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Global Tel Link Consumer Reviews - Page 3

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Billing and Customer Service
By -

I think this company is the most terrible company to deal with. I first had my calls going to my home phone bill, and then I got a phone call stating billing has changed from my home phone carrier, so I was told that I would be getting a bill directly from Global Tel. Well the person that calls me collect, the strangest thing is that this person's family uses the same home phone company I use and it is very strange that they never got a phone call stating billing has changed.

Now that I get a bill from them makes my whole experience worse. They have charged me for $200.00 in calls that I have never used. So when you get so mad and ask for a supervisor, they say all they can do is transfer you to a priority customer service rep. That is no better than the main CSR. So I went through every call with a person, and they said "yes" I was being over charged. But they come and then say "well do you want to dispute the bill, or the calls," I said "no all I want is my money refunded." And they say all they can do is submit a research form. They won't give me any main office information, and won't give me any main office phone #.

I want to file a complaint with the BBB, but I can't get anyone to give me any information. So they blocked my phone because of their stupidity. No one speaks English at all, and when you call there you have to have them call you back and it ends up being over 2 hours later. I hope everyone that reads this will watch there billing closely and can help in fighting this horrible company and their practices.

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Unsatisfied Customer
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CLAYTON, NORTH CAROLINA -- My husband is in Concord Mass and I live in NC and I have been dealing with Global Tel Link for a while and I have had nothing but problems out of them since he have been there. I call and they are always busy and you have to leave a number and sometimes they will call you back and sometimes they will not call. I have asked to speak with a Supervisor and they put you on hold and the next thing you know there is a recording come on to leave a message. I don't think they check the message because no one never calls you back.

My rate is $15.78 per call. I have paid well over $2000 or more on phone calls alone and we only get 20 minutes and sometimes it don't even seem like 20 minutes so one time I timed it to see if it was and of course it wasn't. I have called and asked about my money they have taken out of my account when I pay over the phone and of course I get RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE and they act like they don't know what you are talking about.

I can't find any other number to call to complain and I am looking for someone to help me because I know that I am not the only one that is going through this situation. I am going to go to a lawyer because this is really getting out of hand and I don't have money to waste so if someone out there know how I can go about finding out what else to do please let me know something by responding. My husband is not lock up for any harsh crime and they are taking it out on the families as well as the inmates and it is not FAIR. I am in need of HELP PLEASE! Thank you and God Bless You!

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Problems W/ Global Tel*Link
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CINCINNATI, OHIO -- I have had an account with this company for several months in which I've had numerous problems with. Originally I had a billed account but for some reason unknown it was canceled and I was forced to set up a prepaid account. I was told I was only able to add minutes to the account with a credit card. The past few months I have noticed I have been overcharged for these calls because the customer service rep had entered my address wrong. Most likely because I have yet spoke to a customer service rep that speaks nor do I think understand English very well...

I called to make a complaint and was told I would have to wait until I received my bill to dispute this. A bill in which I never receive either because my address was entered wrong or the fact that I have a prepaid account and is not billed for the actual calls. Another problem was I could not receive calls when I had more than enough funds on my account.

Also my calls would be cut short to four, five minutes and the inmate would have to call back and I was charged 1.50 for a connection fee. Most recently I called in to have minutes added to the account and was told my card declined. Not thinking, I called in the next day with a different card and was told this one also declined. I called my banks to see why the cards were declining and found that neither one of the cards were declined both transactions were shown as processed. Calling customer service is a joke.

I have tried this several times and found it unsuccessful. I have on numerous occasions asked to speak to a supervisor and was told it's against company policy. So I have filed a former complaint with the Orlando, Fl Better Business Bureau (this is the state that the main office is located in, so I've been told), and also posted several complaints on web sites like this. This company is seriously corrupted. I am asking everyone who has had similar problems with this company to also contact the B.B.B. Something needs to be done about this!!!

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Customer Service
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Since Global Tel Link has taken over MCI I have not gotten bills from them in the past two months. They put me on a block because of non payment and told me I could pull up my bill online and pay with a credit card which I do not want to do - I like to send checks and won't until I get a bill in the mail. Once I did send my payment in I had to also then fax them proof that I lived at the address that I had on file and it takes five to seven days for them to "Book into" your file. I also have asked to speak to a supervisor which is a taboo word for them - they assure me that I will not get a different answer.

I then stated my history of payment with MCI was superb since I used to send $100.00 so I could have a credit with them and I wouldn't have to make the monthly payments. They stated my past history was not relevant and that only the past two months are relevant (how convenient when it's them who did not send the bill). Because of all of this I am now on a 4 call limit per month for the next two months until I prove I can pay my bill on time. I offered to make a $100.00 payment so they could have the credit and they also replied that I could do that but it would not help me with lifting the 4 call per month restriction.

