Complaint Review: ADT Home Security System - Internet

On May 8th 2010 one ADT Sales representative stopped at our home to advertise ADT Security Systems. Under their high-pressure salespeople, I have signed a contract for three years thinking we will be protected and we will have peace of mind.

Within the last couple of months we have had major issues with ADT system and have since turned it off:

08/15/2010 - The ADT alarm went off. We were at church when ADT representative called us and left a message that they sent police at our address. We came home and we've found Police Notice of Alarm Violation. It was a false alarm and the technician pointed to a faulty sensor. We were not able to bypass the sensor using the panel and your representative was able to login remotely and do it.

The technician that was dispatched replaced the sensor after checking for faulty wiring on 08/18/2010. A couple of days later we had the same problem monitor beeping continuous. This time however, the customer service technician told me that it is not possible to login remotely and I had to shut down the system completely.

The dispatched technician found that the board itself was bad on 08/27/2010 and he had to order the part. He spent 3 hours trying to find out what is wrong. I took a day off from work knowing ADT technician will come and fix the issue.

After a week, on Friday 09/03/2010, a technician came for the third time in a month to install the new board and after he left we had the same problem. The system is off since 09/03/2010 when it worked 2 hours on that day. This time my husband took a day off from work.

For the last couple of months we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to cancel our contract per ADT customer satisfaction guarantee customer can break contract within the first 6 months of service if services rendered are not satisfactory. Whats worse is that ADT deplorable customer service representatives from the billing department that keep referring us to Alert Security Services of St. Augustine FL each time we try to call.

Its important to point out that weve called that number - (904) 829 5359 - numerous times - leave a voicemail, to no avail because no one returns our call. On the two occasions somebody answered, once the CSR assured us that the manager will call us next day first thing in the morning, and the other time that we got the Daytona office and were told to call back after lunch. Nobody called us back.

We are completely dissatisfied with ADT service and we are cancelling it. Weve tried three times to fix the issue, we took two days off from work and nothing was resolved.

I have written a letter to Mr. John Kock, ADT President and ADT Billing explaining all the facts and asking to cancel ADT service as of 09/03/2010. We have attached a copy of the Police report on 08/15/2010 and ADT Money-Back Service Guarantee certificate received where it states: "Full Instalation & Monitor Refund - Refunds the installation and pays all monitoring fees if, after we have attempted to resolve your concerns, you are not satisfied within six months of installation."

On 10/07/2010 we have received an ADT Invoice with charges for Technician two Trips fee of $53.50. This is outrageous due the fact that technician was not able to fix the issue 3 times and we took 2 days off from work. Don't buy ADT services, you will never feel safe, you become their "hostage" instead of them protecting you.

We finally called another company, (((competitor's name redacted))) at (((phone redacted))). Everyone knows (((redacted))) and we thought people who make guns and ammunition and have been in business for over 150 years would certainly know about keeping people protected. We found (((link redacted))) and were pleasantly surprised to find that not only could we get a Free home alarm system with no installation costs, but their monitoring system even works with your cell phone if your land line is down, or you don't have a landline. That's really state-of-art. And customer service phone reps were all great, and very helpful.

ADT must stand for "alarm don't trust". Go to (((link redacted))) for true peace of mind.