Life Alert Emergency Response

Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. or LAER as it is sometimes referred to by "management" and other dictators running the mickey mouse, half ass, impolite, unable to communicate with proper grammar, etc. The list goes on and on and on. I am referring directly to the "central station dispatch center" - yes, the place, uh, where they save your life. So basically, in essence, they are playing games with your life and could care less if you live or die and that's how we (emergency dispatchers) are trained at LAER (close to "liar"). That's what needs to be the company's slogan.

Then they can dress ** (dispatch center's GM), ** (day ** manager - 18-plus years and has been there the longest!), ** (data entry supervisor), and ** (quality assurance general manager). These are the people who, in my opinion, should be accountable for the recent (05/16/2012) influx in dropped calls, which are calls where dispatchers get the signal and there is no line because there are too many subs (that stands for subscribers and that's all you are to them, a sub!). There are not enough dispatchers or dispatch space and, most importantly, experience!

People, please check Craigslist. On 05/19/2012, Life Alert, this big great company that was started in 1987 and they have those old commercials with the surgeon general who's probably not even still living, etc. Craigslist! If you do not believe this, here is the freaking link they posted: **. Before reading this, please note it's 80% fictitious! They have no employees, with the exception of the supervisors, who make decisions based on friendships, feelings, etc.

I had 2.5 years under my belt before I was "let go" while out on a medical leave with shingles on my face (and in my left eye ball!). Have they ever heard of the CA labor board? Or do they know what the "Family and Medical Leave Act" is? I and a band of just a few - but that's okay with strategic planning and the body of evidence, including a journal I kept, log-in books and others I kept track of when I felt. Now, with what they've done to me (as an employee of a "life-saving" company) and to so many others, I will commit myself 100%, by myself if I have to, to put an end to Life Alert's daily robberies of lives, money, and their word. They will lie under oath. They will continue to hide behind lawyers and simply lie. We are always "all ears," I guess you can say, when it comes to outside legal advice. How many people need to complain, need to sue, or need to die for this message to be felt and not just heard?

My mother is almost 96 years old. An ambulance has been called many times to our home. We live two blocks away from the hospital and never has it taken more than two minutes from the time I call 911 for the ambulance to be in our driveway. On 4/2/12, we used Life Alert for the first time. My mother's heart rate was 36. The reason as to why it took Life Alert so long to contact the paramedics, I do not know. I do know that after Life Alert was contacted, they in turn called the landline phone before they called the ambulance which also took up more time. I requested a timeline from the ambulance driver. The timeline verifies they were at our home within two minutes from the time Life Alert contacted them.

A home health nurse was at our home at the time of the incident. She verifies at least 20 minutes passed from the time Life Alert was called and the ambulance arrived. Also, I was told by the sales rep that if there were no response when the Life Alert button was pushed, an ambulance would automatically be called in case the patient had a stroke. That was very comforting, but after speaking to John ** with Life Alert, he informed me that was false information. Thirdly, there is a 911 phone that is included in the packet, which we discovered does not work in the town which we live in, so it is worthless.

I know this company's main service department as well as the dungeon, aka Life Alert dispatch center. I know them both extremely well and the reason I do is because I used to work there. (I don't suggest anyone work for this brain washing, senior citizen robbing machine!) I also have friends and family whom have the system. What bothers me is the dispatch center. They will lie to you until they're blue in the face. There are not enough experienced bi/tri-lingual dispatchers (major language issue is what I'm getting to!). Now, in my time working in the dispatch center, I noticed numerous red flags, mainly regarding the work environment and the lies, threats to sign papers sent to employees via e-mail and are told, "If you don't sign, you don't have a job!" I was given approximately 20 minutes while working/taking signals, to review a piece of paper that I wanted my lawyer to look at. That was a big nope or you're gone, as simple as that. Life Alert's days are numbered. Employees are upset, depressed and becoming fed up with the way they are treated. For example, my own account! Working 13 consecutive days with no overtime, denied lunch breaks, denied the employee handbook! The list goes on and on and on and on. I promise that more employees such as me are coming out to tell the truth about Life Alert and what really goes on behind those cheesy, outdated commercials!

I worked for Life Alert for a couple of months and was extremely disillusioned by what I experienced. In the time I was there, I sold a total of 5 units and made about $800 in commissions. I was putting in extremely long hours and not even leaving for lunch or dinner (living rather off of pretzels and crackers that I would buy in the snack machines in the office), and I really believed that this would pay off. I was drinking the Kool-Aid that the management provides in the sense that I thought I could make a great living helping save lives. At least that is the way we are trained to think.

The sales tactics are extremely high pressure and go under the tactic of "the one call close," in that management wants you to make the sale with one phone call. Just some minor thinking about this premise and one realizes how ridiculous it is. The turnover at the company is extremely high. I was the last of the group of 15 or so I started with. Those in my incoming group who left were a lot smarter than I and saw the writing on the wall a lot faster than I did. The leads provided (they say they do not resort to cold-calling) but in reality the leads are outdated and recycled so many times that people contacted become very angry and have no interest in the product. The sales meetings (although not entirely useless) serve to drum in the high pressure sales mentality via the potential high earnings that a top rep can make.

I was witness to several agents putting up many sales per day; in fact, the guy I sat by became the top rep in only a few months and was probably averaging a few thousand to $5,000 per week in gross commissions. The reps who reached this station get coveted leads and call-ins and thus have an easier time selling the product to people who are already highly motivated about the product. I had trouble getting people on the phone and when I did get an actual call in, many times the person was interested in something we did not sell, or was just casually interested in finding out some pricing information. We the sales reps, however, were supposed to convert all these calls into sales. What hogwash!

It was not until I got my computer back and started researching on the internet that I discovered all the negative feedback on Life Alert. Having worked there from the inside, I really now understand this. The unfortunate part of this is that I actually liked my two managers and felt that they tried to help me get sales. The reality is though that they were driven by sales only knowing full well that many people could not afford the product and did not need the redundant components like 911 phone, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Also, they have cameras and monitors everywhere which makes one feel like he is working in a prison or high security area. You are also forbidden from recording any of the sales meetings. If nothing wrong was being committed, why such measures? It makes one only wonder that they are trying to hide something.

I would not recommend that anyone take a sales job here. Unfortunately, many people are hurting and need jobs and Life Alert holds the carrot out of a potentially lucrative career. Overall, I would not recommend working for this company. Even though some people make good money, they have to live with knowing that many times they sold something to an elderly person who did not really need the life alert system.

We had Life Alert for over two years. We were told when we got it that we could cancel at any time. If the senior went into a nursing home or died in their sleep, all the money would be paid back. We were not given a copy of the paperwork and we had no idea that it was a 3-year contract. We still don't know if there is a contract. I was told the company would send a copy of the paperwork. I have not received it yet. Our phones went out for a few hours. The phones came back on, but the Life Alert box kept flashing "phone." I talked to about 6 people and could not get the box to work. After I called to cancel, they offered to send someone to the house to fix the problem. They should have done that the first day. That call was on Thursday. They said they could have someone out to fix it on Saturday - two more days without service. I would never recommend this company to anyone! It is cancelled. I don't know where to send the box. They did not tell me.

I called life alert with a question and then was told I needed to update the system, which I did. I hung up the landline phone and pushed my pendant to wait for the dispatcher to answer. So, I waited and waited and waited and waited. I had the phone on speaker because my hand got tired of holding the phone. Finally, a man answered! I asked him what took them so long to answer. His reply was, "I was busy" or "We are busy." Life Alert is being run by sale representative(s), not emergency personnel at all, and all read by scripts! I hate to say this, but Life Alert is getting a bad rap. They have poor rating on their website. Shocking stories from what I read and hear, especially a 3 year contract! Shame on this company for not letting their clients cancel Life Alert while in the 3-year contract!

If their loved ones die, they still continue to bill the deceased person! Poor family members or a neighbors/friend have to deal with by calling Life Alert a dozen times to cancel the account, but no, they need proof that the deceased person is really dead and to return the unit back to Life Alert with no refund! This base unit is expensive, paid by a friend or family members. Bills were never stopped, credit card company puts a stop payment! It works until you get paper bills. This company is hungry to make sales and money! Who cares if someone is having a heart attack and so on? We, the clients, are last on the list/back burner! What a shame. These guys did so well up until now. Oh, well, I moved on to another company, which I'm very pleased. They are #1, Life Alert's major complaints on discontinued services and response time! I'm very disappointed with life Alert. This company needs to get their act together or they will be shut down 1 day.

I worked for Life Alert Emergency Response Systems. What I am sharing with you is from the inside of the company, how unethically they operate and the fraud they commit on the sick and elderly. The company provides high pressure selling scripts that are to be followed by the sales staff. The sales person then is directed to follow up with a high pressure selling scheme to sell them services. They really don't need such as a smoke detector and 911 portable phone which at best provide redundant services provided by the sick and elderly present smoke detector and cell phone.

In the process, over the course of a lengthy contract, the sick and elderly are required to enter into to acquire the high pressured sale of the Life Alert service, several hundreds of dollars of unnecessary cheap equipment is pressured into the sick and elderly "needs" for services their existing smoke detector or cell phone can provide. Nowhere in their information kit does it mention prices, fees or commissions earned to the salesperson which can be as much as $350 per sale! I think it is heartless to take advantage of the sick and elderly who are largely living paycheck to paycheck on social security and desperate.

When I first started working there, their product and service seemed like it was valuable and good for the sick and elderly. I was only there a few months and as the time went by, I realized that the priority of Life Alert is to ram services down the throat of the sick and elderly who are financially desperate. That is why I had decided that I had to leave their employment.

I ordered Life Alert's system for my mother. When it came time for their installer, they called my mother first which was not suppose to happen. Then they called me to tell me an installer would be there in a half hour. Then 5 minutes later, they called me to tell me there wouldn't be an installer coming he was sick.

Then this supervisor Barry, in his pushy self serving way, tried to get a local contractor to install it. Well, this is a very small town and the company he got to do the installation is owned and managed by a former ex con who was in prison for I believe theft. I refused to allow them to come. Then Barry refused to let me talk with someone else to send back the equipment. Finally, today I got them to have UPS pick up their equipment, which is supposed to be tomorrow.

So be aware their installer may not from a good company and you don't know who you're letting in your elderly parent's house with Life Alert. Life Alert is a scam in my opinion. There has to be a much better company that serves the Senior Community. I'm trying ADT next.

I have had several issues. My mother fell, tried to use her Life Alert without success (battery was dead). She managed to crawl to the phone, pull it down and called me to come. Latest issue occurred when a red light appeared on the box that plugs into the electric and phone line. Audible message said "battery low". She tested the unit, got no voice response. Next thing, she knows the fire department paramedics are at her door. Two other occasions upon testing, we found the battery was again dead. We test it monthly. Considering all of the above, what comfort does my mother or our family have with this system?

The three-year contract was not explained to my grandmother and when we had to put her into an assisted care facility after she had the unit for six months, it took us another three months at nearly $70 per month to get them to shut it off. I was hung up on, yelled at, transferred and in one sitting, was put on hold for 30 minutes. They have a horrible system of figuring out the customer service and business end. Also, I talked to a lady named Crystal that could not have been more rude. Thankfully, my grandma never had an emergency. With the quality of organization I saw on the business end, I cannot imagine what would have happened if she actually needed the service.

I was contacted and asked if I needed an emergency alert pendant. I agreed but after I was billed, it was not affordable. I tried to have FedEx pick it up bit ran into resistance. I will mail it back tomorrow and will not pay for the overpriced service that I do not need anyway.

My sister tried to contact Live Alert Emergency Response after we saw TV commercials. She reached a Tulsa, Oklahoma rep and asked to receive information about the company, costs, services, etc. She gave initial information about our desire for life-alert service for our 83-year old mother. My sister was told she would receive a call back and information by mail detailing the services and related costs. After not receiving the information in my mail in a timely manner, my sister continued to try to reach the rep by phone, who did not return calls for more than a week. I then researched the company only to find through Consumer Affairs that the company had many, many complaints, and my sister and I decided to contact a company with a more reliable service reputation and, according to Consumer Affairs, had more affordable fees.

Today, 1/25/12, my mother, who was never supposed to be contacted directly, was visited by a delivery man who coerced her to give them credit card information for the Life Alert equipment after giving her false information that both of my sisters had ordered the equipment for her. My sister never ordered the equipment nor did any one ever speak to my younger sister at any time. After my sister called the main Life Alert number today to ensure my mother's credit card was reversed, as we never ordered the equipment, the rep who never returned her call, finally called her. He says he wants my sister to wait for paperwork to cancel the service and wait for the equipment to be picked up by one of their delivery service companies. We will not wait. We will call the number he gave to cancel the service, but we will also contact the credit card carrier and ask the charges be reversed immediately since they were credited based on erroneous information. We are thoroughly disgusted with the initial process; and, thus, afraid of how the company may use, misuse, or abuse the contact information they initially received from my sister to be used in the future! We want to severe all relationships with the company and its representatives. Any help consumer complaints may have to ensure we have followed through completely will be much appreciated.

The overall service was acceptable for the few years my dad needed it. He passed away this month and my mom decided to cancel. When she called, they offered to split the cost in half if she would use it for herself and she agreed. My mom noted that the woman on the phone was very insensitive about her husband's recent passing and even rude.

A couple days later, she received something in the mail addressed to her husband who had just died to sign, authorizing the change to add my mother. Obviously, this was extremely upsetting for my mom and brought her to tears. Upon calling them back to find out why this happened, she got the same, insensitive woman who was very rude and stated that this was normal. We couldn't believe it. It's normal to send a form letter to a deceased customer asking for authorization to add their spouse, who, in this case, was the one who set up the service to begin with?

When she tried to cancel after receiving this offensive mail, the woman said my mom had already been charged for the month and she should keep it until the end of the month and call back. This is a (sadly common) scam tactic targeted at people who might forget to call back at the end of the month, collecting yet another month of charges. It also reeks of laziness and procrastination on the woman's part as she might have to do the little bit of work it would take to complete the transaction. She should have been offered a pro-rated refund and immediate cancellation of service, or since it was only a couple days into the month, maybe even a complete refund for the month. I understand it's a business and it's about making money, but the insensitivity to the elderly (which this particular service targets) and bereaved is unacceptable.

Sensitivity, compassion and patience should be a requirement for people working in industries related to the care and death of loved ones, particularly those who interface directly with grieving loved ones. My mom and I are deeply offended by the lack of sensitivity and compassion by the woman on the phone and the apparently standard procedure of sending a form letter to a deceased loved one asking for authorization to add the surviving spouse, who was the one who set up the service to begin with.

