Join me in a Qwest boycott?
Posted August 16th, 2007 by Howard TaylerI know, I know, they won’t notice. But I’m done doing business with them.
(Note: If you work for Qwest, please read on, and feel free to respond. After all, it only takes one person to completely destroy your company’s image. It’s possible, though only remotely, that one person can save or restore it.)
So… I’m hard at work trying to bang out the last two pages of Bonus Story for the next book. I have seven more rows to color, the flooding is done, and I’m painting. My music is blaring, the house is empty for the next three hours, I’m in my happy place…
And the phone rings. Number Unavailable. Private caller.
I pick up.
“Taylers’, this is Howard.”
“Are you Howard Tayler, of Blank Label Comics?”
Sounds like a salesperson, but he might have legitimate business with our little collective.
“I am.” I say, with that practiced inflection that says if you have legitimate business with me, now is the time to get to it.
“Has anybody from Qwest talked to you about lowering your small-business calling rates?”
“No, they haven’t. Please put me on your no-call list.”
And I hung up, cranked the tunes, and got back to work.
The phone rang again. Number Unavailable. Private Caller.
Ohhh-kay. This is either ILLEGAL (No-call means just that, and there are legal ramifications to calling in spite of it), or accidental, or it’s a coincidence.
“Hello?”
The same voice I spoke to before begins, as if we were old friends who had been cut off accidentally:
“Why would you want us not to call? We’re trying to lower your rates, not raise them.”
I let him have both barrels.
“You are quite possibly the rudest salesperson who has ever called me. When I-”
“I’m not a salesman,” he interrupted. “I’m trying to lower your rates, not-”
“And I said put me on your DO NOT CALL list.” (Note: I may have actually raised my voice at this point.)
“-lower them. And you’re the one being rude. Maybe we’ll raise your rates instead. How would you like that?”*
And then he hung up.
Had I the presence of mind to get his name (and had he lacked the presence of mind to refuse it) I would be on the phone with Qwest right now demanding an apology. Or maybe I’d be contacting an attorney, trying to find a way to sue these people for what has to be the most flagrant violation of “do not call” I’ve ever experienced.
Regardless, I don’t currently do business with Qwest. Our land-line is provided through my ISP, Comcast/AT&T. If this guy had my phone number, he also had the ability to look that information up, and could quite easily have determined that “lowering my rates” also required him to sell me something. In fact, I doubt he’s calling existing Qwest customers. He’s calling FORMER Qwest customers, trying to get back their business.
Hey, Qwest! At this point if you want to get my business back, you’ll beat AT&T’s best rate by 95% or more for a period of no less than two years no, wait… screw that. You want me as a customer? Fine. Free phone service for two years, no strings. If I’m satisfied come August of 2009, maybe I’ll decide not to switch back to the folks who are currently taking pretty fine care of me.
These folks, after all, are the ones who provided me with high-speed internet access back in 2001 when you said it couldn’t be done. You whined and made excuses about how the line between my house and the switching station was too long for DSL. AT&T came by and laid new cable — no excuses, just great service.
In fact, now that I think about it, I still have quite a bit of loyalty towards my current provider. Forget it, Qwest. You could offer me free phone service for life, and I’d tell you to offer it to one of my fixed-income neighbors who needs it. But I’d warn her that your salespeople are pushy, and should be hung up on at her earliest convenience.
(*Note: The conversations above were not transcribed real-time, nor do I have recordings. I’ve paraphrased as accurately as I can, but rest assured, I’ve made nothing up. This guy really did threaten to raise my rates.)
Explore posts in the same categories: Business, Public Service, Reviews
August 16th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
““-lower them. And you’re the one being rude. Maybe we’ll raise your rates instead. How would you like that?”*”
…
I have no words… Just wow…
Start passing this story to the other web-comics, Howard. This one needs to get out there…
Maybe the guys at PA would like to spread the word. :)
August 16th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Are you sure it wasn’t just a crank caller?
August 16th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
ttancm: In an infinite universe anything is possible. It could also have been Al Gore, circuitously trying to talk me into using my A/C less.
I’ve spent enough time talking to people on the phone (tech support, six years) that I can tell when somebody has a “pitch” or a “patter,” and when they’re unscripted. This guy was scripted right up until the point that I told him how very, very rude he was. At that point he went off-roading, and his conversational vehicle bottomed out faster than a lowered Honda Accord at a monster truck rally.
I’ve heard it before. I’ve just never heard it from a rep from a big company, nor have I gotten a call back after asking to be put on the Do Not Call list.
August 16th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Well, goram! I sincerely hope that it *is* a crank caller, because Qwest really can’t afford to have this kind of crap go down. It’s not that I have any particular love for Qwest. I guess I just don’t want to see the thousands of actual *decent* people at Qwest get screwed due to one or even a few dozen jackasses. In every “bad” company there are usually quite a few good people, y’know?
August 16th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
As you say, anything is possible – it sounds like you got someone who was right on the edge of quitting their boring, low-paid telesales job with the lowest bidder.
We’re on our national ‘no cold calls’ list, so when we get what sounds like a sales call, we find out who they are and who they want to speak to, then promise we’re just going to fetch them…
Then we put the phone quietly on the table and go somewhere else for five minutes, before hanging up. It costs them time, which is the worst thing you can easily do to a telesales person. Do them more harm than they do you.
