Beware Qwest Phone And Internet Services!
We recently switched to Comcast from Qwest for both phone and Internet access services, only to discover some billing issues that Qwest sneaks into their agreements. Hopefully this information will help others beware the same situation. Our bottom line is that Qwest should be avoided and that Comcast has proven to be a great company.
Our services started in mid 2005 despite problems with the Qwest setup and issues with their services. Regardless the repeated phone calls and requests for technical support, Qwest continued to bill without any surcharging or discounting for lost time, unavailable services, or any frustration.
We remained as faithful to Qwest as we could. Our frustration grew as all our phone calls were answered by overseas operators in India and the Philipines, by people who spoke English as a second language. It was almost impossible to get an English speaking US citizen on the phone, and technical support disintegrated into long, frustrating phone calls that did little to resolve our problems.
After 3 years of Qwest service, we finally gave up and switched to Comcast. Wow! Not only did Comcast supply immediate service without hitch and provided local technical support from English speaking agents, the services were far superior to Qwest. There is no looking back at the poor service and support provided by Qwest.
Well, we received a “termination charge” from Qwest stating we had an agreement with them to maintain their services through the end of 2008. By the way, Comcast is month-to-month for home services. Qhen asked for details of the “agreement,” Qwest said they didn’t have anything in front of them to support the claim. They suggested we had switched promotions, but when asked for details, they said we had to get a court order and subpoena them before they’d divulge their supposed agreement or contracts. After being passed from number to number and department to department, it became obvious they have convoluted their phone systems and legal channels to prevent contact by customers.
The caveat to everyone is that Qwest apparently includes termination charges into service agreements and considers them a verbal contract when you sign up, without stating the termination charge specifics at the time of signup. Had we known they would do this after 3 years of paying them tons of money, we’d have gone to Comcast in the first place. Now that we have experienced Comcast, we realize we should have avoided Qwest in the first place.
