What you get, and what it costs.

What you are buying

Minutes of talking time with Carl, delivered weekly and billed monthly. A plan at twenty minutes a week gives you twenty minutes every week, not eighty once a month.

Your phone number is the account. There is nothing to sign up for and no password — minutes are attached to the number you tell us at checkout — for a gift, the number of the person you are buying for — and Carl recognises you when you call from it.

Unused minutes do not carry over

Each week's minutes expire when the next week begins. A quiet week is not banked and does not roll forward. This is deliberate: it is what keeps a weekly plan cheaper per minute than buying the same time in one lump, and it is the difference between running out on a Thursday and being paid up but unable to call for a fortnight.

A one-off top-up is different. It is not a plan, it does not renew, and its minutes stay available until you use them.

Buying minutes for someone else

A gift is a one-off payment. It is not a plan, it does not renew, and the minutes do not expire.

The minutes go to whoever calls Carl from the exact number you enter. We never text them — you get a message to send them yourself. The site cannot change the number after you pay, so check it first.

Carl can only hand a gift over on a call the phone network verifies is really from that number. That is why gifts can only go to US and Canadian numbers for now, including Puerto Rico and the other US territories. The Caribbean countries that share the +1 dialling code are not included: their calls are not verified this way. Not every US or Canadian network verifies calls either, and a call from one that does not cannot redeem a gift.

Billing and renewal

Plans renew monthly on the day you started, and continue until you cancel. Card details are handled by Stripe and are never seen or stored by Carl.

Prices are in US dollars. If a price changes, it changes for new purchases — you keep the price you signed up at until you cancel.

Changing plan

Choose a different plan on plans and prices with the number your plan is on. You keep one plan; you are never billed for two. We text that number the exact terms and a code, and typing the code back makes the change.

Moving up: you pay the difference for the rest of the month straight away, in proportion to the time left, and this week's minutes go up to the new plan's straight away. From your next renewal you pay the new plan's full price.

Moving down: nothing is charged or refunded. You keep your current plan and its minutes until your next renewal, which charges the lower price and starts the smaller weekly allowance.

Changed your mind before a move down takes effect? Choose your current plan again, and nothing changes.

Cancelling

Cancel any time. Cancelling stops future charges; the weeks you have already paid for run out normally rather than being cut short.

Three ways, all of them yours to do without asking anyone:

On the web: cancel your plan. We text a four-digit code to the number the plan is on, you type it back, and it is done.

By text: text CANCEL PLAN to Carl's number from that handset. No code needed — the text is the proof. Note that CANCEL on its own is a carrier keyword that only stops text messages and will not cancel your plan.

By email: write to the address on the privacy page saying which number the plan is on, and it will be handled by hand.

Text MINUTES at any time to see what you have left.

Refunds

If something went wrong, we refund it. Charged twice, charged after cancelling, Carl did not work, or you changed your mind shortly after buying — email the address on the privacy page and we will refund it without an argument.

That includes a gift that cannot be redeemed — whether the number was wrong, or the phone it went to can never be verified.

Beyond that, minutes already used are not refundable, and an unused week that has expired is not refundable either.

What Carl is not

Carl is a companion to talk to. He is an AI, he says so, and he is not a therapist, a crisis service, a doctor, or a lawyer. Nothing he says is professional advice of any kind.

He is not a substitute for emergency help. In the United States, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and 911 if someone is in immediate danger. The published crisis protocol explains how self-harm concerns are handled.

Fair use

Calls are capped per call and per day, and those caps apply to everyone including subscribers. They exist to keep the line available and the bill survivable, not to claw back what you bought. Buying a larger plan raises how much you may spend in a week, not the length of a single call.

Availability

Carl is one phone line run by one person. It can be busy, and it can be down. If it is unavailable for long enough to matter to you, that is what the refund section above is for.