Get Connected Phone Services

Review: The number they assigned me was not working so I called to tell them that which customer service never picks up but just the one time they did which was today ,they lady said this is customer service I told her my problem and that I wanted my refund back because my husband never used the service but money was still being taking out of my account she said "call customer service" and hung up on me I just want my money back because I think there fraud.and the to customer servic number are [redacted] and the other is [redacted]Desired Settlement: The service I paid for came up to 37.98

Business

Response:

Your husband try to called you but the calls were disconnected by the facility, you did not unblock the inmate calls, the call not even get out the facility, there is no way we can send you a call if we do not received the full call signal.

Review: I selected this service so that I could receive calls from a friend of mine that is incarcerated. Get connected has a claim posted on their site that they serve most facilities. Before choosing the package of minutes they offer I was asked to enter the facility from which the calls would come. I did and then I was asked to pay. Then, after the money was already taken I was givena phone number that I was to give to the inmate that they could use to call me without difficulty. I was able to give my friend the number and it did not work at all. It turns out, this service does not serve that particular facility.it would have been helpful if they let me know that before paying for a service that was specifically layed out to accomodate calls from that particular facility. I then asked them to cancel the account and told them to refund the money I paid which was about as much as someones monthly cell phone bill might be. They responded saying I must have confused their service with another service and that a refund was not optional. Oh yeah, I said well you have performed no service to me of any kind and have benefitted me in no way nor have you offered to. I did threaten to report some of their practices to the Revdex.com. They told me that I want to cancel my account and to refer to their refund policy. If their refund policy is anything like their description or advertised service it will be nothing less than misleading and "serves" to take advantage of customers. If I am not eligible for a refund I at least want to prevent others from being ripped off. Thanks for your time and consideration.Desired Settlement: Just the money they accepted from the credit card I provided.

Business

Response:

We do not offer Inmate calls , we are not a inmate calls provider, we just offer a package of minutes to save in long distance calls.

Customer is responsible to know the rules of the facility where he/she wants to receive the calls from, there are some restrictions or rules to call outside of the facility. Prison Lines is not responsible to know the rules of the facilities. Prison Lines provides the service outside of the facility as a long distance provider. Customer is responsible to inform Prison Lines if the inmate is transferred to a new facility to transfer the service.

Customer is responsible to known the local rates for the prison/jail requested. Prison Lines does not know the local rate of every prison or jail. Prison Lines is non responsible if jail denies the privilege of inmates to make calls, Prison Lines is non responsible if jail call provider denied to send the calls to Prison Lines telephone number.

Customer need to register the new telephone line with the facility collect call provider, but customer refuse to. We need to receive the inmate call signal , if we do not receive the call signal we cannot send the signal.

Customer send us the next email calling us rip off and saying bad words without letting us help to receive the inmate calls:

Reason : Cancel your account

Telephone_to_cancel : ###-###-####

Your_email_address : [redacted]con

Cancelation_reason : Your company is a rip off. You took my money for a package of minutes told me everything was cool after I entered the facility name, and on the receipt you state that I need to setup a call program with the facility's provider. What the f&%$ do you guys do then? Did I just pay twenty bucks to find out there is another sy company out there that charges a lot of money to do nothing? Lets see if I can't return the favor through the Revdex.com. I'm not even angry. I think its funny. :)

Customer confuse our service and blame us for her error, account qualify for a refund but since there is a dispute from customer we placed the account on hold.

Director.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

Your webpage and service description is quite misleading. It does not matter to me though. All I want is a refund because this company did not provide any service to me of any kind and thus should not be elible for payment from me of any kind. I am sorry if you feel that I confused your company for a different service but that really does not make sense to me. . You guys wanna keep my money because I brought about a dispute. I can only imagine what you sweeties would do if I had not said a thing.

Review: I contacted prisonlines.com to connect with a friend in jail. They promised a "local" phone number within 2 hours to provide to the inmate to save on massive overages of the jail system. They also claimed they could "fool securus" which is the Jails phone system. I attempted to call them and only got voice mails. I then used a different phone to call again, a woman answered and hung up on me when I asked why my services not rendered. I contact my credit card company as I consider this fraud.Desired Settlement: I hope the site gets shut down. I googled pages and pages of the same complaints about the same company.

I WANT A FULL REFUND AS SERVICES PROMISED WERE NOT RENDERED AND ALSO WERE FALSELY ADVERTISED.

