GTL Reviews

I've had to use Global Tel for a couple of years now. I was first billed by Verizon, my phone company, and all was okay as a bill through them. Then, they would no longer use Verizon. So I would get the bill, pay it and add $50 or more. I would get the entire bill and not get credited for the entire advance (I always paid online). This continued for the last two years. I got jacked for almost double bills. Then, on September 25th, they changed to OffenderConnect here in Virginia. They screw you there. I prepaid $75 and didn't use the entire amount. The next bill was a direct remit even when I had told them that I only wanted prepayment so I was charged more. I had the bill in front of me with the amount and they said I owed them $63. But the bill showed the December calls - most on the prepayment which I had added more money to and said I only owed $26.

When my boyfriend was incarcerated in the Gwinnett County Detention Center here in Georgia, I tried setting up an account with Global Tel. Setting it up was easy, though they charged me a $5 service fee. I wasn't ecstatic about this, but I let it slide. He ended up being released before we even got the chance to talk, so I requested a refund. I was then charged another $5 fee, which is ridiculous, making it a $10 payment just to put in and refund my money. When I called the first time in early November, I was told it would take 14-16 business days just to refund the remaining $15. So I waited and when I did not see the money credited back to my account, I called again. I was told that time that I was originally given incorrect information and that it actually takes 30 business days. Once again, absolutely ridiculous. So it would have been credited to my account no later than Christmas Eve, December 24th.

I opened an Inmate Prepaid of $25 on November 21. I called to close it on November 23. I never used the account; they charged $4.75 to open the account. So now, I got $20.25 that I need them to refund it back to me. Now, they charging me $5 to refund my money back. I got $15.25 that they told me first 7 days. I called back in 10 days. They said the representative was new and that he didn't know it was 30 days for a refund. How, if this is an electronic system they are fast to charge your card but it takes 30 days to put it back in my card? Now I called 35 days later. They're saying that I called to cancel but it wasn't processed. Now I got it - call in 24 hours to see what happened with it. I want all my money back. It's not fair that I did this to talk to my husband, and they start trying to jerk me off. It's not fair. You get it - pay to get your own money back. It's not fair. They are robbing.

In this day of Skype and voice over IP, there is no justification for the outrageous fees charged by Global Tel*Link. Three domestic calls of less than one minute cost $25. I understand Global Tel*Link is basically just a billing service masked as a phone service but the company is clearly taking advantage of people in crisis. The executives of this company should be ashamed of themselves. This is not a service, it is a monopolistic rip off. Shame on you, Global Tel*Link. You should be exposed and put out of business.

I set up a $25 prepaid account with GTL. When I received the very first call, before I even spoke to anyone, the recording told me that my balance was low and to add more money! This recording went on for several minutes of useless info before I was finally given the option to accept the call. Little did I know that I was paying for those useless recorded minutes at the beginning of each call at the rate of $1.85 each minute. (It should have said, "To skip this recording, press 0 to connect.") If you add the $3.85 connection fee per call and $4.85 fee each time, you put money on the account. That means GTL sucked up over $14 of that $25 before I even spoke to anyone. Then after 5 minutes of talk time, a recorded message said that I had 60 seconds remaining. The true cost is approximately $4 a minute. That does not include the cost incurred by dropped calls, etc.

The bottom line is that this company is basically the only means of reaching those who are incarcerated. For the first week of calls from my son, we have had at least 5 dropped calls stating an attempt to three way calling - totally not true! As others have also complained, they do this to take your money after talking for 2 minutes, only to have the person dial back, and the balance has decreased by three dollars. Maybe it would help to report them to the BBB - Better Business Bureau. I don't understand how a company could get away with so much for so long; they should be incarcerated!

I hate Global Tel*link's phone service! Every ** time my boyfriend calls, I get disconnected at least five times before I can get through! I have lost so many calls, and sent emails regarding the dropped calls, and still haven't received my money back! They charge way too damn much money to just be able to take people's money and not return it when we aren't able to use the entire phone call.

I set-up an account with Global Tel*Link and after a couple of weeks, they said that I can't use a different card to refill the account. The supervisor contradicted all her reps and said that they gave me wrong information. After showing her how not only were they unprofessional but so was she for discrediting them, she hung up on me. What she also did was had my account blocked once the account was refilled and after she blocked the account, she called me and tried to give the money back. I asked her, "Would I get my money back as fast as they got & as fast as she blocked the account?" At first she said, "Yes," then she said, "The next business day," then she said," 24 to 48 hrs." and then she said, "7-10 business days." After I asked her which one was it, she got mad and hung up.

I was reading a few reviews and I see people are not happy with Global Tel Link. This company sucks and I have been dealing with them for years, but only because I have to. For those of you who said you called and they asked you to send a copy of your phone bill to them, I want to explain why you have to do this and if you don't, you can't get calls. They ask for a copy because they need to prove who the phone's name is in. They do this so no one can buy a prepaid phone and get a local number, so the calls will be much cheaper and so they know who the inmate is calling. Good luck everyone. I hope someday soon there is another company that can do inmate calls that doesn't want to rip us off any second they can. PS: Contact anyone you want in the government official you want but at the end of the day and even though it sucks, we are talking about inmates and even if we love them, the government doesn't care.

I put money on an account and he is not able to use it, said he did not get it. I emailed the governor with a link to this complaint page asking for help to stop this company. Next I'm going to send it to our congressmen. You all should do the same. Maybe we can get some help in stopping Global Tel Link.

I have an account with Global Tel Link which was being billed to me each month. Now that they are changing to prepaid, they blocked my account. I paid $94.00 to them in order to have the block removed and now they are telling me that I have to switch over to a prepaid account by November 25th. So why were they charging me $95.00 when I was not even able to talk to my son for over a month?

I opened an account for $25 two months ago in order for my child to call me on my cell from prison. He can't ever get through because it is a "blocked" number, which is why I paid for a prepaid account. I called customer service, who all have very heavy accents (for their convenience I think) and constantly interrupt while you are explaining the problem. The first time I called I was told to be sure my child does not call collect. Still, he can't get through. I called again and I am told that I must supply GTL with a recent copy of my utility bill and a recent copy of my phone bill. This feels like a scam to me. Really, this company needs to be stopped. They will not return any money and I imagine the company is run out of someone's home. I think everyone who has a bad experience with this company should write their state attorney general and complain.

I've been paying money to Global Tel Link since June 2012. When the money goes into the account for my son to call home from jail, the account is missing $2.00 to over $5.00 depending on the amount of deposit. They have dropped calls for no reason at all and I want the money refunded for cell phone drops. It tells you how much money is on your account before you accept the call. When he calls back after the calls, more money is missing from calls we did not use. It's really pitiful that people are trying to stay in contact with their love one and this company takes advantage of people, and people's hard earned money. They need to be shut down!

I received a call stating that my service provider does not accept or has a block on collect calls. In order to accept the call, I must first start a prepay account, in which I do so for $25. The line tells me to please hold to be connected, only to hang up on me. My phone rang again, only to be disconnected again. I called Global Tel and they said that if it continues, they will refund me my money back. The next day, I called because I still cannot accept the call and requested my funds to be refunded, only to be told that I was being charged for a call $8, that I never was connected too and that it would be a $5 refund processing fee. Are you serious? So you really think that you will be just taking my money from me for services you never delivered. This should be illegal. They need to be shut down immediately.

I had the same dishonest treatment from Global Tel-Link. They called our house asking for more money when nobody was actually trying to use their service anymore. We paid them assuming somebody was trying to call, but Global Tel-Link thinks this is a legitimate charge. Everybody needs to file an FCC complaint against Global Tel-Link **. The FCC does follow up on every legitimate complaint and will often force the company to refund your money. The FCC has the power to shut down the company completely (and they will) if they are not acting responsibly, but they need everyone's complaints for ammunition against the company.