I like the dispatchers and trained medical staff they are great and friendly but Life Alert got too expensive for me. And the intruder alarm didn't work. I forgot all about it! I really could have used that as a couple of emergencies could've been prevented with this feature. But yes, like I said, the Alert was just too costly and yes, of course, I needed the Intruder and help! It failed! But I got a new system from CVS now and it is half the price as Life Alert and it is great! I just received it today and it is really nice! I just got it today so it will take some time to find out more. But the tester, I was pleased. The system is all together including the battery back cover. And so clear! Thanks for listening. God bless you!

Why don't they explain all the cost details on their website? Why are they hiding it? I would like to see the 3-yr $49/month contract = $1800 cost clearly, wouldn't any reasonable possible customer ? I think it's also highly amusing that none of their own executives would accept any such condition themselves if they were in similar financial situations as most of their potential customers. Therefore, they wouldn't buy their own product as-is. Even the customer service rep had to finally admit that after I fully characterized the dynamics as follows:

Their average client is likely barely surviving on the typical $13K / yr Social Security and therefore this $600 annual cost is almost 5% of their income, a significant amount when you're on the ropes. Now suppose that their handful of senior executives making $150K / yr were asked to pay the hypothetically proportional amount of $7500 / yr for 3 yrs totaling $22.5K and that for any reason, after a few months, that they just decide to terminate their membership, and realized that they would have to forfeit their balance of the $20+K, of course, they would never agree to any such condition in the first place! See?

Life Alert has an extremely poor performance rating for me. It's not even worth a 1 star!

My mother who lived alone was a Life Alert customer, who never needed their service for any reason. A malfunction with their unit caused the local police to arrive one time, in the last 2 years. Now that my mother lives with me in a different city, she has no use for the Life Alert system. When I contacted them to cancel the service, I was told that she had to remain a customer for another year and deductions from her bank account would continue whether she uses the unit or not. I promptly contacted the bank to have the automatic withdrawals canceled and I was told that Life Alert would have to grant permission for the deductions to stop! Life Alert is taking advantage of senior citizens.

After using high pressure tactics to entice unsuspecting seniors to engage their service, they then impose unrealistic measures and penalties when an elderly person wants to discontinue their services. Life Alert charges 6 months worth of service charges as penalty on a population of our senior citizens who have the least amount of resources available to them, if they choose to cancel their service. In addition, I was later told by one of their officers that they require a minimum of 3 years service in order to terminate their service without penalty. This information is not explained upfront or posted online in any of their advertisements.

I was told over 3 weeks ago that they would mail a copy of their contract and they have not sent it to date (10.26.2011). In addition, I was told by one of their customer service representatives that the information about a mandatory 3 years' service or requirement that a person be deceased or enrolled in an "approved" nursing facility before any termination can take place without penalty is not written in their contract.

Life Alert has been fined in excess of $1 million dollars by the California State Consumer Protection Agency regarding the high pressure sales practices they use on the most vulnerable of our seniors. It is my opinion that Life Alert needs to be fined additionally for this unreasonable "price-gouging of seniors" if seniors choose to discontinue their service in less than 3 years.

Further, they seem to have power over the seniors' bank account as well. If the consumer wants to stop automatic online payments to Life Alert from their bank, they are told they would need to contact Life Alert to get permission to do so. If a bank customer can stop payment on a check; why can't the customer stop payments on automatic deductions especially when they are not satisfied with the vendor's service and no longer needs their service or the equipment which has proven to be faulty?

Please contact me so that my mother, who is 84 years old and ill, will be able to terminate a service she no longer needs or wants.

It is very difficult to cancel. After my mother died, they continued to bill. They never told us about returning the equipment when we canceled service. We live 400+ miles away and had to get the neighbor to help return equipment. They billed us for a supposed "pendant" that was missing and they are very argumentative on the phone. They are not a good company to do business with.

My father is 78 years old and lives in Rome, NY whereas I live in Concord, CA. We arranged for the Life Alert System for my father and part of the system was to have a call be made to me whenever there is a medical challenge with my father. One 10/19/11, an ambulance was ordered to be sent by Life Alert, to pick up my father, but no call was made to me, and my father did not request for the ambulance service. This service was triggered some way other than by my father or his equipment. I found out about this problem and began to address it about 8:30 PM on 10/20/11.

What I found was a total lack of response from Life Alert. There was no one willing to accept my cal. The people I could reach were the marketing ** listed on Life Alert's website. They refused to tell me how to reach the Life Alert staff that is on duty 24/7. I find it remarkable that despite being a customer of Life Alert, I could not call an emergency line. Life Alert is an "Emergency Oriented" Company. Hopefully, my father does not have an emergency before I can straighten this out. Given that my father's life is on the line, I hope nothing unfortunate occurs. My faith in Life Alert is certainly shaken.

My 83-year-old mother had a stroke in September. She had a hands-free Life Alert monitor installed in her bedroom several months prior to the stroke. However, she was alone at home for two days after the stroke until friends and family found her distressed state. Life Alert never responded.

Currently my Mom is in rehab and I am taking over her bills. Life Alert will not stop billing my mother's credit card $50/month. They claim there is a three year contract that was signed. We believe Life Alert is a scam.

Life Alert made it very difficult to cancel. They charged me for the last month. And they told me that even though I had in-care nursing, the contracts states I am renting the equipment. And until they picked it up, I had to pay even though I legally was out of their contract, per their claims when they sold it. Debbie in billing was difficult. And it felt as though she is a robot reading a script. I have had in-home care for over a week. I sent the fax yesterday. They billed me for another month. Then, she called me back and said that no refunds were authorized in her department. I have already gone through four numbers to get to billing. That would be a fifth attempt. They run you around in circles like the gyms or most companies that offer some sort of autoship programs. It is a three year contract. Go to other websites that are cheaper and with no contract. Why should you sign a contract? We do not know when we will get better!

I woke up one morning and I felt very dizzy and part of my body wasn't working. I have heart problems and thought I was having an attack. I remembered that my children had given me Life Alert for emergencies so I pushed the button. The nice, reassuring voice that began to speak to me helped me remaining calm and told me help was on the way. Indeed, in minutes they arrived. A well organized team arrived to help—they were both professional and respectful.

I am so thankful for Life Alert. I am 76 years old and will wear the device 24 hours per day, every day from now on. Every time I call Life Alert, everyone is helpful and wonderful. They keep me calm and reassure me what to do. They stay on the line with me while I am trying to help me. They notified my family of my situation. I would recommend Life Alert to anyone. It's the best investment for my wife and me. I am very satisfied and pleased. I don't know what I would do without Life Alert.

I am looking at medical alert systems for my father. I have read all the stuff about Life Alert. I am very confused. How come this is the only company that is listed. I am sure there are complaints about other medical alert companies. Please explain.

I have been trying to cancel the system for 3 months but the billing keeps coming. My mom was not able to use the system and went to the hospital after 3 days on the floor. Now I am being told she needs to get on a ladder and pull down the equipment for return, and they will not come to pick up. They installed it! Is this the service what you pay for? If so, do not expect service from them. I talked to supervisors and was extremely disappointed.

The ad says call this number for a free brochure. They won't mail you a brochure unless you give them your telephone number. I refused. They refuse to send me one without a phone number so that they call and hound me to buy it. I won't be using them.

I've had numerous calls from Life Alert trying to sell me their monitoring system. I've told numerous sales people I do not want the system and to remove my name/number. However, I'm still receiving unwanted solicitation. The number they are calling from is unknown. So I don't have it to report. I called Life Alert 800-344-4533 and spoke to a manager Barry ** and he said my name is on a do not call list. However, I received a call today not more than 15 minutes ago. I told the salesman I'm not interesting and went into a long speech, why not? You live alone don't you? You need the protection blah, blah. When I persisted and said remove my information he hung up on me. Please help!

Did you pay big bucks to some ad agency to have a woman lay on the ground for hours, instead of using the proper word lie?

My Mother (Juanita **) signed up for a Life Alert Emergency Response system, where she apparently signed a contract. My sister advised me the contract expired on 3/29/10, but Life Alert indicated today it was a three-year contract. We have been trying to get this cancelled since she has been in a nursing home (since 3/10). When my brother first contacted them months ago, he was advised that the contract (and automatic bank deductions) would continue until the contract expired.

I contacted them again in September, 2010, after my sister discovered the contract expired in March, and was advised that I needed to get a letter from the nursing home stating that she was a patient before the deductions would cease, which I faxed to them on 9/8/10. I had requested that Life Alert refund the monies deducted from her account back to 3/29/10 and a one month refund was given 10/1/10.

Now, on October 6th, a new deduction was taken from the account. Life Alert is now claiming that a smoke alarm was not returned, which was valued at $95 and that the money can't be refunded until the smoke detector is returned. They have indicated they would not be responsible for the overdraft fees. I thought this matter had been resolved, particularly after the one month refund was returned to her account. No one is living at this apartment, so any equipment should have been returned. I would presume that whoever picked it up had a checklist of some sort, so why it wasn't picked up with the other equipment is another question. The apartment already had a smoke detector, so it is possible that one was not installed.

We will be checking on this today. I notice they have an A+ rating with you, but we have received different excuses every time we call to try and stop these payments. They should not be allowed to continue deducting for a service that hasn't been used. If there is no provision in the contract that nursing home patients are exempt and can cancel the contract, that should be investigated.

This automatic deduction has resulted in my mother's account being in a negative status, as the nursing home now receives the majority of her social security check. It seems no small coincidence that the amount Life Alert is deducting is $59.95; she is only allowed to keep $60 per month from her check which was used to pay her life insurance premium. Her account will be assessed overdraft fees on a daily basis until the negative balance is corrected. The most concerning thing here is that this will probably continue every month unless someone intervenes on our behalf. We are not in a financial position to cover this service for whatever time Life Alert says is left on this contract.

I was at work and received a phone call on my cell from Mr. Nesbitt, who explained that my mother was on the line also and that he had just talked to her concerning a LifeAlert pendant for her security. He had already spent a great deal of time talking to her and had her sold on the product (he was a smooth talker) and he went through the spiel with me about what she would be getting and how she would always know that someone would be there for her at the push of a button. He explained the cost (much more than any of the competitors) and said that when it arrived to not do anything to it as someone would arrive the next day to install it. He stated she would need to give them the location of her hidden key.

As a daughter of a mother living alone in the country, I was very uncomfortable knowing that info would be given out to strangers. My mother gave her bank information to Mr. Nesbitt and the phone call ended. That night, I was able to do some research on this company, and I was very upset upon reading about all the false claims and charges and neglect. Reading the comments from others, I located one of the newest on the market, Medipendant, and have since chosen to go with them. The main reason is that my mother will actually be able to talk with someone if she falls outside because there is a place on the pendant to talk, whereas the LifeAlert does not. You have to be near the base. Also, no ambulance and/or fire truck will be sent every time she pushes the button because they will know what kind of help she needs. After 3 false runs from the fire dept, the person on the end receives bills and citations for false calls.

When I called on Mon. (which was the 3rd business day since the first call, it was on a Thurs.), I called Mr. Nesbitt to tell him we had decided not to get the pendant. His first question was "Have I done something wrong? " I explained that we had decided to look at other options, and he wanted to know who the "we" was. I explained I had talked to my brothers, and he said "Where were they last week? They could have been on the phone line also." I explained one lives in another state and the other works. He then said very sarcastically "Well, maybe you shouldn't be in charge then."

He tried to get me to change my mind, and since I would not, I told him that he could cancel the order that it was still in the 72-business hour day and he said "you have just cost me a lot of money." I asked how that could be since she had not received the item and he could stop it. "He then very loudly demanded, "Are you calling me a liar?"

I explained that I was not. I was simply saying he could stop it and that if any money had been deducted from my mothers account, I wanted it put back. Again he was very agitated and stated that I was calling him a liar and had cost him so much money. He finally gave me a number to call, which I did, and there was no problem with my cancelling the order and my mother did not receive it on Wed.

I do not know if her bank account was charged; I will have to check on that today. Everyone needs to make sure you check thoroughly into a company you are dealing with. This company says that after 3 years, you will get your money back if the patient passes away. I understand that is not the case from all I have read. Don't sign onto a company that locks you into a contract. Check out your options. Find one that will actually converses with your loved one, not just automatically send ambulance and fire personnel.

My husband passed away on 09/02/10. I informed Life Alert as they purport to stop deductions from your credit card after death. They requested a copy of the death certificate which I mailed on 09/13/10. On 10/05, they charged my account. I called and they state that I spoke to someone and said I wanted it in my name (not true). They then asked if I wanted to cancel. I said yes. They told me I must mail back all the equipment, including the button which was around my husbands neck at the time of death and was lost at the hospital. They are going to charge me $39.95 for the button!

My mother lives by herself and purchased a three year contract with Life Alert. Over the three years she complained about their service several times. It was in the form of rudeness by their employees on the phone and personally blaming her for setting off her alarm unnecessarily. This happened four times and she told me each time she had no awareness that she hit the button. The last time was last week and she was downtown when the alarm went off so when she got home she apologized to the ambulance and firemen at her home looking for her. She does not know why it sounds off as she wasn't even in the area when it happened this time.

Two days later Life Alert called her and told her that she should be more responsible about what she was doing. She tried to explain to them that she wasn't doing anything, but the service rep was extremely rude and my mother ended up telling him that her contract was finally up and she was going to make the arrangements to terminate. He said she would have to do that herself! My mother is 82 years old and is not senile or unpleasant in manner. It is despicable that the elderly is treated in such a manner as this. I am truly glad she will be seeking a different system of protection.

I received the main box and requested the pendant be changed to the watch. The watch was sent with the flex wristband which I found out I was allergic to. They sent me the leather wrist band telling me to put it on myself. I told them that I live alone and could not get it to work. They sent me another watch with the leather wrist band. When they tried to activate it, the representative could not get it to work. I was told that they would send me the pendant and then I would return the watches.

On two occasions, UPS came to pick up a package for Life Support. Last Thursday, I returned the watches via UPS. I now had no pendant at all and was unprotected except in the kitchen where the main unit was. I called the Service Department and the representative told me that UPS would never pick up a package if they do not know what to pick up. I told her that I had the receipt right here with the information and that I was to return the watch. At this time, I am left with no pendant and a service that really does not serve me at all.

I bought a medical alarm for my mother in law about 6 months ago. About a month after receiving the alarm she fell while in her bathroom. She pushed the button on the pendant and thought she would be able to speak with someone at Life Alert. At the time she did not realize that she had to be near the speaker unit in the living room to hear the people at Life Alert, and neither did I. We were told by Life Alert that we could speak and always hear them and be heard, so we interpreted that as being able to speak through the button. My mother in law panicked and felt very uncomfortable with the unit.

The first week in June 2010, I called Life Alert to request information about the Life Alert pendant for my mother in St. Louis, Missouri. I was told by the woman Laverne at extension 237 that the Life Alert pendant would cost me $97.00 up front and $49.95/month. No contract length was specified. She asked why I was considering their product, and I told her my Mom had a stroke recently. Immediately, she "diagnosed" my mother's problem as a TIA, which was totally incorrect. I asked her medical background, and she admitted she had none. I then advised her that she should not imply that she had medical qualifications by diagnosing someone. I told her I would think about the product and get back to her.

