ADT - Sales Practices

On October 2011, I walked to what would be a heart breaking experience. More than $30000 worth of goods was stolen. Computers, camcorders, three plasma TVs, designer bags and leathered coats plus much more. But the heartbreaker was my $31000 of jewelry collection over 28 years, some even belonged to my dead sister. The tech who came to fix it the next day stated that the wires crossed. There was no way there could be a signal to the police are to ADT. The insurance company said ADT was not at fault for the lost.

Their equipment failed and they failed me as a consumer. Better Business Bureau should get them on their advertisement on TV. I take medication because of what happened to me. I hate to leave the house tonight! I got my jewelry collection from Turkey, Greece, Italy, the Caribbean. Someone help me. I had blue diamond, black diamond, brown diamond, yellow diamond. I had thirty watches gold (24 karat, 18 karat). I had diamond toe rings. I had over 35 rings of diamonds and gold. I had over 25 necklaces and 20 bracelets. I had 10 anklets and much more.

I have talked to numerous people with the company. We referred my brother to have ADT installed at their home. We were told we would receive a $100.00 bonus offer and that they would receive a $100.00 bonus offer. Everyone that I have talked with transfers me to someone else. I have sent in emails to be contacted with no response. I would like the $100.00 bonus offer to be honored both for us and for my brother. I will file a Better Business Bureau complaint next if I do not have resolution to this matter.

I ordered ADT on 11/22/2011. I was given a contract for installation price of $149 and a monthly service of $48.99. Then I get the bill! The installation fee is $199. They also have two monthly charges of $4.04 for smoke/heat detector, not in contract. They also have a fee of $6 for extended service plan! Not in contract!

I would like to know if this has happened to anyone else. We have built a new home and thought we may want a security company for our home. We contacted ADT and they quoted us an amount over the phone that it would cost per month. It was quite a bit more than we were willing to pay, so we said no thank you. A lady called a couple of days later and said she would come out to the house, making it sound like she could get the payments a lot lower per month than originally quoted. Two days after that and a couple of days before the lady was to show up from ADT, our mailbox was bashed in by a bat. Our first thought was that ADT did this to make us feel we needed security in an uncertain neighborhood. We were wondering if this has happened to anyone else who has inquired about ADT.

I have been receiving calls from ADT from day one. When the rep came to talk to me about the service, he tried to convince me to sign a 2-year contract to lock in the monitoring charge. I said "no" because I wanted to make sure I would get what I expected. Well tonight, I asked when I could cancel because my year is up and the rep laughed and told me I signed a 3-year contract. Well, the whole purpose of asking a rep to come out and not call before the installation was to make sure that this was something I wanted. I don't do long term contracts for this very reason. Not to mention that they want the $99 installation fee that I thought had already been paid and my receipt says the same thing.

I am not sure what the sales reps do but to me, they are just looking to deceive people to make their sales quota. I have all of my paperwork and of course, I see that this is a 3-year contract though I was told it would be for 1 year with the chance of having to pay a higher monitoring amount. I told the rep, "don't touch my account for anything other than the monthly monitoring fee" and that I will check my records and see if the installation charge was taken out. I have to pull records for the last year.

On 30 December 2008, at approximately 5:00 pm, an ADT salesperson came to door offering an ADT system free of charge. Because of what he said was a recent break-in in the neighborhood. I asked him if free included no monthly service charge, and so he simply walked away without so much answering my question or saying good-bye. Clearly, as soon as he realized making a sale with me would not be quick and easy, he just walked away without so much as a good evening, so as to not waste any more time with me.

I will never consider ADT as a source of a system. If I should choose to purchase on in the future. I will also pass on my experience with this ADT salesperson to my friends and associates. I don't appreciate this kind of treatment.

I applied online for an alarm to be installed. I waited three weeks for someone to contact me, but in that time I got a NR of a consultant from ADT (Hendrik **) from a friend. Hendrik came to give a quote at my home for the alarm, and he promised me that he was going to give this application through as urgent, and that it would be installed before 5 working days. I paid the amount of R1,395 to ADT, and that is when my problems started. We never heard back from Hendrik, so that he could to tell us when the alarm was going to be installed.

We phoned and left messages, but he only replied once we threatened to cancel the contract, to which he told us that there is nothing he could do to install urgently as promised. We tried contacting the ADT head office, but the phones always just kept ringing. When we were able to speak to someone, they would put us on hold for as long as 20 minutes at a time. I used up R600 just to make phone calls to ADT, to find out what's happening with our application, so we decided to cancel the application due to lack of service from ADT.

I spoke to the consultants, and again they gave me the wrong information about how to cancel. Finally I got hold of Hendrik again, and he told me to email a cancellation letter to him as well as to the head office, which I did immediately. Then the long wait started we heard nothing from ADT (again). to say when they will pay back my money. After about 60 phone calls, and about 20 emails (which I have proof of), I got through to a supervisor (Peter **), he told me they never received the cancellation letter, which at that time I have emailed to 5 different email addresses at ADT, so I emailed him the proof, and he said he will give it to a Vusi **, who was supposed to contact me the day after I spoke to Peter.

Guess what, he did not phone back the day after, so I phoned and sent emails again. Finally, after about 4 days, Vusi phoned me back, and said that they do not have any proof that I paid, so I sent him the proof. Now, after all this time waiting for ADT to pay back my money, they say it will take another 7 to 14 working days before they can maybe pay me back. this is unacceptable. I want my money back.

I am unable to terminate the contract without paying $120.00 cancellation fee and 75% ($779.00) of the contract. I have retired as of August 2011 and am on a fixed income. I can not afford ADT's services. They have stated in their invoice that they will turn my account over to a collection agency.

The sales woman was pushy. Even though all I wanted was a quote on price, she insisted that she needed a credit card to place an installation date to have someone come by. "If you didn't like the service, you can send the installer on his way and not pay a thing," she said. However, when I canceled the installation date one day later, the rep told me, "Any money that has been taken out of your account will be refunded."

They took the $99 installation fee out of my account at least 3 days before the installation date, which the sales woman insisted was not binding. They say it will take 10-14 business days to refund the money. Amazing that it took them less than one day to bill the money, but takes them 14 to return it. No matter what, this is deceptive business. If they do not refund the money, it's criminal.

