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T-Netix Telecommunications (Correctional Billing Services) I am a pissed off disgruntled customer; they are crooked, rude, liers, evasive & give you the run around Dallas Texas
I received charges on my most recent phone bill (July '09) from a "Correctional Billing Services" company called "T-NETIX TELECOMMUNICATIONS". I was appalled at the "other misc. services" that this company charged me in addition to the very expensive charges for the actual phone calls made from a Rockville, Indiana Correctional Facility. The cost of the phone calls were high enough, they didn't need to add on any extra fees to my account like they did.
These phone calls were added to my AT&T phone bill which is my home telephone service. They not only charged me a huge amount for each phone call ($8.25 for 27 minutes) they also tacked on misc. charges such as: "May Federal Universal Service Fund charge $0.93; May Federal regulatory recovery fee $1.99; May Bill statement fee $2.49 and June bill statement fee $2.49 = Total misc. charges = $7.90 plus the charges for the actual phone calls. (AND plus tax)
I had charges on my phone bill from a different Correctional Billing Company (EMBARQ payphone services) that Michigan uses for their phone services for all Michigan Correctional Facilities. They only charge $1.80 for a 15 minute phone call from Michigan Prisons. There are no additional misc. fees charged. They do not take advantage of Prisoners or their families like this "T-NETIX Telecommunications" company does. Manufacturing different charges and adding these charges to your phone bill is really dishonest of them to do this.
When I called them regarding charges for dropped calls and these misc. charges for statement fees etc. and I asked them for a credit for all of these additional charges they informed me that I would have to go out on the internet and find them & contact them regarding my complaints. They said that they were unable to give credits over the phone. They also lied and said these additional charges that I complained about such as the "May & June statement fees" were actually charges from my phone company (which they aren't).
My phone company does not charge "statement fees" to bill calls for correctional billing companies. This I know. I get billed for calls every month from Embarq for Michigan Correctional phone calls and there are no other misc. fees added to my bill at all. They only charge $1.80 for each 15 minute phone call.
I believe that this company rips off all Inmates and their families because of the huge amounts that they charge for their phone calls (almost $9.00 for a 27 minute call) plus all of the extra manufactured misc. charges added to the phone call charges. They know that they do not have a choice as to who they can use for these phone calls so they can pretty much get away with what ever they want to charge for these Correctional phone calls.
I think that somebody needs to do something about the way that this company rips people off. I also noticed that when I went out to the internet that there is a whole lot of people complaining about how this company is ripping everyone off and overcharging on all of their correctional phone call charges and also how hard it is to get anywhere with them. They seem to give everyone the "run around".
Marilyn
Jackson, Michigan
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Agent
Texas,USA
The Truth about Correctional Billing Services
#2
Wed, September 02, 2009
Let me start by saying that I worked for Correctional Billing Services. I was one of the top agents on the floor. I loved working for this company. Now, with that said. I do understand why some of you are so upset with this company.
As agents, we couldn't control the prices of a call. Those were not set by our company alone. They were set by the facility your loved one is in, the phone company and our company. All 3 sit down together and agree on a price for a call. For the most part, the facility your loved one is at set these prices. Next, Correctionall Billing Service, T Netix,Evercom,Embarc, Securus, al;l the same.
The best way to set up an acct with this company is a prer paid acct. I would use a money order with western union, it takes 24 hrs to get there, so you don't have to us a credit card and there are no processing fees from the company only from Western Union.If you run out of money on the acct, then yes the phone will be blocked for 24 hours, we remove the block while you are on the phone with us, but it has to go through the phone company and then to the facility.
Also, not all phone companies allow these kinds of calls. It is mostly cell phone companies. Also, before you set up an account, make sure, even if you have to call 2 or 3 times, that the phone company you have is supported by Correctional Billing Services, IE, Vonage can not be used as a phone provider.
Also, sometimes the Facility blocks the phones and there is nothing that our company can do about it. And what really sucks is that when you call the facility, they tell you to call us back. We know that you guys suffer and believe it or not, when I was still there, I took notes daily of any issues and took them as far up the chain as I could to get them fixed.
There are a lot of different policies with this company and we have to learn them all and then sometimes we would come into work and one of the policies would be changed, so not only did we not have the knowledge of the change until we came to work, but our customers had no knowledge and not everyone calls once a week. We would fight for the rights of our customers, to have that information before the changes are made.
Aslo if you are billed for Federal Universal Service Fund or Federal regulatory recovery fee, those are as listed, Federal fees. This company doesn't charge those. Just like when your phone company charges you to us 911, even if you never have. All Correctional Billing Services does is, set up accounts and clear the lines so you can recieve your calls.
The agent on the other end of the line that you are yelling at is trying to help you. Some of us have even lost our jobs for trying to help a little to much. It is a good company, but the place that loved one is located at, they are the crooked ones. They take our tax money, over charge for phone calls, charge to much for bail, the list goes on.
Also if you say certian words during your conversation, the facility will block the phone, they listen to all your calls. We don't. I hope that this has helped and I am setting up an email so any of you can contact me that way if you have any more questions about this company at CBSAGENT @ ymail . com, it's in the yahoo network . Again I no longer work for this company, I had to leave them in March of 09. Best wishes to all.