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How Evercom/cbs works
By -

ALABAMA -- Correctional Billing Services (CBS), a division of Evercom Systems, Inc., is the largest telephone billing company in America dedicated to the corrections industry. Due to security considerations, the corrections industry typically requires that all calls made by inmates in a correctional facility be collect calls.

The intent is to ensure that all calls are positively accepted by the called party. This ensures that harassing or unwanted calls are not placed to witnesses, lawyers, judges, or others. This also allows friends and family members to manage telephone bills because they can choose to not accept calls with their associated charges.

Correctional Billing Services does the billing for Evercom, which is the company that owns the phones in the jails. We forward these calls onto your local telephone bill, which you pay to your local telephone company, unless you are with a company we don't have a billing agreement with...which means...your phone company does not allow third party billing. Again something that is not correctional billing's fault.

If CBS can't bill through your phone company then the only way to receive calls is to set up a prepay account which is done by making payments to CBS by Western Union, mail, credit card or cheque by phone. If we can bill you through your local telephone company then yes we do set a limit on your calls. This limit is set based on records from your local telephone company, payment history with our company and call patterns with our company.

If you have a new phone number then chances are good you are going to have a low limit on your calls because there is no past history with our company to base the limit on. We ask that when you make payments to your phone company you call us to report those payments.

The reason we ask this is because yes the phone company does pay us. BUT... they pay us once a month...one lump sum...for all the customers we have with that phone company, which means we don't know which customer paid how much on what phone number. So it is important that you call us when you make your payments so we can keep your lines clear for you.

Reporting payments to us is also something that is in our agreements with the phone company's. They are the ones who want the customers to call us so they don't have to do it. So if that is a problem then take that up with your phone company... That is not our fault. Also by reporting these payments to us it is establishing some kind of history with our company which will in turn raise your limit on your account.

Every time you report 6 payments to us we will raise your limit by $50. If payments are reported properly and on time then usually blocks don't occur. Another big issue is a high velocity block. That means if you accept over $50 worth of calls within a 24 hour period we block the line. We do ask that all the calls within the blocked time frame be paid for before we open the line again.

This is also an agreement we have with the phone company to prevent so many customers from getting huge bills at the end of the month. Some customers appreciate that we do this because they either don't realize how much the calls are or just don't realize how many they are accepting.

And yes a lot of customers don't like this policy but we still have to do it. We are not saying that you are a dead beat who doesn't pay your bill or that you can't afford these calls and in no way are we degrading you for this. But there are a lot of people who don't pay their bill every month on time. We as a company of our size can not play favorites. We can not make exceptions for one person and not another.

So that's why company policies are in effect and must be followed by all customers equally. If we as reps don't follow this policy then your phone company could cancel their agreement with CBS and you as the customer would have to go prepay to get your calls. So in the long run I think you customers should be thankful we do follow our policy. I think that covers most of what we do.

Just a few more tidbits of information for you all...we are not responsible for the rates of these calls. The rates are set by a contract between Evercom and the jail itself. Not CBS. Also if your phone company blocks your line from collect calls WE CAN NOT REMOVE THAT BLOCK we are not the phone company so they must remove that first. When a block is placed on a line it is not placed on your direct phone line...we block your phone number from the phones in the jails.

The phones in the jails are ones we own so that gives us the right to do this. And we do not have a monopoly on collect calls. Monopolies are illegal in USA and there are lots of other Correctional billing companies such as MCI, Global Tellink or T-netix to name a few. We just happen to be the largest company as we do service 85%-90% of the jails across USA.

Also yes the website does work if you will try it http://www.correctionalbillingservices.com/. To avoid being disconnected to talk on the phone with someone confined in a correctional facility, you must use a touch-tone telephone. If you do any of these things during the call, you could be disconnected, so... DON'T: transfer the call, put the call on hold, use or answer call waiting, use a cellular phone (static could cause disconnect), use a cordless phone press extra (additional) numbers on the touch-tone keypad, stop your conversation for any length of time (a period of silence may cause a disconnect), try to make any kind of 3-way call.

