Firstline Security Bogus Billing, Cancellation Fees and threats of Collection for useless Alarm system and Monitoring Albany New York
We were approached by a young door to door salesman on the evening of October 10, 2007. He said that as part of a promotional campaign by Firstline Security that we could get a wireless security system installed for free. He said that Firstline had already installed a system right across the street at our neighbors house and pointed out the small display sign in their front yard as the advertising part of the promotional campaign. He said if we agreed to let him place the same small sign in our front yard that we could get the same deal. He said that the normal cost of the equipment was over $1600, and that we would only be paying a small activation fee of $99 and a small fee of $45 each month to the company that provides the wireless cellular connection and monitoring service for our new alarm systems central control unit.
We have never owned an alarm system before, and due to some recent criminal activity in a nearby neighborhood, the thought of having an alarm system looked like a good idea, especially since my neighbor across the street with a Firstline Security sign in their front yard is a CHP trooper. Subsequent events have proven this was a false assumption. A technician came over within two hours of us signing the contract and put the system in. We had 1 PIR motion sensor and 3 door switches installed as well as the Simon XT control panel. The system worked for about a month and then the false alarms began to occur about every other day.
After numerous phone calls, and one repair attempt by a technician, all Firstline would do was try to fix it over the phone. Then Firstline's help line began to disconnect me, so I searched the Web and found out they are bankrupt and have committed fraud as reported in several TV News stories and the California BBB. Now they have the gall to send bills for monitoring service we cancelled months ago and have threatened to take us to collections for refusing to pay a Cancellation Fee on a contract they failed to honor over a year ago. C'mon BBB and Attorney General, do something!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
DHill
Windsor,California,
USA
Firstline Security Alarm Services: Bogus Billing, Cancellation Fees and threats of Collection for useless Alarm system and Monitoring from Carol Stream, Ill &
#2
Sat, August 22, 2009
We were approached by a young door to door salesman on the evening of October 10, 2007. He said that as part of a promotional campaign by Firstline Security that we could get a wireless security system installed for free. He said that Firstline had already installed a system right across the street at our neighbors house and pointed out the small display sign in their front yard as the advertising part of the promotional campaign. He said if we agreed to let him place the same small sign in our front yard that we could get the same deal. He said that the normal cost of the equipment was over $1600, and that we would only be paying a small activation fee of $99 and a small fee of $45 each month to the company that provides the wireless cellular connection and monitoring service for our new alarm systems central control unit. We have never owned an alarm system before, and due to some recent criminal activity in a nearby neighborhood, the thought of having an alarm system looked like a good idea, especially since my neighbor across the street with a Firstline Security sign in their front yard is a CHP trooper. Subsequent events have proven this was a false assumption. A technician came over within two hours of us signing the contract and put the system in. We had 1 PIR motion sensor and 3 door switches installed as well as the Simon XT control panel. The system worked for about a month and then the false alarms began to occur about every other day. After numerous phone calls, and one repair attempt by a technician, all Firstline would do was try to fix it over the phone. Then Firstline's help line began to disconnect me, so I searched the Web and found out they are bankrupt, never had an alarm installer license in California and have committed fraud as reported in several TV News stories and the California BBB. Now they have the gall to send bills for monitoring service we cancelled months ago and have threatened to take us to collections for refusing to pay a Cancellation Fee on an illegal contract they failed to honor over a year ago. C'mon BBB and Attorney General, do something!