CenturyLink
Reviews and Complaints

Young man came to the door to sell us Centurylink Prism. Promised us $100 visa rewards card. As you can see from this copy/paste:

Submitted Date: 06-09-2014
Expected Delivery Date: 09-03-2014
08-09-2014 - Accepted

They waited two *months* to accept and then also failed to deliver on time. Centurylink says it's out of their hands and told me to call a 3rd party they refer to as "visa" (myprepaidcenter.com).

"Visa" said the card's in the mail. That lie is as old as the mail itiself. So I demanded they ship with a tracking number and give me that number as evidence that they are complying with their promise. They said (get this) they can't give out tracking numbers for "security reasons." AND they want ME to PAY $20 for the UPS service! I said, fine, make the card for $120 then instead of $100. But I refused to hang up without a tracking number and I'm still at it with them even now.

Don't bother calling [protected]. You can't even start a call without a card number. Don't bother callng 1.800.831.1733. They'll say to call [protected]...

There are at least 230 other complaints about this here and on two other sites!

All Centurylink and my prepaid center have done is stonewall me.

I called to cancel my service (I was moving, not to mention I had to call their tech support on average 2X a month due to extremely slow (10 min to load a page) internet or no service), and the first time, it seemed to be smooth sailing (aside from it taking 38 minutes to do the call). A few weeks passed, and I noticed on my bank statement that I was charged for another month. I called them back. After being on hold for 26 minutes (their average is 15-17 minute hold) I finally hung up as I needed to answer another call. Next time I tried, I was again on hold- this time only 7 minutes (They must have broken a company record!) and the operator said I was due to get my money back. I asked if I could get that information sent to me as a confirmation via email and she transferred me. Again on hold (I think 3 minutes), again had to go through the hoops of 'name, account #, service provided, last four of social, address'. This lady said I was justly charged and that I would not be getting money back, but my service had been cancelled. I again asked if I could get a confirmation email. She put me on hold. Next person said I should be getting about 2/3 of my money back. I AGAIN asked for a confirmation email, to which he stated the company does not provide those. I think it may be wise for customers to record their conversations with CenturyLink. As for me, I will not be doing business again.

In October 2013, I was searching for Internet providers and comparing prices. I went to centurylink.com and started an online chat with one of their service representatives. The representative told me that I would pay $19.95/month for Internet and $29.99/month for Direct TV services, which would be setup and billed each month on my Century Link bill. She told me the total amount of my monthly bill would be $49.94 plus nominal taxes and fees.

My service began at the end of October 2013 and I received my first bill in November 2013. The total amount of my first bill was $187.43! A difference of over $100 from the price I was quoted! Naturally, I wanted to straighten everything out. I spent countless hours on the phone trying to get my monthly bill down to the amount I was quoted.

Fast forward to September 2014...the Internet portion of my bill has been whittled down to the quoted $19.95. BUT, the Direct TV portion of my bill remains at $56.99/month plus taxes and fees.

Century Link claims they cannot give me the price I was quoted, because Direct TV is not part of their company. "We just get the bill from them every month, and send it on to you..." They have told me to call Direct TV, to which I have answered, "why would I call Direct TV to get the price that was quoted to me by Century Link?" The promotion was a Century Link promotion, BUT now that it is time to give me the quoted price, Century Link won't do it, and claims that the only company that can get me this price is Direct TV.

So today I cancelled my Direct TV and Century Link service and switched to Charter Communications! I have never been refunded any money from Century Link regarding the overcharge of $27/month, which after 11 months, comes out to $292.00. On top of this, Direct TV is charging me an early cancellation fee of $260.00, yet I really had no choice but to cancel Direct TV services, as I was not going to continue to pay the wrong amount!

Both of these companies have had horrible customer service, but I place the blame on Century Link, as they were the company that quoted me the rates I was supposed to receive. My advice is to steer clear of Century Link! I have attached the chat window of the conversation I had with the Century Link representative.

we are paying for 10 mbps it is not to bad in the morning but in the afternoon drops to 3mbps even down to .87 this really messes up watching a movie online, techs check over the phone and Internet and say everything is fine sorry but it is not fine no way should there be a drop that large even during peek traffic times this is a small town so there are not many users here . Never has a tech been sent to the house to check this out like many others we have no choice here Centurylink is it or we would be with someone else so far Centurylink has been no help . We would just like to get what we are paying for !