Why are calls blocked? Calls made from a correctional facility are generally collect calls. You may not be able to accept collect calls for several reasons: A collect call restriction placed by your local telephone company may prevent you from getting your calls from the correctional facility. You must call your local telephone company to have this type of restriction removed. Please note that once the restriction is removed, it may take up to 72 hours for a collect call to go through.

A new telephone number or changes made to your telephone service (such as a temporary disconnect, changes in your telephone features such as Call Waiting, area code change, etc.) could put a restriction on your line. Please allow 72 hours from the time your number was activated or the changes were made for your collect calls to begin coming through.

If you have received calls in the past from a facility handled by Correctional Billing Services but no longer can, you might have exceeded your payment verification point. Call us at 1-800-844-6591 for additional information. If you have a new telephone number, it is possible that the previous owner of the number requested a restriction on the line. Call us with the date when you received the number from your local telephone company, and Correctional Billing Services can remove the restriction.

How to block your line. If you would like to prevent collect calls from a correctional facility (handled by Correctional Billing Services) from reaching you, please call us at 1-800-844-6591 and a representative will work with you to place a restriction on your line.

There is no charge for a restriction. We make every effort to stop the collect calls; however, we cannot guarantee this service for correctional facilities that we do not serve. If collect calls still come into your home from a correctional facility more than 48 hours after a restriction has been placed on your line, please call us at 1-800-844-6591 or send e-mail to support@CorrectionalBillingServices.com to see what more can be done to prevent the calls from reaching you.

About my bill. When an inmate calls your number and you answer, you should hear a brief message that identifies the call as being collect. Information about the name of the correctional facility or the name of the inmate may also be provided. You will then hear instructions to press a button on your touch tone phone or say "yes" to accept the call. If you do not accept the call or if you just hang up, the call will not be billed to your number.

Calls will appear on your bill only if someone accepts the call. If you don't recognize the calls on your bill, please check with other members of your household or business (or anyone else who may have access to your telephone) to determine who may have accepted the call. Rates Collect calls are considered "operator-assisted calls." The cost of providing operator assisted calling is substantially higher than the cost of providing normal or long distance calls because special equipment and services are required (equipment and maintenance, billing validation, collections, customer service, etc.).

Additionally, there is a surcharge applied to this type of service which is in addition to the applicable per-minute rate of the call. Individual calls from a correctional facility will usually have a time limit which varies depending on the facility. While another call may be made to the same number, the surcharge will apply to each call. The contract to provide collect call phone service to a correctional facility is usually granted based on competitive bids solicited by local, state, or federal authorities.

Bidders must meet strict requirements which ensure that they can provide the necessary level of security while providing competitive phone service. Evercom's rates are competitive and comply with all applicable state and federal regulations. To request rates use this form: http://www.correctionalbillingservices.com/?module=general&submodule=requestrates.

Account charges. You can check your charges with Correctional Billing Services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week using our automated service at 1-800-844-6591. If you make payment before your charges reach or exceed your payment verification point, it will prevent a restriction from being placed on your line. If a restriction is placed on your line because you have reached or exceeded your payment verification point, you will need to pay your bill in full before we can remove the restriction.

Local telephone payments. If your local telephone company has blocked (restricted) your line from receiving collect calls, you must pay your local telephone bill to remove that block. You should also notify Correctional Billing Services to ensure that we do not restrict your line from receiving collect calls. To report a payment or discuss a restriction, call us at 1-800-844-6591. You can report a payment by faxing a copy of your payment receipt to us at 1-800-578-2627.

Pre-paid Correctional Billing Services (CBS) offers a pre-paid plan that can prevent your line from being restricted as long as there are available funds in your account. Here's how it works. You sign up and send an initial payment of a least $50.00. Our automated system can notify you when you need to make additional payments to prevent your line from being restricted. Payments must be a minimum of $50.00. If you choose the prepaid plan, you will not receive any further charges on your local telephone bill. Payments on pre-paid accounts can be made through Western Union online. Or, you can pay in person at a Western Union Agent location near you.

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My only means of staying sane, and I can't afford it
By -

My boyfriend is currently in a juvenile detention center in Kennewick, WA. I myself live in Philadelphia, PA. Not only are we torn 2,700 miles apart for 90 days, but now I can not even talk to him on the phone for the 15 minutes he gets a day.

