Beware of doing business with t his company. Everyone has problems, it's how you deal with them, and how extensive the problems are that can differentiate a company . I would say Internet and Phone service for retail businesses is of Utmost importance. That's where the problem begins. You can never reach a human, when you do they give you a stall tactic, and most of the time you have to hang up your cell phone to help a customer before they ever answer. Over Memorial weekend, our service went out and it took them One week to resolve. We lost the whole holiday week! No humans to talk to, unbelievable hold times ( up to 40 minutes) , they hope you just give up as you try to "escalate' through their system. However, because there is noone to talk to , it is impossible to escalate. Last time, a week after our problem began we "spotted" a serviceman park, walk to the back of the building for 3 minutes, then when he got in his car, our problem was fixed! No communication for a company that is supposed to be a communication company. SAVE your money and your nerves, keep your blood pressure in check, They are the most unhelpful company you will ever deal with, and I'm a pretty patient person. read more

BEWARE!! My experience has been terrible. I would give them zero star if I could. Nothing but difficult. I ported my landlines out in June and continue to receive billings from them for early contract terminations when I took the proper procedures to send in 30 day written notices for both my lines and cell phone. Yes I just received a notice this week for $1037.37 I ported my numbers out over 6 months ago. They tell you one thing on the phone and then the customer representatives but notes on the acct telling a different story. I have filled a complaint with the better business bureau. today I was told there is an "Evergreen Agreement" in my contract I have never heard that term but they claim I was told about it in previous conversations. I am sorry NOT true! There is no reason I would want to pay extra fees, we are a not for profit its my job to keep costs down. They are very difficult to deal with and come up with all kinds of excuses as to why they continue to charge us. Even after we sent in our 30 day cancellation notice and ported our numbers they claimed that we had to call back in to shut off the lines. Really we ported the lines and sent a cancellation I have call back in again to turn off the service. Then they said it could take up to 3 weeks to turn off the service and continues to charge us for lines we had ported a month before. Keep looking when you need a provider. read more

If I could rate this 0 stars, I would. My company signed a 2-year contract right before Birch acquired Cbeyond. Since then, our internet speed has diminished significantly. Their solution - coerce us into buying TWO mobile hotspots that did nothing to alleviate the situation. We are also unable to change the directory names on our phones without calling in to customer service - the number to which is NEVER answered. Today, for example, we sat on hold for over 30 minutes until the automated system said there was no one available to help & then promptly hung up. Same thing happened again after being on hold for OVER AN HOUR. Deplorable. Our office has 5 phones with these guys, and now only 4 phone lines are able to be used. At all times, one of our phones says it cannot connect to the internet. Amazing. Haven't been able to reach anyone for assistance for weeks. I would highly recommend avoiding this company. At least until they can improve their non-existent customer service. Sorry. read more

Received a call from Birch today...oh boy. Firstly the woman insinuated she was from our current provider (Verizon) looking to lower our rates. A salesman then got on the line and immediately started pitching hard. I finally got him to admit that he was from Birch and that they essentially buy out accounts from large providers at wholesale rates in order to pass the discount onto us. His pitch was that there would be no interruption of service, no contract (month to month only), and that we would save over $50 a month. I asked him to email me over the info & I would take a closer look at it. He said there was nothing to email over- he was giving me the details. They essentially wanted to give me only the basic information over the phone & then record my verbal agreement to it. I told the guy that while he was speaking I was reading the 500+ negative Yelp reviews- that set him off. I told him that given the negative reviews, I wanted to read everything in writing before agreeing to it. He pushed an even more aggressive pitch my way refusing to put anything in writing. Finally I had to hang up on him. Essentially, from what I just experienced & reading the previous reviews- this is a company who buys your account out from your current provider. They don't have to port any lines or make any physical changes- that is their trick into getting you. You think that it's just a discount service of your current provider. But it's not. Once they have your account, you are on a month to month billing with no contract pricing- so you have NO IDEA what you will be charged. So then you are stuck trying to go back to your original provider and will probably get hit with fees from Birch to transfer lines. AVOID!!!!!! So glad I found these reviews when I did! read more

