Confusing New Fees for Portland-area CenutryLink Customers
Posted on August 6, 2013 by Ghassan Ammar
Tags, Telecommunications and CUB Connects
Beginning in June, many Portland-area CenturyLink customers started seeing a new fee on their monthly statement. This fee relates to a change approved unanimously by Portland City Council last fall with regard to how CenturyLink gets taxed by the city. (For more information on Portland City telecommunications taxes, click here.)
In short, CenturyLink was previously charged a tax of 7 percent only on basic phone service revenues. The approved change lowered the tax rate to 5 percent, but made it applicable to all of CenturyLink’s revenue, which includes extended area service, long distance and internet services, and not just basic phone service.
Portland-area customers received a notification inserted into their bill that alerted them to this new change. The new fee along with the wording of the notification has been confusing to many customers. It reads (emphasis ours):
“Effective June 1, 2013, CenturyLink bills include an additional fee imposed by the City of Portland. Services other than local voice lines and qualifying internet access services in the City of Portland are subject to this new 5% fee. The existing Portland franchise fee of 3% on local voice lines is not affected by this change. A service may have one or the other of these fees applied, but both fees will not apply to the same service provided by CenturyLink.”
That last sentence has caused quite a bit of confusion. At first glance, it appears that if you’re getting charged the existing 3% franchise fee, then you would not also be charged the new 5% fee. And yet, many customers of CenturyLink voice service are getting hit with both fees.
Why is this happening? This is happening because the 3% franchise fee only applies to local voice service and qualifying internet access, but many customers also have extended area calling, long distance, and network access charges. Those services are being separately charged the 5 percent tax. This means that customers’ that have both types of bills are getting hit with the 5 percent fee on these services in addition to the 3 percent fee on their local voice service. So if you have a combination of the above services you should expect to see both the 3 percent fee and the 5 percent fee on your recent and future bills. This may not amount to more than a dollar or two, but it represents an increase in your bill all CenturyLink consumers should be aware of.
Still have questions regarding your phone or internet bill? Call CUB Connects’ toll-free helpline at 1-855-892-4314. We can help you to find the best phone and internet plans to suit your needs!
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04/04/17 | 0 Comments | Confusing New Fees for Portland-area CenutryLink Customers