Lumen Technologies

Absolutely the worst business I've dealt with.. Customer since 1978, never overdue on a bill.
They've shut off internet service and will only allow service continuation if I switch providers to Centurylink. I'm up in the woods and at their mercy.

After innumerable amount of complaint to Century Link regarding the Internet service and the visit of five or six technicians, three supervisors and the promise to change the underground cable, noting has happened and the service keeps dropping daily,
This situation started in November, 2017 and after they obtained permission from the neighbors on both side of our house, I was informed by the supervisor Larry in person here at the house, that the work was scheduled for January 2, 2018 with my permission to come into the property whether we were at home or not. It never happened and kept calling and calling with cero results.
I came back from a long trip and found out that the case was closed….!! And I do not have regular internet service but the bills keep coming from Century Link.
As a consumer, this is not acceptable and somehow The Arizona Corporation Commission has to enforce the law to protect the consumer.
Your intervention will be greatly appreciated.
A very concern and upset consumer

My internet service rarely works. I have contacted CenturyLink every month since July 2017, most months on multiple occasions. A technician has been sent to my home on two occasions, both times finding faulty wiring outside my home. I am paying for internet service that I do not receive, not to mention the time lost from work and home has been astronomical. I know no other business that gets paid whether they provide service or not. This has also been THE WORST customer service I have EVER received in my life.

I had my Directv service with Centurylink at my home at ***, account number ***. My services were on "vacation" until my home sold in November, 2017 and I returned for the closing. I notified Centurylink to disconnect all services apprx Nov. 17th, 2017.

They have now turned me over for collection in the amount of $360. for TV services. I contacted Directv and was escalated to someone in Boise, Idaho they told me it would all be taken care of.

I have been on the phone talking to both Centurylink and Directv and nothing has been credited.

Be sure to never use Centry link for your Internet provider. We put our services on hold while we moved, upon reestablishing services we were not told that our previous bundled package price deal was void. I also as billed for the reestablishment date of 1/24/18 and didn't get services until 1/29/18 after multiple calls. Another charge for a hundred dollars for a modem that I did not need or ask for and they have been unable to find since it was shipped back with the label they provided. My Internet went from $19.99 a month to $45 a month, they also unbundled my DirecTV package which increased to $89.99 a month and was no longer associated with the century link account. I was only offered a sorry and $30 credit.

My centurylink account ***
I got the service from centurylink, with a purchased modem, but centurylink made a mistake and instead centurylink sent me a leased modem. So last month I spoke with a supervisor who fix the problem by sending me a new purchased modem and I return the leased modem to one of the centurylink offices, I have the receipt for return of the modem. But this month centurylink is charging me 99 dollars for unreturned modem, but I already return it to one of the offices located in Las Vegas NV.

Century link repeatedly fails to provide the paid for services. After multiple issues they fail to resolve the problems for more than a short time. For several years I have complained about my internet speed being well below the advertised speed "an average of 2 to 3 megs" when I am being charged for 12 megs. Immediately after a complaint my speeds will pick up to 75% of the advertised speed for a short time then the speed will begin to diminish. I am told by the Century Link associates that 75% of the advertised speed is acceptable by their standards however they demand I pay 100% of the bill. Further more when checking the speed they wish me to use their system of tests that continually read 20% faster than several programs that are not ran by them.

February 2016
I called CenturyLink to inquire about service. I spoke to Chandler. He offered us 20 mg of high speed internet for $39.99 a month. He said the price was locked in for as long as we had the account with them. This was also indicated on their website.
He inquired about our existing modem (I’d just purchased the modem) but said it didn’t have sufficient capacity to handle the 20 mg of high speed internet they offered and I’d have to purchase a new modem through CenturyLink for $92.68.
The day the CenturyLink technician came to my home to install service he informed me they hadn’t finished laying lines in my area for the 20 mg service, but it wouldn’t be long. He said to call in about 30 days and it should be installed and ready.
Thirty days turned into 13 months. Each time I called to inquire, I was told the same thing…the lines hadn’t reached us yet, but they would soon. By March of 2017 I was furious and demanded they return the money I’d spent on the 'newer/better' modem. The customer service person I spoke to said they didn’t buy back used merchandise. I asked him to cancel our service. He said we couldn’t cancel until February of 2018…because we had a contract. I’d been with the company for 13 months at this point and it was the first time I was told there was any kind of contract. To be honest I thought he’d made it up. I called back the next day and casually asked when my contract expired…February 2018.

