Outrageous fees
Global Tel Link is the service used by Los Angeles County Jail System, so you can receive collect calls from a person incarcerated in county jail. The phone number I have for them is 800*483*8314 (this is an automated system)
They charged my credit card so I could establish an advance pay account which allows me to accept collect calls made from County Jail.
Over the past 4 days I have deposited $125.00 with them, which covered 8 calls all less than 5 minutes in length.
I deposited another $25.00 yesterday, and received a $14.00 credit towards phone time. The additional $11.00 is their "Service Charge". When you do the math, that comes out to an approx. 73% service charge. HOW IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?
Calls are continually dropped for no reason, yet they refuse to credit back any money for dropped calls. Talking to customer service is impossible, as they just never come to the phone. I have waited well in excess of 2 hours and still not spoken to anyone.
Each 2 - 3 minute call, (calls are within the local calling area) costs on average $10.00. How can that be right?
You do not have the choice to use any other type of collect call billing. So the only choice that families of loved ones who are incarcerated in Los angeles County Jail have, is to either accept this company ripping us off, or not be able to communicate with any one who is incarcerated.
I would appreciate someone letting me know if
1. Is this company not governed by any State Agency
2. Is it legal for them to charge such outrageous fees.
3. Is the State of California investigating this company for illegal business practices.
I have filed a complaint with the BBB, the CPUC, and the Federal Trade commission.
It seems funny to me that an agency serving a county facility is allowed to continue to rip off consumers.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
pricing/practices
This company has the monopoly on telephone service to and from jails throughout the Country. Their pricing is astronomical. When pre paid on a credit card, they charge the cardholder an activation fee, EVEN after you have an acct. set up. On top of that, they charge a connection fee for each call AND the minutes dwindle quickly from the INFLATED cost of calls. $25.00 can be used up in less than ten minutes. On a collect call they also charge a connection fee. I have considered calling Dateline or 60 minutes do do a story about them as I believe the pricing they are allowed to charge should be illegal. It's absolutely absurd. Innocent people, guilty people, people awaiting trial...anyone incarcererated has the right to speak with family and friends...excpect family and friends quickly stop phoning becasue they CANNOT afford their prices...Must be deregulated. I could go on and on about this company, but suffice it to say, they are the ones working the sytem and I believe the system is working with them. Someone must have gotten paid real well under the table to have allowed this to happen.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
No customer service
For anybody else experiencing problems with this company I URGE you to take the route I did and file a report with the better business bureau its very easy you can do it online and you may actually see some results from this ignorant company! They tried to steal $75 credit card payment from me and not credit my account with the payment stating that my zip code was inputted in their system wrong (an error on THEIR PART) however they still collected the payment from my credit card and never credited my account with it, they made me make ANOTHER $75 payment totaling $150 and I had to file a report with the BBB to get the original $75 payment returned (the $75 they said they never collected but showed otherwise on my credit card statement).
Breakdown: Not only did they steal this 75.00 from me and not return it until the BBB got involved, before contacting the BBB I tried to resolve this issue with them myself and waited HOURS at a time being placed in their 'QUEUE' only to never receive a call back and have to call and wait AGAIN I also encountered the plethera of ignorant individuals that are global tel link employees I was hung up on when I asked to speak with a manager my credit card company also called on my behalf and got the same treatment rudeness and then hung up on...I mean it was terrible! by the end of the day I was at my witts end and knew that there was no way I was going to be able to deal with these people on my own. After I involved the BBB a global tel link rep called me back RIGHT AWAY and was just a picture of courtesy! HA! This company is terrible I hate that I have to deal with them and anybody else who feels they are being ripped off PLEASE file a report with the BBB you will see some results and at the very least they can be investigated for their erroneous business practices and poor customer service and hopefully that will make them fix their ways!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I can no longer deal with the deceit and trickery of this company!Each of us needing the services offered by this ONE AND ONLY company are already enduring trials and tribulations. We are dealing with too much already, both emotionally and financially, to be subjected to this unbearable and unreasonably thieving company! Last time I checked monopolies were against the law. We have no choice but to deal with this company and so they get away with there bad business dealings!
The rates are to high, when you have a problem you talk to a machine not a person. Iguess they know they have a lousey company.Istill have money on the phone they won't let me talk to my son.
Before I make my complaint known. I would like to suggest to everyone who HAS to use GTL, to get together and form your own communication provider "company". I'm not sure what the process is, but it looks like anyone can start up a communication provider service.
Instead of putting out money to RIPOFF companies such as GTL, we should form our own and instead of charging "an arm and a leg" for the service provide, a low rate would be charged with an option to buy stock in the company.
So, if someone knows anyone who would know how to get the thing started, let it be known.
Now for my COMPLAINT.
My fiance called me and I had to set up an account of $25.00 in which I was only able to talk to her for a total of 8 1/2 minutes. Can you believe that!
IT COST ME $25.00 for 8 1/2 MINUTES ! WHAT A RIPOFF !
There has to be a better and cheaper way for people to call and talk to those who are incarcerated.
I JUST WROTE A COMPLAINT ON HERE AS WELL UNDER GTL. THEY CASHED A CHECK BEFORE BILL EVEN CAME OUT. PHONE IS DISCONNECTED. BEEN CALLING THE LST FEW WEEKS. WENT TO BANK GOT RECORD OF THEM CASHING. SPOKE TO A REP THAT HAD ME ON HOLD FOR OVER 20 MINUTES. AND NEVER CAME BACK ON LINE. THEY TOLD ME THEY HAVE NO RECORD OF THEM CASHING IT... WTF MY BANK DOES.. THEY DONT KNOW WHOS CHECKS THEY CASH..UNREAL. SO NOW THEY WANT ME TO RUN AROUND AND FIGURE THIS OUT. I FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE FCC. I WILL BE TAKING YOUR ADVICE AAND FILE WITH THE BBB AS WELL... THANKS...HEATHER-OHIO
The money seems like the least of the complaints, it has taken over two weeks to take a "hold" off my account after calling several times a week. Actually I still haven't got it taken off, so it may take another two weeks?