I started service with ADT in the fall of 2010 after a so-called ADT "representative," accompanied by his fianc, knocked on my door where I was living in Brandon, FL. They said they learned of my notifying the Sheriff's Department about possible break-ins to the house I was renting. The rep seemed very nice and concerned for my safety and convinced me to go with an ADT security system. I didn't realize he wasn't an employee of ADT but apparently worked for a company called Safe Streets USA, an authorized dealer but not the real deal. His shirt bore the ADT logo as did all the paperwork I ended up signing to receive the security system and service.

Before signing, however, I asked how the service agreement worked if I were to move. He assured it was a seamless process, which involved taking my equipment, re-installing it at the new residence, and just continuing the remainder of the three-year contract I would have to commit to. Knowing I would return to Arizona in the near future, I specifically asked if the easy relocation process he described also applied if I were to move to here. He stated it would not be a problem at all and even assured me that they allowed up to two years to resume service after relocating.

So, I signed and started ADT service. Unfortunately, because my copy of the contract is currently still packed in a box somewhere, I don't know for sure if I was negligent for not properly reading the fine print that day. If so, it was because at the time I was fraught by several life events, including caring for a dying father and fears for my safety as a single woman. As a sidebar, I recall sharing some of my personal concerns with the nice young couple because we had struck up a rapport, and they both seemed so caring. This then resulted in him asking me if I knew that God loved me, and did I want to pray and be saved right then and there in my living room. However, I do not ever recall seeing anything about Safe Streets USA on the contract and assumed he was providing accurate information.

For almost a year, I was actually happy with the ADT service. But my dad passed away over the summer, the lease on the Florida rental home was over in August, and I found myself again unemployed in a horrible job market. I called the number shown on my monthly ADT invoice (which also never reflected Safe Streets USA) and informed the rep that I would soon be moving from the current residence and relocating out of state. I let them know that I loved the service but would need to stay in temporary housing for a short while until I could find and move into my own place. I courteously provided all physical contact information and stated I would call the new local ADT office after resettling as the sales rep who sold me the system said I would need to do. I then asked the phone rep about removing the equipment. Contrary to the information given prior, the phone rep indicated that the equipment could not be removed, but another system would be installed at the new residence.

I continued to assume everything with ADT would just be the similar to starting and stopping utilities. Then, the fun started! The day after moving out, I began to receive harassing phone calls from a company called Safe Streets USA. They said that because I had terminated their service, I was now in breach of contract and liable for $911.00. It all seemed very confusingI had never heard of them before, but provided the same information as earlier about my relocation and the reasons for doing so. They said I was in breach of contract because they did not have jurisdiction in Arizona. I said, so were not allowed to move to other stateseven for employment?

I explained to the person calling me that I was in my car and about to venture on a 2500-mile drive across the U.S. but that I would certainly call them after arriving at the new destination to resolve the matter. While traveling, I continued to receive more phone calls, and within a day of arriving at the temporary residence in Arizona, two notices of certified mail from Safe Streets USA had already arrived. The letters nastily stated that if I did not pay them $911.00, I would be reported to a collection agency.

I finally found a place to live and got moved in while continuing to receive calls and certified mail from Safe Streets USA. Meanwhile, my calls to corporate ADT have resulted in continued frustration with conflicting information from the various phone reps I've spoken with and repeated the same story to over and over. Some of the corporate ADT reps stated that Safe Streets has no right to those types of tactics while others have said it's basically my problem that I moved to another state where a company I've never heard of before does not have jurisdiction.

Then, a rep from Safe Streets said they would stop harassing me if I just let them coordinate a new agreement with corporate ADT here in Arizona so that they could get their money. I agreed, both to get them off my back, and because I really do hope to be safer with a security system. But now I would not only have to pay for a new installation, but sign another new three-year contract with ADT.

I've had enough. The installation did not take place today and I basically told them to ** off. I will pay Safe Streets $911.00 only for the sake of preserving my credit. This experience has also taught me to never sign another contract with any company for any service. Never again.

ADT was to reconnect our windows due to us redoing all windows in home. Rep comes out contract signed then the nightmare began. They took information on how we wanted monthly monitoring fee to come out of our bank thru debit card and asked for $516.91 check upfront and I agreed only saying remain balance would be paid when job completed. What happened was they took the $516.82 out of debit account when they were given a check from a totally different bank. When we called them, we were told it would take 7-10 days to fix problem. In the meantime, they went ahead and took $516.82 again out of the bank I wrote check from. So now I am out $1033.82 and no calls are being returned. I have cancelled scheduled appointment for installation until this all gets resolved but now with all the ignored calls I don't want service anymore. Good job ADT sure makes since to hire you to protect my family.

I moved into my house in 2008 and was approached by an ADT contractor the same day that I moved in. He was nice and professional and there were no problems where he was concerned. Eighteen months later, the bank takes my house because the mortgage company I was using wasn't paying them even though they were getting paid. So I and my contract have to move. I moved into a duplex that allowed the alarm but I made sure to ask if the contract was for two years because I wasn't planning to be there that long. The same contractor assured me that my contract was for two years but I didn't receive a copy of my contract to verify.

Another eighteen months or so later, I have a baby and have to move again. My contract was supposed to be up in six months so I continued paying as it was cheaper than the termination fee. But then I ran into some financial trouble and called to cancel and was informed that instead of months, I have another year. I was then told that if I could transfer service again, it would be forgiven and I'd have a new contract. I asked if they could work with me and we kept going round and round about it.

Two months later, they are saying that I will go to collections if I don't pay the $426 balance on my contract for early termination. So, the great service and experience I had was all a sham! He lied to make his quota and would have gotten away with it if I hadn't had to move. These people are so rude and unprofessional about the contracts.

I am being sent to collections and my credit will take a hit. ADT calls at least three times a day for their money and is not willing to work out a better payment plan than half now and half in 30 days. I will never again use ADT security and I apologize to anyone who has used them due to my recommendation.

Here is my story. We bought a new house 4 years ago and had a Brinks Alarm installed. In order to get their $99-installation, we had to sign a 3-year monitoring contract paying $30/month. We were under the impression that once our agreement was fulfilled, we could cancel the monitoring.