A few days ago, another representative of Life Alert, Dave ** called me to see if I was ready to sign up. I told him I was not happy with the previous representative spouting off medical diagnoses as if she was in health care. He stated that "she must be one of the new people they hire who thinks they want to be a doctor," and that he was indeed a medical student and one of Life Alert's medical directors. He further said that I could get the product for only $29.95/month and that the company teaches those people to try and sell us the more expensive product.

Today, the original representative, Laverne called me back and told me Mr. Dave is not a medical student. She then tried to tell me she looked around the country and "found a unit in Florida" that was $29.95/month with over a $100.00 downpayment. What a ripoff this company is! People need to be warned about their unethical sales practices, their unfair three-year contract, disparate quotes, and misrepresentation of medical qualification. Do not buy this product!

The following is an explanation of why I am disputing these charges and also a copy of the letter I have sent to my credit card company. I recently had a Life Alert system representative, Elizabeth **, call me on 4/20/2010 about having a Life Alert system installed in my home. The information she gave me on the phone encouraged me to buy this system and that I would never have to worry about not being alone or not being able to get help when I need it. She said I would be able to communicate with the dispatcher and get the exact help I need from the sources I give them to keep on file for me. On April 28, 2010, the Life Alert system was installed and the next day I signed a three-year contract with them.

I am writing this letter of complaint concerning the product Life Alert sent me. I believe that the contract concerning their system wasn't clearly explained and that information about the system was withheld from me. Firstly, the sales representative didn't tell me that I had to notify them 6 months in advance if I wanted to cancel the service, which is in the contract. If I didn't do that, I was automatically signed up for another year. I was never informed of the true terms of the contract. When the man came to install my Life Alert system, I told him that I am hearing impaired and wear two hearing aids. I probably told the sales representative also. I take the hearing aids out at night. I asked him if I was going to be able to hear the voice from the system, especially since it wasn't installed in my bedroom and he assured me that it would be no problem.

He said Life Alert would make sure that the volume was loud enough for me to hear and they would take care of everything, and not to worry. Well, I did worry about it and finally decided to give it a test run even though it had just been tested by the installer. First, I took out my hearing aids and then pressed the button. Shortly after, someone answered me. I was sitting right next to the unit and the volume was turned up as far as it would go. I was able to hear her from two feet away. I then expressed my concerns to her that I would not be able to hear it from a different room so she suggested that I go to a different room and she would talk to me. I went into the living room and she tried talking with me, but all I could hear was mumbling. I had no idea what she was saying. So I went back to sitting next to the unit and told her that. She said it was no problem since they always call the person on the phone to see if they are OK. I told her I can't hear the phone without my hearing aids either and I only have one phone, which of course is next to the Life Alert unit. She said that in cases like that, they would automatically send an ambulance and the police. I told her I did not want that because I would have to pay for the ambulance if it came, and I might not need medical aid. Also, the police were not going to be very happy about racing to my home when I really just needed my son to come over to help me. She said that was their only option and I would have to pay for the ambulance each time I pressed the 'help' button.

I followed up that conversation with a call to their Service Department on May 11. I again explained the situation and told him what the sales person said to me regarding their being able to communicate over the system with me if I am having a problem to determine what kind of help I need or want--just help from a my son or paramedics, police or fire department. He basically said the same thing as the dispatcher but also said that I would probably never be able to hear the dispatcher unless I was in the same room as the unit, hearing impaired or not. He then apologized 'if I was not told the truth by the sales representative' (his exact words).

Their pamphlet says: "2-way audio communication, for Medical Protection and Faster response due to the fact that the emergencies are verified." There is no 2-way communication if I cannot hear them over the unit nor is there any way they can verify an emergency if we cannot communicate over the unit or phone. I read in their add online: "Life Alert is a Personal Emergency Response and Home Medical Alert System company that saves lives from catastrophic outcomes, using a unique technology to provide superior home audio monitoring protection." I understood this to mean that we would be able to hear and communicate with each other over the installed unit even though I am hearing impaired, as are many older people for which this system is made. This is how the sales representative explained it to me as well. Their pamphlet states: "Our dispatcher will talk to you whether you can reach a phone or not and will send the help you need fast, 24/7." If I can't hear the dispatcher, how will they talk to me? How will they know which kind of help I need? The help I need might just be for them to call my son and have him come over to help me up if I've fallen or something, just as simple as that, but if I can't hear them to communicate this, then the service isn't doing for me what they said it would do. I could carry a cell phone on me constantly and be better off.

I believed that when the Life Alert system was installed that it would be loud enough for me to hear it without my hearing aids. After all, Life Alert claims to be loud enough to be heard all over the house if an intruder is breaking in, to warn the intruder that the police are on the way and they better leave. This is what it says in their pamphlet: "In the rare event that someone is breaking in, our dispatcher scares the intruder away with a loud voice over the system." I heard the dispatcher speak with a loud voice while I was two feet from the phone but I never would have heard what was being said if I was in my bedroom or living room, even with my hearing aids on. That does not make me feel safe in the event of a break-in, which is one of the big reasons I ordered Life Alert. As it is, I am not at all happy with this situation. I want to be able to communicate with Life Alert when I press the button so I can tell them what is wrong and they can contact exactly who I need, like the sales representative told me, whether it be my son or police, fire fighters or ambulance. This is what the sales representative promised me when I spoke with her on the phone and also what Gene **, the installer, said. I cannot afford to pay the cost of an ambulance coming to my home whenever I push the help button, especially if I am not in need of medical help, nor do I want the police or fire department coming over unnecessarily if I'm having a problem that my family can take care of.

Their add also says: "Life Alert's protection helps people to live at home with independence and comfort, living their lives the way they want to, with a feeling of safety and peace of mind." That isn't how I'm feeling right now. Not only do I not feel safe, but they have disrupted my peace of mind by charging me for a system that in all likelihood will cost me more money in ambulance fees if I use it. I believe that Life Alert misrepresented what their product can do. They made it sound so perfect over the phone but in actuality, it is not useful for my situation at all. They probably knew this during the sales pitch and when the installer was putting it in and he kept deflecting all my questions about hearing the dispatcher. And the dispatcher did not help me have peace of mind, either, by telling me I would have to have the police and rescue squad come each time I press the help button.

I am calling my credit card company and stopping any further payments from being deducted from my credit card by Life Alert. I am also disputing the charges for the unit, processing and shipping, programming fee and installation: $1.98 on 4/29/2010, $95.00 on 4/29/2010 and $29.95 on 5/3/2010, for a total of $126.93 that was charged to my credit card. Life Alert is welcome to have Gene ** come back and get the unit. I will not pay the return shipping. I do expect a full refund. I have canceled my credit card since I became aware that Life Alert made the charges after I became aware while doing some online research that Life Alert is continuing to deduct payments even after being notified by dissatisfied customers that they are not getting what they paid for or after the person who was using it had died. I am requiring that a full refund be given to me in the amount of $126.93. I am filing a complaint with Consumer Protection and also the Attorney General's Better Business Bureau if Life Alert does not respond in a timely manner to the two messages I left on May 11, 2010.

May 18, 2010. Since Life Alert did not return my phone calls, I called them again on May 13th. I called Life Alert again after not receiving a return phone call from the two messages I left them on May 11. I was given the same story as I wrote before about them sending the rescue squad if I push the help button on their system. After unsuccessfully explaining that I wanted to return the system because it would not do what the sales person or their printed pamphlet and online ads claim it will do to help me, she turned me over to a man named Ami in their service department. He was extremely rude, not letting me speak and interrupting me constantly, even yelling at me. He finally suggested that I allow them to send me a new unit that would serve me better than the first one. I agreed to try a new unit. I received it on May 14th and on Monday, May 17th , Gene ** (from A-A Handyman). It had no volume button on it.

Gene pressed the help button on the unit and it began to beep, showing that the signal went through. It continued to beep for approximately two minutes and he called Life Alert to tell them that he was trying to get a dispatcher on the unit, but no one was responding to the help alert. He tried two more times to get a response from the dispatcher but no one responded. It just continued to beep. He called the company again and they finally responded over the unit. I did the same tests that I did on the first unit. I took out my hearing aids and went to the living room and then to my bedroom and I could not understand the voice coming from the unit in either room. When I returned to the room where the unit was located, I was able to hear the dispatcher with my hearing aids on, but sometimes I was unable to understand what she was saying, even at that close distance from the unit. When I asked Gene what she said, he said he didn't understand her either. That happened two or three times when the dispatcher was speaking to us.

(I mentioned to Gene before he left my apartment that I was going to tell Life Alert that he couldn't understand the dispatcher, either, when she spoke over the unit and he said not to do that or he would be in trouble.) I told the dispatcher I was not going to keep the unit because it was not functioning any better than the other. She then began to suggest that they could call the apartment complex office manager instead of first sending an ambulance, but I explained to her that the manager would not appreciate that and besides, they are only there from 8 am to 5 pm. She suggested calling a neighbor, but I don't know my neighbors in the building well enough and I would not give out my key to someone I don't know or trust. She suggested a lock box for my apartment key for the police to get in, but the apartment manager will not allow things like that to be installed on the outside of the building. Besides that, I don't feel comfortable doing that because someone might break it open and use my key to get into the building and my apartment. I live in a security locked building for a reason.

I finally told her the system they promised me was not working out the way it was described to me by the sales person or their written and online advertising, as well as their contract. I also had even more misgivings after Gene couldn't get a response from them after 3 attempts at using the help button. Also, each time the help button is pressed, the reset button must be pressed after talking with the dispatcher. What happens if I press the button for help and no one responds to me? I may not be in a position to get to the unit to push the reset button in order to try summoning help again. Of course, they don't tell you that in the sales pitch or advertising. Also, the new user's manual says that they can take up to two minutes to answer the call for help. That was not told to me before I signed the contract. I was led to believe that I would get an instant response from the dispatcher.

A lot of bad things can happen in the two-minute span if someone is breaking into my apartment or if I faint, fall and break an ankle (again), am bleeding severely or having a heart attack. Two minutes can mean life or death. The manual for the unit says to follow the instructions of the dispatcher. Again, if I can't hear the dispatcher, I am basically helpless, and the dispatcher isn't going to know what I want her/him to do for me. Given all this, I asked Gene to remove the unit and take both of them with him. He checked on the phone with someone at Life Alert and they told him it was OK to take the units. He told me they said that I should call the company the next day and discuss the contract with them. He said that they would probably try to talk me into keeping the unit. I decided that if that is their intent, I have already been through that several times with them, and their options are not acceptable, as well as the fact that the company does not do what it claims to do and violates its own advertising and contract. I don't want to be yelled at again or have their high pressure sales tactics upsetting me. That has happened four times now and I have had enough. I am being treated for major depression and am on many medications and don't need them aggravating my illness by arguing with me or making threats. I just want a refund for the amount they charged me: $126.93. Not only am I out $126.93 but I am having problems with my illness due to the stress Life Alert and their employees have caused me. I have been so depressed that I have not been able to get out of bed in the morning.

My wife subscribed to Life Alert for her sickly mother without my knowledge and when I finally got a chance to read the policy I was disgusted. It's a three-year contract. Six month notice to cancel or it is automatically renewed for another three years. Exorbitant monthly fees of $59 per month, $300 for equipment and our former surgeon general C. Everett ** promotes them. We finally found out what the "C" stands for crook.

The company had a cut dry contract and continuously breached the contract after amending it with me for them over drafting my account. I called in today May 6, 2010 and I was informed that they would be going back into my account to put forth another charge and I said that if my account was overdrafted again, I would consider the contract breached and I added for them to kiss my butt! I have a clear contract and all these pro-rated charges are ridiculous! So I am requesting them to stay out of my account and to terminate my account because of their continuous disrespect.

I ordered the Life Alert. I couldn't use it. I didn't have a place to plug it in. So I sent it back. They told me I'd get my refund credited to my bank account. I haven't received it as yet. They owe me $99.35 and I'd like it back in my account. Please, they said it would take 10 days. I don't think so. They are putting me off. If you can push them to send my refund ASAP, I'd thank you very much.

After seeing the commercials on TV, I thought this was a product that could be used by a friend. I called the toll free number, and the person on the phone would not give any information about the product or services, just asked where the information should be sent. I asked, several times, if I could please get a description of what services were offered, but kept getting the same response, "That information is included in the packet we will mail. " This is very disconcerting, in the "information age". I would strongly urge anyone who needs an alert system for the elderly or physically impaired to avoid this company.

I got the Life Alert system after seeing it on TV. My mom, who likes to spend a lot of time in the garden, wanted to know if it worked outside. The salesman said this would be perfect for her. After getting the Life Alert system, my mom accidentally hit the button while gardening, and the next thing she knew the ambulance and fire trucks were at her home.

I called to complain to Life Alert because they told me it would work outside. I took that to mean she could speak to someone from the garden. Now they tell me there is no such system. I went on line and found one that does allow you to speak from outside called Medipendent. I am trying to return my mom's system for credit. I feel like the product wasn't clearly explained and want others to know that there are other options.

I want to thank you for this wonderful service that warns and protects consumers from fraud perpetrated by individuals who care more about money than about people. I am now 65 and have several health issues that are rearing their ugly heads simultaneously. This has led me to the ER four times in the past month, and I have been an inpatient three times. It's a very scary situation, and I sat down tonight to contact Life Alert, so that I could have that "peace of mind" that they advertise.

Imagine my surprise when I read these complaints. I most certainly will never get Life Alert, and it is because of your site. I can't thank you enough for saving me, and probably countless others, from the harassment and intimidation that they are alleged to have used on customers. Yours is an excellent public service, and yes, I agree, knowledge is power!

My house caught on fire in my grandfather's room. The side of his bed was on fire. He had no legs so he could not walk. His Life Alert smoke detector was shouting, "fire, fire, fire!" but it did not call the fire department. Our whole house burnt down and 3 lives went with it.

I signed my then 96-year old mother up for Life Alert in September 2006. I was told the charge was $59 per month and told them that was higher than what other companies charge. They said that was the price, period. When the installer came to her home, he also brought a smoke detector and small GPS device, both of which I did not need. He told me it comes with the plan.

Fast forward to January 2010, when my mother went into a long term care facility and I contacted Life Alert to cancel the service. They sent UPS to pick up the equipment. The fellow who terminated the service happen to mention that I had the "expensive" plan, that there were other less expensive ones, around $30 a month. I was livid, as I had been scammed into signing up for the expensive one. Then they billed my AmEx for the month of February 2010 and then told me they would issue a refund. They did not. I just called them again and they said "for some reason the refund was never processed" and they would do so right away.

