Complaint Review: Advanced Alarm co. - Colorado Springs Colorado

This website doesn't allow the editing of anything that is posted so after reviewing my initial posting I feel it necessary to issue a formal retraction. I have no proof that this company or it's employees are in fact "scam artists" as such I'm retracting that sentence and issuing an apology for the improper use. If editing were allowed I would remove that sentence from my post.

Now for those curious as to why I'm issuing this retraction it's because this company's agent has accused me of slander (spoken lies). Which was actually a mistake on their part consider they were apparently trying to accuse me of libel (written lies). So I'm review and taking out or issuing retractions on anything that I do not have proof of or have not clearly issued as an opinion.

To clearly rephrase what might have been mistaken as statement of fact before, which was not my intent, I'm issuing the following in place of my original sentence.

A website has been started to inform people of my experiences with this company an it's employees. Please review the events and facts and determine for yourself if this company and it's employees acted in an ethical upstanding manner or one more befitting the title of "scam artists."

Further more unless it clearly states otherwise anything I've posted is my own opinion and not a statement of fact. So hopefully this will forestall any further accusations of slander and libel form this company and it employees.

Lets address your generous donation to VisionTrust.org

First of all I'm glad that you chose to make such a generous donation that feeds and educates orphans. Though I do believe that it would have only been ethical for you to reveal the following when you made that statement.

With a little search of PUBLIC records I found out the following interesting facts which you neglected to mention. "VisionTrust International" is listed with the El Paso Assessor Office as the owner of the building in which you have your offices. So they are your LANDLORDS.

It further appears that the individual shown as "Registered Agent" with the Colorado Secretary of State for your corporation is also listed as one of the board member of VisionTrust.

Just to be clear your company made a tax deductible donation to an organization that is also your LANDLORD. An organization that it also appears that an officer of your own corporation is a board member of. While none of these actions are illegal, it strikes me as deceptive that you didn't bother to clearly state any of this in your rebuttal while extolling the fact that you donated to orphans.

So now your generous "CHARITY", for me at least, has lost that pure shiny gleam of gold and became more fitting of tarnished brass and a Public Relations ploy.

Your email dated 8/9/10 indicated that you had more than 5,000 satisfied customers but now you are quoting more than 10,000. A DOUBLING in the matter of 8 days. How did you derive these statistics and more importantly what exactly is a satisfied customer in your company's opinion? Is a satisfied customer one that simply hasn't filed a report with the BBB? I didn't file a report with the BBB until last week and yet I've been fighting with your company since before December of 2009. I will clearly state that I'm NOT a satisfied customer but it has only been in the last 2 weeks that this has become public knowledge.

You've clearly stated that "the majority of alarm companies require monitoring contracts as they do not profit from most installations." So are you stating unequivocally that your company did not make a PROFIT on the installation of the MY alarm system:
OVER $3,500 for materials - at the time of installation
OVER $900.00 for labor - at the time of installation
$551.00 for 19 months of monitoring
AND FINALY
$951.20 Early Termination Fee

I just want to be perfectly clear on this one. You're stating that Advanced Alarm DID NOT PROFIT on a sale of OVER $5902.20. If that is in fact the case than HOW have you stayed in business for over 30 years?

As for my not understanding a contract. I made my intentions and demands perfectly clear in my email dated 12/13/2009, read it sometime I've posted a copy here in case you lost yours, that I intended to pay my termination fee in cash at the time you released the installer's code to the alarm system that I PURCHASED from you, or reset it as was the final out come.

Just exactly where do I not understand a contract?

 Is it the fact that rather than YOU offering to erase my alarm panel as an option you supplied me with this answer "working another company and thought that they would get into the panel themselves as the alarm companies usually do." I just want you to clarify what this statement means because to me it mean you and your company ENDORSE and PRACTICE, by your own admission, the circumvention of the installer code that maintains a security panels integrity. Since this is common practice within the alarm company industry, according to you, what measures do you take to assure your own customers safety from thieves and disgruntled employees and wouldn't these measures, IF ANY, have stopped another alarm company from accessing my panel for reprogramming rendering the panel you sold me WORTHLESS?

The only thing that some might hold against me in these negotiations is the fact that I'd been unwilling to have two people take time off of work on a Monday thru Thursday. I've repeatedly offered to appear at your offices on Fridays. I consider the fact that you've refused to have a technician available during a normal business as being punitive on your part because I was terminating my contract. You're the ones clearly selling your monitoring service as 24 hour and your monitoring center has the capacity to remotely reprogram my alarm via a telephone call as your email states. So why couldn't you erase my alarm while I'm standing in your office with cash in hand on a Friday? For this "COURTESY" service you collected $951.20 or 32.8 months worth of monitoring/maintenance fees for 10 minutes worth of work. Yet it took your company SIX months to have a technician available on a Friday. Finally when given no other choice you were able, through some miracle, to arrange this service with only THREE days notice. I had to remove the panel from my house and carry it into your office at which point your technician complained that it would have been easier to reprogram the panel by phone. So please again tell me WHOM was the one being unreasonable in this dispute?

