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Qwest billing ripped me off
I have been battling with Qwest for about 18 months. In June of 2000 I paid the phone bill at an electronic payment center. I paid in cash and got a reciept. The next month the bill didn't reflect a payment. I paid what I owed. This continued until late November, then the phone was shut off for non-payment. I had to pay the bill in full plus a $85.00 deposit. The lost payment in June had completely skipped my mind. I started going back over the old bills trying to find out why the bill was high.It took several months put I found the missing payment and called Qwest to straighten it out.
The first call I was put on hold for 45 minutes and then promptly at 7pm I was cut off. The next evening I tried again. The person at billing transfered me to credit collections, and believe it or not I was disconnected. I had been on hold for over an hour.
I finally did speak with someone in credit. They showed the payment being recieved but didn't know where it went. She was going research it and have an answer in 2 weeks. A month later I called the number she have given me. The number I was given didn't recieve calls. I spoke to a new person in Credit. I faxed him a copy of my reciept and was given the same line about research. A month later I had my wife call, I was hoping that a new voice might get results. NOT A CHANCE
It's now December of 2001. The phone has been turned off 3 times. Each time it's reconnected they add $50.00. I have spent more than 20 hours on hold with Qwest. I was actually told that I should just try paying my bills and I wouldn't have these problems.
In my final attempt at solving this, I called the Credit Dept.,again. This time I spoke to Andrea. After looking things over Andrea decides it's my fault. She can't believe that I was so stupid that I waited for months before trying to find a lost payment. I was then told that it had been researched and that since no one had called that they couldn't find the payment. They have no record of the payment and reciept I had meant nothing. Andrea was nice enough to explain that electronic payments work like this; I make the payment, the payment center makes an electronic notice to Qwest, then the payment center mails my payment seperately of all others. Once Qwest gets the money in the mail, they consider the bill paid. Andrea believes that Qwest never got the payment, I was either still sitting on a desk at the payment center or maybe it fell out of the mailmans' bag.I'm not joking, Andrea explained it this way.
I asked to speak to her supervisor and was told she didn't have one. There were no supervisors in that department. I asked to speak with someone above her and found out that she was as high as I could get and just for asking in order to turn your phone back on we need last months,this month another $80.00 deposit and pay a bill that was in my wife's name from 6 years ago. The bill was for a number we never had, the billing address was somewhere we never lived and she had filled out a fraud report twice. I hung up before it got worse.
I went to the payment center, the clerk there called Qwest and straightened out the lost payment. It turns out that my account had been typed in incorrectly. The supervisor at the Credit Dept. even appologized. It's not over but it's a start.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Sherry
Rigby,Idaho,
No Customer Service
#6UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, November 22, 2002
I am an ex Qwest employee. Having worked customer service jobs for most of my working years, and then being thrown into the lion's den of Sales, I can tell you that your story and experience with Qwest is not unique. Unfortunately, there seem to be few people within the ranks at Qwest who really care about the customer any more.
The best way to handle your situtation is this: Call Qwest and go through the miriad of questions on the menu until you can get to a "customer service" representative. I know sometimes it's hard to be pleasant after all you've been through but do your best at this point. You'll accomplish more than if you're angry.
Start by asking AND writing down the representative's name and perhaps what office they're working in. Then request the address and/or telephone number for the President's Advocacy Office. If they tell you they don't know it, don't have it, or that it doesn't exist, be persistant. Ask them to check with their supervisor for it.
Once you have it, telephone the Advocacy office and give them your information. I'd suggest following it up in writing and sending all of the information you have on the problem. Dates, names (although these may/may not be useful), amounts, comments...the works. Give them everything you have on it but only give them facts that you can verify. Tell them what you expect to happen...be fair. They are not going to reimburse you for your time, but they should reimburse you for any additional fees added to your account for reconnects due to the lost amount.