This has been a complete scam. I overpaid approximately $30 per month for two and a half years, approximately $900 plus the $59 they have not yet refunded.

I ordered Life Alert for my mother on 01/2010. Late 02/2010, mother fell in her home and broke her wrist and can no longer live alone. Mom's permanent residence is now my home and I provide 24 hour in-home care for her. It clearly states in Life Alert's contract that should the subscriber enter into a nursing home or receive 24 hour in-home care that the contract may be terminated.

As many others have stated, Life Alert's service worked as expected, however, trying to terminate the contract has been a nightmare. Everyone I have spoken with from customer service to the shipping department to the contracts department have been rude, unyielding and all around obnoxious people. All of the reps I've spoken with have been unreasonable and robotic in repeating the mantra of the day. Why BBB gives them a A+ rating is beyond me. I finally had to resort to contacting my mother's bank and putting a stop payment on Life Alert's monthly transactions which resulted in a one-time charge of $12.

Life Alert Emergency Response Inc. is continuing to bill my mother, who is 79 years old, $95 for a smoke alarm that was never installed in her home. The subcontracted technician sent to her home indicated on his paper work he installed a smoke alarm, but he did not. My mother already has two smoke alarms from a local retail store that cost $7.99. She did not want or need the $95 smoke alarm. The company continues to harass my mother by insisting she has their smoke alarm when she does not.

My mother is currently in negotiation through her credit card company. However, this billing issue is not resolved. She packaged up all of the equipment she had when she decided to discontinue her relationship with Life Alert. It stands to reason if she sent them their equipment at that time she would have sent them a smoke alarm in the same box if she had it. The representatives of this company are not making any reasonable sense. It appears to me they need to be billing the technician they sent to my mother's home.

I explained that another $549 was just charged to my credit card for a 2nd year's service. When I signed up, I said that I just wanted to try it for a year and Clare said that was fine. She guaranteed me that no further charges would be made without my specific permission. Also, I spoke to my neurologist and he told me that the cavernous hemangioma is in my motor cortex and if I have another stroke there, I will not be able to move, even to press a button.

Finally, I explained that we are in an extreme financial situation and if they do not credit that money, we will not be able to pay our utilities or get prescriptions this month. Nothing mattered, they would keep the money and they would do the same thing next year. According to them, I had signed a 3-year contract and there was no way out.

Period. I always thought this was a legitimate business, but they are certainly not acting like one. We will not be able to pay our utilities or buy our prescriptions this month. Since my husband is on heart meds and I am on heart, seizure and blood thinning drugs, I am afraid to think of the physical damage that may result.

Beware of Life Alert. While the Life Alert system works fine, you will have problems with their follow up customer service and any contract disputes. They are inflexible and their customer service is dreadful. I wish I had checked this site before I got their service for my mother.

We tried for three months to cancel this service. After my mother passed away and I canceled her credit card, they sent me a past due bill because they could no longer bill her card. They refused to credit my account for the three months they billed us for the unit after their record of our cancellation. Their claim is that they never received a letter from Hospice saying she was under their care which I am having them send again. The unit is still here and they want me to package it up so they can pick it up. Ha, let's see if that happens!

Life Alert refuses to end contract despite problems that arose in the protocols they employ for their service.

Incident #1: My 80 year old mother apparently inadvertently pressed the button on the alert device and immediately pressed the "reset" button as instructed by a message from the device. She then utilized the telephone for an extended amount of time in another portion of the house. Unaware that an alert had been sent and that Life Alert was attempting to contact her via the telephone, Life Alert contacted the local law enforcement and EMT for a Welfare Check. She later found a message from Life Alert on her voice messages wanting verification of her status. Subsequently, Life Alert sent her a letter requesting her to contact them for a "test" of her Medical Pendant.

Incident #2: My mother contacted Life Alert for the test and was instructed to press the button on the Pendant. My mother is non-ambulatory and was not near the Life Alert device located in her bedroom. At the same time, my mother was attempting to contact a plumber for a flood of water coming from her washing machine. Consequently, she was unable to call out or to receive phone calls to her home which is the process involved in the Life Alert test. She was not aware of the reason why the phones were not working and gave me the task to determine why she was unable to call out. Having 4 extensions in the home, I was heading towards the last line located in her bedroom when I heard a voice coming from the Life Alert device. I told the person to get off the line and quit disrupting the telephone service to the home.

Repeatedly, I had to tell the dispatcher to get off the line that he was interfering with the phone service to the home and he kept on interrogating me as to the status of my mother until finally I had to disconnect the phone line to get him off. Never once did he ask me for a code. The next thing we knew was that the police and EMT were at our door again for the second time within a week. My mother was in tears when the police asked her what was going on and all she could say was "Life Alert will not leave me alone". I was determined to have this detrimental service removed from the home so that she does not have to go through another experience of telephone disruptions, harassing inquiries for verification purposes, and the mental anguish of the police and EMT personnel coming into her home to verify with her personally her well-being in such an intrusive way.

The matters have been discussed with Life Alert and they refuse to end the contract even though they admit that protocols were not followed by the dispatcher when communication was established in the home via the Life Alert device. They claim was they did request the code. But no one was in the bedroom at the time. I did not enter the room until later and upon hearing the dispatcher, I informed him to quit disrupting the telephone service to the home. He never asked me for the code once our communications were established and he forced me to pull the plug on the telephone line to get rid of him.

This service has caused my 80 year old mother to become very upset. She does not need this in her life. If Life Alert requires her to be by the Life Alert device for verification purposes during a test that in itself could cause problems because she is non-ambulatory and she should have been advised prior to the test beginning that she or someone else (with the code) would need to be ready to receive the call to the device. Instead, they willy-nilly have her press the button on the Medical Pendant resulting in telephone lines being tied-up at a time when she was in emergent need of a plumber requiring persons in the home to troubleshoot the telephone system only to discover the intrusion of a Life Alert dispatcher attempting to make improper interrogations. The fact that medical emergency and law enforcement has had to come to the residence twice within a week is of great concern because they may not be so prompt the next time when she possibly may need them in a real emergency. My mother does not want that to happen and she does not want her telephone line tied up in such a way as Life Alert has done. Consequently, she refuses to have it turned back on in the home. That is not what we have been paying for to ensure her safety.

My 84-year-old mother received a very rude response from a Life Alert customer service agent. My mom's cat stepped on her Life Alert necklace which sounded the alarm. When Life Alert found out it was a mistake made by her cat, they called and chewed her out! How dare they! I canceled this service and moved to a kinder medical alert service.

I have to add to my above complaint. When you read the lifealert.com website contact info page, there is no email contact info. I wonder why ? It just goes to show what an unprofessional company they are!

All I wanted was information, yet they call me at all hours and days including weekends, 6 calls in total. I told them twice to stop calling me, but they still insist on calling. Every time they call, I get an anxiety attack because of their harassing nature.

My 78-year old mother fell and was on the floor. She phoned for Life Alert info and they asked her for information: name, dob, address, bank account#. She gave it to them. Yesterday (Jan.13, 2010), Wil *** came to her house and talked with her. She doesn't remember signing anything. I called Mr. R. this morning and left a message and he called me back. I asked him to cancel all activity on [her] account. She had changed her mind. After much pressure and my refusal to listen to him, he told me he couldn't cancel the account.

He told me to talk to his boss. After more discussion, he told me to, "Go [expletive] yourself," and hang up the phone. He then called my mother and harassed her and told her he couldn't cancel the account and gave this # to call 800- to cancel. I phoned the # and selected option 6. I spoke with an operator who put me on hold and told me there wasn't an actual account yet on my mom. I asked her why they had her bank account # and about Wil *** and what he told me to do to myself. I held for and spoke with Theresa who tried to get a manager for me.

A manger named Mike came to the phone and denied a Wil *** or anyone from his company came to my mother's house in Hopewell, VA yesterday. He said Wil *** was in Florida and couldn't have come out to her house in VA. I told Mike what Wil *** said to me and he told me he would talk to him and phone me back. I gave him my home #, 804-. They have not called me back. I guess I can only wait to see if money starts coming out of mom's bank account. I since talked to mom. The person who came out to her home was a nameless installer of equipment, not Wil *** as I thought. We don't know what to expect

As you can see from my problem under "Jack From Hampstead" I had problems getting a refund as well. A bit of advice for you all. I put in a complaint at the better business bureau in LA and got a call from Life Alert in about 3 days and they gave me a credit that day. I didn't know they or anyone would react but the BBB worked. Hit www.la.bbb.org. Good luck!

These people were not nice. They would not give my money back to me when my Nana no longer needed it. Then I had to get one for my Grandpa, I ended up getting a med pendant. They were so nice, and no contract! Stay away.

I signed up for this service yesterday, January 6th 2010, and since then have read terrible reviews. I have tried to call and cancel but to no avail. I know I can cancel within three days. Will you please advise? Without verification, they have withdrawn $98.00 from my bank.

They have a good service but when you try to cancel, they become crooks. We used the service with my dad. When he passed away, we called and got instructions to return the equipment which we did in September. I called them and asked for the credit for the service. They said "Someone was supposed to credit you but didn't, we will credit you today." This was 12/07/09. I called today, 1/4/09, and was told, "We didn't get the equipment back". When I try to talk to a a manager, I get hung up on or sent back to the main number.

This looks like how they do business. They have a good service but they scam you when your done. Do not use them, there are others. They owe me $299 but will not pay. They are liars and cheaters.

My sisters and I purchased life alert for our mother because she was home most of the day alone. She has several medical issues. Well, on 1/2/2010, my mother fell because of a stroke. My brother, who just happened to be there, pushed the life alert button on her necklace and it did not work. He went to the main box and pushed the life alert button and still it did not work. He then called 911 and later discovered that my mother had a major stroke. He does not know how long she had been on the floor before he noticed her.

When my sisters and I called the 800 number, we got the run-around for over an hour. We were told by the salesman to call his supervisor Betty at 10:30am and she would be expecting the call. When we called Betty at 10:30am, she had just stepped out. We were put on hold and transferred from person to person. One customer service representative even had the gall to say they we were mad at the wrong person. We should be mad at my mother.

They claimed that they had called her four times due to a power outage they claimed happened on Dec. 17th. We asked the customer service representative that how is it that none of her emergency contacts were notified if there was a problem with her system? We were told in a cold and heartless manner that it was not the policy. We only had this system for a month. We were sold a false sense of security. My mother is now in the hospital and she cannot talk nor can she move her left side.

Life Alert has deceptive and shady sales tactics. When I called to find out the price and package options, that's what I wanted. Instead, I got a sales pitch starting me at $79 a month after an initial fee of $300! Slowly, the "salesperson" went down to $29 a month after approving me for an "AARP discount", "Military discount", "financial aid" discount, and "over 65 years of age" discount. There really was no discount. They just wanted me to think they were doing me a favor.

The truth is anyone can have Life Alert for only $29 a month! But some people, who can't afford their insane $79 month package, never get told about the basic $29 a month package, which is what most people need. How many lives are lost a year because people aren't being told the cheaper option? Consumers are not getting the service at $79 because they can't afford it. When they really need it, they don't have it, and they die all because of greedy sales reps and poor management.

I am a social worker working with the elderly population and on 11/2009, one of my clients contacted Life Alert to have the system installed. Since then, the client has had nothing, but problems with this service but finds that she is locked into a 3-year contract. Some smooth talking sales person that would have sold me the Brooklyn Bridge. In a professional capacity, I have contacted the company over 7 times. Each time, I am either placed on hold, told that I have reached dispatch and there is no one to address my concerns, been given erroneous phone numbers to call. Each and every person I have spoken to regarding these complaints has been apologetic, but made it clear that I have to talk to a supervisor, who - surprise! Isn't available and will have to call me back but never does.

I even called the corporate offices and once again, got dispatch who told me that "no one can take a complaint at this moment". I expressed my surprise as a social worker that a corporate office would not have anyone specifically designated to handle complaints/concerns and was told that "he is, but he is only here after 11AM and will have to call you back". I requested that I be called back by someone in a supervisory position and if I was unavailable, that they please leave a number and extension where I could call back someone without going through dispatch.

I have spoken this morning to over 7 different people all over the country with toll-free numbers, none of whom can assist me, a professional, to resolve an elderly client's concerns. Imagine that if I am having a difficult time getting through with services, what an elderly person must be going through? I will never refer any client to this service again and I strongly urge anyone reading this not to use this company.

My cousin purchased the Life Alert for her mother. My cousin lives in AZ, but her mother lives in Philadelphia, PA. So my husband and I look after her. Life Alert called me in work last week saying they needed someone to check the machine. Since I work and am not available during the day and my husband was over taking care of our grandson, I asked them if I could call from her house on Saturday and she said that was fine. She gave me the number and the option number to push. Well, I was put on hold for over an hour and a half. I was told to hit # 3, which was tech support. When I was transferred to them, they said, "Hold please." The first time, I was on hold for a 1/2 hour and they hung up. Then I called back and pressed the number for customer service and they in turn transferred me again to tech support who picked up and said, "Hold please." After doing this at least 5 times, I screamed into the phone: "Don't put me on hold." And of course, I went on hold.

I called back and asked for a supervisor. They said they would put me through to a supervisor and instead went back to the tech support, who picked it up and put me on hold. This went on for an hour and a half. We even pressed the option button for emergency and they couldn't help us and put us through to tech support to be put on hold again. I gave up because I had to go somewhere. My cousin lives about a half hour away. So yesterday, 11/12/09, my husband went down to her house to try again for over a half hour to no avail. They don't even give you a chance to say anything. They just scream, "Hold please." How does a company survive like that? I would never ever recommend them to anyone. They needed us to be at the house so they could tell us what to do with the machine.

I called the telephone number on Life Alert's website to receive their "informational" packet, making the mistake of calling from work during my break. The person I spoke with took my contact information, which did not include my work telephone number. Before the info packet ever arrived, "Mani" called me at work to try and sell me the system! I asked how he got my work number, as I never gave it out and got the response that it was the number I gave them. I know that's not true so I can only assume that they have a caller ID or something like that. Anyway, I asked "Mani" what the monthly cost is and he wouldn't give me an answer. When I would push, he would just keep saying that there were different levels of service. So I asked him what their basic service costs and he gave me some runaround answer that finally ended up as being "very affordable".

I tried to explain to "Mani" that affordable is relative and I wanted a price, but was never able to get an actual dollar amount. I told him I would get back to him after discussing it with my mother. He called me at home that night and I told him I hadn't spoken with my mom yet and would call him when I had. He then called me again at work the next day. At that point, my mother was in the hospital and I explained that I wanted to get her current health problem resolved and then I would speak with her and get back to him, and that I couldn't receive sales calls at work. He said he would note my record.