Double paying and bad service - I have been getting harassing calls from a person in the system. It has taken two weeks to get a block on my phone. I had to explain three times to three different people before I got any help. ** service, ill-tempered reps and they want my money. Not hardly.

My son is in jail for over about 6 months. When he calls me, we just talk about for like 10 minutes. When he calls back, all the fund is 0.00. Why are they doing this to us? They are making so much money by stealing from people.

This company is definitely ripping us off. I am so angry. First, those service charges are ridiculous. Now every time I try to use my credit cards to make a transaction, they say it is declined! I have money on my account and when I finally got through to customer service, they tried to tell me it's my bank's problem and it's not on their end. They are a bunch of liars. Why is it necessary for them to hold any money regardless of how many times our loved one calls and we don't answer? I'm all for a class action lawsuit. They are making billions off of us and so are the facilities they do business for. If anyone would like to work on the lawsuit with me, I can be reached by email: **. Let's get started pushing back!

During the time my husband was incarcerated, we had the unfortunate experience of having to use Global Tel*Link to communicate. Every time I'd put the maximum amount of money on the phone and we'd talk for only a few minutes, the next time he'd call, the recording would say we're out of minutes and I'd have to do it all over again. Then there was some kind of block Global Tel*Link put on our phone service, which our provider is AT&T, that wouldn't allow me to simply accept collect calls through AT&T. There was no way of dealing with Global Tel*Link in resolving either of these issues.

A family member has been calling collect for over two years from a facility in SC and last week, I get the recording stating my account is needing money! I have no set up account with Global Tel Link as the calls have always been billed through AT&T. Thus no connection as usual; now begins the journey, over two hours of calls to Global and AT&T and nobody knows a thing about the other. AT&T gave me one number that assured me I would get a $100 Walmart card if I pressed 1. The calls to Global just wanted to sign me up with a pre-paid account which I did not and won't do. And finally, some almost non-understandable guy on another planet told me, it was a new company policy that all had to pre-pay.

About two weeks ago, I added $25 to my prepaid since I had $4 left and my calls were okay before. After they took $4.25 processing fee, I was left with $24.25. My husband tried calling three times last week. He was unable to hear me but I could hear him perfectly. The calls lasted 2-3 minutes each in which they have taken $14 to calls that obviously had no connection on his end. Customer service told me they will investigate and it takes about 5 days to get a refund if they find a problem. They also mentioned that if a call is dropped or has a problem in the first 5 minutes, they will refund. I've been told so many different things from different reps. This Friday was the 5th day. So far my account has not yet been refunded.

My son was in jail in May. I got charged twice for about 6 calls. Each was on the exact same day, exact same time, and exact same length, but from 2 different numbers. How is that possible? I can't contact them; they have no way on their website. I can never get them on the phone. I had my phone company put a freeze on my account, and I'm not paying until I talk to someone from Global Tel*Link. And since I have tried repeatedly to contact them with no luck, I'm done! They can call me if they want to get paid. They have my phone number. I am all for a class action suit against them. Anybody else?

I tried to put $25 toward my account and was charged 3 times totaling $75. And after speaking with 8 customer service representatives and 2 supervisors, I realized they are all a bunch of incompetent idiots. I have submitted a review to BBB and have filed a claim through my bank to get my money refunded. I also plan on calling board of public utilities to make another complaint. How has this company been allowed to get away with such unprofessional practices for so long?

We have been using this company for years and they have continually charged outrageous fees for the inaudible service provided. They forced us to use their services for the collect calling when we were just fine with our local long distance company. The calls from the prisons are either dropped, not able to be connected, or are connected with a line that you cannot hear on. Our complaints have no just response. No refunds or credits were ever given, but we're denied because they do no refunds at all. If you call their very own customer service number, you may never get to talk to somebody because they are closed. Our $100.00 overpayment (due to their faulty billing) has not been received, even though we requested it 4 months ago. Who says class action?

On Sunday, August 26, 2012, I received a call from my son who is in the Denver County Jail. When I got the call it was clearly a bad connection, so I asked him to hang up and call me back. He did this and the second call was much clearer. After our conversation I tried to call Global, but they only work Mondays to Fridays. So Monday morning I called Global again. I was left on eternal hold. Then when I did speak to a person, I was explained the rules. There are no refunds to accounts that are to cellphones and any refund will cost $5. Each call is like $4 because the call goes to Mobile Alabama. So we have to pay long distance charges for a local call. Why doesn't the state, city or counties in Colorado use local services? I am a state employee who has not had a pay raise in four years, yet we let another state take our money. My opinion is Global Tel Link are bigger crooks than the ones in county jail!

This is wrong. I called three times and each time I called them, I was charged $25.00 which added up to $75.00. The calls were not connected, they did not show up on their end, but the charges are showing on my credit card. I will try again to get a credit; it's not fair when your hard-earned money is being taken away by these companies.

For the last several weeks, every time my husband calls, he said it sounded like we're talking through a puddle. We've been talking several times a week for many months where I've had no issue until recently. I have an iPhone with a Sprint account and I've had Sprint reset the satellites, call from a landline, etc. I pay incredible amounts of money for my children and I to talk to my husband throughout the week. Nothing has worked. We use Global Tel*Link and if anyone reading this knows a way out of the HDSP Susanville, CA phone **, please let me know. Thanks so much!

How can they be a company? I got so ripped off by this company. I once paid them $25 for a 4-minute call. I can't believe how a company takes advantage of people. I called them and they said that there was nothing they could do. As soon as I would add money, say $50, they would automatically deduct $10 leaving me with $40. I hate the way they rob people. It's like taking advantage of people and not caring. I would always get disconnected. I hate this company!

I sent the information for my son 14 days ago. I called the last 4 days - no account. Now, when I tell the person on the phone what’s up, she goes on to tell me that they told me the wrong fax number and it is going to take 14 more days. I read all the comments and they are not lying - things that they say are happening to me and this company ain’t **. My son will just have to write. They will get no money from me point blank.

My mom is 70 years old and she recently got service with AT&T so she can receive collect calls at a much cheaper rate. But lo and behold, she was told because she started using their prepaid services (Global Tel) that she still won't be able to receive calls. She then asked why is that if she no longer pays for their service, and again she was told because she started using their service, she can't use her own service provided by AT&T. This is ludicrous and some **. What a rip-off. Trust and believe that I'm contacting DA because there's no way you all can do this especially with no contract signed or strictly word of mouth. Global Tel is definitely a scam because there's nowhere on their website that states that. I hate people who try and get over.

Where's my money?! Let's file a class action lawsuit! Two days ago, I posted a $25 payment for inmate calls using Global Tel Link online payment service and am being told that I never made a payment. Yet my checking account clearly shows that the organization, DSI, deducted that amount from my account. I have spent four and a half hours and have talked to at least 3-8 customer service representatives and superiors from PCS, DSI, Offender Connect (via email) and Global Tel Link today and yet no one knows where my money is! I never experienced this level of dishonesty, evasiveness and incompetent customer service representatives and service in my life! I just want my money. And, I really would be willing to sue this company for everything it has! It's a scam!

This company is run by a sad bunch of incompetent idiots! Let me start off by saying that I worked for Sprint for years and had already some dealings with them from their side. It didn't seem to be too bad, but as a customer who wanted to speak with her brother well, it was an absolute nightmare! It began almost 4 months ago when I tried to fax in the necessary paperwork to get an account set up for my cell phone. I waited the 3-5 business days that they tell you about. The first time, they said they had no records that I even called and for me to try and send the info again. I did that and waited the 3-5 days again. I called back, and they said that yes, they had a record that I called but had not received my fax! Needless to say, I went through this at least 3 more times. Every time I called, there was always some kind of story as to why this or that went wrong.