4 years later, we got rid of our land line and replaced it with a VoIP line to save money and cancel our monitoring. A couple of weeks later, our alarm started chiming at 6:21am and flashing CH TROUBLE. I found out that the alarm will do this every morning at 6:21 am unless I "power down" the system (meaning it doesn't work at all anymore) or I reinstate monitoring which has gone up to $35/month.

As a consumer, I am livid and frustrated that I was tricked by this company since the alarm that I paid for will no longer work. This information was not shared with me when we signed up and had I known this, I never would have had Brinks install this alarm. We always figured that we would cancel monitoring after the three years, so why would we have signed up knowing that the alarm would no longer function after the three years.

Moving into a new house, we thought that by doing a contract with monthly payments, it would help us spread out some of our new found costs as homeowners, rather than paying for the system up front. We were duped by Brinks/ADT and it is time that they pay for their actions for not being honest with consumers. We need officials who will take action against companies that defraud the public and take advantage of people. Their behavior is unacceptable. They are sneaky and conniving and are not up-front about the true terms.

ADT is advertising a free installation, and in addition offering $150 mail in cash back coupons. In reality, a free installation gets you nothing. And by the time you're done with a dealer that you do not select, it's running in the thousands of dollars. The coupon is a total scam, as ADT shoves it off to a dealer, and the dealer claims they have nothing to do with it. The list can actually go on and on. And the only bright spot in this are the technicians that come out and take care of wiring and supporting your house alarm needs. ADT seems like a complete shell with a bunch of phone operators who pass you from one to the next.

They convinced me to buy and promised me that their system is supported by Mac for online viewing--but it never was. It was pure misrepresentation from the beginning, just trying to make a sale. Now, their collection department calls me, wanting money. One hand doesn't know what the other one does. I would be glad to expose their misrepresentation in a court of law, as well as issue a subpoena to numerous ADT employed individuals who are aware of their misrepresentation.

After dealing with a swindler of a sales person for numerous home visits in trying to come to terms with a service install with ADT, a technician ripped an old monitor from the wall and damaged the area. I have tried since August 2010 to get this resolved and have just been discarded like trash. I have been told on numerous occasions that the insurance paperwork will be mailed out and, to date, that has not happened. I have submitted photos to the local office as proof and they have even fired the sales person as he had numerous complaints against him. Could you please help me out? I would like to get this resolved immediately.

My experience was with ADT. Brinks merged with ADT, they shared the same common aggression.

Once ADT got hold of my address and phone number, they never stopped harassing me for 5 years; days, nights, weekends, and even holidays to sign up with ADT. That kind of horrific sales made me run as far away from ADT as possible.

I even had to file BBB complaints and also with consumer affairs; but it did not stop ADT. Since ADT knew I filed complaints against ADT, they became even more hostile and aggressive. My only reason to change phone numbers is because of ADT. However, ADT knocked at my doors instead. I had such difficulties getting rid of ADT. Unfortunately, I could not move until now.

What a nightmare I had with ADT! I would never recommend ADT to anyone.

An ADT salesman came to our door two months ago while we were eating our dinner, and we said, "No, thank you." Instead of leaving, he came to our front window to try and sell us a system. Then he took the Brink's sign in our yard and left. We used to have their monitoring but cancelled, and we paid for that sign.

Today he came back and would not leave again and came to the window again. My husband went to the door and recognized him as the guy who took our sign and he admitted it tonight. He disturbed our piece and is an arrogant degenerate. He is a thief. Then, he came back by and threw a hard liquor bottle in our yard. I cannot believe the level of inappropriate behavior of this ADT salesman. Also, he lied to our neighbor in an attempt to sell them an alarm system by telling them we had been robbed.

We will never buy any service or product from their company and will actively advise others the same. Do not buy ADT.

Let's just start out by saying that I have never given my private cell phone number to any company since I have have had this phone number. ADT and some other home security system company call my cell phone almost everyday. This has been happening for the past two years. I have called them back about this at least 30 times and they just say that they will take me off the call list and then rudely hang up on me. I have tried being nice and being rude but neither has worked.

Sometimes, when they call me, I pick up and they offer me a free home security system and when I tell them that I don't own a home, they hang up on me. (Not very nice if you want someone to buy your product). I have also told them not to call me ever again and they say that they will take me off their list and it will take a few weeks for my number not to show up. That doesn't make any sense to me. If you take a number off of a list, then it shouldn't be on the list anymore; therefore, it wouldn't get called. I don't get that at all.

Also, I get calls from other home security system companies, trying to give me free in-home security systems. Why are these people trying this hard to put a home security system in my home? I do not want it and I never will, yet they keep calling. I am beginning to think that this is a way for people to spy on me in my home and they keep trying and saying that it's free so I would eventually buy into it. I won't have my privacy invaded by anyone. I am a human just like everyone else and no one has a right to do that, or even harass me by calling my phone everyday. I want it to stop. I have tried everything but they won't stop calling me.

Someone came to my door and sold me an ADT Monitored Security System. The sales guy said, "You'll be a model home, so we'll install the equipment for free". Sounded great, so we signed up and locked ourselves into a three-year contract, the biggest mistake ever made. Since the beginning, we have had problem after problem. Our problems include the system not working at all, incorrect phone numbers on the account. When we bought a new home, they didn't update our address, billing issues, incorrect passwords, etc.

I told them I just want to cancel my account and get out of the contract. On their website, which you can find at this url: http://www.safeco-security.com/safeco-about.asp, they clearly state: "ADT Money-Back Service Guarantee: Refunds the system installation prices and pays all monitoring fees if the homeowner isn't satisfied within six months of installation. Hassle-Free."

I am still in my six months and have tried to cancel twice. Both times, they told me I cannot cancel and that the website is incorrect. They say that you can only cancel if they cannot fix the problem! Otherwise, you can pay 75% of the remaining contract and get out that way.

I just want to warn everyone to stay clear of this company as they are dishonest, have very poor service, very unprofessional installation techs and will all-around screw you over. Oh by the way, when I got a new phone number, I called to update it and that is when I found out that my ADT system has been tied to my old address for the past four months and ADT corporate told me that the authorized dealer had messed everything up and I need to contact them. Upon contacting them, they said I need to contact ADT direct. I had to call ADT back, get a supervisor and get on a three-way call with Safeco so that ADT could tell them that they do own my contract and have to handle my issues.

