CenturyLink review: complete liars 37

We recently got CenturyLink's DSL in our area and placed an order last week as to escape our dependence on Hughesnet's dismal service (See other complaint). Apparently when we placed our order, it never actually occurred, so we're waiting on a DSL modem that will never arrive, running to the neighbor's house to do homework, and when we finally get curious enough to call in, we call to find out that we don't even have an order pending.

The immediate thought: We would like to give you money for your goods and services, please!

We have since corrected the issue... we think. Monday is the supposed delivery day, which we didn't get before. The morale of the lesson: Make sure you get a solid date, their systems allow for it (plus or minus a bit) ... and maybe ignore the marketing group, call the main customer service number.

EffinSmiles,

Sorry you are having trouble getting your DSL installed. Hopefully the modem will arrive today and you'll get service hooked up asap. Please let me know if my team can help. We've been helping customer's on Complaintsboard.com for over 2 years. You can email us at Reachout@CenturyLink.com. Thanks!

Joey H.
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Joey@CenturyLink.com

Thanks for the sentiment, Joey; unfortunately, there's another hitch. As it's not anything that would be constructive to another customer, I will contact your team via email.

Well, I put an order in on February 18th or 19th, I was told that there would be a technichian out the following Tuesday, February 23rd. I had just purchased new laptops for my daughters, got a router etc. Tuesday comes around, no one shows up. I am having it put in at my mom's house, next door to me as we will be moving there soon. My kids have to drive at least 16 miles one way to use internet at a friend's house.

No one called me to say they weren't coming, when I called to find out what was going on, I was told "Oh, no one is coming today, we don't even know when someone will come, didn't anyone call you?" I told them no, matter of fact, I had to call my 79 year old mom to let her know someone was supposed to come hook up the internet, which in turn disrupted her day. Then I am told that it would be at least a month before I had connection...it was a month on March 23rd, they STILL don't know when I will have connection! They said that I have to either wait for a "shelf" to be installed or if someone in my area disconnects their internet...ugh!

The lady I spoke to yesterday didn't seem to care at all...when I told her that I may have to think about going with Verizon all she could say was "Okay"...I hung up on her.

This is incredible, not sure what sort of business they are running!

filly1969,

Sorry to read about your trouble also. We'll be glad to help you out as well. Email us at Reachout@CenturyLink.com with the account number in reference and we can investigate. Thanks!

Joey H.
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Joey@CenturyLink.com

I was just setting at home minding my own business when a service man from centurylink informed he was to install dsl. needless to say i was upset as i didn't know anything about it. apparently they can make telemarketing type of phone call and if you don't get it they have the right to come to your house and install it. so i wrote to them on sept 16, 2017 and you guessed it they did not answer so here is a double standard you have to anwswer thier phone call but they don't have to answer you. so since they did not answer me i contacted state agencies and they did respond to them. therein lies the crux because in thier response they not tell the truth and and a lot of it was scathing remarks about me. i contacted ceo of centurylink asking to have wrong information retracted but customer service refused to do so to this date it has not been corrected after some thirty letters to them. however i keep getting advertising from them for different products which bothers me and should everybody else because if a complaint can go unanswered for 9 months whats going happen if you have trouble with one of thier othe upgrades.

Henry,

My name is Joey and I'm with CenturyLink. I'm sorry to read about the trouble you had with our company. If you or anyone you know needs our help, please let me know. My email address is Joey@CenturyLink.com. Our customer outreach has been helping customers online for over two years. Please let us know what we can do to help. Thanks.

Joey H
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

After being on hold (not unusual...one time it was for over 1.5 hours), I was told I had "price for life" and so I could receive a new modem at no additional cost to me. Normally there is a $3.49 fee per month, but again, "price for life" would eliminate the fee. When I called back a few days later to get the tracking number for the shipment, I was told I DON'T have "price for life." When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was placed on hold for a while, and then disconnected. Total time spent: 1 hour, 2 minutes. Value of "price for life": worthless.

pobox2001,

My name is Joey and I'm with CenturyLink. I'm terribly sorry to read about the trouble you've had with our company. I'll be more than happy to offer my assistance to you. If you email me at Joey@CenturyLink.com I'll be glad to look into the issue for you. Thanks.

