These Terms and Conditions set out the terms under which Prison Voicemail provides you with the ability to use its voicemail service.
1. Introduction:
a. Prison Voicemail is a trading name of PHONEHUB IO LTD, company number 9568821 registered in England and Wales.
b. References to 'we', 'us' and 'our' are to Prison Voicemail and we refer to you, the user, as 'you' and 'your'.
c. Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully as they affect your rights and liabilities under the law and the terms governing your use of Prison Voicemail. By using Prison Voicemail's services, you agree to these Terms and Conditions.
d. If you have any queries, please contact us at info@prisonvoicemail.com.
2. What is Prison Voicemail?:
a. Prison Voicemail enables you to leave voice messages for a specific prisoner in a prison that has approved our service. You can leave a message by dialling your unique Prison Voicemail number. The prisoner can receive the message by dialling the same number from the phone system in the prison.
b. Prison Voicemail is secure in that it only allows pre-approved numbers to leave messages. When you sign up for the service, you register the number from which you will leave messages. The prison may wish to vet this number before you are allowed to leave messages.
c. You pay for messages left through Prison Voicemail through a monthly subscription payment associated with the price plan you choose while signing up for the service, or through a Pay As You Go plan. The subscription is a recurring monthly fee which is charged to your chosen payment card using Continuous Payment Authority. This is not a direct debit. The fee will automatically be deducted from your card on the same day each month. If the payment does not go through for any reason, the system will continue to attempt to take payment at regular intervals. After three failed payments, the system may cancel your subscription automatically. Until payment is received, your account will be blocked from use.
d. Each time you make a call the following process occurs:
i. You dial your unique Prison Voicemail number.
ii. Prison Voicemail verifies your caller ID. It will then hang up and call you back.
iii. You leave your message.
iv. The prisoner dials the same unique Prison Voicemail number. The prisoner can then listen to any messages on the system.
e. Some users may also use the Prison Voicemail mobile application to use the service. In this case the process will differ from that listed above.
f. Prisoners can, if enabled, initiate a message by dialling their Prison Voicemail number twice within one minute. The second call will get through and enable them to leave a message.
3. Call rates:
a. Please check the Prison Voicemail website for current pricing. From time to time Prison Voicemail may offer discounted or free calls. These offers are subject to any specific terms of each individual offer.
b. Your chosen price plan comes with a number of minutes which can be used throughout the month. These minutes are reduced by any time you spend on the phone to your Prison Voicemail number, including time spent listening to messages, leaving messages, and listening to the Prison Voicemail system voice. The time the prisoner spends using the service is not counted and does not subtract from your minute allowance. If you use the Prison Voicemail app, only the length of your messages to the prisoner, rounded up to the nearest minute, are deducted from your balance. Please note that all deductions are rounded up to the nearest minute.
c. Prison Voicemail is not responsible any additional calling charges that you or the prisoner may incur from your phone providers. Prisoners will usually pay for their calls at the normal landline calling rate charged by the prison phone system.
d. Call rates are subject to change at any time.
e. Any remaining minutes purchased as part of a subscription package will roll-over at the end of each month for a maximum of two months. Users may purchase top-up minutes through their account dashboard. These minutes will roll-over indefinitely until they are used up.
f. If an account relies on top-up minutes only without any monthly susbscription payments, it is classed as a Pay As You Go account. There may be a setup fee associated with this type of account. Pay As You Go accounts which have been inactive (no top-ups during this period) for more than 90 days may be cancelled without notice.
g. If at any point a subscription payment is missed and the account becomes past due then any accrued minutes from that subscription package will be lost. If a user subsequently makes a payment, the account will restart but the accrued minutes will not be kept.
4. Live calls and the Prison Voicemail App:
a. The Prison Voicemail app can be downloaded on iOS and Android from the appropriate app store. It features enhanced functionality enabling family members to listen to old messages and leave new messages without dialling the Prison Voicemail number. Please be aware that the app operates over data connections, therefore data charges may apply.
b. Users with the Prison Voicemail app have an additional chargeable feature available – live calls – which is available in certain establishments. This feature enables the prisoner to speak in real-time with the voicemail user if the user is available. The user can indicate their availability by selecting the appropriate option on the app.
c. If the user has indicated that they are available to receive calls from the prisoner, the next time the prisoner calls their Prison Voicemail number, after hearing any waiting messages, the app will ring and the user will be able to speak directly to the prisoner. The length of this call will be deducted from the user’s minutes balance, depending on the subscription package of the user.
d. The Prison Voicemail app relies on the phone having a data connection. A slow or patchy data connection may result in calls or messages being poor quality. We advise users to connect to wifi when doing Live Calls to avoid excessive data usage.
