AAAAHHHHH...How i hate customer service.

[rockinthe80s]

So the chat log will pretty much explain the situation...also my phone had been stolen which is why i had to use a payphone.

Thank you for using Qwest.com. A Qwest Sales and Service Consultant will be with you in just a moment.
Thank you for contacting Qwest. My name is Rachel P. (20474). How may I help you today?
Brian: Hi, i was charged 15.83 for a payphone call that was no more than a couple of minutes
Rachel P. (20474): Hi Brian.
Rachel P. (20474): I will be happy to assist you.
Rachel P. (20474): Will you please verify the phone number that you are inquiring about?
Brian: ok
Brian: it was a payphone...i dont know the number
Brian: here is the debit info POS 06/12/08 23:36 QWEST *TO 7342QWEST *TO 877-7937728 VA 164061
Rachel P. (20474): Do you have Qwest services?
Brian: no
Rachel P. (20474): You will need to dispute these charges with your phone service provider.
Brian: that makes no sense. i made a phone call from a qwest pay phone...and was charged $15.83
Rachel P. (20474): I apologize for the inconvenience, these charges will need to be disputed through your phone company.
Brian: why my phone company! my phone has nothing to do with this. It was a qwest pay phone in an airport, i used my debit card to make the call, and i was charged $15.83
Brian: i am not paying $15.83 for a 2 minute phone call
Rachel P. (20474): I apologize Brian, we do not handle billing issues for non Qwest customers.
Rachel P. (20474): If the charges were not on your phone bill then you will need to dispute them with your credit card company.
Brian: i was a qwuest customer when i picked up a qwest pay phone, how can you not do anythign about it .... IT WAS QWEST WHO BILLED ME
Rachel P. (20474): You will need to dispute the charges with your credit card company.
Brian: which makes no sense...ill just someone call and complain
Rachel P. (20474): Is there anything else that I can help you with today?
Brian: no



So theres my fun little experience, Im going to call them in a few and take care of this.

[TwoJ's]

That's retarded, but you really have no ground to stand on. When you put your card in, you agreed to pay whatever they were to charge you. Was it posted? Long distance I assume?

That seriously sucks that they would charge you that much. But it's $15, is it really worth your time to try and recoup? Take it as a lesson learned and don't ever give Quest any of your money.

[rockinthe80s]

I was using my debit card and had messed up on the first attempt to make the phone call, but got it to work just fine on the second try. When i got home i check my bank acct info online and saw two charges. A verification charge for 15.00 and another verification charge for 15.83. After two days the 15.00 charge cleared but the 15.83 charge posted. I think that 15.00 of the 15.83 should have been returned as well since the phone call was about 2-3 minutes and the phone said 4 minutes for $1.

I could also have the person i called pull their phone bill to verify the amount of time the conversation actually was. I sent an email in so i dont have to waste any of my phone minutes.

[blunttech]

That's retarded, but you really have no ground to stand on. When you put your card in, you agreed to pay whatever they were to charge you. Was it posted? Long distance I assume?

That seriously sucks that they would charge you that much. But it's $15, is it really worth your time to try and recoup? Take it as a lesson learned and don't ever give Quest any of your money.

he was charged 15 bucks because people will lay down and just pay it. i didnt read the whole thing so i dont know who is responsible for charges but i would drive all night to get my 15 dollars back. its the principal and if you dont speak up they will continue to fuck everyone. if this is a case of another baggypants whining about something he has no right to disregard what i said.

[Ryan Stewart]

Id just call up the bank and say I was overcharged and dispute it.

That is the beauty of CC transactions. The VENDOR is liable for all charges. So the bank charges back QWEST and its up to QWEST to prove you make the transaction.

[StereoInstaller1]

Yeah, being boned by a random charge feels like piracy to me.

I use Qwest for my business land line, DSL, phone book listings and wireless phone. I check my charges every month, and sure enough there is always some bullshit charge on my wireless account...like charges for text services when I specifically demanded a service with NO texting/data services...often $40 to $100 a MONTH...but I always beat them down.

bastards.

[mrsleeve]

Sound to me like you were getting the 4min for a dollar but there is a 15 dollar fee to get to the out side line an make the call. But the air time is 25 cents a min. You prolly missed the fin print on the call for the conection fee. But in any case I would fight this tooth an nail an get my money back. I have been fighting with direct tv to get my 580 bucks back for less than 15 days of service since feb.

