price for something that the customer service rep had told me was either free or at a lower discounted price when I first ordered the service. After disputing this on the phone with Qwest several times over a few months or so, trying in vain to get them to adjust my bill to show the proper lower charges, I finally called and canceled the service out of sheer disgust over the whole thing.

The next billing cycle they then added a $200 cancellation fee. Upset because I thought this was unfair, I called to dispute the $200, explaining why I had canceled my service in the first place -- because they were charging me for something the customer service rep said was free. I told them I felt I didn't deserve to be charged the $200 because it was Qwest who had messed up by misleading me into thinking I was getting a free (or discounted) item upon signing up for wireless.

So, after the next couple of billing statements, I saw that the $200 had been dropped, and I was happy that I had gotten through to them, and they had apparently agreed to drop the charges. For the next few years the $200 was gone from my bill, and I figured that was the end of it.

Well, not so fast. Now, in late 2008 I suddenly get a collection notice in the mail for the Qwest $200, along with $80 for a past wireless bill, for a total of $280, some 7 years after the fact! Talk about a cheap shot! Not only did they not let it go, but now they come after me years later with the collection company -- and they're the ones who screwed up!

I'm posting this here because I want other people to be aware of Qwest's deceptive and ongoing questionable business practices. Seems since the economy is so bad now, this company will do anything to make money.

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uc8647696
, US
Jun 03, 2016 8:23 am EDT

Use caution when you order wireless internet.
write the employee name down and their call center location.Be sure you include all services needed to get the best rates write all quotes these are without tax

I ORDERED THE SERVICE IT TOOK ME HOURS TO RESOLVE THE OVERCHARGES.

My first 3 bills were $160 a month they quoted $25 a month for the service I now pay a total $58 a month taxes included
it includes unlimited long distance
wireless internet
call messaging
last call return *69
call forwarding

be diligent they scam big time

I hope the new company owners clean up the deceptive practices they were billions in debit I imagine they were scamming to get
their debits resolved

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irma54
, US
Jul 28, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

billed for services i did not use or authorize

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BENITO G ACOSTA
,
Oct 23, 2008 12:33 pm EDT

FRAUD VICTIM. THESE ACCT... IS NOT MINE.

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Mark
, US
Jun 03, 2016 8:23 am EDT

I am a college student and upon moving into my first place I got Qwest for internet service. The house I lived in was old and the phone line wasn't connected so I called after getting service to come install a phone line so I would be able to use the internet. During this time on the phone trying to get a service tech to come out they told me I could bundle my verizon service into one bill with them so I agreed.

After scheduling two times for them to come install the phone line, only to have no one show, I cancelled my qwest service and thats where it all began. They tried to tell me id have to pay for the two months I had gone without service even though I never had internet access because they never installed it! They also informed me id have to pay the termination fee which I was fine with just not the service I never had.

During this time I paid my verizon bill individually since I had cancelled my qwest service. However months later I get an outstanding bill of $800 (yes $800!) from qwest saying that they had paid multiple verizon bills. I did a three way call with verizon and qwest where verizon told qwest we had paid the bills and they still wont drop it. I called countless times and have spent 5 hours easy talking to them. Now im getting daily harassing/rude calls from qwest to pay for a service I never had and phone bills ive already paid. My mother has even talked to them and they constantly give the run around saying my ONLY option is to pay them the full $800+ dollars. I would have easily gone without internet if I had know this is how it would be.

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Rock
, US
Feb 05, 2009 10:50 am EST

In September I found a notice on my door from Qwest, they had upgrade our neighborhood to high speed digital fiber, and were offering deals of $29/mo for the low end which I was using and paying $42/mo or $44/mo for their new 12GB service. I called them and was assured that yes I could be upgraded for just a few $$ more than I was currently paying. After a lengthy discussion with the Qwest rep I upgraded to their new service. By November I was being charged $65 for the service plus an additional $14 for MSN which I specifically did not want. I called them and was told those charges would be removed from my bill and I would be charged the $44/mo originally quoted. A month later I get another statement with the charges they were going to remove now listed as past due and my charges are back to the $65 +$14, when I called again I was told the only way I could get the (now) $46/mo rate was to sign a 2 year contract and there was no way they could roll back the price over the last 2 months. This is a ripoff from a company that now controls most of telecom.

QTech
QTech
Boise, US
May 21, 2011 6:35 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

BTW Qwest was purchased by CenturyLink and the Qwest brand is expected to be history sometime in August 2011.

Check out http://www.centurylink.com to find out more.

QTech
QTech
Boise, US
May 21, 2011 6:30 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Sorry! Provided wrong email address. It is: talktous@qwest.com

Talk To Qwest

Qwest has launched Talk to Qwest, a program focused on resolving customer service issues through online outreach.
Talk to Qwest provides quick and courteous resolution for customers who need assistance.
Need something? TalkToUs@qwest.com or follow us:
www.twitter.com/TalkToQwest

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Curly RM
Chandler, US
May 20, 2011 6:41 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Unfortunately, your mail was not delivered to the following address:

:
155.70.32.98 does not like recipient.
Remote host said: 550 5.1.1 ... User unknown
Giving up on 155.70.32.98.

--- Enclosed is a copy of the message.

"Unfortunately ... my E-mail got returned as such...

From: RAUL MURILLO
Date: May 20, 2011 10:33:17 AM GMT-07:00
To: talktoqwest@qwest.com
Subject: If you have a problem with Qwest ... So Be It!

Qwest
Posted: 2009-01-23 by Riko

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Curly RM
Chandler, US
May 20, 2011 6:40 pm EDT
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Already did! I copied "ALL" these complaints to my E-mail and sent it!
NOT that it will do any good, since I have written to Qwest at there billing address, their corporate offices in Seattle Washington and in Colorado. "Never" resolved any thing, but got a reply from the CEO secretary... Asking me "NOT" to write to him unless I had some thing "nice" to say...
"Not Gonna Happen"!

QTech
QTech
Boise, US
May 20, 2011 6:07 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

If you have a problem with Qwest send an email to talktoqwest@qwest.com

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4:27 pm EST
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CenturyLink Unknowledgeable Customer Service

I had no choice in choosing phone providers when I opened my business in Houston. Embarq has a monopoly, so I signed up for service. I have two lines, one with internet and one for fax. Apparently, I need a bundle package on both lines, including services that I do not need, to get a "special" rate for my internet. So, I am currently paying for call waiting and such on a line that I just use to receive and send faxes. When I tried to cancel these services, I was told that cancellation would increase my internet service fees (which is on ANOTHER LINE) by $10. And a basic line is only four dollars less than the bundle package that I was signed up for. RIDICULOUS!
However, that is the least of my problems with Embarq. One of the phone jacks in the office does not work. When I called Embarq to ask them to fix this problem, I was told that it would cost a $200 trip charge and $30 per fifteen minutes for repair. I told the representative that the jack was broken before I opened my business and Embarq should provide complete and fully operable lines and jacks for their customers, especially new ones. But I was told that Embarq only takes care of problems with their exterior lines and customers are responsible for the condition of the lines inside. Again RIDICULOUS!
Whenever I call Embarq, it is a huge ordeal. No one knows ANYTHING! When I ask a simple question, such as, "When did you receive my last payment and how much was it for?" it takes the representative a full two minutes before she can answer me. Shouldn't basic account information like that be easily accessible? When I call to ask them to please put my long distance and local bills together, I get a yeah, sure. And then four months of separate bills. Thus, more calls, more empty answers and more headaches.
Embarq's long distance is unbelievable. One day, I tried to fax long distance. It didn't work, but when I faxed to a toll-free number, it went through. I tried making calls, again, no long distance. So, I called Embarq, asking why my long distance was cut off. The representative had no idea why. She just said, oh, it'll come back on within one to four hours. WHAT? Okay...maybe there was a problem with the lines, I can understand. A week later, again, my long distance was cut off. I called again.
This time, the representative tells me that I asked for it to be cut off.
No, I use this fax all the time, there is no way that I would call and ask you to cut off my long distance.
Well, let me look into it for you... Ten minutes later... Someone named Mandy asked to terminate the long distance.
There is no one here by that name.
Oh, I see... Mandy has a residential line with the same number and she terminated service.
I don't understand. Someone with this number, but different area code, with a different account number terminated her residential line and now our long distance is cut off?
yeah...I think so.
That makes no sense.
Well, that's what it says on my screen.
Well, I need long distance, I need it back on.
Okay, we have to go through an automated system that will authorize the new service.
This call took roughly fifty minutes from my day. It was completely unnecessary. There is a poor woman named Mandy out there that thinks that she disconnected her line, but is still getting charged, most likely.
I do not understand how this company operates. How do these people that do not know anything get on the phone and help customers? It is completely ludicrous.
My wish for the new year is that another telephone company offers their services wherever Embarq does. No one should have to endure the incompetence of these employees and the unfair tactics that Embarq uses to squeeze more money out of its customers.

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CenturyLinkJoey
Greenville, US
Jan 08, 2009 7:34 am EST
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Court,

I'm sorry to hear that you had an unpleasant experience dealing with our customer service. Can I help? If there is something I can do, send me an email at Embarq_Joey@embarq.com. I help people all the time and you can verify my identity on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Embarq_Joey.

