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Centurylink charges

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pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
I moved into a new house at the beginning of the month.

There was only 1 phone jack in the house and I wanted some additional jacks. I called centurylink up and told them i needed service moved from old house to new house and wanted to add the extra jacks.

the lady i talked to told me the price of installing the jacks, which was $85 for the 1st jack plus $35 for each additional jack.

She then said that if I added the inside wire maintenance service, that I could have up to 4 jacks installed for $35 total.

I told her to do that. Guy comes out and I ask about the price and he says he doesn't know. whatever the told you on the phone is what it is.

I show him where to install the jacks and he goes to work.

I had a total of 4 jacks installed (figured I'd get my money's worth).

Today I get my bill. $300.74 - WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?

take a look and they charged me $85 for the 1st hour, 63.75 for 1/4 hour, and 35 for the first jack.

I call up billing and ask wtf is going on. The guy tells me that the inside wire maintenance is only for repairs of wires, not installs and that it's normally $85 per jack.

I tell the guy that's not what I was told. the whole reason for adding the wire maintenance was to get the cheaper install, as per the person i talked to last time.

He says no and mentions again that I should have actually been charged more.


I bitch some more but he says there's no notes or anything about the lower price and the inside wire maintenance never covered installations.

Am I fucked or is there anything else I can do? I have no proof of what the other person told me to get the cheaper cost.

lesson learned, get it in writing next time?
 
pontifex said:
Am I fucked or is there anything else I can do? I have no proof of what the other person told me to get the cheaper cost.

lesson learned, get it in writing next time?
Click to expand...

You didn't receive some type of written estimate? 😵

The terms of an oral contract are difficult to prove, but that doesn't make them invalid. I'd suggest documenting all of the interaction (with dates and times) you've had with the company up to this point so that details aren't lost to fading memory, and then contact their customer service department to get it resolved, escalating as necessary. If they are unwilling to honor their agreement or demand an unreasonable amount of hoop-jumping, file a claim in small claims court.
 
Centurylink has the absolutely worst online payment system I've ever seen and I'm sure it is intentional. I still don't have an account I can log in to, but I did manage to set up automatic billpay. I did that because they cut off my service after 2 months because I didn't pay the bill (I certainly tried), then added a bunch of additional charges to reconnect it. All told my first three months of DSL I'd see charges on my card for $80 every month, when the price I was quoted was $35.

Just a brief example would be when you try to signup online, they ask for an "account phone number." I only have one phone number, which I gave them, but apparently that wasn't it. In fact the "account phone number" is a completely random number that is hidden on your paper bill, and has no relation to your phone number at all (except that it starts with the same area code). It goes downhill from there.

I'm not one to complain about the cable company, either. But they are running a scam and I will not ever sign up with them again unless they're the only show in town.
 
I work for a local cableco. All incoming calls that go through our call queues are recorded. I've seen them bring up recordings that were many months old to review a call and verify what a customer was told.
 
That is correct, just ask to speak with a manager and explain the situation in a cool and calm manner. It will be handled properly. If you do call, do not act like an Ass as it will not get you anywhere.
 
deanx0r said:
Lesson learned + BBB
Click to expand...

you know the BBB is a paid service that com[panies buy right? and centrylink is so big wtf is the bbb going to do? if you have a real beef with the phone company you talk to the reglatory agency that over sees them.

I dumped Centrylink 2 months ago for vonage. all i have now with CL is my DSL.
 
Ichinisan said:
I work for a local cableco. All incoming calls that go through our call queues are recorded. I've seen them bring up recordings that were many months old to review a call and verify what a customer was told.
Click to expand...

Zstream said:
That is correct, just ask to speak with a manager and explain the situation in a cool and calm manner. It will be handled properly. If you do call, do not act like an Ass as it will not get you anywhere.
Click to expand...

Did this and they removed ALL of the charges associated with the phone jack installation.

They didn't have to look up any recordings but both the lady I spoke with and the supervisor said they believed that I was told wrong because the person who told me the price originally wasn't in a dept that would know the details about the prices/etc.
 
pontifex said:
Did this and they removed ALL of the charges associated with the phone jack installation.

They didn't have to look up any recordings but both the lady I spoke with and the supervisor said they believed that I was told wrong because the person who told me the price originally wasn't in a dept that would know the details about the prices/etc.
Click to expand...

Win.
 
Now, after a year, drop the wire maintenance, since replacing all of the lines in your house by yourself would be cheaper than even a couple months worth of what they charge for wire maintenance.
 
dabuddha said:
He probably meant cordless phones.
Click to expand...

i use cordless phones, but even cordless phones require a phone jack, at least for the main station.

i didn't even think of not needing the extra jacks for additional handsets because I only ever had a single cordless phone before. I assumed they would all need a jack.
 
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