This company is a train wreck and should not be in business. They also have no email address as I was poking around on their website but under the FAQ's they state that if you want a bill mailed you have to call and arrange that with customer service. Again, how convenient.

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Inmate collect calling plan
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FLORIDA -- We had received inmate calls through MCI when suddenly our phone was blocked. We received a phone call advising/advertising that we needed to get on this 'inmate collect calling plan' through Global Tel Link. I called them and started the plan, struggling through the process trying hard to understand this Indian accent. Felt good though to have gotten this done too and expected to get our inmate call to come through. If I recall correctly, we did get one call and since then (about 4 weeks ago) we have a block on our phone.

As all of you, I have been calling that original # that I was given and never get through to speak to anyone (High volume calling is the excuse). It is suggested to use the automated system, but there are no proms to even get it started. My question is, how do these people know when the caller wants to sign up for this plan and they are quick to answer the phone and how do they know when one wants to speak to reps and has questions/complaints and they don't answer EVER? Amazing to me .

And yes, why do you generalize and call us 'law breaking FAMILIES'? We have one member of our family that made some bad choices due to depression and drug abuse and yes we are all paying along with her, but we are not be condemned and titled 'a law breaking family'. I have learned a lot lately corresponding with some of these female inmates and have come off my 'high horse of morality'. Some of these woman are educated, beautiful, hurting people of all parts of our society. And not all deserve to be in prison, but to be in rehab etc.

We do write a lot of letters, but when serious health issues of the prisoner or within the family come up we are grateful for a quick phone call to find out results of tests or biopsies. Still need to have help to get this block off, because our daughter is going to have a biopsy for a precancerous condition and I would appreciate to find out the result asap .

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Inmate Calling
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- UPDATE: 01/29/2009. OK quite some time has gone by so it's time for an update! FINALLY I don't know if it was due to so many complaints but, GTL is finally on the right track! They have workers who can clearly speak English. A+ for that! I know on Monday and Tuesday it's their high call volume days but they now have a call back queue, where if there is too long of a wait you simply enter your call back number and they will call you back within 2 hours.

And I always get a call back within the hour! They are more efficient and work much quicker now! If only we could get the price on the calls down, but hey I'm happy that they finally have things on the right track and are running the business as it should be run!! Kudos to GTL for getting it together! BELOW was when I first dealt with them!

GLOBAL TEL LINK...INMATE CALLING. I'm so mad! 2 weeks ago, Monday, I faxed my bill to MCI and they were quick to get my account setup. By Wednesday I called and made a deposit of $75.00 and the lady I spoke with said that after 1 hour I could get incoming calls! Well a week later and there is still a block on my line. I faxed the information to MCI and now I'm working with Global Tel Link. Have no clue how I ended up with them. For the past 2 days I have been calling and they pick up and say "We are having technical difficulties. Call back in 30 min."

That's been for 2 days now. I called someone else from the company and was told the block was off. I called again today and the lady told me the block was still on due to updating the system and it could take up to 10 more business days for the block to come off! I'm so pissed. It just suck that we as the consumers who keep businesses like this going cannot do anything about this type of crap.

They are taking advantage of us and it's not fair! There has to be a way to fight this. It just isn't right! Yes I agree prison isn't supposed to be easy but what about us. We aren't in prison yet we want to talk to our loved ones! Is it right for us to suffer also! I am so fed up with these companies!

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Stay Away From GTL
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I recently found out that a friend of mine now resides at Gaston CC in Dallas NC. We have been writing back and forth and in order to talk to him, I ordered a home phone so he could call me collect. His call came through the first 4 times, my caller ID said GTL Inmate but when I picked up, it was a recording saying my number didn't accept collect calls and to call GTL to set up an account.

Not wanting a separate bill, I called GTL and asked if they had a block on my number and if they did to take it off. The first representative said there was no block and the call didn't come through because my phone service was new, told me to call my phone co. and request they update their calling database. I called at and they said it would automaticaly update but could take a week.

Now, no calls come through from my friend, not even like they did before I call GTL. I called GTL again, this representative said the first representative didn't know what he was doing but again stated there was no block on my phone through them, but tried setting me up for an account. I didn't bite...I called at and again this time, the representative there used 3-way calling and called my number collect to show me the call would go through and it did. Still, his calls will not come through at all.

I called an 1800 number that would allow me to enter my number to check and see if GTL had a block on my number. The recording stated they had no records of any inmate trying to call my number. I called a live person, this time this representative put in my number and said," you're having trouble receiving calls from a inmate at Gaston CC?" **I NEVER mentioned the name of the facility to anyone** so they do have it in their records that an inmate has tried calling me.

