Securus Technologies Ripoff! Dallas, Texas
I am so mad! My daughter is in the Green Lake, WI county jail. The only way for her to call home is through Securus Technologies. I do not have a credit card so I was forced to purchase a prepaid Visa card. Here are my expenses, so far:
$20 put on the Visa
$4.95 service charge for the Visa
$30 put on the Visa
$4.95 service charge for the Visa
$6.95 to put money on the Securus account
This is a total of $66.85
We had (1) 15 minute phone call, (1) 5 minute phone call, and (2) 1 minute phone calls - a total of 22 minutes.
Although, there is still a balance of $8.66 on my Securus account, the account has been blocked. The company representative told me that in order to unblock my account, I would need to deposit an additional $4. The $4 is not a big deal, but there's money on the account!!
$66.85 for 22 minutes of talk time??? This is ridiculous! Securus is ripping people off! They charge way too much for people to call home. I cannot afford their prices and there is no other option for me to allow my daughter to call home. She broke the law and ended up in jail. Why do I have to pay the price?
1 Updates & Rebuttals
mbee
California,Securus - Class Action Lawsuit
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, December 01, 2013
I have experienced the same thing with Securus. They initially were charging me $27 for a 20-minute phone call, until I figured out how to get a local number, and now I pay just under $5 per call. In the past two weeks I have been REPEATEDLY disconnected by Securus for no reason, and each time they charge me for the total allotment of 20 minutes, even though I may have gotten cut off after 1 minute. Their policy is that they don't refund any $ for cell phone users - which of course most people are. They say that cell phone carriers sometimes have dropped calls, so they aren't responsible for that, and if you use a landline they will issue refunds. But the problem with that is that the calls are disconnected BY SECURUS, and you can tell this because you hear a short recording just before you are disconnected that says "this call is being terminated, no third party calls allowed." I asked them about that and they gave me the list of reasons that calls are terminated, but NONE of those things applied. She said that no matter what the reason for the disconnect is, if any interference is detected, that's the default recording that is used. Either way, it's Securus who is terminating the call, and they should not be able to charge for something they haven't provided. Even if one of us just hung up, they shouldn't be able to charge for minutes that were not used.
They are getting away with this because they can.
Securus pays a fee to the jail administrator in order to get the contract - up to 40%. Those fees are passed along to the consumer, which is why the prices are through the roof. They are only interested in profits - not quality of service, not keeping inmates in touch with their families, and certainly not customer service. Their reps are rude and totally unhelpful. When I do stay connected, often times the line is full of static and we can barely hear eachother.
The facility where my brother is recently did away with in person visits, and went to video visitation only. No surprise that Securus provides the equipment and video service. I scheduled two video visits in the past two days, neither one of which worked. I paid for two 25-minute video visits, and got nothing. They are saying there are no refunds.
Securus claims that their technology saves lives and that's why it's worth the money they charge. This is total nonsense. The "technology" is simply that they record all calls - which is a service you can get by downloading any one of dozens of free apps on your phone. Besides, if they are counting on the quality of their recordings to capture criminals who are planning crimes or making confessions - they really should ensure that they provide a clear and stable connection - i would really like to see the FACTS backing up their claims.
The FCC's ruling that caps the amount that can be charged for long distance fees goes into effect February 11th. Securus tried to appeal the ruling, but was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the ruling does not address their refund policy, and also does not address what they can charge for local calls - but it's a start.
There are clearly hundreds of customers who have been ripped off by Securus, and the only way they are going to stop their aggressive tactics is if a class action lawsuit is filed. I am beginning a campaign to find other Securus customers who have been affected.
To be included, please email ClassActionSecurus@gmail.com