[george graves]

I loathe companies that pull this shit.

Sounds like you will get NO where with quest. Fight it on the bank side.

Now, if you REALLY want to get back at quest, call the customer service rep and keep them on the line for a good half an hour.

Play dumb, go over and over the charges with them - ask them to mail you their policy, have a few dozen question all lined up, it doesn't matter how dumb they are. When the CS rep is about to hang up on you, ask to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor will be much shorter with you, but keep going and asking questions. That conservation should last 10 mins.

Here is the math:

A $12/hr employee will actually cost the company about $20 an hour. So there is $10 off their profit. The supervisor will be taken away from his/her job, costing them even more money.

You might not get a refund, but at the end of the day, it feels good to know that the company didn't make a dime off of you.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I spent 16 weeks with the Altec Lansing CS Rep Dept. over a $0.37 Zune Docking Station adapter. I went thru 300+ e-mails and aprox. 11.5hr total on-phone time with them.

In the end the person still never gave me her supervisor's contact info... that reminds me. I gotta send off another e-mail.

[KillaCams]

Fight it to the end, you will be greatly satisfied when you beat those ridiculous charges!! I've had many run ins with AT&T when i had them as a cell provider.

[rockinthe80s]

its not the point of the $15...its the morals behind it. companies in every type of industry pocket (combined) billions of dollars a year in fees. They always play the "woe is me" card, despite the fact that its the consumer who's taking the hit. Ill fight em to the death, I've got nothing going on and get pretty bored at work...

[TwoJ's]

he was charged 15 bucks because people will lay down and just pay it. i didnt read the whole thing so i dont know who is responsible for charges but i would drive all night to get my 15 dollars back. its the principal and if you dont speak up they will continue to fuck everyone. if this is a case of another baggypants whining about something he has no right to disregard what i said.

I agree with you. And no, it doesn't seem like he's a "baggypants" just complaining. I initially thought he was charged that much because it was an airport and every business in an airport will rape you because they can. I agree that the principle is the reason to persuit this, but I have such little free time that all I would do it let my bank know I was charged unjustly, and let them deal with it. I can't see myself spending hours to get my $15 back. I'm nowhere near a wealthy business man, but my time is seriously worth more than that.

its not the point of the $15...its the morals behind it. companies in every type of industry pocket (combined) billions of dollars a year in fees. They always play the "woe is me" card, despite the fact that its the consumer who's taking the hit. Ill fight em to the death, I've got nothing going on and get pretty bored at work...

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. You didn't specify in your initial post that you were charged twice, or that it was $1 for 4 minutes. Since this is so, I would call your bank and tell them that you were charged fraudulently. Put the burden of proof on Quest. And you're right, nowadays customer service is abysmal.

Good luck.

[rockinthe80s]

I just filed a dispute with my bank. sorry if anybody here works for Qwest....but what a bunch of f*ing retards. My god...im just speeches. I called their pay phone department and was told that qwest no longer owns or manages the pay phones. I told the guy that that was funny since the charge posted as qwest and that the phones had qwest written all over them.

[george graves]

What did the bank say?

[rockinthe80s]

So i called the bank and filed the dispute...got a call back not to long after and argued with the woman who is actually processing the request. She seemed to think i was crazy, but then i became very stern/adament with her and she said shed see what she could do.

Called Quest instead of doing their online chat...got a number for a specific department that seems to deal with this a lot. I explained to the woman that i ran my card twice but had screwed up the first time. When i checked my bank acct online there were two charges, one for $15 and one for $15.83, and they both said "verify address" on them" (kinda like when gas stations over charge your card to make sure itll process). A day later the first $15 charge went away but the $15.83 went away. THe woman then said that Qwest does not own or operate pay phones (despite having Quest's name ALL OVER THEM), they sell them out to private companies and let them use their lines. She also said (despite 4 minutes for $1) that these companies are free to charge any sort of fee for the use. I said i basically paid $6 a minute for a phone call, and she said i shoudldnt be shocked...wtf! She was going to look up the call but i lost my wallet on Thursday, got my debit card # from the bank but the department had closed when i tried to call back.

Again...this is not all about the money, its the moral of the situation.