Dear Century Link and respective followers. We wanted to provide some feedback on a recent service experience with CenturyLink. We hope CenturyLink (Quantum Fiber) uses this feedback to improve their customer service.
First, we'd like to say we have been customers for approximately 8 years or so. We have been fortunate to use the 1GB fiber service and the physical service itself, has been excellent. We've had very few, if any, outages and have really had a pain free internet experience thus far.
Unfortunately, that's where the story turns. The primary power plug / supply connected at the main terminal in our garage is fried. It has no lights, no power, no nothing. We troubleshooted with other outlets and it's toast. So on December 24th, we reached out to CL via the chat to schedule a service technician. For the most part, the chat went well and they said a tech would be out on Friday the 26th. Totally acceptable considering the Christmas holiday. We were told we'd get a confirmation email and text, but never received. The chat does appear to be outsourced to team members based in India.
So come Friday morning the 26th, we followed up via Chat and telephone. Chat said they apologized but the tech was never scheduled because of a recent change with splitting up the phone service bill and internet bills, whatever that means. And they could not physically schedule a technician. It was an IT problem on their end, allegedly. After nearly an hour on chat, we gave up. They said we'd have to wait 48 hours, then another 24, before we could contact them again. Not sure why that would matter. A few hours later, we decided to call. Same thing, but with a person - based in Central America. This person, Louis, said he would own the experience and call me back on Monday the 29th. No call. Not surprised.
On that Saturday the 27th, we tried again via chat to see if we could do something. This was after another hour or so of not getting anywhere Saturday morning. Somehow, someway - we were told an appointment could be scheduled.....for January 5th! Now, we did finally get a confirmation email and text, which was somewhat reassuring. But no WIFI, no internet, for approximately 2 weeks. I understand these are "first world" problems, but when you are a remote worker, you have young kids, etc. - this is a major imposition.
It is now January 5th. We were told a technician would be here between 8-5. No tighter window as they normally would do on the day of the service. We got an update in the afternoon that the technician was pushed back to the 8th, 3 days from now. We have found it's very difficult, if not impossible, to speak to a local team or local technician crew. Everything is outsourced and while they claim to "own the experience and make us happy" - it's simply not true or effective.
At first, we were merely trying to schedule a service technician. It went from 2 days to 2 weeks out. We could do it online either. We had 3-4 chats, 1-2 phone calls, and our issue is still unresolved.
Speaking of unresolved, they want you to complete a survey after communicating w/ the chat team. They ask if the problem or issue was resolved. Well if you schedule a technician, how could the problem be resolved at that time? Don't you have to wait until the technician arrives at your home and solves the problem? The chat survey should be about the interaction with the representative only, not what may or may not happen after the fact. Once the technician service is complete, then you could ask if everything was resolved or provide comment on the overall experience.
It's still very difficult to believe it's this difficult to not only schedule a tech but have to wait 2+ weeks to have someone out here. CL needs to recognize there are numerous competitors out there now and it's not just Cox and CL. There are options and they are going to lose customers, most likely us. A consistent customer, approximately 8 years, paying $100 per month. Truly a shame that an actual good and reliable physical service, can be outdone by poor customer service and internal systems. read more