- Report: #68658
Complaint Review: Monitronics International - Dallas Texas
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Monitronics International
12801 Stemmons Freeway Suite 821 Dallas, 75234 Texas, U.S.A.
Phone:
800-232-1490
Web:
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Monitronics International Beware when you sign up with this company because you will never be able to get out of the contract Dallas Texas
Fulfilled 3 year contract and cancelled over a year later we are still getting calls from the account resolution dept threatening to turns us over to collections. It has been impossible to term this contract.
Our original contract was to end Feb 2003. We sent our written cancellation July 18, 2002. Over a year later we are still receiving regular phone calls from the account resolutions dept threatening to turn us over to collections. We fulfilled a 3-year contract even though we quit using the alarm after 1 year because we were experiencing several false alarm charges. Monitronics admitted the false alarms were due to the system malfunctioning and replaced the system but told us it was our responsibility to check this.
When we had the unexpected rate increase for the July 2002 bill, I emailed the company to have them send me a copy of our contract. I told them that I thought because we had originally agreed to pay $32 a month that we should be able to term our contract early due to the rate increase. After receiving a copy of the contract I read Monitronics could increase our monthly rate but I also read that if we wanted to discontinue the service after our original 3 years that we were required to send a 90-day written notice.
July 18, 2002 I sent a written cancellation to the Monitronics at the Chicago address. When we received a bill for the month of March 2003 we called Monitronics. We were told they never received a cancellation and so our contract renewed for another year. We told them that we have sent the written notice and that we no longer wanted the service. Monitronics told us they would cancel our contract if we wanted to pay $406.20.
I sent the 3rd request for cancellation certified mail. I sent one to the Dallas office and one certified letter to the Chicago office to make sure Monitronics received it. When I talked to them a week later they did not have record of receiving these either until I faxed them the return receipts. Monitronics now admits to receiving the cancellations but made it effective Feb 2004 and still insist we owe for 2003.
Each frustrating call we make to Monitronics gets us nowhere. I have asked to talk to their legal dept and was told they do not take calls from customers. We so far have filed a complaint with the BBB of Texas, talked to an attorney, made contact with the local news station here in Portland, filed a complaint with the Attorney General, filed a complaint on every web site I could find, and emailed to Senator's office.
We are still receiving calls on a regular basis trying to collect for service we cancelled over a year ago. We paid our contract for the full 3 years and cancelled, per the terms of the contract, because we were very unhappy with the services. The experience we have had to go through in trying to cancel our contract proves to us that Monitronics is a company to watch out for.
The following might be of interest to most of you having the same problem with this company. I email these people almost on a daily bases. Forwarding web links to GREAT sites like these.
[email protected] President
[email protected] VP Customer Relations
[email protected] Director, Customer Relations
[email protected] Consumer & Legal Affairs
Juliann
Gresham, Oregon
U.S.A.
Our original contract was to end Feb 2003. We sent our written cancellation July 18, 2002. Over a year later we are still receiving regular phone calls from the account resolutions dept threatening to turn us over to collections. We fulfilled a 3-year contract even though we quit using the alarm after 1 year because we were experiencing several false alarm charges. Monitronics admitted the false alarms were due to the system malfunctioning and replaced the system but told us it was our responsibility to check this.
When we had the unexpected rate increase for the July 2002 bill, I emailed the company to have them send me a copy of our contract. I told them that I thought because we had originally agreed to pay $32 a month that we should be able to term our contract early due to the rate increase. After receiving a copy of the contract I read Monitronics could increase our monthly rate but I also read that if we wanted to discontinue the service after our original 3 years that we were required to send a 90-day written notice.
July 18, 2002 I sent a written cancellation to the Monitronics at the Chicago address. When we received a bill for the month of March 2003 we called Monitronics. We were told they never received a cancellation and so our contract renewed for another year. We told them that we have sent the written notice and that we no longer wanted the service. Monitronics told us they would cancel our contract if we wanted to pay $406.20.
