- Report: #240490
Complaint Review: Integrated Alarm Services Group IASG - Albany New York
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Integrated Alarm Services Group IASG
99 Pine Street, 3rd Floor Albany, 12207 New York, U.S.A.
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Integrated Alarm Services Group - IASG Deceptive auto-renewing contracts for alarm Fraudulent RIPOFF Albany New York
Make sure you DO NOT sign a contract with this group or any other service that uses this group for monitoring!
To sum it up, here is an excert of the letter that was sent to IASG on March 21, 2007:
Dear Sirs:
We signed an agreement with a local company, SPS, for an alarm system and monitoring service. We were told that it was a 3-year contract and afterwards, we could cancel it.
We contacted them in 2004 thinking we had satisfied our contract (since we moved into the house in November 2001). They told us that our contract will not be fulfilled until the following year and we could cancel it after we fulfilled our contract.
In September 2005, we started calling SPS to request that they cancel the contract and make sure the auto payments to our credit card be stopped. We never got a return phone call. We continued to call and leave messages.
In June 2006, we disconnected the telephone service that was used for monitoring (as we had 2 phone lines coming into the house). At that time, we called SPS again, and again received no response. We sent a letter in July to SPS requesting that they stop charging our credit card for the alarm since we cancelled the service and the service was no longer being provided. We have never received a response.
Beginning in August 2006, our home was being monitored by Ackerman Security. However, our Discover card was still charged $29.95 each month for your company. We sent an e-mail on September 6, 2006, asking Mike Jackson to cancel our service and stop the charges. Again, no response.
We called the telephone number listed on our Discover statement and that number was a personal residence in New York. We called Discover and they tried to contact the merchant but did not receive any response. In December 2006, Discover closed our account and gave us a new account number.
It was then and only when we stopped the monthly charges to our credit card did you contact us!
On January 19, 2007, we sold our house. I called Ackerman Security and they cancelled the monitoring service immediately. The customer account rep called me to confirm that our account was paid in full and of course asked that we consider them when we are ready for a new system.
I received a call on March 7, 2007, from Charlene Brown, Account Rep for your company. Ms. Brown was rude from the beginning of the call - not to mention that it appeared she was eating her lunch while talking to me. She stated that I had a past due balance of $89.85 and wanted my credit card number for payment. I told her that I did not know who she was and had no intentions of giving her my credit card information. She was aggressive (to say the least) as she started yelling at me.
I asked her to identify her company and explain why she thought I owed you any money. She said it was for my monitoring services and if I wanted to keep my family safe I needed to pay the amount owed. I explained that there must be some mistake because the monitoring was disconnected on Jan 19 and that we no longer live in the house. She yelled some more telling me that she did not care if I moved or not, I signed a contract, and I needed to give her the credit card info so she could take care of the payment.
It took some time and A LOT of patience on my end to figure out that she was not trying to collect for Ackerman (the company who actually monitored our house) but for SPS. I explained all the problems that we have had with contacting SPS and trying to get them to stop the monthly charges. She told me that I should have contacted your company and that we had an auto-renewing contract; that I needed to cancel by September in order not to incur charges for another year. This is the first that I have heard about this. I explained again that we have paid for services since June 2006 that we were not receiving. I told her that we did contact SPS several times. She laughed and said. verbatim . . .don't know who SPS is; they're probably not even in business anymore. Obviously, she found a lot of humor in this as she just laughed some more.
I asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused. She said that I did not need to speak to her supervisor, I just needed to give her the credit card info. Every time she said something, I asked to speak to her supervisor. She flat out refused to transfer the call to her supervisor! While she was screaming at me about the credit card information, I asked one more time to speak to the supervisor. She said, verbatim NO! You need to give me the credit card . . I did not listen any further. I hung up.
I called right back and asked for an address for the corporate attorney or legal department. This time, the call was answered by Katie Spector, another Account Rep for your company. She asked why I wanted this information and I responded by telling her that I was writing a letter.