I agree whole heartedly! I recently signed up for gtl corrections billing. I was allowed to set up the account eventhough the phone is in my daughter's name... This company even charged my credit card which is in my name. A week later, I was informed that I can't set up an account because the phone was in my daughter's name, therefore, she would have to do it. I told them I understood and I would like to be issued a refund.
This has been two weeks and the initial fee of $25.00 has not been refunded to my account. My daughter was required to fax a copy of the phone bill, which she did. A week later they could not verify the fax. We played phone tag... with a hit and miss here... and a hang up or insult there. Finally, I get four calls in one day. One said we owe $25.00 more . My daughter tried the phone, to no avail and the website to add money is always having technical difficulty. I want them to be shut down!
Because they are the only game in town, they feel they can treat their customers any kind of way. There's a class action lawsuit forming against gtl, I signed and I suggest you guys do the same.
http://www.sueeasy.com/class_action_detail.php?case_id=331
Fraud and scam
GTL has several times said they do not allow 3rd party services to connect their calls because it does not comply with all department of correction regulations. This is incorrect. All the 3rd party services strictly adhere to the requirements of a land line, the number's owner information being readily available, and the phone call can be recorded. No where...
Read full complaint and 15 commentsunauthorized billing
globe telelink, with out notice or warning placed a block on my phone leaving me unable to speak with my son who is in a correctional facility. They did this even thought I had established a third party billing account with another company. When I contacted them they literally forced me to set up an account with them in order to hear for my child. They then went back and recharged me for calls that I had paid for with my first company. There consumer service rep stated that I would have to jump through several hoops to fix the billing problem even though she could clearly see that my account with them was set up nearly three weeks after I started receiving calls from the correctional facility.
I feel that globel telink over charges people who have loved ones incarcerated. We already have to make sure that they are tooken care of while in prison and that's alot! Now in order for us to able to talk to our loved ones we have to kick out an arm and a leg. Globel telink is a rip-off! Some thing really needs to be done about them. And I never even heard of a globel until my man got locked up. Are they even liget?!
RUDE, MONOPOLIZING, RIP-OFF SCAMS
Customer service persons speak to you in rude and condensending manner. A MONOPOLIZING, RIP-OFF company. WE DESERVE RESPECT AND SERVICES FOR MONEY THAT YOU TAKE FROM US! Personally I think its Un-American to only offer one company to choose from for services that so many people need and paying mint for! The dept of corrections are probably getting kick-backs for letting Global Tel have the monopoly!
MONOPOLY is the correct word in fact. as this other person, "Tiffany" comments, there are other companies that offer the same types of service, BUT, you don't get to pick and choose! You are not given an option of which company you would like to go thru. It's either GTL or nothing! That's not right at all. So I think it's fair to say that GTL is monopolizing the industry and SOMEONE is obviously getting the kickbacks from it too. I think we all know who that is!
Oh whatever! GTL doesn't have a as you state "monopoly" on this industry. They just happen to be the company that services the facility that your loved one is in. There ARE SEVERAL OTHER COMPANIES that exist that also provide this service:
Correctional Billing Service(CBS), T-Netix, Securus, just to name a few.
So your claim is this being "UN-American" is a complete fabrication.
Better business bureau
Let me tell you about global tellink yes the customer service is garbage i called on several different occasions and requested to speak with at least 3 of the represenatives superviser and i too was hung up on by the employees i never got a return call from those pigs that they call employees as well as the fact that i paid for a calling card that as soon as my fiance called me one time on the card the message system said that there was no more minutes left on the card it took me two long months to get them to put my money back so that he could continue to call me from jail.The only reason why they agreed to do this because i reported this company to the better business bureau and they contacted them i suggest that everyone whom is complaining about this company a;ll get together and swarm the bbb with complaints so that it may propmt someone of a higher office to investigate them i have spent more than one thousand dollars with this company and i have every reciept to show for this as a matter of fact i paid for a calling card tonight at 800pm and the minutes are not loaded as of yet and it is midnight if they think they will get away with my money they are so wrong! As a matter of fact if there is anyone out there that had purchased minutes from this place and they have a loved one in jail that something terrible has happened to them while they were incarcerated and should have had minutes during the time period and they were not able to contact any one due to the fault of this scamming ### company should get a lawyer and sue this company to let them know that it is dead ### wrong to cheat people out of thier hard earned cash just to benefit thier pockets with thier ghetto ### hoes and punk ### dudes answering the phones there.
Sounds like this person is pissed a bit. Maybe not so much at GTL but at the "loved one" who can't seem to get/stay out of jail. I have delt with GTL on several occasions and have seen about 60 to 80 percent refunds come from inmates that have submitted for refunds due to dropped or disconnected calls. GTL has a standing policy not to refund on calls made to cell phones because they can not be responsible for bad reception and dead zones. The inmates are made aware of this fact inside the facilities and yet attempt over and over again after the first disconnect. In fairness to GTL there are several inmates that attempt to call numbers without collect call access or billing issues due to VoIP issues with the new companies (Comcast, MagicJack etc).
It is often connected to the type of folks that are in the lockups today. Call it Karma or whatever but judging by the remarks make by the person above, your success in life seems to be directly connected to your method in living. This person seems to receive the same profits they project. I would guess with some certainty that this reaches far past the boundaries of just dealing with GTL.
So let's assume that everyone is. "ghetto ### hoes and punk ### dudes " just because this is most likely the only type of people you have been raised to admire!
