SOME QUICK HISTORY: The owners and "top dogs", not to mention almost every single one of Pinnacle Security Houston branch's first employees, all came straight from Ranger American ADT, back in 2007. Just shortly after they all made the move Ranger filed a lawsuit for something along the lines of breech of contract...I did not feel like reading the one inch thick stack of legal papers that we received, so I cannot guarantee that exactly. That issue was dissolved, but there was a bigger problem, all with the few guys that actually started running Pinnacle's Houston office. I was briefly informed that it had something to do with "charge-backs" and a lot of money that they still owed to Ranger American.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE/HISTORY: My husband worked for the Houston branch of Pinnacle Security since the day it started up, back when they used to meet at a local community college before they even got an office. The big boys were once really good friends to us way before Pinnacle even came into the picture, but once the move was made from Ranger American all of that changed.
My husband was a "van leader" also called a "field manager". When he worked there (2007-2008) he and the other people with the same job position made "overrides" or a monthly commission bonuses based off of the number of sales that their "team" made. I do not believe that that pay was deducted from the sales rep's checks though. It was something that was a contract/signed agreement upon hire. At first everything was wonderful, there were only a few glitches in our checks that we figured were just from this being a new branch of a big company. We saw quite a bit of money from them, I will admit to that, most of which was the monthly overrides. But once 2008 came around things were getting more and more questionable and money that we were supposed to get never came for one reason or another.
After the 2008 new year, there were a lot of problems and many of the employees were getting shorted on their checks, if they got a check at all, for one excuse or another and they started doubting the company and looking elsewhere for work, my husband included. When the time came that my husband and many sales reps found something else and they all had met their breaking points of being ripped off by people that were supposed to be friends and mentors, he was brought in and fired for no legitimate reason. They claimed some bogus mess about recruiting the sales reps that had already left Pinnacle to another alarm sales company...one that my husband did not even work for, now where does that make any sense? Sources have since informed us that a fellow co-worker was paid to create and sign a statement of false allegations about my husband doing the above mentioned.
When my husband left the company he was treated very poorly, even threatened by the owner and his top employees. He was also told by the owner that they were not going to pay him his last earnings. We did not take him seriously though, since that is against the law. Then one of the managers, or whatever his title is/was, threatened him and even spit at him when he returned a few days later to get his personal belongings out of the company vehicle. It was quite ridiculous and childish in my opinion.
To top all of that off though, as I briefly mentioned above, we were to be receiving his last two checks, one for a "deal" and the other for his monthly "overrides". The total was to be almost $1,500. There was a few employees left at the company that were still close friends of ours and we asked them to try and pick those checks up for us, but we were informed that the owner and managers made it clear that no employee of Pinnacle Security was allowed to speak or communicate in any way with my husband. They would not take either one of our calls when we were trying to find out if we could come pick up the pay checks ourselves and gather any other information that we needed. The one time I spoke with someone, I was told that they mailed the CHECK to us. We did get A check in the mail. It was for less than $20! It was just one check that consisted of a "deal" minus our insurance premium. I never saw a check that small before, but we decided to let it go since there was a bigger check coming (the one that was going to pay the rent). We never received that other check though. When we tried to get in touch with the company to find out where the check was, we got no response. Eventually we found out that they really were refusing to pay us. We requested a copy of all the papers that my husband signed when he started working with them but they denied us.
We were going to take this matter to court, but we had no money. The money that they owed us was going to pay our rent and the bills that we had due. Without that check our prepaid legal canceled, our rent was so far behind that we had to take a title loan out on the car (we are still trying to pay that back by the way), every bill that we had fell behind...it was just the worst thing. And to make matters worse, we had a two young children and I was pregnant with another. Hurting us in such a way over something so ridiculous says a lot about the Houston branch of Pinnacle Security.
A SIDE NOTE: I read a complaint from a former employee about the office from the inside and I just wanted to confirm his statements. They do have quite the playground in the "office". I remember when they used to have Halo, basketball, ping pong, and pool tournaments. It kept all the employees too distracted if you ask me. There were very long hours, but that consisted of lots of play.
A PERSONAL NOTE: IF ANYONE OF THOSE PEOPLE FROM PINNACLE THAT WRONGED MY FAMILY READS THIS AND CAN TELL WHO I AM FROM ALL THAT I HAVE STATED, WHICH SHOULD NOT BE TOO HARD, I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I HOPE YOU CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT KNOWING WHAT YOU DID, KNOWING THAT YOU ALMOST KEPT FOOD OUT OF A BABY AND PREGNANT WOMAN'S MOUTHS, THAT YOU ALMOST TOOK THE ROOF FROM ABOVE OUR HEADS, AND THAT YOU ALMOST BROKE OUR FAMILY APART...HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE DID THAT TO YOU AND YOURS? IT IS OK THOUGH BECAUSE NOW WE ARE STRONG AS EVER AND MINE AND MY FAMILY'S JUDGMENT OF YOU IS NOT WHOSE JUDGMENT YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT.
Ams
HOUSTON, Texas
U.S.A.