Thanks,

Joey H.
Embarq Reach Out
reachout@embarq.com

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CenturyLink customer service or lack of

On Nov 16th we went to our local Qwest kiosk because my teen-age daughter's cell phone had quit working, we had a family plan on our cellphones even though we hadn't used the second phone in over a year, we still had a contract, they said they no longer had cellphones because they are in the process of switching cellphones to Verizon, but to call the business office and have the phones seperated and then come back and they would then switch (migrate) my daughter's phone. So I called and they seperated the phones and I went back to the kiosk on the 18th and Julie switched the phone for us and promised the new phone would be delivered no later than 7pm on the 20th. It didn't. So I called back out to the kiosk and Julie said she would check on it and get back to me first thing tomorrow, she didn't.When I called to find out about the phone I talked to Steve and he said that as far as he could tell the phone had not been ordered but he was not sure to call back and talk to Julie so I tried. I then spoke to someone named Freddy who told me that as far as he could tell the phone had not been ordered but he could do so at that time, but I might end up with 2 phones if by some chance the phone had been ordered at that point I requested that the order be cancelled "if it had by some chance been ordered" We then ordered a phone directly from Verizon. At this point I called on the 24th and reduced my minutes as I wouldn't be using any more minutes with Qwest. Then I received a bill 2 seperate bills 1 for my house phone, and 1 cellphone and 2nd one for the 2nd cell phone the 1st bill was 88.00 and the second bill was 198.90. because they changed the minutes on the phone the day I inquired about splitting the phones I was seriously over the minutes (they dropped them to 200 which is what I requested on the 24th not the 18th) After 2 hours on the phone they refused to do anything about the bill, when my contract is up in February I will never have another phone or any other service through Qwest.

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Valerie
Valerie
, US
Jul 18, 2008 8:39 am EDT

I moved to a rental house in Bellevue from Bothell on 1-Jun. On Tue 16-Jun I called Qwest to order a land line/DSL bundle. They said that there was already an active line (from the previous renter)but promised they would call my landlord, take care of it and that both services would be up and running on Friday the 19th. Friday I get the DSL modem in the mail. I hook it up but it does not work. I hook up a phone to the line and it works, but when I call my cell it comes up as a different number than I was promised. Also the long distance does not work. Saturday night I call Qwest. They say that they can't hook up the line until the customer calls to disconnect the existing line. No one, including the landlord, knows who or where on Earth the guy on the account is (the name doesn't match the person on the previous lease). For the second time I give them my landlord's phone number and for the second time they say they'll call him and get permission to remove the ac!

tive line.

Monday rolls around. Still no service, so I call in the morning. They tell me that they cannot make outgoing calls so I have to call the landlord to have him call Qwest. I refuse, telling them it is not my problem, they've broken their promise and it's really their problem anyway. Monday evening I call again, finally get to a person who again takes my landlord's number and ABSOLUTELY ASSURES me that he'll have me up and running by end of day tomorrow, and he'll take care of everything. I was so ecstatic I told him if he gave me his address I'd send him twenty bucks and a thank you card.

Nope. Nothing.

Thursday the 24th and I call in the morning. Again they tell me they cannot make outgoing calls to contact my landlord. After over TWO HOURS on the phone with them, they finally call my landlord and add him to the conversation. He cannot do much except confirm that I am the official renter and he doesn't have a clue who the person on the existing account is. I am also told that the person owes them over $800. So, basically, I ask them: So you WON'T turn the phone off of someone who not only doesn't live here and you cannot find but owes you money, and at the same time, you won't turn on my service that you promised and I WANT to give you money.

While on the phone with them, they attempted to call the old renter and left a message. At the end of the conversation it was made clear to both my landlord and I that a)if they hear back from the old renter they will immediately turn off his service and turn mine on, or b) if they don't hear from him in three days, they will put some kind of order on the account (apparently closing it) and ten business days later my service will be activated, so the latest date would be the 15th of July. Also, the DSL line will take three extra days after that. The next day the existing line was shut off.

Now it is the 18th and no service. It's been over a month.

Verizon also offers land lines and DSL to my house address but I'm apparently, despite being a mile (line of sight) from a major Microsoft campus in Bellevue, in a dead zone. I've had their service since 1999 and currently have three cell lines with them, but they refuse to fix the dead zone. Naturally, I cannot in good faith reward them with more business, especially when the only reason I'm getting a land line is because there's no cell service there. So I am completely without communications at this address. Now I am on an extended trip for work and I can't even talk to my girlfriend at home.

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Masker66
, US
Dec 03, 2009 11:05 am EST

QWEST recently made a mistake. Their employee did not log the information in our account and they cut off our service before the deadline we had to pay.

Granted we did owe them money. We were told our service would not be cut off until a Monday. So we were frantically finding the money since my husband no longer had a job to pay our bills. We had the money coming in on Friday which is before Monday so that I could call in a payment. I did not want to call in a check that I didn't have money in the bank. Trying to do the right thing (not writing checks before the money was in the bank).

When I found our service had been cut-off before Monday I contacted QWEST to restore our service till that date. They needed to keep their word, it would not be cut-off till Monday not on Wednesday 5 days before. Of course we have absolutely no other choice but QWEST and they have no way of logging complaints except writing to Executive Office at 1801 California, Suite 5200, Denver, CO. 80202. But that is not going to restore my phone so my husband can receive job interviews and we can pay our bills on time again.

I am done with companies who bully you. They have no competition so they can treat you anyway they want. The only way they would restore my phone was if I made a partial payment on the day the cut off my phone. I told them I don't have the money in the bank for a partial payment. I would give them full payment on Friday which is when my husband and I would have our money in the bank. I even offered to write a post dated check for Friday. I could have given a partial payment on the phone but it was the principal of the issue. They needed to finally step up to the plate and follow through with what they told us. They needed to apologize, restore our services till the date they said it would shut-off and to please make a payment otherwise our service would be discontinued.

or

Take my post dated check on Friday when my money would be in the bank to pay them fully. Not a partial payment today to bully me into paying them. I was being bullied by the Credit department and I've had it with QWEST treating their customers anyway they feel and no place for me to complain.

No proof that who I was talking to on the phone was a Manager or Supervisor. Anyone can do anything they just chose to bully me and could care less.

I have already called them twice today and I will continue to call till they get me someone who will take care of the situation.

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3:52 pm EST

CenturyLink billing errors

We moved from an apartment to a house on Aug. 25 2008. At the time we cancelled our phone internet and TV service. In October I received another bill for TV service. I called Qwest to find out what the problem was and they had not cancelled my TV service because it was through a different provider even though all connections, billing and installation was previously handled solely by Qwest. I was receiving billing for service I wasn't even getting any longer. After many long calls with Qwest and DirecTV I finally had the TV service cancelled. But guess what, I get another bill from Qwest yet again. This time for the previous amount and even more. I now get to make another hour long phone call to Qwest to try and figure out what is going on. Only to find out they will not reverse the charges from my previous bill stating it was my fault I did not call DirecTV to cancel in the first place. Qwest could not tell me why I was getting charged additional money on top of the original bill because their system had no record of what was going on with my account. So after all of the calls to try and get this sorted out there was no record of anything ever happening with my account other than it was past due and going to collections. The billing department was no help. At this point I am keeping my records and waiting for the call from collections. From there I will go to small claims court and prove my case to a judge. If you are ever thinking of bundling service with Qwest and DirecTV, DONT. DirecTV was fine when I called them with any issues they were taken care of, but Qwest was a whole other story. I couldn't get service to get my TV fixed, they didn't show up on the day of install, and now they don't cancel your service when you ask them to. DirecTV would be wise to not affiliate themselves with such a lousy company.

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4:31 am EST
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CenturyLink Fraud and cheating

About a year ago I received my phone bill from Embarq that included third party charges from OAN Services, Inc... Even though I had never even heard of OAN, Embarq expected for me to pay the entire bill including these totally unauthorized charges & then contact OAN if I thought that I was entitled to a refund. I contacted OAN & told them that I absolutely had not requested their services & I demanded that they refund my money & never try to bill me again.

On my next phone bill they credited what they had charged me from my new balance. Naturally I thought that it was over & that they would surely not try to bill me again. Wrong! For the last four months they have done exactly the same thing. This company & all of the telephone companies who go along with this scam needs to be exposed & prosecuted.

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sedos
Naples, US
Jun 02, 2009 7:02 pm EDT

I had the same problem with Embarq. They charge the same amount for 2 times. They don't update their information. So if I wasn't aware of the double charges, they would collect my money. They can make million from unfair charges.

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sedos
Naples, US
Jun 02, 2009 7:00 pm EDT

I had the same problem. They try to charge 2 times for the same amount.I amsick and tired of this company.

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footie423
Greeneville, US
Apr 28, 2009 3:19 pm EDT

I too have a charge on my Embarq phone bill from EMAILDISCOUNTS.COM and I called the [protected] number and the lady said that she would cancel my account. I hope that she does.

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Jon Mulford
Hood River, US
Mar 03, 2009 9:26 pm EST

I have had a very similar experience with Embarq. I had noticed an increase in spam emails through my Embarq DSL line, followed by a new section of the Embarq monthly bill labeled "Third Party Providers" serviced by something called ESBI, and a charge of $14.95 per month on behalf of EMAILDISCOUNTS.COM. This is a monthly charge for their "service" of emailing you about 25 spam solicitations per day. I complained to Embarq and they simply refused to take any responsibility whatever, saying that they were "required" to bill me the amount requested by EMAILDISCOUNTS.COM. After some discussion the Embarq customer service person conceded that they should have contacted me to see if this was an authorized transaction, but Embarq still declined to take any action to remove the charge from my bill. Needless to say, I am arranging for substitute internet service from a different company (and also terminating my Embarq landline and going exclusively cell phone).

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CenturyLinkJoey
Greenville, US
Dec 05, 2008 1:55 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Steven,

My name is Joey and I work for Embarq Reach Out. I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your Embarq service. Can I help? Send me an email at Embarq_Joey@embarq.com and I'll gladly assist.