Customer Services needs alot more training
None of the customer service representatives that I have spoken with are consistent with their knowledge of how this service works. I feel like I was penalized (and actually I was) for making a payment before it was due. When I first subscribed to this company, I asked for all the details as to how this service worked. This is a prepaid service but no matter how much money you have in your account you are only allowed a certain amount of calls per month. Your calls do not roll over to the next month. They give you a choice of about 3 or 4 amount of calls to choose from, and of course the least amount of calls you pick for the month, the least amount of money is needed for the prepay. I was told that whichever amount I decided to start with that I could increase the amount after 2 months of service, as long as I never had any pastdue payments. Well, I choose the second to the highest, which was 18 calls per month and had to prepay $150.00 to start off. I would have liked the next step up because my husband has been ill (he is in a medical correctional facility) but that step was over $300.00 to start, which was alot for me to have to pay at one time. I felt that if there weren't enough calls, at least I could raise the amount of calls in 2 months and it was explained to me that after my 18 calls I would still have a credit balance on my account, but I would not be allowed anymore calls until the 1st of the following month. Well, I called a week or so before my 2nd month and they told me that I needed to wait until my 2nd billing cycle. So I called about a week after the 2nd billing had come and the cust. serv. person was very nice and told me that she had to put in a request and a supervisor would make the final decision about the extra calls I was requesting, and she told me to call back in a week. I still had a credit from my opening payment, but it was around $24.00/25.00 and being it was so early into the month I had more calls left then the money on my account would cover, so I decided to make a $100.00 payment even though my billing statement still showed a credit. Well, the following week I called to see if they had any word yet about adding any additional calls and was denied. Can you believe that I was denied because I made a payment! I had never been informed by any of the other cust. serv. people that when they said 2 months wait before additional add ons they meant that I actually had to wait until I had made 2 separate payments, but the payments have to be amounts owed on my bill. If you have a credit and make a payment, it doesn't count towards the 2 payments they need.(it was explained to me that was the way they could determine if I would be making my payments.)To me that does not make any sense being that I had just put $100.00 to make sure my account didn't run out.(Isn't that making my payment?) When I pointed that out to this cust. service person I also said that it was never explained right to me, and also then why did the cust. serv. person that I had spoken to the week before taken information to submit for my request? I was told very nonchalantly "well, I don't know why it wasn't explained correctly, but that is how it is". I started to ask for a supervisor when she told me she would gladly submit a request for one to call me and I just hung up. I was so disgusted because I have no other company to switch over to. They are the one and only service provider to this prison. They all need better training and the last one I spoke to needs to remember that she is a customer service rep, and they are paid to be helpful and they should be polite.
DON'T FEEL SO BAD I DID THE $25 AND STILL DIDN'T GET A CALL FROM THE INMATE IT SAYS THAT I DON'T HAVE MONEY FOR THE CALL. SO NOW I'AM TRYING TO GET MY MONEY BACK AND THAT IS HARD TO DO.. THEY DON'T LIKE TO GIVE BACK THE MONEY THEY TAKE SO FAST..THIS IS NOT THE FIRST PLACE THAT GAVE ME WRONG INFO SO I GUESS WE HAVE TO TAKE THIS TO SMALL CLAMS COURT FOR THE MONEY AND WRONG INFO...GOOD LOCK TO YOU GETTING THE INFO YOU NEED...
Overcharges and rip off
Does anyone else with loved ones in Mass. DOC suffering from this same RIP OFF from Global Tel?
From of Mass. DOC inmate:
"After calling family I noticed that Global Tel charged me a lot more than they should have. I am in the process of trying to get it straightened out. I wrote and complained about it and they basically told me that I have my figures wrong. The Officer in Charge of handling the complaints showed me a print out of all the calls that I have made so far and it shows on their print out the correct price for each call. If I talk for 20 minutes it should cost $12.65, that's $2.25 for making the call and 52 cents a minute. The maximum time I can talk for is 20 minutes. They charged me $14.82 per call! This comes out to be about 25 minutes.
(The call timer on the recipient’s phone usually says 20 minutes 33 seconds before the phone is disconnected). Also, the balance on the print out from the Officer in Charge stated my balance was $134.12 when I called placed a call just a couple of minutes later the balance stated at the beginning of the call said it was $122.98... where did the $11.14 vanish?
It seems an easy way to track this fraud would be to go get a print out of my account which shows all my calls up to that minute and then go and get on a phone and hear what Global Tel says I have in my account. Easy, right? Well, it shows that they are charging a whole lot more than they are providing.
I believe that I am right and that this phone company is perpetrating ripping off everyone to the tune of a whole lot of money just by configuring the time wrong!
Check your balances and see if they match... I bet they won't.
Service-money scam
STOP DON'T USE THEM...My sister was arrested and called me from the local jail. Global tel-link a company used by the city jail charges a minimum of $25 to connect the call. After completed a lengthy transaction the call was set to be connected...after a series of beeps the call disconnected. I immediately went through another long process of contacting the service and long story short they charged me $4.75 to run my card and a $5.00 fee to get a refund of a service I never used and never would, because by the time it was done... my sister had been released. So in other words its not worth if the person isnt going to be there for a while and they charge a processing fee and if you dont use you balance you have to pay to get your money. So for no service I paid $9.75 and received 15.25 back... this is definitely a scam.
GTL should never be allowed to provide phone service to anyone. Whenever I try to add money to my prepay account, I have to go through a customer service rep. The automated service always says my card was declined, no matter how much money I have on it. Once I get through and get money on my account, the system says my inmate hasn't called me in 6 months, although he tried to call yesterday and the day before. They tell me I have to have the prisoner make out a complaint ticket, I can't do that myself. So, I'm stuck waiting until he receives my letter, fills out the complaint ticket and they decide to work on the problem. On top of that, the prison says they can't do anything -- this is GTL's problem, not theirs.
I asked to talk with a supervisor. I was placed on hold for 30 minutes, and then hung up on.
WORST SERVICE EVER/BLOCK ON PHONE
WORST SERVICE EVER. I SWEAR. THEY PUT A BLOCK ON MY PHONE WITHOUT A WARNING OR ANYTHING AND THEN TEHY ALWAYS SAY THEY HAD 3 WAY CALL DETECTING KNOWING THAT THERE WAS NO ATTEMPT MADE TO MAKE A 3 WAY CALL AND THEN AFTER ALL THAT THEY CHARGE YOU ANOTHER CONNECTION FEE JUST TO CALL BACK WHEN THERE WAS NO MISTAKE MADE IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT IS SOOOOO AGGRAVATING.
