CenturyLink
reviews and complaints

Agapito,

Sorry you're having trouble. If an account was set up fradulently in your name, you would want to contact our Fraud Department. The Fraud Hotline is 877-78FRAUD [protected]). Also feel free to ask me any questions you may have. You can send me an email at anytime, EMBARQ_Joey@embarq.com.

To verify my identity, check out some other customers I've helped online:

http://twitter.com/EMBARQ/favourites

Thanks,

Joey H.
EMBARQ Customer Outreach
reachout@embarq.com

Please forgive my spelling above, I can't see very well. I can't seem to find a way to edit it either. If a message comes off illiterate, it's not going to be taken seriously.

Here is the deal they are selling now they say they are not selling. The exact same thing happened to me. But I know how they operate, so I signed up for the internet only for $19.95 a month for a 1 year contract and called back later to add a basic line $18. But I knew she bundled it, and waited for he to "verify" what she actually did, she has too. When I reminded her I did NOT want to bundle and only wanted the basic line, she very nastily said "Oh, so now you want to DOWNGRADE?" Like castrating me over the phone. When I got the first bill, it was massive. When I called them, they said the rep wasn't authorized to sell me that plan. They also said the wouldn't read the notes back to me and not tell me why they never sent me an order confirmation email I had requested. I called their verification system, but the system didn't log that kind of info. Bu the agent read the entire script to me, inserting the deal. I know they record those, they have too. But they refused me access to them or to have them transcribed. CHAT, its the best way to get it in writing. Following is a link to their plans, the one i singed up for is the first one titled 12 month offer. Right now they offered me a 50% off deal, but now can't test the other speeds, it was $19.95 for ANY speed. Keep in mind, customer service is about servicing the customer's wallet, not the customer's needs. If you don't bundle, they are not interested in servicing you. Most phone companies don't advertise their basic phone plan. By lay, they have to offer one, but aren't required to actively advertise it. Right now, Centurylink has a "deal", HSI for $19.99, home phone required., but they are charging $45 dollars, their basic is $17.49!

https://qwest.centurylink.com/residential/internet/broadbandlanding/pricing_details_popup.html

I actually quit my job to work here the way they made it seem and i cant go back to it now because they are not hiring. I am struggling because of the internet company was a scam and MATT AIKEN, is the name of the manager who let me quit

i just came from my first "interview" with The Internet Company and I knew something was up. I have never had my picture taken in an interview before (how weird is that). I was placed in a room to take my basic assesment test. While in the room there were atleast twenty others during the time I was there taking the same test. (turn and burn) After finishing the first page of three they then asked questions like "do you use Myspace or Facebook", "how many friends are on your Myspace and Facebook" and "What is your main mean of communication" obvious marketing tools. After researching this online there are to many complaints to count. I'm not even going to waste my time or gas on the second "interview".

I recently reported this company to www.careerbuilder.com because I did further investigation on the company. This company is going under aliases such as "The Internet Company", "Quest", "Three Stars Media", etc. Career Builder did an investigation on this company following my complaint and the company has been removed from their website. It is imperative that we continue to report this company to the websites that they are posting their jobs on in order to protect ourselves and other job seekers. If anyone finds their ads on various job sites, please report the company to the host site so that they will be removed!

I had a experience with Three Stars Media a few months back and just informed on this site under complaints for Three Stars Media that they are now using another name THE INTERNET-COMPANY.

Thanks

Beware that this company goes by three names:
The internet Company (www.internet-company.com), Three Stars and Media Logic. All the same company.
I also went to their office for an "interview" for the "Administrative Assistant" position.
It went down EXACTLY as hf4268 described.
What a bunch of ###.

Three Stars is a scam company. Here is a local news story on the company:

http://www.wftv.com/action9/19970193/detail.html

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. :-(

Unfortunately, I applied for a job with Three Stars Marketing in Orlando FL. Also called the Metro West Area. The front operations look legitimate. Once you apply online, they automatically call you in to schedule an interview. After the second interview, they introduce you to a part-time position to work a pyramid schemed website called "funky monkey" or something of that nature. Once I performed my due diligence on the company, I found that it the owner of the company Alec Defrawi of Alex Defrawy (he goes by a few names) is associated with online scams. A search for his name will reveal more details. It seems that Three Stars is the same. Three Stars has hundreds of domain names and their website are generated to receive revenue from ad "clicking" and getting personal information to generate leads.

I went on an "interview' where I basically took a stupid assessment that I could have done online at home. Now they want me to come in for a tour. No real interview...why would I waste my time with a tour if they haven't even reviewed my credentials? It all sounds very fishy. I hate people who do things like this..I knew it sounded too good to be true!