The detention center that he is currently at uses Evercom and neither ** nor I have a choice in using that company or not. He and I had both been told that for 15 minutes of talk time it would cost about $1.75 total. So, we continued to talk every chance that we could get.

Out of curiosity I decided to follow the initial menu and press 7 to see what Evercom had to say about rates and charges. To my surprise, it was indeed more than I had thought. Almost ten times more than I had thought. The charges were not going to be a mere $1.75 for 15 minutes, but instead $4.80 for the first one minute, and $0.89 for each additional minute.

That comes out to $17.30 for 15 minutes of conversation time. If I continue to talk to my boyfriend everyday for the 90 days he is detained, it will end up costing me an outrageous $1,557.00 total. And that is an amount that neither ** nor I can afford.

To try to resolve this problem I called my phone company, T-Mobile. The woman that I spoke to at customer service was very kind and filled me in on how these types of things generally work. She informed me that I would not have any additional charges on my monthly phone bill, but instead I would be receiving a bill from Evercom.

This, I was never aware of. I am aggravated with this more than the incredibly high prices themselves. I have been trying to get a hold of someone in customer service at Evercom, but every time I call I seem to get the same message, which is "there are no representatives available to speak to you", or something along the lines of that.

And then I get disconnected with no other options at all. I would like to first of all know how Evercom plans on billing me when I'm not sure that they have ANY of my information other than my phone number. And if they do have it, where are they getting it from? If they are getting my information from T-Mobile I am going to be pretty upset.

I'm not exactly sure what is legal information to give out but when I called earlier they couldn't even give me my account balance without the last 4 digits of the account holders social security number. So, I'd imagine that getting information such as a name, address, etc. would be fairly difficult. At least I hope it would be.

I think that it is unfair the way that Evercom bills and their rates are sky high and absolutely obscene. I think that if they are going to be billing to me directly, they should have been calling me first or sent me a notice so that I could set up an account.

Also, from what I have read on here it seems like I have a lot more issues with this telecommunication company coming at me soon. Things such as late bills. I'd like to turn this into a legal matter but I'm not sure how or what exactly is legal for these collect call phone companies to be doing. If anyone has any advice please, please let me know.

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The Blind Leading The Blind!
By -

DALLAS, TEXAS -- I have a home phone which I used to accept correctional billing calls from a local jail. Evercom from time to time would put blocks on my phone and would tell me that I could purchase a pre-paid account although my home phone bill was paid every month. I would ask them to remove the block and that seemed to take an act of congress to get that done and for no apparent reason that the block was put on.

So they suggested because I wished to receive calls immediately that I should get a pre-paid account. I purchased a pre-paid account for $100.00 for my cell phone and the block was taken off of my house phone. The problem was that once the pre-paid balance was spent that they put a block back on my home phone again.

I called them and they said that I needed to pay an additional amount other than the $100.00 and should send a money order to them or Western Union them the money and they would take the block off but only after they received it in Dallas, Texas and the amount was for $8.40 plus you must pay an additional amount for sending it through Western Union.

All I wanted was to talk to my children and they were allowing my pre-paid account to go over that which I clearly put on my card. Should not pre-paid mean prepaid? If you buy a pre-paid card at Wal-Mart for $100.00, they will not allow you to charge extra to that card.

How is it that they want to put a block on my phone and lose money they were clearly getting to rather make me immediately put money on a card so that I suppose they could get their money instantly? GREED!!! They would not allow me to pay the $8.40 on my card...They said I had to at least purchase $50.00 of more time to my cell phone. I think it is a shame that we are doing business with such clearly ignorant people as they are.

I think they are raping people! I think the Better Business Bureau or someone should stop this nonsense. This Greed in business and stupidity will surely cause a nation its downfall. I obviously am complaining in hopes that someone can direct me to the head of this company in hopes that I can look eye to eye with what must be a monstrous human being!

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Rip Off
By -

BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA -- This company is a joke. I have a $100 spending limit and the minimum payment claimed by them is $50 plus a $6.95 processing fee. I had an account balance of 64.49 and only paid the minimum $50 which left the $14.49 on the account. My account was blocked by them. The supervisor told me I had to pay the rest owed of $14.49 and use a different credit card because only one payment per card could be used each day. I went down to the bank and took out the money went to another bank I rare use and put the money in that account.

