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ADT Security Systems

ADT Security • About ADT • Consumer Complaints • Military clause

Fern of Phoenix, AZ September 25, 2009

We are writing this letter to express our deep disappointment in the performance of your company, with regard to our residence in Phoenix, Arizona. For the reasons listed in this letter, we do not intend to pay for the past three months of service, nor for the “emergency calls” that your company has billed us for. First a bit of background: We purchased our house in Phoenix in September 2004, and the ADT alarm system was already installed in the house. We did not move into the house until 9 months after we purchased it, because the house was undergoing renovation. During that time period and for the subsequent two years, we never used the alarm system. However beginning in the summer 2007, I became the sole (part-time) resident of the house and began to use the alarm system. As I recall, I spoke numerous times to the ADT service department because the alarm worked only intermittently and warning signals would indicate problems with the system. Eventually, the system worked.

Beginning in the Fall of 2008, the alarm system would often indicate that there was a “problem on the line” and red lights would flash. Each time this happened, I called the 800 number for ADT, and they would walk me through some process whereby the red light would terminate and the alarm would appear to be working. Since I only come to Phoenix intermittently, this process became somewhat of a ritual and every time I talked with the service people they would say that the system was “fine” and that the problem would not resurface. Still, each time I turned the alarm on or off the problem would start again.

It became obvious to me several months ago (with all of these problems with the system) that we were not really linked to ADT, because when the alarm would go off, noone from ADT contacted us, nor did police arrive. So we were not benefitting from any ADT services.. All we had was a broken system that would make a lot of noise – never at the right time. I was in Phoenix on June 22 - 23, and the alarm (despite it being “off”) was making strange sounds and would be set off automatically without reason. After several phone calls with ADT, I set an appointment to have a service person come to meet me at the house. I made a special trip to Phoenix to meet the service provider on July 20.

The repair person was quite nice and spent about an hour working on the system. When he left, he told me I need to have Cox Communication (our phone provider) come to reinstall some hook-up, but that for the time being the system would work fine, and that I should turn it on when I leave the house and turn it off (as usual) when I am in the house. I left Phoenix on July 21, and followed his instructions – turning the alarm “on” when I left the house that morning.

While traveling on business on July 31, I received a message from our next door neighbor who stated “We've noticed the alarm sounding at your house, on and off, for the past several days. There doesn't seem to be any issue with the house from what I can see from the sidewalk.” Needless to say, I was embarrassed by this annoyance to our neighbors. I was shocked to learn of this, since ADT was at the house just 10 days prior to check the system. (I want to reiterate that I paid airfare to come to the house on July 20 to meet the ADT service person. I had no other reason to be in Phoenix that day; I teach at ASU during the academic calendar.)

Because of the information received through my neighbor, I asked an ASU colleague to go to my house to turn off the alarm system. I gave her the code and access to the house. (I might note that I was in a state with a three hour time difference – and in meetings.) She went to the house, followed all the instructions about how to turn the alarm off, but the alarm continued to sound off. Eventually it stopped, but then when she walked out of the house (despite the system being “off”) the alarm began to sound off. She called me – very frustrated – and I left a meeting to call ADT once again. Arrangements were made for her to go back to the house and be on the phone with ADT as she entered the house for them to give instructions – even if this meant deactivating the entire system.

When she returned that afternoon - after the earlier effort in the morning, she called ADT and explained the situation, then lost the call when she went near the alarm, which was ringing so loudly she couldn’t even hear them. She called again, and then needed a password in addition to the pin code. After some back and forth with me going in and out of my meetings, I found the number they wanted. (Frankly, I don’t know where that number came from; we never picked it, and I was never asked for this number in all the times that I have been calling about the lack of service on my system.)

Once she talked with ADT, they told her she needed to de-activate, since there was nothing else they could do. They told here she needed to find an 18" box somewhere in the house and that the box would have a key. She phoned me and I assured her there was no such box in our house. Nonetheless, at the prompting of ADT, she searched the entire house, but didn't find such a box – because there isn’t any. She tried unplugging all the surge protectors, too, since it seems ADT told her there would be a small transformer plugged into an outlet. In her words “You should never pay ADT. They are inept.”

I left my meeting again, and called ADT directly to see if I could intervene, and also to express my anger and disappointment in their poor performance. By then I had spoken with about five different people at the 800 number, each time asking to speak with a supervisor. At 4:51 pm on August 1 (same day as all of this is happening), I requested ADT to send a service person to the house to meet my colleague so that they could locate this mysterious 18" box to disarm the system. I was told I would have to pay an emergency service charge for this visit (despite the fact that I explained that the service person had just been to my house 10 days earlier and had assured me the system was in working order).