I like the others who have complained, dislike Qwest, and their service. My internet service which I had for two years, was always from the very start..."intermittent"! It would work for a while, then NOT! In the two years of service, I called them for repairing my internet connection, at least five times.

Finally, they told us that I needed a new modem, that was the problem. Of course, I would have to pay for a new modem, which was used on "post World War II telephone lines outside of the house. How can you truly pass a small signal such as a DSL minute signal, on old "Bell, Mountain Bell" telephone lines.

Now (10.15.2010) Qwest has a "fraudulent advertisement on t.v. stating that they supply potential customers with "high speed DSL internet service" with fiber optics. That is a total lie. The teleophone lines where we live are exactly not - fiberoptic! They are old out of date - Bell, Mountain Bell Telephones, which are being used, to try to give you high quality Gigabyte speed service of DSL. This cannot be done with any degree of success! It's like driving a very fast new car, on a "dirty, bumpy old dirt road, and expect to retain a high speed of travel, it "can't be done very good"!
Tony V.

Okay there is a pick charge that is required by the FCC when changing long distance cariers. Your full of [censor] about the prices your saying. A (1fr) standard rate line with no features is $22 dollars at the most! Do some research [censor]! It's dumb [censor] people like you that think they know everything and don't find out more information. Qwest is a great company. there is a reason jd power rated qwest number 7 in customer satisfaction

Kim,

Sorry to hear about the trouble you've had. Send me an email with your phone number and I'll check yours out also: Joey@CenturyLink.com.

Joey H.
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

My name is Kim Williams, and I received an offer in the mail to get a Mastercard gift card for $300.00 for signing up for the triple play bundle. Well I signed up in April of 2009 and to this day have not received my gift card or the $25.00 gift card form Restaurant.com. I was told to go to embarqgiftcard.com and sign up but the site does not exists. What kind of scam are you guys running? Is this your way of getting new customer and then not holding up to your part of the offer? Thats pretty poor business! If I do not get some assistance and receive my gift card that was promised to me, I will take my business elsewhere.

A very dissatisfied customer!

Jashona,

Sent you an email last week. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Shirley,

If you email me your number to Embarq_Joey@embarq, I'll check into your issue also.

Thanks,

Joey

Hi I am a Embarq fool too sent the flyer in the mail, if you bundle they give you a $100 dollar gift card.This started on May 18th still no gift card Sept 14th.Something has to be done about this false advertising mail outs from Embarq.I am changing phone service as soon as i can never again with liars.Iam in Las Vegas NV

I've been waiting 3 months for my $75.00 gift card. As a college student, I'm tempted to switch all my services to Time Warner and end this Embarq mess! $75 dollars a month...?! Try 115 and no gift card!

jashonaryoung@embarqmail.com

SleepyD,

I can check into this for you also. I've been in touch with the promotion manager for the other two customers. Send me an email with your phone number and I'll check yours out also: EMBARQ_Joey@embarq.com.

Sorry you've had trouble,

Joey H.
EMBARQ Customer Outreach
reachout@embarq.com

MY NAME IS DAWN. I AM ALSO HAVING TROUBLE RECIEVING MY TRIPLE PLAY GIFT CARD. IT HAS NOW BEEN OVER 6 MONTHS SINCE I SIGNED UP. I AGREE WITH THE OTHERS THAT IF THE ROLES WERE REVERSED EMBARQ WOULD HAVE NO TROUBLE DISCONNECTING ME. THIS KIND OF RUN AROUND IS GOING TO CAUSE YOUR COMPANY TO LOSE ALOT OF BUISNESS, WORD OF MOUTH IS A POWERFUL THING. I FOR ONE WILL NOT BE RECOMENDING YOU TO ANY OF MY FRIENDS OR FAMILY.

Hey Sandra,

Sorry you've had trouble also. We've had some delays with our gift card vendor. I just sent you an email with more information.

Joey

I also have had a really hard time getting my $150.00 rewards card. I have been givin the run around and told someone would get back to me and they never do. It's one thing to tell someone their entittled to getting something its another when no one seems to know whats going on! I know if I owed Embarq $ they would get it or cut my service. Well, what's the difference when the tables are turned? I wan't my freakin gift card! This is the most redicoulous thing I have ever beenm through in my life. If they don't want to give something to people then don't advertise it and tell people they are getting it!SIMPLE AS THAT! If I don't get resolution soon I am going to pursue the better buisness bureau and do advertsing that Embarq lies and don't come through with what they say they will! That's that!, Sandra my e-mail is sandrad.1971@yahoo.com if anyone is interested in venting on this issue!

Hey Betty,

Sorry you've had trouble. I just sent you an email.