The next day, however, he called me at work again! I refused to take the call so he waited about 15 minutes and, according to my home caller ID, called me at home! At this point, I'm considering it harassment. When I got home from work, I called and told the young lady I got hold of ("Mani" had left for the day) that I wanted all of my numbers put on the do not call list and if I receive a call from "Mani" or anyone else from Life Alert, I was going to contact the Attorney General. Hopefully, that will stop the harassment.

My mother has had Life Alert for years and has never had to use it. She is handicapped from a stroke she had 20-plus years ago and up until June 1, 2009, she was able to live on her own. On the evening of May 31, 2009, at about 11:30, my mom was about ready to fall out of her wheelchair and pressed her Life Alert necklace. She continued pressing several times before she finally fell on the ground. While on the ground, she continued to press the button on the necklace.

She lied there on the floor for 18 hours until I went over to check on her after work. She was dehydrated and delirious when I found her. As a result of lying that long on the floor, she had a bed sore on her bottom. Not to mention that she had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die there when the equipment failed. In addition to the bed sores, she now has several other health problems as a result of this nightmare that she never would have had otherwise. She has gone from hospital to hospital as a result of Life Alert's equipment failing. Had the equipment worked, she never would have been in this situation. She's still in the hospital trying to recover and regain her strength.

My sister bought a Life Alert system for my mother when mom became aged. On August 22, 2009, mom fell in the kitchen of her suburban home. Life Alert failed. I arrived and tried to activate the system. It failed. No activation. Mom spent seven weeks in the hospital and rehab for surgical considerations. Upon return home, a new "pendant" was sought and paid for so as to possibly prohibit a repeat of an elderly retired parochial school teacher lying on a kitchen floor with a broken hip.

Upon trying to activate the new pendant, I found that Life Alert does not work "regular" weekend hours. I phoned their number around 10:00 AM yesterday and was summarily put on hold until I had to disconnect due to needing to take another relative shopping. I returned home and tried again. Again, I was put on hold until I had to leave to meet a friend. A "Ryan" answered the call both times and kept me on hold. Today, October 18, 2009, I was shown some respect by operator **. It is sad that they cannot offer better service with the fees and prices they charge. I guess they feel they are the only dice game in town. There is not an email address to allow for email contact. That is reprehensible and an effort to insulate themselves from their consumers' needs.

I looked into this when my mother-in-law was getting frail. I told them we were just inquiring, but they continued to hound me by phone and I couldn't get rid of the high-pressure salesmen until I had to lie and say she'd passed away! Only then did the calls stop. Needless to say, now that my mother is in a similar physical state, I will not consider Life Alert for her. I have no idea how a frail, elderly person could deal with their tactics.

The above phone number is the recent one as advertised on television on October 4, 2009. My wife's mother just called from Palm Desert. This is the current number provided for Life Alert subscriptions. The number my wife's mother was given in early 2007 is not in service nor is the Life Alert system. My mother-in-law had accidentally activated the system shortly after it was installed. It worked as advertised. On September 13, 2009, with a medical emergency, she again activated it, but with no response. Judging from the complaints here, it appears that Life Alert does not provide the advertised service. My wife will attempt to have her credit card people deal with this as suspected fraud.

What everyone is saying about Life Alert's sales or customer service is true! They have been calling my phone 3 to 4 times a day trying to reach me. I just wanted further information, not to be harassed. They tracked me down at work. He flat out lied and said that was the number I gave them. Are you kidding me? They searched for me on the internet. The only way they could have gotten my work phone number.

My mother is 74 years old and my father is 76. Both are battling cancer at different stages and my father has a broken back. My mother and I have discussed looking into an alert system of some kind for her and my father since both have a history of falling and are unable to get back on their feet at times. She, without my knowledge, saw a late night infomercial about Life Alert. She called the 800 number and talked to a couple of different ladies about the service. She explained to them both that she was not interested in purchasing anything until she spoke with me about it. That is when she was transferred to the "Closer", the slick, fast talking, never let you get a word in edgewise by consistently talking over you salesman by the name of Mark **.

Before my mother knew what was going on, she was asked if she used automatic withdraw payment system through her bank. She explained that she did. She was then told that while she was discussing the system with me and deciding if she wanted to spend the one time fee of $233 up front and $49.99 per month for the service, slick Mr. ** would be more than happy to take her bank account information and a cancelled check number over the phone and get that part out of the way. There would be no hold up and they would be able to get the life saving system to her and installed immediately. So she would not chance falling again and not have a way to get help.

He assured her that they would not bill her for anything until she made the decision that she wanted the product and signed an agreement, not a contract(?). There was no mention of a contract period. She was led to believe that she was simply buying the hardware and then could utilize the service as long as she paid the monthly service fee. The following day, she was contacted again by Life Alert but this time, it was a lady named Carol. Carol explained to my mother that they were not allowed to give their last name(?). Carol was calling to let my mother know that the box would be arriving in 2 to 3 days.

My mother explained to Carol that she had not purchased anything and had not asked for anything to be shipped to her home. Carol said to open the box when it came and read the paperwork inside. It would explain how to go about returning the box in the event she decided she did not want to keep it. I called tonight and asked to speak to Mark **. When slick Mark came to the phone, I politely tried to explain that my 74-year old mother had received a call from Carol after she had spoken to him, explaining that the box would be there in a couple of days. I told him that she did not want to purchase anything at this time, that we were simply investigating our options for preparation when both my mother and father were out of the hospital and back in their home, thus in need of a product and service like theirs.

He very rudely told me to "not to start pulling his chain" and telling me that my mother did not buy anything, that she did buy something and she knew it, that she was sold a system and was scheduled to receive it today. He kept talking over me, would not let me complete a sentence. He implied that I was lying and my mother knew exactly what she was purchasing, even though she never signed anything and had no knowledge of what it consisted of or what if any terms were implied. I tried to explain that he might have talked fast enough and confused the issue enough to get my mother to agree to something but it was not a fair and legitimate sales practice to prey on the elderly using confusing double talk tactics. He told me to enjoy our new system and to have a nice day then rudely hung up on me. I called the number again and talked to a different gentleman and asked for Mark. I was told there was no Mark working tonight.

The box came via UPS shortly after being hung up on by slick Mark or whatever his real name is. We refused to accept the box and the UPS man took it back with him and said it would be returned to sender. I am willing to drop this issue at this point as long as there are no more harassing calls and nothing is billed to my mother for any of this. I would not recommend this company to anyone after my experience and after reading the endless complaints against them. Something should be done to protect the elderly from being scammed and pressured by predators like these people. What ever happened to letting the product and service sell itself?

I asked my mother to call Life Alert to find out the cost of their system, as the brochure they had mailed us earlier (and their website) made no mention of it. Before I knew what she had done, she had apparently signed up for this system for $297 installation and $80/month. When she told me this, I called Life Alert back and told them to cancel this order as I wanted to look into other systems. The rep, Paul **, said he would put it on hold for 24 hours while I look into other providers. Less than 24 hours later, he called back and I told him I had decided to go with Lifeline Systems instead. Then he tried his hard sell tactics on me. After trying to interrupt him several times, I told him "shut up". He responded "** you" and hung up. I called the phone number back and asked to speak with a supervisor and was directed to Robert.

I told Robert what I thought of his representative and their service. He assured me that Paul would be disciplined, possibly terminated and that if any system arrives, we should refuse delivery. I found out from my mother that she has received at least 3 calls from Life Alert since then, including one today from this jerk, Paul **. I told her to hang up on him the next time he called or to have him call me. I can't believe they still employ this guy. I called them again today and was told they had no manager by the name of Robert, so I talked with Steven instead and told him to put my mother on their "do not call" list and if she gets any more calls, I would report them to the CA Attorney General.

Despite repeated calls to her supervisor requesting I receive no more calls, I am still receiving calls from this aggressive sales rep. I do not like being stalked, and I do not appreciate the obnoxious, harassing, annoying calls. Please, please, please make them stop. Thank you.

My mother lives in Western PA, agreed to this service some time ago prior to her first fractured pelvis in 9/2007. I have power of attorney over her affairs and I reside in Maryland. I canceled this service after I put her in a 24-hour assisted living facility in 12/07. Her home is empty and doesn't even have a phone line running to it. I thought all was well until 30 minutes ago, when young Eric from Life Alert called from collections. Eric said he needs his box back or the contract will be billed on July 1, 2009. Today is June 9th at 5:30PM ET. I live 5 hours away, one way (there is no airport). Eric and I got round and round about this contract that I thought was canceled. He said that it will be billed. I asked for a supervisor and he said he is the supervisor.

I explained that I am a little more educated than to believe that. Eric stated he is the boss and the box needs to be picked up by UPS. I asked, "well, where is the box or the label for the box for UPS?". I got no response. I explained that no one lives in the house and to check the call record. The button hasn't been pushed since 2007. He said it has. I said, "the house is empty and there is no phone service, so it was pushed by a ghost and you got the signal? How?". Seriously, this company must be stopped. They prey on the elderly and the naive who are too tired to fight, so they pay. I am not paying and since I found this site, I will make it a priority that everyone I know avoids this Life Alert in California.

I have just found an address in Encino to mail this equipment back to. It's coming Eric, with your name all over it! Great equipment that apparently can send messages telepathically. I have to drive 10 hours (round trip) to retrieve a box and mail it from Maryland. It will be certified return receipt, so that this con artist doesn't charge my frail elderly mother, who is on a fixed income and can't afford it to begin with.

please visit the life alert website to see our real testimonials and call any of our proud life alert customers for some real information. may god be with you all and keep you safe and healthy

My 93 year old mother fell in her kitchen and when she activated the pendant button, nothing happened. She dragged herself to the living room, pulled down the phone and called me. I in turn called 911 and emergency personnel from the ambulance service and fire department were dispatched to her home. She had sustained two broken bones in her forearm at the wrist.

Later when I contacted Life Alert that their product did not work, they offered to reduce the monthly amount, but did not seem to understand that it wasn't the money I was upset about, it was the fact that the device did not work as advertised. When I read the number off the back of the pendant to the person who answered the phone, his words were, That's a really old number, you've had that one for a while. You'd think their own records would indicate older pendants when they had gone to a new model. I'm disgusted with the whole bunch.

I had the service installed in Aug. of 2005, and she needed help in Feb. 2009. They never sent a new pendant in all that time, even though they said the base unit would pick up the signal if it was weak and automatically send a new one to replace it. That never happened. I have written them for a refund of at least part of the rent. We'll see what happens. Thanks for letting me vent!

My mother just had an angina attack and drove herself to the hospital, 2 stents later she is back on her feet. I was thinking about getting life alert The web site makes you call!! big negative and then I came across the complaints web site about life alert. They need to realize these are real people (mothers,fathers,brothers,sisters)from what i read it is like buy items at walmart and trying to return defect item it doesn't seem like a company really interested in helping. I think I do not want to get involved with a company that cant even have a web site with all of there details (prices ,contracts,rules and policies) Something stinks here!!

life alert contacted me saying they had an emergency installation by e-mail for e. neibling at 12pm est. they said they were not going to pay me because i didn't wait for them to call me back. i had a customer later that day so i did th installion. the son in law rigged it all wrong so i fixed it properiy. they owe me 50.00 dollar plus mileage 60 miles round trip. mrs neibling was very happy i came out and explained how the unit worked because nobody every explained itr to her

I NEED TO GET PAYED I WENT OUT OF MY WAY. PLUS E. NEIBLING WAS BLIND AND THE COMPANY (LIFE ALERT) DID NOT KNOW. THE SYSTEM WAS UNDER THE END TABLE. I PUT IT ON THE TABLE AND SHOW HER PHYSICIAL WHERE THE HELP BUTTON WAS AND TOLD HER TO WEAR THE NECKLACE ALL THE TIME IN CASE SHE FELL. NOT ONLY DID I FIX THE UNIT AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO MRS NEIBLING I SAVED THEM FROM A POSSIBLE LAWSUIT

My 89 year old mother has this product and it has not worked for two months. During that time we have tried unsuccessfully to have it repaired. They have sent two filters' which they said should clear up the problem, but it has gotten worse. Today I tried testing it and after the machine said that it was making an emergency call for several minutes, with no one coming on the line, I hung up. I called and was repeatedly put on hold and twice disconnected. After calling another number and being passed from one person to another and then put on hold again, I hung up. This company is extremely incompetent, as well as over priced for their service. Mom lives alone, and this product offers her no security at all (and none to me either). When we were waiting for more than a week for the first filter to arrive, I asked if they couldn't overnight it to us and the customer service rep said they don't have overnight mail! They also told me that the reason she is having a problem is because her phone service is Embarq, and they often have trouble with it...which to me is reason enough to cancel the contract.

Fortunately, she has not fallen and needed the service, but if she does you can bet there will be a lawsuit. AT this point, I just want her out of the contract and I will return the machine with pleasure.

I am trying to protect my father as his power of attorney advocate but I get the same nasty or completely clueless and unhelpful telemarketing people who suggest other extensions to call at different hours and the same prompts go round & round. This company should be put out of business by a class action suit. I also pleaded that we cannot afford this. I have never heard of a contract that cannot be broken. I was not present when the Life Alert rep came to my 90 year olds father house and signed him up. I also have not seen said contract, only the month past due bills that are adding up.

My relationship with my father is heartbreaking he wants to assume his independence by making his own decisions and thinks I am accusing him of incompetency. I spend my time putting out all the fires from several fraudulent entanglements that he has been prey to. Where are the laws and protections for seniors and caregivers?

My mother purchased Life Alert to have the secutory of 24/7 monitoring in her home. Her system is not working and no one is available after 6PM to discuss this with. We pushed the button on her unit several times to try to send an alert and after several minutes with no response cancelled the alert call. I am concerned for her safety. She could have fallen and no one would respond to the alert.

When we purchased the system we were told that the monitoring center would receive an alert and speak with her over the phone if there was a fire or if her monitoring button was pushed on the desk unit or her necklace. We were also told that the monitoring center would receive an alert if her system was disconected. Evidently this was not a true statement since there is no response to sending an alert on her system since it is not functioning and must be disconnected from their system.

She has been paying for this service several years and has not had any real protecton. I am contacting her credit card to stop payment until this is resolved or the service is cancelled.

I tried to find information about their product, but only rceived the same answer from their sales rep.-We'll send you a brochure. He refused to answer any questions! That raises a red flag to me if someone isn't willing to give information out over the phone!

i signed, without really understanding a three year contract for life aleert just last month at fifty dollars per month. right afterwards, my oldest son moved in with me so i cant afford this. i am 80 yrs old and only thought i was signing for receipt of equipment. i called to cancel aand the man was real rude and told me i signed for it i pay for it. i am sick over this. i am on so much medication that my mind is not clear all the time and i didnt know what to do. my daughter is typing this for me.l i cant hardly talk on the phone. my daughter is very mad about all of this and is going to contact the attorneys office on monday. she paper work to file a complaint with senator darrell mcgraw on monday of next if we cant resolve this. i am a christian and i am sincere that i cannot afford the extrA EXPENSES plus my son is taking care ofr me now.

