Global Tel Link
Reviews and Complaints

GTL owes me $24. I added $20 last week and the transaction was successful. But when it got down to $14, it claimed that i had $0.00. Today i added $10 and it says i have a zero balance. I noticed that they had the wrong phone number on my account. I attempted to change it, they said the attempt was successful, but they still have my wrong number on file, and again it says zero balance. Two weeks before that they took my last $4. And i have yet to speak with a human customer service rep.

It has been months of unresolved issues. My husband has zero access to his tablet currently and hasn't had access in over two weeks. He has sent in a service request every week for the past 3 months, and it isn't just him there are many inmates in his section with no access as well. I have been calling on behalf of my husband everyday for the past two weeks speaking to anyone who would listen about the many issues going on with no help or resolution. Monies have been taken for movies and music on the tablet the my husband has zero access to! They can take money from us easily with no problems, but cannot send and help to resolve issues that they are well aware of due to the millions of complaints! They need to render this situation, get better customer service, and fix their service and products! Unacceptable! Do better!°

Deposited funds on inmates debit account money was taken off my card was never funded to inmstes account. They continued to tell a different lie on what needed to be done. First they said send a copy of where the money had been taken off the card, that was done then they said send copy of my statement that was done several times they continued to place me on hold for extended wait times and still said they hadn't received anything except a screenshot that was unacceptable several copies of my statement was sent to the same email they continued to deny they received. On the last call they claimed I would have to wait 24 hours and I've waited 5 weeks and nothing still has not been done about money that they are obviously stealing from customers

I was looking around for different prices and when I filled out the information asked of me the next thing I know I had been charged almost $50. When I tried to get my refund back I was told I could only have a portion of it back bc it was non refundable. Nowhere on the page that I filled out did it say I would be charged. I would have had to clicked on another link to get to where it did it would charge me. I would advise EVERYONE to not use this website or app. They prey on people. If this happened to me, someone who knows how to use the internet, I can only imagine how many people they are ripping off daily.

On 9/26/2023 I received a call from my ex an inmate in LBJ AZ and your call system said it would be $.16 per minute for the call a total $3.00 for the entire call. I accepted and paid with my CC only to find out I was charged a total of $8.40. This is wrong on so many levels. The call system does not respond to commands and it took 3 attempts just to receive the call. This company should be audited as this is obviously very common based on the reviews.

The app rarely works, and after two and a half weeks of trying to get my exisiting deposit balance to be posted so I can text my nephew, I bit the bullet and added ANOTHER 25.00. So, now the automated system says I have a balance of 40.90, but it STILL won't post to the app for me to connect. I have made numerous calls with the responses ranging from "you need to uninstall and reinstall the app", which I have done repeatedly, to "our system is having an update, try again in 20 to 30 minutes", as well as "my system is having an update, call back in 20 to 30 minutes." I asked the guy directly if this is a scam. I feel totally taken for and want my money back. Every CSR sounds like thier on meth or speed, talking a mile a minute and using the same script. Don't do it...stick with writting letters...

My husband’s calls were unable to come through to my phone. I called customer service to get help. Customer service was rude and unhelpful I asked to speak with the supervisor supervisor did not provided support. All he said was he was going to make a complaint he did not offer anything help. The next day, my husband’s tablet stopped working. Was unable to make calls or send texts to do anything from his tablet. I call customer service again and the same supervisor sent me back to customer service that have nothing to do with calls but text messages again not providing no help, at this point, I’m wondering if his tablet not working was because I made a complaint about their customer service to this day his tablet still not able to make calls he is the only one at the facility with this issue.

He signal is weak at best. When talking there is always static and then you don't have the ability to hear what the other person is saying. It cuts in and out. It also just hangs up and sometimes a recording come on saying third party calling. Even when I have personally called gtl they did not respond or I was told that the tec could not file a service order because I was not part of the prison system. I also have been given the run around being sent from one person to another only to be sent back the first person I spoke to that could not help me. Come on people this is a public utility that we pay for. Something needs to be done about this horrible system.

