Century Link and Convergent Outsourcing , Inc Bundled Billing - Century Link messed up my billing and sent me to collections! Phoenix Arizona

This letter is to inform you about problems I recently encountered from Century Link customer service and Convergent Outsourcing, Inc. financial services departments. 

I have been with Century Link for a number of years, always paying my bill on time and in full every month.  The last time I received a discount was in March of 2013 promoting the “bundling” of services with DirecTV, which would give my bill a significant discount if I had the services billed together.  I was assured that everything would be taken care of through Century Link.  Everything seemed to be going fine until October 2013.  While I have the same billing cycle and payment monthly with Century Link, starting this October (2013), my bills seemed a little strange. 

I first noticed that there was no bundled billing discount which had been offered previously and was not out of date for the promotions until March of 2014. Then, I realized that the new charges were was showing just for my internet, no DirecTV.  I immediately called Century Link and inquired.  The associate in customer service informed me that there was a slight change in the billing and it would most certainly “catch up” with the next billing cycle.  I waited until the next billing cycle (all the while paying my normal bill amount on time) and noticed that November showed the same problem. 

The one thing that stood out the most on the bill, was that it showed not only new charges just for my internet, no bundled billing discount, but an odd adjustment of $94.47.  This is still unknown to me.  It shows nothing on the bill, nothing online, and no one can explain what the adjustment is for or where the $94.47 was applied to.  I called Century Link again about the November bill, only to speak to Theresa in Jamaica (outsourced) who could not answer any of my questions.  It was as if something was being hidden from me and no one was allowed to talk about it.  At that time, I again inquired about my discounts and was assured they would catch up by Decembers bill. 

My December bill came and I noticed that the bundled billing was finally applied, but no discounts had been applied for the previous months (October and November).  I also noticed a small discrepancy that the new charges were for a very different (lower) amount, almost as if they had applied my normal payment and now that DirecTV was back on the bill, there was a change in the bill.  I couldn’t help but notice that they had applied all the money I had been sending over the past few months and applied it towards my Century Link bill, but not all of it towards DirecTV.  I assumed that it would again “catch up” since everything had been paid in full every month!

Yesterday, I received a letter from Convergent Outsourcing which stated that they were a collection agency attempting to collect a debt.  The  statement showed that the records of Century Link showed a balance of $104.47 due in full.  Quite confused, I called Convergent Outsourcing who indicated to me that they are attempting to collect the debt of the unpaid DirecTV bill.  WOW!  At this point was I confused!  Convergent  told me to call Century Link to get things straightened out and pay the balance.  I immediately called Century Link to ask some questions.  After holding for nearly 45 minutes, I was told by a customer service rep that they did not know what was happening on the account as they showed that I have nothing due and all bills have been satisfied. 

I was transferred to Marcus, a supervisor in Boise, Idaho who looked deeper into the situation.  He found that the bundled savings were not being applied correctly and issued a credit of $30.00 for those months.  He also found that the DirecTV bill had somehow “broken off” of the bundled billing sometime in October and that there was a payment that was not applied to the DirecTV account because Century Link had broken off of the bundled billing. 

He immediately corrected what he could on his end and transferred me to the Financial Services department of Century Link to let them know that they would need to apply this payment that was not applied to the DirecTV account and remove the negative credit mark from my credit profile as it was Century Links mistake.  I again was on hold for nearly 30 minutes before I spoke to Donna in Arizona.  She was very unconcerned with the problems I was now encountering from the credit mark due to the collections they had put me in.  Donna told me that she would pay the amount due to DirecTV immediately (from the outstanding adjustment of $94.47), but could not give me a confirmation number.  There was also a charge of $4.00 to make a payment over the phone to correct their mistake! 

At this point, I wanted to make sure that Century Link was going to expunge the credit mark they had created on my credit profile.  Donna indicated to me that Century Link OWNS Convergent Outsourcing so it wouldn’t matter.  I asked for a supervisor (Benet in Arizona) and had to start all over explaining the situation.  Benet told me that she did not find a confirmation number on the payment to DirecTV that Donna just paid and she would not be issuing any credits towards the account just because they had made a huge error and credit mark they had created for me.  She said she felt that they had done all they could do as far as paying the DirecTV bill for me. 

Century Link had an obligation as “bundled billing” was sold to me as a package, to pay for the DirecTV bill from the payments I was sending Century Link.  They did not stand up to their agreement and obligations as a reputable company to make sure this was done, and even creating further problems by applying a negative mark on my credit report due to their inaccuracies.   Century Link and Convergent are one and the same, charging their customers for their mistakes and making the customers credit ratings suffer due to their inaccuracies and billing inconsistencies.  

I expected a much higher level of service from Century Link, and I am quite disappointed.

I feel that Century Link owes me the courtesy of expunging the mark on my credit due to their mistake and making things right with my bill by giving me some type of credit on my bill for their mistakes and my troubles with the situation that should have NEVER happened.