CenturyLink Class Action Takes Issue with Deceptive Billing Practices

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CenturyLink Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it misleads customers about the costs of its services and charges “hidden” fees that are not disclosed in advertisements.

Plaintiff Heather Gonsior alleges she discovered that CenturyLink misled her about the cost of its services and billed her a fee of $240 that it had failed to disclose in its advertisements promoting its services.

According to the CenturyLink class action lawsuit, she is not alone. Gonsior says CenturyLink “systematically and intentionally overcharged tens of thousands of Oregon customers for its communications services.”

In March 2016, Gonsior alleges CenturyLink sent two salespeople to her home to ask if she was interested in signing up for the fiber service that had recently become available in her neighborhood. As part of the promotion, the salespeople reportedly informed her that she could lock in a rate for one year that was lower than her current bill.

Gonsior was not informed that she would be charged a $240 fee if she later requested to drop the bundled service to reduce her bill back to the original amount, the CenturyLink class action lawsuit alleges.

According to the CenturyLink class action lawsuit, Gonsior first discovered that CenturyLink had misled her about the bundled service cost and failed to inform her about the $240 hidden fee it intended to charge her if she dropped the bundled service. She says she never would have signed up for the CenturyLink bundled service if she had known about the hidden fee.

Gonsior says she and her husband spent hours on the phone and online seeking answers from CenturyLink, but CenturyLink “just gave them the runaround and continued to overbill for its services.” She thought it was an isolated issue, but later found out that several of her neighbors were having a similar billing issue with CenturyLink.

A March 8, 2017 article in The Oregonian reported on issues Oregon customers were having with CenturyLink since the rollout of its fiber services, including issues related to the door-to-door sales and unlawful billing tactics, the CenturyLink class action lawsuit points out.

Gonsior says a former CenturyLink employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Arizona earlier this month, claiming she was fired after reporting the company’s unlawful billing tactics, which are similar to the tactics Oregon consumers experienced, according to the CenturyLink class action lawsuit.

“CenturyLink’s unlawful billing tactics in Oregon include billing customers for services they never requested, billing higher amounts than quoted during sales calls and door-to-door sales campaigns, billing customers for hidden fees when they canceled their services due to the higher amounts they were being billed, billing customers for periods of service before service was connected, and overbilling customers for returned equipment,” Gonsior says.

Gonsior seeks to represent herself and a Class of Oregon CenturyLink customers who, after June 19, 2016, discovered they were overbilled or charged a hidden fee that CenturyLink previously failed to disclose.

The CenturyLink class action lawsuit seeks actual, statutory and punitive damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief the court deems necessary.

Gonsior is represented by Michael Fuller of Olsen Daines PC and Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos.

The CenturyLink Overbilling Class Action Lawsuit is Heather Gonsior v. CenturyLink Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-00963, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Portland Division.