I agreed to pay, because without that agreement ADT’s service person would not come to the house and the alarm would just keep going off indefinitely – disturbing the neighborhood. My colleague returned to the house – yet again – to meet the service person. As it turns out, the ADT phone people were giving the wrong information: There is no 18" box. All the equipment for our system is located in a closet in the adjacent room – just a big plug, no box! I then arranged for an appointment with both Cox Communication and ADT – so that Cox would come in the morning and ADT in the afternoon – on August 7. I could not be in Phoenix on that date, so I paid my assistant in California to fly to Phoenix to meet the repair people at my house. I paid airfares and for one day of work time. Cox arrived that morning and rewired the hookup for the alarm system. ADT came in the afternoon and just looked at the hook up and said everything would work fine now.

I flew to Phoenix on August 13 -14, and spent the night at the house. When I arrived I turned off the alarm, but once again it began to sound off with no reason. I phoned ADT and they walked me through the same procedures where I put in the code twice and push some other buttons. The alarm appeared to be “off” (it said it was “off”). In the middle of the night, it started to sound off yet again. I remembered where my colleague told me about the plug, and I just pulled it out of the socket, as my only choice for turning off the alarm. This was August 13. It had been my intention to write to you immediately, about these experiences and my complete lack of confidence in your company. Unfortunately, I was called out of town on repeated business trips, and then left for Europe for two weeks.

This past Friday, September 4, I phoned ADT to completely cancel my relationship and account. The first response from the staff was to inquire as to why I was doing this. I stated that I felt the performance of the company had been completely unprofessional and that I have had recurring problems for many months with my service. She wanted to provide me with some “credits” if I remained with the company. I said I thought I deserved lots of “credits,” but that it was my intention to get a new alarm system with another company that would perform better than ADT. She then withdrew her offer of “credit.” She then informed me that I would be billed for another month, despite the fact that I won’t have any service (and that I have not really had service from ADT for many, many months). I was willing to put up with a less than mediocre service for a long time because my life is too busy to pay attention to a lot of these issues. But finally, I did pay attention and now I can see that your company is unprofessional, inept, rude, and cannot fulfill its responsibilities to customers. The only thing you appear to be able to do well is send out invoices.

Aljoe of Miami, FL September 24, 2009

I contacted ADT in January of 2009 for a home security system for my home in Miami. Over the phone the sales person was offering a 3 year contract, 99 initial installation for one motion sensor and two door sensors, after that 32.09 per month to monitor. What made me agree to the proposal that after 6 months ADT would move my system into a new house, should I move, for free. An installer came super fast, I was a little surprised that he would charge me 100 for an additional motion sensor, but I agreed to it. At this time I noticed that the contract was also with an authorized ADT dealer, First FL Alarm, Dealer Number 6158430. The paperwork was only signed by me at time of installation; I never received a signed copy from the Dealer or ADT.

September 2009 I contact ADT to have my alarm moved, using their 800 number on the contract: 800 539 6990. I get connected quite a bit and keep ending up in voicemail boxes. After 10 days I finally find out that I'm being send to company in Virginia, Absolute Security. After leaving several increasingly desperate messages (we are talking my security here) I finally get to talk to Kateman. She makes it very clear that they have nothing to do with ADT or what ADT might have promised over the phone, she is going to charge me 99 for the transfer and if I did not like that she would charge me the reminder of 27 months at 32.09 each. That the contract asked for 75% of that did not matter to her. I reluctantly agreed to the 99 extra charge, although calling ADT Sales directly confirms that after 6 months the transfer will be free.

Once I agree the installer comes within 2 days, he is super nice and helpful, when he is ready to leave he presents me with a new contract to sign, but surprise, this is a new contract for another 36 months, not for the remaining 27 months from the original contract. The installer get Kateman on the phone, she insist that I agreed to another 36 months, I refuse to sign a new contract with changed timeframe, ask the installer to leave and I'm certain that Absolute Security will try to charge to my credit card whatever they feel is due. Later today I got a call from another name-less Absolute Security person, informing me that ADT forces them to start a new contract and that the 99 installation fee does not even cover their cost. He was sorry that he could not anything else for me. On the internet you find a bunch of consumers who are getting burned baited and switched by ADT.

Temika of Moody, AL September 22, 2009

I called ADT to test my home alarm and I was told by the ADT monitoring representative that my home was not being monitored. I was stunned because I paid for all three years up front to avoid monthly bills due to personal military reasons. I don't know how long my account was not being monitored or how many times this has occured. I know no one informed me. I contacted the dealer AVS. to find out why they canceled my contract and Mr. G said because" three other people with the same last name and one left the state and we accidently closed your account." This excuse was so far fetched I don't beleive it for a second. If there were three people with the same last name we all didn't share the same address or first name. I requested a full refund of my money back. I was told that I won't get my money back I'm under contract & to seek legal counsel. Well I am not under contract because the Company canceled the contract. The contract was breeched by them. due to my investigation, I found this company has a grade of "F" by the BBB and I don't understand why ADT would send this company to people's houses. This was not the first time this company displayed unprofessional behavior. The first initial installation they didn't even show up or call to cancel the appointment. So ADT allegedly set up another appointment with another dealer and AVS shows up at my door. I didn't know it was AVS until time to sign the contract. I was so upset. So ADT set up for me to receive a 150.00 gift card. in which has Insufficient funds.