For the past week your phone services within Colorado district have been totally unacceptable, you guys are real quick to take all our money even if the phone call doesn't go through, will we be getting reimbursement? When should we expect this problem to be fixed?
My loved one would call, it would go through on his end, but not connect on my end, but would still take the money, and when it did go through, it was very bad, could hear every 5th word so we'd normally hang up after a minute or 2 and still be charged for the 20 mins

my email address is a.[protected]@gmail.com

My friend has been in protective custody since July 2022; his facility allows no visitation whatsoever and inmates rely solely on their tablets for contact with loved ones. For the past five months (since September 2022) I have been dealing with blocks being placed on my phone for unspecified reasons so I am unable to text or receive calls. He assures me he did not place the block himself and that it continues to happen with other friends of his who attempt to contact him via message. For five months he is only able to call his mom and dad?

I have called GTL and was forwarded to a resolution that "first wanted to reward me with a Life Alert Button" even though I'm a registered nurse and nowhere near geriatric enough to require this. I contact customer service online several times to file complaints which took 5 weeks to get a response. In late October I finally was told that the inmate himself had placed the block and there was nothing they could do. Why would he place blocks on the only contact to friends and family he has? After nearly 6 months I became so depressed and hopeless I had requested to close and delete my account and refund my balance and was told this isn't an option.

I have paid very well to use this service when I was *able* to, at times spending nearly $40 a day in text messages, not counting prepaid phone calls. To be left hanging when I am already frantic and worried about a person in custody I cannot speak to at all or visit is a cruel joke.

I tried to add money to a friend's account and was told there was a block on the account for security purposes so I called GTL for clarification and to fix the problem.

01.30.2023, 8am - spoke to Alex who stated he would file a ticket which would take 3 to 5 days (apparently that is a standard response)

01.30.2023, 815am - spoke to David who said he would expedite the ticket to receive a response within 24-48 hours, then he said that it was not GTL who placed the block on the account - the DOC facility did (this is incorrect and a blatant lie to deflect responsibility)

At this point, I have no idea how truly irresponsible this company is. I'm basically being lied to and the issue that GTL has created is being put off and blamed on the DOC.

I then call the Trust Fund account representative at the facility who checks my friend's account and says there are NO BLOCKS showing on her end. She has NO IDEA this account has been restricted from receiving money for the last TWO YEARS. She says this is a normal occurrence for GTL to place blame on them instead of assuming their role.

I call GTL back and speak with Diego (agent # 152) who was very rude, I asked him to please escalate my call and so then I spoke with Natalie. She gave me the most information out of everyone I spoke to which confirms to me the information I'm asking for is available to provide, but no one else has really wanted to assist. She described how on April 8, 2021 a deposit of $52 was made to the account from (assuming) a fraudulent credit card. So the account was blocked and my friend has been unable to purchase anything from canteen or put money on his phone account for the past two years.

When you call to make a payment on the GTL phone prompt system, the account you're paying from has to be entered so they know who made the payment but were unable to reach them. Now they're saying my friend has to pay it or I have to pay it before they will unblock the account. That's so ridiculous!

I've now spoke to the Associate Warden's secretary and several other people from the facility who all agree this is a problem with GTL.

I just called again and spoke with Christian and Joe, again I'm getting the 3 to 5 day response, and then they pretend they don't know what's wrong with the account until you provide enough information to let them know that YOU KNOW. Then they will give more information. The whole thing just seems very criminal.

All I want is to be able to put a little bit of money on my friend's account so he can get some basic necessities and a little bit of food (we all know they don't feed those guys and girls well enough).