Joey H
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

High speed internet, HA! What a joke these people are. The internet only works part of the day and I have called to find out why and its like they are reading from a book or something, LOL! I mean I asked one guy "So are you just gonna tell me what the other guy said or can you think independently?" Keep in mind this was after a week of crappy service and multiple calls to them. I have noticed one thing though, they seem to offer service in a lot of areas where the customer can't get anything else. To top it all off the last "tech" I spoke to totally screwed up my computer and I had to pay a REAL computer tech to fix it. All I can say is WOW!

fatherof1,

My name is Joey and I'm with CenturyLink. I'm sorry to read about the trouble you've had with our company and would be happy to look into the issue for you. You can email me at Joey@CenturyLink.com and be sure to include your name, account number and reference your complaint on this website. Thanks.

Joey H
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

I switched fro COX phone service to CenturyLink when I moved. BIG MISTAKE! Turns out "unlimited long distance" service they offer is not really "unlimited" at all. Cannot use it to dial conference numbers - never explained that to me when I signed up for it. Cox does not have this restriction. So I changed my service to a thousand minute a month plan for an extra $29/month, but a bundle including voice mail, caller ID, and other services was not available with that plan so my total cost basically doubled from what I was originally quoted - BIG SCAM! To make matters worse, they didn't process that order correctly anyway and they suddenly cut off all long distance capability. After two days, I'm still trying to get my long distance service turned back on - no one, literally no one there seems to be able to fix the problem although at least three people in customer service, repair, and the "fraud detection" department have all told me it's fixed. Guess what, it's NOT! It isn't the long distance problem that's so aggravating, although that's pretty bad, it's the completely inept customer service. I research and write about technical support for a technical support association - this is one of the worst examples of customer service I have witnessed.
DON'T USE CENTURYLINK FOR TELEPHONE SERVICE - USE ANY OTHER ALTERNATIVE.

SORRY SORRY SORRY the worse company I have every dealt with in my life. LIES LIES and MORE LIES. Customer service is a complete joke, they act like they care but nothing never gets done. We have been waiting for three months for them to send someone anyone out to bury a orange line that was suppose to be here for a few days at the most according to there guy who put it out here. It goes from back of house all the way to the front yard real nice. I have been contacted by liars in the company who all say the same thing so sorry we will have someone there shortly. We even had one of their guys come to the house and say he was sorry and understand our frustration but he had to get someone else to bury the temporary line. That has been weeks ago. To review they lied about when they would come to hook up the service the day they told us no one showed or called we had to drive across town to the sale office. Next the internet speed which was promise is not the one we got, AND WE FOUND OUT LAST NIGHT THAT IT HAS BEEN A RECALL ON WHAT WE GOT. Wow what a company. Century Link gets our money every month and gives us lies in return.

namrepus,

I'm also terribly sorry to read about the trouble you've had with our company. I'll be more than happy to offer my assistance to you also. You can email me anytime at Joey@CenturyLink.com. Just include as many details as possible and we'll be glad to help. Thanks.

Joey H
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

I'm having trouble with computers download speed. I'm supposed to have 10Mb/s, and it's near that most of the time, but in the last few days it has dropped down to as low as .77Mb/s by 9pm. Mornings are fine but the download speed gets lower through out the day to it's lowest about 9pm. Tried calling On Line techs to put in a work order for the local guys to check it out, but she (Erica) refused to make one out without going through the checks that she has, and I told her my computer and the download speed is OK at the present and those checks would do no good while it's working fine. She still refused to make out a work order for me. How can a company this big be so insensitive to their clients for something as simple as making out a work order?

we have been unable to get dsl services. dsl services are within 1/8th of a mile from my home and centurylink has upgraded lines in our area to provide everyone else around us with this service but still have not provided for us. i was told of a "switch" located at Lizzie that would provide this.

