I’ve dealt with my local phone company for many years. From the roll-up of Pacific Northwest Bell into US West and then the merger with Qwest, prices have gotten higher and higher and the reliability has gotten a little worse. At some point my wife or I will decide that we don’t really need the land line and it will go away.
The thing that’s most annoying about them is the amount of advertising they’re doing. They’re constantly on the radio, TV, billboards, in the newpaper, ads on the internet and direct mail pieces. It seems obvious that they’re not getting a lot of takers. Why not? Well, they could start with the big disclaimer on every ad. Anything that they’re promising on the front, they’re taking away on the back.
For example, here’s Qwest telling me that I’m paying $18.45/month. 
I wish. Our last bill was $31.38. That includes $2.20 for Extended Area Calling, $4.26 in taxes, 911 and universal service fees. But what really gets me is the $6.50 “Federal Access Charge”: This charge, allowed by the FCC, covers part of the cost for providing access to and maintenance of the local network.
So what’s Qwest going to charge? We don’t know. We know it’s going to be higher than they’re telling us. We just won’t know how much until we hit the checkout button … and maybe not then.
I’m paying $31.35/month to Qwest and $57 to Comcast for cable modem and basic cable. Plus using a long distance provider at $.03/minute for the little long distance calling we do. I wouldn’t mind having one bill that I could understand so we could get ESPN and Nickelodeon even if it we had to mount a dish and get slower internet speed and pay another $20/month.
But what’s the price? The real price? Qwest won’t tell you. And that’s why I hate them and most other people do, too.
11 responses so far ↓
John Berry // Apr 3, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I didn’t look before I posted an “I hate QWEST” entry on my blog last night (a year and a half later) and they are still pitiful.
Me // Oct 17, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I have worked for a phone provider in the past..NOT Qwest, but just to teach you a couple of things. Extended area charge is a charge you STATE decided to charge you so calls back in the day that use to be long distance are now local. Federal Access Line Charge, that is not something the telephone providers control, that is a charge that the Federal Gov charges, so in your case not Qwests. Ummm lets see, taxes no phone company can control those or the 911 fees. Get over it all Qwest or any phone provider can gaurentee is what they are charging, not everything else that gets added on. That may be why when you call Qwest they will try and give you an estimate that includes the taxes, fees and surcharges.
Anonymous // Dec 5, 2008 at 11:30 am
I hate Qwest as well, I have had to file two BBB complaints because the phone representatives lie and no one is accountable for the information they pass on the customer.
Steve Ryan // Dec 5, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Believe it or not you can have other phone companies besides Qwest. You’ll still pay taxes & fees but usually CLEC’s can save you a little. You should call one!
Should be name Qworst! // Dec 18, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I was a new hire at USWest before Qwest took it over. I saw immediately that Qwest intended to screw with crap and make my job miserable so I quit. (At the time I was hired USWest stock was averaging $75 a share, by the time I had quit, the stock had slipped to $30) Now it hovers at $4 a share. They are crap service… I hate them too. I would love to tell them to take their lines off my property because they are crap, crap, crap. Customer service… crap, Techs… crap… phone lines… crap… DSL service… crap. I’m sick of them
C Ferrell // Mar 12, 2009 at 9:52 pm
The Federal Access Fee is NOT a government fee. It is an “allowed” fee. It is “allowed” by the government. You will not see it posted with the real “Taxes, Fees and Surcharges”. It is posted as a “Related Monthly Charge”. I’m sick of them too.
Galane // Mar 17, 2009 at 2:34 pm
What I hate about Qwest is it’s impossible to get the TOTAL REAL PRICE out of them for what any of their bundle packages will be after the initial discounted promotional period.
I can afford $100 a month for TV/Internet/Phone + all the taxes and fees and that’s it!
Frank563 // Apr 10, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Yes, it is true, qwest is the bottom of the barrel. They are famous for Early Termination Fees or EFT’s which are being fought by consumers. Go this website for all the details and if they have screwed you too see if you can join the class action:
http://www.qwestetfcase.com/
They are rude and generally don’t give a damn and I hope they lose this case big time. I told my Qwest business rep whilst arguing over an ETF about the case and that I was ready with a bottle of champagne to raise a grand toast when qwest lost the suit. According to him ‘they fight these all the time’ and never lose. Well, I will be watching it!
Qwest supposedly ha a 2 or 3 year contract when the ’statute of frauds’ says that it needs to be signed to be a valid contract and, of course, qwest never ever gets a signature. Good luck qwest you are a bunch of bottomfeeders and I hope you lose!!!!
cs // May 7, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’m posting this on every “I hate qwest blog” so if you’ve already seen it I apologize. Just trying to express my dissatisfaction after receiving an answering machine at the corp office!
I also am going around the phone tree/transfer/call back loop with qwest.
Find it interesting that employees say they are mistreated by their supervisors, yet when you ask to speak to a supervisor, it is as if they don’t exist.
Finally got a callback from a customer service supervisor after 6 days! I thought their call back time was 72 hours. She said they are behind on their call backs. Well no wonder, with the bad service and constant transfers, probably everyone wants a supervisor call back.
Get it together qwest!
No wonder most of your plans require a 3 year committment. It’s the only way you have to keep customers for 3 years because it is certainly not your customer service abilities!!
I am so dissatisfied I called their corporate office and get this……. I had to leave a message on a machine! Are you kidding me!?! Not even a real person to answer the call? What the heck is it with this company!?!
This is a telcom and I can’t even find an email address to contact the CEO or assistant or anyone on the board. I was advised by a VERY HELPFUL TalktoQwest on Twitter rep that I could send a letter.
I will send a letter but find it absolutely ridiculous that a telcom CEO doesn’t even have a public email address, I mean even if they were screened by his admin assistant or another group of employees at least I’d be getting my message to the Corp Office.
What a bummer! Believe me, if I wasn’t committed with my contract I’d be gone. But in the mean time I’m going to keep calling writing and emailing tweeting blogging etc about my experiences with Qwest.
Anonymous // Aug 15, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Qwest is charging my family over $1000 in long distance calls that were never made and were stated in the bill as being made BEFORE our new service was connected. We don’t have that kind of money right now.
mlsh // Feb 27, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Qwest has a strict policy on missing days, which makes sense, however be careful because even if you come to work sick and get sent home it counts against you. Oh ya and if you are at your last possible day to miss and they send you home or even call and ambulance to get you, you WILL be fired. This happened to me. I had over 100 hours of vacation time to use. I called in, in the morning to get the day off because I was up all night puking. They said there is no slots open and I would have to come in or it would be un excused. I went to work and from the moment I walked in I was in the bathroom puking. I almost passed out and could barely stand. My manager told me I had to have someone come pick me up or they would call an ambulance. So I had someone pick me up and I went immediately to the ER. Well before that day I had missed a day from falling on the ice and hurting my back. I have scoliosis and was in a lot of pain. I stayed all day at work but had to see the doctor and chiro the next day. Well when I called in that morning they had no time open for me to use so it counted against me. That put me on final warning. Now back to the ER. I was put on an IV because I was extremely dehydrated from being sick. Well I was told it is going to take a few days to be better and I again called the next morning and they wouldn’t let me use my personal/vacation time. Well I ended up getting fired. Oh and when I applied for unemployment they fought it and I got denied. So now I’m in a big battle trying to get it going. Bad company. In today’s economy a company should take care of their employees but with Qwest it comes down to the mighty dollar and thats it!
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