She asked for my account number and I told her that the lady who called was too busy screaming at me to give me an account number and I have never received a statement from your company. She continued to ask for my name, address, etc. I told her that I just wanted the address so I could write my letter. However, since she seemed interested in helping, I gave her my information and she found my account. She immediately went into the fact that I signed a contract and it renews every year unless I cancel 60 days prior to the anniversary date.
I told her that all of our stuff was in storage but if that language was in the contract, it was well-hidden and we were never told that. I explained the entire situation with trying to contact SPS and trying to get the credit card payments to stop and that the only way that could be done was to change account numbers. She said that she was authorized to give me a settlement. She offered to allow me to pay $237.99 to get out of the contract. I told her that we had been paying $29.95 every month since June 2006 and did NOT receive services. That was a total of $209.65.
I told her that I was willing to just leave it at that and not ask for a refund. She got defensive, rude and intimidating. She said that I must think she is stupid and that I was obligated to pay the entire contract amount. She said that she was offering me this settlement and took 10% off of the total bill. I told her that was very kind of her but that I did not understand how she could expect payment for services that she was NOT able to provide. She said verbatim It's not about the services we provide! I asked her So, you want me to pay $238 for services that you cannot and will not provide? She replied in a sarcastic tone, It's $237.99. I told her that I simply rounded up one penny for convenience sake, that she was being ridiculous, and that was not going to help resolve this matter.
She exploded! She screamed at me that she was not a child and will not be treated like one and threatened to take the settlement off the table. I asked for her title and she replied Account Rep. I asked if she was licensed by the NY State Bar because she kept offering me a settlement as if she was an attorney. She did nothing but scream and berate me even more - telling me that she was doing me a favor by offering the settlement.
I asked to speak to her supervisor. She screamed again that she was not a child. I asked You are not going to let me speak to your supervisor? She screamed NO! I AM NOT A CHILD! She screamed about me thinking she is stupid but I am the one who signed a contract without reading it. I asked her for the telephone number to the legal department or corporate attorney. She asked me why I wanted this information. I told her that I originally started this call asking simply for an address to write a letter and I have been screamed at and verbally abused all that I will tolerate.
I told her that I have rights and will not allow her to treat me in this manner. I asked for the telephone number or extension of the corporate attorney. She told me that she was going to put me on hold and I asked that she not.
That infuriated her more. I told her that it was a simple request - the telephone number to the legal department. She said that she needed to put me on hold and again I asked that she not put me on hold. She muted the phone and then came back and told me that she would not give me the number.
If I wanted to correspond, I could send a letter. She was a bit calmer and stated that she was still offering this settlement and that it was in my best interest to take this offer. I told her that I will ask once more, I stated Ms. Spector, are you telling me that you want me to pay $273.99 for services that you cannot and will not provide to me? She said yes and then screamed that I was obligated for the entire contract, that she was doing me a favor by offering this settlement, she had the authority to take the settlement offer back. I told her I was ending the call and hung up.
Obviously, your company trains your Account Reps to be abusive, intimidating, rude and condescending as this is the same attitude that I experienced with both of your representatives. I am a professional and have worked in the corporate legal field since 1995. I have always been able to resolve issues in a professional manner and have never been treated so poorly by any individual or company. Your employees are harassing and abusive and I intend to protect myself to fullest extent of the law.
Your contract wording is ambiguous and written to deceive consumers. This is evident with the number of complaints against your company. There are over 600 complaints reported with the Better Business Bureaus for your companies within the past 36 months! You are no longer providing the service that your very own contract obligates you to provide and you have not done so in the past 10 months.
I have been a customer in good standing since my contract started in November 2002. All payments were paid on time until we took action to protect ourselves. We were not able to get any response by phone, mail or e-mail to our requests to cancel the service and stop charges to our credit card. Our credit card company, Discover, even attempted to contact you on our behalf and did not receive any response.
I have been in contact with many individuals that have encountered similar situations and they too have had to deal with your deceptive and ambiguous contracts and rude, abusive account representatives. These individuals are gathering information together for a class-action lawsuit, as they should! As you know, these auto-renewing contracts are even illegal in your very own home state without YOUR notifying the consumer with a certified letter.