Joey

Embarq, out of the blue, is saying I owe them $786 for DSL service from 2004. This is a total joke. I only had phone service throught them and it was basic service (no long distance). My final bill was $27 and I paid it. What can you do about this Joey?

Thanks,

Jasen

I had never felt so victimized as I did from someone from embarq played around with taped answers from my voice in a doctors office where I work, they claimed I gave authorization to add a $45.70 per month charge for a website service. My doctor does not even have a web site, and I never would have offered such a thing, the girl in our office who handles the doctors bills did not catch it unfortunately for 4 monts and I had to pay $182.70 back to my employer, embarq angrily agreed to reimburse $119.00 of it back to our office after the billing clerk tried to fight it and told them that she wanted to be able to pay me back and the rude salesman stated "she does not deserve to get any money back because she misrepresented your company". After doing a little investigatin I found out that this same thing happened in other offices around our small community, shame on embarq for doing business with such shady characters.

Allen,

I work for Embarq. Sorry you are having trouble. Can I help? Send me an email with details to Embarq_Joey@embarq.com. Check out my twitter page if you need to verify my identity: http://twitter.com/EMBARQ_Joey. Thanks.

Joey H.
Embarq Customer Outreach
reachout@embarq.com

Qwest is a major telephone company in the northwest. I had a situation where they were over charging me on my telephone and cell phone service. I did not realize it and they had me change my phone plan to something more costly. By the time I knew what was going on, my service was turned off, in less then a month, they had post $1, 600.00 on my credit report and they ignored all my attempts to straighten it out. Instead of correcting their mistakes, they just completely ignore it and stick me with the bill. I am trying to arbitrate this situation through the Better Business Bureau, but with them being a well known company, I still look like another sour customer. Good ol' customer service is just lost forever...

I was a Qwest customer for many years (both residential and business) but after my experiences with them I would NEVER sign up for their service again! First of all, when we moved we signed up with Qwest for both internet and home telephone service. We bought the internet modem outright (they said that would save us money in the long run versus renting it), however every month they would charge us a 'rental fee', which would mean we would have to spend 1/2 hour on the phone with customer service every month to get this removed! The internet service was terrible and very intermittent. We had some financial hardship due to a death in the family and got 30 days behind on our Qwest bill (we were going to catch the bill up the following month), but without even so much as a letter of warning they sent our account to a collection agency and tacked on a $250 'cancellation fee'! We just got off the phone with the collection agency and they were EXTREMELY rude and unwilling to work with us, citing that they could not send us a copy of our original contract (which is in direct violation of the Fair Debt Collection Act) and my husband ended up in a scream-fest with them. We were trying to PAY them, not weasel out of the bill in bankruptcy like most people! So RUN, don't walk, from Qwest! Side note: we signed up with Comcast and so far they have been good.

Company overcharged for services. When notified, they repeatedly took down our information and said they would have a manager call. They never called and my child who is in college needed internet so we decided to pay the overcharges and take the credit they said they would give us when they could access our account. When we went to pay, they charged us an activation fee. We didn't pay, immediately canceled, and purchased an alternative dsl company. Now today we received a bill from Qwest for services we had already canceled.

It seems that this is exactly what happened to our office in the last couple of months.

I originally posted this under the complaint section for NetOpus.net, but Qwest needs to be mentioned again here. Qwest was heavily fined by California PUC for doing what you are describing —back in 2003.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2003/04/28/daily58.html

Just this year, going back the last couple of months, we fell victim to this same technique with Qwest and a company calling themselves NetOpus.net. NO verification, no authorization, no services rendered, yet we are getting charged $34.95/month through our Qwest bill.

So why is Qwest not doing something more to verify that the charges are legitimate?
It seems that anyone who wants to run a scam can simply give Qwest a phone number and company name and tell them to start charging the customer whatever they say to charge.

In our case Qwest was very quick to offer credit back, but would not describe how the NetOpus charges were authorized on our account in the first place. I would think that if Qwest was fined $20 million for cramming in 2003, is there not complicity in what they are doing today?

Until enough people complain and register these issues with their regional Public Utilities Commission, or with the FTC for interstate wire transfer fraud nothing will stop these utilities from playing this game.

Orbit Telecom provides its subscribers with a private voice mail service which enables access to voice mails via phone and email. We market the service on the Internet and continuously review our marketing and sign-up procedures and believe that they comply with all applicable laws and industry standard best practices.

We maintain excellent customer service 24 by 7 by 365 and you can reach us via phone at [protected] or online at http://www.orbittelecom.com/support.cfm. I’m confident we can address any customer service concerns you may have.

Orbit Telecom Customer Service

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

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

billed for services i did not use or authorize

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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"!

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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