My son has called me at ** several times, only to have the call dropped, ear piercing fax-like tones that cause a disconnect, loud static noise on both ends of the call so you can't hear. The automated accounting that tells you what your balance is so far is inaccurate at least 70% of the time. Your phone number is not easily located, displayed or found, thus causing at least 15 minutes to 20 minutes to hunt your number down. I called and complained last week and the customer service rep could not help me or would not help me and told me that something else must have happened. He would not review the recording, he would not allow me to speak with his supervisor and said, after I spent 30-45 minutes, that I would have to call back at least 24 hours later and he would not take my number and give it to his boss when he or she would be available.

I've tried to get GTL to improve the service from White Post Diversion Center in White Post, VA without any luck or responses from them by calling their 800 number because they don't provide any means of contacting them via the web on the billing site. We actually have two phone numbers my son calls depending on our location that day and both numbers have the same issue. Extremely low voice levels from White Post and in some cases, he has to hang up because we don't hear him at all. I know it is their service because we have no volume problems with the announcements they make about the call. Also, I can hear him say his name clearly to their system but then when our lines are connected, the service is poor to very bad.

I want my money back! I was just told that the money left on my account from the first time I set up an account is gone! After 90 days they closed the account. Where does the money go? No one knows. This time I want to get a refund ASAP. No such thing, it will take 7-10 business days for it to go back on my account and they are charging me $5.00 to get my refund! It’s my money! I had to pay to get the account set up now more money to close it! What a rip off. I asked the person who governs this company who to complain to, she had no idea. Well you can be sure I will find out. They are nothing but thieves!

I am pissed, because I have been using the service for about a month, and the recording goes in a loop. Hit #5 to connect to inmate, so I press it. It rarely lets us connect. I called last week, and the operator told me it will be 3 to 5 business days for the matter to get resolved. LOL, funny. So a couple of times more, I was able to connect. Now we are in the loops again, and I can't talk to my love. I am irritated. So I called again, and she told me we have to start the process over again with tech support. Once you connect, it starts all over again. So now loops again, and I need to talk to my man. The operator told me she only had seen this happen once before. What a cheesy service. The operator was nice, but hey I want to see progress on my end. I want to talk now! Why would a prison use this company? Oh yeah, they don't care.

My son is located in Lapalma. We used to use IC Solutions. It was okay. I have been on the phone since last night for about 3 hours and this morning for already 3 1/2 hours, trying to add money to my account so my son can call me. I cannot get a live person and finally gave up. I guess I will just write a letter.

I've been using their service for 4 months now. Nothing out of the ordinary - I pressed 0 to accept the call and we got disconnected a second later. I waited till he called back and again pressed 0 to connect. This time a minute into the conversation, it disconnected again. I called GTL’s customer service to see if I can get credited or a refund for my 2-minute call that costs me $14 and some change. Miguel the operator didn't seem interested in helping me out. All he kept on telling me was, “We do not do refunds/credit for drop calls. If you don’t like our service, go else where.” What the **! It’s not my fault that your service cut my call. If I could use another service, I would. GTL, you worthless piece of **! You need to stop ripping people off! I don't understand why they are still in service with all these complaints!

First of all, my husband has been away for some time and I have always paid my bills, sometimes in the hundreds of dollars, most of the time with credit in my favor. All of a sudden, I started receiving letters from collections. I figured this must be a mistake. Global Tel*Link claims that they have been sending me bills for almost a year. Now that I haven't paid collections, they're calling my phone off the hook but I don't have any blocks on my phone so I still figure this has to be a mistake. I still received calls.

I don't even know where to begin with all the things wrong with Global Tel Link. Starting with the difficulty in setting up an account to the outrageous fees that they charge, the blocking of phone calls after taking your money and their trained monkeys in customer service who have no idea of what they are doing. When I finally got my account set up and put the initial $25 on it that ended up being $20.25, I was still unable to accept calls because they froze the funds due to my husband trying to call too many times while I was struggling to get started. I tried using their automated system and ended up with the funds frozen on three different credit cards. The credit cards were fine, but their system screwed up entering the charge.

Terrible connection and fraud - I have pre-loaded an account to have calls sent to my cell phone. The person calling me has called me a total of 9 times and only one call has been connected. This company and its service is a sham. They take your money and charge you for calls that are not connected. I don't even care about being reimbursed at this point. I just want my child to talk to his father. It is heart-breaking for him to hear the phone ring and just when the call is being connected, the line drops. Completely unfair.

As if your loved one being locked up isn't bad enough, here these jerk-offs are profiting from it. So I spent at least $200 a month on phone calls with them. My husband calls me and it says he has insufficient funds. I called the 1-800 number and sure enough, it says I only have 9 cents on there. I called customer service for what reason I don't know because there's nothing they can do about it. They see there's more than 9 cents on there but they can lift a hold on my money for 24 hours. How do you pre-pay for something and then they will give you access when they are good and ready to. ** I hope no one gives these rats ** another penny of their money.

I was told that the charge for Greenville County Detention is $1.76 for 15 minutes. I paid a total of $25.00. I have over 10 calls that do not come through, but the calls were still charged and deducted for the prepaid deposit. They are stealing the consumers' money and will not refund or credit the money back. They will argue with the consumers, even though the latter are correct. I have kept record of the calls and expressed to them that they did not get accepted, and they have trained the customer service team to lie and steal from poor family of inmates incarcerated. I want something done about this right now. They have too many complaints, and the government has done nothing.

I called to set up an account for my incarcerated child and recently moved to Powhatan Reception Center. I called with my debit card in hand willing to fully load the phone. My usual is to put on $200 and that lasts from 1 to 2 months. To my absolute shock, I would be required to provide my personal and private utility billing and bill for my cell phones just to pay a ridiculous price for my child to call me. The pricing is bad enough but to require a person to give out all their personal info and then pay such high fees for the calls is not only intrusive but absolutely wrong and punishing for those of us that are actually law abiding.

My boyfriend went to jail 2 months ago. I opened an account, had to fax them my phone bill and utility bill. I had to send it 3 times because they claim they never got it. Well, he came home the day after I put on $40.00 to the account. I talked to him once. I had a friend call me from jail 2 nights ago and it said I had to add money. When I called and sat on the phone for 45 minutes, they told me that I never put any money in there as I’m looking at my credit card bill and the date they took it out. It never got resolved so they took $35.00 and there is nothing I can do.

Global Tel told me for $25, to have my son's call from jail, I would have to use a prepaid or credit card. With that, there would be $3 and a chance for initial connection and .89 per minute. I was on the phone for 10 minutes and my call disconnected. Somebody with a brain can do the math. Keep in mind that the phones we use today keeps a counter for every minute you talk, that's how I know how long I was on the phone. At first, I thought it was the jail disconnecting the call but when my son called back, it said insufficient funds. When I called Global Tel Link back, they blew me off. They would not let me speak with no one or refund my money or give my minutes back, they would not send me to or give me the address and phone number for me to file a complaint. There were basically no consequences and because these are your loved ones in jail, it's like who cares and that's not right. There needs to be some action taken against this company for what they are doing because I know I'm not the only one.