THEN WHEN I CALL TO FIND OUT WHATS GOING ON I GET THE RUDEST PERSON AND THEN SHE PUTS ME ON HOLD FOR LIKE HALF AN HOUR. THEY NEED TO BE TAUGHT SOME MANNERS
my husband has been trying to contact me for weeks, my balance is fine, i even opened a second account account on my cell phone in case it was my service. they are willing to keep accepting money, but not to let mr accept phone calls. customer service is nonexistant, actually i think its a scam. and you cant use a third party because global tel. has the facilitties monopolized. we have childen who need to communicate with their father, theres no way to make this happen, at the cost of $2 a min. i believe the county should step-up and stop ripping off innocent victims
they didnt have a problem charging my credit card but i havent had any service an inmate tries to call but the call never goes thru my cell phone carrier says there is no problem the jail says they have no problems with their phone system trying to get someone on the phone at globaltellink is impossible evry phone number [protected], [protected], [protected], [protected], [protected], are all a recording and always say they have too many calls and to call back its the same at any time you call its ### poor cust. service a ###in ripoff and im ###in getting pissed off
The prices GlobalTelLink charges are ridiculous. They should not be given any contract (state or federal).
this is the biggset rip off since pay day advances. The government and state agenices should be investigating these people.
Their service is the absolute worst! They are the real criminals and the ones who should be behind bars! They have numerous hidden fees, and are liars.
If you can get around not using their services, than do so.
Something does need to be done about GTL! I've always kept enough money in my account so that my son would always be able to call. The last time he called GTL said that he only had 13 minutes left. That was a lie! I still had $179+ on my account. When I tried to contact them, they have a voice that indicates that Monday and Tuesdays are their high volume call days and to call back at a later time. I did! I'm at work and was on hold for approximately 1/2 an hour waiting for the manager to speak with me because he/she was the only person that could straighten out my account. The CSR that answered my call was very polite and tried in every way to assist me. She apologized for me being on hold for so long. My son still hasn't called and I truly believe that they did not correct this matter. When I tried to call today, 9/14/09, I was told about the high volume of calls and to try later.
What can be done to get better respect from GTL? Where I work the customer is always right. The customer is the reason why they're in business. What would happen if everyone cut off the service that they provide? Do you think that they'll treat us better.
What GTL does not realize is that we aren't inmates, yet they treat us like we are? Somebody think of something that we can do. They are not going to cheat me out of $178+.
Connie Marshall
Dayton, Ohio
I CAN'T EVEN CONNECT THIS STUPED
PHONE
I am appalled with gtl. They have just frustrated and gouged me out of money- for what!? NOTHING! This company is out to abuse and use the paying customer. I am sure that what they are doing is criminal. No other American business would ever be able to get away with what they do. I plan to contact the Better Business Bureau as well as the Attorney General.
gtl has blocked my loved one from calling we have no idea why. His calls were coming through fine on monday, on tuesday he wasn't able to call. I tried adding money to the account but it continues to decline me cards. I have been calling the company for two days without a response, just placed on hold and then told my time is important so my number will be added to the kiosk and answered in the order received...still waiting for them to call while typing this. Something must be done.
got a new phone number called to have the balance transferred to my new number and rep procesed it and said a manager would call me back and that was 2 months ago and still have not received that call or my balance has not been transferred to my newc phone number. Now that is what you call bad service!
block on phone
my son is in london ohio correctional and until 130 pm july 31 i have been receiving collect calls from him. today he tried to call me and was told by global tel link that you have a block on my phone and could not receive calls from him. why why why? i owe you nothing as i pay my bill through my own telephone company. i want this block lifted now and not to happen again
How about you shut up i pay my taxes to so what if I pay for there needs that doesnt MEAN GBL HAS TO RUN OFF WITH OUR ###ING MONEY SERIOUSLY . I HAve a boyfriend in jail and im paying my money to talk when gbl just ###ing us out our money thats a damn shame seriously. we work hard for our money and i expect my respect when im paying my money for what i want [censored]
Not happy woth their service at all! THEY
SHOULD CLOSE GTL DOWN!
Where is our money going with all these fees there charging & not refunding is!
Either shape up the company or it will be shipped out!
My husband's little cousin is in prison and he has been trying to call us, but his call won't come through because of a block. We have always been able to receive calls before without any problems. And, it has been MONTHS since we've accepted calls. So why the block now? I will post once someone answers this DAMN phone...I have been on hold for 25 minutes!
The worst company ever. I ca't get the block lifted i only spent 33 dollars and my bill is paid. does any one know who I can contact? I tried my phone company but that didn't
work. Ive been on the phone 3 hours arguing with them.
Briscoegirl65@aol.com
GLOBAL TEL LiNK KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOiNG iN EVERY WAY. ii JUX CALLED THEM AND ASKED THEM WHY DOES MY ACCOUNT SAY THAT THERE iS 23 DOLLARS BUT WHEN MY FiANCE CALLS iT SAYS THAT ii HAVE iNSUFFiCiENT FUNDS? THEY TOLD ME THAT ii AM RECEiViNG CALLS ON A CELLPHONE SO iT iS NOT PROMiSED THAT ii WiLL BE ABLE TO ACCEPT ANY CALLS. ii TOLD HER, "WELL ii JUX ACCEPTED A CALL A MiNUTE AGO AND WE TALKED THE WHOLE FiFTEEN MiNUTES." SHE SAiD, "WELL JUX BECAUSE YOU WERE ABLE TO ACCEPT iT BEFORE DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN ACCEPT iT AGAiN." SHE WAS VERY RUDE AND NOW i'M ABOUT TO CALL AGAiN AND GET iGNORANT BECAUSE THiS MAKES NO SENSE. SHE TOLD ME ALL ii CAN DO iS REQUEST A REFUND. ii HATE THiS PHONE COMPANY. ii WOULD RATHER MY MAN BE iN A FACiLiTY WHERE THERE iS BETTER PHONE SERViCE! ii HAVE PAiD TOO MUCH MONEY TO GLOBAL TEL LiNK. ONE TiME ii PAiD 18.23 FOR ONE PHONE CALL AND THEY SAiD iT WAS BECAUSE OF THE DiSTANCE FROM THEiR TOWERS, BUT ii WAS THE SAME DiSTANCE AND THE CALLS WERE 4.69. THEY ARE STUPiD AND i'M TiRED OF THEM! THE CUSTOMER SERViCE REPS DO NOT HAVE A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE, EDUCATiON, SENSE, OR MANNERS!