I have read many of the stories you have on your website. After having Life Alert for over 6 years, I must say it is the best investment I have ever made. Life Alert has saved my life on 3 separate occasions. Yes that is right! I would not be alive if not for the wonderful people at Life Alert. They have always been nothing but nice and courteous to me. Im sorry if someone else had a different experience, but I must say I think Life Alert is the best and I know my daughter feels much better because i have it also.

After reading all the negative things about Life Alert, I tried to call them to get more information. My call was transfered 3 times, then I was told someone would call me back. This is not the kind of service I'd want for my parents. Can you imagine - one of them falls down and is put on hold forever?

I will not use Life Alert. I'll find something else.

I already advised Mrs. Messier that I was not paying the entire amount requested due to the following reasons: 1. I am not paying financial charges when you didn't take the money out monthly in the first place. 2. The call on Nov. 21/07 was a total fiasco which could have caused me my life. Your operator instead of calling for the ambulance first, called my daughter, who is third on the list of who to call, and asked her if she should call the ambulance. "Of course" she told her. And my daughter then called my first responder (a neighbour) who you hadn't called and is suppose to be called right after the ambulance to let them in the building. The operator did not stay on the phone with me like she is suppose to, nor could we get her back using your equipment. The first responder and my daughter called the hospital and ambulance to see if they were on the way and found out NO ONE HAD CALLED THEM FOR ME! Meanwhile I was still lying on the floor, for 20 minutes, waiting for them. They (my daughter and neighbour) ordered and ambulance and paramedics immediately.

Finally, we got the operator on the Life Alert phone, and she asked if everything was ok, and was told "no it wasn't and why hadn't she called an ambulance?" I was still lying on the floor badly hurt. She said "she did not realize I needed an ambulance!" Why do you think I pushed the button, to say hi? This fall was serious enough that I spent a week in hospital after. Thank goodness it wasn't a heart attack or I would have been dead!

3. From June 1st /07 to Nov.3/07, I not only called Andre but Joanne asking why the monthly payment had not been taken from my bank account and processed by either of you. Neither of you could give me a proper answer. So I made several trips down to the bank via taxi, each month to see if either of you had collected the payment or if it had been transferred to your account and no one had! This took not only a lot of time of mine and the tellers, but money with taking taxis to the bank. Finally I was given the reason that there was a change taking place in your banking system, no change takes this long! The last I checked with my bank they referred me to an administrator who told me this would not take all these months and something was up here and to stop payment until I heard from you.

I have witnesses to the phone calls made to both of you as well as at the bank for checking on why these funds were not taken into your account. Joanne did not pick up the equipment when she said she would, did not check the phone out after it was installed, after she said she would be back, and in the end did not pick up the phone and equipment until May 8/08. I'm certainly not paying for Jan. to May/08 just because you couldn't get your butt over here to pick it up! It was not plugged in and I was with another service by then. By the way the phone number on your business card you gave me is wrong and I had to find the right number myself through 411.

Much against my true feelings and my daughters wishes I will pay for the 7 months from June 1st/07 to Dec. 31st. /07 which comes to $252.00 with no finance charges or taxes. You people have caused me a lot of time, money and worry with your inefficiency, and being of no help in an emergency. I've written down every date I called you as well as had witnesses here when I did call about the account and to cancel this service for its non-service. Andre was personally spoken to in Oct. /07 and Jan. /08 to tell him I was canceling the service and going with another provider.

For your information, after the "botched" call in Nov/07 I took your phone off my line and put my own back on and it sat here waiting for you to come and get it. When my daughter discovered I had cancelled your service and had no emergency call centre she called several right away. Lifeline was here within 24 hours; made sure I understood how everything worked and call me bi-weekly to check that the equipment works and that I'm ok. The formal contract was signed and dated for Feb.2/08 for the first date the payment would come out of my account after I had given them first and last month payments. So I have been with them since mid-Dec/07.

Last week I fell again. Lifeline went thru the procedure correctly the first time! They called the paramedics and ambulance, stayed on the phone with me, called my neighbour who came over to let the paramedics in, and called my daughter to let her know of my condition and that I was on the way to the hospital. All of which you were suppose to do when I had your service but for some reason could never get it right.

I have much more service with Lifeline and they are much more professional and helpful than your company ever was. You have caused me major upset as well as in Nov. /07 could have cost me my life.

If you do not accept this final payment of $252.00 then you can talk to my lawyer, John W. QC who would be happy to take this to court for non-service and for the stress and anxiety you have caused me. I'm sure a judge would be happy to hear how you left a senior with a history of heart disease and falls, you left on the floor for over 20 minutes and never did call the ambulance for. I will be also sending a copy of this letter to your head office so they can know how efficiently the local service is run here! I am stopping my daughter from contacting the newspaper and Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, unless you do not accept this final payment.

I called this morning and asked why I didn't recieve a charger for the 911 Unit. All the man would tell me was that I had lost it and it would be $45.00. I asked for the suppervisor, and he told me again that it would be $45.00 to replace and that I had lost it and was trying to get another one free. Then I found another number for them and spoke with Irene. She told me my service was working and hung up on me.

My original question was why did I never receive a charger for my 911 Unit. After the supervisor had called me a liar several times and advised that I had signed a three year contract and the $45.00 was what I had to pay, he agreed to send me a copy of the contract. I do not have a charger a copy of the contract, a brochure or anything else. Their bill comes regularly! I need a copy of the contract at the very least.

In August of 2006, I signed up my mother,who lives in Lockport, N.Y. to receive a Life Alert System i.e. a Master Unit, Smoke Detector and CO Detector. The unit was installed in my mother's apartment and started making the monthly payment os $59.00 per month. I was not aware of the Programming, Processing & Shipping cost of $298.00! I had the payments set up as auto pay out of my N.Y. Debit card. Two months ago, my mother informed me that she was no longer in need of the system and wanted me to cancell it. She further stated that she was not sure the system even worked!

I called Life Alert to cancell her service. I did make payments for two years in the amount of $59.95. After a conversation with one of the Life Alert people, I was informed that I could not cancell the contract because I agreed to a 3 year deal. I do not recall any such converstion about a 3 year committment. Life Alert refused my request to cancell the agreement and insisted that I would be required to pay the full amount. I cancelled my credit card immediately. Then I got a phone message from Life Alert with a name and extension to call. I tried three times to get in contact with this person and each time my call was re-routed to the welome greeting.

Three days ago my mother informed me that someone from Life Alert had also called her. She also attempted to get in touch but encounterd the same situation as I did. My mother is 89 years old and she does not need their harassment calls; nor do I for that matter. I am not seeking any kind of financial redress at this point. I want the so called contract cancelled and I refuse to make any more monthly payments to Life Alert. Two years of payments is enough.

1) Ask about any long OR short term contract with any company. Many will offer great rates to begin with but you must sign up for at least 3 months and of course the better deals come with the longer service. You should NEVER have to sign a contract for any length of time to get quality service. 2) Ask not only about installation fees but activation fees as well. First; your installation fee should NEVER be more than $50.00 and many times companies can reduce this fee if you ask. You should NEVER have to pay an activation fee. An activation fee is sometimes charged when doing a self-installation (this is where you or a family member installs the unit yourself). You also should not have to pay for the shipping of the unit. This is all common courtsy and just good business practices and since you are doing all the work, no "Activation fee" should ever be charged.

3) You should not be requiered to give ANY financial information up front over the phone. In other words, if a company REQUIRES credit card or bank information up front...do not use them! 4) You should never have to pay more than $39.95 per month service...anything above this is much too high. 5) Ask if the company has rates for AARP and for Veterans to see if you can get a better rate. 6) If you give your phone number will they call you back to try to convice you to take the service? The answer should be no. You should be able to ask for information and get a comprehensive packet that INCLUDES pricing without hassle.

7) Ask what free services come with their standard package - remote phone answering? Can my loved one press the button for ANY reason? What about when they are away from home - what do you offer then? 7) Look for a company with a long history of being in the MEDICAL (not security) Emergency Response Business. They have the experience and if possible check them out on the web for complaints lodged against them. I hope this helps in the search for a reputable and reasonable company in the search for Emergecy Response.

I got told it comes in the box with the hardware and, of course, at this point you are billed for the up-front fee. I asked if I could have a copy of the contract before the equipment arrived. I was told no and then they hung up on me. I guess they figured anybody smart enough to ask to see the contract in advance of incurring fees would not be stupid enough to sign it.

By chance I went to your site yesterday (7/25/08) and couldn't believe my eyes when I read "Life Alert Responds" (I cut and pasted my letter and the response in the "Consequences...") box. All I can say is the response is a total fabrication at worst or an Extreme misrepresentation at least! I just spoke to my Mother and asked her if she had been contacted, she said no. I than asked did they contact you after I called regarding canceling your contract, again she responded no. My Mother may be 84 and somewhat frail from her Parkinson's but she is sharp as a tack mentally. I asked if she was positive she had not been contacted because I've pretty well decided to contact an attorney regarding what I consider slander committed by Life Alert against my mother.

The purpose of this letter is to ask how long you keep records of letters posted on your site. I'm going to contact John M. B. on Monday 7/28/08 and tell him to produce phone records that substantiate his claim, if he can't I expect a correction to be posted by him on your site within 24 hours, otherwise I will file a law suite against he and Life Alert.

Any advice you are willing to offer on this situation will be greatly appreciated, if you prefer to offer no advice for legal reasons I understand completely.

"(10/02/07) My Mom, 84 with Parkinsons, bought one of these worthless devices at $450. and signed up for the service to the tune of $49.95. a month. One time when she was having problems with it she called me in tears (the only other time I remember my Mother crying was the night my Father died) because she just got off the phone with tech support. The guy she spoke to was rude, impatient, and told her she was stupid? because she didnt understand what he meant when he told her to check the RJ11 connecter? (phone jack) on the rear of the unit. He then told her to go get someone who knows what they are doing? to help her. Needless to say I called and read them the riot act, not that I thought it would make a difference. The supervisor I spoke to sounded as if he couldnt have cared less and pretty much agreed that someone who knows what they are doing should have called.

"Unfortunately my Mom did not cancel the service as a result. The icing on the cake was Tuesday (9/18/07) when my Mother slipped and fell down her steps which resulted in 5 stitches in her head and a broken neck. She pressed the button and nothing happened. Fortunately she was on her way to answer the door when she fell. The person at the door heard her hit the floor and called 911 on her cell phone. I have checked with the 911 call center and the only call received to respond to that address was from the cell phone of the woman at the door who called. My Mother is on Coumadin, a blood thinner, which resulted in blood loss severe enough to require 2 units of blood to raise her hematocrit count to an acceptable level.

"I truly believe she would have bled to death had the woman at the door not been there and called 911. It just drives me nuts to think how much faith she put in this worthless thing. The first thing she would do when she walked in her door was put the sender unit on! I called and spoke to Life Alert? 2 days later, as expected they pretty much took a who cares? attitude. After being transferred to about 6 different people I was told that my mother had not regularly tested? the system, therefore its tough luck that it didnt work! If she had not tested the unit how would she have known it wasnt working the time she called tech support when they were so rude to her? She also stated to me that another time when she pressed the test? button she was informed by the person that responded you dont need to do that?.

"Life Alert Responds: We at Life Alert take our life safety mission very seriously. Upon learning of Greg's mother's circumstances, we have spoken to her upon her return from the hospital stay that resulted from her fall on 9/18/07. It is unfortunate that we did not have the opportunity to help her on that day as we did not receive any emergency signal but we are pleased to find that she is doing better. We have made certain that her account is adjusted for the appropriate service period and we have apologized for any inconvienence we may have caused her or her son as they researched the accident. John M. B."

Called Life Alert for information. Their main focus was to sign me up. I told them to wait and checked them out on internet where I found complaints against them on your website. I told them this and they insinuated that I was putting my mother's life at risk by going with another company. Another call from them told me that there were lawsuits against this website (however I didn't tell them which website I used?). Do not like their sales tactics. Their product might be good but price is too high and I don't like the way they interface with customers. No consequences didn't sign up with them. Thanks for your information.

My father fell this morning and pushed his pendant. It did not work. I just happened to find him and he did not break anything. I picked him up myself. I called the machine in the house and they told me they were sorry it did not work and they would send me a new one next Tuesday.

This is Saturday and I asked what I am supposed to do until then. Their answer was I don't know we cannot get you a new one until Tuesday because we are in California. There should be some way or a more local office to send something so necessary. I guesss I have to spend every minute there now until a new one comes!

i am a customer of life alert and also worked there for a brief time.i purchased a life alert button for my mother and in the brief time i worked there the manager andrew g asked me numerous times if he could borrow five thousand dollars.i finally relented and loaned him the money,that was 16 months ago.he has paid back only five hundred dollars in all this time.i wrote a registered letter with a copy of the check that i gave to mister g to the president of the company a mister issac s ,who has yet to respond to me. i dont understand how this company who has been in business for twenty years could employ a man of this low character.i was conned and taken advantage of and ownership does not care how its customers were treated by this so-called manager.he refuses to return my calls and even ownership of the company must give him a free ride. i am confused about this whole situation and dont want anyone else to become a victum

Company does not disclose that their service is not effective except maybe within 150 feet. Refused to admit error after we paid for service for several years. Exploiting seniors. We will be cancelling service, which is not very responsvive anyhow. Do NOT subscribe to it.

The burgler alarm portion of the box tripped off in the middle of the night three times, summoning the police to my 90 year old mother's house (at 3 AM) and scaring the daylights out of her. Life Alert's "Ami" says that the company's policy is to charge THE CUSTOMER to come out and change faulty parts on their 20 year old box. This on top of the monthly $49 fee.

Customer service with this company is atrocious. It is worth any amount of money for us at this point to find and alternate company. SAVE YOURSELF HEADACHES AND HEARTACHES, DO NOT GO WITH LIFE ALERT! This company preys on the elderly. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Ridiculous and horrible customer sales and smarmy behavior. Insulting, fear tactics. We had my parents send the units and the unsigned contract back immediately. The unit was NEVER installed. Life Alert continues to send them a bill asking for $347. On Feb 8th, 2008 Life Alert told us that the acct had been closed with nothing owed, yet last week my parents received another bill (end of March 2008). We want this stopped!

Undue stress to my elderly parents that they owe something that they do not. Concern that Life Alert would elevate their unethical practice and threaten credit standing.

