In 2023 something has changed at CenturyLink. It's ability to support customers was not always bad. Now, it appears that it has created policies which seem to make customer experiences a nightmare while smiling and saying "no worries." This is my definition of evil.

Technical support: I needed the company to move its phone line connection to the box because it was in the way of planned construction. I tried several times to arrange for them to do this and ended up either being told--"I will refer your request" or "that isn't our department." I was really trying to do the right thing because we have been told we shouldn't touch a utility company's pipes or lines if it is before the meter or distribution box. However, when the company itself doesn't seem to care I was forced to do it myself. A friend helped me climb by climbing a ladder two stories, removing a screw holding the cable and screwing a new location for the cable hanger.

Accounting:

I have two accounts with CenturyLink. This may be because each account goes to a separate part of the company and those parts do not communicate. One account is for my home phone service, the other is for my internet service. However, the company uses the same mailing address to receive payments.

I try to stay ahead on both accounts by one month because their payment deadlines are too close to when I am billed to be assured I will pay on time.

However, CenturyLink managed to really mess things up by cashing checks for each account all to one account (last month) or cashing each check to the wrong account (this month).

I have tried to get this corrected. Last month I was told the money for one account could not be transferred to the other account. This month was told they could fix this, but required "a specialist."

Policy:

One account said it would assess a one dollar fee to send paper bills. When they warned about this they said this did not apply if people had both voice service and internet. Also they said this new paper bill policy did not apply in Oregon (where I live). This is in a printed document which was mailed to me.

However, they charged me a one dollar fee anyway. I called the company about this and was told this was an error and it would be corrected. The next month they charged the fee again. I called and was told this was a known issue and all accounts would be corrected. The 3rd month arrived and no credits were issued and the fee appeared on the bill again. I gave up and signed up for no paper bill: $2 poorer (I managed to successfully get an automatic $1 fee dispute refund, but couldn't do that again for 90 days!).

I can't walk away from this company. In many ways it has a monopoly. I would advise anyone who has a choice to stay away from using CenturyLink. All I can do is hope things will change. If somehow they continue to steal money from me or deny me service, there is also small claims court.

I July 2022
The LIES keep coming!
I was contacted by a Lumen technology consumer Advocacy analyst, Jamie Carr via email and was told my issues were being escalated, and he would keep me informed.
A week later I received another email from Mr Carr stating it hadn't been escalated and I was assured that I would be getting 100 mbs for $50 as originally agreed to. Mr Carr said in the email my services would be installed on 5 July. I called centurylink today only to find out it wasn't scheduled!
When are the LIES going to stop?
When CORPORATE analyst LIE TO YOU, who can you believe?
Why is CenturyLink still in business?

I was contacted by Vanessa a customer supervisor about my issues and was told I could only get 60mbs and it for and it would be $60 monthly. Wow being forced to pay for less speed and cost more just to have internet!
I have been trying to get centurylink internet services for 3 weeks and it has been a living nightmare! I agree to 100mbs plan as I am getting fiber optic wireless modem and router, and then only get 60mbs! I call centurylink and was told it's the fastest speed available, I ask to disconnect and then speak with Trisha who after speaking with her supervisor said I would be receiving 192mbs for $60, due to the way centurylink has treated me and the fact I am a disabled veteran. My speed dropped to 30mbs so I called and disconnected and sent equipment back. I called centurylink on 23 June and spoke to Roy in connection services and was assured I could only get 60mbs, and if I came back I would get free modem and router and the services would be connected on 24 June. 24 June my services did not get connected! Why? Because they were not scheduled with centurylink!
How can Centurylink still do business? Is lying to consumers about plans they offer and don't deliver, saying when services will be connected and then not happening? IS LYING TO CONSUMERS THE NEW BUSINESS NORM TODAY?

Below is my verbatim response to a recent Centurylink support survey:

You can make it much easier by answering your support phone calls within a few minutes and start helping your customers without them holding on the phone for hours.

I absolutely hate calling Centurylink for support as I know I will commonly be holding on the phone for hours before a support person will actually start helping with a problem.

You think people have nothing better to do with their time? We had to stay on the line for 3.5 hours before an support agent starting helping us and then holding around another. 5 hours after being transferred to a second person to get a recommended replacement modem/router send to us to attempt to solve our connection problem. Try doing that sometime then think about what kind of service you just received.