They are a bunch of thieves, they told me they will give me more bandwidth at the same cost as before. They started to charge me $200.00 more per month. I have not been able to go back to my old plan. Do not believe anything they say. read more

I have done business with CBeyond/Birch for 7 years. Two years ago, our organization had multiple outages and billing issues. For the last year and half, service improved. Then all of sudden, they increased my bill substantially and service started to suffer. It is worth it to pay more! I would NEVER recommend this company. They will raise your rates, you cannot access technical support and customer services is deplorable. I am changing providers and thankful that I did not sign a contract. read more

This company is the absolute worst!!! They trick you into doing business with them by lying and saying they're with AT&T and only calling to let you know your bill will drop. Then they give your employees your personal information so that they can have authorization to make decisions for the account. They are absolutely SHADY! Save yourself the hassle and just stay away from this company. After 4 months I'm still dealing with them... read more

This company calls once a week at least to say they are from Century Link and our phone bill will go down with them because as a small business with under 5 lines we qualify for a discount thanks to a new law passed. This is a lie, they are a completely separate company. They used to be CBeyond and had to change their name since that company also was full of scammers. HANG UP if they call, they are very convincing and my boss almost fell for their story. Beware! read more

One of the worst communication I have come to know. Their lack of knowledge, customer service and inability to solve phone or internet issues are ridiculous. Try other providers. Do not sign up with this company ! read more

I am adding to the long list of dissatisfied customers. We discovered the day the line was installed that we did not need the line and we cancelled that day. We were told we would be only be responsible for the installation charges which we paid. They now say we have to pay off the entire contact to terminate. They are the most dishonest, inept organization I have ever had the displeasure to be associated with. DO NOT trust them!!!!!!! read more

Ever since Cbeyond was bought by Birch communications, the service has been horrible. First there was loss of internet connection. Then followed by the e-mail access problem, and lastly the website hosted by them is not working properly. We had a website hosted by Cbeyond, and we found out that database they are providing was gone. We called Birch and at first they told was that website and database is not managed by them, and now we are told that it is disabled and we need to ask for access. We have been using this service for several years, and now we are told that we need to ask for access again. The worst part is that it just stopped working. No one from Birch informed us in advance that we need to ask for access again. Most likely database is gone. Add to the problem, the customer service is horrible. We were on hold twice for total of 30+ minutes, and the first customer representative keep on telling us that it is not managed and support by Birch and we need to call someone else. Be aware. read more

SO glad I found these reviews. As the sales person from Birch (saying she was my CenturyLink small business representative) was speaking at a rapid fire pace, I asked her to slow down. She very nicely inferred that all my lines and long distance would be magically reduced! And that I'd have 1500 free long-distance minutes! Then she gave me her name and phone number: 844-244-4554, Tira. When I said okay (she sympathized with my getting slammed in the past), she asked me to hold while she got a confirmation #. Then someone else picked up and said they were going to ask me a few questions and it would take about 60 seconds. That's when I got nervous and started googling. I've just called my friend Tira back, told her I was going to report her company, and demanded that she take my number off her calling list. Slamming someone while you tsk tsk about those terrible slammers out there is super ballsy, so my hats off to those sales people. They should use their talents for something more worthwhile. read more

After I declined their sales pitch, they transferred my service from ATT without my consent. A different agent contacted my employee and claimed he obtained a verbal contract. I recently started receiving invoices stating that I owe a balance and am under contract with them. This is a total scam!!! read more

