Our system requires Touch Tone dialing in order to accept calls. Unfortunately, there are many reasons these tones are not sent or recognized:

• Your provider does not allow, or pass, the digits you press to our system.
• The pad of digits on your phone may be broken, and not generating the necessary tones.
• You may have your phone set for rotary dialing. If you press the buttons and hear a lot of clicking, you may need to change the setting from pulse dialing to tone dialing.
• If there is a lot of static, or noise, in your line, it may prevent our system from recognizing these tones, even when they are generated.
• If you are using a cellular phone, and are in an area with low coverage, or you are moving around a lot, walking, riding a bike, in a moving vehicle, inside a building, or in an area where there is lots of cellular phones in use, sometimes these tones are dropped or unrecognizable by our system, even when they are generated. Remember, all the reasons your calls get dropped, are reasons the system may not recognize it when you press 1 for acceptance, and in come cases, with some providers, just pressing any button after receiving a call will cause the call to be dropped!

You can only accept the call once, never be afraid of pressing 1 again and again, if you are having trouble getting the system recognize it, and you believe the tones are being generated properly.  In all cases where you are having this difficulty, you should test the phone with your provider, before calling us to report it as a problem.

• DirectPay offers you financial control.
• DirectPay bypasses credit checks during call setup.
• DirectPay customers are not subject to the same terms and conditions as traditional collect call customers. Receive as many calls as your balance allows.
• Most residential or cellular phone service providers:
  • do not accept billing from service providers at Correctional Facilities.
  • impose spending limits or caps on collect calling, that you may find undesirable.

Please, when calling us, be aware:

• All calls to Customer Service representatives are recorded for quality assurance.
• All calls placed from our facilities are recorded, and may be monitored.

• Credit/Debit/Prepaid Card (MasterCard, Visa, and Discover (NOT American Express)).
• Money Order, Money Gram, or Cash.
• The minimum using any form of payment has to be enough for a 15 minute phone call plus the taxes and fees.
• Please be aware that Money Gram charges a separate fee, with applicable taxes, for sending money to us.
• You may use your Credit/Debit/Prepaid Card over the phone, or at our offices in Bossier City, Louisiana.
• Money Order. You can mail a money order, or drop it off at our drive up window.
• Cash. Please, DO NOT send cash in the mail.

Yes, it a short call request.  Contact one of our representatives and request us to block calls to your number. This will block all calls, from any of our facilities.  We have no issue in helping you do this at all.

Yes.  In fact, most cellular phone providers do not allow traditional Collect Calls.  We offer DirectPay accounts, and some of our facilities offer persons, in custody, Calling Cards, via Commissary, for making calls to these numbers.

There are several reasons you may be unable to get billed for collect calls:

• Your phone may have had a block placed on it by the provider for:
  • non-payment: of your balance, fees, or other charges on your bill
  • someone at your number called the provider and requested blocking of collect calls
• You may be blocked by us for exceeding a preset balance. Any number able to receive traditional collect calls from a person at any of our facilities is subject to the following terms and conditions:
  • If you exceed $50.00 in a lifetime of collect charges your number will be blocked.
  • You will no longer be able to receive calls until you have a credit balance, with your provider, of at least, the amount that is owed us.
  • After you have made payment to your provider and we can verify, with a live representative, that you have a credit balance with your provider, of at least, the amount that is owed us, we will allow purchase of DirectPay for future calls.
  • Once you have purchased DirectPay you will no longer be able to accept collect calls with your phone company for calls originating from our facilities.
• You may be blocked through our billing company for charges rejected previously. You may be asked to pay City Tele Coin, Inc. directly for these charges, before you can purchase DirectPay.

There are several reasons you may be unable to receive calls:

• If your account is set up for a cellular phone, you may need to change your ringtone. Some ringtones make our system believe the line is busy. If others dialing your number are hearing music, or something other than standard "ringing", the call may not work.
• The person in the facility may not be waiting long enough. It can take up to 60 seconds for the system to place the call and your phone to start ringing.
• The person has been transferred, or released, without first being able to contact you.
• The facility may have locked out usage of the phones, for the entire facility, or for just the person you are expecting calls from, without first being able to contact you.
• The person may be attempting to dial your number more often, without any kind of acceptance by you than we allow. Generally speaking, we will not allow calls from our facilities to ring your number, without acceptance from you, more than 10 times in 24 hours. Some of our facilites have different settings for this feature.
• Generally speaking, our system calls you when your balance is insufficient and someone has made an attempt to call you. These calls, will not be made, after you have have declined to speak with customer service, by not accepting the automated notification for the 3 time in 24 hours. Some of our facilities have different settings for this feature.
• Some phone providers block collect calls when you have forwarded your number to another number, or have significant delays in processing the calls, which prevent the calls from reaching your number.

No.  DirectPay accounts are phone number specific. However, you may set up as many DirectPay accounts as you like (home phone, cellular phone, business phone) and each number is charged accordingly.

You will be notified when the person attempts to call, when your balance is insufficient. You may contact one of our representatives between 8am and 4:30pm, Monday through Saturday, Central Time.

NOTE:

It is against the law for our representatives to charge your credit card without your approval. If you want to use a

credit card, you must call our office and request us to charge your credit card.

DirectPay accounts are phone number specific. You can transfer the balance to another number. When you call us for this service, please be aware:

• There is a $2.50 transfer fee, plus taxes, which will be deducted from the balance, for processing

• If the person is transferred to another of our facilities, your account will operate normally once the person has moved. DirectPay accounts are good at any of our facilities.
• Contact one of our representatives and request a refund. When requesting a refund:
  • You must have at least $7.00 balance
  • There will be a $5.00 refund fee, plus taxes, deducted from the balance, for processing
  • Any remaining balance will be refunded to you
  • The process may take up to 120 days from the date you make the request
  • Once the refund request is made, all further attempts to dial the number, from any of our facilities, will be blocked

Yes.  There is also an Inactivity Service Fee.  After six months of inactivity on a DirectPay Account: (no call attempts,   and no communication from account holder)

• a $10.00 fee will be deducted from the account balance
• and the same $10.00 fee will be deducted for each successive month of inactivity
• if there is insufficient funds to cover the fee, the remaining balance becomes the property of City Tele Coin, Inc.
• After twelve months of inactivity, any remaining balance will become the property of City Tele Coin, Inc.