For the last six months, I have been making $20 - $25 payments to my account per week online with debit card. On Saturday, April 28, 2012, I did as usual, made a $20 payment. When I hit "submit", my screen flashed rapidly and then confirmation came up indicating I had made a "$200 payment". Wow! When I went to print the confirmation, it would not let me. I had to wait until Monday to call. After speaking with 4 CSRs to supervisors and being on hold for 15+ minutes each time (call took over 1-1/2 hours), I was told they would not refund my money but they could only freeze all collect calls for 30 to 60 days.

I tried on numerous occasions to have collect calls come to my phone. The prepaid account is sucking me dry. You put $25.00 to start and the next thing you know you are down to $3.00. Their system is faulty. I called to speak to a supervisor (Al) and was told because I set up a prepaid account that I will never be able to receive collect calls. An AT&T representative named Laurie called to help solve the issue. They told her something totally different. They told her that I have to have a prepaid account with them for 6 to 7 months before I can receive collect calls.

I requested a refund for one of the numbers on my account on April 5, 2012 from Global Tel Link. I was told it would take 7 to 10 days from the day called for the money to be applied back to my credit card. Those 7 to 10 days went by, I have yet to see a refund. So I emailed them to see what's going on. I got an email back from Joe ** stating that there wasn't any notation of me requesting a refund for that number, which I knew I requested a refund for that number on April 5, 2012. So I emailed Mr. ** back letting him know that I did request a refund for that number. He emailed me back saying, "Sorry, I made a mistake. I do see where you request a refund and it's going to take 30 to 60 days to get a refund." What I don't get is how I went from getting told I had to wait 7 to 10 days to now 30 to 60 days. I never in my life heard such thing. Also, I have noticed that they would charge me $1.29 and a fee of 5 cents then they would start charging me $1.29 and a fee of 3 cents for calls, which I don't understand the reason for that.

They are taking money without a connection. I put $50.00 on my account. I did not accept a call and the recording said there was $37.00 on the account. Later, my daughter called and the recording said there was $31.00 on the account. I want a printout of these connections and charges.

My boyfriend called my phone and I accepted it for a 15-minute phone call and the service cut us off at 3 minutes, but I just put $25. I don't understand why that happened. I need some answers and my minutes put back on my account please.

I have a friend that used to work at what she would call the evil corporation GTL. She did tell me that there are 3 offices, one in Mexico which is the worst since it's a new office and everyone is new and under cheap labor that can barely speak English or Spanish for that matter, and messes up everything and dumps everything on to the Florida office. There is a third office, which is the Alabama office as well but they close early. Their goal is when they are on the phone with customers, they have to be off the phones within 4 to 5 minutes call per their company or their evil main illogical head manager Elaine, which isn't right. They really need to explain their rules and policy and stop showboating the time of their calls. A lot of people don't know what's going on or how the system works.

I couldn’t receive a call. I already have a GTL account. When my nephew called, I had to pay $25 more to receive his call. He called again. I got the same message, press 5 to set up an account. This happened 4 times. I have over $70 in my account. Why is GTL so inadequate?

My friend is in prison. It took two months and several people before Global Tel would take the block off my phone, even though they had my money. When we do talk, I'm charged for calls my answering machine picks up. I put $25 on my phone, $5 is always subtracted, leaving me with a $20 balance. My friend called once and it left me with a $17 balance. The next time he calls, we talk for 15 minutes and he doesn't call back. I call to check my balance and it says I owe Global Tel 75 cents. He is local and only 17 miles from me. I spent less on calling cards when my ex-husband was in Iraq.

This company is guilty of usury! They have somehow blocked my telephone company, CenturyLink, from my ability to receive collect calls billed through normal channels. After three months of collect calls, accepted directly by me, Global Tel Link cut off my access and demanded prepaid calls. The first call cost over eight dollars; the second call shut off my end of the line. The calls were continually interrupted by dead air. I wonder how this fraud of a company is allowed to continue to operate. Oh yes, on inquiries, the responders are very belligerent.

There is a block on my phone from a prison. I have tried everything to get this block off but they keep telling me that it is resolved but each time the inmate tries to call, it is still blocked. If they try they could find the problem and correct it but I guess they just want to keep my money. I do not want the money. I want my granddaughters to be able to talk to their dad because they miss him so much. They are 13, 8 and 6 and they don’t understand why their dad won’t call them.

I tried 2 prepaid cards and my credit card. Each one was not accepted, but they took my money and refused to put it back or give me my minutes.

I have a brother in a Bay Area Correctional facility. After receiving a couple of calls, the next time he called, a recording came on and demanded we provide a call card payment in order to transfer the call. I immediately called my long distance company who we have had for 10 years and they confirmed I had not authorized anyone to place a hold on my home phone.

My brother called me from M.O.C.C, it said I had 6 dollars and something on my balance. In less then 1 min, we were disconnected, so he called back and it said I had 3 dollars and something on there and was disconnected again. So I called Global Tel*Link, a clerk tells me my account is frozen because of a back to back call, so I told her, there would not have been a back to back call if we had not been disconnected. Her response to that was, I can't see the calls you are talking about, for 6 to 8 hours you can call back then and in the mean time I can get any calls from him. I don't understand how they can stop calls I pay for and charge me for calls I don't get to talk.

I am receiving calls from ** on my cell phone. I am called numerous times a day, morning, afternoon and evening from the same number. When you answer it, the system tells you it's a call from Global Tel Link and if you wish to block the calls, you press numbers on your keypad. When or if you do, the system tells you that they are going to bill you to block this number. Who gives this company the right to call repeatedly on your personal cell phone and then when you try and stop them, they want to bill you for doing so? Please investigate and have them shut down this practice immediately.

I got billed $60 for the service I never received. I tried numerous times calling the customer service, but could never talk to anyone live. I don't know who else to call. I spent all day trying to call and emailing customer service, but no one has ever got back to me or at least give me the status of my order.

Global Tel*Link’s collect call service is a fraud. All it does is take our money. I’ve spent $200.00 in calls and only spoke like 12 minutes every $25. That’s robbery.

When you accept the call and get charged, you can hear nothing. Other times you accept and you pay, but you get dropped. Then if you want to have your credit moved to another phone, they won't. Just crappy services. Well they said since I use Magicjack, I get no refunds for dropped calls and I can't have my credit moved to my cell. They are a ripoff not because the calls are high, but because of the dropped calls and the muted calls you pay for.

On multiple occasions when trying to connect the person calling collect, the call is dropped and they still took out the amount for the call. I have called their customer service multiple times and each time was told that we talked on the call when in fact no connection was made. When the person is calling collect, their machine tells you how much is available when the call is coming in before the call is dropped without connecting. When the person calls back and they tell you what is left, they have taken out for the call that was never connected. They are really robbing you blind.

I have tried to set up a prepaid account so my friend can call me from county jail. The first time, it worked. But I have tried four more times and they kept my money and nothing was added to my account. I've called with no luck and my friend still cannot call me.

I was charged with 2 $25 transactions, and only credited 1 $25 transaction, to credit my account. It took them 1 minute to debit my bank account. I was advised to mail in a snapshot of my bank account that shows two transactions were debited. Really? How about faxing that information, or better yet how about going over to the billing department and look at the accounting system, which should display that there were 2 transactions. The core business values stands out with this company, when you call and ask for a supervisor three times, and they are too busy to answer customer service calls. I was on hold for 30 minutes the first time, the second time 20 minutes, and the third time, 30 minutes. The fourth time I called, I was irate and explained that I am not going to be on hold, and that I want to speak to a supervisor in the next 5 minutes, and that I did not want to listen to elevator music.