You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Embarq_Joey to verify my identity.

Joey

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CenturyLink horrible customer service

Stay AWAY from Qwest. Their customer service is horrible and their billing department is a nightmare. Last year they sent me to ER Solutions (collection agency-another horrible company) and stated it was in error, they meant to send someone else. This time I cancelled my phone service with them and switched to Vonage. I called and made a payment which according to the person I spoke to, this was my final payment to close out the account. Now 4 months later, I am being harrassed again by ER Solutions. I called Qwest to ask them what is happening and they state that I now owe them more money. They never sent me a bill, called me or sent me an e-mail. I asked to speak to the manager who is less educated then the representative that I spoke to. I am moving to Comcast and if you care about your credit, you will stay AWAY from Qwest!

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mmmmm
, US
Sep 07, 2011 4:03 pm EDT

I have been a Qwest customer for some time and i am unhappy with the quality of the service i am getting.

For all the competitors out there i would think that the product should be the best in order to keep my business.

Please have someone at Qwest get in touch with me and maybe i will keep my business with you.

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Ribonnes
, US
May 31, 2010 8:53 am EDT

I have been a Qwest customer for some time and i am unhappy with the quality of the service i am getting. For all the competitors out there i would think that the product should be the best in order to keep my business.

Please have someone at Qwest get in touch with me and maybe i will keep my business with you.

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PrafChandra
, US
Jul 06, 2009 5:13 pm EDT

Qwest and its third party vendor made me an offer that does not exist. They offered a free modem and high speed Internet for $24.99 and now want $44.99 for the same service. They also claim that there is no free modem with this offer.

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AJ ZEE
,
Oct 19, 2007 12:00 am EDT

Qwest Communications - www.qwest.com

If you have Qwest broadband in Tucson get rid of them and go with Comcast or Cox! I have West DSL and the wireless modem will not work well and drops you constantly. I have complained to them and there customer service really sucks bad! They use any excuse possible and to work for that screwed up company is even worse!

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Sarah
,
Aug 28, 2008 4:35 pm EDT

Because they're shady! And they know it! Our bill keeps getting higher and higher and every person there tells us a different story. It is freakin ridiculous.

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Steve
,
Jul 30, 2008 2:57 pm EDT

How is it worse to work for a multi billion dollar corporation?

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CenturyLink - Fraud

We keep recieving phone calls from a fake company that says they are with the federal government with info on federal grant money. You can tell by the back ground noise that it is telemarketing all the voices sound like indian nationallity. Something needs to be done

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CenturyLink direct. tv never showed up for installation

On monday 11/10/08 I had odered direct.tv through qwest company the package deal they had running for speacials get 200.00 dollars gift card if you order direct.tv or high speed intrnet services. My appointment was confirmation for 11/12/08 to set up the cable DVR boxes.No one showed up, called Direct TV and spoke with Joey at 0630pm and he said to call back becuase he could not pull up the files, called at 640pm and spole with Troy and he stated I had cancelled the scheduled for thursday 11/13/08 per his report, I then asked to speak with a supervisor and apparently no one has any I dea whats going on.Im now speaking with Chrystal and she trying to contact the people who are will be installing the T.V boxes all I have been doing is being transfered to several different operators its redicolous, Im still o the phone waiting and its 7:08p right now.Being I had taken off from work early just to besue that someone is here for the installation, This is so crapy im goingto ask for a month off my bill!

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CenturyLink awful company

I had a DSL internet & phone bundle with Qwest from Nov 2006 - Apr 2008. I switched over to another Internet provider(Charter Cable) in mid-April 2008 and also switched over to Vonage, the VOIP based phone service. They have the number portability service where they can transfer your existing phone number to their service. To do this, they(Vonage) directly do the switch and let me know once the switch is complete. My switch was complete by April 15 2008.

Then I called Qwest to cancel my phone AND DSL internet service. The customer service rep confirmed all of this and told me I'll receive a prepaid box for sending Qwest back the DSL modem I had rented from them and I'll get a 'final bill' within 2-4 weeks. The prepaid box for the modem arrived, I duly shipped the modem back and I thought the matter was closed.

Imagine my surprise, when I start receiving bills for a COMPLETELY NEW phone number with fresh monthly charges(for Broadband, Long Distance etc). I called Qwest that there has been some mistake and that I never had this NEW account. I told them about the cancellation, the mail-back of the modem etc. with details about my old account. The rep confirmed the receipt of my DSL modem and said that she'll make sure that there's a back office request put in to cancel this new account and that I'll receive a 'final bill' for this new account.

I even paid some outstanding charges(which I never understood; My bills were autopaid from my bank account; I had paid my bills in FULL for April AND May; I disconnected service Apr-15; yet I never received a final bill with a credit for the months of May and half of April). But the bills kept coming(with increasing amounts) for the new phantom account. The funnier thing is that these are all disconnect notices threatening to disconnect service yet Qwest never seems to disconnect, but only hit me with a larger bill for an account I never had.

I kept calling about Qwest twice a month(never could get the same customer service rep, always had to repeat my story); they'll say that there's been a mistake and will promise that it will be sorted out very soon. I got tired of calling them with absolutely no response other than a bill. Now it is Nov 2008, 6 months since I first disconnected from Qwest.

I've gotten tired of calling Qwest and am at a loss as to what to do. I'm not sure if I want to sue them for the $300 or so for the they're hitting me with an account I never had, as well as the $100 or so they owe me. Any advice for me? Qwest doesn't seem bothered by my calls so I'm not sure about my course of action here.

I have excellent credit and don't want it ruined by an unscrupulous company reported fraudulent charges.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks for your time & patience.

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Stacy
,
Nov 23, 2008 12:28 pm EST

I would send a registered/certified letter to the CEO of Qwest with cc's to the FCC, FTC and your state attorney general. Hopefully you will get the positive response that you are looking for but if not, you will be creating a good paper trail in the event that you do end up in small claims court. I think that Qwest is hurting right now and they are pulling a lot of shady stuff with a lot of their customers! Good luck to you...

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5:05 pm EDT

CenturyLink fraud/false information

This past Friday, I was searching on hotjobs.com last week for management jobs in the Orlando area and came across "Quest Marketing" on the list hiring for several positions including "advertising". I went on to apply for this job and sent a copy of my resume to the company. I then received an email saying how "excited" they were to meet me and they gave me a list of their interview time slots for the following week (this week). I replied to the email requesting the time slot of 930 am on Monday, but not until 7 pm that day because I was at work. Sunday evening I still hadn't heard back from the company- I assumed because my email must have been sent after they closed. I decided to take off Monday and I emailed Qwest again requesting an afternoon time slot on that same Monday hoping that that would give them time to answer back to me. Again, however, I did not receive a reply.

Some odd things that stood out to me: I asked the sender several times in the emails where they were located, what their phone number was, etc. and he dodged every question. Perhaps they saw I was a bit skeptical and stopped replying to me? Anyway, I decided to do a bit of research myself since this seemed a little sketchy and I came across several "warning stories" about Quest and their "scam". Thankfully, I didn't waste more time on them than I did. I am also very thankful that I didn't give out any more personal information than was on my resume. After reading what people have said about their "company" I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing something illegal with the personal information of their "applicants".

In closing, PLEASE BE WARY of this company. DO NOT even waste your time.

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Thomas
,
Oct 16, 2008 10:06 am EDT

I want to COMPLIMENT this company! These people were absolutely stellar with their interview process and I don't know what the other complaint was all about! It was the singular most streamlined, efficient and organized interview I've ever been on. They didn't waste my time making me dance around a bunch of questions. They cut to the heart of the matter, giving me a test on my programming skills to see if I was qualified. My guess is that the people complaining probably FAILED THEIR TEST, and are now just try to save face. My advice to them, don't lie on your resume!

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Dervish
, US
Oct 13, 2009 7:28 pm EDT

I didn't love working for Qwest, but I did, and thought it was fine. It's a real job (the check was real enough) even if the interview processes are bizarro.

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duped too
, US
Jul 05, 2009 3:33 am EDT