The ones that really annoy me are the automated call systems that dial more numbers than they have people to speak on – so you answer the phone, and there’s no-one there.
More importantly – have you finished the bonus story? I’m looking forward to a new Schlock book for Christmas!
August 16th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Hey, if you are an AT&T customer, do you get the nice 300 page bills too?
August 16th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I recently got a phone call (on my cell phone) from someone (blocked number) claiming my bill hadn’t been paid and my phone service was about to be shut off. No doubt they would have been happy to settle things up if only I gave them my credit card number.
But since I knew this not to be the case, and since this person didn’t identify themselves, or their company, I just mocked them. Then they cursed at me and hung up.
I later confirmed with my cell provider that the call didn’t come from them, but they have assigned someone to investigate the matter. I’m pretty sure it was some guy dialing random numbers and attempting to scare people into giving him their credit card number.
Given the unprofessional behavior you got from this person claiming to represent Qwest, it’s just barely possible that you got something similar. Call up a random person, claim you can lower their rates, get them all excited about it, and then mention that you’ll just need their credit card number for a processing fee or something.
It might not hurt to call up Qwest and tell them about someone attempting to commit fraud in their name, on this date and time, calling this number. If it is fraud, you just might get the guy nailed, and if not you just might get Qwest to admit to using those underhanded tactics.
August 16th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I’m not sure if there’s any way for you to be compensated for your trouble, but Qwest, if this was in fact a Qwest employee, could be subject to some pretty serious fines. If pure, simple revenge is what you’re after, you could file a complaint with the FCC.
I’ve never worked for Qwest, but I’ve worked for other call centers, and the “do not call” law is something they take VERY seriously (the government makes sure the fines are high enough that they take it very seriously). Most such call centers make sure their employees are well-trained, and that “put me on your no-call list” means “put me on your no-call list.” If the call center is on an automatic dialer (which most are), there wouldn’t be any way for this person even to call you back. Some centers still dial manually, which means a tired, frustrated employee who was just fed up after being hung up on for the hundredth time that day (call center employees have feelings too, after all) could have just hit redial and tried to vent for a minute. But again, if that’s what happened, he cost his company a lot of money (if you complain), and probably cost himself a job.
August 16th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
What this country needs is a 6% unemployment rate. With rates in the low fours, the otherwise unemployables get hired and inflict themselves on the rest of society.
Qwest is a bunch of incompetent boobs but, as a rule, they’re not maliciously stupid. If it was an actual Qwest employee, your best bet is to call customer service and work your way through the tiers of stupidity before you find someone accountable. Since you’re probably too busy to devote six hours of your life to it, you’re doing about the best you can now.
I’d join your boycott but the two broadband alternatives here are respectively 50% and 180% more expensive.
Best wishes.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Suffice to say, I’ve had roughly the same kinds of experiences with Qwest. Shortly after the UTOPIA project went online around my area of Utah, we switched over to it from DSL, going from 512k to 15mbps. I cancelled the service, sent back the hardware, and thought no more of the subject til some self-important twit calls.
him: Sir, you know that by cancelling your DSL you are losing access to the fastest internet available in the USA.
me: Can you match the speed of my new provider then?
him: we can beat it by 6 times over.
me: ok, I want to see you beat a 15mbps fiber-optic connection. When can I expect to see the installer here with a 90mbps connection? Since I want to be home to see this connection.
him: Oh…. You should have told me you were one of those nerds…
me, interupting him: I want your supervisor now, phone-monkey!
His supervisor was quite understanding and got in a do not call order without even asking. And also promised some major hell to pay for his comments and promises. This was over a year ago and I’ve never regretted telling the little phone-monkey off.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I dropped Quest for these kind of things, and Comcast long before quest for much the same reason.
I’m supprised you are still with Comcast, being that you could probably get Utopia pretty dang easily, and Xmission has got to be one of the best ISP’s I’ve ever dealt with.
I disliked the lost connections I kept getting with Comcast, and the fact that to afford it, you have to get cable. It just didn’t cost the right amount, and had shoddy upload speeds.
Quest had better uploads, but the cost was more and their C.S. is like every other Utility company.. poor.
I guess you don’t really need alot of upload speeds if you are working from home… but 15 up down is hard to pass up for a price tag at the same for Comcast or Quest for not nearly the speed.
August 16th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Doesn’t anyone else find it weird that this person mentioned Blank Label? I mean it didn’t exist back in 2001, and even if it did why would Qwest need to know about it?
Not to mention it has been 6 years. Even my old gym gave up after 5.
I think this was someone who researched you and was trying to pull a fast one. I would call the police and see if they can check the call records -even if it is blocked to you, the phone company has to keep it in their records- and if it doesn’t come from a Qwest business phone or a phone center used by them report it.
August 16th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Gotta say that would really piss me off. I’ve had Qwest service since back when they were US West (only game in town for a long time), and I don’t think anything quite that bad has happened to me. Close, but not quite. Qwest seems to be renowned for the horrible level of their customer service. Nice to see it’s spilling over into their telemarketing. Still, I might try and file a complaint with them. I don’t have any experience at all with telemarketing and automated dialers, but I’m willing to bet that they keep track of all the numbers they dial so they can rate their employees on # of calls made, successful pitches, and so forth. It’s all about the numbers, you know. It’s very possible they could give this particular employee the pink slip he richly deserves. (You know, I’ve never actually seen a pink slip. Odd how long some phrases stick around.) Good luck in your Quest vs Qwest.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
I’m fortunate to be living in a state where the state no-call list is enforced by an AG who feels that it makes for excellent PR for his next bid for Governor if he sues people like that as often and for as much as possible.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
We have worse here. We have state and national DNC lists.