Joe of flanders, NJ September 21, 2009

I originally had ADT and after numerous over draft fees and hidden charges I switched to [competitor] which came highly recommended by a friend. upon calling I felt very informed and felt like nothing was being hidden. turns out they are cheaper than ADT and only require a 1yr contract as apposed to ADT 3yr contract that I was not made aware of when i signed with them. the person who came to my house was clean friendly and quick. after learning my mistake with ADT, I read [competitor]'s full contract and everything was as described.

Dana of Cocoa, FL September 18, 2009

I had a system installed in my home in August 2009. The first issue I had with ADT was the sales person they sent to me. She ill prepared and very unprofessional. She called her boss probably 20 times to see how to fill out the paperwork. She also spoke frequently of having a drink or o beer thirty was about there. Just very unprofessional. I should have stopped the sale right there but knowing the economy and that she was new I wanted to give her a chance. On Monday after the sale she called my home and spoke with my husband that she had to come back because she had not left the right paperwork and had to come back and stated to him she wished she had f------ known that. She called later to apologize for the remark.

After the system was installed we went to make a copy of the certificate to get to our insurance company and found they had left someone elses certificate with us. Which leads me to my main compalint. When the salesperson was selling to us I asked her when the money would be taken from our account and she said the first of the month. I asked her if that was for sure she said that they probably would not take it until the following month. Well they took it immediately which resulted in a nsf and 7 overdraft fees totaling 60.00.

When i called her manager he said he would reimburse me for this money this was 3 weeks ago. He told me i would have the check last week and then he told me I would have again this week. No check. I have also found out that the person who sold us the system has been fired becasue she was arrested which makes me wish I had never let ADT in my home because this person walked out of my house with a credit card number and my checking account information.

I now feel I have to moniter these constantly to make sure I am not being robbed there too. This has been the most unpleasant experience I have ever had. And what makes it even worse is I don't feel I can trust the very people who are supposed to be protecting my home. I can assure you when my contract is up I will not be continuing to give you my business. I feel safer with the people I am trying to lock out of my home that with the people who sold me the system to protect it. I hope this is addressed because it is horrible to have this sick feeling that you've been duped. If I could I would have the system removed and go with a company who actually respects the customer.

Jason of North Charleston, SC September 17, 2009

I've had ADT security for at least 6 years now. During that time I've made some payment on time some not on time and I've actually had the service disconnected twice for non-payment, this being the third time. Now I know that sounds bad but I've always caught up on my payments and if I fall behind. Anyway, this last time they said that I had an over due balance of 130 something which I was willing to pay but this time they say they won't reconnect the service and I owed had a total balance of 993. I thought it was totally absurd to ask someone to pay 993 for services that have been even rendered yet. I guess it was in the contract, but I didn't read it and they know people don't read these contracts. I think they're taking advantage of a lot of people using these tactics. Statiscally they know exactly what their doing...getting people to sign contracts that would put money in their pockets instantly should they breach the contract. Also the length in which a person has to violate their terms seems to extend way to far. I mean yes I have had the service disconnect due to non-payment but that's over 6 years with the last time being 2 years ago. I think this is yet another example of corporation taking advantage of consumers. I have no problem paying the past due and continuing the service but ADT doesn't due that in fact if you contract is cancelled then you have to start a new contract and I guess the limit on that is 2...no third chances. I don't think their should be a limit at all as long as the consumer is willing make amends by paying off the past due.

Laura of Clearwater, FL September 16, 2009

My home flooded for hurricane IKE, its not liveable, call ADT to disconact and was told I had to pay the remain amount. I am now living at my daughter's place and they are still sending me a bill of 300 and something. Said if I didn't pay they will put my name in a collection agency. I called they 5 times and ask to send a copy of my contract and they give me the run around.

Wanda of Cottonwood, , CA September 11, 2009

We are being called multiple times a day by ADT sales people, my mother is crying and they are hurting my family's quality of life. We have to right to live in peace like every one else. We have had a tragic death in the family and need you to please help stop this harrasment. Thank you

Verlean of Littlee Rock , AR September 1, 2009

I used my debit card to pay my ADT bill (one month only) and they used the information to set up automatic monthly payments. I called them three times to stop the automatic withdrawal but the did not. I finally closed the bank account. When doing business with any company trust is important and I have lost all trust in ADT. I will never do business with them again. The automatic drafts caused my bank account to be overdrawn and consequently insufficient funds fees.

Augustine of Houston, TX August 28, 2009

I entered a contract with ADT in 2002. The contract length was 3 years which expired in 2005. I moved out of the house in 2004 and advised them I had no more need for their services and will not need to renew. L have since lived in three other homes including overseas and they are still stealing 40.00 every month from my bank account. The have refused to stop and I am now getting a lawyer to help. PLEASE DO NOT LET ANYONE YOU CARE ABOUT use ADT!!!

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