My Three Stars SCAM experience

I recently went for two interviews at Three Stars Media and this was my experience. I am hoping someone closes this company down ! It's hard enough to find a job in this market but when you get scammed like this, it becomes VERY demoralizing.
I applied for TWO jobs on CareerBuilder.com : Administrative Assistant and Human Resources Assistant.
Click here to see the actual postings as they appeared on Careerbuilder.com : http://i44.tinypic.com/11rrxa9.jpg and http://i39.tinypic.com/jj5qgy.jpg . NOTE: CLICK the pics to make the image larger to be able to read it. This applies for all future photo links.
I received and automated e-mail back from Three Stars, Inc. the next day requesting to set up an "initial interview" : http://i42.tinypic.com/s4t6br.jpg .
I went to the website and registered for an initial interview. The ENTIRE interview set up process was automated.
I received a confirmation e-mail for the "initial interview" : http://i41.tinypic.com/6hi88n.jpg .
And a reminder e-mail : http://i43.tinypic.com/wbz5mp.jpg . This reminding cements the thinking that the job interview is important. They want to make sure you show up.
I put the words "initial interview" in quotes above because there was NO interview on my first visit to Three Stars. Here is how the first visit played out.
I arrived at Suite 211 and the receptionist asked for my resume. She then handed me a white binder with laminated pages to view information for a "Verification Specialist". I quickly paged through this booklet because I already knew what was coming next. I have to admit, I didn't pay attention much to the laminated pages because I had a friend who interviewed a few weeks prior for a Sales Manager position and she told me the first interview was just an assessment test.
After flipping through the laminated booklet, I then handed the book back to the receptionist. She told me I needed to take an assessment test (I think the binder info alluded to this too) and she told me she needed to take a picture of me as they "have so many people coming through their doors" and needed to take the photo for "identification purposes". I complied and let her snap my photo. She then guided me through a door opening to a room with several computers and little cubicles dividing the individuals taking the test. She opened the test on a PC, told me I had 30 mins. to take it and she told me I could use a calculator and she opened the calculator on the desktop. She told me to log in to take the test using my e-mail address and my last name. I then saw all my person info (name, address, etc. as well as the pic she just snapped of me) and then was taken to the test. I don't remember all the questions but I found a few questions quite odd. One asked "Are you over 24 years of age? " another asked (not sure of exact wording) "We have part time work at home positions for individuals. Would you be interested in this position or would you like to stick with the position you applied for?" I selected to stick with my current job I applied for. And there were some questions on advertising: "What are advertising verticals?", "What are five of the top 100 Internet websites?". There was also three vocabulary questions (the only one I remember was the meaning of the word "CONVERGE", there were two other vocab words used in sentences, I can't remember, something about Freud). There were also some Math questions. From memory, I think there were three in total, two word problems (one something about cutting a piece of wood into three pieces and the other was an algebra question, I think it was "2x - 4 = 6") and another odd question was "If you knew you would be fired for admitting a mistake would you lie to save your job?" . There were other questions on the test but these certain questions stood out to me.
I left the computer room and the receptionist handed me a business card (http://i44.tinypic.com/p7vus.jpg ) and told me to log on to their website with my e-mail address and last name after 10am the next day to check my application status :
When I logged on the next morning the website had a message (after I logged in) showing that my "aptitude test was impressive" and they wanted to meet with me for a second interview. I scheduled the second interview and got another confirmation e-mail : http://i40.tinypic.com/97440m.jpg .
And again, another reminder e-mail for the second interview : http://i43.tinypic.com/30cuc8o.jpg . They really wanted to make sure I showed up !
I arrived for my second interview at Suite 217 and walked into a foyer with dark lighting and no one to greet me. I saw a big conference table with better lighting and big leather chairs and a projector. I sat down next to two women who were waiting for their "interview". One of the women asked me "what are we doing here? What's going to go on I wonder ?" - the both laughed nervously. I told her that first we would get a presentation, then tour, then have individual interviews. This was the experience of my friend. In reality, I misunderstood my friend - there was no individual interview after the tour, it was a group interview telling everyone that they would be getting a phone call if they were interested. Again, my friend when there for a sales job, NOT the jobs I had applied to for Admin Asst. and Human Resources Asst.
Eventually, more people filtered in. We had 10 in our meeting. A woman named Crissy W (WAH Advisor Regional Manager - according to their website. Go to http://threestarsinc.com/teams/corpTeams.cfm?dept=9 and click on the little girl being hugged by Mickey Mouse to see her pic and info) was our cheerleader for the next couple of hours. She first asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves. She then told us about herself (she was a dancer and worked at Disney, although that didn't pay the bills and then she spoke about the company. Started in 2004, now has over 500 employees and also a team in India. She explained the role of the Verification Specialist and explained that they don't show the job name in their listings online because "no one would know what that job is and no one would apply for it". So she admits up front that the jobs that brought all of us in DID NOT EXIST, but not in those exact words. My Human Resources Assistant and Administrative Assistant jobs were not real open jobs at the company! We were told that Three Stars also had a website called "Career Network" and that they are going after Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com. She said that it costs a company $ 400 to post a job on those websites while their Career Network offers postings for only $ 99 and they initially started out by posting those ads for FREE in the beginning. She also showed up a clip on News Channel 13 where the company donated toys for charity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxXZd0u0dOE&feature=channel_page ) and talked up how they give back to the community. She also talked about their free happy hour, dinners at the Executive Managers house, and their co-ed flag football (http://threestarsinc.com/fun/eventsIndex.cfm ) . She then proceeded to give us a tour of the company. We all piled in the elevator and headed up to the 4th floor (from the 2nd floor) and first toured an office of people posting jobs on Craigslist and other websites, according to Crissy. The workers pretty much ignored us, except for one guy who watched the whole show. All of us idiots, in suits, all there for fake jobs. I could only think as I saw them sitting at their desks that these people were creating the same fake jobs that brought us in. Crissy said they were creating jobs from "their business clients". We were then lead to Human Resources and introduced to a manager named Dahlia who told us she has been with the company 7 months and LOVES it. She told us that "it's a long interview process, but stick with it" and she wished us all good luck.
Next up was the division that we saw the people in action who were Verification Specialists. Basically an auto dialing system will call applicants to tell them that they need to verify information for a job they applied for. When they call back, they go to this department. These people follow a script, verify certain info and then plug at the end to try and sell school admissions. For some reason a select few people work here vs. the at home position we were offered at the end of the interview. See below.
Next we walked into the webmaster division. First Crissy proceeded to flirt with Darvin K. - Director of Operations - as he showed her a photo that they laughed over, then we were introduced to Kelly R. - Executive Vice President (http://threestarsinc.com/teams/corpTeams.cfm?dept=1) and were told that she was the third person hired at the company when it was created out of someone's apartment. Kelly was wearing a flag football jersey. She explained the department was broken down into four departments. I can't remember all but one to come up with design ideas for a website, one to create the website, one to "break it" - quality control, and then it was released. Crissy proudly told us that Kelly created MANY websites. We were then lead to the next department "Employer Services" and met Scott D. - Career Network Director (http://threestarsinc.com/teams/corpTeams.cfm?dept=7 ) . We heard him give his spiel. He basically stated that he talks to companies to find out more about the jobs to make sure they post the correct information to get a qualified individual and also to make sure that there employees ask the right questions when they do their verification to pre-qualify candidates for companies. A good story anyway.
Next up, we met Ben D. - Senior Business Analyst (http://threestarsinc.com/teams/corpTeams.cfm?dept=1) . Ben told us that he handles SEO and making sure that the websites they create show up in the featured listings on search engines like Google and Yahoo!.
Lastly, we met Matt A. - WAH Advisor Regional Manager (http://threestarsinc.com/teams/corpTeams.cfm?dept=9 ), who was located in Suite 211 in the back offices, behind the computer testing area, who told us what a great company they had because one woman (can't recall her name) had a Mother that fell ill and she needed to move back up North (New Jersey I think?) and how great the company was because even though the woman had to move away she was still able to log on to a computer up there at 9am in NJ the following Monday and continue working. He said they had many employees talking about how expensive gas was and they realized it was a GREAT idea for their employees to work out of the home. Matt was planting the seed here.
And then we were lead across the hall again to Suite 217 and back to the conference room. Crissy's tone TOTALLY changed. No longer a cheerleader and full of friendly energy, she was somber and matter of fact. We were then given two hand outs : one detailing the job outline for the Verification Specialist : and the other for the computer requirements to work at home and the script for the education spiel : . Crissy told us that training started us at $ 10 per hour and we could earn extra money from there, depending on how many people said YES to wanting more information on signing up for education. She claimed she made $ 600 in her first week. She said they like for you to receive 80 -100 calls a day but the record was 150 calls in one day. She estimated that in 15 minutes at least TWO people would say YES to wanting more information about education. She said we were not to push the education, only plant the seed, mentioning it twice, the second time to confirm it. She said they only wanted people who were serious about signing up for classes. She then told us that she realized this job - Verification Specialist - was not for everyone. If we didn't think it was something we'd be interested in, we could leave now. Otherwise stay behind and she left the room to "get paperwork". Everyone was like a deer in the headlights. No one moved. She came back and then asked "ok, we have openings for tomorrow for the phone interview, who is available tomorrow ?" So then, with the peer pressure of everyone watching, she proceeded to ask everyone. Many set up times, signing up by stating the time and then telling Crissy their First name and last initial. One person said "Well, can I have some time to think about it?" "Of course!" - Crissy replied. That was a snowball effect then. Others said they too wanted to think about it.
Here are links to view the Verification Specialist handout : http://i44.tinypic.com/2ishbm8.jpg, http://i39.tinypic.com/wbz5w5.jpg, http://i44.tinypic.com/23rtx8y.jpg, and http://i39.tinypic.com/1y7h8o.jpg .
Here are links to view the Computer requirements and the Education script : http://i44.tinypic.com/1zpqst5.jpg, http://i44.tinypic.com/15x71qp.jpg and http://i41.tinypic.com/n3kht0.jpg . This was what was to be covered in the phone interview. They wanted to hear you read the script and make sure your home did not have background distractions like "a baby crying or dog barking".
I realize this is lengthy but I wanted to give you all a firsthand account for what the Three Stars interviews entail so you don't have to waste your time like I did. If you want work at home job that pays $ 10 an hour plus commissions for planting a seed for education, then this job is for you. It's just a shame they scam, as they say "600 people a week walk through our doors", into thinking they are on REAL interviews for jobs they applied for online, only to learn it's a telemarketing work at home position instead.
Does Three Stars offer job s? YES, but ONLY the Work at Home "Verification Specialist". NOT the jobs that were posted online. Here is a listing of ALL the jobs supposedly available on the Three Stars website : http://threestarsinc.com/careers/jobIndex.cfm?type=1 . The jobs were the SAME, none were "filled" from the time frame that my friend applied weeks prior. Now I know it's because they simply DO NOT EXIST.
Their claim is that once you master the Verification Specialist job they then like to move you up in the company, depending on what areas you would be best suited for. I wonder how many people are actually moved up. Of course Crissy said she started out (7 months ago, oddly the SAME time Dahlia started with the company) in the Verification Specialist position and worked her way up. Oh and Crissy did tell us all that we did really well on the aptitude test, we were the best of the best, which I now know is a load of bull. The whole thing was a HUGE sales pitch. They made the place look like a fun, young, energetic place to work..and hey ! They even give to charities ! How could they be bad. Forget that that LIED to us to get us all in there in the first place ! I found it odd though that most of the offices did not have fluorescent overhead lights...only desk lamps. All offices were decorated very attractively. Staging here was key. Another odd thing ? NONE of the suites had the "Three Stars" name on the nameplates...which was odd because ALL the other offices DID show their names on the nameplate with the Suite number. Their suites simply had the suite number listed on the nameplate.
I just saw on the news today that Channel 9 News WFTV will be showing ANOTHER piece on Three Stars and their false job listings. They even show footage, the room that had the Verification Specialists/Education Counselors in it. Should be interesting to watch. http://www.wftv.com/
Lastly, as I mentioned, my friend also went through this process. Why on earth would I want to go through this? Well, she again went for a Sales Manager position and her second interview included info about the company, the company tour, but then also a pitch to the individuals on the interview to partake in a website called Monkey Jar (http://www.monkeyjar.com/ ) where you create your own "online mall" and you make money supposedly if your friends shop your "mall" by clicking the links to visit the store websites. Interestingly enough, if you click the "About Us" link on Monkey Jar you will see cartoon caricatures of both Kelly and Darvin from Three Stars. So I went on this interview to see how well I would do on the aptitude test and to see if I would do well enough to get the second interview. My friend who went for her Sales Manager second interview was told if they were interested in her they would call her. It makes me wonder what Three Stars got out of her second interview. Maybe advertising to get people to use the Monkey Jar website. Or maybe the whole thing is just a scam to get our personal info : they have our home address, work numbers, employment history, aptitude ratings, heck even a photo of us - that they can use to sell to marketing companies. Here is info about this take on the whole scheme : http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/three-stars-media-new-name-same-scheme . I know this is long, but I hope it helps others from going through this.
Early on in my search, I also received these two e-mail (and many more - too many to post) from Career Network which I now know is also Three Stars : http://i41.tinypic.com/xqgaw3.jpg and http://i39.tinypic.com/2rgjm2o.jpg . I did not like the fact that the company name and phone number were not listed. I e-mailed back asking for this information and did not receive a response. I think these e-mails were generated off jobs I applied for on Craigslist.com. Once you click the link for the fake tech support job you are brought to this website: http://perfectcareercenter.com/JobOffer/Register.cfm?JobPositionID=92050 . Notice the questions at the bottom regarding education. You guessed it...this is so a Three Stars work at home Verification Rep. can call you back and ask if you are interested in furthering your education. The website is called : perfectcareercenter.com but if you click the about us link it shows that this is Three Stars. So when you search for a job online today you have NO IDEA if the job you are apply for is real or if it's yet another Three Stars fake job website. I think networking to find a job today is best way to not get scammed. Happy job hunting everyone...be careful out there. At least Three Stars didn't ask for my social security number at any point. I feel very sorry for job seekers that DO offer this information online. :-(

