Century Link Sucks Again....5 day Internet Outage!

Nonproductive Blogging….

After a 5 day vacation in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, I thought that I would come back all refreshed and ready to tackle everything.  I had major Blog/Internet/Facebook/Twitter withdrawal.  I recently published a blog post about me unplugging.  Usually it’s hard for me to just disconnect for one day let alone 5. 

So its back to basics for this post.  Composing it in WORD, saving it to a flash drive and then tomorrow at work I will upload it. Because we have internet at work.

 

So I guess this post once again turns into a Century Link Sucks post.  Since Century bought out Embarq I have had nothing but problems.  I can count on being without internet at least once a month.  It gets old really, really quickly.  

Then when you call Tech Support you get someone on the phone who thinks you’re an IDIOT.  I patiently wait for them to ask me my name, account number and if I have powered the modem off and Hard Reset it.   I tell them yes and that I had already tried that before I called and the problem is defiantly on their end so all I want is to know any updated status.  The last time I called in the rep said that the internet would be back on at 6pm and it is now 7:30pm and still nothing.  The rep puts me on hold and say that I am correct and the problem should have been fixed by then and has no further update!  HELLO! If they promised that the problem would be fixed by 6pm then it should be fixed by 6pm and when I call at 7:30pm and get the same answer, I should have the right to be very upset that they know nothing. 

Century Link has allot of problems.

1)      Customer Service: Nobody likes their job and if I had to answer the phone all day long to angry customers I probably would have the same attitude as the people them.  However, I do not, I pay their salary, and I demand respect, answers, a solution and a credit if they can’t fix the problem. 

2)      Tech Support: Most of the representatives can only troubleshot basic problems.  I understand that, but when I call and I tell you that I am not dumb and have done everything that I possibly can, including a trace report and ping you still tell me its on my end or that they don’t support routers or my favorite is “Mam, I; sorry but I don’t understand what you are telling me.  That is way over my head and if you will just calm down and do what I say I will help you” at this point I am so irate that I am either screaming into the phone (BTW on a side note-my cell phone is in the window and I am standing on the couch because I only have service in that spot because with out internet our ATT Micro Tower will not work and we have no coverage) I try to calm down and tell the rep “Can you please pass me threw to a level 2 support technician who can understand what I am telling you” and the either reply with a “Mame you don’t have to be so rude” or if you would just listen to me we could fix your problem.  At this point, I either hang up the phone or yell louder.

3)      Monopoly: Century link is a monopoly in this rural area.  I do not have any choice to switch to another provider and there are many other just like me who do not have any other option either.  I wish somebody would come in and give them a run for their money.  I thought that the government did not allow this but apparently, it does not apply to Century Link.

If I had been home these last few days I would have gone nuts.  Being without internet for this one night has our entire household in am uproar.  My son needs his YouTube and Facebook, I need My Blog/Internet/Facebook/Twitter and when Momma ain’t happy, nobody in this happy.  

I am already over on my Unlimited but not unlimited roaming data connection with ATT and to get a decent signal I have to stand on my couch and place my phone in the window. 

Its quite the fiasco when you have the dog and 3 people fighting for the couch.  So we can all get   service on our phones. LOL!

So in the end, Century Link needs to get their act together, fix their problems, keep their employees informed on updates or I need to switch to Verizon Wireless and have an Hot Spot in my House.  Hmmmmm…..What would you do?

Century Link Joey Saves the Day....Exceptional Customer Service!

@CenturyLinkJoey stepped in and left me a comment on my Century Link Sucks Post .  I sent me all the information that he requested and he provided exceptional Customer Service.  You can see for yourself from the emails below that Joey and I corresponded that he answered all my questions and made this right.  I wish all Customer Service Reps would be like Joey.  Everyone could learn something from Joey.

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From: One Girl Ideas
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 9:11 AM
To: Joey
Subject: Re: [One Girl Ideas] New comment on Century Link Sucks!.

Thank you for responding Joey,

If you think you can help then lets see what you can do.