5. Refunds:
a. You may cancel your account with Prison Voicemail at any time. We will consider requests for refunds on a case-by-case basis depending on usage of the account, and any issues experienced by the user. We reserve the right to refuse refunds if the account has been actively used, if the user failed to inform us in a timely manner of their wish to cancel, or if the account has been denied by the prison for public protection reasons, and to retain an administration fee of up to 30% of the monthly subscription cost to cover our own costs of purchasing the line. All refunds will be made within 60 days once agreed with the customer.
b. No refunds will be issued for unused call minutes or setup fees on Pay As You Go accounts. For subscription plans, no refunds will be given for any period prior to the most recent payment.
6. Restrictions:
a. Prison Voicemail is currently only available in select prisons where the service has been approved.
b. The use of Prison Voicemail at the discretion of the individual prison and the Prison Service.
c. Individual messages are subject to a maximum length due to prison restrictions. This length varies from prison to prison, and will be communicated to you by Prison Voicemail.
7. Availability of services:
a. Your access to Prison Voicemail may be occasionally restricted to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. Your access may also be restricted if we are required to restrict it following instruction from the government, the prison service or prison management, or any other competent or lawful authority. In these circumstances, we will attempt to restore the service as soon as we reasonably can.
b. Prison Voicemail only offers its service at specific prisons. If the prisoner is not housed at one of the prisons serviced by Prison Voicemail, you will not be able to use your Prison Voicemail account. In these situations, Prison Voicemail will inform you and will either suspend the service, pending being made available at that prison or close your account at no charge.
c. Prison Voicemail uses some third-party technology and as a result cannot guarantee that the service will always be available. Prison Voicemail accepts no liability for any losses resulting from any faults or problems with its service.
8. Our responsibility to you:
a. We will provide you with a Prison Voicemail number that is unique to your account. Prison Voicemail will attempt to provide a landline number that is local to your home address, however this may not always be possible, in which case Prison Voicemail will provide a UK-based landline number. This number remains the property of Prison Voicemail, and may be removed from service or reassigned at any point.
b. If you have provided Prison Voicemail with the necessary details of the prisoner, Prison Voicemail will inform the prison of the new account and ask the prison to add the Prison Voicemail number to the Prisoner's approved numbers list. Although the prisons aim to process the new account quickly, there a number of potential reasons for delays in processing or rejections of new accounts, including public protection issues, the account owner’s number not being on the prisoner’s approved PIN list, delays in adding the account owner’s number to the prisoner’s approved PIN list, and staff holidays. It is your responsibility to follow up with Prison Voicemail if you believe there is a delay in the processing of your account at the prison end;
c. Enable you to pay your subscription and buy top-up minutes using a credit or debit card;
d. Enable you to leave voicemail messages, subject to limitations on maximum length and your available account credit;
e. Enable the prisoner to listen to voicemail messages by dialling the Prison Voicemail number from within the prison, subject to limitations on maximum length and your available account credit;
f. Charge the cost of the calls to both leave and receive messages at the agreed price to your account.
g. We do not assume any liability for the content of messages left by you or the prisoner on Prison Voicemail
h. You acknowledge that we are not responsible for providing (or maintaining) the equipment that you use to access Prison Voicemail services or the national or international telecommunications networks which your calls travel across.
i. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions affects your statutory rights (which include, for example, that we will provide Prison Voicemail services to a reasonable standard and within a reasonable time). For more information on your statutory rights you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Office.
j. Nothing in this section shall limit or affect our liability resulting from anything we provide to you being found to be unsafe or if something we do negligently causes death or personal injury.
9. Limitations:
a. In all cases, our liability is limited to the amount you have paid to use the service.
b. Prison Voicemail accepts no liability for any consequences of messages sent through its service.
10. Your responsibility to us:
a. You must abide by the terms and conditions of Prison Voicemail.
b. You must not use Prison Voicemail for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose, to make any communication which is, or is intended to be, malicious, fraudulent or hoax, or which is a breach of prison rules, or in any way which may damage or affect the operation of Prison Voicemail or any other telecommunications system.
c. You must adhere to the guidance provided by the prison on the appropriate use of Prison Voicemail.
d. You must allow the monthly subscription payment to be taken by Prison Voicemail in a timely manner.
e. Users leaving voicemail messages should be mindful of the impact of their communications on the prisoner's wellbeing. Users are strongly advised not to leave messages which may have a negative impact on the prisoner's state of mind. In the event that messages are left which are likely to cause distress users should contact the prison directly to ensure that prison staff can provide support.
f. You must not make any attempt to circumvent our system's security. Such attempts are strictly prohibited.
g. By signing up to Prison Voicemail you are consenting to allow the prisoner you name during the signup process to listen to and reply to your voicemail messages and to trigger notification text messages to your mobile phone.
h. It is your responsibility to ensure the prisoner is checking regularly for messages, and to use the service to its fullest capacity. Prison Voicemail cannot be held responsible for customers who under-utilise or misuse the serve.