Incredibly poor customer service. I've had wait times ranging from 20 to 40 minutes with every tech support event, but today is a new low - 45 minutes. The problem is that their email servers are down, which means my email is not accessible. OK, these things happen - but today? They have NO IDEA when the problem will be fixed. This affects me, my business, and my clients' businesses. So, since they can't tell me anything or fix anything and have made me wait so very long, I'd like to speak with a supervisor - but surprise, none are available. You see, they're "short staffed for the holiday". Gee whiz... Perhaps adequate staffing and, oh, I don't know, redundant systems might be something to consider. Poor planning, poor staffing, poor service. Every interaction with them is a step toward finding another provider, and today is pretty much the last straw. Their sales staff is great, but once you're a customer, forget it. Run. Hide. Choose anyone other than Birch. read more

Beware - their tactics are good. They sound convincing. Just got the call from Birch claiming we were now eligible for lower phone service. But like all the other reviewers they made it sound like they were part of AT&T. As soon as I heard the company Birch I got confused so I quickly googled it while they still had me on the phone and quickly said I was not interested. read more

I've received two phone calls from a very aggressive salesman even though I'm on the Do Not Call list. The call today was absolute harassment. I would never do business with a company who represents themselves this way. Not surprised to see others listing the same concerns. read more

Our business is stopping there service ASAP!!!!! We lose connection to internet and our phone lines drop atleast 10 times a day. We tried several times to set up troubleshooting tickets and the frustration is now unbearable!!!! The customer service is HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!! They always give you the run around and nothing EVER gets solved!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant even begin to go into all the billing issues we have had cuz they make you want to slit ur wrist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WORST COMPANY WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!! read more

Birch Sucks! There service is shotty and frequently goes out. When you call about your issues, you stay on hold for a minimum of 30 minutes before you can ever speak with a representative. Specifically today I called them over 5 hours ago about loss of service, and no one has returned my phone call, and my issue has not been resolved. Run in the other direction!!! read more

Horrible! Nothing but hassles since Birch took over from Sage. I tried repeatedly to set up autopay. Can't do anything on their so-called website, have to call or fax. One time I was on hold for 13 minutes. They kept telling me it was set up, then sent me late notices. Last straw was when I called on Wed. to verify the account was in good standing & autopay set up. They said yes, fine... then disconnected me on Sun. No customer service on Sunday. There is an answering service -- why pay a person to answer the phone when all they can do is take a message? I was trying to hang on to the landline, but Birch made it impossible. read more

SCAM!!! They slammed our office, pretending to be AT&T. It has been 2 months and we still cannot get two lines ported back to AT&T. These are lines for patients who have had surgery!! It is a horrible mess, BEWARE!!! How do they get away with this? Class-action lawsuit anyone??? read more

If only I could give them 0 stars. I was contacted by a fast talking sales person a couple of weeks ago. Saying he was with my existing phone company (AT&T, except we are with Centurylink). He proceeded to run the schpeel of how they could offer our small company better rates because Centurylink was hogging all the lines before but now they have to allow other companies to step in. I told him we were quite happy with Centurylink and didn't want to change providers. He said ok, can I send you some more info I said no. He continued to fax me (didn't give my fax number) more information which was a request to transfer our 800 number over to them. I again told him no and that this would be the end, he then transferred me to his "supervisor" to take a survey I didn't want or need to take. After finally getting through to the "super" I hung up. After the confirmation order came across the fax, I was beyond mad. I called to make sure no order was in the system and that it was to be cancelled. He assured me that it was, no problem. 1 1/2 weeks later I had trouble accessing voicemail, contacted Centurylink to find out that Birch had grabbed our phone lines and transferred them to them. After 2.75 hours on the phone with Birch I finally spoke with Tim who helped me understand that I would have to wait until the switch which I didn't order to complete before Centurylink could do a winback order. Well, come to find out Centurylink has been hammered by customers who have had the same thing happen to them and now, we can't get voicemail which is costing my company money everyday and have to wait until the 20th to get back on with Centurylink. Now am on hold trying to setup voicemail because their handy set up guide isn't worth a sh#$! Thanks a bunch Birch!! read more

