Centurylink Rant!!

[Doc45]

I came home this evening, let the dog out in the backyard only to see a silver cable laying across my lawn, on top of my shed in the corner next to the telephone pole and resting on the common fence between my house and my neighbor's. What the hell??? I thought it was an Xcel line but the neighbor that lives behind me said it was Centurlink putting in a fiber line and the cable is some sort of support cable. Oh and she had a picture of the asshole technician standing on top of my shed instead of using a ladder!!! Centurylink never notified any of us that the work would be going on. The neighbor only found out because she heard men talking in her backyard!

Of course you can't reach a human after 6pm, I'm waiting to deal with someone through the chat system...for the second time because the first time the chat ended almost immediately after giving me a number to call. So now I'm sitting in the chat waiting line, number 25, to ask someone somewhere for that number again-this time I'm ready.

I had to let work know that I don't know when I'll be in tomorrow because I need to be here when the asshole shows up. I know they have legal access to the telephone pole but intend to make it very uncomfortable for he/them. I will keep my big protective dog out in the yard until after I talk with whomever comes here-with them on the other side of the gate.

I'll post the photo after I free up my cell.

Thanks for letting me vent. Stay tuned for how tomorrow goes LOL.

[XJ]

Too bad you were mowing the grass before finding it…

[ray1970]

Above ground utilities are so 1980?s.

[Doc45]

So I just got off the phone after an hour and a half talking to someone across the ocean. She claims to have taken a full report and said for me to call back at 8am local time.

Here's the dumbshit standing on my shed
https://i.postimg.cc/nL8Z8fBs/9FB6CC13-6A68-4FC0-B160-B3FF53768BB0.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Here's the hazard of the cable laying from the roof of the shed across the lawn
https://i.postimg.cc/QMpDhYJf/8217F8DE-B670-44AB-85AF-853576070537.jpg (https://postimg.cc/DWyHcgDG)

If they show up while I'm not home Ziva may have a nice snack. If I am home they'll have a four legged welcome to alert me they're here.

[.455_Hunter]

I sympathize...

Yesterday we had an unannounced Xcel contractor checking power lines and poles with a drone. Not a problem normally, but they were also flying up to the houses and looking in the windows Peeping Tom style. I noticed some motion behind my laptop while on a Teams call, and was face-to-face with the stupid thing out my living room window. They hit my neighbors too.

Working my way up the Xcel management chain now.

PULL!

[hollohas]

Centurylink is doing the same in my neighborhood. In this case they are putting in underground fiber. But they are completely shutting down access to some streets, streets that are the only access to dozens of home's garages. And they've done their underground locating and painted up lawns all over the neighborhood. Some the owners obviously take great pride in are about ready to be dug up. Hopefully I'm wrong and they are really going to use directional boring or existing innerduct. But it doesn't look like it.

They put a note on our door that basically said they will need access to our yard anytime for the next MONTH, without notice.

Cool, there is a right of way, but tell me what day you need access and I'll give it to you. Keeping the dogs inside for the next month is not an acceptable solution.

PS - what irritates me most is the fact that there is literally 55ft of unused easement between the outside of our fence and the sidewalk. Yet the utilities are 1ft inside our fence line. If they would have run the utilities 2ft over when they built the neighborhood, they could have access anytime without needing in our yard. But nobody wants to see little mint green pedestals everywhere so inside the fence they go.

[BladesNBarrels]

But, but....
You are gonna really like the high speed of the fiber optic cable vs the old.
What?
You gave up your land line years ago due to the cost, and you already have comcast cable to the house for internet.
Not even mentioning the FREE wi-fi planned for you in the future?

[eddiememphis]

Above ground utilities are so 1980?s.

1880's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electric_power_transmission
"The first electric power transmission line in North America operated at 4000 V. It went online on June 3, 1889"

[Doc45]

Ting has been working in my neighborhood all summer. Everything underground and the interruption/yard intrusion has been incredibly minimal. I'm just pissed about this jackoff standing on my roof-where's his damn ladder??-and leaving the cable just laying across the yard as a hazard. One of my neighbors volunteered to cut the cable-it's a support cable, no power etc running through it. I said don't tell me if they are going to do it LOL.

[asystejs]

Snow last May snapped a power pole in a back corner of our lot.
Xcel replaced the pole in a couple days and the crew foreman asked me to call Comcast and CenturyLink
and tell them to come out and re-hang their cables.

Comcast was easy and a guy was out a couple weeks later, took pictures and said a crew would be scheduled.
A second Comcast guy showed up a few weeks later took more pictures and said a crew would be scheduled.
Comcast finally got a crew out in the first week of August to re-hang their stuff.

It took a couple hours to get an absolutely clueless CenturyLink person on the phone to
tell them what needed to be done.
CenturyLink has never sent anyone out to even see what needs to be fixed.

[00tec]

Tell them that your kid was running through the yard and got clotheslined on it. Let them know it will be removed if they aren't there within 4 hours.

They'll show.

[Zundfolge]

What would happen if you called Xcel all freaked out about a "downed power line" and they would send a crew out to fix it? I bet they have a direct line to Century Link that gets these kind of things fixed ASAP since technically those poles are Xcel's.

[DEAGLER]

shorten the slack and zipline!

[Delfuego]

Having to deal with CenturyLink regularly for work, I feel you pain. However as a rant, I can only give you 4/10. Only 3 exclamation points. Capital letters only at the beginning of sentences. No profanity. No threats of revenge. You can do better.

[Martinjmpr]

It's funny that if you go online you'll see many, many people bitching about Comcast but in 15 years I've never had anything but good (or at least acceptable) experiences with them.