Global Tel*Link phone advanced pay automated system declined my debit card and they deducted the transaction without a bank hold. My complaint is that after speaking with two customer service reps and being told their system was down and I would get a release of my funds after 24 hours, that happened on 2-22-2012 and today is 2-26-2012. Their system is updating ironically after I complained that there isn't any. Records of me having any Global Tel*Link service in the past six months and my number isn't in their system, which is a lie because my fiance have called through Global Tel*Link since last year. I have read other reviews of same incidents but luckily I have phone records and bank statements. Customer rep was unprofessional and had me on hold and came back to phone smacking like she was eating chips. She was so rude and had an attitude. They take money off. He tries to get through but call isn't accepted surprisingly but the $2.75 back on phone. But I can't put $25 back on my card.

I have read, literally, every complaint posted here regarding Global Tel Link. Each and every one is valid and I can identify with almost all of them. The last time I received a call from Lynwood CRDF in Los Angeles, CA was on 2/14/2012. At that time, my balance was $21. The phone call was 11 minutes in length, leaving a balance of $16.31. Today I received another call with the automated system saying that I needed to set up an account to receive calls. This was extremely frustrating, but not a surprise, as this was the third time this happened.

This is one of the very few call centers where we do not have to put up with your crap. If you want to receive calls, you pay, easy as that; if you do not like the service, then that is too bad. Maybe you should teach your criminals better. You call and complain about us ripping you off, about us hanging up on you, about the calls being dropped, about the horrible customer service. What you are receiving is a luxury, yes , a luxury! The privilege for an inmate to communicate with someone else after he/she has committed a crime. You want to talk to your loved one, you pay, bottom line! All you do is complain, complain, complain! This is not cable service, internet or telephone service, it's customer service for your criminals! I left jobs like those because all you want to do is treat us like crap, call us names and try to put us down. At least here, I have the freedom to not take your insults. Feel free to complain some more, every time I answer the phone, I'll be more than happy to assist you! Thank you for calling Global Tel Link, my name is... How may I help you today? LOL

My son called collect and I was automatically charged without my approval. I did not press any keys on my phone was charged without approval on my card. Don't know how they did that but I have used you in the past very upset and to me that was fraud.

I am not taking anybody's side but there are a lot other inmate call services that are bad as well.

I have a landline that I have had for almost 30 years and was receiving collect phone calls from my son who is incarcerated in the same county as I live in. I started receiving calls stating I had reached my limit and my phone company had blocked me from receiving any more calls. I checked with my phone company and they had not blocked my line or restricted my line at all. Global Tel*Link had placed a block on it saying I had reached my limit. Of course, no one ever tells you what that limit is to begin with or that there even is a limit. Now, they want me to set up a prepaid account in order to talk to my son and I can't afford that along with my regular phone bill. It is just their way of getting more money out of people who already have enough to deal with. Thanks for nothing, Global Tel*Link.

It’s crazy how I’m reading all of this and to think I was just about to signup for them. It’s getting too crazy. I bet it has something to do with the feds. People then paid all this money and no one haven’t did ** about it. You’ll just pray everything will be okay.

I don't know how these people got my cell number but I get a call every morning between 7 and 7:30. They leave a message. It is very annoying.

My fiancee and I have been having trouble with Global Tel Link for awhile. We keep getting dropped calls. When you call, they are rude and say you're only paying this for the call. Well, this is terrible. They do not ever give you credit. I have lost between $30 - $40 on this happening.

It's the high connection fee . Each time you receive a call, it costs over $3. Then they add a fee for adding time on the card, which can be extremely high depending on how much you add. If you pay the initial fee, you shouldn't have to pay a connection fee each time . I'm not sure how many companies are available for inmates to connect , but the fees are a little outrageous. Why is it allowed? The majority of the people in county jails are not in for serious crimes, and who benefits from these outrageous fees?

I received a phone call from my son in Dekalb County Jail in Decatur Georgia. Global Tel is telling me that I have to setup a pre-paid account to accept calls from my son. I asked them why when I have a home phone. They tell me that my phone service provider had a collect call block on my phone which is not true, because I had talked to my provider and there is no block. I am a retired employee from AT&T and I know what services I have on my phone, and the plans that I have. So, I know it is a scam from Global Tel.

Every time I am on a call, it allows me to use 14 minutes and on the last minute, it mutes the phone so he can only hear me. I can’t hear him. It also stated all calls will be $2.50 after 1/1/12 but it’s been charging me $2.93 on every call. The customer service reps are rude and act as though they can care less. They hang up on you and they are very are not professional.

This company rips customers off like it's their daily business. They give different information and they hide important information somewhere at the end or in the middle of the paragraphs so that customers don't see it. Then when customers complain, they say "it's our policy". The representatives are extremely rude. They even will threaten you that they'll stop your number anytime and you can't have your money back. So I hope some authority do something about this company being a monopoly and taking advantages of both customers and the government.

I had money left and I was promised to have the refund 7-10 business days after the 3rd of December, but still got nothing. I talked to them on January 3 and I was told my money would be on my debit card on January 4, but nothing came.

The sheriff's department under BACA is so corrupt. I have begged them for help, and they are so rude. No help has come from their way. This, even though they get a cut from Global Tel Link. No other company is allowed to provide services, even though though they can provide them at much cheaper rates. Global Tel Link cuts calls short. This is because the bulk of their money is made with the so called connect fee. It is bad enough that we have to deal with the horrible rates. I thought monopoly was illegal. So, just because it is the gang in uniform makes it okay? Most people take the bus to visit. Funds are a sacrifice for 99 percent of people. Remember they are doing the time, and paying the crime, and sometimes even with their lives, at the hands of the thugs in uniform.

My calls are constantly terminated preceded by a recording which states” "This call is being terminated due to three way calling." I keep filing complaints and am told they will investigate. I am only reimbursed for calls that they claim or 5 minutes or less. Now I'm being told this is somehow something on my end and a computer is making the determination about three-way calls. I have never even attempted a three-way call yet it's my fault. And the recordings verify that I haven't. I also have a call record that shows many of the calls that were terminated by them and why. Now I'm refused these records by the customer service dept. and told I am not privy to those types of records. No one there has any resolution to my issue or even attempted to seriously address this matter. Is there an alternative service besides this provider? And how can I be reimbursed for all calls that are terminated wrongfully?

This company is a fraud. I have been putting $25 or $50 on a prepaid account and my credit is gone in 2-3 phone calls. I finally got a hold of someone last week, and he said he would open an investigation, and I have not heard back. Now, every time I call, they ask for my name and phone number, and why I am calling. When I tell them, they hang up on me every time. I am now on the phone with my credit card company (the card I used to set up each prepay), and they attempted to contact Global Tel with the number they have, and still couldn't get through.

I am almost afraid to complain for fear Global Tel Link will block calls from my son. They used scare tactics to me in order to get me to use an advance pay account. I did so because I had no choice. My son listed his wife's number, my number, and his sister's. They made me set up separate accounts for each. When I put $50.00 on each account, they charged me $10.00 per account, and do so each time you run out of money, which takes only a couple of calls, due to their insanely high rates.

They have horrible service! They are such a rip off. I live within the city limits, 2 miles from the facility, and I am being charged a crazy rate of $1.76 for the first minute, then $0.18 a minute after that. For a 15 minute phone call it's, $4.46! What I find odd is that my mother, who lives in a completely different town, gets a much cheaper rate of $3.00 for a 15 minute call. They refused to answer any of my calls.

Global Tel link has got to be the worst company ever when it comes to their staff. They are rude. Most of them don’t know how to do their or don't know how to use the computer that does their job. If the staff doesn’t know the answer to your problem, they will not transfer you to a supervisor. Instead, they hang up on you and that's after being on hold for a long time. They have a technical problem with their equipment in the Los Angeles area and they are not telling anyone this. I had my phone company do a trace and that's how I found out. So, we are all paying high cost for a service they are not providing. Global needs to be shut down for price gouging their customers.