If it weren't for having so many devices (multiple Firesticks, echo dots, smart TVs, a printer, a Roku etc.) tied to your router/modem wireless address etc. that we would have to reprogram to another provider we would already be done with your terrible support service. We might still do that as this same long hours of waiting has happened too many times in the past few years with us and friends. Don't you keep stats on waiting times from start of a call to the end?

It is disgusting. I know you justify it as "well", people can go on to your online help and spend all of their time searching for help with little or no success or chat via typing when some people are very slow 1 finger typers. Plus with your internet out that only leaves the phone to work with and it's extremely small screen to see any support site and very small keys to try and chat with. Plus some people have to pay for all those minutes.

Believe me, that we and others share our experiences with our acquaintances and online review sites which I have done before and will do again soon after this last experience.

Good luck keeping your customers with your present policies of "helping" your customers. We would be pleased to see you go out of business. No apology will ever suffice for your kind of current support service.

By the way your agent ended up talking us into buying a $261 new router to fix our lack of internet connection. When it arrived, I installed it and there was still no connection so I had to call back and your next agent said it was the DSL line which it turned out to be. I had told the original agent the DSL light indicator was not green so why try to sell us a new device?

Now we had to return your expensive modem/router as the one we already had was NOT faulty as suggested by your original support agent.

Add us to your, I suspect, growing list of totally dissatisfied customers.

Tues, Sept 15th my son & I talked to a guy in tech support. Asked about higher internet speed, improving WiFi, & why internet keeps cutting in & out. He said he'd check the modem. Few minutes later said it was way old, we needed a newer updated model. That it was $15 a month or $200 outright (found out later they only lease), the new modem should solve our problem. We got the new modem, Sept 17th. It is not the promised resolution to speed or connectivity. In fact. It is a lot worse. It did improve the WiFi connection slightly. The same day, Sept 17th, I had a virtual doctor's appointment. I am under care for a bad leg infection, when I did not get the call I tried to call them. That was when I found out I had no phone service, because he had arbitrarily canceled my phone service. Why? I talked with him about internet issues. Nothing was ever said about phone service. No one will answer that question. He said he would email me a copy of our phone conversation (their usual practice). I never got it. I used their messenger. They keep saying that my phone service will be restored. They have listed 4 different re-connection days. All have come & gone with no one calling or coming by. Not a note through email or messenger. I have tried to contact them through my account. Which I was unable to access for a full week. I was finally allowed in, only to find my promotional had been canceled, lifeline, etc & they wanted that "refund" for those services, now. I was allowed back in on Sept 25th. The due date for their "refund" was the 23rd. I did get a bill listing my canceled phone promos (because they "expired" original date was Jan 2023). My canceled loyal customer discount (for 20 yrs). My canceled lifeline & OR telephone assistance (I am a senior citizen & disabled, so still qualify). Also learned the cost of my service is doubled. A service that I, as yet, do not have. My son came in the afternoon, we called Centurylink. Told the guy what was going on. He said let me call you back in a few minutes. He never did call. I use a phone for the hearing impaired. I also have mobility issues. How am I going to call 911? Or my doctor? When I cannot even get out of the house. My ramp needs to be fixed. All total, I have tried to have dialog with them 6 times. The last 2 were totally ignored. But messenger was the only option when I have no phone service & I could not get into my account. I tried to use the customer chat, it points to messenger. Earlier in the year I had tried to have a dialog with them, I called, stated the reason for my call, was told, "Okay give me a couple minutes." nearly 20 minutes later it was, "Oh. That's not this department, let me transfer your call." after stating the reason for my call it was an almost exact repeat of, "Okay give me a couple minutes." nearly 20 minutes later it was, "Oh. That's not this department, let me transfer your call." And this was repeated almost verbatim 4 more times, with each on hold between 15-20 minutes. The next time (7th) they went to transfer me. I hung up. Towards the end of last year I had an issue with the internet. I called tech support. After going through the motions for nearly 50 minutes, and no resolution. I was given someone else who was supposedly more informed. I told them we already did that. But. He insisted, so we went through the same things I had previously with the other ‘tech' person. This person gave me a number to call. Said that person would help me resolve the issue. And it was a sad repeat of the previous two calls. Another wasted 45 minutes. So I gave up. I was talking with a friend who works at the hospital, told her what happened. She said that was the sort of thing that caused her to quit association with Centurylink. Suggested I try the computer geek who takes care of the hospital's computers. He was internet, software, and hardware savvy. I called the guy. He asked for permission to use "GoToAssist". I gave it. It did not take him more than 3 minutes to solve the issue that 3 tech support personnel at Centurylink could not do in over 2 hours & 15 minutes. I have now been without service for 3 weeks. First time something like this has ever happened to me. This past year & half with them has been terrible.

