[UPDATE 11/20] [UPDATE 11/19] CENTURYLINK, GLEN F. POST III, CUSTOMER-NO-SERVICE, AND PERSISTENCE

I live in a little coastal community with 13 houses (one of which has been uninhabitable since Hurricane Irene in 2011, and one the same way since Hurricane Isabel in 2003).  It’s a community where directions here include ‘turn off the paved road’ (Thank you, Jeff Foxworthy).  We have ONE gravel road in and out, and it’s maintained by the property owners.  The first thing you come to as you enter the hood is a 3’ diameter culvert under the road.  It connects ‘water features’ on each side of the road…. One is what we PC folks call a ‘wetland’ and the other is a tiny pond.  Standing on the culvert, you can throw a rock into the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW – Google it).  The water is ‘tidal’ so there is constantly water flowing back and forth through the culvert.  Remember – this is our only entry and exit….. and additionally it’s the only entry and exit for fire trucks and ambulances.

Now you have the picture. 

Two of the neighbors have had their houses raised since 2011.  Lots of heavy equipment in and out; lots of concrete blocks delivered; lots of building materials delivered – all on heavy trucks.  The culvert got a hole in it and sand/gravel started going down the ‘drain’, especially during bad weather.  We managed prolonging its life with a few creative patches but about a month ago, the culvert became treacherous and we were forced to have it replaced.  The final straw was the flooding as Hurricane Joaquin came by out in the Atlantic in early October, with the accompanying torrential rains.  The picture below is the road outta here…. And the culvert is in the distance around the curve – under about a foot water.

When the water receded, we arranged to have the culvert replaced.  Part of that was having ULOCO find the phone line and main county water pipe.  They sprayed the locations with paint and the road guy came with his backhoe and began digging up the old culvert.  The water line was 5’ down so it wasn’t a problem.

The phone line was OVER ONE END of the culvert and about 6-12” deep.  It had a cover over PART of it – looked like a half-gutter.  Sad thing was, the phone cable wasn’t UNDER the cover and it broke.  That was on 10/15.  The contractor installed the new culvert, covered it with sand and some gravel so it was passable, and he notified the phone company (CenturyLink) of the break in the line…. and their first appearance was the following Monday, 10/19.  To make a horrible story short…. Phone man #1 didn’t know he was sent to repair a major cable, so he spliced a bunch of tiny lines and got us phone service back.  Then the ‘big cable’ repairman a few days later and did a big splice.  But he didn’t have the equipment to bury the line.

Today is 11/17 and the cable with splice box is STILL LAYING at the culvert and we cannot finish repairing our road until that is buried.

Enter the villain – CENTURYLINK, INC. 

Now begins my rant…. This company has, without a doubt, the worst customer service of any company I’ve ever dealt with, bar none!  I have called every few days since October and every time I have to go through their computer pressing numbers that answer questions that do not apply to my situation.  I call from my land line, and the first recording says ‘we see that you are calling from #......’ (yup) and then they always want a number where they can reach me, so I give them my land line number.  Eventually I get to a person, and fully half the time I cannot understand him/her because their English sucks.  (Why do I have to press ‘1’ for English only to be transferred to someone I cannot understand?)  On three occasions I’ve reached someone who pretended to understand my issue and assured me they would put in an ‘expedited work order’ to get the cable buried.  The last one, on 11/9, actually gave me the ticket number.  So we have waited…..and waited…… and still the cable lays on the road, preventing us from finishing the repair.

TODAY IS 11/17.  I awoke with the determination to get this damn cable buried or go live in a rubber room.

I opened my CenturyLink file… and called repair… and my first ‘agent’ didn’t speak English.  So I hung up, got coffee, and tried again.  The second call went through but I couldn’t hear the person on the other end, so I asked the person to please speak up - twice.  Still couldn’t hear.  So I said ‘WHAT KIND OF DAMN PHONE COMPANY IS THIS WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR THE PARTY ON THE OTHER END!’

The agent hung up on me.

Back to the CenturyLink website…. Clicked on the live chat option.

EXCERPTS….

You are chatting with Sarah G..

info: at 9:06:51

How may I help you today?

I began to explain…. and then said

I have a repair ticket for this

RAP: at 9:09:52

the number is xxyyzz

RAP: at 9:10:35

Sarah G.: at 9:11:49

I understand that. You will need to call repair at 1-800-788-3600 to check on the status of the repair.

RAP: at 9:12:01

i have done that

More krap

Sarah G.: at 9:14:36

There is nothing I can do to get the process sped up RAP. I do not have access to repair tickets all I can do is refer you to call repair.

RAP: at 9:15:21

Can you please give me the mailing address for Centurylink Corporate headquarters - I cannot even find THAT on here (here being their website)

RAP: at 9:16:00

Sarah G.: at 9:21:53  (notice that I waited 6 minutes for this reply)

I talked to my coworker and we are actually not permitted to give out that information however you can call them.