Review: This company prisonlines.com / Get Connected Services / charged my account, had access to my phone number, credit card and email without authorization. I filed a complaint by calling them this morning for an unauthorized charge of $6.99 and they instructed me to go online, submit a form in order to process the refund. After a few minutes, I checked my bank account and they kept charging my card, multiple times, another $6.99 and another $75.00, right after I filed the complaint.Desired Settlement: I want them to refund all charges to my account immediately, stop contacting me and stop accessing someone's email, phone number and bank account.

Business

Response:

There is no way we have access to your email account and your telephone line, you order a new telephone line with us and after 1 month you contact us and said you never ordered a service with us, you try to commit fraud to us by non paying what you ordered.

We never told you to resubmit a new payment and we never got the new payment.

Review: Bought unlimited calling plan on May 24, 2013 through this company so I could accept calls from my son who was in jail at the time. The cost was $50.00 which was billed to my debit card. This was suppose to work in conjunction with the jail's call provider ([redacted]). It does not. When I purchased this I was told I would receive a pin number to use to access my account. That never happened. When I called [redacted], they told me that they didn't deal with Get Connected Telephone Services. That was when I immediately called Get Connected Telephone Services and told them I wasn't given a pin number and wasn't able to use their services, therefore, I didn't want my debit card billed. The lady on the other end told me that she would cancel everything and credit the cost back to my debit card seeing as tho it was just a few minutes after purchasing the calling plan. They billed my card on May 27th knowing it was already cancelled. They now tell me that the unlimited plan doesn't qualify for a refund. Not only that, they also billed me another $34.98 that was never authorized period by me. I don't even know what that charge would've been for. I've had to "hot list" my debit card because I'm afraid there could be reoccurring charges every month applied to it. It would have been one thing if I chose not to use their services, but that's not the case. I wasn't able to use it. The fact that they billed another unauthorized charge of $34.98 to my card proves to me that they are deceptive. I have e-mailed them in good faith explaining all this and haven't gotten a response. I have called them several times only to have them hang up on me or simply not answer the phone. They had no problem taking my money, I don't see why they should have a problem refunding it back since there was no services rendered.Desired Settlement: Refund of $84.98 either paid directly to me or credited back to my debit card/bank account.

Business

Response:

Customer totally confuse our service, we did not offer to customer unlimited inmate calls, we offer unlimited long distance minutes, we did not offer to customer a pin to access a [redacted] account, we did not told customer we work in conjuction with [redacted] is the facility collect call provider and they do not work in conjuction with any other company, We never spoke with customer before purchasing our service, customer signed up in our website online.

Customer paid $34.98 for unlimited minutes package but not unlimited inmate calls. Customer need to pay the the inmate calls to [redacted] and we handle the long distance part. Customer told to [redacted] she signed up with us to save in the long distance calls but [redacted] denied to open the inmate calls because they want to charge for the long distance calls too, this is an issue with [redacted] not with us, customer need to deal with [redacted] and report them, [redacted] cannot denied the inmate calls to any telephone service this is an illegal practice. Customer blame us on [redacted] practices and requested full refund to us even if knew our refund policy:

Unlimited Plan Refund Policy:

Prison Lines pay in advance to adquire a unlimited minutes package for customer, because we are not refunded by our provider, we cannot issue a refund even if the service was not used.

We encourage you to use the number and the minutes provided.

We had to proceed according terms of service due to customer billing dispute and charge the $50.00 security deposit:

VII.-BILLING DISPUTES AND CHARGEBACKS

If for any reason customer dispute with bank the payment(s) made by credit or debit card the customer account will be closed automatically, customer is responsible to pay all the fees incurred in chargebacks including the bank fees. If you feel you have to dispute a charge on credit or debit card we suggest you to call Prison Lines and try to solve the problem before open a claim with bank. All fees of chargebacks will be paid by customer to Prison Lines, Chargebaks fees are $50.00 per dispute plus the ammount that was charged back, and will be liable of any attorney fees, or other charges thay may be impossed under law, If customer not paid for incurred fees customer will report any outstanding balance to the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) as a delinquent collection account, and/or office were inmate are, this could end in a inmate calls privilege suspension.

Customers who prematurely issue chargeback will be liable for chargeback fees.