This company provides the telephone services for our local prison system within the state of Ohio for the ordc or odrc I'm sorry they charge a double for the phone calls I have been charged $1.20 for a phone call that should only be 60 cents I have been charged 60 cents for a phone call that should only be 30 cents they're also notorious for like cutting the service or doing whatever and then when we're sitting there with no you know we think the phone just cut out for a minute so we'll wait a couple minutes before we hang up and we're charged for that 5 minutes and no refund will be given because it shows that somebody hung up this is robbery this is blatant theft they also handle the stuff for doing putting money on the inmates books through connect Network which is also how you pay for the phone service through the connect Network which is also GTL now when they're notorious for this also we put money on our loved ones books I myself and out two separate times there was one for $75 that I paid so it cost me $80 because they charged with 395 fee and then the other one was for $123.95 that they never reported to the prison and it never got put on the inmates books now they'll tell you 3 to 5 days for any refunds or anything and you never get them never do you get them I want other people who have this complaint please get a hold of me please because I am contacting the FCC the FCC has me logging every phone call and doing everything I am filing official complaints on every website possible against this company and want them shut down they've had several lawsuits against them for this and everything else so please please let me get a hold of me thank you

My loved one was just released on 12.27.22 after serving 18 mo & now the calls are free? Sure would have been nice to not have to foot the phone bill for 18 mo as a single mom with a new disability in the middle of 2 spine surgeries. But no I had to pay but no everyone else is getting it for free? Not flipping cool. I just called to ask about how they are handling this with others & apparently I'm the only one upset about this? No refund for me. Congrats to all you that don't have to pay thousands for these calls! I'm contacting a lawyer if anyone has recommendations? [protected]@yahoo.com

I made a account on 12/23/22...put 25.00 + charges on inmate. Package...went back to my main account deposited 25.00 + charges..went to message my Son it daid insufficient funds...I kept trying for hours to get my message to go through still insufficient funds. Kept trying still no luck..so I tried to deposit on a visitors and still insuffient funds. Called customer service 12/26/22.they told me they can not refund or move my deposit and visitor deposit to my account. So here I am to tell any and all DO NOt give anything to this company they are scam artist and preform it well!

I signed up for an Acct right away they charged me 49 dollars I called to cancel it they took 14.99 for cancelling the service I figured out how to add money for my husbands tablet guess what service is always down video calls don’t work I’ve reached out to gtl and getting out they are useless they give u the run around they say the inmate has to put in a ticket umm how convenient co considering he needs to be able to LOG ON in order to do that and if tablets are not working then he’s not able to submit a complaint! Then they said it has to come from within prison I’ve called numerous times and of course they don’t care they’re not gonna do anything about it they say we have to call the company. Nobody is taking responsibility for anything. I recently called and was told oh maybe cause of the signal or maybe because too many ppl are trying to use it. If you are not able to provide a service you are getting paid to do the. Step aside and allow other companies to do so. But they have a contract with the CDCR which I’m sure theyre getting some kickback. I’ve reached out to ombudsman offc because this is. Very discouraging for some ppl specially during the holidays, also FCC and I’m looking for other places I can report them to til someone does something I did find they had a class action lawsuit and they had to pay back customers which is why they changed their name.

At first I added money so my son can call me but he still has to pay for the calls I've contacted GTL multiple of times for a refund they refuse to give me my money back still as of today My son still has to pay for the calls to me cause of GTL's refusal And not even emailing me back till this day no response from them When my son calls me we have multiple of dropped calls and sometimes as soon as I accept the call it drops but the time is still running charging for the call but we can't hear each other it's dead silence Also their customer service is extremely rude and disrespectful.GTL needs to fix this problem cause this is our only communication with our loved one that's incarcerated.

Back in August I called to process a refund on 2 phone numbers on my account. For some reason I was charged $100 on both these accounts instead of $10. That is a long time to process a refund, in September I had to go and dispute these charges. So I could get my money back. I disputed the $90 that you wrongfully took. Now I can not add funds to my account with a card I have to go process a western union? This is crazy how is it you can process western union faster than a refund? Why is it no one can unblock this block on my phone numbers?