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johnnyE
Orlando, US
Jun 22, 2009 3:56 pm EDT

I just went to my "second interview" which is still not a f2f interview. It was basically a group of about 10 people and they gave us a tour of their offices. I guess they were trying to prove they were legit. I tried to ask questions about why they had so many openings and why they seem to post the same positions month after month. They said it was because they were expanding because the business was doing so well. I had applied for a Director of Marketing position and thought it was odd they already had this position filled and they were adding another one. I have worked as an advertising director before and there were not several directors only one who ran the whole show. Not several different ones doing the same job. The whole thing seems pretty shady. Beware!

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gmorin
Thomaston, US
Apr 20, 2009 2:05 pm EDT

Yea uhm im gna have to agree with everything. Ive been working there for like 2 weeks and they told us that youd be amazed how many people put something wrong on theire application and the company cant even get in touch with them so we just verify the info is correct..desperate for a job, said ### it ill do it. But then i started to notice all the jobs were calling about are complete ### the titles are like Secretary---UP TO 25$ AN HOUR! Like obviously not legit job titles or pay. And then you donmt even get paid unless the people sign up for info on the school which is like a 10 minute procedure with no transfer so it seems like they need to for the job and even then people will say during the middle of it, wait what does this have to do with the job? So then i did some research and im bout to quit this ###. Thanks guys.

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Kristen Fricke
,
Nov 26, 2008 5:01 pm EST

I can vouch for everything Tedjay mentioned in his/her comment. No sinage, guilty looks, etc...

I actually got called in for the follow-up interview, which was F2F. It was all of 10 minutes while I spoke to someone in "HR" who told me he thought I had a good personality and would put my name through to the higher-ups. Okay... I left after less than an hour, and as soon as I drive the hour back home I got a call from another manager wanting me to come back immediately for another F2F. I was desperate, so drove BACK down there for it. I spoke w/ the hiring manager who told me my job would be to "verify information on resumes" for companies to screen their hiring process. Okay, cool, but the catch was this was all information that would have been o the resume anyway Non of the questions would have been unanswered if I had the resume in front of me. The whole point is to ask the people who call in if they're interested in furthering their education. If they were, which I'm betting everyone says yes to because it sounds like the right answer in regards to interviewing for a job, I was to put them through to someone else who would try to sell them the idea of signing up for online college-type programs. The $$ is based off how many people you can transfer over. If they took the bait and signed up for whatever school program I got $10. Only $3 for transferring them, or something like that. Luckily I did some research after being hired and found out what was going on. Never showed up for my first day. These people are still out there on both monster and careerbuilder. Any "Company Confidential" or nonspecific posting I suspect comes from them. They were "hiring" for bout a bajillion different positions - copywriter, admin asst, management, HR, etc.

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Marc
,
Nov 14, 2008 7:03 pm EST

You have got to be kidding me -- failed the test? Lying on their resume? The test I was given had absolutely nothing to do with my profession - media. The took a Polaroid picture of all applicants - which is illegal as it infers race or age discrimination. They ask for personally identifying information on the application (i.e., SSN, DL# which is only required after you have been hired. You can use that information to run background or credit checks, which is only allowable with the applicant's expressed permission and is a separate document from the application.

This is obviously a fake complimentary comment made by someone @ Qwest Marketing.

Did you get the job Thomas? Or did they test you and pat you on your back? Save your compliments for if/when you actually get a real job.

Let me be very clear - when I went I applied for a position that I have documented experience and publicly available recommendation for. The problem is the process and their business model. This is not - in my opinion - a legitimate marketing company. They are true scammers by aggregating either applicant information or running a bait & switch marketing program. The program, based on someone I know who used to work there is they ring up "applicants" and during the "vetting process" offer them programs. "Recruiters" are paid by the lead + hourly. Performance is based on the number of leads you get and conversions. I have no doubt that some of the jobs might be legit to work for them but the end-result is working for a company that wastes people's time & lifts their hopes.

If you get a response from a recruiter or verification specialist from Qwest, do yourself a favor and don't return the call. You will only have your intelligence insulted and your time wasted. This company and their so-called supporters make me sick. I really think the BBB (which they have a plaque saying they are members of and the FL BBB says they are not) or the state attorney investigate this nefarious company. I despise scammers - especially those posing as legitimate advertising agencies, which they clearly are not.

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Lucky
,
Oct 17, 2008 1:56 pm EDT

Yes they are indeed scammers and I would also like to know what is the deal with this company. It is stange that what they are doing is not illegal.

I wanna know exactly what that company is about though.

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tedjay
,
Oct 17, 2008 1:51 pm EDT

I saw a posting online in the summer for a copy writer position in the metro west area. looked ligit, applied and they contacted me a few weeks later. Qwest wanted me to come in but then they had no address. I emailed for an address and also company website. They did not email me back untill a week later after I was suppose to set my appointment.

So about 3 weeks ago I saw another posting online and applied. I got a responce the following day and to my suprize it was the same company. I did not want to respond but then I was thinking if they contacted me again they must be interested. So i contacted them, got an appointment and their address.

I went to the intervew in metrowest area. I was impressed. Building was clean, pretty new and the staff members seemed pretty nice. But thats when I started havign some doubts. The company had no signage like others in the building. Every one seemed young and I was like...Hmmmmmmmm pretty strange, even the HR persons.

Anys I filled out an applicatioin for the copy writer position, gave them my resume, they TOOK A PICTURE - which I found weird and gave me an interview questionare to fill out. Then another HR person called a group of us into a room. Did not say much about the company all she did was tell us about some test we had to take. 50 questions in 12 mins. Was not that hard but no way could be finish them all in 12 mns.

The HR person had a quilty look on her face especially when I was being nice to her. She seemed cold and quilty. I then thought well i should be having a f2f anytime now. NOPE ...I was wrong. NO F2F. All the HR said was, "well contact you if were interested"...At this time I was pissed cuz I felt they wasted my time. But I left feeling good.

Never heard from them and I did my research. found out they scam people.

Some things I also ound out.
They are not the same Qwest that deals with internet technology etc
The go by several names. Three stars media being one of them. The even have a youtube page and in the video that is suppose to be about Three Stars medai you see the big Qwest sign
They seem like they are a company but I don't think it's a marketing firm
But what I want to know is, WTF they do will all the information they collect from people?

Who ever is incharge of QWEST MARKETING are professional scammers cuz they DUPED ME BAD!

