In December I had a friend pay this company with his bank card, in order for me to be able, to recieve collect calls from a local county jail. All calls made by inmates, are through this company. They only offered the option to pay either 25.00 or 50.00 with a bank or credit card. My friend authorised a $25.00 payment on December 30th, 2009. I recieved several calls during the month of January, 2009. Each time I was told the remaining balance at the beginning of the call. I had to contact the company to find out exactly how much they charged for calls. I was told that, from that facility, each call was $3.38 for the first minute, and .08 cents for each minute after that. The last call I recieved was on January 26th, 2010. At the time I had around $10.00 at the beginning of the call. I estimate that the balance left was around $4.00. On February 5th, 2010 I put another $25.00 on the account with my roommates bank card. I did not have any more calls until February 26th, 2010. I did not however accept or answer that call. Then in April, my fiance was incarcerated at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County. Unbeknownst to me, this company had put a block on my phone, making it impossible for me to even known that he was in custody or trying to contact me. Upon his release ten days later, he informed me of the block. I attempted to contact the service and was forwarded to a message saying they would return my call within two hours. they never responded and the issue slipped my mind. Then on April 26th, 2010, my fiance returned to that same jail, and I again tried to contact Global Tel*Link. They have an automatic system that informs you of your account status and ways to rectify any issues. Going to Western Union and making a payment for what I was told I owed was the fastest way to fix the issue. It cost me 10.95 just to put $10.00 on my account. I owed $4.71, according to Global Tel*Link. The next day when my fiance attempted to call, he finally got through to my phone. However I was told that due to insufficient funds, I would not be allowed to get his call, but to make a payment to fix the problem. Frustrated I contacted their service again and waited two hours, again. They called back and informed me that at some undetermined time they had done a "charge back" to my credit card, and blocked my service, without informing me. I had know idea what a "charge back" was, and had to fight with the person just to get a vague description. I was told that because I had not used their service for 30 days, they had "put the money back" on the credit card. However the agent had stated that the payment was made from a card ending in 8190, but stated the charge back was put on the card ending in2515. I again had to argue for a while about how they could, one, make decisions regarding my money with them without informing me; and two, how they could then take the money that was paid with one card, and credit it back to another card, and again not inform anyone of those three parties. I asked for a supervisor and was asked to wait. He put the phone down fgor a few minutes, then put me on hold, and the line disconnected. I attempted to call back, but conveniently they had closed, so I couldn't even attempt getting anyone. The next day the same run around. no one but a message queing service that stated retun calls within 2 hours. The agent that called back, had a new story line. This time she stated that I had had my bank request the charge back. I had to fight again, and the story changed again. Now it was because I had gone over my balance. I pushed the issue of the fact that they had charged the money back to a bank card that it had not come from. she tried to manipulate that some more, before I finally stopped her and said I wanted a superviser. The person who came on stated she was an "escalation representative". I had to fight just to recieve an explanation of what that was. I had to fight to get an accounting of monies recieved monies spent, contract rights and responsibilites, even a paper bill sent to me in the mail. None of their math, or reasons or answers has been right or true. She didn't even want to confirm about sending the bill, stating that since it wasn't her department, how could she know. I'd just have to wait and see if one came. I refused to accept that from her, and forced her to get confirmation from her boss. I also wanted confirmation that they had recieved the payment from Western Union. Finally she said it had come through, that I had a credit balance of $5.00 and some odd cents, which meant that, yes, I would now be able to accept his calls. But once again, it did not happen. once again the call was not allowed because of insufficient funds. Over the next week I contacted this company everyday, several times a day begging them to fix this problem. Everytime, I was told it was my fault his fault, but never there fault. They say he can only try to call me once, if it doesn't go through, he cant try again for twenty minutes or and hour or ten hours, or else it makes the computer system think I have no funds available. They say its my responsibilty to inform him of this, even thought I cannot speak to him. they say that even though I will only get the first call, and it says I have no funds, that really he has tried to call me 5, 7, 11, times; and messed up, so its his fault.
This company is the ONLY collect call service for jails in Ca. This company is run by a Texas Sheriffs Association, it has anywhere from 7 to 13 different business names. Not one time that I have spoken with any of their employees have I been treated with any form of respect, none. I have been lied to, yelled at, told I am wrong, rude, an idiot, and lastly, hung up on.
So far I have not gotten to speak to my fiance at all. I have also learned from my friend who's card I used, that in reality this all stems from them charging his card twice, $25.00, each time. Of course he contested that, and recieved the charge back from Global Tel*Link for that $25.00. If they were never wrong for their accounting methods, they would never have been legally required to honor the charge back rules. They paid it, then blocked my account and stated I had a debt to them, further recieving monies from me through fraud. I have no way of speaking with my loved one, because, they are the only company allowed by the California Department of Corrections. If there is anything that can be done to stop this company from dominating and ruining this part of the penal system, please do it now.

My name is Michelle Lell. My husband is incarcerated at Kilby RCC in Alabama. Normally when he calls me I put 25.00 in the account. I get a full 15 min. to talk to him. Last night (New Years Eve) I put 50.00 in the account...I talked to him appx. 16 minutes because I had to go out with my parents. He called me later that night and it said I "had to add more funds". I added yet another 25.00!! We talked for 14-15 minutes and hung up. Today I called your company and it says I only have .21 left. This is totally disgusting. I am 0n disability & that was my last 25.00. Now I can't even tell him what happened. How can 25.00 be a fifteen minute call while 75.00 be none? I am reporting this company to the BBC. I want my money returned to my account immediately. This is nothing but a scam. I will warn everyone I know not to use your system. http://www.complaintsboard.com/thumb.php?src=compl_72_188_233_244-MzExMV8xMTQwMzU2NjI5OTYwXzEyNTg3Njc5MDdfMzAzODg2MTdfOTc5NjM2X24uanBn&wmax=65&hmax=65&quality=100Answer me ASAP