Qwest's past secrets and lies leave consumers skeptical


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	Dionne Murray said, "I had no reason to believe the phone company would just flat-out lie to me." Qwest billed her for a telephone service she couldn't even use.

That is when she discovered representatives from Qwest Communications lied to her about her service. For more than a year, she had been paying for a service that she not only did not want, but could not use.

Thousands of customers feeling frustrated and powerless over the telephone company's sales practices were vindicated in November when Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced that Qwest would refund wronged customers.

In the past year, Qwest has faced similar settlements in other states -- all because of consumer complaints over misleading sales tactics and the practice known as "cramming," which is billing customers for services they do not want.

For hundreds of other customers, such as Murray, who read about the settlement, then rechecked their phone bills, the settlement was an awakening.

"I never had a problem with billing because I never knew I had a problem," Murray said. "I have had serious problems with service. I've been on the phone with them constantly."

Service trouble might be expected for a woman who lives on a boat with her only connection to the land-based world a high-speed Internet line on the dock and a couple of wireless phones.

When Murray ordered DSL service to her slip in the spring of 2001, the sales representative told her that the service would not work without the "Custom Choice" package. So she agreed to pay for it at an extra $32.95 a month.

But it was not until she read about the settlement that she found out Custom Choice has nothing to do with DSL. The package includes telephone service and features such as caller ID, three-way calling and custom ringing -- features that cannot benefit someone such as Murray, who does not own a basic telephone.

As part of the settlements, Gregoire and other states' attorneys general will be watching Qwest closely across its 14-state service area, not only because of the interstate nature of the business, but also because the telephone company has promised before to improve its customer service.

That has created skepticism among consumer advocates and regulators. Regardless of new promises to change, Qwest plans to continue to use a commissioned sales force to answer the phones in its call centers. Still, they hope the company really means it this time.

"You see it in their advertising. They're in trouble," said David Huey, assistant attorney general who led Washington's investigation of the company. "Either they make some big changes to the way they treat customers, or those customers might put them out of business."

Qwest has run into bad public relations this year with complaints over customer privacy, plunging stock prices and a federal investigation into its accounting practices. All of that is in addition to accusations of unethical sales and business tactics.

But with an executive shake-up at Qwest's Denver headquarters, there is a new mission for the company outlined by its slogan: "Spirit of Service."

"I can appreciate the skepticism because as I've started to transform this business, I realized we have not provided the best service in all cases in the past," said Annette Jacobs, the company's new executive vice president for consumer markets, who was promoted in July to brighten Qwest's fading image.

Jacobs has made a point to visit Qwest call centers in various states and randomly listen to what representatives tell customers. And she said that she likes what she hears today more than what she heard a few months ago.

"I've told my folks on numerous occasions, 'If we have to win our customers back one at a time, we'll do it,' " she said. "We have to move from being the telephone monopoly company into one that understands a competitive environment."

In its latest promises to Washington and other states, the company has agreed not to mislead its customers into buying extra services and to tell callers what specific features cost.

Qwest also agreed to repay thousands of frustrated customers who could not seem to get the company to erase unwanted services from their bills.

Many of those customers, particularly those who set up new service in the past two years, were told that the Custom Choice package was basic service at $32.95 a month. So they agreed to receive it without any clue that basic telephone service in Washington costs $12.50.

"I never questioned why I was paying for the Custom Choice package," Murray said. "I had no reason to believe the phone company would just flat-out lie to me."

Kirk Nelson, president of Qwest Washington, said he was disturbed to hear Murray's story, saying that there is "zero tolerance" for that kind of deception in the company.

But some current and former sales representatives disagree.

They say a competitive culture in the Qwest sales office not only encourages but in many ways requires sales people to treat customers with indifference and to make a sale at any cost.

"If you can do it, you make very good money. But you can't be one of those who wants to help everybody. There's no time," said John Linville, who went through Qwest's extensive sales-training program but did not last through his probationary period on the floor. Linville, who was recruited by Qwest from another telephone-sales job, was terminated last month for not making a monthly sales quota, which he said was $65,000.

Linville said he was one of those who wanted to help people and that was his downfall at the company.

"There is so much pressure," he said. "They want you to take at least nine calls an hour, and if you get a customer who has a problem and doesn't want to buy something, the supervisor's telling you to get rid of them."

At least two current sales representatives agreed. They said it is common to pick up a line and talk to a customer who has already explained his problem to another representative.

At least three sales representatives at the Seattle-based call center and a half-dozen former employees corroborated Linville's observations.

Company executives do not deny this happens, but they say that it is not supposed to. The real problem is that it has been going on for years.

"I got in trouble several times for solving people's problems," said Michael Garman, who used to work in the Seattle call center for U S West in 1999, before the company merged with Qwest.

Garman said that under U S West, the sales culture was so competitive that employees would sometimes crack under the pressure. But "there were people with very little morals or scruples who were doing very well," Garman said. Employees like him were eventually fired for not making sales quotas.

The turnover rate in Qwest sales offices is so high, the union cannot keep a steward among the group, said Reed Roberts, one of the local Qwest representatives in the Communications Workers of America. About 70 percent of the employees in the Washington call center have less than a year's experience in the operation. The sales force represents 20 percent of Qwest employees.

Jacobs, the Qwest executive vice president, said turnover is a huge problem that the company will address so that customers can speak with more experienced representatives.

So far, its other customer-oriented changes have included reduction in telemarketing, fewer transferred calls and keeping call centers open on Saturdays.

Next year, Qwest will change its compensation plan to reduce sales quotas and give call centers specific customer satisfaction goals, Jacobs said. Sales people will still get commissions.

Roberts said that the union is hopeful that new top management will be sincere in refocusing the company around customer service. But, he said, the job "can't be any harder than turning an aircraft carrier around in a bathtub."

The Spirit of Service initiative is beginning to show itself in tangible plans at the company, Nelson said. But real change is not going to happen overnight.

"Words are one thing. Customers want to see action and then they want to see results," he said.

FOR COMPLAINTS:

Qwest customers who feel they have been misled or forced to pay for unwanted telephone, wireless or DSL features have until March to request a refund. Complaints must be signed and filed with the state Attorney General's Office. To order a complaint form, King County residents can call the office at 206-464-6684. Other Washington residents can call toll-free 1-800-551-4636.

P-I reporter Candace Heckman can be reached at 206-448-8348 or candaceheckman@seattlepi.com

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