I am a sexual abuse survivor. I had a father who screamed, threatened and bullied me and admitted to practicing killing me for the day he got up the courage to kill us all, then kill himself. So when a collection agency from Centurylink called me this morning and threatened me with physical violence and intimidation - I got angry. I tweeted about it a LOT. And I will continue to.

I signed up for Centurylink because it was the only service in the rural area I’m in. The service rarely worked, the modems burned out, I had servicemen out at least five times trying to fix it. When it was finally fixed, the service dropped. I had to manually sign in every 15 minutes because of a dropped signal. No one could fix it. So I called Comcast. Comcast rocked. They actually came out and installed lines in the area where there was no service!!! And when they turned it on it NEVER went off!!!

Centurylink is not so tech savvy. They canceled one account and opened a new account just so they could add a phone. Not sure why they didn’t just add the phone to the existing account, but they didn’t. The new account didn’t work any better than the old account. The phone worked, but hummed, clacked and clicked constantly so I didn’t use it much. And, it rang every 15 minutes with spammers and people that Centurylink SOLD my number to. Even after I put the number on the DO NOT CALL LIST, Centurylink ensures I continue to get calls from every sales dweep in the world. So I turn off the ringer and I keep it for the fax machine. Or did. So, Comcast internet was great….

Centurylink however continued to be a nightmare. So I canceled my service, requested an adjustment on my bill and waited for the bill which never came. I got a call from a collection agency for three months worth of service - although I didn’t have service for three months and there were no adjustments to it - not what the rep had promised. Seems that Centurylink turns you over to collections if you don’t pay within 30 days. I called an agent. She was sweet - promised to send me a new bill with the new adjustments. She never did. Didn’t email, didn’t snail mail.

I told the collections guy I’d be happy to pay the adjusted bill and that under state law I have a right to see PROOF of the charges. He agreed and said he’d send me a copy of the amended bill. So I wait. I NEVER GET PROOF of anything in the mail. I never get anything in the mail. But I do get a threatening telephone call - a call so intimidating and full of lies - and the agent says, “We don’t have to send you anything in writing.” I said, “Au contraire!!” but then he proceeded to bully, threaten and intimidate and scream at me. So I told him to F-off and hung up.

I called Centurylink. Talked to some guy in CUSTOMER SERVICE. He wouldn’t talk about my concerns and said he wouldn’t talk to me unless I gave him the three digits on my bill. I never GOT a bill I said. I don’t have those numbers. He couldn’t use my Social Security number? Nope. Need the three numbers. He called me by name, I verified everything else - but when I told him one of Centurylinks vendors had threatened me he just kept parroting the same information. I got angry. He said, “I’m sorry. I can’t talk to you.” I told him what happened and asked him what about my being threatened he didn’t understand. He said, “You can’t talk to me like that,” and I said, “You don’t seem to mind when your vendors talk to me WORSE than that.” So he hung up on me.

The vendor who thinks intimating that he’ll breaking my legs will make me pay a bill I don’t owe will call back tomorrow. And I’ll get his name, his company name and I’ll start legal proceedings and complaints against the collection agency and against Centurylink. Why? Because any company who uses vendors who threaten women deserves their day in court.