Spent over an hour on the phone with Emp ID AC***** because my internet isn't working. It keeps cutting in and out. It's been going on for over a week so tonight I called to find out what was going on with it. This agent kept interrupting me when I would ask a question with, "ma'am, ma'm, you need to..." I was patient with the interruptions and would answer whatever she was asking. She checked the line to find that it was unstable and she was going to send over a stronger signal. I asked, "shouldn't the signal always be strong?" She got irritated with my question and I asked it again because I truly didn't understand that if the signal wasn't strong why would they now be sending a stronger one and would that stronger signal stay. From there she had me unplug the modem. While waiting for the green lights to appear she said, "so all of the lights are green now", and I said no. On the third attempt of once again unplugging the modem, she asked if the all the green lights were on. I said no. She then said, well you need to let me know when the the lights are green. Now I'm getting a bit irritated with her behavior. So I responded, "Yes, I was planning on doing that." Still I remained calm. Then she asked me if my WiFi was on my phone. I checked the setting and it was turned on. So she had me run a connection test through my phone and relayed the numbers over to her. She had me run it a couple of times because I'm assuming the numbers were very low. She then had me restart the modem and told me to put a pen in the hole to restart the modem.
She then had me go to my laptop and gave me a link to reconnect WiFi to my home. But it asks a series of questions in the process so I asked her which one do I want to choose? The first one says it is RECOMMENDED to use. She told me not to use that one and use the second option. I asked her why if the first one is recommended. She got further irritated with me and said, "then just select the recommended one." So I did and it then asked me another set of questions that related to resetting all of the devices at home. This snippy agent then said, "that's why I told you to choose the other one so you don't have to do all of this." I then said, "You could have told me that in the first place." Now I'm getting a bit more irritated with her condescending attitude and irritation with me.
She then asks me again if I was connected to the WiFi on my phone and at this point I was a little confused so I asked her, "How will I know if I'm connected to the WiFi when my phone will ping off a cell tower. She said I needed to check my settings in WiFi and see if I was connected to my Century Link account. I finally understood what she was saying and was trying to explain that I now understood and I went to check if I was connected. I was not. I know I had connected with my password in the past but I am not sure if it got disconnected from all of the unplugging of my modem. I have no idea. But I was about to explain this to her when she went off on me. Told me how she has spent the last HOUR on the phone with me trying to help me and I haven't had my WiFi on and how can she help me when I'm not doing my part. This is where I lost it with little miss attitude. I told her I'm sorry I was taking up her valuable time and spending an hour of her time trying to get my internet issues resolved. That I am not as techy as she is. She kept talking over me and raising her voice over my raised voice and saying, "yes, I was taking up her time." I then said, "okay, you have slapped my hand now can we just fix it?! Do you think I enjoy spending an hour on a Friday night talking to you trying to get this resolved?!" I then asked for her name and she disconnected the call.
Now I called back and you can guess I'm more than hot under the collar. Spoke with a supervisor named David who said he would escalate my call and that I should expect an email. An email? Oh no, you are mistaken. I expect to hear from the service manager of this agent and/or higher. Still hadn't had my issue resolved and had to spend another half hour on the phone with David who found that the line was unstable and that I need a service call. So - what the heck does it matter if I'm connected to the WiFi on my phone when he found the SAME problem she did in the beginning and clearly was still an issue.
This company has reps that treat their customers in a condescending and irritated manner when I am the customer who has an issue WITH THEIR SERVICES. I am not a tech and am not as tech savvy as many out there. And that shouldn't matter. I am a paying customer and to be treated in the manner that I was treated is beyond acceptable. What does it matter that I took up an hour of her time? She still is on the clock, isn't she? I will be calling the headquarters of this company to complain about the behavior and will be planning on discontinuing my service with this horrible company. I will make sure all my family and friends know about the way this company treats their customers.