Allen Ham,

My name is Joey and I'm with CenturyLink. I'm sorry to read about the trouble you're having obtaining DSL. I'll be glad to look into the issue and see what I can do to help. Just email me at Joey@CenturyLink.com with additional details like your name and service address. Thanks.

Joey H
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Reachout@CenturyLink.com

What kind of internet do you have, DSL, Cable, Fiber or Sat. and by who AT&T Uverse, Hughes etc.
Do you have a wireless router set up or are you only using the hard line (RJ45).
Reason I ask is if more users are on at the time you are having slow speeds then you are on a shared node, meaning to many people on-line for the type of internet you have. Also if you have AT&T Uverse and you have the TV on it will also slow your internet speed way down and they have had troubles with their modems.
The reason for the wireless is if you do have wireless and it is not with security your nieghbors could be using your internet and depending what they are doing could reduce your speed.

Thanks for your interest Trvkell, I have DSL broadband and the local techs are aware of the problem. The CenturyLink techs are working on the problem locally and are in touch with me and a few others almost daily. My complaint was not with the problem, but with the online techs not wanting to put a work order through until they were satisfied that there was a problem.

Roger good to go. hope they fix it for you

My internet went down today for no apparent reason and after trying the usually fixes, I tried to call CenturyLink. I waited about 10 minutes after listening to a recording of how busy they were in Arkansas (I am in Washington State). I tried later - no answer. I tried early PM - no answer. I called every number that I could find for 24 hour Century Link and Century Tel service. I was told internet technical service was 'very busy' and that, being based in the southeast, there was no one closer that I could call. I am now 10 hours without internet service and I quit. What's the point of having a '24 hour' helpline that no one answers?

I recently decided to swith from our local cable company, where I had bundled internet/phone/TV services, installing a satellite to replace the cable TV. I was referred to Centurylink as a recommended "partner" for bundled phone/internet, and transferred to someone from their company after completing my satellite order. I should have known from that conversation that this was going to go badly, as the person who took my order did not seem to speak or understand English very well, and was taking an order for a completely different package than the one quoted to me at the start of the call. I eventually placed the order for a bundle that was $25 a month more than the one quoted, being assured the difference would show up in the form of a rebate from the other company. I wanted to keep the same number, and was told this would be done. I placed the order on the Monday before Memorial day weekend, and was told a modem would be shipped for self installation of the internet, and someone would be at the house the following Tuesday to install the phone.
At 6:30 AM Saturday morning, I recieved a call on my cell phone from someone at Centrurylink requesting additional information regarding the old number, so that they could call the previous company to keep the number. The person who called seemed kind of irritated, and informed me that they had been calling my old number but that they kept getting a busy signal (logical, since the service had been replaced with the satellite and I had been without phone or internet since Thursday). Because the previous account had been in my wife's name, this person would not take the information from me but had to speak to my wife, who was at home sound asleep, since she works evenings and it being 6:30 AM. I was told that after they talked to my wife, they should be able to schedule an installation in the next week or so.
After thinking about this for about 10 minutes, I called back and asked that the installation be cancelled altogether. If this is how they do business with a new customer, who wants to be an old customer.
The funniest part about this is the form letter email I recieved, which read in part:
Thank you for connecting with CenturyLink, your home communications provider...it appears that you would like assistance with an order. I apologize for the inconvenience, your orders have already been cancelled. I hope I’ve fully resolved your concerns today and that you’d definitely recommend CenturyLink to your friends and family