I think you know buy reading my blog post that I am not happy and have a good handle on what has happened. Basically Century link has been paying Dish Network for the last 3 months and not Directv.  

You tell me why and fix it and then I will write a new blog post about how you helped and made things right.

My old account number was XXX-XXX-XXXX-XXX ( before things went bad) XXX-XXX-XXXX-XXX is the new account number where everything went bad.  

I tried live chat but I didn't get anywhere but upset because the rep was not listening to me.  That is why I know I will have to call.  

You tell me what you can do and will go from there.

Carrey

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 8:55 AM, Joey <Joey@centurylink.com> wrote:

Hi Carrey,

Thank you for responding to my comment.  Sorry I wasn't able to assist on Saturday evening, but I am only in the office Monday-Friday.  Looking at your account, the rep that changed your service to standalone DSL should have advised you to contact Dish to cancel their service and also should have provided you with your new account number.  You also should not have lost DSL connectivity, so something must have gone wrong.  Since the DSL outage was a few months ago I don't think we can figure out why it went out now.  Regarding your Dish billing, since you've been billed $185.97 for that service and haven't used it I've issued a credit on your CenturyLink account for that amount.  I know you don't want a credit on your account, but for now it will apply toward the current balance which is $104.52 and once it posts later today I can see about mailing you a refund check if needed.  The refund check would take 7-14 business days to be received, but if you want this option let me know.  Since you've cancelled with Dish you should not have any additional Dish billing after this month and should receive a prorated credit back to the day of disconnection.  This credit most likely would be on a statement provided directly from Dish, but I'll monitor your next CenturyLink statement to see if it's on our end (I've seen it happen both ways).  As for the Dish charges to send the equipment back, that's their policy and unfortunately there's nothing I can do to help that.  So with that said, this is what I can do for you.  Hopefully this will save you the trouble from having to call in.  Let me know what you think and we can proceed.  Thanks.

Joey Harper
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Email: Joey@CenturyLink.com 
- Follow me on Twitter:  @CenturyLinkJoey - 
- Become a fan of CenturyLink on Facebook - 
- Watch our How-to Videos on YouTube -

From: One Girl Ideas

Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:05 AM
To: Joey
Subject: Re: [One Girl Ideas] New comment on Century Link Sucks!.

Joey,

Thank you for your help.  I do appreciate it and I thank you for not haven to waste my time again with all this crap.  

I will accept the credit on my account.  Dish did not mention any sort of refund. I will keep my eye open for it but I have never gotten a bill from them so I don't expect any sort of statement from them.

I do have one more question though.  Why has century link not been paying Directv?  I asked them the same question and they told me because I was bundled threw century link that the payment should be coming directly from century link.  Please advise. 

 Will I have to continue to pay them directly or will Century link be paying them from this point forward?

Thanks!

Carrey

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 9:18 AM, Joey <Joey@centurylink.com> wrote:

Hi Carrey.  We are not yet offering a true "bundled" bill with Directv.  We had originally planned to do this late in 2010, but it's been delayed to October 2011 right now.  You'll get a $5 credit on your DTV bill, but until then they will remain seperate.  I'm pretty sure the call centers were originally advised that the combined billing would happen in late 2010, but now they are having to retrain agents to make sure they advised customers that bills won't be combined until later this year.  So for now you'll pay them and us seperately.  And thanks for giving me the chance to help.  I appreciate that =)

Joey Harper
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Email: Joey@CenturyLink.com 
- Follow me on Twitter:  @CenturyLinkJoey - 
- Become a fan of CenturyLink on Facebook - 
- Watch our How-to Videos on YouTube -

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From: One Girl Ideas

Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 10:32 AM
To: Joey
Subject: Re: [One Girl Ideas] New comment on Century Link Sucks!.

Joey,

Thank you for clearing this up.  I'm glad that somebody would tell me the truth about what happened.  I think customers that switched to this bundle should have been called or sent a letter to explain that the customer would be responsible to pay the bill and not to rely on Century Link. Would cut down on all the very upset customers.

