| Qwest Price for Life Terms Changed? So, I have a quick question or two for those of you with Qwest...
First some background:
I signed up two years ago for naked DSL with a static and signed a 2 year contract. I was told if I signed the contract, I'd get the price for life... even when my contract expired. I went to pay my bill this month (my contract has now expired) and I saw they had raised my rate. I called, and asked what was up. They told me that Price for Life changed recently and no longer applies to stand-alone services. I have the name and sales rep info of the person who sold it to me and who assured me that it would be fore life, even if I declined to extend my contract. I worked my way up the food chain to a supervisor who flat out refused to honor their guarantee and told me that the only way Qwest would honor my price would be if I signed a new 2 year agreement. Needless to say, I am less than happy.
So, my questions:
1. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
2. What are my options to solve this problem without signing a new 2 year contract?
3. If this does not get resolved to my satisfaction, I will be leaving Qwest. Any other good ways to get high-speed internet with a static IP in Seattle?
Thanks in advance! |
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| that happens to everyone, if you wanna hold a company to a contract, get it in writeing  |
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BinkVillains... knock off all that evil
join:2006-05-14
Denver, CO
kudos:4 | reply to Eak the Cat
Shame. For as much as I happen to like Qwest, a class action lawyer might be interested. |
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1 edit | reply to Eak the Cat
That's weird because they're still advertising "Price for Life" with a 2-year commitment on the website. It's hard to see how they can continue to sell these plans if they don't intend to honor them. - sheureka |
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| AH! but the question is really: what does Qwest define the term "lifetime" to be?
if it actually is the "lifetime of the PERSON ORDERING it" as most people would immediately think of, then yes, you have an argument, but only if you have it in writing!)
But, i personally think they consider "lifetime" to consist of only the 2 year contract... meaning they won't change rates on you in the MIDDLE of that 2 year contract period... and if that's the case, then you're S.O.L.
also, i have yet to see ANY contract, written or not, that did NOT have the little clause that says "these terms are subject to change at any time"... which in layman's terms it means they can do whatever the heck they want, whenever they want to, and you can't do squat about it, because you signed the contract where it was clearly stated that the terms could change... well they changed them... now you have to live with the changes, or go somewhere else for your needs. |
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 RockyBBPremium
join:2005-01-31
Steamboat Springs, CO | reply to Eak the Cat
on Qwest's website today, the Price for Life offer applies to standalone DSL. go online and pull the oldest bill copy available to see if they print out the words price for life on your service. then call back in, you'll likely get a different service center and state your case. if still no luck, then register on this forum and send me a PM and I'll get you some help. |
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 tobyTroy Mcclure
join:2001-11-13
Seattle, WA
 ·OlyPen, Inc.
·CenturyLink
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I signed up for the 2 year for life price, within 6 months the discount dropped off, calling them for the last 6 months isn't getting anywhere. They said I never signed up the 2yr contract . . .. EVEN though my bills indicate this.
Good luck getting it fixed, I didn't. |
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 caffeinatorComing soon to a cup near you..Premium
join:2005-01-16
WA, USA
kudos:4
·CenturyLink
2 edits | reply to Eak the Cat
Even more fun is signing up with a ISP other than Qwest.
As I sit, my ISP bill says I have the PFL deal, but my Qwest bill..well...
I even had a 20-minute 3-way call with the director of operations at my ISP and a clueless Qwest script-reader.
It got so silly that my ISP's guy in great frustration told me to hangup and he'd call me back after raising some hell.
And, he did. It got fixed.
But, Qwest still won't really help, and my bill from them shows a 'credit' for a 6 month promo. Huh?
What I wish is that Qwest would share better across departments. It's ludicrous that in a multi-billion dollar corp. billing has no clue what sales did, or if tech sees data from anybody.
Seriously, I know more about my service than THEY do.
It's a compartmented system to the extreme and customers are the ones that lose on its inefficiency.
-CaFF
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My 9/11 Tribute..online since 9/14/01
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| reply to toby
I just asked on the Qwest "chat" line - and was told my "price for life" discount was good as long as I continued my internet service with them. That's what I was told when I signed up too, so this makes no sense. |
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| reply to Eak the Cat
The work has been pulled back from overseas. However, the pay is not that great and the newer people working the back offices think of it more as telemarketing and a step in the job chain not a career. So whatever the new thing of the day upper management says it what is repeated to the customer.
There are still some older hires around that can think for themselves but they are becoming fewer and fewer. |
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| if you have bundled service, and they change 1 part of that, could you break all your contracts? or are they individual? |
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mdrift
join:2003-08-15
Spokane, WA | reply to mrhuggles
Horse crap. They provide a binding contract and they also include a printed contract to each customer.
It's in writing, both in digital and print formats.
