Bad Business Practice "CenturyLink $12 disconnection fee"

This topic is the result of an experience that I recently had with our companies internet service provider. I very rarely find it necessary to talk negatively about another business, but in some cases exceptionally bad business practice warrants conversation. You may wonder how this relates to the pet business and I will explain below.

The "deceptive or bad business practice" that motivated me to write this article is the policy of Century Link to charge customers a hidden $12.00 fee for cancelling service. Now I understand that it is only $12.00 and that in the grand scheme of things that is a small amount. I believe that Century Link intentionally kept the number small so as most people would not put up to much of a fight about it. In general practice anything under $20.00 most people will take on the chin.

Now let it be said that up until this point Centurylink was average to below average in service, the internet connection speeds are pretty slow, and calling customer service is generally a couple hour ordeal of being bounced around from one person to another. But at the time it suited my needs as it was cost effective and generally reliable. However, as the business grew so did the need for a higher speed connection. As such I exercised free will in choosing to go with another provider that could provided internet speeds 20x as fast as what we were receiving with Century link.

What is egregious about the $12.00 policy, is that it is not written anywhere in the service contract (view here), nor anywhere else and appears to be an arbitrary penalty imposed by Century link to nickel and dime the public for every cent they possible can. A fee that appears to punish people for choosing a better alternative. According to the Wiki, Centurylink has 17 million access lines, 5 million broadband customers, and 1.4 million video subscribers across 37 states. If each one is charged a cancellation fee of $12.00, then Centurylink has managed to steal $76,800,000 from folks just for exercising free will.

Mind the business was out of the 1 year service agreement and was paying on a month to month basis. At this point no penalty applies, and no modification of agreement was ever sent out requesting that the business acknowledge there would be a $12.00 fee. So it really is just an arbitrary fee they toss out their hoping to wrangle in as much money as they can from people that choose to no longer utilize their services.

It is also apparent that Centurylink has trained its customer service reps well to lie to the public when asked about the fee. When I questioned it I heard “We are tariffed by the FCC so we have to charge a fee for disconnecting”; Lie, the FCC does not force them to charge a fee when a customer discontinues service out of contract.  Additionally a tariff would have had to have been filed with the FCC, and the FCC would have requested documentation inquiring as to how Centurylink planned on notifying its existing customers.

I heard, “well sir, it’s a charge because the tech has to physically come out and disconnect the line”.. again a lie.. as all they have to do is push a few buttons at mission control and their servers will stop accepting my routers IP and Mac address; thus ending my service with them. I also heard “well, we charge everyone this fee”, “it’s company policy”, “if you don’t pay it will be sent to collection” and my personal favorite “that’s just the way it is, it’s corporate policy and I can’t do anything about it”. Lie, Lie, Lie.. Needless to say after 10 minutes of dealing with me on the phone, the “supervisor” (ask to speak to a supervisor) said she could take it off “just this one time, but any future cancellations would be subject to the fee”. I told her not a problem as it will be an icy cold day in hell before I ever utilize Centurylink for anything again. For anyone else that finds themselves in this situation with Centurylink, just ask to speak to a supervisor and (excuse my language hear) bitch, bitch, bitch, moan and complain, and let them know that you will absolutely not pay the fee.. Once he/she understands you are adamant about the fee, they will remove it.. If you don’t complain you will be forced to pay it..

You see this is the problem with many companies today, they are so concerned with money grubbing and getting every cent out of a customer that they have lost sight of the fact that customer service is what keeps them in business. It is no different in our (the dog) business as while in the short term it may seem to pad the bottom line nickel and diming folks, in the long run it hurts your business. About the only thing you will succeed in doing is getting a few extra short term dollars and giving yourself a long term reputation as a shyster.

Whether you are providing grooming, boarding or daycare.. Always inform customers of all the fees; nobody likes sticker shock. If you are going to charge for a temperament test, then let them know. If they bring in a dog that is matted and the cost is going to be more than what was quoted call them on the phone and let them know, give them the option. Sure it’s easy to say, charge them an extra $20 and shave the dog, but you probably won’t see that customer again. A customer that may have chosen to get their dog groomed every six weeks from that point on had you of only decided to make the call. The you essentially cut yourself out of thousands of future dollars to make a quick $20.00.. Seems like a good recipe for failure… and probably a good business strategy if your planning on closing down soon. Above all and in summary, treat your customers right… observe the golden rule and you will be in business for years to come.