What needs to happen now is for my bill to reflect that and me not be charged for both TV and DSL.  My current bill should be nowhere near the $104.52-that would be way to much for just internet! ;-)

Please let me know what my new bill will be each month for just the DSL.

I am happy that someone at Century link has a heart and care enough to take care of its customers.  Joey you are one in a million-I wish every customer Service rep was like you.

Carrey

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Joey <Joey@centurylink.com> wrote:

Hey it's no problem at all.  Going forward the DSL only should be $34.95 plus taxes and with taxes probably no more than $40 give or take a dollar.  The next bill should be good to go, but it doesn't print until Feb 18th so we'll have to wait until then to see.  Thanks again for letting me help, if you know anyone else that needs assistance feel free to give them my contact info.  I also have it so you shouldn't be billed for the Dish return boxes now as well :)  Any other questions let me know.

Joey Harper
CenturyLink Customer Outreach
Email: Joey@CenturyLink.com 
- Follow me on Twitter:  @CenturyLinkJoey - 
- Become a fan of CenturyLink on Facebook - 
- Watch our How-to Videos on YouTube -

Thanks Joey,

I appreciate all your help.  I will write a blog post about everything you did to help and your exceptional Customer Service.  

Carrey

Century Link Sucks!

*Disclaimer: I totally wrote this post in a rage, so forgive my spelling and grammar!  I'm pissed off at the lack of human compassion, major corporations not living up to the mistakes they make and trying to fix what they  have done or taking ownership for problems and passing it back on the customer!*


So back in October I got all pissed off at Dish Network because they decided to not broadcast Fox Sports Net and when Momma can't watch her Minnesota Wild she gets pissy.  So I called Century Link and they told me that they no longer bundle with Dish anymore and they could offer me a better deal with Directv.  I talked to  Tammy rep #747 and she set up everything and told me that she would take care of everything.  I asked her twice if I had to do anything and she told me no that she was taking care of everything.  I didn't have to do anything that everything was taken care of.


I also canceled my home phone that night also to save $50 a month. I opted to up my Bundle with Century Link my Directv and DSL to save even more.  So instead of the $150 a month my bill would be $100


Let me tell you the headache that all this has caused.


First when CenturyLink cancled my home phone they had to created a me a new account with a new phone number that was stricltly DSL. When doing that it cause me to not have internet for week .  Every time I would call I would have internet until the next day. I would call again and it would magically turn back on and then the next morning it would shut back off.  This went on from October  22nd 2010 to October 25th 2010. And every time I called I wasted at least a 1/2 an hour to an hour of my time.


So just when I thought I had won the battle. I get an email from Directv telling me that Century Link has not been paying Directv for my service. Century Link has been paying Dish. Hello! 


Mind you I have been making my scheduled payments to Century Link.


So I call Century Link and of course because its the weekend no one is there and I get on chat with them and  they tell me that I told them that I would take care of canceling Dish.  


I get on the phone with Dish and tell them the story and they tell me that Century Links supposed to live transfer you to them to cancel your service.  Which never happened. So I cancel my service with Dish which I have not been using Scene November 9th, 2010 and you would think that they would have noticed that my satalite was not receiving service or that they could no longer communicate with the receiver, but they give me some line that they don't know I don't have service unless I would call them.  WHATEVER! So now I have to spend $15 to send back equipment that they say they didn't know we weren't using or they will charge me $100.  And I have to send it back within   30 days! 


So now I am out $185.97 that Century Link gave Dish and $211.81 that I had to pay Directv to not have them suspend my account for a grand total of  $397.78!  AUGH! And even if I get Century Link to admit that they screwed up they aren't gonna issue me a refund check, you know that all that they will do is give me a credit. Allot a good that does me when the house payment is due and I could use that $211.81 to pay it! AUGH!!!!!


So how many of you had similar problems with Century Link, Dish Network and Directv?


Let's unit and make the major corporations pay for the mistakes they make.




*Update: Monday January 24th.  Check out the response I got from Century Link here