Still no calls coming though so I'm calling one more time today and if this will not fix it, I'm going to the Executive Director of Billing. I'll update what happens, if anything does happen. Sorry for any missing letters, computer is acting up again.

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Billing Is 2 Years Behind.....Bull!!!!
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ALABAMA -- A family member of mine was in jail for a DUI for about 6 months back in 2008. I set up a Global Tel Link account for her so she could talk to her son while there. I paid over $600.00 in that time and have not used their service since 2008 when she was released. I got a bill from them last month (in July 2010) saying I owed $37.28. I called, was on a call back list for 2 hours. Finally got a call back and was transferred around from person to person, and was finally told that hey FORGOT TO SEND OUT BILLS FOR 2 YEARS! What honest business would forget to bill people for 2 years???

So, even though I know this was not a charge that I incurred, I agreed to pay it because I have never paid a bill late in my life and have perfect credit that I always check on. I told them to close my account. I wrote a letter also telling them to close my account because I believe someone else is fraudulently using it. The checked cleared on my bank statement 3 days after I mailed it.

Today (August 4, 2010), a month later I get another bill for the exact same amount!!!!! I got on the phone again today and it only took 2 people for someone to actually be able to help. I was finally told this time that oh yeah, they did get the check, but they never put it through as paid. WTF!!! I asked them to send me a zero-balance statement so this time I can be sure it went through. I really think that people in this company are scamming it's customers if not the company itself. BEWARE!!! My advice is to avoid using this company if at all possible.

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Poor Information and Over Charging
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I am a parent of an Ohio inmate and I have been doing this for several years. I have always paid for my services and never gotten good service in return. This in my opinion is a criminal company with no interest in the inmate or the family member. Well you might say most companies are in business to make money. Yes this is true but they go to the extreme. If you live close, you can get a pretty cheap phone call but if you don't it could cost you up to 6 dollars a call.

I make a good living and I guess I should limit the amount of calls I get. This is my only child and I care for his child. I think it is unreasonable to ask families who are trying to take care of their families to incur these kind of bills. I am not a criminal and they treat us just like we are one of the inmates. We deserve a little respect. Life is very hard when you have to deal with this kind of situation. I never have been in any trouble with the law and I feel like I am treated that way a lot.

Then the real kick in the shorts was two weeks ago. Out of the blue, Global called me and said I had to receive a bill directly from them because my carrier did not handle collect calls from institutions any longer. I quickly got on the phone and called several other family members he calls who use the same carrier and they had not been switched or heard anything about any kind of issue. That leaves me to wonder was I just randomly targeted or what. When you visit their website, the only easy thing to do is pay, pay, pay!!!

I do not believe the state should allow a company to have a monopoly on these kind of services. I visited yesterday and the new machines they have put in the lobbies of the institutions are such a rip off. I spoke with a man who had put some money on the machine for his son and they charged him a six dollar service fee. Isn't that like the payday lenders who legislation is trying to get out of our state?

The kicker was when the man received his bill - he was charged another fifteen dollars for a service fee from his credit card institution. It literally cost this man who was trying to take care of his son an extra 21.50. If that is not cheating the consumer, I don't know what is. I will be visiting the institutions for a long time to come and try not to make waves. If we don't begin to speak out, they just continue to think they are justified in ripping us off.

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Rip Off/Final Disappointment
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I am so tired of the services that are supposed to be for the better of inmates and their families when all they do is take advantage of and disappoint. Global Tel Link is one of those. I used them for 3 months the first 3 months to stay in touch with my husband and it worked just fine - however expensive it was, I could communicate. Then he was transferred even further away and I was advised when he was allowed to call, it would be through the same company, no problem.

But the first call that came, after months of waiting, to hear it was declined because they said there was a block on my phone and I needed to set up account with them. Not understanding why after I had account already, I investigated and was told by my telephone company that the block was from Global Tel Link and I needed to prepay account for it to be lifted, which I promptly did and credited the same account $50.00 as instructed, and notified him through mail that it was done so he could finally call home.

Well being correctional facility, I figured after 2 months he had just not been allowed to call, but it was not. When he called he was told numerous times the phone was still blocked due to account setup. I called to again ask questions and find out why and was told by recording that the balance was now $20.00, which I can't understand when he has not been able to call once in 6 months. And when I call to ask about the forward to a call back that never calls back. I don't understand why these large companies are allowed to steal from us when we just need to talk to our loved ones.

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Global Tel Link Rating:
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1.3 out of 5, based on 13 ratings and
105 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Global Tel Link
12021 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 100
Reston, VA 20190
1-866-230-7761 (ph)
www.gtl.net
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