Phone rings. “We have good news about your loan application.”
That’s odd. I didn’t apply for a loan. Wait. Drone comes on air. “Yes, you’re interested in our loan/debt consolidation/whatever?”
“What company is this, please? Who am I speaking with?”
About half the time, they hang up when you ask who they are. That means they KNOW they’re calling illegally and are busted.
I helped nail at least one whom the state AG fined. But they keep doing it. Seems to be taken as a cost of doing business.
One of them called up to apologize for bothering me previously, insisted it had been a company with a similar name and not them, and then had the audacity to ask me to “keep them in mind” for future loan needs. Sounded like the same patter to me.
No, they won’t get the business. Thanks.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
The “random fraud” aspect is likely — but there’s another factor. I seem to recall that the phone companies got themselves exempted from the do-not-call-list laws, hence the “neener-neener” from the sales critter. You’d think that with that great power comes great responsibility, but noooo…. Just like politicians.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I agree with Nick. Quest probably keeps a log of who called what numbers, and when. Don’t bother with customer service, hit up their Chief Ethics and Compliance officer, Dave Heller: CorporateComplianceqwestcom. Or you can go through the department, AdviceLineqwestcom. Email addys obfuscated to protect the less guilty. Be sure to tell them your number, around what time you were called, that you were called twice, and that you’ve cancelled your service as a result.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Eeek! Obfuscation failed! add dots before any capitalized letter and in the obvious places, or just get the email addresses from here: http://www.qwest.com/about/company/ethics/index.html
August 16th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Pretty shady, but there are only so many choices in the telco market, and AT&T’s no better. In fact, AT&T happily participates in the NSA’s illegal domestic operations, and Qwest doesn’t. I’d pick Qwest over AT&T in a heartbeat if I had the choice.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I’m glad you’re not having any issues with AT&T, Howard. As another AT&T customer, I can’t say the same. I had a telemarketer FROM AT&T call me up about lowering my rates. Since I was an AT&T customer, I heard out his little patter and he assured me that the plan he was offering would enable me to get MORE features and lower my bill by $10 to $15 a month. He said it didn’t matter *what* plan I was currently on, his plan would do that. Well, if I don’t have to switch service, just plans, and can get a plan with more features than my current plan for less money, sounds like a deal too me. Unfortunately, it was a deal that was too good to be true. The salesman did tell me there would be a connection charge on the new plan, so my next bill would be a little higher than the average bill. Come new bill time, my bill was almost TWICE my old bill, and only $20 of that was the connection fee. I called the customer service line up and asked about the difference in rates. I was told by the customer service people that no, there was no way the plan I had agreed to sign up with would be cheaper per month than my old plan. Thankfully they were willing to work with me and pro-rate me back to my old plan from the day that my new plan went into affect. Unfortunately, they told me I’d still have to pay my current phone bill in full, and they’d apply any excess (once my bill was pro-rated) to next month’s phone bill. Imagine my surprise when the month after that, my bill arrived for the SAME AMOUNT (minus the $20 connection fee). I called customer service again, intending to raise hell. Knowing that the woman on the other end wasn’t the one I dealt with previously, nor the salesman who LIED to me, I was polite (albeit not overly friendly) with her. She was able to pull up my previous call in their records, which reassured me. She said for some reason it was put on hold and never taken off hold to complete. She took it off hold, gave me a new bill amount and told me to only send in that amount that month. The month after that, my bill was back down to its original rate. Motto of this (and your) story? Salespeople (telemarketers ESPECIALLY) lie. Telemarketers don’t have to look you in the face, so it’s easier for them to lie without feeling bad as you’re just a voice on a machine rather than a flesh a blood person to them. I don’t think it’s a Qwest thing, I think it’s a corporate beancounter, gotta get the sales numbers or you’re fired, thing.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
While I’ve never personally tested the legality and the usefulness of all these items, every time I hear about telemarketers, the first thing I think of is this:
http://www.ucan.org/telecommunications/landline/how_to_sue_telemarketers
The best part is that the minimum that the law apparently prescribes that you can sue them for is $500, for the first violation. It’s an interesting read.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I’m not using Qwest now, but thanks to this, I never will be in the future. If you don’t mind, I think this sort of thing deserves a Slashdotting to fuel the flames. If you’d prefer I don’t, shoot me an email within a few days (atdemarco on Google(Take that, spamcrawlers!)) I’ll have my brother toss it into his group on Facebook too.
There is no call for this sort of thing. It is a certainty that anyone trying this sort of thing on me would end up wasting time && ending up in small claims court. It might not hurt them as much as a fine, but it’ll make me feel better.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Unless things are different in Utah, I suspect that the AT&T reference was meant to be Comcast, who bought AT&T Broadband Internet from the AT&T prior to SBC.