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Stefanie
,
Oct 16, 2008 8:58 pm EDT

Unfortunately there were no comments on the internet before I went on my interview. It is a scam. They also have no license in Orange County to do business. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

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2:42 pm EDT
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CenturyLink awful customer service

I am including a letter I wrote to corporate about the battle with Qwest: I am writing you directly to tell you about my terrible experience with this company named Qwest. I hope that you take it seriously because there are a ton of people with these bad experiences just like mine and I don't know how a company this messed up can survive. I have been fighting with your customer service department for a year about an old account that should have been closed and paid in full a year ago when I switched to Vonage. Two months ago, right before I moved to CO, I received my first collection notice of that account not being paid. I paid it after much dispute just because I was not going to get anywhere with your staff who never admitted wrong doing on their end. I'm just suppose to know I owe that without ever receiving a bill for a year. Now that I am moved and my account was up to date, I have gone rounds with your customer service department because of how disorganized they are, rude, and completely unhelpful. I set up internet and Directv accounts 6/23/08. I paid a deposit of $106 for the directv account. I had my internet service interrupted 2 weeks later and was told I had to wait a week to hook it back up. I waited the one week for my disk to arrive and installed it again. 2 weeks later the same thing happened without any explanation as to why, so I waited my one week again to receive and install my disc. I then called up on 9/5/03 and asked to pay my final bill for Directv and have it disconnected. They told me I owed $73.35 for directv. I paid using my credit card so I would have proof and got a confirmation number for the transaction. Now they can't find any amount paid and my bill which should have been paid in full 9/5/08 is still active 10/7/08 and I'm told I owe $251. I refused to pay anymore after they lost my first payment. I wanted to dispute my internet bill so I didn't pay that amount of $77 because I don't feel I got serviced properly. I got to use my internet a total of 4 weeks and I don't feel that price reflects all the effort I went through to t ry to make up for them randomly turning it off. I have never received any discounts for any of the trouble I have gone through to stay in business with your company. Directv has credited me for mistakes made by your company for not receiving NFL Sunday ticket 3 weeks in a row after it showing that I should have been receiving the signal. So I was on the phone with Directv hours upon hours every sunday trying to sort through this mess while I should have been enjoying my family and football. Qwest has not reflected any of those credits that Directv has offered me, so that just proves why I chose to switch to Directv directly. I'm sorry for the long winded tale of what happened but I wanted your company to know from a long time customer what a mess your organization has become and that your being rated as number one in customer service is a down right lie that you are telling unsuspecting consumer that don't know any better. I just want to know how you can say that after the dibackle I have been put through, and why it always comes down to money because that's all that matters to you, clearly not servicing customers. I wrote you because no one in any of the departments (ie billing, customer service, repair, and the investigation department that is looking into where my payment went) would put me in touch with anyone that can do anything to rectify this situation, yet I still get cards in the mail from your company offering me 3 months free to come back. I feel like a prisoner stuck in this black hole of a mess and disappear that I would never go back to your company if it was the last company on earth, so you can just keep your cards asking for my business unless your willing to put your money where your mouth is. I have never had such a bad experience with any other company including government agencies, licensing agencies, or the irs, so I suggest you reevaluate your policies and plan to spend even more money on advertising to try to get new customers because news travels fast in this day and age and I intend to l et everyone I don't know and especially the ones I do exactly what your company has put me through. And that has been going on for about 1 1/2 years now just because I wanted to disconnect my service. It speaks volume and I applaud anyone willing to take this corp. giant to court because the complaints for this company never ends.

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Mommy1985
Colorado Springs, US
Dec 08, 2008 1:33 pm EST

I dont know how qwest can stay in business everything they say is a lie! We hooked up phone and internet through them back in mid June (08) they told me when I got service that the bills would be anywhere from $70-$80 a month LIE our bills have been anywhere from $90-$120 and we only have phone/internet. Not only that but their internet connection sucks when we first got it, it was fine but over the last few months its gotten slower and slower to the point where it takes up 5 minutes to load a page and up 20+ minutes just to load a video and when the video does finally load it buffers every 2 seconds or it doesnt load at all. I would go to Comacast if we got it where we are if you dont have qwest I suggest that you dont get it. Also we are on our second modem since June!

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vince casella
Phoenix, US
Jun 26, 2011 12:11 am EDT

Your company over charges their customers and then says its Direct TV's fault. when i call Direct TV they say it is Qwests fault, neither company will take responsibility. What is the customer supposed to do? I am still getting over charged, i spent 2hrs on the phone with Qwest and Direct TV and got nowhere. Is this how you treat your customers? What am i supposed to do when neither company will take responsibility? Neither Qwest or Direct TV will help me with my problem, I am still getting overcharged. Now i know why you are changing your name, even you don't wan't to be associated with the name Qwest.

vince.casella@yahoo.com

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phil lip white
,
Aug 11, 2008 3:21 pm EDT

I've recieved a collection notice dated 7/31/2017 from afni regarding a Qwest bill from 2017. the address provided from the anfi agent was not ever an address I've ever been affialiated with. I live and have lived and owned is 6215 NE Multnomah st portland oregon 97213 since August 2 1997. please investigate and remove this from my credit report, thanks

Phil

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dbw8519
Colorado Springs, US
Oct 14, 2009 12:13 pm EDT

I have had qwest phone service since 2017...and have had TONS of problems, mostly incorrect billing. Over the 4 years I have called over 30 times! I have kept records of all calls and have been lied to numerous times...one person saying one thing and someone else something different. I have been spoken to rudely on several occasions by the cutomer service representatives and am writing a complaint letter to their corporate offices. I have been trying to discontinue service with them since 4/09 and am still in the battle. I can not
recommend highly enough that you DO NOT use qwest service.

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Afraid11
, US
Dec 03, 2009 11:17 am EST

I ordered a DirecTV / Qwest phone and TV bundle package last March. One bill instead of two, and it costs less! How can I go wrong? Many, many ways. First off, the installer for DirecTV was a no-show on the day they were supposed to come to my house- after they made me take half a day off of work to be home for them.

So, I complained and DirecTV gave me a $100 credit on my bill. Qwest, of course, processes the bill.

Qwest never honored the credit. I called DirecTV customer service seven times and Qwest customer service nine times in the past two months. Each time, they assured me I would be credited the $100.

DirecTV swears they told Qwest about it. Qwest says, "yes, we see it in the record, but it'll be reflected on your bill next month." In the meantime, I paid every bill in full, allowing for a $100 credit, as I was instructed to by Qwest.

So, I come home from work on Monday and guess what? Qwest ordered DirecTV to shut off my service. When I called DirecTV, they seemed puzzled... why?

DirecTV told me that, according to their records, the bills were up to date, and in fact they'd been overpaid by $37. I would call Qwest, but they keep bankers' hours and are unreachable past 6pm pacific time.

Have you ever been shut off for paying your bill on time? Beware the bundle, my friends...

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GraceCheng
Denver, US
Mar 03, 2009 10:47 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I was charged $900 to cancel my telephone service! When I inquired as to why there were these exorbitant charges I was told I was in a special business plan and could not cancel my phone service without $300 per line for 3 lines. I told them I never signed up for this plan and asked to see my contract. They told me it was verbal. I called multiple times to complain and they told me they would investigate. I never received a call back. I finally spoke to them and they said the charges would stand.

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aperfectcuremt
Helena, US
Jan 03, 2011 5:05 pm EST

I was offered a really good deal on long distance/ local phone service from qwest communications. I had takled to a person in July when business was booming and had a phone service connected at my business. About three weeks after my service was initated I recieved a phone call from a Qwest communications phone number and a represenitive wanting to review my bill and make sure my serivice is what i wanted. We went over my personal information quick like and he asked a few questions about my services. After telling him i was happy and all was well the phone cll ended in a thankyou and have a good day. Little did i know I just had my longdistance switched on me...USBI is the culprit! I made several phone calls to both businesses. Qwest told me to call them and get things cleared up and USBI, well they just hung up on me several times in a row...oddd! Now i refuse to pay the bill because of this scam! Also when i talked to Qwest about this and trying to get my old services back she said someone put something in the computer wrong and i wasnt supposed to get sucha good deal so they could not offer me my same services at the smae price which raised my bill considerably, she told me that she was sorry and thats all they could do. I asked to cancel services and she said it would be a fee...this company is an all around scam and needs to be regualted on, seems the federal agents knew what was going on and havent done anything...anyone have any ideas? please email me saksa420@gmail.com

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Constantine
, US
Dec 30, 2008 6:26 am EST

In September I found a notice on my door from Qwest, they had upgrade our neighborhood to high speed digital fiber, and were offering deals of $29/mo for the low end which I was using and paying $42/mo or $44/mo for their new 12GB service. I called them and was assured that yes I could be upgraded for just a few $$ more than I was currently paying. After a lengthy discussion with the Qwest rep I upgraded to their new service. By November I was being charged $65 for the service plus an additional $14 for MSN which I specifically did not want. I called them and was told those charges would be removed from my bill and I would be charged the $44/mo originally quoted. A month later I get another statement with the charges they were going to remove now listed as past due and my charges are back to the $65 +$14, when I called again I was told the only way I could get the (now) $46/mo rate was to sign a 2 year contract and there was no way they could roll back the price over the last 2 months. This is a ripoff from a company that now controls most of telecom.