Centurylink telephone and Internet. I originally had Qwest as a provider for telephone services and Comcast ( now Xfinity) as my Internet provider, It became costly. Dish network had a special so I called to lower my bills, after two transfers I was set up with an associate for Centurylink. The price quoted was 79.00 a month and a reduction to my satellite bill. Nearly a year later my bill has been 108-110 for the Internet and home phone. Even when I caught up the bill was still high the next months billing cycle. I recently changed my services in July to lower &down grade my Internet and basic local phone service. The bill is still in the high 90s. I was told I'd be credited, my bill was $199.12 ( due by the 16th); even after a supposed credit to my account, which from what I saw on my billing statement was a play of numbers, and they even "charged" me for downgrading my service. No response back from an email sent around the week of August 6th, nor a return call for explanation. I paid for the non published number, I looked in our local phone book and there my number was with my name and all. I was told this would be fixed, credited back and it has not. Yet I have been charged every month like clock work $2.50. Please help me or warn others about there fraud. Thank you

I have been a "loyal customer" of CenturyLink for many years - in large part because they are the ONLY provider in the area where I live. I have actually enjoyed their phone and Internet service, with very little problems, up until I moved from one town to another and had to transfer my service. I was duped into upgrading my bundle package when I switched service, by a very convincing and very misleading customer representative! I have been on a grandfathered in package bundle for several years and I expressed my concern in losing this package and ending up paying more if I upgraded. She assured me it would only be maybe $5/month higher...she PROMISED! Well, guess what? My old bills had been between $40-55/month and my new bill was $171! As if that weren't bad enough, I got the pleasure of speaking with a patronizing, condescending supervisor who told me he was really doing the best he could and giving me the best deal because I was such a "loyal customer"! Even after applying "discounts", I am now going to have to pay at least $20-25/month more than I was less than a month ago. The package I was on is no longer offered, you see, and they can't put me on a package that doesn't exist. After the LIED and MISLEAD me to switch off of it! I am so angry and the worst part is there is NO OTHER provider of DSL Internet where I live. So, I am stuck. I can't believe they can get away with this!

We've been using Centurylink internet for 8 years. We purchased 6 mbps download for $54. a month. The first two years it was fine & worked beautifully. The past 6 years have been a nightmare. Only one person in our household can use the internet at one time & the speed runs anywhere from .4 (Point 4) to 1.5 (One Point 5). We rarely, if ever, get the 6 mbps that we are paying for! We've had repairmen out, have called too many times to count & still nothing is fixed. We have occasionally been given a little credit on the bill, but certainly not the amount we should be credited for it running 6 to 12 times slower than what we purchased. We are stuck in a rural area that cannot receive other services unless we pay in excess of $1500. to have it installed. We have formed a Facebook page in our area & hope that with enough complaints another company can come in & take over the area.

For the third day now, a centurylink representative has rang my doorbell to push there services. I have told them three times now that I don't want there products and it doesn't end there. They wanted to know how much I was paying and that they can beat any price. (Yea, they do for a month and then jack it up higher than it was previously).
I literally had to shut the door on their face.
I called centurylink, waited 25 minutes only to be told that there is nothing that can be done as they are independent contractors, not centurylink employees. Really? They are wearing centurylink shirts, identify themselves as centurylink employees, and have centurylink paperwork. And then the rep that said there was nothing that she could do for me solicited me for there service!
I am filing a complaint with the arizona attorney general's office.