Prison Lines may require a security deposit when detect a customer who is planning to commit a monetary fraud , security deposit will be paid by customer to Prison Lines for the ammount of $50.00 or more depending on the account situation. Security deposit will be placed on hold for 3 months or up to 6 months. Security deposit can be refunded if customer did not commit any fraud to Prison Lines.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

The fact that they did not disclose a charge of $34.98 would be applied to my credit card on their website is unacceptable. Their company is the one who charged my credit card, not [redacted]. I cannot use the calling plan because they will not allow me. I am filing a complaint with their state's attorney general and am also reporting them for internet fraud just as other customers have had to do.

Business

Response:

You need to report [redacted] for blocking your calls not us, our service is working properly.

Review: I recieved an email 7/17/14 stating that I had opened a new account and I already had an account with this company. I emailed them and asked why they had charged me twice for the month of July and they said that I had two accounts. One under [redacted] and on under [redacted] Chacon. I let them know that I did not open an account under [redacted] and if they would cancel that account. At the time it was $37.99 charged to my account for the new serice then they charged another $75.00 to my account and I asked why and they said because it was a fraud charge. I asked what I needed to do to get my money back and they said I needed a police report and they would refund me my money. Today I sent them the police report and they said they are not giving me back my money that I have to find the person and the person doesnt even exsist they made up the person so there is no way I can go after her. The police officer called me the night I made the police report and said that the company is a fraud and they steal money from many people.Desired Settlement: I would like the $112.99 that was charged to my debit card. I did all that they asked of me and they still didnt want to give me my money back.

Review: Ok I have a son that is in [redacted] in [redacted] county. He likes to call and talk with his mom. So I say this advertisement called prisonlines that 100% guarantees your money back if it doesn't give you there service which I choose for and paid 3 months in advance unlimited phone calls recieved by me from the county jail. Well on the 27th of November I placed my order with a debit card. All I got in return was a reciept with no futher instructions. The next day I recieved a call from that jail and it didn't go through so I contacted prisonlines via email about the dilemma. They sent me instructions on what to do which was never disclosed to me in the beginning. So I folowed the instructions and my son called again and wouldn't you know it, it didn't work so I asked to cancel it and for my refund and got some upsetting reply's from there correspondent.Desired Settlement: To have there business terminated from defrauding more helpless people from the internet site and my money returned to me in full with an apology.

Business

Response:

We provided the service, the service has no issues at all, customer tried to received collect calls from an inmate but customer never accept and paid for the collect call, the facility where the inmate is disconnected all the calls because they need the customer to pay for the collect calls, but customer refuse to. If the call was disconnected at 1 minute duration there was no way we can received the full call signal.

Review: I paid for a service to be able to have my son call his father for cheap. Calls from NC to Pa are about $10 a call. This service knocked them down to about $2. So I initially signed up and paidPL-100plan$ 6.99Setup Fee$ 6.99Total Amount$ 13.98 Two months went past and I couldn't figure out why my service wasn't working. I called the main jail phone company and they told me that I couldn't receive calls because my number was in use under another persons name!!! At this point I was truly pissed off and made numerous phone calls and sent emails to Get Connected Phone Service AKA Prison Lines. After my constant calls they finally explained to me that somebody did have the number but it was out of their control and they couldn't check it.Finally gave me a new number so I tried to hang in there.Paid about 3mons @ 6.99. New problem is my new number they gave me was given to me wrong. So Im tired of the run around. I paid for 3 months for a service I never used and I want a FULL refund that I doubt I will get. DONT USE THIS SERVICE ITS A SCAM!!!!!!Desired Settlement: I SERIOUSLY want a FULL REFUND!!!!

Business

Response:

We provide to customer a 1st telephone line, customer call us back 2 months later saying the number was been used by another person , and ask for second number, we provide a customer a second number for free and now customer said we provided the number incorrect, there is no way to provide a telephone number used or incorrect, our system does not allow duplicates numbers or incorrect number, we test the lines before provide the telephone line to customer, we believe customer is trying to commit fraud to us and damage our reputation, the customer account qualify for a refund but since customer decide to dispute the payments we put the account on hold and in our legal department, the account will be on hold according our terms of service.

Review: I didn't understand how it worked. I emailed.because the number never was answered they provided 2. The person emailing me already cancelled. I didn't get no money or confirmation like I asked. The person emailing me stated I had to pay again but they still had my balance.Desired Settlement: 28

Business

Response:

Customer sent us email requesting to cancel the account and get full refund, we canceled the account as per customer request, hours later customer decide to keep the account open , we inform it was canceled already and to reactivate the account customer needs to pay reactivation, customer refuse to pay reactivation fee.

