The Qwest story is nothing new
June 9, 2008 | Filed Under Seriously/Real Stuff | 2 Responses
In addition to all of the individual sites where people are expressing their problems with Qwest, there are these telling legal actions going back over several years:
July 2003: “Qwest Communications settled a long-standing consumer fraud lawsuit with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Monday by agreeing to pay a $3.75 million fine and to better inform customers about their options. The suit, filed in 2001 by then-Attorney General Janet Napolitano, accused Qwest of numerous violations of Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act, including placing unauthorized charges on consumers’ bills; failing to disclose charges associated with repairs and installation; engaging in false and misleading advertising; and setting up customer service departments that frustrate consumers’ attempts to resolve problems.” The full story.
From Ken Toole’s Web site: [Toole is a Commissioner on the Montana Public serbice Commission. A suit brought by him was settled in April, but you can’t tell that from my Qwest bill.]
- Qwest is a regulated utility and the Public Service Commission sets their authorized rate of return (profit).
- Qwest’s authorized rate of return is currently set at 10.44 percent
- Qwest has been earning far in excess of their “authorized rate of return” for a long time
- 2005- Rate of return approximately 21%
- 2004- Rate of return approximately 21%
- 2003- Rate of return approximately 19%
- 2002- Rate of return approximately 19%
- 2001- Rate of return approximately 20%
“Wednesday, October 31, 2001 — Qwest Communications Corporation agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty to settle cramming complaints as ordered Wednesday by the Public Utility Commission. Cramming occurs when charges for unauthorized services or products appear on a customer’s telephone bill. The agreement is based on 22 validated complaints.” http://www.puc.state.tx.us/nrelease/2001/103101qwest.cfm
October 2001: “Jan Margosian, Oregon Department of Justice spokeswoman, said the department is investigating 573 Qwest consumer complaints. Many of those have included allegations that Qwest employees “crammed” — added services to customer accounts without approval or misrepresented its services. ‘We have a large investigation concerning Qwest and many different aspects of its operations,’ she said.” See the full story.
Numerous other states have had similar investigationsor legal actions (Utah, Minnesota, Washington, etc.)
Business Week, March 2005: “The SEC charges former CEO Joseph Nacchio and six colleagues with massive financial fraud.”
The individuals who complained on various Web sites are fare too numerous to list here. Google “complaint about Qwest.”
To file a complaint about Qwest with the Federal Communications Commission, go to http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm. You will get better results complaining to official agencies than you will by talking to Qwest after 30 to 40 minute hold times and being bounced around from department to department. Be aware that the FCC will only ask that Qwest respond to your complaint. They will not enforce anything. (Our government at work, protecting the little guy from virtual monopolies. Maybe that will change when we get rid of Bush and replace him with Barack Obama.)
The best recourse that we have is to cancel the Qwest service and go with another. But then finding an ethical corporation is always a challenge.
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2 Responses to “The Qwest story is nothing new”
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We have been Qwest customers for 14 years. At first, we simply had a cell phone and a land phone. No problem. Then last year, we made the mistake of going on a bundling deal… DSL, land and cell phone, satellite tv… to save money. From the very beginning of the bundling, we were crammed. Our monthly bill kept going up and up and when we called customer service, they’d apoligize, say it was fixed, and the following month we had late charges for not paying their error, plus additional services/products.. that we never ordered, wanted, or used. They even signed us up for their Latino program with free calls to Mexico - but we know no one in Mexico. We asked for an investigation with our credit card and Qwest was found wrong. Now they’re demanind their errant bill in full or they will cut us off. We’ve reported them to Arizona’s authorities, as well as the FCC… but in 8 days, my disabled husband will lose his life line. We are also caring for three special needs grandchildren. If anything happens to them because of Qwest…
I’m so outraged at their dishonesty and inhuman injustice.
Gee whiz, Lezley! i thought they treated me badly, but this takes the prize. I hope you got it worked out. Sometimes I think we should all just go on strike against every corporation in America, just for a day, call it a “We value your service, but you are on hold for the next 24 hours” Day.
Sorry I got to your comment so late. I switched a bunch of email stuff and had emails from this blog floating in the ether for a couple of weeks.
Anyway, good luck.