Just received a high pressure sales call from Birch saying they were an affiliate of AT&T and could lower our business phone line rates. When the caller quoted me a completely different monthly bill amount than what we have at ATT he told me I "didn't know what I was talking about" and hung up on me. How do I get on their do-not-call-list?? read more

This is the worst internet and phone provider out there!! My staff has been submitting trouble tickets for over 2 months with Birch and yet our phones are still choppy and intermittent. In response to my request to cancel service due to Birch not meeting their service level agreement they informed me that I have to pay an $8500 early termination service (for a service that doesn't even work properly). My next communication with this company will be from my attorney. read more

Worst communication company ever. We used to have CeBeyond and they were great. Then Birch bought them and I have had nothing but trouble ever since. We moved out location and they sent a finishing crew out to put plates on the walls instead of a demark. I called for POTS lines to be installed and after 6 weeks, they never installed them, wouldn't give me a date for installation and then billed me for the installation. I moved to Comcast and I'm still fighting with Birch because they have not released all of the DIDs to Comcast, won't close out the account and haven't picked up their equipment - oh, and they keep billing me - even for the POTS lines! They are terrible. Save yourself the trouble and kick them out when they come calling. read more

If I could give them less than one star I would. I cancelled service with Sage Telecom and turned off my landline and paid the balance due BEFORE Birch took over Sage. They keep sending me a bill even though I have called several times to tell them I have NEVER had a contract with Birch. They refuse to credit me the $13.60 they keep insisting I owe. And no doubt it will reflect on my credit worthiness at some point. I WILL NOT PAY THESE CHEATS ONE PENNY!! AND I WILL SING THEIR DISHONEST BUSINESS PRACTICES FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN UNTIL THEY CREDIT THIS (WRONGFUL AND ILLEGAL) ACCOUNT. read more

I'm in Chicago and this is the absolute worst experience I've ever had with any company. They are a complete sham. It took us 5 months to get this company to install services and when they finally figured it out the service went down in the 1st week. They couldn't figure it out so they just left it like that. I have had to call, email and threaten them continuously and still I have not gotten any resolution. It's a total nightmare. BEWARE! read more

A couple of my buddies use them at their corporate job. They are great quality. I recommend them for sure

I gave them 1 star, but actually the should be a negative 5. They have the absolute worse service I have ever experienced. Our internet goes down 10 - 20 times a day. Our whole office comes to a complete stand still. They can't seem to resolve the problem, and we are not even allowed to talk with a supervisor, other than the one at the call center. This problem has been going on for two months, and I'm at wits end. I thought Cbeyond was bad enough, this service is atrocious! DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE WE DID! read more

Please, PLEASE do NOT sign anything with these people. I have tried getting out of my contract for YEARS now since I was with CBeyond. This business is unethical and I'm sure illegal. My business is stuck with a $2,600 early cancellation fee for not sending in a written response before 30 days (email doesn't count). And I just found out I've been paying a $80 fee for a service I haven't used since 2013, although I had cancelled it back in 2013. Beyond Frustrated. This is a nightmare. read more

Birch would not come out to repair my phone line but continued to bill me. once I demanded they just cut the phone off I received a talk down to you lying letter from them telling me "We are sorry you have changed your communication provider ( a lie). If you are comfortable with your decision, do nothing, and the early termination fee will appear on your next invoice along with any other adjustments. I would never recommend this company to anyone. And I will never pay this termination fee. Over my dead body. read more

Just like everyone else, BEWARE!!! They've called our company twice, the first time (last Friday) the guy made it sound like he was part of AT&T and by taking advantage of their rates we were just changing our price, nothing else. I told him to send over something in writing, and he told me there was nothing to send over because the only thing changing was our rate. I told him were weren't interested and he basically told me I was stupid for not taking advantage of their amazing rate. Today (Monday) another lady called and tried to get us to switch. When I tried to get more information from her she kept talking over me. When I told her I wasn't interested, she asked why I wouldn't want to pay lower rates? I told her to remove us from their calling list. VERY rude company. I don't think I'd deal with them even if they cut our bill 75%. read more