In short, stay away from them. I'd be happy to share more details with anyone wondering or experiencing the same problems.

When I first started service with ADT, I specifically asked the sales person if there was a long-term contract involved. I was told no and that I could cancel whenever I wanted.

2 years later, I tried to cancel and was informed that there is a 3-year contract requirement. I told the customer service representative that I specifically asked the question about contracts and was told that there wasn't one. She told me that ADT is not responsible for what their sales people say or don't say.

Really, because it's your company and your company's reputation. Then, a few days later, my alarm started setting itself on its own and going off. Finally, the panic button went off and wouldn't shut off. I was in the process of unplugging the alarm and taking out the battery, when ADT phoned to see if everything was alright. I told them what was going on. I told them I called the previous day to report the problem and was instructed to power down the system for 2 minutes and that everything would be fixed. Of course it wasn't.

So after giving my pass code and telling the customer service representative that everything was fine, they proceeded to send the police to my house. Then they called me back over a dozen times.

I was furious over the harassment. ADT is anything but professional and are just a rip-off company. They don't take responsibility for their employees! I am frustrated with the company and the service.

We were contacted by an ADT representative within weeks of purchasing our new home in September of 2009 and we agreed to have a salesman meet us at our home in the evening after work. The salesman came to our home and spent almost two and a half hours discussing ADT. We agreed to sign up and he told us that it was a year contract. We could try it for a year and then decide if we wanted to keep it or not. We had informed him that we were planning on moving back to our home state of MA so we would not agree to a more than a year contract.

While he was at our house, he started to fill out pages of paperwork and informed us that he had just started with ADT. He said that the paperwork had to be perfect or they would not accept it. He asked us to just sign a few papers and he would complete the rest later with the help from his supervisor. And because it was a lot of paperwork, he just summarized what the document said and pointed us where to sign. After signing the papers, we let him leave so we could get to making dinner and taking care of our animals. But we were never given a copy of the contract to review.

He came back several days later to do the installation with a relative. It turned out to be a complete disaster as it took a very long time and they did not seem to know what they were doing. They neglected to put a sensor in one of the windows we have on the ground level and they cut a hole in the wall and installed the control box in one spot. We had told them not to as we were planning on tearing down that wall.

Shortly after installation, we encountered problems with the system for it went off by itself. I spent so much time calling the technicians trying to get it fixed but I finally gave up and just stopped setting it.

It had been over a year and in March of 2011, we decided to cancel the contract. I called ADT but was told that we could not cancel because we had signed a three-year contract. I informed the customer service person that it was a one year contract but she said that they only sell three year contracts. We had to call back for the next two months to get them to cancel. Because of this, we had to switch bank accounts just so the electronic payment would not go through.

I have spoken to FTC and to the Attorney General regarding this and will be filing complaints with both agencies; I'll do the same to Better Business Bureau.

We were never late on our monthly bill as it was taken directly out of our checking account and we kept our service for over a year. Upon canceling, ADT is trying to charge a termination fee which we do not owe. Both the Attorney General's office and the FTC have told me that under the FTC, Federal Regulations at 16 C.F.R. Part 429, "the seller must provide a copy of a completed contract at the sale" which was not done. We were not given any contract to review when the salesman left our home. We therefore contend that we fulfilled our one-year contract as we understood it.

We feel that ADT used deceptive sales practices by preying on new homeowners who they know are working, busy moving, setting up new homes, etc. The ADT representative led us to believe that we signed up for just a one-year contract and now that we are canceling, they are charging us $500 for the termination fee. We feel that they violated the FTC laws so we do not owe them any more of our hard-earned money.

Recently my area has been experiencing a rush of break-ins. I decided to upgrade my services to include glass breakage sensors. I've been with ADT (formally Brinks and Broadview) for 21 years.

When I called to inquire about the upgrade, I was told there would be a $155 charge per window. Well, obviously, I felt that was a bit steep as I had at least five windows that I wanted this feature on. You do the math. When I expressed that I felt that this was a bit costly, especially considering the length of time I've patronized business with them, I was told that was the charge.

After much persistence on my part, they referred me to a customer loyalty representative. They did work with me. They offered the first three for free and half on the other two. That equals $150 for all five windows.

Two days prior to the scheduled date for the installer to come out, I decided to add an additional motion detector. I gave them a call and they quoted me $170. When I ask if they could work with me on that charge, again stressing 21 years of business with them, they wouldn't budge.

The next day I had another system installed from a reputable security company. The install included wireless cell feature, all windows equipped with the breakage sensors, cameras, two motion detectors, and the wireless remote controls. Not to mention some other features that ADT do not currently offer. The only out-of-pocket expense I incurred was the monthly monitoring fee. All mentioned above was free.

I called ADT to cancel the upgrade and my service with them and they were willing to bend a little more. However, I still had to cough up $155. That included only the five window sensors and the additional motion detector. The new security company secured all windows.

Here's my point. It's really sad when a customer remain loyal to a company for so many years and when you reach out for help the only thing they're concerned about is what they can get out of you, dollar wise. As the largest security company in the nation, their focus is solely on profit rather than good old fashion customer service values.

Customers, beware if the time ever came for an upgrade to your security through ADT.

I am moving my service from my present address to a new home. ADT explained that the 3-year contract of which I am into 8 months will have to be canceled and that I will have to start another "new" 3-year contract at the new address. The manager whom I spoke with explained that the equipment stays with the address even though I explained that the system was wireless and I was willing to allow it to come with me. So I said I am good friends with the landlord, maybe they will want to take over the equipment. She explained that if they wanted to sign a 3-year agreement for the same equipment, they could have it turned on. The net of this complaint is that there's no contract that will stay with me nor the address. Then even though I have to fulfill a "new" contract, I am not eligible for any new customer installation offers because for ADT's benefit and records, I am not a new customer even though they won't recognize my previous service against this contract. This is the biggest scam I have seen in a while.

First off, I feel that I was ripped off when I was told I'd be getting two panels, but instead got only ONE panel installed. I thought maybe I could adjust to having just one panel, but due to total deafness in one ear and a decline in hearing in my other ear, it was hopeless.