This global tel link is uch a joke. I am wondering if it is a scam because they keep calling me saying an inmate is trying to reach me etc. but when I call them back I get a run around. It says no one has tried to reach me in the past six months.Why are they still calling me then and why don't hey say who it is who's trying to reach you?ugh!
I have had the same problems you all have stated. I, too am a good paying customer, I, too get cut off after the first few minutes so we have to incur the higher first minute when my husband calls back. I have to pre pay because my payment was not posted on time. The rates are outrageous, the customer service people are as you stated above very rude and even state that this is part of the price we pay as loved ones for our family or someone we love for doing wrong. What can we do? Is there an option, is there any other company we can use? Can we file maybe a petetion with the state or states we are in complaining. They do not seem to care or realize for some of us this is the only communication we have with someone we love. That in itself is hard enough. Open for ideas if anyone has a suggestion. Vicky Horn, Tennessee
I have had the same problems that many of you are talking about. GTL doesn't care about the family. They are only interested in our funds. It seems that during my conversations with my loved one, the calls get cut off. My loved calls back incurring, yet the higher rate for the first minute. This has happened too many times for it to be a coincidence. I was informed by a operator (who did call me back after about an hour or so) that I had reached my "magic number of calls". Okay, does anyone else know the magic number that when it is reached a block is put on your phone and you now become a prepaid plan member. Oh, just incase you haven't experienced this one, if you pay the $50.00, you get a $10.00 service fee for some reason. It is ridiculous that this company is being allowed to charge such high prices. I'm not sure why we the parents, family, loved ones, sisters, brothers, and everyone else are being charge such high prices. I'm not sure why the operators feel it is there duty to "punish us" and treat us so rudely! I think it is time that this company has some competition by another company and we need to do our part and complain to everyone. I've contacted the BBB, Federal trade commission, California Government compliants, and several other areas. I'm looking at contacting the news media. Someone is getting rich! We aren't getting our calls and the rates are unfair.
GLOBAL TEL LINK DOES NOT CARE ABOUT ANYTHING -I HAVE HAD NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS WITH THEM SINCE i HAVE HAD THIS ACCOUNT WITH THEM -I CALL THEM THEY PLACE ME ON HOLD THEY HANG UP ON ME THEY PUT ME IN A SUPERVISOR QUE WHERE I WAS SUPPOSSED TO BE CALLED BACK AND 2 -3 DAYS LATER THERE IS STILL NO RETURN CALL-I HAVE HAD MY PHONE ACCOUNT FOR 7 YEARS I HAVE BEEN SUCH A GOOD PAYING CUSTOMER MY LIMIT WAS UP TO $350.00 BECAUSE THEY SAID I DIDNT PAY MY BILL ON TIME -THEY HAVE NOW DROPPED ME DOWN TO A 50.00 LIMIT AND I HAVE TO PAY MY WHOLE BALANCE BECAUSE IT IS NOW OVER THE $50 LIMIT-I AM SO UPSET EVERYTIME SOMETHIGN LIKE THIS HAPPENS THEIR ATTITUDE IS THEY DONT CARE AND ITS NOT MY FAULT THAT THEY DONT POST THEIR PAYMENTS ON TIME -THEY RAISED ME FROM 300-350 ON SATURDAY AND THEN ON SUNDAY THEY HAVE THE BLOCK ON AND THEN TELL ME THEY HAVE NO RECORD OF RAISING THE LIMIT I DONT HAVE THE TIME AND ENERGY ANYMORE TO DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY THEY THOUGHT THEY DID A GREAT THING TO SWITCH FROM MCI THEY LOWERED THE RATES BUT THE SERVICE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS FAR WORSE THAN MCI -----AND HER EI AM STILL UNABLE TO SPEAK TO MY HUSBAND BECAUSE NO ONE WILL TALK TO ME ----
block on communication
Our son says We put a block on Our phone so He has been unable
to call Us.We did not authorize or request a block so please correct.This is the second time this has happened.Never had this problem with MCI.Thank You and Your reply would be appreciated.
Yes, they are unimaginable. To my knowledge, they will no longer be handling certain state facilities anymore as of the end of this year (but that don't include all). I can't believe they have lasted this long. It is insane the way things are done. And, I guess they have lowered the limits all across the board because they don't want to lose money as they will eventually disintegrade. So, they will either make consumers spend more in order to talk and make their money fast, or they will not lose as much money when it is time for them to stop doing business. You are not alone, it is sad ($4.85?). May God bless that company, highway robbery.
I had a block put on my phone for$ 4.85 and I think that is very sad plus the complaint line won't even call me back I hope someone close Global Tel down soonand was spending limit was reduced from $100.00 to $50.00.
billing dispute / customer service
it is hard to get to customer service to talk to a real person and when you do no one can help you. if it is a billing problem and one has to be transferred to a sprvsr then forget it. you are disconnected, this has happened to me 3 times in one wk. i has $60 in my acct. on june 3, in july they tell me it's gone and that i owe. no one can tell me what happened to my money and i can't talk to anyone, i get cut off. gtl has screwed me out of money before and now they want to do it again. i have no choice but to use gtl and i receive only 4 calls a month at 2.60 a call. where's my $60.00. do the math!
Can not contact the company. I have a balance on my account, and they will not put the call through unless I keep adding more money to it. What can I do ?
I've just sent an email to one of our local TV stations that have an investigative team to see if they want to start digging into this scam company.
I have been extremely vexed by the sneaky practices of the phone company with out any warning, and they did this last year too.
mar 2008.
15 minute call $3.50, then without warning it changed
15 munute call 14.00, then it went down to...
June 2008
15 minute call $3.50...
but in march of 2009 it changed without warning to ..
