Complaint Review: Security Associates International

Several years ago we signed up for security monitoring with a door to door salesman who was representing a company called Firstline security. Shortly after signing up, we began to have problems with our monitoring. We would repeatedly get phone calls in the middle of the night reporting an "alarm phone communication error." They would also call our relatives and friends who were on our call list. We tried to request that we not receive calls unless we had an actual alarm, but we were told no, not their problem and were even hung up on for requesting a phone number for customer service. In January of 2009, we decided we had had enough and found a new monitoring company. Our alarm was disconnected for over a month and we received no phone calls from Firstline (were they really monitoring us?)

We then tried to contact them only to discover that they were in fact bankrupt and that they were one of many alleged companies that would sell these systems to consumers and then immediately sell a monitoring contract to security associates international. Now that we are no longer using their monitoring service, Security associates is suddenly very interested in assisting us (not in monitoring) but in collecting money from us for a service we no longer had because it was a continuous problem. Our online research has revealed that this seems to be SAI's typical mode of business, to employ short term "companies" to sell contracts which they buy immediately and then these companies supposedly cease to do business and SAI owns their contract. We have never had a collection action on our credit history but will probably have one as a result of this as we have no intention of paying for a shoddy service that we are not receiving and had to cancel due to poor quality and even poorer customer service.

Lori & pat
Vancouver, Washington
U.S.A.