What will change this is a class-action lawsuit. |
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| reply to RockyBB
So, an update on my HORRIBLE Qwest experience:
I tried calling back, Billing->Customer Loyalty->Customer Loyalty Supervisor... And I got the SAME supervisor who was so rude and refused to help me last time. She refused to pass me on to her supervisor and again refused to help me. I am going to try again tomorrow morning and see if I can get a different person. If not, RockyBB, I will be taking you up on your offer. This is getting ridiculous and Qwest is about to loose a customer for life. |
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| reply to Eak the Cat
Re: Qwest Price for Life Terms Changed? After three tries, I was able to get my billing problem resolved. Here's what happened:
I called back today, got a very nice lady in Billing who was appalled at what I'd gone through. She did some digging in my account and discovered what had happened.
I had signed up for a 2-year contract for Qwest Choice Premier DSL (5 Mbit) with Price-for-Life. At the time I had signed up, the three Naked DSL with outside ISP options available were 1.5, 5 and 7. Price-for-Life was ONLY offered for the 1.5 and the 5 plans, but not available on the 7. May of 2007, Qwest changed their offerings to 1.5, 7 and 12. They changed my account to the 7 Mbit plan. When my contract expired, they removed my discount because "Price-for-Life was not available for the 7 Mbit plan".
The Billing rep I spoke with today, saw this on my account and reapplied my discount without requiring me to sign a new 2-year contract or hasting me, calling me a liar or being rude. Simple.
What disgusts me is that I had to go through a total of 6 hours on the phone for Qwest to admit and correct their mistake. The most appalling is Qwest's Customer Loyalty department and especially the Customer Loyalty Supervisor who I spoke with both on the 18th and (by bad luck) again on the 28th. She could have easily looked in my account, seen the error and corrected it Instead she was too busy telling me I was wrong. Oh, and I caught her contradicting herself. The first time I called, she told me there was no Price-for-Life available for standalone accounts. When I called back and spoke to her again, I read her the relevant portion of my bill and quoted the Qwest web site. At that point she said that "Price-for-Life is available for all plans except the 7 Mbit." When I said I wasn't on a 7 Mbit plan, she insisted I was and that was what I had signed up for. EVEN AFTER I READ HER MY BILL, which said 5 Mbit.
Thanks to people like the lovely lady who fixed this screw-up today, I will remain a Qwest customer. I am no longer recommending Qwest DSL to my family, friends or clients, however, because I don't want them to experience the same level of incompetence. |
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| Why would you no longer recommend it when the root of the problem came from getting a nasty supervisor by bad luck twice? Your issue was resolved in the end and you didn't have to sign a new contract, so it ended up all well and good. |
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| reply to Eak the Cat
Because:
1. It should not have happened in the first place.
2. It should not have taken three calls and a total of about 6 hours on the phone to resolve.
3. They don't deserve to be insulted/treated poorly.
Besides, most of the people I recommend Qwest to, bluntly, would have given up before making that third call and getting someone who was willing to fix the problem. |
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 RayWPremium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
kudos:1 | reply to caffeinator
said by caffeinator:What I wish is that Qwest would share better across departments. It's ludicrous that in a multi-billion dollar corp. billing has no clue what sales did, or if tech sees data from anybody. Seriously, I know more about my service than THEY do. It's a compartmented system to the extreme and customers are the ones that lose on its inefficiency. -CaFF Found that out when I got DSL service, it was four months before the idiots on the phone knew I had DSL (and one "Technical" supervisor said the field techs did not know what they were doing). It was only when one sales rep listened and believed when I said that the tech at the box checked up and down the line and our area was live, and took the time to trace it out, that I got it. He was a collage student down in Salt Lake City area and doing sales as a part time job. Since he was getting ready to quit and take a two year leave of absence, he was just interested in helping instead of doing call quota (a rather poor way to evaluate support people).
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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RockyBBPremium
join:2005-01-31
Steamboat Springs, CO | reply to Eak the Cat
Good to know that you got to the desired result. This is further evidence that even with very large companies, everything still revolves around individual people.
On a macro level (this is true with almost all companies including Qwest), it boggles my mind that the person closest to the revenue -- the customer service rep -- receives the lowest pay, the least training, and the thus the least amount of respect in the organization. Yet it's the customer rep with the best ability to sabotage all the amazing network technology and all the high priced marketing efforts. |
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caffeinatorComing soon to a cup near you..Premium
join:2005-01-16
WA, USA
kudos:4 Reviews:
·CenturyLink
| reply to Eak the Cat
Just thought I'd add this bit.
These are from my actual bill this month.
Now, it seems simple, but can anyone make sense of this Gobbletygook about the discounts at the bottom?
And here's what I pay.
I'm happy with that as long as I get my discount, it's just weird how they do things.
-CaFF
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My 9/11 Tribute..online since 9/14/01
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