August 16th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I currently work for a competitor of Qwest’s, or rather a tech support company, one of whose clients is a competitor of Qwest’s, and for some reason Qwest does not publicize their support number in areas where these companies are in competition, leading to a number of calls directed to our company by disgruntled Qwest customers. Of course, they only get more disgruntled when we tell them we are in no way associated with Qwest. Don’t know if it’s purposeful or not, but there you go.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:19 am
I have to admit that I’m with those who think that this was probably not some well-planned and deliberate Qwest-sanctioned action, but rather some random thing; either a disgruntled employee violating the rules or a scammer pretending to be an employee. In any case, if I boycotted every company that ever did anything wrong to anyone, it would definitely substantially change my lifestyle.
In my experience Qwest’s overall level of customer service has improved dramatically over the past 10 years that I’ve been a customer. Based on various experiences, I also trust AT&T/Comcast as far as I can throw them.
I have little sympathy for telemarketing or telemarketers. However, Howard, I kind of feel like using your webcomic’s forum as a venue to attack some business over what was, in the end, an annoying but fairly harmless slight is a bit sketchy also. I dunno, maybe I’m wrong—it’s a weird world out there.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Qualifier- I’m a telemarketer. This is because i have no degree and it pays a bit better than wal-mart or fast food (and i get to sit down all day). I sell or have sold life insurance, credit cards, business loans, and various other insurance over the last year.
First of all, It seems like this dude called a business line (The BLC one, right?). The laws for businesses are far different from those for individuals (I’m not even sure there ARE any laws to restrict one business’ ability to call another, I do know that the national DNC list isn’t designed for business numbers).
Also, If you actually said “no-call list” Instead of “Do Not Call list” the second call was in no way illegal (You used the wrong wording, there’s a reason they call it “Legalese.”) even if he DID call your home line. It was horrendously against any sensible customer service standards (There’s no doubting this guy was either new and soon to be fired, or just having a terrible night of things (And possibly still soon to be fired) or he may just have been close to quitting).
But seriously, the only one at real fault for this terrible, vicious rudeness you went through (Seriously, for every telemarketer who’s been irritatingly rude to you, three of my potential customers have cussed at me and/or suggested suicide. My sympathy was replaced with bitterness long ago) was the guy who called you. The function that allows you to be called back as long as your name is still on the terminal screen is standard, for various boring sales-related reasons, and is not supposed to be used for a customer that angrily hangs up. He messed up, Qwest would certainly be against his behavior, as would whatever marketing firm he worked for. You have to realize, this guy has almost certainly never met anyone who works for Qwest. He’s just a guy in a call center, taught by another guy at the call center, who was in turn probably taught by a minor guy from Qwest. The thing about using real people for marketing is that all of us are capable of making an ass of ourselves, and you can’t catch everyone.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:55 am
PO8: I blog, and I’m a businessman. I had an ATROCIOUS run-in with a salesperson who threatened me over the phone, and then hung up. Why should I waste time with customer service calls (I’m not their customer, after all) when I can out the guy?
How is this blog entry at all sketchy? Answer: It’s not. You just don’t like the negativity associated with it. That’s fine. Move along, nothing to see here.
The only way we as the general public can change the behavior of large corporations is to call attention to that behavior at every possible turn. I have far more power to do that than most folks do, and I make sure to use that power when appropriate.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:04 am
fordthefin: Thank you for that educational and very depressing look into the life of telemarketers. I sincerely hope that you’re able to find more fulfilling work someday. Work should not be about what pays best. It should be about doing what you are good at, and enjoy doing.
Even though I know that they are thinking, feeling human beings, I still despise telemarketers far more than I pity them. I can understand the desire to portray them as victims of an evil system, but ultimately we all have the ability to choose. If they can choose to do a job day in and day out where all people hate them because of what they do, it’s not too far off the mark to say that they’ve sold their soul and earned their social status.
As to the guy who called me, sure, he was among the lowest of the low, and needs to be held responsible for his actions. But if the system is ever going to change, his employer(s) ALSO must be held responsible.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Some years ago, when I had AT&T, before they “sold” their wireless business to Cingular, heck before Cingular existed….
I got a call from AT&T telling me they’d give me long distance at 10 cents a minute for a year. (At the time the only places I could call on flat rate local were Annex, OR and Payette, ID.)
I went for the deal. Six months later my rate was back up to the old rate. I called to complain and they said they NEVER EVER offered any such plan for a whole year.
Forward a bunch of years and I’m up in Grangeville, ID. Just moved in and got my phone bill and there’s this “Inside wire maintenance plan.” charge. WTH? I call up Qwest and ask what it’s for, they explain it to cover any repairs that may be needed on phine wiring or jacks etc. inside the building. I told them they could take that off because any such problems would be up to the building owner to pay for.
A while later they charged me, and all their millions of other customers, a ONE CENT, one time fee. What for? For the oh so arduous task of updating a federal tax on everyone’s bill! Yeah, right, one guy and about 30 seconds at a computer- and they’re nicking several million cents from their customers for it.
Here’s something to look up. The Federal Universal Service Fund, FUSF. Everyone pays into it on their phone bill.
What’s the FUSF for? It’s for subsidizing telecommunications services for low and fixed income people and for providing help to the small CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers) so they won’t get squeezed out of business by the ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers, AKA Quest, AT&T BellSouth etc.).
FUSF is *supposed to be* for ALL telecommunications services, including broadband internet. But ILECs like Quest will only use it for basic POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines. The rules and regulations for tapping into the FUSF are so tortuous that most CLECs don’t bother with it due to the operating changes they’d have to make, that would essentially mean they couldn’t stay in business.
