This company is a *** joke! I haven't been able to receive calls since 2/9, multiple calls to the customer service line, they continue to assure me the line is clear, but they will send a request to tech service to check line-please call back in 24 hrs. right! thats why I'm getting letters from my friend who says he gets arecording saying the line is blocked everytime he calls. So I have to start all over again, repeat what is happening, only to be told the same thing-line is clear...oh, what about hiring operators that speak Englih well, can be understood after all this is the United States! Hate this company but they have a monopoly basically.

They refuse to pay my refund and I can't talk to anyone. The phone system says my phone number doesn't exist. Their phone system is the pits...cannot get anyone to talk to. Just go round and round. I am owed a refund and still haven't seen it. Their e-mail address is non-working. Are they out of business???? I have spent several hours re-dialing and going through all the prompts...to no avail. If anyone can help with another phone number that would be great. I want my money back, NOW. They are avoiding the refund.

First of all I would just like to clarify some things that apparently are causing trouble to many customers. I am an employee of Correctional Billing Services and i think there´s some things you should know before complaining. Here´s the FAQ´s.

I have att/verizon/whatever unlimited long distance, I dont want you guys/youre tryin to rip me off/who the fxxk are you?
Well first of all, we are the company that provides the phone service, not att, verizon or whoever. Second, att is not going to monitor the calls and record them and provide the security features calls from prison must have, thus we exist(someones got to do it).

My calls keep bing disconnected because of a 3 way calling crap blah blah blah. . ..
Have you deactivated 3way calling, call waiting, call fwding off your phone?
Hell noo!! Why would i if my friend Shaniqua has them and is stil receiving calls blah blah blah. (This part is really funny because youre tellin them what to do to avoid disconnections but they wont just listen, they have to argue like if we were disconnecting calls for fun. WE DO NOT DISCONNECT CALLS, PRISON/JAIL DOES).

Your automated system keeps declining my payments, stupid machine of yours, incompetent blah blah blah (Like we were the ones not wanting to take their money, CBS WANT You making payments, and we tried to make the system stupid proof but you cant just imagine how stubborn people can be)
We are good people, we make a living out of this thus we want you guys to be satisfied but you have to understand were dealing mostly with criminals(No offense, Ive known truly GREAT PEOPLE locked up myself) so our system is VERY secure, so it wont let you make two pymnts in less than 24 hrs. That way we prevent Shaniqua/Latisha/Latoya/Shaquita calling upset because they were double charged or had fraudlent activity on the card. But people just wont listen and try till theyblock their cards, or else they will use one of their 100 billing adressess which will not match with the card info and will use different info and then blame us because theyre unable to receive call.

My calls are outrageously expensive, youre ripping me off!!
Well yes they are expensive, can you imagine the cost of recording each and every one of the inmates calls, monitoring them, setting up voice recognition systems and still hving to pay facilities a big check every month? Plus fcc fees. This is no joy ride, theres no cordless phones so that inmates can call 3 hrs to their sweethearts from bed. And yet customers speak (literally) 8 calls a day and still whine theyre being ripped off.

And my personal favourite. . .

Your CSR´s are a bunch of idiots, this is america you cant do that, im writing Obama!!! First, we are smart people, all of us speak(at least decently) 2 or 3 languages. Average customer cant even speak English propperly being born in the US, and nooooo we are not getting filthy rich, call center is in downtown Mexico City and while we make a decent living none of us earns more than 30 usd a day. God bless outsourcing, after all seems pretty american to me.

Recently I tried to put time on my 85 year old mothers account so that she could receive calls from my son. She lives 3 states away from me so it is difficult to help her.

My father passed away in September and she has not been able to talk to my son since that time because she could not afford to add the time.

When I told the representative what I was trying to do he said it would be no problem as long as I knew my mothers password. I gave the information and then my credit card information. The payment was denied the rep. could not tell me why. I suggested that maybe because I had an account as well and because the names were different it may be causing a problem. Apparently this was the case. I explained again why and what I was trying to accomplish.

I wanted to put $50.00 on the account when the rep was reviewing before we hung up He said I had made a $25.00 payment. When I told him that was incorrect that it was supposed t be $50.00. He said he was sorry and that I could add another $25.00 the next day. I told him no I did not want to do that because I did not want to be charged the extra 6.95. He told me there was nothing he could do. I told him I wanted to speak with supervisor. At that time he said he could refund my payment. I asked about the 6.95 he said that was non-refundable. I told him it was not my mistake and that I wanted it corrected to the $50.00 without an additional charge. He then said he would reverse the payment and that I could make another $50.00 payment the next day.

The next day when I tried to make the payment, the rep I talked to say yes that it was fine and took all my information, told me the transaction had been approved and that my balance in my account was $140.00.

I tried to tell him that could not be correct but he disconnected me. I called back and was disconnected again. I tried one more time to get through and received another rep. I explained in detail what had happened. He told me that there was no $50.00 payment that it was rejected and that the $25.00 payment was still showing. He said that there was nothing he could do to correct the situation without my incurring the extra 6.95 charge even though he read in the notes that the 25.00 payment the day before was their representatives error.

I requested to speak to a supervisor who again told me the same options as before and that the error could not be fixed without costing me the extra charge. I told him as I had all the other reps. hat the error was not my fault and that they needed to make it right. I spent 45 minutes talking to him and explaining over and over that the issue needed to resolved. He just kept apologizing over and over and asking if there was anything else he could help me with . I told him over and over that he had not helped me and that I wanted credit for the 6.95.

I asked to speak with his supervisor, and was told he did not have one that there was no one over him. I argued this point with him and was still getting no where. He still kept asking if there was anything else he could help me with. I told him for the last time that he had not

helped me and that he was not sorry or he would correct the situation.

Finally he asked me to hold and when he came back on the line he offered to let me make another 25.00 payment although I would be charged the 6.95 he would credit my mothers account for the 6.95 so that she would have a balance of 56.95 on her account. I told him that it would be satisfactory for him to do that. All I had wanted all along was to be compensated for the 6.95 extra charge that they had caused me to inccurr. He told me it was done and that my mothers account was clear with a balance of 56.95 and she was able to receive calls from my son.

There was no reason that I should have had to argue with someone for 45 mins. over a mistake that was admittedly their fault not mine. I was given incorrect information by every person that I spoke with over a course of 2 days and in excess of an hour and a half of my time. My blood pressure was off the charts with my frustration.

The following day I got a call from my mom saying that her account was still blocked because my son tried to call and the message was given that her account was blocked that she needed to make a payment.

I have not called correctional billing back yet as of today because I have not had time and I cannot face the frustration of dealing with the incompetence of the staff in customer service at this point.

I have no way of knowing if her account is clear without speaking with a rep. or waiting for my son to try to call my mom again.

I am so frustrated I have cried several times in the last two days knowing that I have no other means for me or my mother to be able to talk to my son for the remainder of his incarceration until 2012. We cannot visit him because my mom is too elderly and I am 7 and a half hours away.

My experience with correctional billing over the last two years has been for the most part a positive experience but when I have to figure out for myself what is going on and tell the reps there what is going on and what needs to happen makes me think I should be your customer service rep-instead of the staff I spoke with over that two day period.

every time i put money on account. it seems to disappear without any phone conversations. they call to notify balance of 20.00 and the next day i check the balance and there is no balance remaining. they will not respond or credit my account. absolute scam