Unbelievable how bad their customer service is! How bad everything is! Cancelled our service, after our contract was up, they still billed us, and will not send us the money they owe us. Then they sent us a bill for early termination. I have now been on hold for over an hour trying to talk to someone about it. WTF?! read more

I really did not want to give this company even a 1 star rating, but the system would not let me post without giving it even a 1 star rating...............DO NOT give up your current telephone service to go with this so called "Communications" company.....they will sweet talk you into lower rates, etc. but they will get you with their "service fees" of $159.00 +" repeated service visits to your business/home because the repair they will claim was on the inside of your business/house and it never gets fixed the first time so every time they come back, they charge you another $159.00 and the 3rd time, and so on!! read more

I want to take a moment to express how horrible this company is. Several years ago we made the mistake of transferring to their company and going on contract. Over the past 3 years our telephone and internet services went down numerous times. Each time after several calls and 20 to 40 minute hold times a tech would show up days later and correct the situation. In January we notified the company that we were relocating to the building next door and needed to make arrangements to get our services relocated. We were told a relocation specialist would call us. Many days passed and many additional phone calls were made with no return phone calls. We finally realized after making no less than 50 phone calls and being on hold 10 hours or more (not an exaggeration) that if we told the automated system "new service" someone would answer in seconds. We are located in the middle of Orange County California and own a motorcycle dealership so you can imagine how important phones and internet are to us. We finally paid a private contractor to run cables from the old building to the new location to keep us in business. To make a long and HORRIBLE story short. April 1st, 2015 we FINALLY have a representative here connecting our equipment. THIS IS WITHOUT ANY DOUBT THE WORST EXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER HAD WITH A SERVICE PROVIDER. DON'T USE THEM DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope this saves someone from the heartache I have experienced. Mark Skolnick read more

Not just awful, they are downright HORRID!!! Our business transferred to Birch recently, who has acquired CBeyond. Well....we have used Cbeyond before and loved their service. Clearly, the good service was not for sale because Birch is, hands down, the worst experience I have ever had with a phone/fax service provider. Here is what happened: They failed to show up for the installation date yet cancelled our service with the old provider as though they had done the installation. As a result, they left us without phone or fax service for almost 2 full work days. After making such an awful mistake, they couldn't escalate the install and made us wait. we complained about it on their Facebook Page, we got a response that the issue would be escalated immediately. That netted us a phone call the next day around noon. There is ZERO sense of urgency. When finally the tech arrived, installed the phones and left,we realized the internet was not up and not working. First day on Birch lines we can neither call Canada, nor Europe. Upon checking to see why not, we are told we need to sign a waiver before they allow international calls since there is a risk of hackers running up bills. Basically they are deflecting any responsibility for hacking on to the customer. After much back and forth with a supervisor, we are told by Cynthia Henderson, Senior Manager Order Coordination that she spoke with their fraud department and they will go ahead and unblock international calls for us. Less than 2 hours later ALL outgoing calls are BLOCKED and we cannot even call within the U.S. After calling Tech Support we are once again told, we need to sign a release. Don't waste your time. This is hands-down the absolute worst telecommunications experience ever. read more

This company has been calling me and attempting to trick me into some sort of deal with them. In the most recent call, heir representative posed as a service person from my current provider and tried to get me to sign up for a "discount" on my current bill, without mentioning that they are a different company. Fortunately I asked too many questions for their scam to hold up, and the person hung up on me. They are dishonest. Any further contact will be reported to law enforcement. read more