I called and emailed asking for someone to install a second panel, but the tech was very argumentative over the phone and didn't want to even make the effort to drive over and do what ADT reps had promised (which was to install a second panel).

I recently signed up to have a previously installed ADT GE alarm system activated and monitored. My customer ID number is ** and Greg ** was my sales associate. He came to the house on November 21, looked over my system and explained to me that for a $49 installation and a $29 monthly monitoring fee, my entire house would be monitored. All existing equipment would be activated as per the contract. Furthermore, the sales associate informed me that the technician would look over my system before doing any work, and would advise me if any part of my system needed upgrades or any out-of-pocket expenses.

The technician came on December 1st, told me everything looked good, installed a new panel, explained to me how the panel worked and left. The next day, I found that my first floor windows and garage door were not monitored. I called the center immediately and the technician called me back. He stated that that part of the system was wireless and that it would be additional, and for further details, I would have to speak with my salesman. I asked why he did not explain this to me when he was here, and explained that I was upset that he left my house without the alarm. After many phone calls by the sales associate, sales manager and regional office, I have not been able to come to a resolution with my current issue. The only recourse I am left to is to cancel my service.

Please find the attached copy of the sales contract. As per contract, note that the garage door and kitchen windows are itemized. They were never hooked up and my house has never been fully secured. Please reimburse the initial set up fee, first month monitoring fee and any other fees associated with this void contract. I have already been in contact with my credit card company. I have advised them of the situation and told them to stop all payments. Thank you for your time. Please feel free to contact me to resolve this matter.

Daniel ** described his self as an "independent salesman" who sold systems that ADT installed and monitored. He sold me a system that had a feature ("listening in" by the alarm company to the home after the alarm was triggered). After I bought this feature and paid for it, I found out that Mr. Daniel had no business selling this feature because it wasn't available in our area.

When I complained, he appeased my tenant by offering him some grocery discounts! After a year of this and my tenant's lease was ending, I kept calling him to get the unwanted feature removed. His voice mail says, "You have reached Daniel..." It is definitely his voice. I left him 4 voice mails, and he ignored them all. Finally, I left him one saying I would post my opinion of him on the internet. Do not work with this guy! He is very slick.

In late January, the third year of my 3-year contract, I received a letter from ADT notifying me that they would be increasing my monthly payment (which is automatically deducted from my bank account). This was a unilateral decision, to which I did not agree. Since they had breached the contract, by raising the monthly payment, I notified them by letter on 2/5/10 that I was cancelling the contract due to their breach, and that I would be notifying my bank not to honor any further demands for payment from them.

I received a letter from ADT acknowledging receipt of my letter, and advising me that there might be additional charges. I did not respond. ADT, in spite of my cancellation letter, presented a demand to my bank, which mistakenly accepted their demand because it was for an amount that was different from the previous amounts.

The bank rescinded the action, and it was a short time later that I received a bill from ADT. There was no comment. I returned the bill with a notation that the account was closed on 2/5/10. Yesterday (4/10/10), I received a bill for $535.04 which included an "Effective Cancel Date of 4/01/2010" along with a threat that they would turn the matter over to a collection agency if the bill was not paid in a timely fashion. Naturally, I have no intention of paying this ridiculous demand, especially since they unilaterally breached our contract.

Incidentally, when their salesman first visited my home, I balked at the lengthy 3-year term contained in the contract. His remark was, "Well, look at it this way, they won't be able to change the monthly payment for three years." Since it was part of the sales pitch, I believe the change in the monthly payment was a breach on their part. I have spoken to a friend who is an attorney (I used to be a paralegal), and he assures me that ADT would lose this case if it were brought to court. I am now 73-years-old, and I do not wish to carry it that far, but I am prepared with all of my paperwork in the event they decide to pursue this matter. The dry wall where their equipment was installed had to be repaired and patched. It will cost approximately $50 to have someone do the repairs.

My response was "what the hell do you think you are doing?" He then left the premises. I called the local ADT and told them about the incident but the gentlemen I spoke with said sales people are dispatched out of numerous areas and there was no way of knowing which office that person was from. I just want the public to beware of these crazy sales people.

I moved into a home that already had an ADT system installed. After seeing TV ads and mailings stating a money back guarantee if not satisfied I decided to contact them about getting their service. The salesman arrived and got me to sign up promising a two month rebate without mentioning anything about a 3yr contract and penalties for canceling. At that time I said I'd like a manual on how to use the system and was told when the service man arrived to check out the system and get it activated he would give me one.

When he showed up he said I would have to request for them to mail me one as he didn't supply them. Eventually after talking to numerous ADT people over the phone that I would just have to look it up on the internet and download it myself. During this time we had been having numerous problems with our phones and internet connection, after having our phone company come out and check it out they discovered that ADT had not wired the system up properly to our phone lines and it was causing interference. ADT basically responded with that we had no way to prove it was them even though once the telephone company redid it everything was ok. Also our alarm has gone off on two occasions once the fire and once from the door and no calls or response from authorities. This leads me to believe that we are not really getting the service at all.

After getting nowhere with ADT I said I wanted to cancel because of these issues and the fact that I had never received the rebate I was told in writing I would get and their response was not only do you not get any refund but you owe us for 75% of 3 years of service. This sure seems like a scam to me and I don't know if we will need to get an attorney or not in order to resolve this as I don't want them turning this over to a collection agency as they have threatened to do.

Contacted ADT SECURITY to request their service to our house.The salesman came to the house we signed a contract and made an appointment for the following week so the service could be installed.The day of the service after being waiting 2 hours (they give a time window between 8-12) at 10 am the technician called saying he would not be able to make to our appointment.And it will need to be reschedule by their office.After i had take the day oof from work to stay home so I could have the security system installed .Its was in vain.

I called several times trying to re scheduled and I had no assistance.Finally i got to speak to the salesman the came to my house and we had given the payment for the contract and he said he was going to refund our money back.Thing the never happened and he doesn't even return our calls.Very upset with ADT customer service.And don't know what to do to get my money back.It happened a month ago.AND nobody from their office have ever contacted us regarding this matter

My wife and I own a small retail business and, in 2006, we had just signed a two-year lease for a small space in a somewhat seedy side of town. We went looking for an alarm company that would have an agreement for a similar amount of time. ADT was the first company that we called and we scheduled an appointment for a salesman to come and give us a price. Brad **** was the representative that showed up. We told him that we had a two-year lease at that location, and asked how long the alarm system contract would be. He responded that it was for two years as well, and that it was also renewable yearly thereafter.