I am so thankful for your website. Not for the fact as a complainer but for the fact that I'm a consumer and most recently have wondered and comtemplated calling Life Alert. After reading the many complaints about the Life alert services, products and the atrocious customer service, I decided against inquiring about their services. My sweet mother-in-law is 89 years old. Within the last several months, her legs have grown weak causing her to fall. Once she falls, she can not get up. I have purchased a walker for her, so that she may get around without fear of falling. I know that she might fall even with a walker. She has a cell phone so that she can contact us if the need arises. I just really wished there was a RELIABLE service one could count on. For any senior to be left vulnerable for more than several minutes is a crime. Thank you so much for your valuable service

This Company is not much better, if at all, then a telemarketing scam. I asked for a brochure over the internet and instead got a call from a high pressure salesman. He refused to give me any written information (I'll see if my supervisor will authorize it) or information about the product and was more anxious to get my credit card number than anything else. He called four times after I told him verbally and by email not to call again. I think this is a senior rip off scam.

I feel this company took advantage of my mother who lives by herself at age 85 and is under medication. She was sold a security system with Life Alert, which she already has. My mother has know idea how this system works, how to active it or to explain to any family members how to use it. Even though she signed a three-year contract, we feel this is unfair.

I have asked the company to remove the system, and even though he was willing to cancel the 75% of total due, for $475 he would complete the transaction. But at no charge to us he was willing to add upgrades.This company is taking advantage of this situation and should remove their equipment and cancel the services. It's the morally right thing to do.

This has caused emotional duress to my mother.

DO NOT BUY LIFE ALERT. My husband and I went to the store and came back to my mother-in-law flat on her back just outside her patio door. She fell right after we left. No ambulance, no police, no fire dept. After calling to cancel the contract at 800-338-9090 press 5 for Contracts Dept. I got the run around. First I was told the supervisor, Patty, was not there. I persisted to speak to someone. After four people, Alana, Alissa, Rami and Glen, Patty came on the phone. I explained I needed to return the equipment, it didn't work. Not only did she hang up on me but I got phrases like, "I'm not your friend," and "You are making a bigger deal out of this then what it is." It takes a lot for me to get mad but I got mad. Not only that my mother-in-law, but also my very close friend's life is no big deal sent me into a rage. They would not cancel the contract. They REFUSED to give me the address to return the unit, that doesn't work. I was berated continuously. Then hung up on again. Thanks to this site I am so glad it wasn't me, IT WAS THEM! I just hope upon hope this comment helps someone from making a big mistake.

No positive response from the emergency response unit OR customer service.

The company responds:

In an effort to contact Melissa of Humble, TX to try to look into her mother in law's incident and resolve her concerns appropriately, we have searched our customer base in the Humble, Tx area for any mention of Melissa or a subscriber in that area with similiar circumstances but to no avail.

We welcome having the opportunity to look into this incident if Melissa could contact us directly by email at johnb@lifealert.com to help us identify our subscriber.
We are committed to making certain that any concern about our service or personnel is addressed immediatly on our subscriber's behalf. We take very seriously any circumstances where our employees do not demonstrate our committment to helping our customer or their family.

Please contact us.

Life Alert

John M. Brady

Vice President

Personal Emergency Response

johnb@lifealert.com

I called Life Alert on behalf of my mother-in-law who was interested in a emergency service. I had seen the web page www.lifealert.com, and called the number there to get a free brouchure. Less than a week later my mother-in-law got a high pressure sales call from Lonnie Kay at Life Alert. She never got the brouchure. My mother-in-law was surprised at the cost and does not make large purchases of this sort with out discussing it with me. She called me rather disturbed with the nature of the call. I called back the next day at the number Lonnie had provided and asked why they had called before we had even seen the promised literature. She was very rude to me, when I asked to speak to a supervisor she told me to call back. When I did that the unnamed supervisor started to defend this rep by name before I even told him whom we had spoken with. They were using high pressure sales techniques on a vulnerable senior citizen they claim to be wanting to help.

The call recieved was disturbing to my mother-in-law because she did not like the high pressure and the sales rep assuming that she was committing to the transaction. She had been tired at the end of a long day, and the lady kept her on the phone a long time trying to get the sale. By the end she needed to get her oxygen on because she was winded from the long conversation.

My Mom, 84 with Parkinsons, bought one of these worthless devices at $450. and signed up for the service to the tune of $49.95. a month. One time when she was having problems with it she called me in tears (the only other time I remember my Mother crying was the night my Father died) because she just got off the phone with tech support. The guy she spoke to was rude, impatient, and told her she was stupid? because she didnt understand what he meant when he told her to check the RJ11 connecter? (phone jack) on the rear of the unit. He then told her to go get someone who knows what they are doing? to help her.

Needless to say I called and read them the riot act, not that I thought it would make a difference. The supervisor I spoke to sounded as if he couldnt have cared less and pretty much agreed that someone who knows what they are doing should have called. Unfortunately my Mom did not cancel the service as a result.

The icing on the cake was Tuesday (9/18/07) when my Mother slipped and fell down her steps which resulted in 5 stitches in her head and a broken neck. She pressed the button and nothing happened. Fortunately she was on her way to answer the door when she fell. The person at the door heard her hit the floor and called 911 on her cell phone.

I have checked with the 911 call center and the only call received to respond to that address was from the cell phone of the woman at the door who called.

My Mother is on Coumadin, a blood thinner, which resulted in blood loss severe enough to require 2 units of blood to raise her hematocrit count to an acceptable level. I truly believe she would have bled to death had the woman at the door not been there and called 911. It just drives me nuts to think how much faith she put in this worthless thing. The first thing she would do when she walked in her door was put the sender unit on!!

I called and spoke to Life Alert? 2 days later, as expected they pretty much took a who cares? attitude.

After being transferred to about 6 different people I was told that my mother had not regularly tested? the system, therefore its tough luck that it didnt work!

If she had not tested the unit how would she have known it wasnt working the time she called tech support when they were so rude to her? She also stated to me that another time when she pressed the test? button she was informed by the person that responded you dont need to do that?.

Life Alert Responds:

We at Life Alert take our life safety mission very seriously. Upon learning of Greg's mother's circumstances, we have spoken to her upon her return from the hospital stay that resulted from her fall on 9/18/07. It is unfortunate that we did not have the opportunity to help her on that day as we did not receive any emergency signal but we are pleased to find that she is doing better. We have made certain that her account is adjusted for the appropriate service period and we have apologized for any inconvienence we may have caused her or her son as they researched the accident.

John M. Brady

My close friend Clifford passed away on 5/14/07. On 7/25/07, I was contacted at home by Chris from Life Alert, in regards to some equipment that they wanted back, it was supposed to look like an answering machine. I told him that I was unaware of any equipment or knowledge of it and Cliff never mentioned anything to me.

There were many people stealing things from Cliff's apartment as soon as they learned of his passing. A few people living close by had keys to the apartment and were stealing things out of it before I was able to have the apartment change the locks, TWO DAYS after Cliff's passing.

This not only was a hard time since Cliffy just passed away, but as you can imagine the scavengers living around the apartment were not making matters any better. Chris said to fax him the death certificate and he would see about closing the account out.

I faxed a cover letter with copy of death certificate to Chris on 7/26/07 as requested. I sought legal counsel on 5/16/07, [just to note I was named the executor in the will, but was never formally sworn in] the attorney I consulted told me I am not responsible for any of Clifford's bills or personal property. I was just a good friend and I told Cliffy I would handle his affairs after he passed.

I received message from Jeremy, rep from Life Alert (9/5/07) was left on my answering machine at work to call him back about Clifford's account, and that they could not close out account and would keep it open until they received the machine back or $400 or they would turn it over to Legal. I called back and left a message on Jeremy's answering machine and said not to call me at my work place, I told him that I sent a letter and death certificate per Chris' request. I do not have his equipment or had knowledge of any equipment that Clifford mentioned. I told him that I took his remains (meaning his ashes).

I also mentioned that I had sought legal counsel, who told me that I am not responsible for any finances of Clifford's estate since there was none. And that there really was nothing for me to do, since I did not go to court to sign or take an oath binding me as the executor, I was just a friend helping a friend. ...

Jeremy then stated that and as far as them calling me at work they will continue since they don't have another number for me, and will continue to do so until I give them another number to call. Jeremy said I need you to send $400 or the equipment immediately otherwise we will turn the account over,...I will be calling you again.

I interpret this as harrassment, as this is my place of business and is making me very nervous and anxious every time the phone rings, causing me undue stress and interfering with a productive work environment.

Life Alert Responds:

We were sorry to hear of Clifford's passing on 5/14/07. Upon hearing of Eva's circumstances, we have tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Eva by phone to apologize for the improper collection efforts that were made by one of our employees, who has since been terminated.

We do not condone nor is it our policy to demand payment after the death of one of our customer's. Nor should anyone at Life Alert have persued payment from someone who has taken on the difficult and heartfelt role of Executor of a friend's estate.

We have made certain that Eva will not be called going forward and we hope we will have the opportunity to apologize to her directly in the near future.

John M. Brady

On March 30, 2005, a letter was sent from my grandmother's nursing home to cancel her existing service. (I have a copy of this letter.) Over the following year, $49.95 was deducted from my checking account each month for a service that was not rendered. My grandmother was between the hospital and several nursing homes and the unit was still under my posession.

On May 11, 2006 I received a past due bill for $149.85 from Life Alert. I sent a fax on 5-16-06 explaining that the service was to be canceled a year ago. (I have a copy of this fax. Life Alert refused to grant the 14 months X $49.95 they owe me even if I send the unit to them.

I spoke with a supervisor today, 7/11/07 and they continue to refuse to pay the months that service was not provided even through I have documentation proving that it was to be canceled a year prior. The supervisor was very rude and raised her voice to me.

I answered an ad to be an independent contractor for Life Alert and have witnessed first-hand how they operate. First off there is no computer system to track who has been called and from what office...this is why you see so many complaints of people being called every day. The office is just a bunch of cubicles (50 or so per office) with regular telephones on each desk. No computer tracking of calls what so ever.

There is no written do not call policy given to any contractors. Leads are distributed to several call centers and the people that call consumers are not employed by the company...though they go into company owned call centers each day to receive company generated leads. Consumer's personal information is distributed to several employee office managers who then distribute the leads to the non-employee contractors. Over time multiple contractors will call the same consumers over and over. Again, there is no way to know how often a consumer is called and by which contractor. If someone asks to be taken off the call list, Life Alert relies on an independent contractor to complete a card and put it in a bin. Some contractors do but most just tear up the card and toss in the garbage.

They charge a desk fee each week that the contractor pays but they do not allow contractors to work from home or in their own offices and not pay this fee. Read between the lines...you don't have to come into the office to work, but if you don't you aren't allowed to be a contractor for Life Alert, at least in the Tampa office. So you have LA the company taking personal information from consumers, then passing this info to non-employees who are paid up to $450 a sale.

Some contractors make thousands of dollars a day selling the most expensive systems at $79.95 per month and never mention there is a basic plan that starts at $39.95 (it only pays $220 commission). To be fair to LA all consumers who subscribe to the service are welcomed by an employee who verifies that what the contractor said was understood by the consumer...and though I read about them burying the 3 year commitment...I never witnessed it. Other than that the complaints posted here are very accurate and accepted as fair practice by LA.

My 71 year old mother called Life Alert's 1-800 number to get information. She was concerned about summoning for help with her declining health. The salesperson managed to get my mother to give her many family members phone numbers and my mother's birthdate. She kept pushing my mother to give her my mother's credit card number. My mother refused. The salesperson then persisted to try to get my mother.

Many elderly don't know that once you give the credit card or bank account information that is a verbal contract and they can charge you immediately. Luckily, my mother told the woman no that my daughter will call you with that information.

I always research everything. Fortunately, I found this website and read about other people's experiences. That sent bells and whistles off in my mind. I then checked the Better Business Bureau website and saw that Life Alert had 54 complaints made against them in 36 months.

I called the saleswoman and told her to shred all the information my mother had given her and that we were going to do more research before we made a decision. She started in with her sales pitch telling me that there were only two resputable companies and the other company was a franchize and were not allowed to be on the AARP site. She kept talking and talking and I politely listened. Then I repeated that we wanted all the information shredded and for Life Alert Employees not to call and harrass my mother about this sale.

I gave Life Alert the required written letter, that I wanted to cancel, and I was told I had to wait six months from the date of my letter. I asked them not to debit my credit card, but they did after I returned the equipment on time. The bank said I should have cancelled my account, but I have other debits and Life Alert promised to return my money and not debit the account again. Now they are saying it will take 15 to 20 days to get a bank credit!!!!

Approximately a month ago I received in the mail an assortment of advertisements, one of which was for Life Alert. My parents, who are both in their 80's, have been having a lot of health problems recently, and I had been considering getting some sort of an alarm for them which would call 911 for my mother, if necessary, since my father suffers from dementia, so I filled out the coupon requesting further information and mailed it back. The form asked for my address and phone number, which I supplied, but I also specified please do not call on the form. About a week later I received some literature, but after looking it over, I decided that it was not what I had in mind for my parents, so I discarded it.

On my lunch hour today, I went to my parents, and was awaiting a telephone call from my father's doctor. When the phone rang, and I answered it, it was a male salesperson from Life Alert, but I did not get his name. Apparently he had called my home, and my husband gave him my mother's number, so that he could reach me there. I explained that I was waiting for a call from my father's doctor and couldn't tie up the phone, and asked him to call me this evening, after 6:00, and I would be glad to discuss the product with him. He asked if he should call me back at my parent's number, and I said no, that I would be at home, and he should phone me there. He agreed and we hung up.

After getting home from work, I was expecting his call, but it never came. Instead, I got a telephone call from my mother around 7:30, telling me that she had ordered the Life Alert services, as I had wanted, and she hoped that I was pleased about it. When I asked her to explain, she said that this salesperson had called her, and told her all about the Life Alert System. After his sales pitch, this salesperson told her that he had just spoken to me, and that I had given him her number so that he could get additional information from her about her and my father's medical conditions and medications, since I had told him that I wanted her to purchase their services. He quoted her a price of $299 per year, and $49.95 a month.

She thought it was expensive, but felt that if I thought she should have it for their protection, then she should get it. She then gave him her credit card information, after which he asked for all sorts of personal information, including details of their medical conditions and medications. Not only did I not tell this salesperson that I wanted my mother to order this service, but I had explicitly told him NOT to call me at my mother's, since I would not be there. Also, I had never even spoken to him about the product, so what he told my mother was a blatant lie in order to get her credit card number! My mother had the incoming telephone number on her Caller ID, so I promptly went over there and proceeded to call the company to cancel the order. I actually called twice, and spoke to 2 different people, who both told me that there was no record of any of their salespeople telephoning either myself or my mother, therefore there was no order for them to cancel.

Still concerned, I then proceeded to call her credit card company, and inquired as to whether or not any charges had been put on her credit card from Life Alert. I found it very interesting that even though the company had no record of anyone having spoken to either one of us, there had already been a charge placed on her account for the $299 yearly fee, plus another charge for the first month of service. At this point, I notified the credit card company that she had been a victim of fraud by this company, since she had been blatantly given false information in order for them to secure a sale. They connected me with their fraud department, and I was forced to cancel her credit card, and have them send her a new card with a different account number, in order for her to not be responsible for these charges.