15 minute call $6.00. then My phone was blocked and I had to prepay, and I only owed them 35.00...
...
so I prepaid $25.00...
I gave them my credit card number over the phone, , , , ,
my credit card number to a phone company who I did not trust...
I got one 15 minute call and one 5 minute call and that was it. and they came on the line asking for
another $25.00...
This is all too distressing to me, so I had my
phone turned off and now I have a magic jack.
I am a disabled veteran and I find this
extremely vexing.
No Customer Service/No Human Interaction
I have tried for five work days (Monday, 14-July-2017 thru Friday, 18-July-2017) to connect the Global Tellink Billing Department and have not received any call back from any representative to date.
I have placed calls daily, waiting for a representative to respond to my inquiries and no success. The toll-free number Global Tellink provides [protected]) will put you on hold for a maximum of 20-minutes then disconnect the call after informing that the caller's phone number would be put in the queue and to wait 2-hours for a representative to call back; this does not occur.
If a second or subsequent attempt to connect to Global Tellink is tried, the automated response will inform the caller that your number is already in the queue for a call-back and to wait the 2-hour time limit after which the call is automatically disconnected.
The customer service hours are Monday thru Saturday, 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM but when trying to call in the morning at 7:00 AM, the only response is from the automated response which informs the caller that all service representatives are busy and to please hold for the next available agent...this will result in the caller's number being placed in the call-back queue and the call being disconnected.
There is no actual phone number to call that does not have an automated response, as each toll-free number found results with the same effect of the caller's number being placed inthe call-back queue and the call being terminated.
After reading numerous other complaints for similar issues against Global Tellink, it appears that the FCC and Better Business Bureau need to seriously evaluate the business practices of Global Tellink.
An audit from the GAO (General Accounting Office) appears to be the next step as any business with this many complaints and non-responsiveness is probably having serious issues with their billing practices also.
Hopefully the numerous complaints will register into positive action by all the appropriate governmental oversight bureaus/agencies.
On February 18th, 2017 Global Tellink took $25.00 from my account with out my permission and now they won't return my phone calls or emails. This is ridiculous because they're already making too much money as is by overcharging for phone call. All I want is my money or my phone to be credited the right amount time so I can talk or give me my money back. If that doesn't happen than I will report them to the BBB.
Every time I attempt to contact Global Tel Link so that I can receive phone calls from an inmate I get an automated voice telling me that they are not able to accept my call because there are too many people on the line.
Finally my call was accepted. And I got another automated voice (yet again) telling me that I had to pay twenty five dollars on my credit card in order to speak with the inmate. Unfortunately I do not own a credit card.
So there is no way for me to talk to the person I love.
block calls - no representative
on your bill and on the internet they state "our customer service representatives are available to our customers Monday through Friday 7:00am until midnight Eastern Time at [protected].
i do not get a live person. i have paid my bill in full. it is going over three months. my phone is blocked from getting calls. my phone company does not have a block on my phone. it is GTL. you've got your money take off the block. get off the automation and have a live rep.
i am going to the attorney general because this happens everytime. it happened with MCI and now it is happening with GTL.
my phone bill was under $40.00.
Hey I have the same problem. I actually got some resolution by calling the numbers on this web site.
http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=Y&compid=132001633#Complaints
I think that we should all go to our elected officials and complain about this horrible company. I'm personally tired of hearing that GTL will call me back within 2 hours, and that my phone number is in there automated call back system. I've tried to send money through western union and what to you know it has gotten lost. I was also given a fax # to fax my reciept [protected]. It didn't work, it said it wasn't received. I think I'm going to start by calling my state representative and complain to him. Whatever he tells me to do next then I'll do. Hopefully if enough scammed customers complain something will be done.
Theft and ignorance!
This is the second time in 2 months that money has been "missing" off the payment my boyfried made. And hes not the only one in his facility that it happened to, all on the same night. They wont listen to him about it, and when I call them, they tell me they have no idea what Im talking about. that an inmate cant put money on their account, yet their web site has it all listed out! what can we do to get the compensation we deserve? I work hard for the money i send him, and pay them plenty in their fees!
I have spent so much on phone calls with this terrible company. Even bought
A phoe number through them which was suppose to help save me money in which
It did not. I recommend getting a google voice # it is free!
I have a $13 balance an.
the system says i have insuffient funds to
Accept the call. I called the company and a Ignorant agent by the name
Of Peter advised me it maybe a "glitch" in their system ringing my phone!
Therefore making it appear as the inmate has called many times. I was told i had
To wait 24 hrs and here we are 24 hrs later and still the same. This is the second time.
I have given $25 to accept calls from niece. I had one 7 minute call and now i am empty. They say $6.25 fee and $2.5 surcharge per call to accept and then .89 a minute. I have 2.80 left but not enough to accept a call! So they just keep it! Unearned!Thieves! that got a contract through bribes. This a license to steal and take advantage of a bad situation. I am certain when an investigation is complete, the people making the $ are guilty of bribery and the people that accepted are guilty of selling out their office. People should absolutely go to jail on this.
For Tiffany I have paid with my debit card and they still said I did not pay After me looking at bank statements which showed they were paid is when they admitted to having a system problem on the day of payment. so if they loose payments through debits imagine western union or anyother payment method. bottom line they need to be shut down
INMATE VOUCHERS:
FRIENDS AND FAMILY FRIENDLY OPTIONS - Prepaid vouchers can be sold via the facility commissary system. Therefore, inmate friends and family can deposit money into the commissary account for the purchase of prepaid vouchers.
LESS MANPOWER REQUIRED - A system administrator will not have to enter debit account deposit amounts at the workstation. By having the inmate "cash" the voucher, this responsibility is shifted to the inmate.
NO THIRD PARTY - The system runs on Global Tel Link´s platform with no third party involvement necessary. As a result, Global Tel*Link does not need to rely on a third party for any aspect of the program including the printing of prepaid vouchers.
SECURITY - Prepaid vouchers can be thrown away after being cashed at an inmate phone. Unlike similar programs, inmates do not have to retain actual cards that can be stolen.