We decided to go ahead and sign the contract, since the price was reasonable and the length of the contract was the same as the lease for the space. The lease ran its course and we dutifully paid our alarm bill every month for the length of the agreement. At the end of the two years, we decided it would be best if we left that space because the business was not providing enough profit to sustain itself, and so we did not renew our lease. We called to disconnect the service, they asked us why, and we told them that we were no longer leasing that location. We informed them that all the alarm equipment would be left at the space. They said that they would go ahead and disconnect the service, and the next day the alarm was off.

A month later, we received a bill in the amount of $1,025.65. We called ADT to inquire about the bill and was told that since we terminated our contract early, we were being charged the remainder of we would have paid. We told her that we only signed a two-year contract, to which she responded, No, you signed a five-year contract. They sometimes tell people it's only two years to get them to sign. I told her that I wanted to speak to a supervisor, and she told me that it wouldn't make a difference, because he would tell me the same thing.In February of this year, we received a notice that the account had been sent to a collection agency. We have worked hard to maintain a reasonable credit score, and we are sure that this will affect us significantly when trying to obtain credit with our business suppliers.

We understand that we should maybe be fined for terminating the agreement early, because as we later found out the contract was indeed for five years (it was written in the fine print) but a thousand dollars for service that we never received is just an abuse.

I signed a contract with APX Alarm Co. to install & monitor an alarm system in my home. I told them, at the time, that I had previously had an alarm system through ADT and was very dissatisfied with their service. The APX salesman assured me they had no affiliation with ADT. Then, two or three months before the expiration of my contract, I received a letter from APX stating they had reassigned my account to ADT. I called them to protest and ask how they could do that without my permission. They wouldn't even talk to me. I had to talk to ADT because they had my account now.

I had set up an automatic withdrawal from my checking account, with APX, to pay my monthly bill. ADT assumed that authorized them to do the same, and they withdrew funds from my account without my permission. I called them to protest that I had no contract with them and they had no authorization to withdraw funds from my bank. In addition, the system had been broken for months, and we had been unable to get APX to come and fix it. So, ADT wasn't providing any monitoring service to charge me for. I got nowhere. They said I had to finish out the contract.

My wife contacted our bank and and tried to cancel the automatic payment, but, apparently you can't do that. The only thing we could do is put a stop payment against ADT, and file a formal complaint. We did, and the bank stopped the next attempt, and retrieved the previous funds they had withdrawn. ADT has been constantly calling and sending bills, demanding that I pay for a contract I didn't have with them for services they never provided.

I wanted my ADT equipment moved from my bedroom into the mudroom off my kitchen. When the salesman came out, he sold me some additional services such as fire and a few sensors. He told me he worked for ADT directly while he complained about Dealers. We scheduled an appointment and Vingh came out to do the work. He said he couldn't put the service in the mudroom, but that he would put it in the kitchen. He installed the unit and before I knew it, drilled a hole through my kitchen wall into the door moldings of my office!

He then set about connecting wires and installing sensors. He sold me a motion detector for the office. He then said he was going to put the unit into "test" mode and test the circuit. He must have put it into "live" mode as after the test was completed, there was a knock at the door and when I answered it, I was met by a police officer with his gun drawn and pointed at me. Vingh stood there laughing! I was not amused as I had to show my I.D. while he was laughing like a fool to which the officer was not amused.

The next few days, I received no calls but did have voice mails in my Pacific Bell mailbox. Since I work off hours, I just thought they came in while I was out. However, one morning I received a phone call that rang through the speaker of my ADT unit! So, I followed the wires connecting my ADT unit to what I expected to be the modular connector on the wall and found that my PC had been stripped of several of its connecting wires, which were cut, and spliced to the ADT wires, and were left wrapped in tape on the floor near my PC.

I check for connection to the Internet, and it was out of service as well. Vingh had tapped into my ADSL wiring -- using wires from the back of my computer -- spliced them to the ADT unit, and left it on the floor. I was totally amazed at his unprofessionalism.

I called the salesman and asked for him to send out a different technician to remedy the situation. A few weeks later, Robert arrived. He was as startled as I was with the job Vingh had performed. He asked me why Vingh hadn't just connected the wire with the NIU (Network Interface Unit) outside the door. I said he didn't even go out the door. I had supposed he was going to connect it to the modular jack.

Robert looked at the NIU and said that perhaps Vingh could understand the workings of the NIU since it was an older version. Perhaps I could get a newer on and ADT would pay for it. I said ok and later called ATT to send out a technician to rewire a new NIU so ADT could figure out what they were doing. Robert said to call ADT and ask for him and he would come out and complete the work.

When ATT was through, I called ADT to send Robert back to complete the job. However, Robert was going to be on vacation for a while. Would I wait until he got back? Yes, because I wanted an experienced technician to complete the work. However, when Robert was supposed to show up, he did not. Robert called in sick the day he was scheduled to come to my house. And instead, they sent Vingh! I sent Vingh away as I didn't want him messing with the new NIU or wiring in my home. Poor Vingh didn't even remember being at my house or doing any work there at all, so it really validated my reasons for dismissing him!

The next fellow that came out told me that the unit should never have been installed in the kitchen -- which it was unsafe and not up to ADT code and that should be inspected by the field supervisor. I called the salesman and he was supposed to set up and time and date for this to happen. It never did.

In the meantime, I called the salesman again and asked him to send another technician to complete the service. However, when this technician came out, he didn't knock at the door or come in. He simple left a door tag saying he stopped by and no one was home, when in fact there were two people at home waiting for him.

At this point and after 3 months, 4 technicians, 1 salesman, 1 field supervisor, and 1 dispatch supervisor had been involved and no one had accomplished the task of installing my service, I GAVE UP!

I called the service representative and told her I was canceling the contract and wanted ADT to come and pick up their equipment. Furthermore, for the past two months they had been taking money from my checking out to pay the monthly service fee for service I didn't have. I instructed them to put the money back. I was tired of waiting. I was done with ADT.