I switched over to CenturyLink in September of 2015 because they were able to offer the speed we needed for video uploads, they had a great price, and their customer service was very good - slow, but good once you got ahold of someone they were very responsive. At the time, I was hesitant to enter into a two year contract, but was assured that the contract and terms would carry over to our new home if we moved. It turns out, that was only partially true.

We recently moved to the Black Hills area of South Dakota from Colorado. Although it is true that CenturyLink has service in our area, it is at a much slower speed. If we want to get the same service we had in Colorado, we would need to get a business account at a substantial increase in price. Because we upload videos and other data-dense items, we really needed the same service, at the same price as we contracted. CenturyLink could no longer provide what we had previously contracted for.

Therefore, we went with another carrier and I cancelled my service. When I did so, there was no mention about an early termination fee. In fact, there was no mention as to the final amount at all.

I then received an email notification that my final bill was more than four times the normal monthly. I called Century Link. It turns out that they were charging me an early termination fee, despite the fact that they could NOT meet the service I contracted for in Colorado now that I lived in South Dakota.

After multiple phone calls and escalation to their customer care (I nearly choked typing that), I was informed that they would not waive the early termination fee, because they had service (albeit woefully inadequate) in my area.

Picture this - you have a 2-yr lease on a Cadillac in Colorado. You move to South Dakota. The dealer tells you that you cannot take your Cadillac with you, but not to worry. They have a vehicle in South Dakota that you can transfer your lease onto - its a Ford Pinto, but hey it is a vehicle and the lease only covers your having a vehicle, not the type of vehicle. The dealer then informs you that if you want the same car you had in Colorado, you have to pay twice as much on the lease.

A tin can and two strings is technically phone service, but I wouldnt consider it equal to an iPhone.

It gets better. I was assured that the auto withdrawal of my monthly payments would cease because my account had been closed. I was further instructed that I would be mailed a final bill and mailing label to return the equipment. I have yet to receive either. Lacking a bill, I sent a $40.11 check to CenturyLink towards what I was told was my final bill. When I balanced my credit card statement, I discovered that they had auto-withdrawn the entire final bill. To add insult to injury, I also received a email that my current bill of $40.11 was available online and that NO ACTION REQUIRED - YOU ARE ON AUTOPAY. It took another half hour on their chat to get this straightened out and the $40.11 refunded.

I will never, ever, use CenturyLink again. I hope it was worth the refusal to waive the early termination fee to CenturyLink to turn a formerly happy client, who previously enthusiastically recommended their services, into a disgruntled ex-client who will now emphatically warn folks away from this company.

On 7/29/16 I called CenturyLink to cancel my internet service. I was advised that there would be a $200.00 Termination Fee, but that I had a one month refund due for $46.93 and additional credits of $185.10.

The above clearly indicates a credit balance of $32.01.

When I received my bill it indicated I owed CenturyLink a total of $206.00.

I called them on 8/11 to dispute the bill. I was the $206 was correct, that there was a possibility the person I spoke to had made an error but I had no proof so the $206 was valid.

I knew they recorded such calls and insisted they review that original cancellation call and gave them the date and case # (d********), asking them to review the call and get back to me. They said it would take a few days and on 8/15/16 I received a call from a Justin, employee #CPWR037. He advised me he, in fact listened to a recording of the call and that while it was true I had been quoted credits of $46.93 and $185.10, that CenturyLink spokesperson had made a mistake for which they would bear no responsibility and I still owed $206.

I asked to speak to his supervisor and was transferred to Leah, employee #CPWR003, and she advised me that the original spokesperson was being re-trained because of an "obvious" error and created no liability on the part of CenturyLink; I still owed $206, which would be turned over to a collection agency in about 60 days. I asked her about recourse options open to me; she advised me she had the final word and I basically had no recourse.

I advised Leah this would be posted publicly and would ultimately go to the Iowa Attorney General's office of Consumer Protection, among other possibilities. Her response was basically that was ok, but I still owed the $206 and it would go to a collection agency.

On 8/22/16, a charge of $206.52 appeared on my credit card statement. I was on autopay and had told the CenturyLink to cancel the autopay and charge the $206 to which she agreed. I called the credit card company and disputed the charge, which was removed as a disputed charge.
Don't believe anything they tell you on the phone, but document everything. I was going to sign up for their Prism service when it became available as well as reinstate my internet, but that isn't going to happen based on this experience.

Its alright