Lets go on to the grievous matter of you revealing my credit history publicly. You're acting as the representative of your company which at one time held my written authorization to check my credit history. I fulfilled my contract with you on 8/13/10 when you accepted my termination payment and at that instance all rights you had to inquire into my credit background became null and void. Read item 17 of your own contract it states clearly "As part of this contract." So now you've either misused the information and credit history you obtained while I was your customer, information I had every reasonable expectation of being kept strictly confidential, or you made an inquiry as a business without my legal consent, still using information obtained when I was a customer, at a time you had no legal right to do so. So now you've revealed details of MY PERSONAL credit history, and stated an opinion as to my credit worthiness, to a third party acting as a business without my consent. Go by the FTC.gov website and begin to look into what laws you've might have broken and to what kind of potential lawsuit you may have exposed not only yourself but your company to? I will have to consult an attorney on this matter but I don't foresee this looking to good for you as businesses are heavily regulated on what they are legally allowed to do with a consumers personal credit information without prior written consent.

At the very least you've clearly shown with your actions that the privacy of former a customer is of little concern to you when that customer has spoken critically of their experience with you and your company.

This, unlike the preceding, is PUBLIC information that I gathered about VisionTrust.Org. in the following manner.

VisionTrust's website gives you their physical address, the same building as you.

El Paso Assessors website lists VisionTrust International as the owners of the building.

VisionTrust's website clearly lists it's Board members.

Colorado Secretary of State website shows your "Registered Agent" on the business documents is the same as that of one of VisionTrust's board members.

VisionTrust "Public Financial Statements", etc. that the website clearly states is available to ANYONE.

Read over those reports and make note of the following expenses,
Salary and Benefits OVER $700,000
Professional Services OVER $30,000
Other Services OVER $10,000
In 2009 only.

I, acting as an individual, using PUBLIC information with nothing more than the website of the CHARITY you donated to. I violated no EXPECTATIONS of privacy because neither your company nor VisionTrust ever had any interactions or contracts with me as a business nor have you ever given me any personal information. I was able to tie them into being your landlord and a Board member of theirs also being an Officer in your own corporation.
Your company has a vested interest in this non-profit beyond their support of orphans. They are your landlords and in some unrevealed fashion at least one individual appears by public record to have a say in the running of both these companies.

So if VisionTrust does employ your company for the security service on the building they own, my personal recommendation would be, that they seriously consider contracting with a different security company because clearly from this interaction your actions, in my opinion are not "above reproach". Which is outlined in VisionTrust's Conflict of Interest Policy , "VTI (VTI), as a ministry initiated and sustained by God, has a mandate to conduct all of its affairs decently and above reproach both in the sight of God and people" as being a prime concern from them.

Just to make this dispute transparent, and let the people reading this make up their own minds, I've include copies of our emails since 12/12/09. I've erased the names but the substance of those emails are still very clear. I'm unable to upload all of them here as I'm limited to five photos but copies of the missing emails are available at www.advancealarm.info/emails.html , so I'll say, let them read and decide:

If I offered to pay you repeatedly and understand a contract?
If my demands were reasonable, letter acknowledging I fulfilled my contract, a functional alarm panel for which I paid you a total of over $5902.20, and an appointment on a Friday to be at your place of business to conclude this business?

Finally let them decided if you and your company have acted in an ethical upstanding manner.

I'll look forward to your continued rebuttal when people can read what has actually transpired in writing during this dispute.

Advanced Burglar and Fire Alarm Co., Inc. has been in business for over 30 years and has installed alarm systems for more than 10,000 satisfied customers.  We are a great standing member with the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. Unfortunately this customer does not understand contracts and that the majority of alarm companies require monitoring contracts as they do not profit from most installations. Many companies, such as cell phone and cable TV providers, auto dealers that lease vehicles and internet providers require contracts with early cancelation fees. Businesses require contracts with cancelation costs to protect them from customers who change companies to save money at their previous providers expense. 

 If the consumer does not agree with the contract as they review it, they generally do not sign the contract. Our contract boldly states: "By signature below, subscriber acknowledges that he has received a copy of this agreement and that he agrees to the terms on the front and reverse side." This customer chose to sign the contract.
 
This customer was offered to continue the contract and reinstall her system at her new home. She completed 19 of her 60 month signed contract, failed to fulfill her contract obligations and therefore had to pay a fee. After researching this consumers recent public financial history, it appears she has a problem with commitment and obligations.  We have donated her payment of $951.20 to VisionTrust.org, a non-profit organization who feed and educate orphans.