June 9, 2016
We were unaware of the issues brewing this early in our relationship with CenturyLink so I called to ask about television service. We wanted BASIC cable service…local network stations would suffice…but they said they had a special. For $69.99 a month we could have the Ultimate television package which included thousands of regular channels and High Def channels. It also included FREE subscriptions to the NFL Ticket, Sunday Ticket, RedZone, and 4 Screens in One. We also got free HBO for three months and $150 prepaid Visa gift cards. The equipment was free, but we would owe $19.95 for installation due at the time of installation.
I took detailed notes during every phone call. My notes clearly indicate the free HBO expired in 3 months. And I called September 9 and terminated the service because we never wanted it…we certainly didn’t want to pay for it. At no point in the conversation did they mention the other free services would expire.
We started experiencing the first problems in July. During the June call they indicated the $150 Visa gift cards would arrive within 3-4 weeks. They didn’t. I called CenturyLink multiple times to check on their progress and each time they changed the timeline, eventually indicating it could take as many as 12 weeks to receive them. During one call I was told there was nothing in my account to indicate we even qualified for the cards and during another I was told I was supposed to go to the DIRECTTV website and register for the cards at the time of installation.

We did eventually receive the cards, but by then another problem had begun. Starting in August, our internet service kept disappearing on the 23rd of each month between 10PM and 1015PM. Each time I’d call tech support and they would reboot our modem remotely. This went on for EIGHT months! I annotate every call I make to CenturyLink and in March while I was on hold waiting for tech support I started going through my old notes and noticed the pattern. I asked if they were doing something at their end that was causing the interruption in service. The woman at tech support got very angry and implied that we were doing something we shouldn’t be doing to cause the problem.

Despite her protests…our service wasn’t interrupted on the 23rd of each month after that call…it was interrupted constantly. Sometimes as often as 5 times a day my internet service would just stop. It lasted 30-40 seconds sometimes and 3-4 minutes other times.
In the Summer of 2017 we noted a giant increase in our bill. We were suddenly being billed for all the free services we’d been offered. And the locked in price of $39.99 for high speed internet...jumped to $44.95 a month.
We never wanted those services. The one time my husband tried to watch football…we discovered they weren’t available on our television. We didn’t worry about it because we weren’t paying for it! Now suddenly we were being charged for a LOT of services we neither wanted or were receiving.

I started making calls to Direct TV to cancel the premium packages…and each time I was told I’d have to contact CenturyLink to resolve the issue because our service was through them. I called CenturyLink and was told they simply collected money for the accounts, the services were through DIRECTV and I’d have to contact them. I continued to call…I asked each company to facilitate a conference call with the other, so we could resolve the issue. They both steadfastly refused.

At this point our monthly bill had gone from roughly $100 to $253 a month! That’s a 150% increase!
By July I was on the phone with CenturyLink nearly every day trying to resolve all these issues. Oddly enough I was told I was talking to the wrong department and during the transfer process my call would get dropped. Nearly every time I called. June 14th our internet went out again. This time tech support ran remote diagnostics and indicated it wasn’t their issue or the modem…it was our phone lines. She scheduled an appointment for tech support to come to the house June 17th. Thirty minutes after we hung up the service was back on. This continued for weeks.
December 8 our service went off. She indicated it was our equipment again and scheduled an appointment. Moments later the service was back. December 21 the service went out for 3 hours…then came back.

