Complain about a product or service

Desert Alarm

Renee of Thousand Palms CA (04/17/06)
We leased a building where Desert Alarms equipment was installed. Called them Dec. 6, 2005, to startup/check system out and start monitoring. Paid $350 to upgrade system and get it running properly. Under strongarm coaxing was told to sign 2 year contract...our employee did and thus started the numerous false alarms...we started with them on Dec 6, 2005...daily false alarms whereas the sheriff's department and ourselves were called to the site. Desert Alarm kept sending out repairmen that were incapable of fixing the problem.

Finally after the holidays where we were called to the site every day..we gave them notice of cancellation January 23rd, 2006 and called another alarm company to fix the problems, which they did and since the new company took over, we have had 0 false alarms. Desert alarm is taking us to small claims court tomorrow(outcome is pending) for the 2 year contract plus court fees. aprox $1000.00. I tried to contact the central station they use to get a log of false alarms and they perged the files...there is no record of our company at all. I called the Riverside County Sheriff's Department to get a log of calls they responded to..they have on record for one month from Dec 23-Jan 22.. 9 false responses. Not to mention the times we called the Sheriff's to cancel the call due to a false alarm.

The owner of Desert Alarm, Chris Madain, has been beligerent on the phone to me and is harassing us with bills to pay for service not rendered. I notified his company in writing, with the cancellation on January 23rd. All we ever wanted was a system that was working and not sending false alarms. I paid the new alarm company, CS Security, $1046 to fix the system to work and not false. They have done so and as I said it is working perfect now.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.