[Anne Elk]

I've been a Century Link customer for many years, most recently ditched the land line and went to fiber-optic internet service in 2015. Since being acquired by Lumen Technology, their customer service has gone from bad to downright Kafka-esque and almost adversarial. The line between the pole and my house connection has been damaged twice in 6 months by all the construction activity across the street. That's not their fault, but trying to get a tech scheduled for repair has been impossible. They really don't want voice contact. Their automated phone tree goes on forever. Two attempts at getting a live person got me call termination while making the switch. The 3rd attempt got me to a real person, who knows where. After she put me on hold for the 3rd time, I terminated the 40 minute call. While she had me waiting, I could hear wind and the sound of a rooster crowing - was she on a slow internet connection somewhere in a rural 3rd world country? CLink really wants you to use their online "chat". I tried that, on 2 consecutive days. First request got me a no-show appointment, my account showed "no appointments" despite being given a date/time window. The 2nd chat the next day got me an alleged apt 2 days later, and again, the chat rep said I'd get a confirmation # via email/text. I told him that didn't happen the last time, and when I insisted getting the dispatch # while we were still chatting, he terminated the chat. No confirmation in my account that any ticket was opened. I was desperate - had 2 zoom conferences scheduled for this week. Finally, FINALLY - I got someone on the phone this morning who seemed to know what he was doing and I got an apt 2 days from now and a service ticket number I can see online. I know that Century Link has contracted out all of its on-site repair services, and likely installation, too. But customer service is so horribly bad, I would switch ISPs if anyone can recommend a company with better service. I would need a hookup where I can have a guest account. My current service has a 5G side and a 2.5G side. No complaints with the actual CLink connections, but I can't handle not being able to get proper customer service for equipment failures. I don't use cable TV so that's not an option, and from what I hear, not necessarily better. Waaaaah!

[domaz]

Whoever damaged the fiber optic in construction really should be held responsible here. Unfortunately, you probably can't sue them yourself, CL has too- and that likely would never happen. It seems like having a backup Internet line might be a necessary expense in this day and age, especially if you work from home.

[Anne Elk]

[Sculpin]

[Randito]

I've found that contacting them to cancel my contract is an effective way to get a service person to visit. OTH, the only way to actually cancel service without spending three days on the phone is to tell them you are moving to an address that you have predetermined that they don't service.

[zephyr]

[Cyclopath]

[cdestroyer]

call your state puc/psc public service commision and complain...they might connect you with an agent

[ejain]

[sams rapids]

i had a problem with century last winter. my land line did not work. it took them THREE WEEKS to fix it. i finally found a customer service email that would talk to me. my line was a 1950 one and they would replace it with a modern, fiber optic one. when they got around to it. they are very busy in the field. i wanted to know what they would do for me if i was dependent on that line for the emergency call button. i am old but do not have the "help i have fallen and can't get up". yet. i finally gave up on the customer service and went looking in my neighborhood for century service trucks i walked around awhile and was able to cut a more private deal with an actual service person. a couple days later they replaced my feed wire.they gave me a couple dollars off my next bill no apology, although with every contact i insisted the company owed me one what lousy service. good luck. grumpy gordy

[zephyr]

Click to enlarge.

[Olympic Hiker]

That’s why I call them CenturyClunk. CenturyClunk has a monopoly where I live. I used to be a customer of CenturyClunk, but no more! I now rely on Verizon Wireless for internet and Verizon has faster internet. Verizon has an average of 10mbps vs CenturyClunk’s 1mbps in the rural area where I live, and if I drive a couple of miles down the road to the nearest cell tower I can get over 100mbps with Verizon.

[Anne Elk]

Update: The tech was here (before noon, even!) The subcontractors do a great job as far as I can tell. I'm coming around to the belief that while it's great for the bottom line and corporate shareholders, it seems "wrong" to subcontract out so much work that should be in-house. If he falls off that ladder, does he have health insurance? And no wonder so much quality in our consumer life has evaporated. There's no more incentive. Two parties are getting shafted: the workers, who have no benefits and likely sub-par wages, and the customer. I was so grateful to be back on the interwebs I tipped the tech generously. From comments here it appears that the customer non-service is endemic. In the days I've had to wait, several friends have made recommendations for a service switch. Two people have suggested T-Mobile, which supposedly is in front of the pack with 5G, and apparently offers internet service that comes from a black box you just plug in which connects with their 5G transmitters - no wires involved. I guess that's ok if your house has good line of sight to one of their towers. I also heard CenturyLink has this technology, but I'm so angry with them I'll be cancelling service soon as I get a handle on alternatives. My cell phone is with Verizon; I'll be checking out what they have to offer, for sure.

[Randito]

[Anne Elk]

^^^ But would you be a nice guy and just answer my question? When did you last try it?