I knew we were nearing the end of our contract, so I’d begun to ask about scheduling termination as early as December. Each time I asked I was told to call back the week we wanted it terminated. I called February 13th and requested they schedule termination for February 16th. The customer service rep I was speaking to asked why we wanted to terminate. In retrospect, I should have lied and said we were moving…to another continent. But I was honest and told her we felt they’d forced us to buy equipment we didn’t need under false pretenses and the service was very bad since we lost internet connection every day…several times a day. She was rude the minute we began to chat but at this point she said we lost service 3-6 times a day… every single day of the month…because we hadn’t paid our bill. I asked to speak to a manager.
Tristan picked up the phone at this point and said he was a floor manager. I explained why I wanted to speak to him, and then why we were choosing to NOT renew the contract and asked him to schedule service termination for the end of the business day February 16th. We discussed several related issues…we had an ending balance to pay, and the on-going dilemma with DIRECTTV and the services we didn’t want. He said if I paid him he’d have to charge me an additional $3.50 and I said I was ok with that…I didn’t want to lose the connection I had with him before we’d had a chance to conference with DIRECTTV. He put me on hold to schedule the disconnect and when he came back to the line…my internet was gone. Totally shut off. He said he’d take my payment then we’d figure out what happened to my service, then begin the conference call. But instead he transferred my call to the automated payment system. I made a payment and then the call was terminated…there was no option to transfer back to him or customer service. And I still had no internet.

I called back and asked for him, but apparently there are multiple call centers all over the country and without knowing which center he was in, they couldn’t locate him. Eventually I made contact with a different floor manager. He checked my account and discovered that Tristan had indeed terminated my service. Instead of scheduling disconnection on February 16th, or simply flipping a switch to interrupt my service, he’d had it hard wire terminated. The only recourse was to sign up for new service and schedule a connection time…and they were booked solid for the next three days. He also said he'd never seen that happen before. Scheduling a disconnect and permanently disconnecting service are two completely different processes completed in different programs.

It’s my assertion that CenturyLink knowingly and willfully insisted we buy a piece of equipment for a service they did not and could not extend to us. It’s also my assertion they withheld relevant information from us on many occasions: We were never told we were entering into a contract with CenturyLink, we were never told the free services offered to us at that time would expire and we’d be charged for those services and they specifically lied about price points for their internet service. I further assert that Tristan knowingly and willfully terminated my service prior to the requested date because I told him we suspected the company of criminal behavior.

By my estimation CenturyLink has robbed us of $1900. The initial investment in the modem we never needed for the service they never offered and an additional $150 a month for the past 12 months of premium services we never wanted, were not told we'd have to pay for, and were NOT allowed to cancel.

After my first year contract with Century Link expired, they have continuously charged me various amounts based on whatever criteria they deem necessary. On at least two occasions I was told my monthly bill would be a set amount only to be billed a different amount. After calling to complain, the rep would resolve the issue only to have the exact same thing happen again.

The latest time I was told in December after going thru a checklist of items that my monthly bill would be $128. The next month I was charged $141. After paying that amount, my next bill was $348.

Account # *** I disconnected my service and ported my phone number, my wife called about how to pay the final bill of $138.60. The agent on the phone told her the only way to pay the final bill was to send in a check, at this time the agent failed to tell her that this new account with a new number was set up on the old accounts auto pay and it would pull on it's own. My wife sent in a check that was cleared through the bank on 1/31/18 Ck#***. On 1/30/18, $138.60 was automatically pulled from the business checking account by Century Link. My wife called into the call center and was informed by multiple agents including *** from Corporate, that they couldn't do anything and that we would receive a refund for $138.60. We have yet to receive our refund.

worst wifi provider ever. the connection constantly drops and my router constantly has to be rest no matte how many times they come replace it with a newer fancy one they are the only decent internet provider in the area so you can't get a better provider even if you wanted. I'm convinced I am being throttle due to having great speeds on multiple speed tests but every device in my house runs slow. Ive tried turning ever wifi using device off in my house to no avail. I hate century link.
Follow Up: I called the helpline on the century link website (***) I to get an explanation as to why I'm getting 8mgb download when the lowest package offered is 25 mgb download. she couldnt bring up my account because the "tools are down" which I interpreted as century link can't even provide themselves internet access, regardless Jenine (the manager) was put on the line with me whom sounded exactly like melanie(maybe they're related?) who again told me their "tools" are down and then provided me a call back number for Century Link which was different than the one provided on their website. The number was: ***. Don't let your kids call that number because it directs you to a sex talk line. The hottest sex line in America to be specific. I spoke with Andrew the manager of the Phillipines call center location who said he would escalate that to his superiors. Yeah I decided to take down the location and names of their managers because one day I hope to Jenine fired even if I have to follow up with every century link help desk location on this planet. maybe one of them can even solve this god awful internet connection. maybe sparta township will kick century link out of this town once and for all. -the guy who just wants to play fortnite.