This company is an outrage. They charge you five dollars to put twenty five dollars on your phone. Then on top of that, it's $2.50 a call. Before you know it, you have to reload more money and each time, they rip you off five extra dollars. It's a shame that they prey on us as well as our loved ones, and rob us of our money and limit the talk time to only 15 minutes. I tried to look for other companies that provide this same type of service, but Global Tel Link seems to have the ultimate control. I am pretty sure that they have gotten various complaints and still, this continues to go on. I will discontinue the use of the company till they improve the conditions of their service. The guy who did the recorded voice sucks!

This company is one big joke. You put $25.00 on the phone to talk to your love ones. When they call and you got to say hello, the call ends not 1, 2, 3 times in a roll. People that are on a fixed income can’t keep paying this just to get to talk to their loved one. Something needs to be done and done fast.

On October 26, I placed $25.00 on my Global Tel*Link account. My family member has tried to call me twice and was told that my phone does not accept collect calls. My phone provider, Verizon, assures me there is no block on their end. I tried to speak to a Global Tel*Link rep who was very rude and told me that there was no block on my phone, even though the inmate had to spend his own money from his account and pay for a calling card to be able to call me.

Put a block on my phone. I called the phone co. At&t. Wasn't them. I got on line to get the company number to see about taking it off and saw all the complaints on this company. The state attorney generals should put an end of this corruption. It is very apparent that this corporation is paying bribes and/or kick-backs to the attorney generals or they wouldn't allow this corporate raping of the U.S. people.

Global Tel*Link told me that I had exceeded the maximum number of calls allowed by my carrier. I called my phone company and they said, no. This Global Tel Link" took over. They charge a $4.75 fee for every $25 you add to your account. Rip offs. It was much cheaper than my local phone service. If I can find a way to delete their service, and still talk to my loved one, I will do so. They are cheating the local phone companies and us, the recipients of collect calls.

Global Tel Link has placed a block on my phone, stating that my phone company will no longer allow collect calls to go through. I spoke to numerous people at Global Tel, who were all rude. Well, there was only one nice supervisor. I sent my complaint to the Better Business Bureau and some rude lady has kept calling me saying, "If you don't pre pay, you can't get your calls." I feel as if I'm being forced to do this when I have other options.

Putting $50 on my account resulted in a $9.50 service charge. A) The amount is usurious. B) Under Massachusetts law (the account is for Massachusetts DOC within Massachusetts), prison telecommunications providers are not permitted to charge additional fees for the service, a clear violation of MGL.

There is always a problem. The agents are rude. They seem not to understand that we (families of inmates) help pay their salaries by using the service. I feel that all of us should protest that this provider should not be used due to their unprofessionalism, rudeness, and hidden contacts that are not explained upon getting the services. The agents always pretend that they don't know who we should file the complaint with. Or, they put you on hold for an extended amount of time and get disconnected without speaking to upper management.

My boyfriend is currently incarcerated in NY and has been calling me collect and it was being billed to my telephone provider, until yesterday, when they informed me that my provider is no longer allowing the collect calls and I must set up a pre pay account through Global Tel*Link. So, I drove 45 minutes to the nearest Walmart to buy a prepaid credit card to set up the account and pay $25 so that my 3 year old and I can talk to his daddy. We talked for 14 minutes.

I get some recording about some collect call from some prison and it gives me the option to dial 7 to block the call so I push that and 10 minutes later I'm getting the same call. Then it says if I want to permanently block calls to call this phone number which I did. Now they have my name and phone number, thanks to caller ID and the guy hangs up on me. I think this is a scam and if I get some charges not authorized by me on my phone I'm going to be very upset. They need to be shut down.

My son called from DeKalb county jail in Georgia, collect, and the recorder states that I have a collect call from ** and that my phone company have a collect call block on my phone number, but it is not. I am a retired employee with at&t and I know that there is no collect call block on my phone. Global tel link is running a scam on a lot of people.

It's bad enough that my daughter was just imprisoned for being under the influence, two years ago, of drugs. And it really hurts when this company, which I pay dearly to, to hear her voice, not only overcharges horribly for the service, but the connection is always extremely bad or underwater sounding, if there is a connection at all. I have not heard from my daughter in four days now because without telling me, and for no reason, this fraudulent company blocked my number from receiving her calls. Over the course of three days, she tried to call me at least ten times a day, and every time I picked it up and said hello, Global Tel Link disconnected my call, even though I have plenty of money in my account. This abuse and corruption cannot go on. Now, I am not receiving any calls for two days now.

Every single call from Theo Lacy Jail using Global Tel Link has not been audible. I cannot tell if my son is saying yes or no when I ask if he is OK. His voice is a machine-like sound. Cellphones do not even connect. I reported this to the jail, who said they could only give me Global Tel Links' number. After waiting 15 minutes and having to give a lot of info, they transferred me to the supervisor which took another 15 min. wait. I seemed to have emphasized on the problem being repaired instead of just getting the charge reimbursed. After several days of the same frustrating phone calls, I called Global Tel Link again. This time I was told they weren't going to take the charges off until I send them my bill and that they would have to listen to the calls.

My son has only recently been incarcerated and my experience with collect calls is just beginning. The first call was barely audible. Tonight the first call also was barely audible and quickly disconnected. The second call about 10 or 15 minutes later was the same so we both hung up. There has to be some collusion between Global Tel and government regulators, for these kinds of shenanigans to continue. What another sad commentary on the state of affairs in our country today.

I got the scare of my life today. I received a call stating that there had been a family emergency and three of my family members were hurt. I was given instructions to dial *72 and a number. They explained some fees that would be charged to my number, which, in panic, I accepted. I am very ill at the moment and I did not need this scam. I have no idea how my number was obtained since my number is not listed. I was told by my phone company that there probably would be charges to my land line. I am still shaking from the scare that I received. Something needs to be done about this company.

Suddenly, we have been unable to receive calls from my son for $1.25 charge that we knew nothing about. The money has been paid and they still refused to unblock the service. They also began tacking charges on my phone that we had never received. Previously, all my charges were paid through my land line telephone service. We have never contacted them for a "prepaid service" but they have decided that I needed one. I thought that you had to verbally set up a prepaid account by calling and/or signing a contract, which we haven't done. No one from their company is willing to solve your problems. They truly sink as a company.

I am unable to accept a collect call on my home phone because you have blocked calls. Have you done this so that you get the money instead of Verizon? I put money on PrePay and cannot hear the party calling me and am charged for the calls. I am wasting dollars every day. It's cheaper for me to go the facility and see him instead of the calls.

I sent them a money order to avoid the service fees. And on my first call, they said I was on the phone for 40 minutes and took out $10. I never am on the phone that long, 15 minutes max.

I put $25.00 on my daughter's phone with my debit card. I then tried to put $25.00 on my phone. But GTL put that money on my daughter's phone also, even though I had given them my phone number. I then tried to put $25.00 on my phone number again. Again, GTL put that on my daughter's phone. I still couldn't accept a call from my son even though I had just spent $50.00 and keyed in my phone number.

When I put an initial $25.00 on my son's account after the card info has been received and debited from my account, it tells me my call will now be put through. But it gets dropped every time, even though they charge the $3.00 for that call. Then, when my son calls right back again, I am charged another $3.00. I am not talking about the initial $5.00 service fee. This has happened several times. I want a refund of those initial $3.00 charges. Thank you!

Global Tel*link charges $4.85 just to connect a call to an area code different from the one you are in. After that outrageous amount, they then charge 40 cents a minute. These prices are outrageous! They have inconsistent services such as cutting your phone call off after you pay the connection fee and talk for two minutes to call back, telling you that you have to pay the connection fee again! They are ripping people off.