The big ILECs could use FUSF to rapidly expand CHEAP broadband to millions of customers and make even more profit from the increased volume, but they just don’t care to do that. They’d rather charge $30 to $60 or more a month for DSL to thousands of people rather than $10 a month to millions of people.
I expect their ‘rationale’ for NOT fully utilizing FUSF is if they did, they’d definately put all the CLECs out of business (because the CLECs can’t do everything required to use FUSF), which would attract investigations about being ‘anti-competitive’.
What’s even more annoying is the CLECs’ customers (the companies FUSF is supposed to help) also have to pay the FUSF tax!
So, what happens to this massive wad of money everyone is paying into and few are taking advantage of? It’d be nice to know. Perhaps we should all write our Congresscritters and ask?
August 17th, 2007 at 1:57 am
I have to say that it sounds like a prank (or scam) call to me. But the sad fact of the matter is that “legitimate” companies engage in virtually indistinguishable behavior all the time.
As long as Quest (or anyone else) continues to use telemarketing as a means of doing business, they deserve the blame for everything that happens as a result, including third party actions (pranks and scams) that are only possible because it is established that a “legitimate” business will call you and try to cozen you over the phone.
Fundamentally, it is difficult to effectively ban telemarketing, just as it is difficult to enforce international laws against terrorism. That doesn’t make telemarketing an acceptable activity. Terrorists “are thinking, feeling human beings” too, after all. All fundamentally evil acts are committed by thinking, feeling beings. That’s why we call such acts “evil” rather than “inconvenient”. Because the actor should have known better.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:09 am
A quick search on Google to refresh my memory:
“( http://www.reversephonedetective.com/articles/trace-calls-to-stop-prank-callers.html )
When you get a call, you can hit *69 and you’ll get the last number that called your phone.”
Not a clue who reversephonedetective.com is, but I do remember using *69 years ago to find out who just called my phone.
August 17th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Several years ago Quest made their customers in my area (Seattle Metro) an offer: We’ll have you call this 800 # and listen as to why we think it’s important to give your name, ph# and address to our ‘business partners’, and after hearing our recording on why you shouldn’t opt out, you’ll have the opportunity to opt out. Lawsuits sprang up challenging Quest, so they dropped their plan. Too late.
I did them one better for ‘opting out’. I canceled land-line service in favor of a ‘pay as you go’ cell phone. AT&T provides Internet $46/ month. Skype provides cheap telephony outbound $15/ year. People I want to talk to are on the ‘Net. My cell phone is mostly to tell people to get off my cell phone, $15/ month.
Quest is welcome to offer to pay me to use their phone service, and I’d consider it if they offered me enough money to accept. And I’d want a LOT of money if they plan to pay me to use their phone service. I simply don’t view Quest as having anything they could offer me that I would be willing to pay for. And having proven their intent to sell my account info with them without my consent, I decline doing any form of business with them if I can possibly help it.
–Romaq
August 17th, 2007 at 8:18 am
I’m a QWest customer. I used to be a Comcast/AT&T customer. I dropped them when they couldn’t get their billing straight. After about six months of billing trouble I dropped them. The billing trouble continued for another six months. I kid you not.
I haven’t considered going back to AT&T, even when I started looking for broadband and QWest still didn’t yet have DSL in my area. That billing trouble pissed me off enough I doubt I’ll ever go back to AT&T/Comcast.
When QWest offered DSL for a decent monthly rate *without* any of that promotional rate bullshit I subscribed to that. (I *hate* promotional rates.) Whatever marketing faults QWest might have, offering a reasonable, non-promotional monthly rate won me over.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Off topic: Since you told us who your background artist is, I keep checking out the backgrounds. I like ‘em. Good choice.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I have never had any problems with telemarketers, when they call and ask for me I say I am not home and can I take a message, they say they will call back. If I pick up and there is a pause after I say hello twice I hang up. HOWEVER, I did have a situation that made me mad when I was trying to work out payment on a medical bill. I called the credit department and spoke with a lady (Unfortunately I didn’t get her name) who asked if I could make two payments, when I said no she said, “well can you make four payments?” When I once again said I could not she said and I quote, “Well why don’t you let it go to collections and work it out with them.” I was flabbergasted and didn’t know what to say. Well, long story short I finally did get the bill payed off and then I wrote a strongly worded letter to the head of the credit department saying that maybe they should train their staff better. I don’t know if it helped but it made me feel better.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Algae: Actually, she’s lost interest for the time being as she gets ready for school. I’m afraid I still have to take the credit for the coloring and the backgrounds.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:54 am
The higher ups in a company do set the tone for what is allowed in the lower echelons. Not that they can control everthing, but they also have to know what is happening if it’s going to change and sometimes the blockage to good work ethics is the supervisor or middle manager.
I am against the idea of a “prank” call, because finding Howard’s business phone number doesn’t look to be an easy task. Of course, I haven’t seen one of his business cards, but I can’t see someone going to all that trouble for a prank.
As for a scam, maybe, but scam artists usually have more poise in my experience. I think it is a Qwest employee or a contractor for Qwest who either didn’t get the training he should have or chose to ignore it. Hopefully they listen in on his calls occassionally for quality control and that time was one of them.
August 17th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Ok, I have a business card in front of me. It has the comic title, a nice picture of Kevin crawling out of the ground, the phrase “The customer is not job one. Job one is to ’survive to collect your pay.’” Underneath the picture is the web address.