RECONCILIATION REPORTS - Since the prepaid voucher or debit method programs runs on the Global Tel*Link´s platform, LazerPhone® provides detailed, accurate reporting capabilities through the reconciliation reports to manage the Prepaid Debit and the KEEP IN TOUCH Prepaid Voucher programs. These types of reports can be printed via the facility LazerPhone® workstation.
This information came directly from their website...
Is there a possibility of your misunderstanding somethin? Because I am confused of your true issue.
And regarding the individual that western union payment was missing: What information did you provide on the Western Union form? GTL does service county facilities as well as state prisons, so the information provided on the form will determine which system the payment actually posts to.
I think that we should all go to our elected officials and complain about this horrible company. I'm personally tired of hearing that GTL will call me back within 2 hours, and that my phone number is in there automated call back system. I've tried to send money through western union and what to you know it has gotten lost. I was also given a fax # to fax my reciept [protected]. It didn't work, it said it wasn't received. I think I'm going to start by calling my state representative and complain to him. Whatever he tells me to do next then I'll do. Hopefully if enough scammed customers complain something will be done. If anyone agrees please let me know.
Stealing
Global tel link has taken my money and done with it what they wish. I can never talk to customer service representative, and some times the representative just hangs up in my face. Other times the disconnects and will not even ring to a CSR, so you have to call back numerous times and try it over and over again. If I am able to finally get someone after fifteen tries everyday for two or three days straight, the are rude, refuse to correct problem, and they have hung up on me. I have been over charged, I have been stolen from and they have taken additional funds out of a prepaid account that was not supposed to happen. As well they authorized a charge on my credit card that I did not allow, and it was their mistake and did not take it off. They have refused to solve my problem, when I have been patient.
It sucks when you go to jail and actually have to pay for something doesn't it?
THEY MUST BLOCK OUR PHONE NUMBERS, BECAUSE I CANNOT GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM EITHER, CONS CALL HOME/ MESSAGE SAYS TO CALL GOBLE TEL LINK THEY MUST BE WORKING TOGETHER. MY SON HAS TRIED THE NUMBER AND IT CONNECTS TO MY PHONE, '''''but the message is COLLECT CALLS CANNOT BE RECEIVED ON THIS PHONE TO CALL [protected] takes you to global tel link DO NOT TRUST "cons call home" and possibly Global.
This is a bunch of crap. I've tried for days to try and get on the system. My son keeps calling me and when I try and sign in NOTHING HAPPENS. THEY DO HAVE MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER CAUSE EA. TIME I TRY AND GET ON TO SIGN UP I HAVE TO ENTER IT. I HAD BETTER NOT SEE THESE CHARGES ON ANY OF MY BILLS. THIS OUTFIT SHOULD BE IN SAN QUINTEN FOR 10 YRS. UNLESS IT'S THE DAMN HURRICANE. I AM IN CALIFORNIA. I WANT TO GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. BUT I NEED TO CONNECT WITH MY SON. GEEZUZ. I REFUSE TO RECOMMEND THIS SERVICE...SO CALLED. TO ANYWAY.
NO THANK YOU. claire
gtl do suck I did tried them put 25 on my phone talk three times and that was all ... then had to pay services fees scew them
Globaltellink is Garbage...There Scam Artist...They take ur hard earned money and do with it whatever they want...There customer service SUCKS!...There actual services SUCK! and there WAYYYYYYYYYYY to expensive... There representatives are [censored]bags and i despise the entire company.
this is the first time I ever had to deal with this, back in the day inmates could just call and you would either accept or not, but now everything as changed . Is there someone else they can deal with, because they are rude and very quick to give you an answer before you can even finish your question. I'm affarid that if they don't find a reliable company that we the people will end up behind bars!
I have tried for a week to get in touch with Global. No one answers or the line is busy?
"We are experiencing large call volumne? " All I get is a recording or no answer!
We need a reliable phone service we can trust and not a fly by night company. I felt this company was questionalbe after I could not get a copy of calls made to me by my son on the internet. A call was made and I received a copy by mail. The information did not look professional.
Does anyone know a reliable service that can be used for inmates?
I'm watching my credit card for any suspicous charges .?
WHAT CAN WE DO?
DO WE NEED TO CONTACT OUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE?
address iof gtl ----box 173875, denver co 80217----if someone in the postal service could look up you applied for this po box # maybe there's a name and address attached.?
i agree my step son is in jail and they just ripped us off for 20.00 of are debit card and when i call gtl they say some one will call you back but you no they do not call i wish some one can help but i no i am going to look in to it i will write the paper why should we keep paying out money and it does not show you payed it we can not keep paying out money to put in there pocket i think they put it in there pocket and take it home for kfc they should pay us for all the calling we do to get them to pick up the phone to talk to us and put up with them takeing from us this crazy i want all my money back out of there pocket i hope they give us a new company
I agree that they are not easy to deal with. My ex-husband had a problem with them last year and it seems that I am having a problem with them now, January, 2010. They blocked my phone without even telling me anything. My son could not get through to me. When I called the number they left on the phone and asked why they blocked my phone, they said it was because we used more than $200 in a 90 day period. Dah, who knew this was a rule. I have never had any contact with this company although the supervisor told me that I have had contact with the company (because I accept the collect call). This supervisor would not listen to my story which was that we did use the phone more in December because my son had not talked to his sons in three years until this year when they visited me. His ex-wife cannot afford to receive call with the exorbant amounts that this company charges. And now they want me to pay another $6.95 each time I give them money. No thank you. I am writing to everyone, maybe even FOX News. You really wonder who is the criminal here, ones in prison or on the outside.
these people are nothing but theives i say we call our congressman and turn them in. they have to investigate your complaint.
Poor service, lousy website, false advertisement
These people are the worst and they make MCI look like a 5 star hotel resort. Everytime you call you are placed on hold while they urge you to leave a call back number and after 3 such messages they put on it automatically. Yesterday, I called them and when they called back they hung up after one ring. I call back and the message says I am already on the list. I waited 4 hours and called again only to find out they had closed.
