Complaint Review: Windstream Communications

It's hard to know where this company is located or what it's true name is.  Apparently it's called Lakedale Communications, but it has recently merged with Windstream Communications.  When I called to sign up for new landline telephone service in Minnesota the sales rep told me she was located in Annandale, Minnesota.  (Yet, she couldn't tell me how far that was from Minneapolis.  She was "bad with directions," she said.)  I later learned she was in Newton, Iowa.  Whenever I call about my service, someone in Newton answers the phone.  But my bill comes from a PO box in Annandale, MN.  Why a company would lie about it's location, I don't know.

They also lied that there are no local phone calls here in Minneapolis/St. Paul.  Even though calls within Mpls/St. Paul have always been local calls and there has never been a LD charge, Lakedale swore they had NEVER HEARD of such a thing!!  They said all calls between the two cities (and surrounding suburbs) would incur a LD charge, AND they could not tell me how much that charge would be.  I would find out with my first bill!

I had to call the MN Commerce Dept. and the MN Public Utilities Commission to learn that none of that was true.  The PUC then contacted Lakedale, and Lakedale then admitted there were no LD charges in Mpls/St. Paul!  Apparently, they lied to try to induce me to sign up for a more expensive plan that included LD, rather than the basic, economy plan that I wanted (since I use a cell phone for LD).

Then they told me there could be extra charges to install my line, and I would have to do some of the work myself.  Did I know how to install phone lines, they wanted to know.  When the Quest installer came, there were no issues and no extra charges.

Customer service has been horrible from the beginning.  They play that old Cheech and Chong "Dave's not here!" routine.  (A guy knocks on a door, someone answeres "who is it?"  The guy says "It's Dave," and the person responds "Dave's not here!"  No matter how many times the guy says "No, I'm Dave!" the person inside says "Dave's not here.")  No matter what you say to a Lakedale customer service rep, they pretend to misunderstand you.  And, they interrupt you while you are speaking and talk on top of you.  They will also disconnect in the midst of a conversation and then claim the customer "hung up." 

When I call someone on my Lakedale telephone line, the person's Caller ID shows someone else's name.  This is extremely awkward when making calls for business, or even to buy a product, and I'm sure it has caused the people I call to suspect there is something dishonest going on when they see my Caller ID doesn't match my name.  Lakedale still hasn't fixed the problem after several months.

When I call Lakedale, their computer system tells me I don't have an account with them.  That's apparently because they have my account listed with my previous phone number (with my previous landline telephone company, which stopped serving Minnesota).  There has also been a problem getting them to list my correct name.  I had to tell them my correct name six times before the "Dave's not here" responses stopped.  I'll bet money that their records (and my name) will still be wrong months from now.

This is a company from Hell.