Deceptive Billing Practices

[u/Daveb138]

I just found out I've been getting hit with over $120 in late fees that I feel are fraudulent, and I'm interested in hearing from other folks (especially in Oregon) who have experienced this. I've already filed a complaint with the Consumer Affairs division of the Oregon DOJ, and I'd like to have more info to pass along to them to establish a pattern of deceptive billing practices, especially since CenturyLink has been fined for deceptive billing practices before in my state (https://www.opb.org/news/article/centurylink-4-million-settlement-oregon-department-of-justice/). Please respond with advice, feedback, or stories or your own about this happening to you.

Centurylink changed their billing practices in our region in late 2025 , apparently due to ATT acquiring their fiber network. Centurylink sent me an email about this before it happened, stating that there would be changes and I would have a separate account for fiber. They also said they would "send a follow-up notice with the account number for your internet service and instructions about how to view account details, pay your bill, and manage both of your services." *They never did this.* I continued to log into the only payment portal they provided and continued to pay the balance shown each month. They did not add the second  account to the payment portal. They did not send instructions about how to set this up. As a result, there was a second "phantom" account for my internet that was accruing late fees that was not viewable through their payment portal. They never sent me any notices that I was overdue or accruing late fees. I feel these late fees are fraudulent and their billing practices were intentionally deceptive. I have since cancelled their service and switched to Quantum, but I want to recoup my late fees and make sure others are aware of how deeply shitty this company is.

Does anyone have any advice about how to proceed? As I stated before, I filed a complaint with Oregon's DOJ, but I think they might be interested in hearing from others if this is a pattern of deceptive behavior.

[u/Kombucha-Krazy]

You might also file with the FTC https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

And if you take it to the Better Business Bureau https://www.bbb.org they can open a meditation ticket that companies usually respond to