I put money on my account so I can talk to my son in Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, Ca. They take various amounts of money for a service charge each time. They have no consistency at all and even charge for incomplete calls. This is not right and as far as I am concerned, this a scam!

I purchased a $20 dollar reload to my phone using Global Tel on September 19 or 20 and total charges came up to $25. I received one phone call of one minute and when my daughter tried to call me back later that day, there wasn't any money left.

This company has debited my bank account on two separate occasions, without my knowledge. I used their system to put money on my son’s books. Later that day, someone stole money from my account. Then three days later, they took money again. I contacted them only to be abused verbally and hung-up on. I am filing fraud charges against this company. They are not fit to be doing business.

I have noticed that my payments to my GTL phone account have not been applied to my account in August. There are 5 separate debits from my bank account that were not applied, totaling to $130.00. This has caused me to begin investigating this company. I called them tonight and was told to fax them my bank statement to prove that the money was debited. I am faxing that information to them. I hope this company gets shut down for misusing funds.

I received continued messages from this company early in the morning telling me that an unnamed inmate from an unnamed prison would like me to accept a collect call and that I need to give them credit information to complete it. I have not answered any of these calls but others likely would. The entire scenario smells of phishing to me.

I charged $25.00 on my debit card for a telephone credit. The credit was not used. I called the company; I was repeatedly promised and even told that a credit was issued back to my card, which was false. That was over 60 days ago. To date, they still have not credited my account.

Global Tel Link or GTL took money from me. I deposited it into a prepaid account to receive collect calls from a Connecticut correctional facility.After the account, I spoke with their representatives several times and faxed them letters to close the account and return the deposited monies but they never did. This is a horrible company, if you can even call them that. The service they provide is a tool that allows people to speak with family, etc. who may not have any other means of communication. Instead, this is the biggest scam to take people's hard earned money. It seems as if this company has the blessing of the BBB and state regulatory agencies since they have not yet been significantly fined, sued or shut down.

It is a total ** rip off. This has no connection to your loved ones or what so ever. They just make repetitive calls to get your credit card and take your money, with no results. Don't do it!

My complaint is against Global Tel*Link. I have purchased your service to speak with my boyfriend in DOC in Smyrna, De 19977. Phone connection was terrible. I spent the whole call trying to hear each other. For the cost of the service, the phone connection and/or phone equipment should be almost perfect. Price of $50 to talk on three calls and not be able to complete a sentence with the connection dropping is ridiculous. I was just charged $9 again today for a three-minute or so call. If he moves the phone, it loses connection. The service you are providing is not worth the cost you are charging. But you know that we as a FAMILY or the inmates have no choice in the matter. I believe your company is taking advantage of the situation, causing undue hardship to the families.

I deposit plenty of times in my boyfriend’s account and looks like my phone is always blocked. He is trying to call everyday and I feel upset already. Please do something. They are just taking people's money and staying with the service charge for no service, too bad.

I am being harassed by Global Tel Link. Thursday morning at 1:20-1:30 AM, I received 4 calls; and today from 6:34-6:44 and later at 8:30, I received a total of 4 calls from a supposed prison inmate to accept the collect calls. I hung up, and I tried to block the calls to no avail. I contacted AT&T. Their blocking equipment does not work on my phone. Help! What can I do! I do not know anyone in prison.

I have collect calls on my local phone service, but they say that I don’t. So I had to purchase a prepaid account in order to speak to family in the Minnesota DOC facility. For a collect call from Global Tel, they charge almost $4.00 to connect and 50 cents per minute afterwards—what kind of absurd business is this? This is highway robbery and their doing it legally. Why? My children weren't able to speak to their father—that's huge.

Everyone answers to someone except God. Go on line and e-mail your complaints to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). They are the ones who may be able to remedy this con game that Global Tel Link plays.

I’ve had messages left on my phone, recordings: “to accept charges from a prison inmate.” So far there’s been 2 calls, but it looks like there will be more! Help! How can I block these calls since they are coming from different prisons? Last night it was another number, so I can't block each and every one. There has to be some way that prisons themselves can eliminate cell phones. They can be traced electronically by the towers they are bounding off of.

I have a prepaid account. I was told to disregard any invoices, however, I'm being billed $11.00 for calls I should be paying for. If it's prepaid, why am I paying more? I have had much stress over this matter. And I have reported this to the BBB!

My boyfriend was arrested on Oct. 24, 2010. I knew that he would try to call me so I made sure to have money on my Visa. Global Tel Link charged my credit card for the $25 prepaid fee and I received all of one call from him on Monday, the 25th. The jail released him on October 26th. So I called Global Tel Link on the 27th and asked them to refund the balance of my money--whatever was left after the processing fee and paying for the one call.

My daughter is in jail in Waco, TX and I started getting these collect calls through Global Tel Link. I signed up for the account as I have not been able to find my daughter in over a month. It cost almost $5.00 to set up the account. I was only able to get three calls from my daughter until the funds ran out. I received eight minutes and 21 seconds worth of calls. All for $25.00! Outrageous! I am filing a complaint with the TX BBB, TX State Attorney General and the FCC. This kind of extortion should be criminalized! I am unemployed. My daughter is in jail in another city. Now, I can't talk to her. I don't have another $25.00 for calls that aren't even ten minutes! This should be considered as an extortion!

I have been battling GTL for over a year. One thing I know is that they make up their rules as they go. I've sent numerous complaints to the FCC and ICC about their behavior. The "kickbacks" to the state correctional facilities pretty much drive their business model. I know in Virginia that each vendor to the VADOC has to deal with corrupt officials and politicians. The FBI is conducting an investigation concerning the state's business practices involving interstate contractors.

This company is ** rip off; it's a shame that you can't speak with a loved one in jail without being ripped off. My husband is not a criminal but being detained under immigration status. I called and spoke with an operator and he asked me how much would you like to put on the account. I said $50. He never said the fee would come off the 50 dollars. Now I didn't mind paying the fee but I wanted to start of with a $50 balance because one phone call cost $25. This is a shame that this company is allowed to do this and no one has been able to put a stop or have this business closed down for good.

GTL blocked my home phone from receiving collect calls from the jail my son was in. My private phone! Does anyone remember Ma Bell? And why are she gone and GTL isn't? Ma Bell wasn't slipping profits to the prison union! All their hidden fees, etc. A 15-minute call went from $5.65 to about $11.00. But the worse of it is their mistakes and poor service interfered with receiving some real important calls and interfered with helping my son’s legal defense.

Global Tel Link stole my money!

I first contacted Global Tel*Link on October 17, 2010 and they were not available to speak with at the time I called. The reason for my call was I had made a $25.00 payment per the automated system that advised if I would like to take a collect call from an inmate, that was holding on the line for me, which I had done and successfully completed two calls without any issues. The next call came through and the Global Tel*Link automated system advised me that I needed to make another $25.00 payment which I knew was not correct. I tried to contact the 1-866-230-7761 because I know I should still have funds available, however, the automated system was giving me false information and I was forced to make another $25.00 payment instead of being able to use the remaining of my $25.00.

As a lot of people before me reported, this company is ridiculous. Many of the inmates are broke or depend on the funds that their families or friends send them. To slam these people with no justified cost for the collect service is unbelievable. I would understand that a collect call would be more than a usual call, maybe up by 50% but $25 for 5 minutes is not justified by any means.

They put a block on my phone. I later figured out it is because they want everyone to have a prepaid account because you spend more money that way. If I put 25 dollars on the account, it's all gone after 5 minutes. There has to be a way to stop them.