No telephone numbers on the card. In fact, blank label comics isn’t mentioned on the card, nor is Taylor Corp.
If it is possible that this is a prank call, it is a very professional one (someone who got Howard’s number and knows the business through blank label comics).
If it is possible that this is a con-artist, he should have known better than to call back. Also, we start to wonder, as the only means he would have had to make the call was through Blank Label.
It may very well be a disgruntled employee, but that doesn’t mean that he is incapable of wrecking his company’s image. When I get an awful greasy hamberger with a fly in it, I usually don’t go back to that restaurant. Even if it might have been a one time mistake by some cook on his way out.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Your mysterious Qwest caller that just happen to know your name and what you do, then called back later to harass you some more. In my book of cynicism this falls under the category, ‘too good to be true’, i.e., they ain’t from Qwest.
Some of the other responses seem to indicate I am not alone in this, be careful about blaming Qwest before you can be more sure it was really from them and not from someone that is yanking your chain while trying to make Qwest look bad.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:34 am
coredump: Blank Label Comics is incorporated as an LLC in the State of Utah, and the phone number of the Registered Agent, one Howard V. Tayler, is my home phone. I get calls like this from time to time. This one was no different… right up until Phonejaw McAsshat called me back within 30 seconds of being asked very politely to place my name and number on his no-call list.
Those who think this is a prank call don’t have enough information. Just because a few under-informed people think the same thing doesn’t make it true.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Just a thought but if you change your name on the articles of incorporation as the RA to H. V(whatever) Tayler, you’ll have an automatic screening mechanism. Whenever I get calls asking for my full name, I know it’s someone I don’t want to talk to. e.g. Calls for Mr. Nul or Device have two and a half strikes straight out the gate.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I know this may sound like a lame excuse coming from somebody who writes long-form serial fiction on the web, but I can’t plan that far ahead. :-)
August 17th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Live and learn. The one thing I’d kill for aside from my son is the chance to sit down and chat for an hour with my 27 year younger self.
August 17th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I’m with you buddy.
August 17th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
There’s no excuse for the way this guy treated you, but….
Caller ID didn’t show you a number, and you answered? What’ wrong with you?
August 17th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
wolfger: I’m just a little bit OCD about answering the phone. I hate hearing it ring. Besides, some of my friends have blocked their numbers from Caller ID. Just because you don’t know who it is doesn’t mean you know who it isn’t.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
@ MonsterhedZ Thank goodness I’m not the only Schlock fan who’s also a chronic screwup.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
The guy I work for has a personal phone number that only friends are allowed, then a ‘published corporate number’ to some firm out in California who answers the phone as if they were his 24 hour secretary. Now, he pays big bucks for the service, but any potential client anywhere in the world calling at any time gets a ‘live person’, one with strict instructions on how to handle the call, ostensibly as his private secretary. All ‘client’ calls or properly identified ‘friends’ get routed to voice recorded in email, as appropriate. All other calls get wasted. Genuine emergencies get connected to his cell phone ‘just as if’ it were a connection from his office.
As I said, it’s not cheap. But any problem you can solve with money you have at your disposal is not a problem. And, of course, if you have less complex rules for being interrupted and hours of operation, the rates are correspondingly cheaper. If the name of the company is welcome here, I’ll post it.
Mostly, I’d simply like Quest, AT&T and other telcom companies to figure out they are not in the position of holding us hostage anymore. I have AT&T/ Comcast because it’s the best option at the moment, but it wouldn’t take much of them doing something wrong for me to decide their business opportunity with me has expired.
–Romaq
August 17th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I worked Telemarketing once. It was “honest.” I was calling existing SW Bell customers to offer them additional services.
First evening, I got someone dead, their daughter in law was acting as executor and managing the house, someone’s nurse because he was invalid, someone afraid I was collecting and they were broke and needed phone service in their remote area, someone who didn’t speak English, dozens of hangups, loads of polite excuses that ate into my time when “No. CLICK!” would have sufficed…
Three hours later I quit. I elevated that to “quit in disgust” when the boss told me I should try to “Start a dialog” with the nurses, executors and people verging on bankruptcy.
If I want your service, I’ll call you. There are many legitimate ways to advertise. And when I’m World Dictator, telemarketers and spammers will be fed into logchippers and used to fertilize My Botanical Gardens.
It helps that we have different last names. A call for “Mister Sanders” shortens the initial negotiations right quick.
Here’s a worse one: The military SGLI life insurance has a spouse option that was created around 2003. It was enabled automatically as a “courtesy.” It cost me $10 for a month’s premium before I canceled. I changed units, it was re-enabled. Gail enlisted, she made sure to request to decline it. Then she went active and it was enabled as a courtesy. When she got her family separation allowance, someone noticed she didn’t have it and re-started it as a courtesy (No, we don’t need spousal coverage. We BOTH get $800K serving servicemember coverage, thanks). Each of these screwups took long minutes in line, more long minutes with forms (Because the denial must be in writing and SIGNED or you get the coverage), and the initial screwup of each was not refundable.
It’s the government. What do you expect?
