DENVER – A class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver is accusing telecommunications company CenturyLink of fraudulently charging for services that customers do not order.
The complaint filed Monday is similar to suits filed in Arizona, Oregon and California and also accuses the company incentivizing employees to continue the practice.
The Colorado suit alleges that the named plaintiff, Anthony Chavez, was being billed for services he did not order after signing up for CenturyLink in early 2017.
“After signing up for this service, Chavez then learned that he had been signed up for a telephone account that he did not request and was charged for that account. Although CenturyLink appeared to acknowledge the false account, the company continued to charge Chavez for that account until he discontinued his contract with CenturyLink,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also alleges in a whistleblower complaint that CenturyLink is “engaged in a pervasive, massive scheme of billing fraud.”
“CenturyLink has “expectations and incentive programs” for sales agents and other related employees that reward them, in part, based upon the number of lines or services sold to customers, the upselling of services to existing customers, and the growth of the service base at CenturyLink,” the suit reads.
The 12-page lawsuit alleges that the company may have collected millions of dollars in service fees from the additional services tacked onto customers’ bills.
The Louisiana-based company operates in 37 states and is in the process purchasing Broomfield-based Level 3.