After driving around town to do this I arrived back home to make the 14.49 payment which they wanted another 6.95 to do so. Then the payment failed! The supervisor (which takes for ever to reach) HOLD HOLD HOLD and more hold time, informed me that only one payment could be made per day, however I could make a Western Union payment for the 14.49 to unblock my $100 dollar spending limit account. I found a W.U. and then had to call them back because the info to WU was given to me incorrectly.

I made the payment and got the MTCN# called them back to verify payment was received to be told that my account had to wait for the payment to process even though they saw the payment was there. This would take up to 24 hours!!! Plus the $13 to make the WU payment. So again I was on HOLD for a supervisor who could do nothing more than say she was sorry for my inconvenience!!!

So the long and the short of it is, my loved one will have to wait another day to talk to me and his family. There really should be federal investigations into this company. If we are forced to use just one company to have communications with inmates, at minimum the government should make sure we are not taken advantage of.

Should you ever have to call them, you would be very lucky to reach them. After going through all the prompts and directions over 90% of the time you end up with a message that says all reps are busy try your call later and the phone hangs up. Very frustrating.

When desperately trying to understand the rep's English through their accent (most of the time) if you ask for a supervisor, they place you on hold for several minutes and then come back and say it will be just a few more minutes. I think they do this so you will get angry and just give up. If you don't give up like I didn't be prepared for the over and over comment that they are sorry for your inconvenience.

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Advertisement
The Fleecing of the American People
By -

WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA -- To those who are interested, who may have encountered problems with Evercom and other phone companies, the persons to contact in authority is: Common Carrier Bureau - FCC - 2025 South M Street, NW Room 6202 Washington, DC 20554 Phone #202-632-7553. It amazes me at how foolish some people can be, the selfish attitude that some have toward their fellowman is pitiful. We are such a strong country with so many good people, but we always wait for tragedy to pull together. We know things are not right but we will find the petty little picture to look at rather than the big picture.

That is why we have no jobs in America now because people who do say "long as I have a job, not my concern." They must have done something wrong. People are losing their homes not because of something they have done wrong, they may have lost their job but again you have people out there saying they must have done something wrong to lose it. None of that matters, what does matter is it should never have gotten to this, because each of us should put ourselves in the place of another, and feel their situation.

We should have spoken out and said no, we are not sending our jobs to other countries, no we are not putting people out of their homes, we the people should have said this a long time ago. It always seems so much easier to just think of oneself. Well for all those who think that way, you are wrong. We are all connected together. There is a cord that binds us all together as one, it is human life. It is not a joking or laughing matter. There are many good law abiding people out there who are hurting because they can't talk to their loved ones, and they do have a right to talk to them, and they have a right to not be overcharged or their pocketbooks fleeced because they choose to.

Some of the comments I received were without compassion, I am not in that situation anymore. I do know how to write but I have a right to choose and be treated fairly when it comes to business. Again those persons out there who have encountered this problem, the address and phone number is available. Without voice you cannot be heard, with a voice you can be heard, contact these people. Regardless of what anyone says, it is your right. It is not me or you the people. It is WE THE PEOPLE.

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Consumer ripoff
By -

ST PAUL, MINNESOTA -- I am one of those people who have a loved one that makes bad choices and sometimes these choices land her in jail. Sometime back I had to speak to a rep from Evercom to open an account so my daughter could call me. I was told that I could put my money in an account and it could stay there until a time it was needed. I called in Feb of this year to check on my balance and was told it was 42 dollars. Nothing was said about any policy changes but when my daughter needed to call me this month(Oct.) she got cut off .

When I called to find out why I was told there had been a policy change and if the account had not had any action in 180 days the money disappeared. Can this be real? The money just disappeared. Where does it go? Into whose account does it go. Can this business practice be legal? How does it happen that a company gets more than 90% of the contracts for correctional institutions and gets away with this if not illegal it is unethical business practice? Can you imagine putting up with this from anyone else? I was told that this was the same as a prepaid phone card. If that is true and I don't have any experience to draw from, at least this information is given to you up front.

