Palmetto Alarm LLC Contract Scam Artists! West Columbia South Carolina
I purchased an alarm system from Palmetto Alarm in September of 2013. In May of 2014 I found out my husband was having an affair with our son's nanny and my life turned upside down. The house was put up for sell and was empty by July. I had to cancel many services.
I called Palmetto Alarm and told them my circumstances. The woman in the office told me I had to have my contract for a full year before I could cancel or they would put a lien on my home. She told me to keep paying my monthly payment until September of 2014 and then call to cancel.
In September 2014 I called back and was told that Monitronics now has the contract and that I need to write them a letter to cancel. I did exactly what the woman told me to do. Yet Monitronics doesn't care that Palmetto Alarm lied to me and they want $2100 for the contract to be cancelled.
Palmetto Alarm had me continue paying them for a year, knowing they were going to sell the contract then and wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. My life is already in turmoil, and it's hard enough trying to afford things as a single mother, and Palmetto Alarm is the only company I dealt with that did not help me out, and also made things worse.
They scam people and then sell their customers off to bigger companies that don't care either! No where in my contract does it state that Palmetto Alarm had the right to sell my contract. Palmetto Alarm should pay the $2100 to cancel the contract they sold to Monitronics.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Palmetto Alarm Customer Care
West Columbia,South Carolina,
USA
Contract Terms
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, May 12, 2015
We are very sorry for your unfortunate circumstances. However, there are quite a few discrepancies in your statement and complaint.
First, you never purchased a security system from Palmetto Alarm, LLC. We upgraded your existing system at no cost for equipment or installation in exchange for an agreement that you would use our monitoring service for a period of five (5) years. This was clearly stated on the contract, and the QA that you signed at the time of install. You also had a pre-install welcome call in which you stated that you knew you had signed a contract and would be responsible for paying for the service for 5 years. Monitronics then did a post-install survey in which you again stated that you knew you had signed a 5 year contract and were responsible for the payments for that period of time.
Your contract is assignable, and clearly states that in part 16. Your contract was sold to Monitronics the week after your system was installed, not a year later. This is how we get paid. You should check your bank statements to see that Monitronics was the company that was drafting your checking account for your monthly monitoring service the whole time.
When you called in to cancel, you were advised of your many options at that time. You could have the new homeowner assume the balance of your contract, have us move your system to your new location for free, transfer the service to someone new and have them assume the balance of contract, pay the remaining balance, or just keep paying monthly as you were. What you don't seem to understand is that this is a contract. This is not a service like cable or internet where you can just turn it off and walk away. This is why it is called a contract. We provided equipment, installation and service, and in return, you agreed to a contract term of 5 years for monitoring service to be paid by you. You were told that if you absolutely wanted to cancel, you would have to do so with Monitronics. Palmetto Alarm does not and has not owned this contract since the week after your installation. Monitronics dictates the terms of your cancellation which always requires you to fulfill your contractual obligation.
We hope that Monitronics will work with you to resolve this issue, however, Palmetto Alarm, LLC has no ability to change the terms of your contract with Monitronics.