---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20170724225110.GA17908@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 18:51:10 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Lawsuits Pile Up For CenturyLink After Years Of Bogus Fees, Fraudulent Billing from the because-we-can dept For decades now, broadband ISPs have abused the lack of meaningful competition in the telecom market by not only refusing to shore up historically awful customer service, but by raising rates hand over fist. This usually involves leaving the advertised price largely the same, but pummeling customers with all manner of misleading fees and surcharges that drive up the actual price paid post sale. And by and large regulators from both major political parties have been perfectly ok with this practice, despite it effectively being false advertising. CenturyLink (combined by the merger of Qwest, CenturyTel and Embarq) has been exceptionally talented when it comes to misleading fees. A few years ago the company began charging its broadband customers an "Internet Cost Recovery Fee," which the company's website explains as such: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170713/04513137777/lawsuits-pile-up-centurylink-after-years-bogus-fees-fraudulent-billing.shtml -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20170724224226.GA17819@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 18:42:27 -0400 From: Telecom Digest Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove- this.telecom.csail.mit.edu> Subject: PLEASE READ: temporary address for the digest I've just found out that posts from Google Groups, and possibly other places, are not reaching me. As a *TEMPORARY* work-around, please send posts via email, to - telecomdigestsubmissions.at.telecomdigest.net (you must remove the spamblock, sorry) Please include the "Message-ID" info if you are replying to someone else's post: it's really important. If you using a regular netnews client to reply, just change the intended recipient to the address shown above, and I'll get the header automatically. If not, then please add it to the first line of your message. For example: On Mon, 24 Jul 2017 18:42:27 -0400, in message <20170724224226.GA17819@telecom.csail.mit.edu>, Bill Horne wrote: > I've just found out that ... Thanks for your help with this problem: it's a temporary issue, and we're working hard to get things back to normal. The above address will be deleted when the problem is solved. Bill -- Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20170724224536.GA17877@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 18:45:36 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: CenturyLink CEO to employees: 'We are not perfect,' 'keep your spirits up' DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL - The CEO of CenturyLink Inc. is telling employees to keep their spirits up after accusations arose that the company engaged in billing fraud. CEO Glen Post sent out a memo to employees last week, in the wake of the Minnesota Attorney General suing CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) earlier this month, claiming the company "fraudulently charged Minnesota consumers more than the price the company quoted to them at the time of sale. To make matters worse, CenturyLink has often refused to honor its quoted rates after consumers bring the price misrepresentations to the company's attention." http://www.9news.com/money/business/centurylink-ceo-to-employees-we-are-not-perfect-keep-your-spirits-up/459102385 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 25 Jul 2017