How to cancel CenturyLink

Cancel by phone

The subscriber agreement says to call the number on your bill. The cancel page says to call.

1. 01Call the CenturyLink phone number printed on your bill.
2. 02Say you want to cancel the residential service.
3. 03Ask for the date service ends. If you do not cancel on the last day of the billing cycle, service stays available through the end of that cycle.

The agreement says you cannot terminate service by email.

Cancel by chat

The cancel page says to chat as well as call.

1. 01Open the CenturyLink cancel page and start the chat.
2. 02Say you want to cancel the service, and give the name and phone number on the account.
3. 03Ask for the date service ends.

How to know it worked

• —The agreement says you cannot cancel by email. A phone or chat request is the method it describes, along with the Residential Customer Service page linked from the agreement.
• —If residential service ends on any day other than the last day of the billing cycle, that month of service and leased equipment is not prorated or refunded. Service stays available through the end of the cycle.
• —Keep the chat transcript or ask the agent for the end date. The pages do not promise a confirmation email.

Watch out for

• —The agreement and the cancel page call this service CenturyLink. The charges are the amounts on your CenturyLink bill. CenturyLink is a tradename for the affiliates of Lumen Technologies, Inc. that provide the service. Lumen Technologies, Inc. does not provide it.
• —A term commitment is separate from stopping a month-to-month plan. If you end a term commitment early, the early-termination charge is 100% of the monthly recurring charge for each month left in the first 12 months, plus 40% of that charge for each month left after the first 12. Moving, changing provider, or changing any part of the service that has a term commitment counts as ending the whole service.
• —That early-termination charge is waived if you notify CenturyLink within 30 days of the order date that you do not agree to the terms. The agreement also says CenturyLink may waive it. Cancelling later does not by itself waive it.
• —Leased equipment is separate. Return a leased modem, router, or Connected Voice adapter within 30 days after cancellation. The cancel page says the charge for not returning it is up to $200. The agreement says the charge can be up to the Equipment Charge, which it defines as the full retail cost, if the equipment is not back in 30 days. They can also charge it at termination and credit it only if the equipment arrives in those 30 days, or keep billing the equipment until it arrives.
• —After you say you are cancelling, CenturyLink emails a link for a return label, or you can print one at www.centurylink.com/returnmodem. Fixed wireless equipment may be removed by a technician at no cost, or you may have to return it within 30 days.
• —If the services are bundled and you cancel one, the cancel page says the bundle discounts can change. DIRECTV or DISH television on the account is cancelled with those companies, not with CenturyLink.

CenturyLink refunds

• —If you cancel residential service on any day other than the last day of the billing cycle, that month of service and leased equipment is not prorated or refunded.
• —An early-termination charge on a term commitment is calculated as the agreement states. It is waived if you notify CenturyLink within 30 days of the order date that you do not agree to the terms. Otherwise, cancelling does not remove it.
• —A deposit you paid at signup, plus any interest, is applied to the final balance. The cancel page says the final bill shows the balance owed or the credit due.
• —The equipment charge, if the leased gear is late, is separate from the monthly service.