The only way inmates in Los Angeles County Jail can communicate with family is through collect call on the Global Tel Link network. On three occasions, my daughter has tried to contact me. Each time the connection has had so much static that I couldn't make out what she was trying to tell me. When I called Global Tel Link about this problem, I was told that they couldn't discuss it with me. I think it's time for an attorney. I haven't received the bill yet but I'm sure I'm not alone in this problem. I'm certain many families are experiencing similar difficulty.

This company is a rip off. My provider is AT&T and inmate calls have always come through. My nephew was moved to Cuyahoga County, and the service is asking for a prepaid account. If he is moved prior to the money being used, refund will cost $5.00. I do not want to change providers, and it is unfair to make people prepay. The other comments: there are hidden fees. The prison system charges the family for supporting their family members while incarcerated, the cost of food, essentials, etc. are triple what it is out in the "free society". The prison system purchase in bulk, at a steep discount, so what gives.

Global Tel Link is a rip-off. I paid $50 vis my debit card on 6/16/10. The inmate was released on 6/17/10. Subsequently, the inmate was placed back in county jail on 9/17/10. The inmate tried to make a collect call using the balance of the account and Global Tel Link now claims there isn't a balance left on the account. When called they cannot explain the discrepancy, only offering me to place another $50 on account for their services. Plus they want to charge another $15 as a courtesy to set the account back up after charging a $15 original set up fee.

On August 7, 2010, I called the prepaid phone number and I entered my debit card number in to put $25.00 on my account. My first transaction was declined by Global Tel Link so I called back right away and the second transaction was accepted. When I looked at my bank statement, there were two $25 transactions deducted from my bank account. When I called Global Tel Link, they said I needed to fax a letter from my bank stating that there were 2 transactions on the same day deducted from my account. I did this on August 16th. I gave them time to respond but never heard from them. So I filed a dispute with my bank and Global Tel Link then sent back $25 out of my current account and blocked my phone.

The Global Link telephone lines are a monopoly, and a violate consumer rights on how to receive collect calls from inmates in custody. There is only one telephone service allowed and its through Global Link, which returns some of the funds back to the jail. This is a money making monopoly, high price phone call. Instead of letting consumers with telephones pay a lower price the jail via Global Link is charging an amount that is deplorable. The smallest amount of minutes that can be purchased is for $35. From that $35 dollars a processing fee of $5.99 is taken. Then when you do receive a call the first minute is $4.99 and $85cents each additional minutes.

The previously named company above has, on multiple occasions, charged my card for calls I did not receive. It would tell me my card was declined and then refuse to let me speak to my husband. Then I would see that I was actually charged when my bank statement came, even though no money was added to my account. My bank, which is a national bank, attempted to contact the company for fraudulent charges and to have my money refunded. The company insisted there was nothing they could do to refund my money.

My husband is currently in prison. We have no choice but to use Global Tel link to talk. My phone calls just went from $6.44 for 20 minutes to $8.77 for 20 minutes. I nor his children did not go to prison, he did. So, tell me why I have to pay so much just to talk to him. This is a car payment! It is awful that this company is taking advantage of the families of Alabama inmates. What is even worse is that our state is allowing this!

Our son tried to call us collect through Global Tel Link from the Volusia County jail in Florida. Although we were charged, we could not understand anything he said. There were multiple calls. There was no other way for my son to call me. There were collect charges and there was mental anguish for my son and for me.

On July third 2010 Scam! Alert! Global Tell Link is a scam, do not use or give credit card number, they will not help you after they charge huge fees for each call and Be ready to talk fast! $25.00 = about 5 minutes plus your card can be billed more than once and you will be lucky if you ever talk at all. Problems with service and took so much of my time. I only got recording for help and it didn't help.

Globe Tel is a prepaid phone service for inmates. For $25, there's a $5.25 service charge, and then they charge almost a dollar a minute. This is not right! There's also no way to track your minute and cost. I called, and they yawned when I complained about the cost. There are no other choices to be able to speak to inmates at certain prisons. If you're lucky, you get 20 minutes for $25, and the number comes up as a local phone number, so it's not because of the miles between the prison, and the home. I have spent hundreds of dollars in 3 weeks of time, with these outrageous costs.

I keep refusing calls they keep putting through. I have had Verizon, put a block on for collect calls and their calls still keep getting through because of Global Tel Link. They call and get my answering machine. I am billed because it picks up a voice on the answering machine. Someone needs to do something to stop Global Tel Link from this practice.

I've been billed fraudulent. I neither have nor know anyone in Houston, TX. I have a loved one who's in Carson City, MI. They have billed me for calls I have not accepted and no one else lives in my household or stay here while I'm gone. Therefore, I will not be paying this bill of $109.26 to Global Tel*Link. I see they have complaints of people not receiving calls from their loved ones so maybe they've crossed their lines, in any case I did not receive any calls from Houston, TX, and I will not pay for them!

Global Tel*Link placed a block on my phone for no reason. I have been told it was because of a new system. This was only after waiting 4 hours for a call-back from their automated system the second time I tried. The first time I never got a call-back. I was told to fax a copy of my phone bill because they will no longer bill my phone company directly "because of their new system". After waiting 7 days, I tried to call them again. Guess what, I waited 2.5 hours for a call-back and asked for a Supervisor. When I questioned the Supervisor, she told me to hold on and never came back. Someone picked up the phone after 15 minutes of waiting and apologized and told me there was nothing she could do to speed up the process. My loved one is in prison and can no longer call me collect because of them.

My daughter was arrested on June 11, 2010 today is June 19 I finally was able to complete a account after many, many attempts to complete a transaction only to say my credit card was declined which was not the case they gave me the automotive center. That was no help like I mentioned I was successful in completing an account I was never informed about how much the service charges would be or how much it was for each min Global Tel link is a major scam.

My first experience with Global Tel*Link was a nightmare. Their automated sign up never finished with the full instruction recording, so the jail gave me their number. I called with no human response, setup up a prepaid account with no instructions on how much minutes would cost, how much setup fee was. I'm so frustrated I cannot go on; it was just unbelievable what took place. One accept call from my son, the first time in jail (5 minutes) used up the card and they wanted more. I cannot afford this at $25 dollars per 5 minutes. I'm wondering if this city’s county jail systems are getting a kick back from Global Tel*Link as I have a hard time believing they support a scam like this.

I place 25 and 50 dollars on prepaid account with GTL and every two or three calls they take money off of the account by saying that I only have 90 seconds left on the call as soon as I accept it. They charge the same amount for 90 seconds as they do for the 15 minutes that I am supposed to get for each call. Then there are times when there is money on the account and when my calls come through, the same that I do not have enough funds on my account. Even when I turn around and call to check and the money is there, they do not allow the call to come through. Is this company so powerful that there is not an honest lawyer out there willing to take this on?

I never get to talk to anyone. There is an automated system that will not call anyone back. None of the numbers have live people answering. Are there really people working there? I do not know how much I am getting charged! Why do these DOC facilities get away with ripping off people? They can charge anything they want, because they know that there are so many young men in prison that have mothers who need to talk to them. This is ridiculous and unconstitutional.

I keep calling to find out how much I will be charged for long-distance calls from a correctional facility. But I get routed to an automated callback. Why are all these DOC-calling facilities all crooked as hell?! I do not get calls back. I have no Idea what I am being charged.

I think the state of California is missing out on a lucrative money making opportunity. They contract through this service that continuously rips people off. Where are the crime fighters on this issue? If California is so broke, maybe they should consider getting into the prison phone business. It seems to be doing well. Why do I have a phone company for collect calls when I have to go through this fraudulent company?