Another route you might take is to request the representative to transter your call to their "support department". As a past member of this department, I worked on exactly these types of problems, some of them dating back several years. These representatives have some managerial authority and would be able to research the problem (yes, I know.....you've heard that before but this is NOT the collections department) and issue credits to your account. At this point also, your credit class on your telephone bill has surely suffered. Once the problem is resolved, request that your original credit class be restored to your account to reflect that the problem was due to company error, and NOT your non payment on the account.
Hope this is helpful to you.
Jane
Denver,Colorado,
This sounds familiar
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, September 25, 2002
I have had a similar experience with Qwest. I recently moved and called Qwest to request a new phone to be installed. I was informed that I owed them $35 for an unpaid bill from 3 years ago. They had my name and social security number, but I had never lived at the address mentioned, or had the telephone number it was linked too.
They informed me that it was with a collection agency. Please bear in mind, I had had uninterupted phone service with Qwest for the past 7 years, so they always had a current address and telephone number for me but never once in all that time had they attempted to contact me regarding the $35.
I told them this was not my charge and they said I would have to call the collection agency and fill out a fraud report, which they would send me. I contacted the collection agency numerous times over the next few months. 6 months later - I have given up without ever receiving the fraud report.
I am amazed that Qwest is so incompetant as to hand this matter to a collection agency without once trying to contact me. What I am not amazed at is that Qwest are in serious financial trouble.
Jane
Denver,Colorado,
This sounds familiar
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, September 25, 2002
I have had a similar experience with Qwest. I recently moved and called Qwest to request a new phone to be installed. I was informed that I owed them $35 for an unpaid bill from 3 years ago. They had my name and social security number, but I had never lived at the address mentioned, or had the telephone number it was linked too.
They informed me that it was with a collection agency. Please bear in mind, I had had uninterupted phone service with Qwest for the past 7 years, so they always had a current address and telephone number for me but never once in all that time had they attempted to contact me regarding the $35.
I told them this was not my charge and they said I would have to call the collection agency and fill out a fraud report, which they would send me. I contacted the collection agency numerous times over the next few months. 6 months later - I have given up without ever receiving the fraud report.
I am amazed that Qwest is so incompetant as to hand this matter to a collection agency without once trying to contact me. What I am not amazed at is that Qwest are in serious financial trouble.
Jane
Denver,Colorado,
This sounds familiar
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, September 25, 2002
I have had a similar experience with Qwest. I recently moved and called Qwest to request a new phone to be installed. I was informed that I owed them $35 for an unpaid bill from 3 years ago. They had my name and social security number, but I had never lived at the address mentioned, or had the telephone number it was linked too.
They informed me that it was with a collection agency. Please bear in mind, I had had uninterupted phone service with Qwest for the past 7 years, so they always had a current address and telephone number for me but never once in all that time had they attempted to contact me regarding the $35.
I told them this was not my charge and they said I would have to call the collection agency and fill out a fraud report, which they would send me. I contacted the collection agency numerous times over the next few months. 6 months later - I have given up without ever receiving the fraud report.
I am amazed that Qwest is so incompetant as to hand this matter to a collection agency without once trying to contact me. What I am not amazed at is that Qwest are in serious financial trouble.
Jane
Denver,Colorado,
This sounds familiar
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, September 25, 2002
I have had a similar experience with Qwest. I recently moved and called Qwest to request a new phone to be installed. I was informed that I owed them $35 for an unpaid bill from 3 years ago. They had my name and social security number, but I had never lived at the address mentioned, or had the telephone number it was linked too.
They informed me that it was with a collection agency. Please bear in mind, I had had uninterupted phone service with Qwest for the past 7 years, so they always had a current address and telephone number for me but never once in all that time had they attempted to contact me regarding the $35.
I told them this was not my charge and they said I would have to call the collection agency and fill out a fraud report, which they would send me. I contacted the collection agency numerous times over the next few months. 6 months later - I have given up without ever receiving the fraud report.
I am amazed that Qwest is so incompetant as to hand this matter to a collection agency without once trying to contact me. What I am not amazed at is that Qwest are in serious financial trouble.