Centurylink though? UGH! NEVER had a good experience with them since they changed over from Qwest.

[ray1970]

Recently ditched Centurylink and now dealing with Comcast/Xfinity. Way more pleasurable experience thus far.

As far as the repeated question about where his ladder is, I am guessing that?s what he used to gain access to the roof of the shed so I?m sure he has it close by.

[Gman]

I thought CenturyLink rebranded as Lumen?

Trying to get away from their well-earned reputation by changing their name. Didn't seem to matter if it was US West, Qwest, or CenturyLink.

[Doc45]

Ok guys here?s an update! First off I initially called Xcel as I thought it was their line before my neighbor told me otherwise-after hours and I talked to a human. After I found out it was CL I called Xcel back to cancel-a guy still came by to verify it wasn?t their line.

I started cruising the neighborhood after I finally got off the phone this morning and whaddya know, I found the crew. G&K Cable Construction. A guy that looked just like the one on my roof was one of the 3. Had a talk with the guy in charge-showed him my pics/video. He agreed the idiot shouldn?t have been on my shed roof-especially when they have a fiberglass ladder right on the truck. He gave me the name/number for the guy in charge-we talked on the phone, I offered to send him the pics/videos, said it wasn?t necessary and he?d make sure everything gets squared away today. I?ll see when I get home latter. Fur coated security is inside the house so they can access they yard.

Moral: Don?t piss off grumpy old guys.

[Zundfolge]

It's funny that if you go online you'll see many, many people bitching about Comcast but in 15 years I've never had anything but good (or at least acceptable) experiences with them.

Centurylink though? UGH! NEVER had a good experience with them since they changed over from Qwest.

Ironically I had the exact opposite experience. Never had a single problem with Centurylink, but Comcast was a constant nightmare the entire time I had them.

I'm convinced no utility or common carrier has good customer service and the only reason any of us ever says anything nice about any of them is that some of us get lucky and never have a technical or billing problem.

[mb504]

I thought CenturyLink rebranded as Lumen?

Trying to get away from their well-earned reputation by changing their name. Didn't seem to matter if it was US West, Qwest, or CenturyLink.

I believe Lumen is the commercial side of the house and CenturyLink is the residential side.

[BladesNBarrels]

I believe Lumen is the commercial side of the house and CenturyLink is the residential side.

It seems they are not real clear with the name change
In September, 2020, they said

The flagship Lumen brand is targeted toward larger enterprises, the likes of which would be most likely to adopt the company?s most advanced services.
The CenturyLink brand is being retained for legacy copper services delivered to residential customers and some SMBs, as well as existing FTTH customers.

The CenturyLink name will only be associated with residential and small business customers served by copper networks. ?CenturyLink, with its strong heritage, will remain as a trusted brand for residential and small business customers over traditional networks,? the company said.

[Doc45]

Final update: got home and everything was taken care of. I also have an email from CenturyLink with a link to follow up on the complaint. PUC also followed up with an email that a file is open. Neighbor confirmed with photos that this time they climbed up the pole and not on the roof of the shed. All's well that ends well. Maybe I'll get a few pennies knocked off my bill for my internet-the only service I get directly from them though they do bundle my DirecTv. By the way I called Direct over an unrelated question and due to being a long time customer they will be knocking $40 off my fee for the next 12 months, I'm ok with that.

[hollohas]

You have a great and observant neighborhood looking out for you getting all these pictures.

[beast556]

I think my house had been flagged. A century link guy jumped in to my back yard and my pitbull lit him up. I heard a huge ruckus out back, then a knock on my door from a guy with ripped up pants asking if I could put my dog inside. I told him you should of just came and asked to begin with, there is a reason there is a huge beware of dog sign on the gate. Ever since then I get a call or a tag on my door saying there will be a technician entering my backyard at such n such time.

[rondog]

I believe Lumen is the commercial side of the house and CenturyLink is the residential side.

Correct. Although most of the residential (local) part was recently sold off.

[BladesNBarrels]

... By the way I called Direct over an unrelated question and due to being a long time customer they will be knocking $40 off my fee for the next 12 months, I'm ok with that.

Directv knocked off 60 a month a few years ago for 12 months.
When it went back up, they said there were no further discounts available.
They have crept up over 200 a month now, the dvr is failing, the remote won't recognize zeros, and it takes 20 seconds to change channels.
I will have to call them and see if they will do something.
Thanks for the info.

I am really confused about the relationships with AT&T, CenturyLink, DirecTV, LUMEN, and all the other names.

[eddiememphis]

They have crept up over 200 a month now...

Wow! You spend $2500 a year on television?

In late '19 I posted about Directv being too expensive. I called then and they cut it in half.
https://www.ar-15.co/threads/176556-DirecTv-Rates-going-up?highlight=directv

The next year, I posted that I quit.
https://www.ar-15.co/threads/180539-Goodbye?highlight=directv

I was complaining about $75 a month!

I have not turned it back on.

Comcast, my internet provider sent me a streaming box that I use occasionally but can honestly say, I do not miss satellite programming.

I certainly do not miss scrolling through the guide, hoping to find something new, while being inundated by the same commercials over and over...

If you enjoy television enough that it is worth over two thousand dollar per year, that's great. I won't judge you- I spend more than that on my hobbies.

Since I "cut the cord", I can't believe I spent as much as I did on tv.

I can think of very few shows that I watched that were memorable enough to stand out and none that were worth the many thousands of dollar I spent over the years.

[StagLefty]

For my fellow aging seniors or low income families. I recently got on the Affordable Connectivity Program through Comcast.
Comcast went up recently and I looked into the program and qualified due to income. I now pay $23 a month for my internet,