CenturyLink Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Aggressive Sales Tactics

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CenturyLink Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit accusing it of engaging in aggressive and deceptive sales tactics.

Plaintiffs Bob Glodowski and Hollie Richman filed the CenturyLink class action lawsuit last month in Utah federal court, claiming the company runs “an aggressive boiler room sales operation and a sham customer service process.”

According to the CenturyLink class action lawsuit, CenturyLink promises customers low prices during the sales process but actually charges them higher amounts and adds unauthorized charges during the billing process.

“These practices bilked customers out of tens of millions of dollars,” the CenturyLink class action lawsuit says.

Glodowski and Richman claim that CenturyLink has attempted to minimize customers’ concerns by characterizing them as “billing disputes.”

“But this action is not about mere billing disputes,” the plaintiffs argue. “It is about CenturyLink’s uniform business model; the generate-sales-at-all-costs programs it forced on its sales offices and employees, the reckless incentive programs it perpetuated, and the rampant customer abuses that necessarily resulted.”

According to the CenturyLink class action lawsuit, the company’s “customer service representatives” are actually well-trained sales employees who are motivated to “meet draconian sales quotas and revenue targets through any means necessary.”

CenturyLink customers say they are promised one rate during the sales process but are actually billed at a higher rate. They also claim that they are charged unauthorized fees.

Some of the allegedly unauthorized fees include billing for services that were not ordered, for duplicate or fake accounts, for services that had been ordered but were never delivered, for equipment that had been properly returned, and for early termination fees, the CenturyLink class action lawsuit says.

When customers complain, CenturyLink’s practice is to allegedly make a variety of excuses in order to keep as much of the overcharges as they could. The company reportedly denies the original quoted price had ever been quoted, claims that prices or services it had previously offered were impossible to deliver, refuses to honor promised prices, denies that equipment had been returned, blames the computer system, and informs customers that any attempt to cancel their service would result in early termination fees.

The plaintiffs claim that CenturyLink is aware of its sales representatives’ actions and actually condones their behavior. Sales representatives who complain about unlawful conduct are either ignored or punished, the plaintiffs say.

Glodowski and Richman filed the CenturyLink class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a proposed Class of consumers in the United States who had an account with CenturyLink for telephone or internet services within the relevant Class Period. They also seek to represent a Utah subclass.

The CenturyLink class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of portions of the Federal Communications Act, breach of contract, the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent inducement, and unjust enrichment.

Glodowski and Richman are represented by Richard M. Hagstrom of Hellmuth & Johnson PLLC.

The CenturyLink Sales Tactics Class Action Lawsuit is Bob Glodowski, et al. v. CenturyLink Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-00384-BCW, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.