Was promised a $300. visa card when we subscribed to century link. It was supposed to take 12 weeks to receive the card, once applied for on line which I did. I also called to make sure everything was correct. We put this cable in our house in Dec. 2013 and should have had the card within 12 weeks. Did not come so I called they told me I would receive it in April so I waited. Still nothing. So I called The told me they sent it out and I should have received it the would check and call me the next day which they never did. They submitted for another card when I called to check on it they said there was no card and they would submit again. I said let me speak to a supervisor so I did his name was David that was on April 29. He told me he would escalate the process and I would receive the card within 2-4 weeks and if I would check the status on line I should be able to see it no later then Monday, May 5th. I checked today and saw nothing. So I called only for them to tell me 4-6 weeks and there was nothing they could do to help me. Seems to me that the lies kept getting bigger and bigger. I asked for a credit on my account as David said he would give me if I had any more problems and they refused. Said if I didn't receive the card in 4-6 then they may give me the credit. This company has really got my goat and something has to be done. They can't get away with lying to people the way they do. When I asked for the complaint department they said we don't have one. Pleas help cause I'm very angry.

Century link service is horrible, I have been a customer of theirs for over 2 years and have always been in good standings. At least once a week I have to reset all the set top boxes and modem in order to get the TV service to work. I am also always having to call them and they have to "rebuild" the box hardware to get the TV's to work. When the Tv does work, it is constantly freezing up. I pay for 2 HD boxes but am only able to watch one HD channel on one tv at a time. If the one TV is on an HD channel, the other TV has to be on a regular channel. When something is being recorded, that is the only channel that can be watched while the TV is on. Century link has the worst TV service I have ever seen. Everyone around me complains about the same problems but, when you call them they have never heard of that particular problem. The last straw with them was a couple of months back, I called them because I wanted to get the new wireless boxes that they advertise on TV and offer to all of there new customers standard. When I inquired about them, I was told I would have to pay extra per month per box, and would have to pay for a tech to come out and install them, which is also free to new customers. Why would an existing customer have to pay more per box when they come standard for new customers? I am sick of paying for such a c****y service and want to cancel my service and go to another company not only because of how horrible the service is but, also because of how rude the customer service reps are on the phone. I called to cancel and am told that I am under contract and it would be $300 to cancel. That's funny because I never signed a contract. At this point all I want is my service canceled and am sick of getting the run around from there customer service reps. I am not in contract and when asked to see the paperwork for the contract that I signed they are not able to produce it.

One of the worst companies, by far, one of the worst companies when it comes to customer care and interoffice communications is Century Link; as the old adage goes: (The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing). In the March 17-25 time frame, my wife and I have attempted to get a bundle package with these guys; after lengthy phone calls with the five agents, and certain quotes given they have failed to email us with confirmation of pricing, nor do they pass on the information to the other agents. Agents are at ignorant of what should be the pricing, throw other century link agents under the bus (saying that they were wrong with pricing) and/or plain just rude. It is just outright infurating. How can a company operate this way. The CEO really needs to be fired and at least some of the agents that answer the calls as they are the worst bunch of nincompoops that are around.

I have been getting multiple calls a day on my cell phone from this number. They never leave a message. I looked them up and they are apparently a student loan debt collector, which is weird because I have never taken out aa student loan in my life!

Cape Coral, FL
02-02-14
century link / prism
Last month our TV and computer started "freezing". The recordings then disappeared and never could be retrieved. I made a couple of calls to Centurylink and the equipment was finally replaced after a "red X" showed up on the screen. They sent a technician to fix the problem in the lines outside as well. I was given a wait time, with a window of several hours. All was well for a few weeks and the problem started again yesterday. I missed the last 5 minutes of an hour long show and rebooting did not solve the problem for quite awhile. I called customer service and spoke with, "Shannon." I was told the following "story." He said that he could see that we had a power spike. He said that this is Florida and that the wires in the wall get cold here and send a surge to warm themselves and this causes a surge that freezes everything. This was his explanation, I kid you not! This morning the TV and computer both keep freezing every few minutes. I called and spoke with "Jose" who said that he could see that there were errors building up in the lines, which had nothing to do with our equipment. He gave me a ticket number and said that a technician would be here within the next 24 hours. We hadn't had any problems with our service until the past 6 weeks. I see by other reviews in the area, we are not the only ones experiencing these delays. I must say that the people in customer service and the technician have all been very polite (regardless of the silly excuse). Today the Superbowl will be shown and we would really like to watch it uninterrupted!