August 17th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I did telemarketing, sort of, for the University of Houston. It was calling graduates to see if they were willing to donate to the Alumni groups. I spent several weeks, two nights a week, doing that. I eventually gave it up because it wasn’t enough money for what I was doing. I didn’t harass anyone, I didn’t redial anyone, if someone was in a hardship circumstance (or had _just_ graduated. Not kidding. They were calling first year graduates who hadn’t even had a chance to pay off school loans), I stopped immediately and went to the next call. However – we dialed the numbers by hand, and made notes right THERE so that they could be put in the system if there was a problem.
Mind you, I didn’t make them that much money – but I think I was calling liberal arts people. :) Minor evil, on the order of dropping chewing gum on the sidewalks.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Chewing gum dropped on sidewalks is NOT minor evil. Do you have any IDEA how hard it is to get that stuff off leather soles or Chuck Taylors?
Chucks, you might was well give up…
And that’s leaving aside my intense dislike for chewing gum in the first place… I should live in Singapore!
August 17th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20030406.html
“You have chosen to report a crime in progress. For theft, burglary, vandalism, or loitering press ‘one.’ For assault, reckless endangerment*, rioting, or telemarketing press ‘two.’ For attempted murder, murder, attempted suicide, suicide, attempted spam, or actual spam, press three.”
*The transcript says “engagerment”, but the comic gets it right. The transcript also fails to capitalise that sentence.
Is the reasoning with the spam that wasting a second of two or three billion people’s lives is equivalent to killing one person?
On the other hand, it is possible to have some fun with telemarketers. My mother once got called by some robot that called back if it didn’t get to finish its prerecorded spiel and started over. I suspect someone with a lot of patience kept hanging up until the machine’s owner got their phone bill…
It’s been estimated that if everyone kept telemarketers on the line for a minute, the industry would collapse. You’ve got to be subtle, though. Once I received a call just before someone knocked on the door. I said, truthfully, “Hang on, there’s someone at the door. I’ll be right back.” Click. Too bad, it was the only time I’ve ever been remotely interested in what a telemarketer was offering…
One of my brothers knows someone who asks telemarketers what they’re wearing…
My father used to answer the phone “Death to telemarketers.” We got on Australia’s do-not-call list within a week of the law being passed, so now we only get surveys, charities and political parties that don’t realise a lot of swinging voters hate telemarketing.
I’ve never gotten a telemarketing call on my mobile (I do get a few text messages a year from the carrier though). When I get my own place (which won’t be soon – we’ve got a nationwide housing crisis, and I won’t be earning a large income until at least next year) I’m *not* going to ask to be put on any do-not-call lists. I’m going to see if I can drive the direct marketers to add me to their lists to preserve their sanity.
As for what you can do… You might want to send Qwest’s compliance officer a link to this blog post. It’s probably worth their time to give a popular blogger an explanation, if it’s either:
* “We put that guy on our do-not-employ list,” or
* “We got that guy jailed for running a scam,” or
* “We’re suing <competitor> for defamation for pretending to be us; would you like to be part of the class action for harassment?”
August 17th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
McNutcase: I chew gum, but I *hate* finding used gum in inappropriate places. If there’s no bin nearby, tear off a piece of the wrapper to keep it in until you find a bin! It’s not rocket science.
I heard Singapore legalised chewing gum, but to buy it you need a gum-chewing licence. I assume they revoke it if you’re caught littering.
August 18th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Howard:
You should e-mail the URL for this Blog to QWest at: qnews@qwest.com; put this at the beginning of your e-mail:
Attn: Dave Heller
Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and
Vice President, Risk Management
Qwest Corporate Headquarters
1801 California St. Denver, CO 80202
(800) 899-7780
Fax: (303) 896-8515
You might want to fax and/or send a snail-mail complaint, too. FYI, you don’t need the name of the salesperson. Just state the date, approximate time of day, and the telephone number that you received the call on. Trust me, they can backtrack. I’m willing to bet that resuming a call to a prospect who’s just told you to put them on the DNC list violates the company’s ethics policy, as would any threat of retaliation, even if it was (allegedly) a joke.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:01 am
I must admit that I have had too have had to bail on the evil that is Qwest. I love my Comcast and have my Cell with AT&T through work.
The only customer service/sales people I’ve ever run across who are worse were from AOL long ago, and they have improved leaps and bounds.
At least you get the joy of exposing them to many others for the pushy worthless bags of fetted puss that they are.
No, I’m not bitter at all, why would you ask that?
August 19th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Finding the administrative contact for a web site isn’t at all hard. The information is public domain. You just need to know how to look. Also, as Black Label Comics is a Corporation, contact information for that corporation is also required to be public. The best way to avoid solicitations is to have a “message only” number. Callers can leave voicemail, which you pick up periodically. There’s no telephone at the other end.
August 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
One possibility is “distinctive ring.” You get a second ring for $3-5/month, and put the number for that ring as your business number. Then you’ll know from where the number was obtained.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:23 am
I had a similar experience about a year ago. A telemarketer called from a company I had had some unsatisfactory business with in the past and launched into his pitch so I cut him off and told him I really wasn’t interested. He persisted and became quite rude so I hung up on him.
A minute later the phone rang again. When my wife answered, the same telemarketer told her “Your husband is the biggest a—–e in the world”. She was understandably infuriated and called the company which he had claimed to represent. Their only response was “Well, we have another company do our calls for us. I can’t tell you who they are, but I’ll pass on a message.”
The problem with telemarketing is that it employs people with no little or no connection to the company they are trying to promote. Their only interest is in making a sale or two for whatever contract it is that they are working on at that moment, so the threat of bad publicity for their erstwhile employer really holds no fear for them.