Or so I thought. I started receiving a bill for work completion from ADT and prerecorded phone call messages. The bill went to a collection agency. I explained my situation to the woman assigned to the account at the agency and she put it into dispute as she was fairly appalled by ADT's level of inferior service.

Today I spoke with Nicole Diaz at ADT who informed me they were sending it back to the collection agency because when Vingh tested the circuit (and even if he did almost get me shot and/or arrested) and got a return signal, it didn't matter whether or not it was installed correctly, whether or not he put out my phone lines, whether or not he ripped components off my computer in his sloppy attempt to "hit and run" his assignment, they consider the service installed and to get out of my contract (2 years left) I will have to send them a little over $1000 (even though the collection agency said they could offer me a lesser amount).

I need help with this. If everyone has this kind of trouble with ADT, I think there should be a class action suit or at least some public hand slapping!

I called ADT because they advertized a $99 dollar special on the TV. When the salesman came to my house he said installation would cost $374 dollars but I would get a $200 rebate. He provided the rebate certificate with an 800 number. I reluctantly signed the contact. When the serviceman installed the system he added an additional window that was already included in the installation price for a cost of an extra $75 dollars plus a labor change of $28 dollars.

After the first day of service the system failed. I called several times but was given the run around. Finally, I called the credit card company to challenge the charges. When I did that ADT billed me for the window on the monthly bill. When I called to cancel ADT said I had to pay $1100 for the remainder of the contract. My question is this, why isn't something done about this company? What about a class action law suit? How can this company continue to operate in this fraudulent manner. Who is looking out for the little guy against this giant bully? Are there laws against deception? $374 for installation $75 double billing Failure to honor $200 rebate $1100 owed on remainder of contract when the system never worked from the first day. Aggravation, frustration and anger...priceless. The serviceman drilled several holes in the drywall and kitchen cabinets.

In June 2006 an ADT salesman knocked on my door. I was in the market for security monitoring services. I already had a system in my home, so I did not purchase any equipment from ADT. I told the salesman that I would not be in the home for longer than a year and it was important that I could get out of the contract because I was hoping to sell my house and rent an apartment. I wanted a security system in the first place because of a series of rapes in my neighborhood and several break-ins on my block.

The salesman stated that I could cancel the contract at any time. I moved out of my home in June 2007. I called to cancel my services and was told that I could cancel alright but would have to pay out the remainder of my contract (two more years). I was flat broke and certainly wasn't going to pay what they were asking, especially when they were not going to continue to provide service to me. I moved into an apartment building. ADT has not provided me with ANY service since June 2007 and I have continued to pay my monthly fee because I couldn't afford their payoff. Doesn't a contract work two ways? Don't they have to provide service in exchange for the payment? I haven't actually canceled the contract.

I am so angry that these people are continuing to get away with baiting and switching, and outright lying to consumers. I have had to pay my monthly bill every month since June 2007 without any service in exchange from ADT. Recently I lost my job and because I was a contractor, cannot file for unemployment. I canceled the credit card they were billing and now they are harassing me with collections calls. According to them I still have six months left on my contract. I am fed up with paying them every month for absolutely nothing in return.

If you have Comcast, Vonage or any other landline system that depends on a Modem, DO NOT GET ADT! The salesman never bothered to inform us that if you are on the phone and someone breaks into your home, the system is supposed to seize the phone line, disconnect your call and dial ADT for help. It doesn't do that and the salesman won't even bother to tell you that!

You are on your own, but still paying the monthly premium, and to add insult to injury, they want $25.00 everytime they come out. This company is a RIP OFF TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE!

We asked ADT SECURITY for a quote for our home. The sales person came back with a large cost proposal and an overloaded security system. We told him that it was too high and too much security. There were a series of telephone conversations with the salesman in order to bring down the cost ( which he agreed this happened an I have it in writing ). He said that it would be no problem and assured us that he would clarify the reduction of scope with his installation team at the time of the installation.

The team installed the original overloaded quote and not what we had agreed with the salesman . We contacted ADT and let them know that they need it to remove the part of the installation that we thought was not agreed on. ADT have refused to do so, even though I have in writing the salesman agreeing that the reduced scope and that the installation should have been reduced as he had suggested. ADT has refused to address this issue. We have contacted and have spoken to their consumer dept. ADT's position has been for us to pay in full the installation. that we have to actually show a quote with the reduction of scope signed by the salesman. We do not have this paper since all negotiations were done over the phone. What are my resources? how do I settled this issue with ADT? I feel they performed a bait and switch. economic hardship since I do not have the $2666 . they are asking for. and other issues related fo not paying the bill.

On May 31st a door salesman came up to my house and offered me an ADT security system. The following day, June 1st, I had the new security system installed in my house. The security system was installed by Moore Alarms but it was an ADT system that was installed. Apparently, ADT is the parent company of Moore Alarms. I signed the contract and gave the installer, Carlos S, the $174 for activation and $99 for service. The contract stated that I had three days to cancel and my money would be refunded.

On June 2nd I cancelled. I got a better offer by another alarm system company. I called ADT that day and cancelled. They also said that I needed to contact them by mail, verifying the cancellation. I did that. A few days later the money in my account was taken out. I called Carlos and asked him what was going on and he said that he didn't know. He also claimed that he wrote void on the check. When I called the bank I found out he was lying. He never wrote void on the check.

I have called Moore Alarms time and time again but my calls have been useless. They have an answering service that answers their calls. Moore Alarms has never returned any of the 15 plus messages I have left them. I also went out personally to two of Moore Alarms locations. The first location I went to, nobody was there. The second location I went to doesn't even exist. Moore Alarms has cost me more than $174. I had 7 charges pending in my account. When the $174 was taken out, my funds were in the negative. Each of those pending charges went through and on top of that, each was given a service charge. My account is negative $375.

I am a federal military civilian employee. On september 11th we were sent home as our military installation was being "locked down" for the rest of the week due to the WTC attacks. Yep, you guessed it the next day ADT had a subcontractor in our neighborhood called SOS Security selling door to door ADT security systems with the "no obligation cancel at any time home security systems. All we want to do is place a sign in front of your house for advertising".