Considering that 98% of review for Century Link on here are negative, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised with my experience. I just tried to order internet service at the house I just purchased. Century Links website offers "up to" 40mbps for $45. Once I enter my new address, it says they offer 3mbps of "high speed" internet for the same price of $45. I have no idea why it would be the same price for internet 15x as fast as what I am supposed to be getting. Given that I don't have a choice as internet companies are for some reason allowed to have a monopoly on their market, Century Link has zero incentive to increase the speed for my address as I am stuck with them regardless. I haven't had a whole lot of good experiences with *** either but this is the first time that I actually wish that *** was available to me since their internet almost always seems to be fast than Century Links. I really hope that *** or someone comes in an starts rolling out their service to a wider customer base and takes companies like Century Link, who only care about the bottom line and do not care about their customers whatsoever, down a notch.

CenturyLink has fall to provide an adequate internet service to my residence for more than a year. I spend my weekends on the phone with tech support with absolutely no resolve. They have sent countless technicians and the problem still persists. This company needs to take a look at their extremely dated infrastructure and stop wasting their customers time.

If one has the slightest disagreement with Century Link they just hang up on you. I may have had some irritation in my voice, but I was not being rude to the representative. I even preceded my complaint by saying, "I know it is not your fault personally."

Century Link is the rudest company I have ever dealt with.

The complaint is on behalf of my 76 year old mother. She recently switched providers to ***. She called CenturyLink to cancel her service and they told her she must pay her entire bill in full--although it is billing for the next month, and they will pro-rate a refund and deduct a $16.00 disconnect fee! I think the entire practice is out of line. Her account has been paid in full, on time for 50 years, surely they could rebill for the couple of days she actually used service and a $16.00 disconnect fee?!?!? If she fails to pay the bill they will shut her off for free. It's not like they send someone to the residence to do anything. Their bills are hugely padded anyway, and now you even have to pay to get away from them.

We were not informed of a early termination contract fee. We asked for a copy of the contract that stated the fee, but they have yet to produce one. We only used their services for around 3 months, and their services were terrible. We constantly had service, network issues, tech support was very slow all which prevented us from running our daily operations. We cancelled there services after 3 months and switched to comcast, and resolved our bill up to that point. We offered to pay the remaining balance on our account, but we were charged us a $525 cancellation fee.

Hands down the WORST customer service I have ever received. Matter of fact, they still owe me money. CenturyLink created dual accounts for some odd reason and almost sent an outstanding bill (that I did not know existed, because I ALREADY had an account) to collections. When I went to make my payment that I owed on a second account (See how crazy this sounds), they made me pay the credit card fee of $3.50. This amount should have been credited towards my account as it was a mistake Centurylink made opening a new account (I was on auto pay on my original account). Lastly, do you ever want your modem back? I have now requested a return label like four times and have not received one. If I am charged for this, I will lose my mind. Worst customer service I have ever received, I do not recommend anyone utilize their services in any capacity whatsoever.

This company is crooked. I wish I could give it zero stars. I have to call them month after month, for years now, arguing just to keep my bill the same for the same internet that I am receiving, which is terrible. I just spent and HOUR AND A HALF on the phone after my bill was raised only to be told there's nothing I could do without giving them more money. Your business practices are disgusting, and your customer support is completely inadequate. I will be going to every social media platform so others know, and sincerely look forward to canceling my account when my term is up.

February 12, 2018 lost internet service. February 13 still no service. Went online through my daughter to talk to technician. He could not figure out what the cause was. He filed work order for next day. Service tech came to house on February 14, 2018. Checked our equipment; checked service box outside; said all looked good but could not figure out why service was not working. Went to local CenturyLink office in Platteville to find out what was causing things not to work. Called us later in the day and said ... "You are not going to believe what I am about to tell you. Someone at that office sold your service to someone else!" My comment was; "How is that even possible?" So here we are four days later and still no resolve. We are not behind on payments or asked to be disconnected.

We have a collection company trying to collect on a invalid debt that we have already resolved with CenturyLink in a previous Revdex.com complaint. The previous complaint number is ***. Why are you making us go through this again? Current company trying to collect is *** our of Jacksonville, FL and website www.***.com