Business saleperson- JOhn Meissner sells a nice package, but the company does not deliver. when they come to install, you find that they will only bring service to the building, JOhn will not inform you that it is up to you to contract and pay for your own phone and internet hook up. we were all up and running, prior to changing over to this company, but I went with Centurylink to save money- it ended up costing money- $250.00 and counting... we still are paying comcast fro seperate internet service, DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH JOHN MEISSNER OR CENTURYLINK. THEY WILL NOT ANSWER YOUR CALLS OR EMAILS ONCE YOU SIGN A CONTRACT

I was sold a dsl upgrade from 3 mbit to 10 mbit. More than half of my day I cannot even get 1 mbit. I understand that my entire town is this way. Dade City, Florida deserves better than CenturyLink. Most of the time my upload speeds are faster than my download. I pay for down:10m/up:986k
keepsake at embarqmail dot com

I called them about my bill, it was higher then normal after I called about somthing. The girl told me I was due an up grade on my dsl at no extra cost to me.I said, sure. Then the the Sept.2017 bill is 22.00 higher. I called and they said I had agreed to a more expensive package and also a 1 yr. contract. I never agreed to that or was ever told about it. I called and talked to a supervisior and she said I couldnt go back to my old package because they no longer had it.I asked if the calls were recorded and she said yes. I ask thaat the 2 calls I had made be reviewed and prove to me that I agreeded, she said that the reps.

Had made notes and I told her I was scammed and she said, Im sorry you feel that way. Now I cant even change to another company for home phone and dsl because I will have to pay that contract. I dont know how to start a class action suit but this company needs to be looked at about their deceptive practices.

I do not believe I am getting the DSL speed I am being charged for. I pay for 1.5Mbps which is supposed to provide at a minimum 1.2Mbps. The CenturyLink speedtest via Denver Colorodo consistantly shows 1.1 to 1.23. All other speedtest sites I use consistantly show .5 to .8 via points ranging from closer (Albuquerque) to further (New York). This makes no sense to me because before CenturyLink took over Qwest in my area my speed ratings from all speed test sites agreed with the Qwest speedtest site in Denver. I am very suspicious of the CenturyLink speedtest results. Ever since they took over my service has been degraded from what it was with Qwest but the one call I made to CenturyLink produced no satisfaction becuase they claimed their speedtest showed I was OK.

I too have had same experience. I called to check out speed and got same reply as you did. Speed tests were normal according to agent. There is DEFINTELY issues with speed, especially when I'm loading my emails, deleting them, trying to open them there's extremely long pauses, I get "century-link not responding" messages at top of screen. We are pretty close to switching over to Verizon once they are settled in our area. Sad, at one time when embarq was around, it was great service and speed. They're over loaded now though.

Last year i called about my bill going over 200.00 per mo. they ?we cut one line off kepping 2 other lines & internet Ijust found out on 7-12 that they were charging me for over a year for the drop line for about 468.00 plse bindover taxes Tday 7-13 i called about this charge and got NOWHERE IF I DID FRAUD & THEF I WOULD GO TO JAIL WE ALL NEED TO GET TOGETHER AND DUE A CLASS LAW SUIT> BILL ROBERTSON PRESCOTT

I had to cancel my service after 6 weeks because i moved in with my mother and she already had service with centurylink. They sent me my final bill which included a $200 early termination fee. I called to complain because I never signed a contract with them nor did I know about an early termination fee and after being argued with by 2 different supervisors, I finally gave up to try to reach someone above them. The only option they were giving me was to switch my mom's account into my name and she would have to pay an early termination fee. Great solution, right? It was about 4 days later that I started getting collection calls. Just to put this out there, it had been maybe two weeks since I called to cancel my service. I have tried several times to get to someone that could help. I even had the person who is living at the previous house say they would just pay for the service if it was reconnected. They won't even reconnect it and get rid of the fee! Centurylink is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with. They are thieves and do not care about the customers at all. They only want your money and will do whatever it takes to get it. I will never get centurylink again. I would gladly pay more to get a service that actually appreciate their customers and help them when they need it. I will be posting this everywhere I can, people need to know beforehand how terrible this company!