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kraigory1968
, US
Apr 20, 2009 9:48 pm EDT

Qwest is the absolute poorest excuse for Communications I have EVER seen! I live in Clarkston, WA, which is a town across the river from Lewiston, ID, which Qwest classifies as a "Border Town". I had a SIMPLE request. All I wanted was a residential Phone line with internet. Simple enough, right? WRONG! I spent an hour on the phone each day for 3 days (using up my entire lunch hour at work each time) just trying to get somebody to put an order in. YOu see, because Clarkston is a "Border Town" I couldn't just simply hook up service. Nor could anyone I talked to at their center help me or figure out HOW to even put an order in! One of these times I tried to get 'Hooked up", I was given two 800 #'s to call. One of the 800 #'s was a DIRECT TV # and another, a Qwest REPAIR # ! Finally I got "John" in Tucson, AZ who submitted a "handwritten" order. He told me he'd personally submit it. Since I had no phone # for them to contact me (OBVIOUSLY, this is why I was trying to get it set up) "John" told me to give a certain 800 a call in a few days to get my new phone # and see that it went through. Ok...SO...I called a few days later. The lady who answered checked and they had NO RECORD of me in their system at all! After wasting about 5 hours total of my life over about 2-3 weeks, I was back at square one. I am now happily telling my story and asking everyone who reads this to spread the word about this "quality" service. I actually worked for this company years ago when they were US WEST...before Qwest bought the company and the service went from already shaky to abyssmal!

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davejl
Boulder, US
Jan 21, 2010 5:37 am EST

I switched from Qwest voice (not cell) and DSL to Comcast Broadband on November 9th. After a day of verifying that my new service worked I contacted Qwest to make sure they terminated my voice and internet service and asked for a final statement. After the end of the billing period, I called to get the final ballance which was $99 and I paid by credit card on December 6th. The agent told my that there was still a long distance charge that was on a different billing cycle of about $15 but she did not have the exact amount. I told her to send me the final statement.

Yesterday, Jan 20th, I received a call on my cell phone from a collection agency reguarding my Qwest account. I hung up and contacted Qwest. They had not terminated the internet portion of the account and claimed I owed them $146. After 3 calls and over 2 hours of my time they dropped the internet charges and came up with the ballance that I was waiting for of $14.26 which I paid by credit card.

My complaint is with their inept customer service in their failure to verify that my service was terminated. I was also under a 2 year contract. I called several times to a termination date and was given incorrect information until I confronted them with my records. I also take exception to their collection practices since I called to make a final payment on December 6th and was called by a collection agency on January 20th. Qwest also gave them my cell phone number which was not part of their service. I did a bundle deal with Qwest when they offer Verison. I switched that service over a year ago to AT&T.

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10:54 am EDT

CenturyLink 6 year old bill

I received a collection notice from Afni, inc. that is supposedly the balance I owe on a 6 year old Qwest bill. I contacted Afni to say I have no knowledge of this bill. They told me I could pay over the phone and if I didn't it would hurt my credit.
I asked, and they sent me a copy of a bill that does not have qwest logo or information on it. It is merely a typed up bill from who knows what.
I don't want to be pushed around by a collection agency in what seems to be a potentially fraudulent bill.

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molleh1sg0d
, US
Jul 11, 2011 4:07 am EDT

What are you talking about?

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1:24 pm EDT

CenturyLink fraudulent collection notice from afni, inc. for qwest

At the end of July 2008 I received a letter from Afni, Inc. stating I owed them $83.92 for unpaid services from QWEST. I complied with the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, specifically [protected] “Communication in connection with debt collection”, and [protected] “Validation of debts, ” and sent Afni, Inc. a letter disputing the payment. This must be done before 30 days following the Collection Notice in order for the charges to be disputed, otherwise by not writing the letter you are assumed to be agreeing with the debt.

I only had services from Qwest once and that was in 2004 for less than one month before I cancelled the service in order to get my internet from Comcast instead. When I called Qwest about the billing telephone number on the Collections Notice, a representative stated there was no record for that number and that she believes the notice was fraudulent.

Make sure not to delay if you receive a collections notice and send a letter immediately to the collections agency. Also, make sure to notify the Federal Trade Commission that you have taken such action in order for the administrative body to correct any harm done to your credit rating.

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telcoexpert
Olathe, US
Jan 01, 2011 4:39 pm EST

AFNI is a recource for telcos. They are a partner for many telcos. They are an outsource call center solution for companies like Qwest, Embarq, etc. They are used for collections, customer service and many other solutions. They are not fraudulintly collecting for Qwest. Check out their website. www.afni.com

Aften AFNI will purchase deft from companies as well.

Hope this information was helpful.

SOURCE: In the Telcom industry for over 10 years and worked with AFNI while employed with Sprint.

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9:00 pm EDT
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CenturyLink Free TV not so Free

I recently moved into a new house, and the only Internet, tv, and phone service in the area was with Embarq. I called them up and asked them about their deals and was told that there was a triple bundle for Internet, tv, and phone service that included 12 months of free tv. This was to cost around $75 before taxes. I decided to get this deal, but after the first month I was charged $49.99 for my tv service. I called them up and was told that the free tv offer would not kick in until the second month because they didn't want to waste the deal on a partial first month. My mistake is that I believed that load of crap. The second month came by and I was yet again charged for the tv service on top of the other services. I called them back and they told me that I was no longer qualified for the free tv and that I was stuck paying for it for 2 years because of the contract they made me agree to (which, by the way, included the free tv). The customer service rep said it was because I have a credit rating of "C" with Embarq, and you need to have a rating of at least "B" to get the free tv. This angered me the most because my credit rating is nearly perfect (in the 700s) and this rep was trying to tell me that it was sub-par. The rep would not back down, so I had to hang up. I was so mad that I decided to look up my credit reports online for the year on all three sites that show them. The most interesting part of this was that Embarq was nowhere to be found in the area that shows who recently looked at your credit report on any of my three reports. This tells me that I am either mislabeled in their system or they blatantly lied to my face about my credit rating. I don't know what I will do from here, but if you can avoid Embarq, do so at all costs. By the way, the free tv offer is offered to new customers only, but one (apparently inept) representative told me that it is only available to people who have had the service for 10 months.

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SEAD
Hamburg, US
Jul 14, 2009 9:51 am EDT

I switched from DirecTV a year ago to Embarq's bundle with Dish network because of the free offer. Now that my year was up I called to see what my new charges were going to be only to find out I had been paying full price all along (I did have some billing on my entertainment section because I upgraded the TV package and had additional receivers). First they told me I didn't qualify and when I pushed and asked why, they came back and said I did qualify but it didn't go through their system, then another rep told me again that I didn't qualify and around and around and around. They said it would have been better had I checked my bill and called back earlier; so I dug out last years paperwork to find I was given a credit on my first months bill - I was sure I had checked it, but no subsequent credits after that. I didn't notice because I have a billing with so many things on it (LD, Local, Internet, TV, etc) so I just assumed the billing would remain correct. When I talked to a 'supervisor' about this I was told that was a Dish Network credit - well how would I know that when I called Embarq to connect and the only credit I was expecting was their?
On top of all that, a few months ago Embarq called to review my services and see if they could 'optimize' what I have. We decided that I don't use enough long distance on one of my lines to warrant the Unlimited LD so we changed with the understanding that my work line NOT be changed. Low and behold, the next month bill they had changed it and instead of me saving money, now I was being billed for a ton of LD charges. I called and thought it was resolved but the next months bill came and the same thing...
I think Embarq has some sort of scam going and I will be reporting them to the BBB. Every change on my account, whether I initiated or they did, has cost me more money than it should.
Finally, I cancelled my Dish and I have to pay $120 early cancellation fee even though I never got the free TV I was promised for 12 months!
I didn't realize that customer service has gotten so bad that you literally have to peel through every bill every month in minute detail. That is really too bad. I remember when companies were honest.

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cdomiguez
Las Vegas, US
Apr 27, 2009 2:57 pm EDT

I have also fallen victim to the free TV offer thats not so free. The best part about the whole thing is this company could not have run my credit for the offer. They messed up the names on the account and added my husband's name and my social security number. I am currently in the process of trying to find out what my legal options are. I have spent more than 6 hours on the phone with different customer service reps who have all given me different answers as to why I am being billed so much. I have been left on hold for long periods of time and promised someone would call me back with a resolution. So far no resolution and no return calls. I think its ashame that a company is allowed to get away with something like this.

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T Murphy
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Sep 13, 2008 6:11 pm EDT

This company may be one of the most unethical if not fraudulent in existence today - the telecommunications version of Enron. Count me as another duped consumer via Embarq's false advertising. Like John above I made the ridiculous mistake of subscribing to their service based upon billing estimate's from at least 6 ignorant Embarq CSR's. Low and behold the bill arrives with more hidden fees than you could possibly dream up yourself. Then the real kicker, like John above my 12 month free TV deal and the corresponding $39.99/mo credit doesn't exist (even though I was told at the time of ordering of the phone that I was qualified). Apparently my 780 FICO score isn't good enough?! If I were John I would strongly recommend doing what I will do on Monday, find a law firm that is prepared to go to bat for me and surely the thousands of other consumers that have been similarly lied to.

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Jenny R.
,
Aug 19, 2008 5:21 am EDT

Hi- My name is Jenny and I work with Embarq online support team. I would like to help you with your issues that you are having with Embarq. If you would like for me to assist you please email me anytime at Embarq_Jenny@Embarq.com.