11. Intellectual property:
a. The design of Prison Voicemail's services, and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein ('Marks'), are owned by or licensed to us. No licence is granted to you in these Terms and Conditions to use any trade mark of Prison Voicemail or its affiliated companies. The design system remains our property and cannot be copied.
12. Personal information:
a. For the purposes of data protection legislation within the United Kingdom you hereby consent to our processing of 'personal data' (as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998) by submission of your personal information on the Website and we agree that we will treat the personal data as confidential.
b. You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the terms of the Privacy Policy.
c. If you provide personal information to us through using Prison Voicemail, we will not share it with anyone outside of Prison Voicemail for marketing purposes.
d. We will never disclose your information to anyone outside Prison Voicemail except where we have your consent; where we are required or permitted to do so by law; to other companies who provide a service to us; or any successors in title to our business.
e. Prison Voicemail reserves the right to use your data on a confidential aggregated level to draw conclusions about the use of the service, and may wish to share this data or analysis of this data with third parties.
f. For the purpose of impact evaluation, safeguarding or welfare issues, or prison security, Prison Voicemail may need to share individual user data with parts of the prison service, partner agencies working with the prison on your behalf, the Ministry of Justice, or partner academic institutions. By using Prison Voicemail you consent to share your data with these parties.
g. Prison Voicemail reserves the right to keep customer data on its database for up to 2 years following the termination of any agreement.
h. All prison communications may be monitored in the interests of prisoner welfare and security.
i. Prison Voicemail will fully comply with any request made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).
j. Prison Voicemail reserves the right to listen to user voicemails only where absolutely necessary to improve its service or identify and solve issues.
13. Marketing and research:
a. By using Prison Voicemail, you agree that we may contact you with offers and information about our products and services. If you do not wish to receive these offers, please let us know.
14. Termination:
a. Prison Voicemail reserves the right to terminate its agreement with you at any time.
b. You may terminate your agreement at any time with Prison Voicemail over the phone or on your account dashboard. You will not be eligible for a refund, except at the discretion of Prison Voicemail.
15. General:
a. Although Prison Voicemail obtains approval from the management of all prisons it works with before offering its service at these prisons, it does not accept any liability for decisions taken by staff or management of the prison, or at any other level within the prison service or National Offender Management Service or Ministry of Justice, that result in its service being blocked, banned, or closed, or the prisoner receiving any kind of disciplinary action.
b. By using Prison Voicemail, you represent to us that you are fully able and competent to enter into and abide by these Terms and Conditions.
c. If you breach these Terms and Conditions and we choose to ignore this, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies at a later date or in any other situation where you breach these Terms and Conditions.
d. We shall not be responsible for any breach of these Terms and Conditions caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
e. These Terms and Conditions are subject to English law. We will try to solve any disagreements quickly and efficiently. If you are not happy with the way we deal with any disagreement and you want to take court proceedings, you must do so in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
f. These Terms and Conditions shall constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding use of Prison Voicemail. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
g. We may modify these Terms and Conditions at any time without notice to you and it is your responsibility to review these Terms and Conditions for any changes. Your continued use of Prison Voicemail following any amendment of these Terms and Conditions will signify your assent to and acceptance of its revised terms.
h. A person who is not a party to these Terms and Conditions shall have no right under the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of these Terms and Conditions but this shall not affect any right or remedy of a third party which exists or is available apart from that Act. Any member of Prison Voicemail may enforce any provision of these terms as if it were a party to these terms.
16. Customer services and complaints:
a. If you have any queries, please contact us using the details listed on the Prison Voicemail website.
17. Copyright notice
a. This website and its content is copyright of PHONEHUB IO LTD 2023. All rights reserved.
b. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:
i. you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only
ii. you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material
c. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
18. Complete agreement:
a. These provisions constitute the entire Agreement between you and Prison Voicemail with respect to the use of this site and any Software, Content, or Product contained therein, unless specified and marked 'Addendum' on the site.
Prison Voicemail is a trading name of PHONEHUB IO LTD, company number 9568821 registered in England and Wales.
Registered office / postal address: 1-2, The Old Church, St. Matthews Road, Norwich NR1 1SP United Kingdom
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