Needless to say, I was livid! I then called the Life Alert Company back, and asked them to explain WHY there were charges to her Visa card for their service, if no one had spoken with her, as they had previously stated. At this point, they miraculously found the order in their computer. The telephone operator stated that my mother did indeed order their service, since she had voluntarily given them her credit card number, and that they would be billing her account. At this point, I completely lost it, and informed them that their sales person had lied to her and that they had committed fraud because of the untrue statements that were made to her, and that I had contacted the Fraud Department of her credit card company and reported them. I also told them that her credit card had been cancelled, and that no money would be forthcoming, so if they sent the product to her, it would be returned to them, unopened, at their expense.

They finally agreed to cancel the order and remove the hold which was placed on her account for their payment. I find it absolutely reprehensible that any company would deliberately lie to or mislead an elderly person, who is in ill health, simply to line their pockets and make a sale, and I certainly would not recommend to anyone a company whose employees resort to this sort of behavior. I am also very glad that I cancelled her credit card, before any serious financial damage had been done. Hopefully, this will be the end of it, but if not, I will be further looking into any legal recourse that we may have against this company, and I would certainly not recommend anyone doing business with them!

This whole episode caused my mother to become extremely upset, and there were fraudulent charges of t $299+ placed on her credit card, which have yet to be removed.

Refuses to cancel service as requested 4 months ago.Expects me to pay for time since cancellation request and KEEP paying!Call me EVERY day at least twice a day,which I no longer answer. Send bills thru mail EVERY week. Now,they are calling my 80 year-old mom, whom I bought the service for, and are harrassing her constantly. She gets VERY upset. Yesterday, they called my mother again and told her to tell ME that they would PERSECUTE me for the rest of my life.

My mom said, Do you mean Prosecute? The caller said, NO, LADY, I mean PERSECUTE, you know what THAT means? These people are sick and frightening,and I believe they need to be investigated, fined and put OUT of business!

In the summer of 2006 I called for the free brochure to explain their service. The only way I was able to get the brochure was to give my phone number. They assured me that no one would call. They just needed the ph # to confirm the address. I told her the number I was giving her did not go with the address. I received the brochure and it had no more information then was on their website. There was no information regarding rates or actual services.

Well, surprisingly they did call. They gave me some rate information and wanted me to sign up immediately. I told them I had not even consulted my mother yet or my siblings to see if they were in agreement or would help pay. He wanted to call my Mom and get her in a 3 way call right then. By then I was getting a bad feeling and told them I would have to get back with them. It was way too high pressure. Well, we ended up getting another service. And they are STILL calling! And calling.

My mother informed me that a woman at the emergency response company she had signed up with, Life Alert, insulted her when she called up to inquire about quitting the service. It had occurred to her that if she lost consciousness, the alert would do her no good. She was, up until then, completely unaware of the 3-year term she had apparently signed up for. My mother stated to the woman that she had no such knowledge of this 3-year contract. The female customer service (term used loosely in this case) representative commmented back to her in a rude and insulting manner Well, you can 'read', can't you?

Apparently they, (Life Alert), cloak this 3-year term/requirement in the 'fine print', hoping that poor elderly seniors won't notice it. In my mother's case, her eyes are going fast and she really CAN'T read that well any more, and since it was never mentioned at any time, she trusted that the terms were covered. Poor trusting soul.

First off, I'm mad as hell at this company for employing someone that talks down to seniors and verbally abuses them. Secondly, I'm outraged that they practice such underhanded deception (terms hidden in the fine-print) on those that can least afford the consequences. After reading some of the other complaints about them here, I'm ready to go after these crooks full tilt. I once fought a supposedly free software claim and won. I mentioned to a gentleman at the FTC that I realized it was probably small potatoes to him, and that it probably didn't constitute what he considered to be deceptive trade practice (hiding the real terms in the fine print).

The guy at the FTC asked me a simple question. Were you deceived? My answer was yes. He said Well, then it constitutes deceptive trade practice. And there it is. Bottom line, I'm not going to let these ****** get away with talking to my mother in this manner, or in scamming her into something she doesn't think she needs. They don't know it yet, but they just scammed the wrong customer this time.

My mother purchased the Life Alert System at a cost of almost $400.00 for the system and a rate of $59.95 per month. My mother was put in the hospital two days after the system was installed and then was sent to a nursing home facility permanently. I contacted this company in October letting them know this. It is now February and the product has been returned but they stated that the smoke detector was not returned, yet one was never installed.

The guy requested a fax be sent to him from the nursing home, the nursing home facility faxed him that very same day. I have called this guy numerous times he will not return my calls and I have faxed him twice and he has not responded to my fax until I opened up a dispute with my mother’s credit card company. Then he finally called saying the smoke alarm was not included in the returned product.

I got in touch with another man by the name of Glenn who spoke to me very rudely, he was talking so loud to me on the phone my husband could here every word, he worked in the same office with this Marc but proceeded to tell me he could not pull up my mom's file until Monday. I told him I was going to turn them into the Better Business Bureau and he said good, go ahead, it did not matter to him.

My wife had bought Life Alert with the understanding that the services would stop and auto billing would stop once she faxed over to them in April '06 that her great grandmother moved to a facility that had an emergency response button. They continued to bill her checking account until she closed the account. They then called my house and threatened my wife. She gave me the phone and I tried to explain. The collection guy just wouldn't let me talk. I hung up.

He repeatedly called back my phone and her cell phone constantly harassing us for over and hour and wouldn't talk to us about anything. Oh my God who do they get to do this stuff. He wouldn't tell us his name other than he was with Life Alert from Bend Over, California. Well they picked the right city. Beware of this company unless you want to deal with the jerk from Bend Over.

7 months auto bill # 49.95 = $349.65 credit hit on a $500,000.00 mortgage cost at least 1 point over a thirty year term $100,000.00 Any future purchases that rely on credit where this account is posted $$$.

I called Life Alert after seeing their ad on TV, and spoke with Mr. Bill Blackwell, who sent me info. re: the company. After a follow-up phone call, he called me again before an agreed-upon time of contact. This happened twice. After the second time, I explicitly told him I would call HIM, and asked him not to call me. Needless to say, Bill perservered. At one point, I became annoyed by the pushiness, explained that he was being way too pushy for me and asked him not to call my number again. He has persisted in calling me, although I've hung up when he calls. When I hang up on him, he immediately calls back, at which point I don't answer the phone and he leaves a message.

It's easy for me not to speak with him, but here's what bothers me: I am a very strong person, not easily intimidated, merely seeking information for my elderly father. What is this man, and other salespeople in his company, doing to the elderly and more easily intimidated population they're speaking with? I consider his repeated calling, after my request to not do so,harrassment, and I have notified his company to this effect. His actions are badgering,unprofessional, and totally unethical, to the point of which I, as a baby boomer, would be interested in participating in a movement to protect the elderly from having to deal with the bullying of any such group.

I signed my mother up for the Life Alert system last December. At that time I was told that the contract was for three years but could be terminated if she died or left her home. The contract says skilled nursing facility. She as moved into an assisted living facility that has medical help and people checking hourly on her.

When the arrangements were made for my mother to move I called Life Alert to cancel the contract. I was told that assisted living did not meet skilled nursing facility. Their only solution was for me to pay for an additional 6 months for a service I don't need. I see that other people have had similar problems with this business.

I called Life Alerts 800 number that advertised a free brochure. I gave them my adress but not my phone number. I geuss they have caller ID set up on their 800 number because I started getting calls from one of their salesman. I told him I don't like receiving sales calls and when I wanted information I would call him. I had not even shown the information to my parents yet. He got fairly nasty with me. He said his calling was the only way I could get pricing. I told him again that when I wanted pricing I would call him, and that I did not want him calling me again. He started telling me that only he could give me pricing and he was trying to save someones life.

I told him very adamently that I did not want him calling again (He kept talking the whole time I was saying this). I hung up at that point. Not more than 10 seconds passed when the phone started ringing again, and I saw it was the same number and did not answer it. Although I was astounded that he actually had the nerve to call back. This salesman hung up when the answering machine picked up. He then called again. I answered it this time so I could find out why he thought he was above the law. Which as far as I know, when you tell them not to call again they are not supposed to call.

He did not give me time to say any thing before he started a tirade about how rude I am to hang up on him. He started going into his saving a life speech again. And I tryed to tell him that I was serious when I told him not to call, and if he did again I would report him for harassment. Whether he heard any of this I have no ideal, he just kept talking the whole time. I don't even know what all he was saying at this point, because I was trying to get him to listen to me.

I purchased a Life Alert System for a friend who is 86 years old. She is no longer able to be by herself and does not live in her home anymore.

When I informed the company of this, they told me that I still had to pay the monthly fee for (6) months, before I could cancel the contract. I feel that this is an injustice to have this in the contract since we are dealing with the elderly and changes can happen at any time.

I am not requesting any money back, just to STOP the payments.

I had a representative return my call. I am a Social Work Supervisor and was trying to find the cost for a client. The man that called would not give me the initial and/or monthly cost. I explained to him that i was trying to find the lowest cost for our clients. When I mentioned Social Services his immediate response was you probably can't afford our product. He would answer a question with a question and he finally said when you go to a car dealer they don't tell you the price. This is when I hung up.

I am not looking for damage - would just like to be able to assist the elderly in their own homes with the cost and service. I will never call this company again. 

I am writing this letter to express extreme unhappiness at the complete failure of your Life Alert. On March 15 of this year, our mother, who has subscribed to Life Alert service since 2002, lay on the floor in her home for more than 8 hours after suffering a stroke and breaking her arm. The suffering that she endured over that extended period of time, hoping and praying for help to come, is difficult for us to comprehend. Afterward, we found that the battery in her pendant was dead.

The betrayal and anger that we feel at Life Alert system compels us to write this complaint. We are angry that this company, after collecting so much money from our mother, could allow this complete failure to occur. It is incomprehensible to us how this could have happened. We are deeply concerned about other families like ourselves, who place trust in Life Alert company for the wellbeing of loved ones.

We are unsure of the outcome at this point.

My new 1-channel Supervised Emergency Transmitter: model DXS-62 "does not work". I received my new replacement on Wednesday, February 1, 2006. I have tried everything I know to activate it.

Would NOT take change of address info. Said I must call during the day. Problem is I work all night and I need my sleep during the day. Life Alert apparently doesn't help or care.

I called to cancel my mother's Life Alert. We were not satisfied with the service. For three months it was not working. We didn't know. I spoke to a male who seemed not to really care.

I started testing every month thereafter. It would take about 2-3 minutes before anyone answered. They always sounded as if we were disturbing them, so I finally decided to cancel. They refused to cancel. I was told that I have a three-year contract. This was the first time I heard that.

I signed up with Life Alert for my mother, shortly after my dad died. Within a year my mother moved into assisted living. I attempted to stop the monitoring service-and did- but Life Alert refused to stop the billing to my credit card. Life Alert gave me 2-3 different stories about why they refused to stop the billing, one involving a letter from the assisted living manager, but they continue to bill my credit card.

I purchased the Life Alert system in Oct/Nov 2004. I was assured by the sales rep, Matt Sandvik, that even though they request we sign a 3 yr contract, if we needed to cancel prior to this time, there would be no hassles. After many months of discussion, my parents wanted the system removed. When I called to cancel, I was informed by a rude Marc Stempler that I would have to give 6 months notice and to fax a letter and I would be contacted in Feb 2006.

I should have settled for this, but I wanted to speak to someone else to see if I could cancel sooner...I ended up with another manager named Mark (ironic?) who proceeded to lecture me on the contract terms and ended up screaming at me like a complete idiot. I ended the call and spoke with yet another 'manager' who was supposedly looking into the situation and who was going to return my call in a 'few minutes'. Nothing yet.

I have come to believe that my parents and I have been scammed and that Life Alert does not really care about it's clients, only its pockets. I wonder if the elderly people who have this product are spoken to in such a poor, unprofessional manner.

I did call and order your product, on 7/27/05. i was quoted $299.95, installation and $50.00 a month. 36 months mim. after talking to my friend i changed my mind and decided to go with another co. which was much cheaper.The other Co. offered the same thing only much cheaper. I then call this Mark person back to cancel the order the very next day. He said it had already been sent, I advised him i would not accept it when arrived.

It did arrive the next day and I returned it to UPS. I then received a call 4:00PM from this person Mark Dozier. He informed me I still had to pay the $300.00 for the installation. I told him I did not want their service and i hadn't signed anything, he informed me, he had my credit card number and was going bill it any way. He was very rude, kept telling me how bad all the other companies were. And also, i couldn't get out of the payment.

I was so upset by that time, i told him i had a heart problem too, and just didn't need his badgering me any longer, i then hung up. He, called me right back, and started all over again, so i hung up again. I can't believe a company, that says it has the U.S Surgeon General behind it would be treating their Seniors and Disabled this way.

I originally requested a brochure on the service (with my elderly mother in mind). It required a phone # so I put my work #. I only wanted to know the price at this time. This Mary Duback called and used hard sales tactics to try to get me to sign up for the system for my mother "right now." I told her I was not going to buy it now and maybe not at all, I just wanted to know how much. She finally gave me a price and I hung up. She called me back 3 days later at work and asked if I was ready to buy. I said no and asked her not to call me back.

She called me back a week later and I got really angry and told her in no uncertain terms to do not ever call me again. period. That if she ever called me again I would never ever buy the product just because she was harrassing me. I thought that was the end of it. This was 6 months ago. About 3 months ago the same sales person left a message on my voice mail at work. Then today, after I switched jobs at work and moved to an entirely different extension, she called again and bothered someone to find me and left another voice mail asking if I was ready to purchase the Life Alert system. She asked me to call her back. I am ready to turn her in to the proper authorities, whoever they are, if someone can direct me to them. This is harrassment pure and simple. I have repeatedly directed her in very clear terms to stop calling me.

She is harrassing me pure and simple. We are only supposed to be taking calls at work from family members that are important and necessary. And when she calls and says she is calling regarding "Life Alert" I am sure she is alarming whoever she talks to because they assume someone in my family is having an emergency situation so they put her straight through to my phone. One time when she called, I had an associate walk up to me and ask me later if my mother was okay. I asked them what they were talking about and they said, because the lady from the Life Alert place had called about the emergency.

I purchased Life Alert for my mom who lives alone and is 100 miles away from me.I was given a discount because I was a police officer.I was quoted a monthly fee of $40.00.I am being billed $59.95 as a monthly fee,and consequently,my credit card payment to htem was declined as they attempted to take more than I left in there for them.So I am now receiving bills in the mail for Jan. '05 and Feb. '05,at $59.95 per.

I cannot afford the amount I am being charged,while I could JUST afford the $40.00 I was quoted.