Thanks
Jenny R.
Embarq online support
Embarq_Jenny@Embarq.com

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7:45 pm EDT

CenturyLink discount

I have a CapTel phone for the deaf. Because it works better having 2 phone lines, I have 2 of them. The 2nd line cost as much as the 1st line even tho I don't call on it myself. The problem is that it raises my phone bill by $19.37. One of the people from CapTel suggested I see if I could get a dicount from Qwest. I am 81 & on SS & really am eligible, BUT Qwest refuses to give it to me BECAUSE my SS check uses my dead husbands SS numer, not mine. The reason being that I am drawing from the money HE made. I never worked outside the home as I had 7 children to raise. That seems like such an idiotic reason. I have called about 3 times & I get the same answer. No one else ever questioned that. Please reply. My bill is too high! Thanks. Doris Richardson [protected]

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9:00 am EDT

CenturyLink Scam and cheating

Embarq is losing a loyal customer. Residential / Small Business / Toll-free. I have 3 accounts. Joined them when they were Sprint. Have had major billing issues with them for the last two years with my business and toll free lines. My Small Business bill came in wrong half the time. Their unlimited long distance calling plan just wouldn't 'stick' and I would get high bills. And boy, did I dread calling in and being told 'It's not my department' and being transferred from one agent to another, or being told to call another telephone #. It wasn't unusual that I would spend one to two hours trying to get it straightened out. But eventually, I would get a rep that would be able to help. These angels need to be commended. The reps were not rude, just clueless. Too many departments that don't work or communicate together. And their business is communication! I started to resolve this month's bill discrepancy by calling the customer service # listed on my bill, as I usually do, on May 27th, as my toll-free line bill was 3 times what it 'normally' is. After not being able to resolve it with a rep named Richard, who tried to resolve it but could not because of Embarq's complicated pricing programs, a rep, named Jenny, assured me that a Supervisor would call me back. No Supervisor called, and I put off the inevitable hassle I would have to put myself through until the bill came due. So here's how this went on June 10th: 1) Called the customer service #listed on the bill -[protected]; 2) Rep told me to call another # [protected] ; 3) Stephanie in the Customer Service for Small business answered and said to call Accounts Receivable at [protected]; 4) Rose in Accounts Receivable said their department didn't handle it and told me to call Customer Service at [protected]; 5) This got me to Alyssa in Residential Customer Service who... 6) transferred me to Dianna. Dianna was my angel on this problem. She took care of it by finding a plan that works. And she warned me that my next bill will come in wrong and that I will have to call in, again, so that it can be adjusted to the new plan. Dianna is definitely an asset to the company. Good phone service, just lousy administration and billing. I'm looking for a company that's good on all points. By the way, I haven't had any problems with my residential bill. Must be a totally different company.

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Richard Eagle
,
Sep 20, 2008 8:29 am EDT

I wanted the Big Ten Network. I had it at first, now I don't because I'm not in the right zip code. The Bar around the corner has it and we are in the same zip. Some body is ripping me off I believe. Whats the real story here. Dick

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Neal K
,
Aug 18, 2008 9:20 pm EDT

Seems like its too much aggravation to stay with this stupid company. I hope you have better luck in the future

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Jenny R.
,
Jun 11, 2008 9:41 am EDT

My name is Jenny and I work with Embarq online support team. I saw that you were having issues with your small business account over several months. We would hate for you to leave us due to these issues. You stated that Dianna has straightened out everything for you. I want you know that I am here to help you with any future issues that you may have with your business, toll free or local home account. You can email me anytime at Embarq_Jenny@Embarq.com .

Thanks
Jenny R.
Embarq online support team
www.Embarq.com/FreeTV

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1:15 am EDT
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CenturyLink these people are jokes

All I can say is these people are the worse people. If you want money out of people, talking to a person they way that they do doesn’t get the money to them any earlier.. These people deserve to be put out of business... People are going thru hard times & they stress people to the limit, there is got to be a way this must be stopped, if anyone have any clues, please post, they way they talk to people should be against all rules to trying to collect money, get a clue people, get in line there is lots of people that haven’t got there money because people just don’t have it.

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Grow Up
,
Oct 13, 2008 6:31 pm EDT

You are an idiot, you need to pay your bills. You make a committment to a company when you sign up with services that you will pay for your usage. You broke that committment and now you receiving calls about it? GROW UP!

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12:31 pm EDT

CenturyLink money order that I unintentionally mailed to qwest

I accidentally sent a $400.00 money order made out to First Eagle Funding to Qwest on Monday, April 14, 2008. That money order was for my car payment. I sent my money order for Qwest, for $100.00, to First Eagle Funding, which I received back from them yesterday.

I immediately called Qwest on Tuesday when I found out what happened, and between Tuesday and today, I have spoken with NINE different people at Qwest, who have ALL told me that they will go ahead and CASH my money order! That is BOGUS! The first two people that I spoke with were in Seattle, very uncooperative. They've all been uncooperative with the exception of one person I spoke with yesterday. They claim that they STILL haven't received my money order, and I find that funny since the money order reached First Eagle Funding on Tuesday. This is Thursday. I contacted the Colorado PUC, which contacted Qwest yesterday, who has 14 days to respond, but that's NOT helping me retrieve my car payment money! Any suggestions anyone?

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somebody_not_dumb
,
Aug 21, 2008 3:15 pm EDT

And you're mad at the company? You should be mad at yourself. As far as your car payment goes, pawn some stuff to get it paid. And take your money order stub down to the storefront where you purchased it from. They can't cash the money order, you know this, it will be mailed back to you, however I fear it will take 2 to 4 weeks because that's how the cookie crumbles. I sure hope you cashed out the money order for 100 bucks in order to pay part of your car payment. If not, I would assume you mailed it off to the company in question to make sure at least that bill is paid. Keep your car hidden, keep calling the car finance company to let them know the status at all times, pay what you can to them even if they say they only want full payment of the 400 and keep thinking positive. It was a mistake and you'll pay dearly for it with worry. But in the end the numbers will come out even, although you'll never feel totally good about it. I know it's not what you'd want to hear, but what else is there?

CenturyLink Customer Reviews Overview

CenturyLink is a telecommunications company that provides internet, phone, and TV services to residential and business customers. The company has received mixed reviews from its customers, with both positive and negative feedback.

One of the positive points of CenturyLink is its reliable internet service. Many customers have reported that they are satisfied with the speed and consistency of their internet connection. The company also offers a variety of internet plans to fit different needs and budgets.

Another positive aspect of CenturyLink is its customer service. The company has a dedicated support team that is available 24/7 to assist customers with any issues they may have. Many customers have praised the company's customer service representatives for being knowledgeable and helpful.

CenturyLink's TV service has also received positive reviews from customers. The company offers a range of channels and packages, including premium channels like HBO and Showtime. Customers have reported that the picture quality is excellent and that the service is easy to use.

However, some customers have reported negative experiences with CenturyLink. One common complaint is that the company's billing practices can be confusing and difficult to understand. Some customers have also reported issues with service outages and slow internet speeds.

Overall, CenturyLink has both positive and negative reviews from its customers. While the company has received praise for its reliable internet service, good customer service, and quality TV offerings, some customers have reported issues with billing and service outages.

CenturyLink In-depth Review

Overview: CenturyLink is a telecommunications company that provides a wide range of services and products to both residential and business customers. With a rich history and extensive reach, CenturyLink has established itself as a major player in the industry.

Service Quality: CenturyLink's services are known for their reliability and consistency. Customer satisfaction and feedback regarding service quality are generally positive, with many customers praising the company's commitment to delivering a seamless experience. When compared to competitors, CenturyLink's service performance stands out.

Pricing and Value: CenturyLink offers competitive pricing and affordability across its range of services. The company's pricing structure is transparent, and customers find good value for money in the services provided. In comparison to competitors, CenturyLink's pricing and value proposition are strong.

Network Coverage: CenturyLink boasts an extensive network coverage and availability. The company's reach and accessibility in different regions are commendable, ensuring that customers can enjoy reliable connectivity wherever they are. When compared to competitors, CenturyLink's network coverage and reliability are impressive.

Customer Support: CenturyLink's customer support services are highly regarded. The company's response times are prompt, and support channels are readily available and effective. In comparison to competitors, CenturyLink excels in terms of customer support quality.

Technology and Innovation: CenturyLink is committed to technological advancements and innovations. The company stays up-to-date with industry trends, ensuring that customers benefit from the latest technologies. When compared to competitors, CenturyLink's technological capabilities are noteworthy.

Security and Privacy: CenturyLink prioritizes security measures and data protection policies. The company is dedicated to safeguarding customer information and has robust security practices in place. In comparison to competitors, CenturyLink's security and privacy practices are commendable.

Overall User Experience: CenturyLink provides an overall positive user experience. Customers and industry experts alike have provided feedback that highlights the company's strong performance and suitability for users. CenturyLink's commitment to service quality, affordability, network coverage, customer support, technology, and security contribute to its positive reputation.

Pros and Cons:

  • Pros:
    • Reliable and consistent services
    • Competitive pricing and affordability
    • Extensive network coverage and availability
    • Excellent customer support services
    • Commitment to technological advancements
    • Strong security measures and data protection
  • Cons:
    • May face competition from other providers in certain regions
    • Some customers may experience occasional service disruptions

Recommendations:

  • CenturyLink could further enhance its services by expanding its network coverage in areas where competition is high.
  • The company could consider implementing additional measures to minimize service disruptions and improve overall reliability.
  • CenturyLink's services are well-suited for both residential and business customers, particularly those who prioritize reliability, affordability, and excellent customer support.
  • Industries that heavily rely on seamless connectivity, such as remote working, e-commerce, and online gaming, can greatly benefit from CenturyLink's services.
  • Overall, CenturyLink is a reputable telecommunications provider that offers reliable services, competitive pricing, and excellent customer support. Users considering CenturyLink can expect a positive experience.
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CenturyLink contacts

Phone numbers

+1 (800) 244-1111 +1 (877) 348-9005 More phone numbers

Website

www.centurylink.com

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