Review: Ok. I got onto getconnected.com from a jail site. I was trying to add money on my phone so that my brothers in prison may call me. Well needless to say on the wesite it had 100 minutes for 16.99 so I clicked on it. I was trying to set up online but it would not let me. So I called the 1888 number the site provided set up an account. So then they email me and say I have a landline number that they could call me on. I questioned that whole thing from the start so as soon as I seen it wasn't right I called the number bavk wanting a refund first I was charged 16.98 & I guess 10.00 for the min then an additional 75. 00 for a deposit I wad not notified in anyway about! So then they give me the site and tell me to look for customer service email on the page. I email the person and they just kept swnding me teems and conditions page on refunds. And quoted we do not do refunds. But on the terms and conditions for refunds sections. States if u had not used services or mintues yet and request a refund then we could discuss refund start a refund process. I called my rushcard people that my card was with gave them thw numbers and email address I had and thw line was not connecting and email was fake.Desired Settlement: I would like my 16.99 & 75.00 that was charged to my card. I still have emails and transaction info in my phone.

Review: I had purchased a phone package in june, it did not work I asked that I be refunded they said no. I was not happy but was never going to deal with the company again. sept10, they charged my account 16.95 for set up fees in which I never called and authorized such transaction. I called on sept 11th phone rang and rand finally a women answered and I explained that I never placed any orders. I was told she had seen the mistake and would take care of it to call back her name was anna.

I called back no answer at all and then 2 more emails from the company with the same activation fees now 150.00 another email 75.00. I called my cc company so they could call and dispute the transactions and when he told them where he was calling from on my behalf they hung up and did not pick up again. This is fraud and illegal I demand that this company be held accountable! I also did more research and im not the only victim out there this is been an ongoing ring of fraud! These people also call themselves get connected please look into this and stop these criminals before they scam even more people. ThanksDesired Settlement: I want my credit card refunded the three amounts that were not authorized. 150.00, 75.00, and 16.95 and any other hits they put on my card.

Business

Response:

Please email me to find a solution for your refund.

Review: I purchased 300 minutes online for $24.99. Upon receipt of the confirmation email I found the instructions to use the minutes to be sketchy at best. I called the sales department and requested a cancellation and full refund of the purchase price. I was given a cancellation number and told that the funds would be returned to my account within 48 hours. Two days later I checked my account and found that not only did they take the $24.99 but they had also debited an additional $75.00. I called Get Connected back and was told that I would have to contact the billing department for the refund because the sales department did not handle those transactions. The same people who had given me a cancellation number just 2 days before!!! I requested a number for the billing department but was told that they could only be reached via email at [redacted] I sent three emails to this address and never received a response. I immediately contacted my bank and filed a claims dispute with the company. I made no further contact with Get Connected as instructed by my bank. Two weeks later on a routine check of my bank balance I found that this same company had once again debited money from my account in the form of two separate $75.00 transactions. I had to cancel my debit card and request a new one as well as file an additional claims dispute with the bank.Desired Settlement: This company is committing fraud and theft and should not be allowed to do business. Everyone needs to be made aware the fraudulent practices of this shady establishment.

Business

Response:

You are trying to commit fraud to us, your account does not qualify for a full refund:VI.-REFUNDSThere will be NO FULL REFUND this applies to all customers. Set up fees and monthly payments are non refundable. The term of contract is 1 month . Rollover minutes and promotional funds minutes and funds are non refundable. Any refunds that are granted will be under Prison Lines consideration and will be paid during 7 days after cancelation of service (excluding Unlimited Plan). The refund will be made to the same credit card the customer use to make payments to Prison Lines.Prison Lines does not know the local rate of every prison or jail, Prison lines does not guaranteed a local rate to be charge by Jail telephone provider to Prison Lines telephone number, Prison Lines is non responsible if jail denied the privilege of inmates to make calls, Prison Lines is non responsible if jail call provider denied to send the calls to Prison Lines telephone number.There will be No Full refund if any of this happen.If applicable (excluding Unlimited Plan), accounts that are cancelled during the first 7 days from the start of the billing cycle or the set up date may be refunded the monthly plan fee, minus any fee of minute usage. The set up fee, processing fees and taxes are never refundable. Accounts should be cancelled 2 days prior to the next billing date to avoid charges for the next monthly service. Accounts that are cancelled after 7 days of the start of the billing cycle will not be prorated for that billing cycle.And because you have disputed the charges with your bank , your bank will handle your dispute we are not allowed to give you more information, we will give details to your bank.