This is my final attempt to resolve this matter.
Jeanette
Suwanee, Georgia
U.S.A.
To sum it up, here is an excert of the letter that was sent to IASG on March 21, 2007:
Dear Sirs:
We signed an agreement with a local company, SPS, for an alarm system and monitoring service. We were told that it was a 3-year contract and afterwards, we could cancel it.
We contacted them in 2004 thinking we had satisfied our contract (since we moved into the house in November 2001). They told us that our contract will not be fulfilled until the following year and we could cancel it after we fulfilled our contract.
In September 2005, we started calling SPS to request that they cancel the contract and make sure the auto payments to our credit card be stopped. We never got a return phone call. We continued to call and leave messages.
In June 2006, we disconnected the telephone service that was used for monitoring (as we had 2 phone lines coming into the house). At that time, we called SPS again, and again received no response. We sent a letter in July to SPS requesting that they stop charging our credit card for the alarm since we cancelled the service and the service was no longer being provided. We have never received a response.
Beginning in August 2006, our home was being monitored by Ackerman Security. However, our Discover card was still charged $29.95 each month for your company. We sent an e-mail on September 6, 2006, asking Mike Jackson to cancel our service and stop the charges. Again, no response.
We called the telephone number listed on our Discover statement and that number was a personal residence in New York. We called Discover and they tried to contact the merchant but did not receive any response. In December 2006, Discover closed our account and gave us a new account number.
It was then and only when we stopped the monthly charges to our credit card did you contact us!
On January 19, 2007, we sold our house. I called Ackerman Security and they cancelled the monitoring service immediately. The customer account rep called me to confirm that our account was paid in full and of course asked that we consider them when we are ready for a new system.
I received a call on March 7, 2007, from Charlene Brown, Account Rep for your company. Ms. Brown was rude from the beginning of the call - not to mention that it appeared she was eating her lunch while talking to me. She stated that I had a past due balance of $89.85 and wanted my credit card number for payment. I told her that I did not know who she was and had no intentions of giving her my credit card information. She was aggressive (to say the least) as she started yelling at me.
I asked her to identify her company and explain why she thought I owed you any money. She said it was for my monitoring services and if I wanted to keep my family safe I needed to pay the amount owed. I explained that there must be some mistake because the monitoring was disconnected on Jan 19 and that we no longer live in the house. She yelled some more telling me that she did not care if I moved or not, I signed a contract, and I needed to give her the credit card info so she could take care of the payment.
It took some time and A LOT of patience on my end to figure out that she was not trying to collect for Ackerman (the company who actually monitored our house) but for SPS. I explained all the problems that we have had with contacting SPS and trying to get them to stop the monthly charges. She told me that I should have contacted your company and that we had an auto-renewing contract; that I needed to cancel by September in order not to incur charges for another year. This is the first that I have heard about this. I explained again that we have paid for services since June 2006 that we were not receiving. I told her that we did contact SPS several times. She laughed and said. verbatim . . .don't know who SPS is; they're probably not even in business anymore. Obviously, she found a lot of humor in this as she just laughed some more.
I asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused. She said that I did not need to speak to her supervisor, I just needed to give her the credit card info. Every time she said something, I asked to speak to her supervisor. She flat out refused to transfer the call to her supervisor! While she was screaming at me about the credit card information, I asked one more time to speak to the supervisor. She said, verbatim NO! You need to give me the credit card . . I did not listen any further. I hung up.
I called right back and asked for an address for the corporate attorney or legal department. This time, the call was answered by Katie Spector, another Account Rep for your company. She asked why I wanted this information and I responded by telling her that I was writing a letter.
She asked for my account number and I told her that the lady who called was too busy screaming at me to give me an account number and I have never received a statement from your company. She continued to ask for my name, address, etc. I told her that I just wanted the address so I could write my letter. However, since she seemed interested in helping, I gave her my information and she found my account. She immediately went into the fact that I signed a contract and it renews every year unless I cancel 60 days prior to the anniversary date.