Unbelievable! I just wasted over an hour of my life on a call with CenturyLink arguing over an install date. I am in the process of moving to a new home that does not have Cox Internet service available, so I am left with only one option(CenturyLink). I ordered CenturyLink through Directv as a bundle package. After a day of not receiving an install confirmation, I called Directv and was directed to CenturyLink. I was given an install date that I had requested from the Directv bundle specialist. By the time I spoke with CenturyLink, my install date had been moved up 6 days. The problem lies in the fact that I work from home and need internet to conduct business. CenturyLink would not budge an inch on my install date. I dealt with the absolutely worst CS reps(2 reps & 3 floor managers) I have ever dealt with in my life. I also spoke with three different managers who were worthless. I have never heard so many "can'ts"& "no's" from a CS rep. Not one bit of apathy or offer of a solution. Everything I have read said CenturyLink CS was horrible and I can attest to that as well. If you have a choice, I would stay clear. This company is terrible.

We recently moved to Pueblo, CO after having used Centurylink in Denver. We have bundled our services since moving down here and have nothing but problems for the last 6 months! Billing was wrong, dropped services, telling us we owed more money than we actually owed! No way in hell this should take 6 months to resolve! Problem is that you can't talk to the same person twice, spend hours explaining the situation over and over again! Even with my wife retiring from Centurylink after 40 years of service, we still get horrible service! This problem started June 3rd 2013, and today is January 20, 2014 and it is still not resolved. NOBODY EVER CALLS YOU BACK!

Upon the knowledge that I could get 10.00 a month off of my Directv bill if I sign up for internet services through Century Link, I ordered the services offered for High Speed Internet through Century Link. 1) Day I ordered the service: The Representative was very nice and informed me well of services they provide and that I could cancel my services within 30 days, etc. 2) Next Representative I spoke with was informative and told me about when my bill would be due. 3) Next Time I called to Cancel (within the 30 days) due to the fact that the services were not working when we hooked up the equipment and followed instructions that were given by the technical representative. a. The representative told me she was submitting a trouble ticket to investigate why it was not working in the location. b. The representative told me that the charges for my bill would never be more than what I was currently being charged.(the fee was for one time service that was not even provided, a month of service that I was reporting within the month we had not even received because the service was not working) c. The representative told me there was nothing else I could do about the charge after I asked her if there was any other options. d. The representative told me to return the equipment and be sure to get a receipt for the return -which I have ([protected]) 4) Today's call (spoke with 3 different representatives including a manager): a. There was never a ticket submitted to investigate why we received no service at that location. b. The charges on my bill increased to over 300.00 c. One representative was kind enough to tell me to fill out a 30 Day Money back guarantee to request a disconnect and all charges would be taken off because I had called within the 30 days with Representative #3 (listed above). d. The next Representative told me because I am an existing customer (and have been, by the way, for 12 years), that she could not remove the charges for a month of service I didn't receive because I didn't have a ticket submitted for the issue of unable to get my services to work, but yet she could remove the 200.00 early termination fee. Although I had called to terminate my services within the 30 day with Representative #3, who did not tell me I had to fill out the 30 day request to disconnect, but now I filled it out past the 30 days because this was when I was MADE AWARE of the need to do so. ... To put it lightly I am very confused because there has not been a Consistent answer since Representative #3 to Representative #6. A total of 6 calls and inconsistent answers with a Different result is bad customer care. A final result of 108.16 for services that were never received and actually can not be refunded because each representative thinks of a new way to not credit you the amount you never received services for. Wow! I am appalled that after 12 years of having phone services with this company who has been sold and resold, hmm I wonder why, that I as the customer, with a good payment history could not be taken for my word upon cancellation of services within a 30 day mark, and now am forced to pay money for services not even received. This is the worst customer service I have ever received from this company. Sprint use to do a much better job at managing their rules, making the customer aware of those rules and speaking to the customer like they were a valued customer not just another number. My Number 1 complaint is that this company has no right to charge me for any services because I cancelled my services at representative #3 within the 30 day mark. But since they do not make the customer aware that they in fact are "required" to fill out a disconnect request at centurylink.com/30days there is no way the customer will ever be able to cancel and get their money back within 30 days as originally told my the 1st representative when ordering their service. Thanks for listening, wish it was better, but since I have no choice but to stay with them at this time due to my original account services being dependable and I am an online student, this is all I have left to do for the moment. Too many chances I gave the representative to speak clearly with me about what I could do to cancel my services and not be charged for services that never even worked appropriately, now here it is the hard, cold truth about Century Link and how they do not live up to their word or back any guarantee what so ever.---Dissatisfied with this company