Review: I signed up with this comany thinking I get discounted calls from a jail. the program did not work and my son was transferred to another facility. emailed company to get a refurnd and was charged additional amount for a grand total of $138.96Desired Settlement: like my money refunded.

Business

Response:

Customer order the service and now want full refund, customer is trying to commit fraud to us by non paying the service.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I am done trying to talk to you. I am contacting my bank, Revdex.com, and the state of texas attorney general. I want a refund because your services

did work for me.Yes, I read it, but I did not memorize it. Your system is not working for me. I can not use it and want my

Please also see attachment

Regards,

Business

Response:

It has been registered by you that you will commit fraud to our company no matter what.

Review: This company's name and information came up as I was searching for a carrier to handle calls from a loved one in prison. I liked their initial claim that we would be able to have unlimited calls for one low monthly price, with no contract and the option to cancel at any time, so I signed up for one month. With the one-time set up fee, that came to $34.98, which was charged to my credit card. I received a brief e-mail telling me that I would soon receive a number for my loved one to call. This was on June 12, 2013. I attempted numerous times since that day to contact the company and receive the number to be called, all to no avail. Never did anybody answer the phone, and never did I receive any copy of this company's extra rules.Today I was finally able to locate an e-mail address and I wrote asking to cancel my account and refund the money I had paid, as I was unable to use it.I then received an e-mail notice that this company has taken an additional $75 from my credit card. Again, I made several phone calls to both numbers provided and each time my call was cut off.I refuse to pay this fee and I insist that they also refund my initial $34.98, for a total refund of $109.98.I also need some confirmation that this company has received, and will honor, my demand that they cancel this account immediately and never again attempt to take money from my credit card.Desired Settlement: First, a full refund of the $109.98 they took from my credit card, and second, an ironclad assurance that they will no longer attempt to take more money from my credit card.

Business

Response:

Customer sent us a email on Jun-18-2013 and said she never received a welcome email, and now it said she did received, customer is trying lying to obtain a full refund even if she know the account does not qualify for a refund, customer agree in our terms of service when signed up:From: T[redacted]comDate: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:14:47 -0400Subject: cancelTo: [email protected] do I cancel an order?I never received any information and I cannot access your service and I want my money back.We have reason to believe customer was trying to get full refund even , so we had proceed according terms of service,Unlimited Plan Refund Policy:Prison Lines pay in advance to adquire a unlimited minutes package for customer, because we are not refunded by our provider, we cannot issue a refund even if the service was not used. We encourage you to use the number and the minutes provided. VII.-BILLING DISPUTES AND CHARGEBACKSIf for any reason customer dispute with bank the payment(s) made by credit or debit card the customer account will be closed automatically, customer is responsible to pay all the fees incurred in chargebacks including the bank fees. If you feel you have to dispute a charge on credit or debit card we suggest you to call Prison Lines and try to solve the problem before open a claim with bank. All fees of chargebacks will be paid by customer to Prison Lines, Chargebaks fees are $75.00 per dispute plus the ammount that was charged back, and will be liable of any attorney fees, or other charges thay may be impossed under law, If customer not paid for incurred fees customer will report any outstanding balance to the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) as a delinquent collection account, and/or office were inmate are, this could end in a inmate calls privilege suspension. Customers who prematurely issue chargeback will be liable for chargeback fees.Prison Lines may require a security deposit when detect a customer who is planning to commit a monetary fraud , security deposit will be paid by customer to Prison Lines for the ammount of $75.00 or more depending on the account situation. Security deposit will be placed on hold for 3 months or up to 6 months. Security deposit can be refunded if customer did not commit any fraud to Prison Lines.We notify this to customer on the same day Jun-18-2013 and customer sent us a new email:From: [redacted].comDate: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:03:00 -0400Subject: Re: Get Connected Telephone Services Customer Receipt/Purchase ConfirmationTo: [email protected] and refund now.This is not a request it is a demand. We have proceed according terms of service.Director.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The response was incoerent and yet I surmised that the company is refusing to refund my money and is also attempting to keep the additional $75 it charged to my credit card in response to my initial request for a refund. I cannot accept whaever it is they are trying to say and will accept only a full refund of all my money as well as assurances that they will not attempt to charge my credit card ever again in the future.

Regards,