If a phone company did this at least we would have another phone company to take our business to. Anybody have any suggestions for me as to how else I can make sure my daughter can call me if she gets in jail again? Also if anybody is thinking of class action I want in. Also, to the customer service employee who said he messes with people who he thinks are rude, what do you call your behavior?

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Inability to Receive Collect Calls
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BROWNWOOD, TEXAS -- My son is in the Brownwood, Texas detention center. He has been trying for three days now to call us collect here in South Carolina. I have called the Evercom customer service center at phone number 1-800-947-0899 three times, once each on 21, 22, and 23 April 2004. Each time they have assured me that my line was clear to receive calls. My son bought a calling card and tried to call me with it. It still wouldn't go through with it either. I am trying to give your company some business, but it seems Evercom doesn't want my business or else just doesn't care.

A couple of years ago, I had Evercom place a block on my line. They are very good about blocking calls. I wish they would learn how to remove the blocks. If you care and want to help me, remove the block or call me to let me know if I can help you in any way. The phone number that has the block on it is **. It is operational all the time. I am requesting a service from Evercom. Please help me. Thanks.

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Unknowingly redirected and charged $15.00 for 4 min. call.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

TEXAS/ BOCA RATON, FL, FLORIDA -- I had set up an account to receive calls from an inmate at the Rockdale County jail. This was about the fourth time I put money on the account because the 1-866-847-1251 or the 1-866229-6829 number would constantly call and say the account was below $10.00 and need to add money. This is the same system when called would say that there would be no minimum balance until Dec.31, 2012. A Christmas special the machine said. The last time I was advised again that funds needed to be added and I followed the prompts.

Sadly, after I gave my card information and it was approved, the machine said thank you and that my $15 plus dollars was only good for a one time call. It took me hours to get to a live person and when I did he said that unlike the person and location I had contacted when I first set up my account, he was in Florida and not Texas. I explained what had happened and I needed to resolve the problem. He said there was nothing I could do and that those charges were not going to be reversed.

I called my bank and was told they could not help me. I am retired and 95% of my monthly check goes on bills. I even have letters from the Social Security office said I can work and make $ 2,000 dollars a month and it would not affect my check. My reputation at 64+ is and always has been the same, honest, truthful and helping others. I cannot afford to be scammed by any company. Please!!! In the name of GOD! Help me. I don't know what else to do. Thank you and be blessed.

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Advertisement
Evercom and Get Connected Prison Phone Services.
By -

ANYWHERE,, TEXAS -- "Get Connected" prison phone service gives you a number that you give to your loved one locked up and that number they dial will ring to your phone. LIARS... Did not work... Refused to refund me my money and charged me a second month. I had to cancel my credit card. But, God don't sleep and he doesn't like ugly... The bank is going after them for causing me over $165 in NSF fees when I cancelled my service. Gotcha! You should be locked up in prison where you belong! Bad service. No service.

So I decided I'd use "Evercom" or "Correctional Billing Services" same company different name. Evercom charges 3 phone calls at a cost of $60.21?! Two of the charges I never received the calls. I work for in a marble building. My cell phone which is hooked up to this service DOES NOT WORK IN THIS BUILDING. I go to work everyday at 7am. So it is impossible that these calls were made to my phone. Please credit my account accordingly. Your charges are outrageous. You've got to be kidding me that one 15 minute phone call cost $20.07.

Shame on your company for taking advantage of the people we love but hate their crime(s). At this rate I'd be broke every month. Not to mention that commissary **. I will have the money one day to open my own company like this and I will put Evercom and all of the other fraudulent prison phone companies out of business...

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Inmate Phone Contact
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BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN -- Here in Michigan we have also had to pay for an inmate's incarceration through exorbitant phone charges. A good friend of mine is incarcerated and I have to pay through the nose if I want to talk to her. She is paying for what happened but why should I and her family have to pay for it too? Many of her family members are unable to talk to her as they cannot afford to pay the high rates that are charged. It just does not seem fair to those that have not committed a crime. I would like to see something done through the legislature to abolish this practice as New York seems to be doing. God be with us all that have someone that is paying a debt to society.

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Evercom Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.0 out of 5, based on 2 ratings and
28 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Evercom
PO Box 1109
Addison, TX 75001
1-800-844-6591 (ph)
www.securustech.net
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