Century Link

I would not grade them an A, I would grade them a C. For as much as they give us and for as much as we pay they play dirty tricks on us.  Not just me but on a lot of people. They turn it off. I don't know what they are doing. They turn off your internet and turn off your TV. They are working on something and you don't get any credit for that. They could be off for eight hours. What really p*sses me off is you can't get on your computer. They are working on things; it is not a cable system, like another major communications company, it comes off the telephone lines. It does not affect the telephone, but it affects everything else. And they are expensive. They are too high. Suddenly your TV and internet goes blank They never fix it when they say they will. I don't call that a good system. Basically all of the competitive services are the same price.

Early this year, we began to consider changing our cable/internet/phone provider as costs from our current company were creeping up monthly.  We visited the CenturyLink Sales Office in Ft Myers in April and were provided with information on their various offerings and given a cost quote of fees.  They were also offering $150 prepaid gift card as a promotional tool.

We contracted with CenturyLink to provide us the bundled services and were given a cost estimate based on our needs.  Technicians came to our home in the scheduled time frame and determined that we would need a new phone line buried on our property to get service to the proper location in the house.  Again, at the scheduled time a representative from a subcontractor to CenturyLink, named Hewitt, arrived to bury the line.  The work was to be done with a small but powerful machine with an attached approximately 3 foot long heavy duty knife-like device.  The worker made it abundantly clear from the moment he left the truck that he had been doing this way too long and hated his job (I heard this several times while he was doing his task).  OK.  For my part, I pointed out to him the approximate location of my irrigation lines and asked that he be careful and not dig too deeply in those areas.   He buried the line and made connections to my house wiring and while he was loading I turned things on to check for proper connections.  Nothing.  I went outside to tell him I didn?t have services but as he entered his vehicle he said it would take time to start working and drove off. 

Bottom line: service was not established and I had 4 broken 1? irrigation lines.  I had a number to call in case of damage but as I told the next CenturyLink technician who came to check my service, I would not have that company on my property ever again.  I made the irrigation system repairs and the CenturyLink tech found that the wires had been improperly connected.  Finally service.

Our service is generally acceptable though more pricey than quoted.  The original quote did not include fees and taxes so the actual monthly charge was more than $40 higher than we expected.  Figure that in folks!!!  Phone service - no problems.  TV - occasional minor issues.  Internet - generally OK but at times can be as slow as dialup.  Remember dialup.  Go have dinner while the page builds.  

We were told that the gift card would take as much as twelve week to arrive, so we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Still waiting.  6 months later.  We began contacting Customer Service about a month after the 12 weeks were up and were told that because of unexpected demand they were overwhelmed and it would take a while longer.  Later, we dropped by the CenturyLink Sale Office and were told that we should contact Customer Service.  We had been.  Try again.  A month ago we were told by a rep that the card was in the mail.  Since then they have hung up on us once (Customer Service!!!) and the latest answer was that they would expedite the card.  Still no gift card.

This week we received a promotional flier in the mail from CenturyLink proudly offering a $300 Gift Card for new customers.  We?d caution not to hold your breathe.  Though the gift card is a small part of the overall consideration when choosing a provider the way this issue has been handled is irksome and we feel we have not been dealt with truthfully by CenturyLink.  We were stockholders when this company was Century Telephone and were quite impressed with their handling of shareholder interests.  Apparently there is a disconnect between shareholder and customer service.  We are weighing our options and looking at alternate entertainment providers once again.

They scheduled a repair visit and the technician arrived early. He tested the unit again and determined it was no good. He replaced the unit, changed it's location closer to the router, which provided a better signal. He was extremely nice, was very intelligent and knew what he was talking about.

He was also a United States Marine Veteran that served in Iraq. I not only value his service to our country, but I appreciate any company that utilizes the skills that all Veterans offer America. He completed the job in good time and I have had no further problems with my service. This young man is a credit to the United States, the United States Marine Corp and Centurylink.