If you really want to get revenge on the telemarketing industry then look at the heart of the matter — These people can’t find jobs anywhere but telemarketing. The next time some poor, underemployed (and hopefully polite) phone drone calls you during dinner. don’t get upset. Show some sympathy and try to help them find a real job elsewhere. Direct the poor kid to a headhunter who may be able to help. Offer some career guidance. Not only are you doing your fellow telephone owners a service by tying up a line that could otherwise be used to bother them, you may just succeed in encouraging them to quit their job, hitting the telemarketing company they work for where it really hurts by taking away a valuable warm, talking body from their workforce.
As an added bonus you may also be helping out someone who desperately needs it.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:28 am
http://www.utopianet.org/ Welcome to the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, better known as UTOPIA. The agency includes fourteen Utah cities that have joined together to create one of the nation’s largest, fastest, most robust fiber-optic networks, the UTOPIA Community Metronet. We hope this website will answer all of your questions and help you see the power of ultra high-speed fiber-optics and the benefits of allowing service providers to compete for your business over the open network.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:35 am
“Once UTOPIA’s fiber strands have been deployed (either buried in the ground or strung on utility poles), they will have a functional life well beyond the 20 years it takes to pay for them.”
Or squirrels, whichever comes first. ;)
Couple of weeks ago, RNS had a problem they located to the fiber at the end of the alley behind the NOC. When the “outside plant person” took the boot off at the bottom of the pole where the fiber went underground, a squirrel shot out and took off. The squirrel had wriggled itself down the cover from the top of the pole and was happily gnawing on the fiber at the bottom where it had room to turn around.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I have a nice Uniden cordless phone (Note 2). It lets me hit “Mute” on any handset to mute the ringing. Once the answering machine picks up, I hit “Screen” on any handset to hear the person leaving a message through the handset’s speaker. If I want to pick up, I hit “Talk” on any handset and the answering machine turns off. With 3 regular handsets and 2 waterproof handsets, I can screen from anywhere in the house/ yard. My family is full of lawyers, I believe in screening calls. Especially ones from Schlock.
-wjb
Note 1)
“Howard Tayler Says:
August 17th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Besides, some of my friends have blocked their numbers from Caller ID. Just because you don’t know who it is doesn’t mean you know who it isn’t. ”
Note 2)
One $100 Uniden TRU9480-3 answering system with three Digital Spread Spectrum 5.8GHz handsets.
Two $70 Uniden TWX-977 ruggedized, waterproof, floating, Digital Spread Spectrum, 5.8GHz handsets
Total $240
August 21st, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Nice to see the transcript fixed between when I reported it and the next time I got on the net.
WEKM: You mean foetid pus? (Or “fetid” in American.)
I LOVE Minwee’s suggestion of giving telemarketers career advice! What an excellent way to keep them on the line!
bizzybody: I believe the technical term is “squirrel fade“.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Stupid quotes. Do I have to say ” whenever I want a {”} after a tag?
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Well, you did ask, so here I am. 7-year Qwest employee here. While I don’t work in the Sales department (I’m the past due bill nagger), I can at least try (somewhat) to clarify stuff here.
First thing is, any call that’s coming from an official Qwest office should actually show up on Caller ID as being one of our numbers. It’s honestly not in our best interest to hide when we call.
Next, as far as I know, we don’t have any in-house outbound sales folks. Most of the sales people I know are the ones who answer our toll-free number and work with people who call us. Much of the outbound stuff (especially sales) is contracted out to other companies.
I know from personal experience — since I DO make calls to people’s homes, and so does everyone in my office — that we really do always try to be as polite and considerate as possible, and that there was absolutely no excuse for that fellow’s actions. Even those of us like myself in the collections end of things are expected to treat all of our customers with respect and grace.
I’d encourage you to call in and complain about the telemarketing call. Specifically mention that you asked to be taken off of the telemarketing list. Even if the guy calling you was a 3rd party contractor, you still should get some good response from our folks.
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:19 am
Thanks, stormtalon. I’m sure you’ll understand when I tell you I’m not calling Qwest on my telephone for any reason. I’m too busy. I sent the details of my problem to an email address per RichV’s suggestion above. I don’t expect to hear back, and that’s okay. I have more important things to work on.
August 25th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I read your 2-bits on Qwest and thought, yeah, what an irritation, but Qwest has been pretty good for us so far. We just got a phone line and dsl through them because we got tired of waiting for digis to get their downtown antenna working. So we were satisfied with everything until we got our first bill. They didn’t bill us the first month so it was quite a suprise to find out what services they signed us up for over the last two months. We originally called Qwest in response to an add for $26 a month broadband, locked in rates for a lifetime. We don’t use our phone(except to be interrupted by telemarketers) so we got the $11+fees package with no extras, just so we could have the dsl service. When we finally got our first bill, we discovered they signed us up for a few extras on the telephone service, and for internet they got us the platinum plan with microsoft something or other for considerably more than $26 per month. Grand total we expected to pay: about $80 for two months. The actual bill they sent us: $233!! I don’t know if that’s standard procedure for a telephone company(you know, having the costumer agree to something, then going ahead to sign them up for all kinds of things they don’t want), but I AM WITH YOU ON YOUR BOYCOTT!!! I think I’ll just sent them a check for $80 and never do business with them again.