We repeatedly asked and were told that we could cancel at any time. After about a year of monthly payments and calming down like the rest of the country I decided to cancel the monthly service. I was told that to read the fine print in the contract and I was liable for two years at 75%. Currently a collection agency has contacted me and ADT want the two years at 75%. I am more than willing to go to court as these bloodsuckers should not be allowed to capitalize on my personal fear for profit. Their timing was by no means accidental.

Based on a telemarketing call we purchased a 3 year contract for ADT monitoring and received a free security system. We were planning to move so the salesperson told us the system would be moved for free anytime during the contract. He put this in writing after the fact. We later found this company was an authorized ADT "dealership" not ADT itself. Keep in mind that ADTs name was all over the documents we signed, and we are being billed by ADT on our credit card too!

Anyway, we signed a contract. No address was specified for monitoring on the contract as it was left blank when we signed (I have a copy). To make a long story short, we moved and ADT wouldn't honor the salesmen's promises. They say the "dealership" made the promises of moving our system, not ADT as they just provide monitoring. Of course, the dealership is no longer in business. An ADT rep told me that they don't like working with the dealerships and they are trying to get rid of them because of these issues.

What's funny is ADT won't provide monitoring services to me if I reinstall the system myself at the new address. They're talking out of both sides of their mouth. So, I'm stuck with paying my pre-authorized credit card charges of 29.99 which they say I can't stop, and ADT will NOT provide monitoring services to a different address. The Better Business Bureau was worthless beacause they just note that we agree to disagree. I don't even see my complaint as a "black mark" on their web site.

ADT keeps asking for extensions of time to respond to the complaint, and I just keep paying them. What really steams me is that ADT bad mouths the authorized dealerships and blames all issues on them, but they are aware of all business practices of dealerships and are glad to purchase new contracts from them. FYI, you can buy security systems from local companies (or wireless self install kits online) and get monitoring for 1/2 the price of ADT.

I was consulted by a group of door to door salespersons in June 2002 about a free installation of the ADT equipment if we agree to put their sign in our yard and on our windows. Several times my wife asked, "what's the catch?" We were assured several times by the salespersons that there was no catch. They presented us with a Crime Grid of the area, stating the incline of Criminal Activity.

At the time, we were considering putting our house up for sale and we explained that to the salespersons. They told us that in order for us to receive the "free installation" we would have to sign the contract for three years. I again explained that we do not think that we will live in this house for three years and that we did not want to sign the contract. They were persistent. One "pretended" to call a supervisor and ask if we would be able to break the contract if we moved within the three years. The "supervisor" reassured me that the contract was easy to break as long as we SOLD OUR HOUSE we would not be obligated to the terms of the contract.

I asked that it be put in writing, and that section be crossed off our contract. The salespersons did cross it through and initial it. We were satisfied with their cooperativeness and we agreed to have the system installed. In Nov. 2002 we put our house on the market and it sold in two weeks. We officially sold our house in Feb. 2003, at which time, we called to cancel our contract. During the phone conversation, the person agreed to cancel our service and stated that they would send our final bill.

When we received our bill, it stated that we owed over $950.00 for 75% of the contract. We were completely surprised to say the least. My wife called and was told that NO MATTER WHAT we could not break the contract. My wife explained that we were assured and reassured that by selling our house, the contract would be voided and she was laughed at by the phone rep. When asked to speak with the Manager, she was told that there was no way a manager would talk to her. Aggravated, my wife hung up to call back a different day. Of course, each and every time she called, she got the same run around.

Finally two months later, she talked to the only helpful person at ADT, Melissa. Melissa explained to my wife that independent contractors do the door to door sales. (by the way they work on commission only) She told my that ADT gets a lot of complaints due to the deceitful tactics of these salespeople. She also told me that ADT does not officially own the contract, that the company that initially sold it to us holds the contract for one year and then ADT buys the contract. She told us to contact that company for problems.

My wife then called that company. She was told by the Manager that the sales crew that sold to us that day no longer works for the company and that all of the files for that crew has come up "missing." I agreed to send a copy of our contract, which I did. Of course I received no call. I called back two weeks later. The manager stated that he can't be sure who put that line through the part of the contract in question, however in any event, the salespeople are NOT AUTHORIZED to alter the contract in any way. I explained to the Manager that they called their supervisor and got authorization. The Manager said that the supervisor was the one who initially sold me the service, and of course he is no longer with the agency. And we were instructed to call ADT.

Sam should go to Small Claims Court with a copy of the contract that was modified by the salesperson.

A sales representative came to my home as he was going from door to door. He told me that if I placed their company's sign in front of my house, that they would give my a home security system free of charge. All I had to do was to sign up for the service, and that if I didn't want the service later on, that I could cancel it at any time, and that the company may either take the system back out, or let me keep it.

What he didn't tell me is that after the three-day cancellation date if I decide to cancel the service, that their contract says that I have to pay them 75% of the remaining service charge for a three-year contract. I called the company a few months later because my mother didn't like the system, and she didn't use it. I sent a letter of cancellation in November. Then I found out that I still owe them $742.00. I believe this is contractual fraud, and that I have been deceived by ADT Security Services, Inc.

Richard ought to read contracts before he signs them. Also, when he has an evening to spare, he could go rent a copy of "Tin Men," where he'd see the exact same pitch used by some pretty spiffy aluminum-siding salesmen.

On 08-10-00 at about 6:13a.m., I received a call from ADT stating "the store alarm had went off and entry showed at zone 1 front door". I asked if the police been dispatched and the lady said yes. Because i was at least 40 minutes away, I called the police department and the officer told me that the burglary occurred the night before and the alarm company said they could not reach me, so the police secured the building as best possible.

When i arrived and went inside the business had been burglarized and i called the police out so they could take a report. The officer told me again that this occurred the previous night and the alarm company said they had no way of contacting me. I told the officer that three different telephone numbers are listed with the alarm company.

The loss was estimated at about $1,000.00. I then called ADT to find out why I wasn't notified and spoke to Marty. She said I was paged and no return call came in and then she connected me with Kim who read over the log and said that proper procedure was not taken, all the contact numbers listed should have been called.

Kim said she did not know the procedure to be taken next but there are some people who need to be trained on this type of situation.

The business remained open all night long. The front door was standing wide open, a person passing by called the police and notified them the door was open again. The economic damage is loss of inventory and fixtures needed to operate the business.