I recently went thru the last long drawn-out customer service nightmare with Qwest that I will ever have, because I will not be doing business with them again. This incident is in addition to the fact that they disconnected our service two days after they received our payment. Or how they forgot to tell me that I needed a new modem when we moved and then it "got lost" over and over, delaying service for a week. No, this is about how Qwest set up a brand new account in my name, started billing me for it, and I didn't even know about it. The following is the letter I sent to Qwest after wasting a lot of time speaking to a numerous Qwest employees, none of which were willing to be the least bit helpful.

April, 05 2005
Dispute of Charges
Re: Account ###-###-##62 and ###-###-##37

To Whom It May Concern:
I have been a Qwest customer for several years. Most recently I had stand-alone Qwest DSL service from October of 2004 until the account was cancelled on January 21st 2005 (account number ###-###-##62). On January 23rd I had Comcast cable internet service installed due to the unsatisfactory customer service I had experienced with Qwest. I called Qwest on January 31st to verify that my account had indeed been closed and that I would be receiving a final bill, both of which were confirmed. I paid the final bill on February 12th.

In late March I was quite surprised to receive a bill from Qwest (the statement dated March 1st) for current DSL service in the amount of $119.84. The bill indicates account number ###-###-##37 (note that this is a different account than my previous one). I called Qwest on April 4th to point out the error and have the issue resolved. I was transferred to three different departments, each of which gave me different excuses for the charges, and none of which offered to help resolve the issue. I was on the phone for over an hour.

The billing department stated that I called on January 31st and ordered new DSL service. When I called on January 31st it was to verify that my account was closed! If a new order was placed at that time it was an error entirely the fault of a Qwest employee. I am attaching my Comcast bill showing that I already had cable internet service as of January 23rd and certainly did NOT order new DSL service on January 31st, or on any other date.

The fact is that I did not order or authorize any services or charges as billed under account ###-###-##37. I will not be paying these unauthorized charges and Qwest needs to reverse them. Furthermore, I am attaching an hourly bill for my time that Qwest has wasted trying to resolve an error that Qwest is entirely at fault for.

Sincerely,
Gabe Grayum

Several weeks after sending the letter, we got a letter back from Qwest saying that we needed to call and verify some information. The number they asked us to call wasn't even to the right department, and I had to wait on hold while I was transfered. The person I spoke to then made me explain the situation all over, and put me on hold to "review the notes on my account". When she came back she stated that she was happy to process a refund for me. Obviously putting the dispute in writing did what hours on the phone couldn't do. In the end the issue was resolved (just today we finally got a statement showing the charges were reversed). However the unwillingness to help and the discourteousness of Qwest employees is why I absolutely will not give them my business again.