Embarq's customer service is absolutely, without question, the WORST customer service I have ever encountered. I ordered DSL 50 days ago. It's being installed TOMORROW.

At first, they said it'd be 30 days. Already bad enough, but okay. Then 30 days came and went and we heard NOTHING, no updates, no calls to tell us it would be longer. So we called them, and they said "Well, soon. Maybe 40-45 days." Then I heard nothing again, but I kept calling. Some people would just say "Well, no, your service hasn't been activated yet." Well of COURSE it hasn't, that's why I'm calling! All but a couple agents were incredibly rude, didn't care, and most acted like I was at fault for picking them in the first place. Then the workers show up, and tell us it'll just be 2-3 more days. It's now been a week and a half. (Maybe if they wouldn't have stood around talking all day and left at 2pm every day . . .)

So I call today and they give me the installation date - tomorrow. This is the first actual date I have heard in 50 days, by the way. I spent most of the afternoon on the phone - because I had told them this was a new place with NO PHONE JACKS - but nobody told me through this 50 days that I would have to purchase the jacks - at $75 each - even though I had made it quite clear that there was not a previous phone line in the house. One woman says they can add it to the order, one says they can't, they transfer to another who gets a manager who finally says we can.

We were told about 20 days ago that we'd get free installation for all this trouble. The guy we spoke to today says that no, installation won't be free (again, the "bawwww, it's not OUR fault" mentality) but we can get a "$40 satisfaction credit" instead. $40 doesn't even begin to cover how DISSATISFIED I am with this whole ordeal. All I wanted was the free installation we were promised - and for one of these morons to actually stop acting like it was MY fault for wanting their service.

To top it all off, I'm paying THREE TIMES AS MUCH as I would for much faster, more reliable service through Time Warner, whose CS lines have ALWAYS been friendly and helpful - but I'm too far from the road to get cable anymore. Embarq has a monopoly out here and they know it - and they use it to act however they want.

If you ever have to call them up, I suggest asking to speak with someone who isn't a complete idiot, but I bet they won't be able to help you either way.