My Century Link story 2019

We headed south to the sun this last Winter so I had the bright idea to cut cost at home by placing our Century Link phone with DSL (10 mbs) package on Vacation Hold while we were gone. Per the cost for a Vacation Hold it seemed like we would save some money.

Now in hindsight I suspect all was done by Century Link incorrectly. I think they cancelled every item like 3-way calling which we did not have and each item cost a service fee to change.  Then to startup again they went through the many services, charging a fee to add each service. Wow did they have to do some work which does not sound like a hold to me.

Here is some history of our phone bill.

Payment Date Bill Payment
04/29/2019  $137.98
03/27/2019  $9.80
02/27/2019  $89.31
01/28/2019  $57.50
12/27/2018  $57.51
11/27/2018  $57.51
11/04/2018  $57.51
09/27/2018  $46.13
08/28/2018  $46.13
07/30/2018  $46.03
06/27/2018  $47.01
05/29/2018  $51.00

Note the 02/27/2019 is the cost of going on Vacation Hold along with some phone service.
The 03/27/2019 payment is the holding payment.
The last payment shown at the top 04/29/2019 is the exit Vacation Hold charge plus monthly payment.

Now Century Link says once you make any change all previous discounts are lost. We have had Century Link service for over 40 years at this same location and phone number. We have not seen a technician at the home for several decades.

I called Century Link mentioning that I was surprised by the latest bill. I did get a competent person and he was able to give us credit of $50.85 on our next bill. He also provide a discount of $5 for maybe our loyalty over the years. So we are looking at about $85 a month which is still up a bunch from the low we were paying of $46 a month just a half year before.
It is interesting that the monthly bill for phone and DSL is 8 pages long. Why is the bill so complicated. Some of the problem is tax for this and that. But Century Link adds a lot of this and that charges also.

Bottom line the Vacation Hold did not work out very well for us. Maybe if we were gone for 6 months or so. Or maybe if they applied it correctly it would be a good deal. I just figure the phone was not going to be used and DSL was not going to be used. No service less charge.