The End of Customer Service

This is what the world has come to! Instead of mailing or physically dropping off payments, you make those payments online or over the phone....and talk to automated answering services! I've had my fill of this crap in the last 3 days! Some of you have been following my "Century Link/DirecTV" drama the last few days but this has gotten out of control.

First off, since we live in the middle of no where, it's been nothing but trouble since day one! Where we live is contracted with Qwest (who is not Century Link) to get DirecTV on base. When we first signed up for tv services, we had to go through Qwest...simple right? Nope! We had to call a seperate number to hook up our stuff because otherwise our location doesn't exist...oh, and there is only ONE guy that is allowed to hook up the tv service on base. Anyway, didn't think there would be many problems after that and to tell the truth, there really hasn't been....until recently.

One day, about 2 months ago I called to find out some info about my bill that was incorrect. Our DirecTV bill comes from Qwest...so naturally I call Qwest. They tell me I have to call DirecTV because it's their bill. I call DirecTV and they say I don't have an account....well of course I don't because my account is through Qwest. I call them back and after 45 minutes of the run around I get the answer I'm looking for. The next month I have to call back for the same reason. Again, I call Qwest first. They try the same thing, sending me to DirecTV but I stopped them. Then, suddenly they can't find my account....my address doesn't exist, I don't have an account and the dumb bitch transfers me to set up a new account. Um...you sure can find my account when I owe you money! Eventually, they find my account and fix my issue.

A few days later, the housing community sends out an email saying we now have our own private Qwest number to call for DirecTV issues because so many people have had problems. Glad I'm not the only one but it sure does suck. The following week I called that "private" number to cancel our movie channels. The guy I get is a total idiot, again can't find my account, I don't live where I say I do and asks "how did you get this number" I explain to him where I live and where the number came from and he's totally confused. After almost a hour, he finds my account stuff and cancels my movie channels. Ridiculous! This brings me to the last 3 days.....beat head here!

On Thursday, I go online to pay my bill, to Century Link, just as I normally do except this time, their website keeps erroring out and won't let me in. I'm just about to give up (after 45 minutes) when it finally lets me in! I submit my payment but never get a confirmation or even a "are you sure about this payment" page. I need to know that my payment went through! I get on the online chat and it says there are 24 people ahead of me. I get comfortable and a hour later, I'm finally next in line. Some guy comes on and says "how can I help you" I tell him I need to know if my payment went through, he says just a minute and bam....we're disconnected! Chat goes down. Awesome...so then I call, which I probably should have done in the beginning but I wasn't in a mood to be on hold for a hour on the phone. So I call and low and behold, the automated answering service answers. I'm yelling at it to give me a human, a person, a customer service idiot....and it finally says "ok, I'll transfer you" but shortly comes back saying "I'm sorry, our office is closed at this time" frickin great!

So by now I'm fricking irrate. I just wasted 2+ hours of my time trying to pay my bill and still have no idea if my payment went through! The next day (Friday) I call a few times throughout the day and of course the automated asshole tells me the office is closed but then clearly states "office hours are M-F 8a-6p" ummm....I'm curious what time zone they are referring to because no matter what time of day I called, it was within those hours unless they are referring to India time....hmmmm!

Lets get to today! Rylan and I go shopping for a jacket, a harmless trip out of the house.....until I get to JCPenneys and see there is a Century Link store across the parking lot. My blood starts to boil again and I consider going in there to find out the simple answer if they have my damn money or not! I decide not to go because Rylan is with me and if they tell me they can't help me, there was a chance I was gonna get mean! We get back home and I try to go online again, just to view my bill....can't get on their site. Here we go again!!! I connect to the chat again and it says I'm #3 in line, ok I can deal with this. Soon after, here comes the customer service rep named Simon....Here is our conversation:

Thank you for contacting CenturyLink. My name is Simon S. (20748). How may I help you today?

Simon S. (20748): Hi Rachel, How can i help you today?

Rachel: I hope you can help me! I need to know if the payment I made on 9/8/11 was accepted. I have several issues with the website and the payment never said it went through and I can't get a hold of anyone online or on the phone to find out

Simon S. (20748): May I have your account number please?

Rachel: I only have DirecTV through you guys

Rachel: 719C283635 is the account number on my bill

Simon S. (20748): I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.

Simon S. (20748): Call the DTV customer service number 1-800-347-3288. I will not be able to look up the DTV information in my system. I do apologize.

Rachel: Ok so let me get this straight? I have to call THEM to find out if my bill reflects a payment I made to YOU?

Rachel: Even though my bill comes from Century Link?

Simon S. (20748): Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

Simon S. (20748): This department doesn't have access to the billing infomration for the DTV services. Please call the billing department 1-800-244-1111.

Rachel: When are they open? What days/hours is a person actually available to speak with?

Simon S. (20748): The hours are M-F (8AM-6PM MST). They can make sure if the payment has gone through.

Simon S. (20748): I do apologize for the inconvenience.

Rachel: I have a question.

Rachel: This chat is for Century Link customer service and support, correct?

Simon S. (20748): That is correct. However, we have limited access to the systems, such as DirecTV services. WE can only setup new service orders for DTV but cant access any billing information.

Rachel: Ridiculous explanation for "customer service"!! Thanks for nothing, have a nice day and go screw yourself!

I can't even begin to understand this! DirecTV has NOTHING to do with my billing, yet I'm suppose to call them because the dickheads that actually take my money and send me a bill every month can't access my bill? Um ok! Just for shits and giggles I called DirecTV. I get a girl named Amanda, explained everything and she says "what the hell is wrong with them?" hahaha! My thought exactly! She says she's going to call them and find out what is going on and puts me on hold. I'm on hold for about 10 minutes when I hear the dreadful words "welcome to Qwest, now Century Link" WHAAAATTTT????? That bitch put my on hold and then transferred me to Century Link! Once again, the automated jerk says "our office is now closed"

Why the hell is it so difficult for them to tell me if I have a pending payment on my account? I can't understand why this task is so advanced for them! I have debated on going up to that Century Link store but really, right about now I would punch someone if they said to call the office during business hours! WTF......