I realize this post isn’t really SEO-related, however, if I can draw some attention to how shady Qwest and Eschelon (Integra) are, it will make it worth it, and help them understand the value of SEO. They need to take care of their customers so we don’t have to resort to blogging about our negative experiences.

As a small business owner, I rely on the integrity of other companies to keep my business running. When we set up our office, we signed up with Qwest, because they were the biggest company, and the best, I assumed. I was wrong. As our phone/fax/internet bills increased every month, I realized I needed to cut costs, and find another company that would be more affordable.

We decided to switch our phone lines to Eschelon, and keep our internet and fax line through Qwest. Eschelon (which is now Integra) promised to save us money, and George Stewart, our sales rep, said the service would be great, and promised we would be very happy.

I guess phone service salesmen can be trusted as much as a used car salesman.

With Eschelon, our voicmail would go out every week. We realized that we were missing calls from clients, and not getting the messages they left. We would have entire days where our phone lines didn’t work. When I called Eschelon to complain, they told us all the phone companies in the area were having problems, and to be patient. It wasn’t THEIR fault. The problem was, our fax line with Qwest was working fine. Ha. Caught in a lie, Eschelon. Nice try.

We finally grew fed up of having phone lines that were totally unreliable. We decided to look into VoIP phones, and had those installed. We switched companies again, hoping to finally find one that would work for us.

Our current phones have been great, however, I soon received ginormous bills in the mail from both Qwest and Eschelon, because I had cancelled all plans with both companies. They said they were early termination charges. These charges were never discussed or disclosed to me - between the two phone companies, they wanted me to pay around $1,000 in charges for services that were completely unreliable. I was shocked. I can’t imagine charging a client a cancellation fee because they cancelled due to my ineptitude. I would humbly apologize and hope that I could make it up to them somehow.

Not Qwest or Eschelon. Nope. I had to pay. I called both to argue my case, and Qwest basically told me I had no options. They gave me an address to write a complaint letter to. I did so, and didn’t hear anything back. I wrote another letter, demanding a response. Finally, I received a response from a very nice lady, who told me there wasn’t much she could do, but she offered a $50 credit on my home phone since I was no longer a Qwest business customer. I still had to pay the outrageous fees. This angered me, but I realized I had to suck it up, and learn from the experience.

My dealings with Eschelon were very similar. I told them that I had to cancel because they couldn’t keep my phone lines working, and if I didn’t have phones, I would go out of business. After much back and forth, they said they would cut the “early termination” charge by 25%. I agreed to this so I could be done with them, but I’m not happy. It is outrageous that they tack on these fees. It’s like an extra slap in the face for an already dissatisfied client.

My lesson from all of this: read the fine print. As questions about early termination charges. And if at all possible, don’t sign any long term contracts. If the company is worth their salt, they will let you do month-to-month. (Our current company, Veracity, lets us do that.) There are reasons why these phone companies lock you in - because their service is sub-par, and their prices are too high. I’ve learned on of my lesson - stay away from Qwest and Eschelon, don’t sign long term contracts, and ask questions about any fees or charges they may tack on.