I would give them zero stars if I could. I have been dealing with their poor customer service and ignorant techs since I started working for my present company over a year ago. First, my boss moved locations and needed her lines transferred - it took MONTHS for it to be resolved. On top of that, the service goes in and out unexpectedly all the time. The last straw was in the last two days. Our phones went out, so I called them. The lady on the phone (Linda, I believe), walked me through how to reboot the system (since I hadn't had to do that before)... can't get it fixed so she escalates it - it takes that department 4 HOURS to determine that they need to send AT&T out. AT&T shows up and says it isn't them. A different guy at Birch gets on the phone with me and you know what we discover? The outlet that the phone system is plugged into on the battery backup has fried.... Don't get me wrong, I realize I should have thought of that - but since it hasn't beeped and other systems are plugged into it and working fine, I'm not sure that I ever would have. Why didn't Linda think of this? We will not be renewing our contract, and hope that the horror stories I have heard from other past customers are not true. It took one company over 8 MONTHS for Birch to release their phone lines to the new provider. Their website states... "We meet the needs of business customers that are under-served by other providers by offering a diverse portfolio of integrated technology solutions coupled with a relentless focus on customer service." Nope. The customer service is sub-par and we are being under-served by Birch. Do not use them if you can help it. read more

One star is a great rating for them...the absolute worst communications company ever! I have issues with AT&T but this company is the WORST! After being suckered into their plan, stating that they were part of AT&T, it was one problem after another, even shutting down our messaging system without authorization! Now that I have cancelled with them they are saying that we owe $1,800 cancellation fee! Total scam!!! I am still kicking myself for getting sucked into their shell game. If anyone could provide the best way to dispute this (besides my venting on the phone) please let me know! read more

WARNING!!!! This is a big scam!!! They called our office saying they were AT&T!!! They are charging us 1700 dollars for service we never received!!!They are a complete scam!!! They say they are AT&T and state they are promoting a new offer!!!! This is illegal! Someone needs to do something about this company!!! read more

they do not even deserve a ONE star Birch Telecommunications by far is the worst company ever. I was a loyal customer to Birch for years. The moment I decided to leave and switch to another company for a bundle deal, a better deal, that's when all the drama started. I decided to move along to another provider since mid June. The other provider had to get permission from Birch to take over the phone number. Yet, Birch has been declining their request. Other provider again tried several times and still getting declined. I get on the phone and call Birch and they are telling me that I have another line and that's the reason why they are declining their request. Come to my surprise I come to found out that I had another line called a " distinctive ring" which I had no idea what that was. Ok fine, I asked for that to be disconnected. I'm still going back and forth with Birch and other provider about declines and so on. Finally second week of July, the other provider takes over, not a 100% , still having phone issues. I called Birch again, and this lady Coletta is telling me that the other provider did not take over and that Birch is still our provider. I said no you guys are not our provider the other company finally took over after you guys numerously keeps on declining them. So I told her to hold on, I get on my cell and call the other provider, and they are telling me that my account is good and they took over now. Coletta the Birch representative makes me ask the other provider for a number or code which would show that the other provider took over and the date and all. I ask and they provided all necessary information to prove to Birch that they are now in charge of this account and so on. The birch representative now tells me ok no problem, the bills are generated in advance and I should be getting a credit on my account in August. We are now in August 7th, and I check the mail and again to my surprise I get a huge bill for 133 and change. I get pissed and I call. Directly asked to speak to a supervisor. Morgan I think her name was comes to the phone. and tells me that yeah you should get bill until July 30th. and I'm like why? she claims that the other provider took over end of July and yeah I should get billed. now im tired of going back and forth with birch and speaking to different people. I don't have time for this. I should not get billed for July and August. if anything partial billed for July but not the whole month until now. This is crazy. if so, ok cool, Birch will have the worst reputation ever. will get a lot of complaints and bad reviews. and for sure will not recommend this wack company. this is crazy. being billed from two companies. This has been going on since June where I've called over and over and over. and now this.? worst company ever. associates are rude and supervisor too with no help. read more