Qwest Billing Errors Greater Than First Thought
One Customer Painted Garage While Waiting On Hold
DENVER -- Billing mistakes by Qwest Communications' wireless division have affected nearly 10 percent of the company's 1 million cellular customers, significantly higher than originally thought, company officials have admitted.
TheDenverChannel broke the story of billing errors on July 23 and Qwest officials said at the time that a computer problem resulted in faulty bills for about 14,000 people in Qwest's 14-state region, or about 1.4 percent of its wireless customers.
Some customers were billed up to $600 per minute for service, with the highest bills exceeding $57,000, according to our initial Web report.
Qwest Wireless President Annette Jacobs said that the company has
sent letters to each of the nearly 100,000 affected customers,
including a letter of apology. She also said that the company will not
charge affected customers for the minutes they used above their
package plan for the month in which errors occurred.
Jacobs said that the 1.4 percent figure represented customers most
affected by billing errors. But she said during the installation of
new software, officials discovered that in all, five different
billing problems affected nearly 100,000 customers. Some customers
have been double-charged while others were not billed at all, she said.
"We've put a freeze on any changes to our system," Jacobs
said. "And we're reviewing every billing cycle."
Scott Henke said that he figured out a novel way to avoid sitting by the phone on long waits for customer service: "We start our call from home as soon as possible, around 6 a.m. Qwest tells you approximately how many minutes you would be on hold."
"Just put down the phone, set a timer, and do something else," Henke said. "I painted my garage, cleaned up the brushes, took a shower, got ready for the day, then picked up the phone again, and waited only about 10 minutes before they got to my call."
He wanted other Qwest customers to be aware of his suggestion.
TheDenverChannel broke the story of billing errors on July 23 and Qwest officials said at the time that a computer problem resulted in faulty bills for about 14,000 people in Qwest's 14-state region, or about 1.4 percent of its wireless customers.
Some customers were billed up to $600 per minute for service, with the highest bills exceeding $57,000, according to our initial Web report.
Qwest Wireless President Annette Jacobs said that the company has
sent letters to each of the nearly 100,000 affected customers,
including a letter of apology. She also said that the company will not
charge affected customers for the minutes they used above their
package plan for the month in which errors occurred.
Jacobs said that the 1.4 percent figure represented customers most
affected by billing errors. But she said during the installation of
new software, officials discovered that in all, five different
billing problems affected nearly 100,000 customers. Some customers
have been double-charged while others were not billed at all, she said.
"We've put a freeze on any changes to our system," Jacobs
said. "And we're reviewing every billing cycle."
Customer Paints Garage While Waiting For Qwest Customer Service
Many Qwest customers have complained of long waits on hold while trying to contact the company for help. The company initially blamed the long hold waits on media coverage, but decided to change a recorded message after its contents became public. Qwest spokeswoman Barbara Faulhaber said that the message was removed and changed. "We had no intention whatsoever to blame the media," she said. "We take full responsibility for this." One Qwest customer said that he had to wait on hold for up to two hours while waiting for Qwest help.
Scott Henke said that he figured out a novel way to avoid sitting by the phone on long waits for customer service: "We start our call from home as soon as possible, around 6 a.m. Qwest tells you approximately how many minutes you would be on hold."
"Just put down the phone, set a timer, and do something else," Henke said. "I painted my garage, cleaned up the brushes, took a shower, got ready for the day, then picked up the phone again, and waited only about 10 minutes before they got to my call."
He wanted other Qwest customers to be aware of his suggestion.
Previous Stories:
- August 9, 2001: Qwest Message Cites Media For Call Delays
- August 8, 2001: Qwest, Microsoft Partnership Upsets Some
- August 7, 2001: Qwest CEO Webcast Goes Pfzzt!
- August 7, 2001: Some Unhappy With Qwest DSL Service
- July 26, 2001: More Qwest Billing Errors Pop Up
- July 25, 2001: Qwest Posts Largest Quarterly Loss In Colorado History
- July 23, 2001: How Does A Cell Phone Bill Top $57,000?
- July 19, 2001: Call 7: Qwest Complaints
- June 1, 2001: Is Qwest Selling Your Number To Telemarketers?
- May 22, 2001: Qwest Expanding DSL Service
- May 14, 2001: Qwest Raising Pay Phone Rates Again
- May 11, 2001: Qwest Getting Back Into Long Distance
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.








