Well, I certainly have learned my lesson. Never again will I sign-up for anything without first checking complaint. Had I known about this site last fall, presumably I would have researched CenturyLink and run as far and as fast from it as possible.instead, I "signed up" for service when I moved into my new house, since it was the only internet provider "serving" my rural area. Now that I've parsed through all the other consumer complaints centered around CenturyLink, and read the many versions of my "story, " it is my belief that mere unprofessionalism and simple incompetence cannot fully account for the transgressions of CenturyLink reported to complaint time and again. Here is my story.
The customer service rep with whom I spoke when I ordered service was very courteous and helpful, and I hung up the phone from speaking with him impressed, and delighted that I would receive my internet equipment at my work place the following day.in fact, I was so impressed that I sent a complimentary email to the customer service department, praising him. However, the next day came and went without any equipment being delivered, as did the following 7 days. I then called again, and was assured it would be shipped immediately and I would receive it within 48 hours. Guess what? Another week passed, and when I called again I was told their records showed that the equipment had already been delivered to my workplace. Since I work in the front office, I am able to determine with a very high degree of certainty whether or not a package has been delivered, and after checking with my staff, I determined it had not been received. When I called CenturyLink back, and requested the name of the person who had "signed" for receipt of the equipment, they were unable to provide me with one (because it was fiction that it had been delivered?), and "reshipped" the equipment to me. Rather than the next day delivery I had been promised at the outside, it took at least a month to get it. However, regrettably I still didn't "get it" ("it" being the bigger picture) — although by that time it was probably too late anyway. Tne one thing all of us who've ever done business with CenturyLink know for sure is that "unlinking" from them is nearly impossible.
When I got the equipment home, I discovered that it did not work in my home/area, and I called CenturyLink's customer service number to ask how to proceed. A young woman expressed sympathy with my problem, and told me (and I quote) to "pack it up and ship it back using the shipping label that was in the box." I said "is that it, it's that easy?" and she assured me it was. So off the post office I went, paid $7.44 in postage and promptly shipped it back.
A couple of weeks later, I received a bill from CenturyLink for over $100.00. I immediately called, and explained the situation to another customer service rep. She took a hostile and aggressive tone with me, and demanded to know the tracking number of the package (I hadn't been told to get one), clearly implying that I was lying about having shipped it back at all. I pointed out that there would have been no benefit to my keeping it, since it didn't work at all—and asked her to check my records, which would confirm that I'd never had one minute of internet access using CenturyLink's equipment. She also wanted to know why I hadn't called and cancelled my account, to which I repeated over and over the fact that the person I spoke with about cancelling just told me to pack it up and ship it back, saying nothing about going online to cancel service. She then hung up on me.
I called again in disbelief. I spoke with another rep, who assured me that I hadn't been hung up on, but it was probably just a lost call. I explained the entire situation again, and was assued I shouldn't worry and that it would be taken care of. Yeah, right.
The following month my bill was up to $187, and since then I have called again... And again... And again, so many times that by now I've lost count. Each time I am forced to retell the entire story from the beginning. Of course, CenturyLink's records show I received the equipment (and the billing period started) a good month or more before it ever arrived. Apparently CenturyLink maintains no notes or records whatsover in their customer serice files, and so I am met with varying degrees of response ranging from apparent sympathy & understanding to outright hostility each time I call. I've been hung up on repeatedly, forced to wait on hold for 10 minutes or longer—only then to be disconnected, and—most eggregiously—lied to about the matter being resolved, and the "bill" zeroed out—by customer service representatives and/or their supervisors. Not fewer than three times in the past three months have I been ASSURED that the matter has been finally cleared up, only to find another $187 bill in my mailbox the next week. Last time this happened, I called and the young woman I spoke with was very apologetic, left me on hold for at least five minues while she "spoke with her manager" and was seemingly so happy to have helped me out. Her response to my question of what to do with the bill I had just gotten in the mail was to "ignore it, and we'll send you an updated statement showing you don't owe anything." I almost wept with joy. Just call me "sucker."
So, this week when I got the notice from the collection agency CenturyLink had referred my "bill" to, I called them with some confidence that once again this might just be an oversight or a miscommunication. The collection agent laughed when I explained my situation to her—that I owed CenturyLink nothing—and said "then why did they just send it to collections last week?" while urging me to "just pay it."
Can my—and all the other CenturyLink stories reported in complaint—be explained by mere incompetence, or even stupidity? I think not. While insignificant details vary from story to story, the underlying (emphasis added to "lying") circumstances are too similar to be explained away—in my humble opinion—but anything short of a corporate climate that embraces any and all means to arrive at a favorable "bottom line" — whatever the human cost, and in complete disregard of generally accepted business ethics, standards and practices.
I'l close by saying that in this David and Goliath story, Forbes.com reports that Goliath's CEO, Glen F. Post III, had a compensation package in 2010 worth $14,576, 447.00. I imagine it must take a very large pool of little people like me, the little old ladies I read about, the welfare recipients who wrote in, etc., to float that boat.
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