Sarah G.: at 9:22:06

800-201-4099 this is the number.  (She lied - I can't call corporate on this number - this goes to the same place as 1-800-788-3600, which I’ve been calling for three weeks!)

thank you...... never heard of a company that won't give out a mailing address - that's too funny............ You have a great day, Sarah G

WTF!  THEY CAN’T GIVE OUT THEIR CORPORATE ADDRESS??? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!  Then she asked

Sarah G.: at 9:23:01

Were you satisfied with the service you received from CenturyLink today?

NOT the right thing to ask me right now.....

I didn’t even reply – but I DID take her little survey.  And I printed out the entire, insane LiveChat conversation. (excerpted above for your reading pleasure)

After a few minutes of trying to visualize a calm, blue ocean (my best friend always tells me to do that) I had the clever idea to look for a CenturyLink office in North Carolina, and the closest one to me was in Greenville - just an hour away. 

Grabbed the phone:  252-644-1875  eeeek EEEEK EEEK It is not necessary to use the area code when dialing this number …. So I dial only the last 7 digits… go through the computer assistant krap to get a real person… and after sharing my tale of woe, she asks what STATE I am in….. 'I'm in North Carolina – what state are YOU in?'

UTAH!  Hung up….. redialed…… sat on the ‘0’ for operator button until I got a person… First thing - I asked her where SHE was…. Utah.  Third try was a charm – I got a dude in the fucking Philippines and I couldn’t understand him.  Hung up.  One more call to the GREENVILLE, NC number  - got me to Utah again.  Hung up and ate a fistful of Hershey kisses to try and calm down. 

Back to the CenturyLink website…. Clicked around and came to a page entitled ‘WHERE IS MY REPAIRMAN’…. So I entered my name and the REPAIR TICKET NUMBER FROM 11/9…. Little wheels spin…. And ISTG it said the ticket was completed on 11/10.  Are you kidding me! 

I took a screen shot, saved it, and then printed it.  Added it to the file with the LiveChat transcript.  

Then I got on my golf cart – mostly because I needed fresh air so I wouldn’t scream – and rode down to the culvert and took some pictures.  Came back, uploaded the pictures, and printed out the one with the best detail of the mess.  Added to my packet going nowhere…… (That's the ICW on the left, in the distance)

Spent another 5 minutes looking for the corporate address for CenturyLink…. WHEN SUDDENLY 

***ding***

***ding***

***ding***

I TYPE IN NYSE  CENTURYLINK, INC.  AHA!  GOTCHA!

CTL listed on the NYSE

CENTURYLINK, INC.

100 CenturyLink Drive

Monroe, LA 71203

STOCK:  CTL

PHONE:  318-388-9000

CEO: Glen F. Post III

is the chief executive officer and president of CenturyLink, an S&P 500 integrated communications service provider based out of Monroe, Louisiana.

CFO: R. Stewart Ewing Jr.

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary

COO: Karen A. Puckett

With Karen's departure, we are appointing Ross Garrity, CenturyLink's Senior Vice President of IT Solutions, as the interim leader of our Global Markets group.

http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/edgar_conv_html%2f2015%2f02%2f24%2f0000018926-15-000008.html#FIS_BUSINESS  (FORM 10-K DISCLOSURE)

http://news.centurylink.com/company/bios  COMPANY BIOS AND PICTURES!

Seems Karen has retired.  But I got names AND PICTURES…. Do NOT SCREW with me.  TAKE THAT, Miss Sarah G.  Take your live chat and stick it!

I called the number on the CenturyLink Form 10-K, spoke with a polite lady WHO SPOKE ENGLISH, and asked if there was a department or person at their headquarters that I could talk to about a problem I’ve been trying to resolve.  The transferred me and I left a voice message.  Been waiting for several hours for a callback, tho not totally expecting it.

If I do NOT get a call, I am going to print out this blog (rant) and add it to my file, and I will send it all to the CEO of CenturyLink, Inc. – Mr. Glen F. Post III  (And yes, I’ll clean this up SOME!)

It is NOW wine time!

OOOOOOOOOOO MYYYYYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

This is creepy..... An 'angel' from CenturyLink just responded to my voicemessage..... took notes on my tale of woe, and emailed the information to a guy named MATT in Washington, NC - 45 miles away!!!  ( I said I'd go GET him and bring him).  Cross your fingers for me!  WE MAY GET THIS DANG CABLE BURIED AFTER ALL!

11/19:  MATT just called!  He's coming out tomorrow (because it's pouring rain today) to look at what needs to be done to fix this mess!  WOW!  Just WOW!  

11/20:  Matt came to see the problem - he is such a gentleman, and very professional.  He spoke with our road contractor, and they agreed that OUR guy COULD bury the cable, and there would be no liability for him.  So now I'll give our guy a few days, and maybe a quiet Thanksgiving... and them go after him!  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!