I told her that all of our stuff was in storage but if that language was in the contract, it was well-hidden and we were never told that. I explained the entire situation with trying to contact SPS and trying to get the credit card payments to stop and that the only way that could be done was to change account numbers. She said that she was authorized to give me a settlement. She offered to allow me to pay $237.99 to get out of the contract. I told her that we had been paying $29.95 every month since June 2006 and did NOT receive services. That was a total of $209.65.
I told her that I was willing to just leave it at that and not ask for a refund. She got defensive, rude and intimidating. She said that I must think she is stupid and that I was obligated to pay the entire contract amount. She said that she was offering me this settlement and took 10% off of the total bill. I told her that was very kind of her but that I did not understand how she could expect payment for services that she was NOT able to provide. She said verbatim It's not about the services we provide! I asked her So, you want me to pay $238 for services that you cannot and will not provide? She replied in a sarcastic tone, It's $237.99. I told her that I simply rounded up one penny for convenience sake, that she was being ridiculous, and that was not going to help resolve this matter.
She exploded! She screamed at me that she was not a child and will not be treated like one and threatened to take the settlement off the table. I asked for her title and she replied Account Rep. I asked if she was licensed by the NY State Bar because she kept offering me a settlement as if she was an attorney. She did nothing but scream and berate me even more - telling me that she was doing me a favor by offering the settlement.
I asked to speak to her supervisor. She screamed again that she was not a child. I asked You are not going to let me speak to your supervisor? She screamed NO! I AM NOT A CHILD! She screamed about me thinking she is stupid but I am the one who signed a contract without reading it. I asked her for the telephone number to the legal department or corporate attorney. She asked me why I wanted this information. I told her that I originally started this call asking simply for an address to write a letter and I have been screamed at and verbally abused all that I will tolerate.
I told her that I have rights and will not allow her to treat me in this manner. I asked for the telephone number or extension of the corporate attorney. She told me that she was going to put me on hold and I asked that she not.
That infuriated her more. I told her that it was a simple request - the telephone number to the legal department. She said that she needed to put me on hold and again I asked that she not put me on hold. She muted the phone and then came back and told me that she would not give me the number.
If I wanted to correspond, I could send a letter. She was a bit calmer and stated that she was still offering this settlement and that it was in my best interest to take this offer. I told her that I will ask once more, I stated Ms. Spector, are you telling me that you want me to pay $273.99 for services that you cannot and will not provide to me? She said yes and then screamed that I was obligated for the entire contract, that she was doing me a favor by offering this settlement, she had the authority to take the settlement offer back. I told her I was ending the call and hung up.
Obviously, your company trains your Account Reps to be abusive, intimidating, rude and condescending as this is the same attitude that I experienced with both of your representatives. I am a professional and have worked in the corporate legal field since 1995. I have always been able to resolve issues in a professional manner and have never been treated so poorly by any individual or company. Your employees are harassing and abusive and I intend to protect myself to fullest extent of the law.
Your contract wording is ambiguous and written to deceive consumers. This is evident with the number of complaints against your company. There are over 600 complaints reported with the Better Business Bureaus for your companies within the past 36 months! You are no longer providing the service that your very own contract obligates you to provide and you have not done so in the past 10 months.
I have been a customer in good standing since my contract started in November 2002. All payments were paid on time until we took action to protect ourselves. We were not able to get any response by phone, mail or e-mail to our requests to cancel the service and stop charges to our credit card. Our credit card company, Discover, even attempted to contact you on our behalf and did not receive any response.
I have been in contact with many individuals that have encountered similar situations and they too have had to deal with your deceptive and ambiguous contracts and rude, abusive account representatives. These individuals are gathering information together for a class-action lawsuit, as they should! As you know, these auto-renewing contracts are even illegal in your very own home state without YOUR notifying the consumer with a certified letter.
This is my final attempt to resolve this matter.
Jeanette
Suwanee, Georgia
U.S.A.