I totally agree. Centurylink is a fraud of a company. I called to get internet and they said they were currently installing larger server in my area and that I could go on a wait list so that when internet was available they would call me and set it up. I never received a call and two months later suddenly received a bill for internet that I had never set up. So I called to have them close the account which they did but they continued to charge me for it. Today they called and threatened to send my bill to collections if I didn't pay for something they never had my permission to charge me for. No one should ever get service from such an untrustworthy company!

CenturyLink sent two salesmen to my door this afternoon. They offended me and had poor judgement and ridiculed my gender. The corporation needs to provide sensitivity training and implement non discriminatory approaches to customers they approach.
i could not resolve my concern via phone calls.

what gender would that be?

I asked for my account to be put on the vacation hold because of traveling to take care of a sick parent. II was told it was 18-20 dollars per month to keep my line open. II came home to a whopping 450.00 cable bill. II finally was able to come upup witwithwith a lump sum to makemake onone timetime papaymepaymentpayment. Even typing on thithis websiwebsitwebsitewebsite is crcrazcrazycrazy. EveryEvery wordword repeatsrepeats. TThey ddontdon't havehave tto evever woworworry ababoutabout mymy consumconsumingconsuming ththeitheirtheirththeitheirtheir seservicesservices. PleasePlease find youyourself oothootheroother cable ccompany if you don't want to bbe scamescamedscammed.

I had CenturyLink for 3 years from [protected], in May, my contract with them was at an end so I cancelled their services. I contacted Comcast Internet and have had them ever since. CenturyLink took it upon themselves to send me a "New" box even though I didn't order it. When the box arrived I did not accept it and asked UPS to return it. Ever since I have been getting bills for CenturyLink's Internet Service even though I do not have CenturyLink. I have made numerous phone calls and documented each call & with whom I have spoken to, without success. Today, I received a bill for $250.53 to cancel my service. Clearly, I need help with this issue. I refuse to pay for Internet Service I don't have and certainly I'm not gong to pay an early cancellation fee.

Several months ago I moved into an interim location while I was waiting for our new home to be built. I could not use my old number, so I needed to have it call forwarded to a new number (the central office in my area did not serve that number?). CenturyLink told me that my bills would be billed to the new number, so I paid my bill every month on line. In error, they continued to bill me on the old number, too. To the tune of $600. Since i was paying my bill on line I disregarded the bill that came in the mail. So they disconnected my old number (which I have had for many years and worked for the new house being built. They admitted they had double billed me, but in no way felt any responsibility for putting me in a situation of not being able to have any calls get to me. I have been on hold with them for over 2.5 hours with no relief.

I've been trying to resolve this since before my service got activated. I signed up through chat because I wanted to use my own modem and the sign up form didn't have that option. The day of my service activation the modem showed up at my door. I was told to return the modem using the pre-paid return label inside which I did the same day. I was told the bill would be adjusted by the end of the billing cycle and that I only needed to pay for the residual amount, but it never was fixed. I received a disconnect notice in the mail and had to call in to tell them they had received the modem. I've been told to pay the residual amount again being repeated the same words from last month. What's worse is I want to sign up for auto-pay to get an even lower rate but I can't because then I'd get charged the full amount that's on my bill. So I'm stuck paying the higher fee until this gets resolved and have 0 hopes of getting the fees adjusted for their error. I should have taken notice when I received the modem and cancelled while under the 30 day money back guarantee, now I'm being told it's $200 to cancel.

I made my first complaint about CenturyLink after receiving a message from them that my service order was complete. I have just received notice from my niece that my mother's phone STILL is not working. This must qualify as elder abuse. I am going to figure out how to complain to the PUC in Washington about this. I have documentation to back up all my claims, and they are going to find out just how bad so-called service is from this company.