When it was MCI I had a 650.00 credit line, with this company only a 100.00 and without warning they block your phone. Their advance pay is a scam too, because right off the top comes a 9.50 charged paid to Western Union. Currently I am on hold, but I can't even hear a message which, leads me to believe they are closed. Their site shows no hour of operations nor is there an option to email them.
Basically they have you by the b*lls and there is nothing you can do about it. My phone is not due until August 4th and since they bill through AT&T I may be forced to use advance pay.
Their site makes wonderful claims but when it comes time to produce they are nowhere to be found!
i Hate global tellink! has anyone figured out how to shut these people down? is there another company to go through besides them? i will be turning them in to the BBB and see where that goes...
Dishonest phone service
Fort Bend County Jail has reported that they do not cut off phone calls in progress, but rather have specific time periods that the phones are turned on for inmates to make collect calls and pre-paid calls to private phones. Most of the phone calls I have received from an inmate over the past (11) eleven days have ranged from 1-4 minutes and my party and I have been abruptly disconnected within that time frame. I spoke with a very nice representative of Globel Tel Link, Mobile, Alabama 6/10/08 (one representative of rare good service with this company) and she informed me of the rates per (15) minutes, (15) minutes being the time alloted for each phone call. Yet, we rarely were given the full (15) minutes talk time before being cut off, and it wasn't the County Jail who activated this. While 4-6 minutes of talk time costs almost as much as a full (15) minutes, we are not given the opportunities to talk the full time. This is theft by time.
They took my money from my card. 25$ and set up the wrong account. Once I realized that my husband was still unable to call. I call them back and they tell me that I have to have 50$ on the account to activate it. I give them 25$ more dollars to activate the account. He is still unable to call. I call them back again oh and each time that I call the agents are rude and I am ALWAYS left on hold for a long time. So once I have the 50$ on the account my husband is still not able to call. I call Globel Tel Link AGAIN. This time I am told that the account was set up wrong again. So now I have had this account for about a week and my husband is still not able to get through. So I call Globel Tel Link AGAIN. This time I want to cancel the account and I get a different story each time that I call them. They told me that I could set up the correct account with the 50$ credit that I have on my account. I say "no" to that I want my money credited back to my Visa. I was told that it would take 30 days to get my money back on my VISA. I feel that they are scammers to get the money and it takes forever to get my money back on my card. Meanwhile I am still not able to speak to my husband. THIS PLACE SUCKS DON'T USE THEM!
paid the bill 8/05/09 my phone is still blocked as of 8/08/09.. my husband is upset we cant talk .. we need to talk... thank GOD i ws able to visit him today.. waiting for my phone to be put on... mrs gamble very upset
BEWARE... this company is a rip off..they are quick to take your payments, but are to greedy to refund or transfer balances, they have lots of b.s. and no respect for you or your loved ones.stay away, write its cheaper .. i can"t believe this place is still allowed to operate and not in jail themselves...
EVERYONE!... There appears to be a common theme of complaints regarding Globel-Tel across the globe. Perhaps everyone should join together and get a petition together to be filed with the FCC and also sent to all of your elected officials. GTL is governed by the FCC and even though those ### are all getting a kick back they still can't ignore their Constituents who have banned together to demand that GTL improve their services or get them the hell out. On top of that a CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT should be considered where you demand they pay back all the monies they have stolen from friends and families of those who are forced to use their services because GTL has monopolize the Correctional Facility Phone Systems. Put all your energy into giving these Crooks a royal smack down. Additionally, the other scam they have going is if you use like say Google Voice to have access to a local number and forward that number to your phone, they are causing these calls to be dropped or have faulty connection. When you report it they act as though they are going to resolve or fix the problem but their scam is to keep this going until you get frustrated and have your love ones call your long distance number so they can now charge you for the those long distance calls. Don’t give into them……DEMAND that GTL be held responsible ….they are commenting a serious crime…. They the executives of GTL should all be held accountable and SERVE PRISON TIME FOR THEIR ILLEGAL ACTIONS…….
Maybe should pay your bill on time next billing cycle? I don't understand how this is a complaint? Its a weekend. Maybe waiting for a check to clear?
Globel Tel Link has the most horribly rude employees! I was speaking with a loved one in a facility in Spokane, Wa. We were cut off for the use of three way. I NEVER used three way! I was on a cell phone, with a bad signal. It took me hours to track down numbers to talk to customer service, and then they told me it was my fault for using three way. I am angry with this company and our govenment for contracting such a poorly operated business. My children, could do a better job! Globel Tel Link is a joke!
Globel Tel Link is the worst. They only stay in business by, sharing the savings they are obtaining by not employing a customer service work force, with the institutions they service. Please complain to your institution about this service, it stinks!
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Yes, they just hooked me into their prepaid service by blocking my son's calls, stating a non-pre existing rule that I can't accept more than $50 in calls in a 90 day period. They blocked my number permanantly because I broke their rule. I have years of phone bills showing that that rule is baloney. This is a new greedy marketing ploy. They are basically pirates holding our loved ones for ransom. GTL charged me a 19% interest fee to add money to MY account. So not only do we pay collect call fees, but an additional 19%! When is it time to arrest these folks?
REPEATED DROPPED CALLS FOR 3RD PARTY CALLING WHICH IS NEVER THE CASE, HORRIBLE CUSTOMERT SERVICE! I WANT MY GOD DAM MONEY BACK! ANYONE KNOW OF WHAT WE CAN DO TO GET IT BACK? ILL GO STAND IN FRONT OF THE JAIL AND HAVE THE DAM PETITION SIGNED THIS IS SUCH A SCAM FOR THE COUNTY TO MAKE MONEY! IT MAKES ME TOTALLY SICK! ITS NOT RIGHT AND IT SHOULDN'T BE LEGAL AT ALL!
Whatever happened to the days when an inmate called you, a recorded voice asked you to accept or reject the collect call, and the call was simply added to your phone bill? Leave it to the ###s of the DOC to find a way to make money off of the loved ones of inmates.