I called centurylink, talked to the MOST rude service rep. After getting her to be quite so I could talk to her, I explained that I have been a customer for many years and have NEVER been late paying my bill always paid in full. So why is my bill doubling ? She finally stated I don't deserve any promotions for loyalty. And further more GET A DIFFERENT COMPANY TO DO BUSINESS WITH. I got mad and said cancel me, she said for the month remaining she would charge me a $ 1000.00 WHATS WITH THIS COMPANY ? Please BE CAREFUL DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY

We ordered a bundle package through Direct Star for Direct TV, Centurylink DSL and Phone. We were quoted a price for all services for 110.89 plus taxes. Which we accepted, After everything was done and said we are paying over 178.00 for direct TV and Century link. Direct TV's portion is 78.00 a month which includes 5 TV's and genie receivers. Century Link's portion was suppose to be 39.99 a month plus taxes however they are billing us more than Direct TV is. Our first bill from Centurylink was over 160.00 and our 2nd bill was over 78.00. I have inquired several times about this and centurylink is unwilling to budge with their pricing. They are a monopoly in our area and I feel that is why they can get away with this. I have inquired with Direct Star and they are still quoting centurylink for 39.99, I've called 2-3 times pretending to set up new service and their sales tactics have not changed. I don't see how this legal. How one Direct Star can offer a price that Centurylink refuses to offer and two how centurylink flat out refuses to honor it. I plan to petition everyday to Verizon and Charter that they get DSL and/or fios in our area to stop this maddness. I also plan to fight this battle of unfair business practices everyday until something happens.

Very slow download speed for Netflix. I have already called them and all they say they can do is right a note?
Facts: 20 Mb/s service
Speed on amazon Prime service 7 to 20 Mb/s yes sometimes I do get 20... Never lower than 7 :)
Speed on Netflix 1.5 to 5 Mb/s sometimes but rarely it can approach 10 Mb/s
On the phone with them and they had me flip from one service to the other to see if there was a correlation, yes there was fast with Amazon Prime and slow with Netflix. We tried the usual like resetting the modem and looking up the IP addresses and MAC address.
However the box that delivers Netflix is the same one that delivers Amazon Prime. (It is a Sony BD player)
I cannot see where the throttling occurs but it does...

Back on August of 2012 we complained to centurylink about there wires comming from a phone pole in the ally and hooked up to our roof edge this heavy cable wire was hanging very low to the ground we asked centurylink to remove there wire and equipment from our property as we are not centurylink customers many complaints over many months they sent there techs out and ripped out there wires and heavy cable that was hooked up to our roof and just left all scattered in our yard they pulled out our facia board from the roof damaging our roof we made many more complaints for them to repair there damage and remover there equipment from our yard this went back and forth for nearly over a year I threaten to file a criminal complaint against them if they do not remove there junk from my yard as it was a hazard and finally in August of 2013 centurylink sent out some *** that reinstalled there junk onto another part of my roof and after another 30 phone calls and complaints centurylink sent there tech out again they ripped out there equipment and also dilberetly damaged my roof part of my roof and all there wires cable and nails etc all scattered in my yard with a new area on my roof compleat lay damaged and ripped apart I made many comaimts to century and was told by a century rep that they will take care of the damage they referred me the there ins co. Sedgwick I made a claim with them I was later contacted by there adjuster Alden Richmond and Angelia valles both very rude and total liars.the claim was later rejected by alden richmond he was very rude and arrogant I had asked him to get all the ticket complaints so that he could see the chain of events that had taken place he refused to I complained later to his supervisor and the same results nothing, this is criminal what they have done to us we do not use or have any centurylink accounts and our claim is for nearly 900. Of damaged to our property. The reps told us that they will pay for the damages this is a total lie and abuse by there claims management services Sedgwick !