BEWARE OF QWEST COMMUNICATIONS

[CheatingBusinesses][Home][PersonalFinances101][BuyBook][TheBlackEye]

Based on personal experiences, if you have not had any dealings with Qwest, the telephone and internet provider, you shouldn't. If you have, you should start checking to see what you are paying for.
A Qwest representative, in spite of being asked specific "Yes" or "No" type questions, provided misleading information that prompted me to try their long distance telephone service. When I got my first bill, I noticed the discrepancy, called them, and explained the error. Qwest told me that the option I had chosen did not exist. I told them I was dropping my account, and explained that they should drop those charges because they were a result of misinformation provided by their representative. Qwest adamantly refused to do so.
I then informed Qwest that they had charged me a basic fee for an entire month even though I had been serviced by Qwest for less than a week. They explained that they did not pro rate charges; the customer was liable for an entire period regardless of when his or her account was activated. This is a practice that is typical of "rip off" companies. Reputable companies like Bell Atlantic and AT&T pro rate such charges as a matter of course. After all, why should a customer be required to pay for service that the company does not render. Secondly, it takes Qwest 10 to 14 days to activate an account. This delay could force a customer who applied at the beginning of a billing cycle to wait until the end of the billing cycle before his or her account is activated. AFTER THE WAIT, THE CUSTOMER IS CHARGED A BASIC SERVICE FEE FOR AN ENTIRE BILLING CYCLE. Why should the customer pay when it is Qwest that is responsible for the service delay?

[CheatingBusinesses][Home][Personal Finances101][BuyBooks][TheBlackEye]

The customer service representatives at Qwest are the pits. I have talked to several, and the similarity of their tones along with the aggressive way they refuse to consider making adjustments in favor of the customer suggest that Qwest has trained them to NOT give customer complaints about wrongful billing serious consideration. They are practically argumentative in defense of Qwest billing items, and this is rare. Even a dysfunctional company like TelCo [I did an article on TelCo in The Black Eye Newsletter] has customer service representatives who are cordial and willing to investigate billing complaints. But Qwest--- Qwest is not concerned about customer satisfaction. Qwest wants you to pay the bill, whether the bill is justified or not, and their customer service reps are apparently told to aggressively refute customers who have billing complaints.
If you had an account with Qwest and closed it, check your bills for the six to eight months immediately following to see if you were charged an "LD LINE CHG" fee. When I complained that they were charging me this fee even though I no longer had an account with them, they said it would take 2 to 4 months for this charge to stop appearing on my bill. But the rub is this: even though they knew I would be unfairly billed this amount for several months, they were not going to refund me for the overcharges. They have no policy of automatically refunding former customers for such overcharges. If I had never called them to complain, they would have kept my money as if it were theirs. And they'll do the same with your money.
As for the 2 to 4 month period I mentioned above, don't count on it. TelCo, a company similar to Qwest, will unjustifiably charge you for a "LD LINE CHG" fee for as long as you don't complain, whether you have an account with them or not. There is no reason to expect anything but the same from Qwest.**
So if you had an account with Qwest, you should check to see if you have been paying for a service Qwest has not been rendering. Don't count on them to be honest, or decent. Qwest is one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

**In April, 6 months after closing my account with Qwest, they were still charging me a "LD LINE CHG" fee. As I said earlier, if I pay it Qwest has no intention of refunding me even though they know I am being charged unjustifiably. If Qwest gets this fee from 100,000 former customers each month for a year, Qwest would be knowingly receiving and keeping nearly $2,000,000 per year that it has no right to have. That is robbery! If you pulled off a $2,000,000 robbery, you would end up in jail. But big businesses can rob you and get away without a worry. Why?

[Top][CheatingBusinesses][Home][PersonalFinance101][BuyBook][TheBlackEye]