I sent the 3rd request for cancellation certified mail. I sent one to the Dallas office and one certified letter to the Chicago office to make sure Monitronics received it. When I talked to them a week later they did not have record of receiving these either until I faxed them the return receipts. Monitronics now admits to receiving the cancellations but made it effective Feb 2004 and still insist we owe for 2003.
Each frustrating call we make to Monitronics gets us nowhere. I have asked to talk to their legal dept and was told they do not take calls from customers. We so far have filed a complaint with the BBB of Texas, talked to an attorney, made contact with the local news station here in Portland, filed a complaint with the Attorney General, filed a complaint on every web site I could find, and emailed to Senator's office.
We are still receiving calls on a regular basis trying to collect for service we cancelled over a year ago. We paid our contract for the full 3 years and cancelled, per the terms of the contract, because we were very unhappy with the services. The experience we have had to go through in trying to cancel our contract proves to us that Monitronics is a company to watch out for.
The following might be of interest to most of you having the same problem with this company. I email these people almost on a daily bases. Forwarding web links to GREAT sites like these.
[email protected] President
[email protected] VP Customer Relations
[email protected] Director, Customer Relations
[email protected] Consumer & Legal Affairs
Juliann
Gresham, Oregon
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Juliann
Gresham,Oregon,
U.S.A.
This is a response I received back from Linda Banks Director of Customer Relations
#2Author of original report
Fri, October 10, 2003
Since we sent our original cancellation notice July 18 2002, well within the required 90 days, we did not accepted their latest offer. One way or another this company thinks they are going to get money out of us but they are sadly mistaken. October 2, 2003 Gresham, OR 97030 Re: Customer #20271xx Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dillard; First, allow me to express my appreciation to you. By taking time out of your busy schedule to document the issues encountered with the service provided by Monitronics, it provides us with the necessary tools in measuring our customer satisfaction. I sincerely apologize for any frustration you encountered. For security purposes, a written letter with your signature must have been received at least 90 days prior to your contract expiration date of February 13, 2003. We do not accept requests sent by email because there is no signature giving us permission to cease the monitoring on your home. Every invoice instructs customers to send any correspondence to our Dallas office, rather than our Chicago address. The Chicago address is a lockbox set up to only record payments. Your written cancellation request sent to the Dallas address was postmarked on 5/22/03, thus automatically renewing your contract for another 12 months. This cancellation procedure is in place strictly for security purposes, due to the type of service we provide, and is enforced to prevent unauthorized persons from canceling accounts. I apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding regarding your contract terms. You will not be held to the renewal terms of your contract since you did send a letter. However, you will be responsible for payment through the receipt of the letter, totaling $108.45. The applicable billing history is outlined below: 12938409A RECURRING 05/27/03 06/15/03 - 07/14/03 34.75 34.75 390412F LATE FEE 05/23/03 3.00 3.00 12576325A RECURRING 04/25/03 05/15/03 - 06/14/03 34.75 34.75 326065F LATE FEE 04/23/03 3.00 3.00 12210455A RECURRING 03/26/03 04/15/03 - 05/14/03 34.75 34.75 257262F FINANC CHG 03/24/03 3.00 3.00 11856980A RECURRING 02/26/03 03/15/03 - 04/14/03 33.85 33.85 11519537A RECURRING 01/28/03 02/15/03 - 03/14/03 33.85 23.85 PAYMENT 08/24/03 3084 10.00- Our goal is to provide the highest level of monitoring service to our customers. If we have not been successful in reaching that goal, please feel free to contact me directly. Our intent is to resolve any issues you may have and to provide the service you expect, pay for, and most importantly....DESERVE! Please contact me at 800 447 9239, ext. 6209. Sincerely, Linda Bank Director, Customer Relations CC: Jim Hull, President Rick Hudson, VP Customer Relations
