- Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum settled with international telecommunications company CenturyLink, Inc. and related companies (collectively “CenturyLink”) to resolve allegations of deceptive advertising and billing practices in violation of Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.
- According to the AG’s office, among other things, CenturyLink allegedly misled consumers in its advertising, billed consumers for amounts other than they were promised, billed for services that were either disconnected or not installed, and sent multiple bills for the same month for different amounts.
- Under the terms of the Assurance of Voluntary Compliance, among other things, CenturyLink is required to disclose all charges, fees, and material terms in its sales materials in a conspicuous manner. It must also stop charging the Internet Cost Recovery Fee or the Broadband Cost Recovery Fee, and allow current customers to transition to another plan that does not charge these fees within 30 days without charging an early termination fee. In addition, CenturyLink will pay $4 million, including $3.35 million to the state and $672,000 in direct refunds to Oregon consumers.
- As previously reported, CenturyLink reached a similar settlement with Washington AG Bob Ferguson in December 2019.