ADT Reviews

When the installer came over, we walked around, showed him the keypads, and it was such an old system. It was 33 years old already, and he said, "I can probably change this keypad for you, to redo it so it's set up for the cellular thing." He explained in detail. He took his time explaining to us how it would benefit us to just change the keypads. We didn't need to change the sensors in the doors. The cellular device would actually not be downstairs, but in the main keypad by the back door.

By the time he got done with doing this, our quarterly bill would actually be lower. He really took his time to do this. He said, "I have to make an appointment to come back and do this. I have to have all the right equipment.” So, we said, "Okay. We'll do this." We talked with other people, and they had us sign some things online. We were able to read things and ask questions. Then when the gentleman came back, it was a good three hours to change things over. He explained everything every step of the way. We were very happy to not have to deal with the landline anymore. We were shown how to use everything. He explained everything.

We had a new secondary keypad up in the bedroom. That evening, when we turned off the lights in the bedroom, there was a lot of light off that keypad. Not something we had before. These are LEDs. The old one had a tiny, little green and red dots that you could hardly see. But this new one has the little screen that says that something is being moved downstairs and then there's a big red button and a green one. I tried to cover that during the night because we don't sleep with light anywhere.

I called ADT the next day, and they checked on me and said, "No. It is like that. We won't actually be able to change that." So I made a little paper hood out of some card stock to cover it. Now there's just a little light that hits the floor. That was what I did the first time. But then if someone walks through the kitchen and the sensor goes off and it says default, it immediately changes back. It says something and then it changes back. Then on this keypad upstairs, all of the number keys would light up in bright green and stay on for a minute every single time. What a waste that it’s coming on all day long. I'm home a lot and walk around the kitchen to the front door. So this thing would be operating all the time.

I called up ADT again, and I went through several people. When I talked to the last person in tech help, I went upstairs, and we went through this whole thing. He was really patient once again. He was able to hook up remotely and see what was happening with my keypad up there. He went through a number of things and he was able to shut that backlight that's inside down so it wasn't as bright. Then he went through a number of steps and finally, he could see those green lights didn't come on at all. I told him that we didn't need those numbers coming on. We can see them without the light. He was able to shut it off for us. It took a few days for us to get this stuff sorted out. But everybody was extremely helpful. We're all set, and everything works the way it's supposed to.

We see improvements in what ADT has done with the keypads. We didn't have a panic button before. So, this is really interesting, and it's not just a panic button. When you press that button and before anything goes off, you have to press one of the buttons below it, indicating whether it's fire or somebody breaking. You can choose the reason for pressing the panic button and that's a great idea, so that you don't just nilly-willy set something off and nobody knows what it is. It's been a good experience. When we needed to change things, they had a way for us to do it, so that made us very happy. Everyone took care of us.

They also failed to mention that there were going to be two separate charges. The whole time we talked, it was going to be 49.99 a month, which was fantastic. However, I'm on autopay, and I saw a $49 charge and a $51 charge on my card. Once I was at that point, I couldn't get anybody to answer or help me. So, I've been a little frustrated. I was able to get through to somebody finally, and they said, “One is a monitoring charge, and one is an installment charge for the equipment,” which I understand after the fact, but it was never told to me during the setup. I’m not 100% sure I would have done it if I knew I was spending over $100 a month.

I set the alarm at night. My three-year-old is a sleepwalker, and that gives me peace of mind, but that's the only thing I use it for. As far as monitoring goes, I don't know if I necessarily need their monitoring. The other side of it is that I didn't understand that 24/7 monitoring didn't have a recording. If something happened and someone gave me an exact time, unless I was on looking at my camera at that exact time, or there was motion, it's not going to be there. I can't go back and check at certain times. The only way I can see anything is if I'm live on the app looking. That was a little misleading. Also, there are two different apps I have to use, ADT Plus and Google Home. I can't figure out how to turn off notifications to one. So, every time I get a notification, I get double, and nothing will ever open in ADT Plus. It opens in Google Home, but I can't change anything in there. I can only make changes in the ADT Plus app.

I have window sensors, door sensors, cameras on each side of my house, and two glass break sensors. I have one in the front part of my house in my daughter's room. Her windows don't open, so I did the glass break there. The installer talked me into doing a glass break versus the window sensors in the back bedroom, because it has two windows, where I should have done two more window sensors instead of the glass break. I regret doing the glass break for the back bedroom. I've had it since January 10, and I've changed the batteries in that thing three times, and it will not work. So, now, we just have to run with it offline and not even use that glass break that I pay for every month. They've screwed it into my wall and I have to pay out the installment.

Setup with ADT was easy, but after installation, they're lacking with customer service. They do really good on their marketing. When I put in my information for an inquiry on a Saturday, they called me within 10 minutes. I can't get a call like that now that I've set up with them, and whenever I do customer service, I get to talk to a robot and not a person. I've tried checking with the automated system on the glass break thing with the batteries and troubleshooting, and I've done everything. The batteries last about seven to 10 days, and they're not cheap.

I've had very, very, very few issues with ADT. The last one we had was a big one. We were gone for like four days for a wedding, a wedding out of state. And on the very last day, we got a call from ADT, and it was like 11 o'clock at night or something, that our lower level outside door was open, that the alarm went off. So, I called my neighbor who is our go to person. And she looked out. She couldn't see anything. She called the police. The police came right over. They walked around the yard, looked around, couldn't find anything. Well, I said, “Okay. Let it go, and I'll check it.” So, I talked to ADT. And I said, “Let it go. I'll check it when I get home.”

What happened was, I have a lower level, a regular door, but then I have an aluminum storm door. And what happened was I, myself, had brought in some stuff through that door. And it was a load of like eight bags of salt for my softener. And I didn't tightly close the inside door, which has the alarm on it. But I locked the outside storm door. It's an aluminum storm door. I locked that one, so the police could not get in. But what happened was there was a huge wind that night that actually blew in through that storm door and pushed open the inside door that set the alarm off. So, it was totally my fault. I didn't close that door completely and lock it. But the process worked perfectly. The actual process is, if there was an issue and we weren't here, what would happen? Well, it happened. It was almost like a test, and it worked. I called my neighbor. She called the police and ADT or whatever. It all worked out fine.

I like the features of the system. When the guy came out, it's a little bit expensive. And I'm being honest with you on this whole thing. I didn't realize it was like a five-year deal or something on the equipment or something like that. We're both on fixed incomes and we've been looking at ways to lower some costs. I do notice that ADT is not cheap. But I'm happy with it.

I was halfway down to Georgia when I stopped at a wayside to sleep and realized I might not have set my alarm. I couldn’t get the app on my phone to work, so I called ADT. I told the rep that I only wanted the system locked, not unlocked, but she said she couldn’t do that. She offered to send something to me, but I told her I wouldn’t receive it for three weeks because it would go to my Wisconsin address and then back to Georgia. I wasn't happy with that situation, but it was my fault for not setting the alarm before I left.

Another issue I’ve had is with the batteries. When I had the system put in, I said I didn’t want to deal with batteries because if I’m gone six or seven months out of the year and wouldn’t be here to change them. But the system does have batteries, and when they go bad, they need to be replaced. I can’t even get the cover off to change them myself. For that reason, I’ve considered taking the system out of my house. I asked if someone could come out and change the batteries, but when I called ADT, they told me they didn't have anyone available for that. I had somebody come out one time because I have no idea how to do it. ADT's reps tried to walk me through it, but the battery will just go bad again, and I’m 83 years old. I’m not going to remember how to keep doing that every time it needs to be replaced.

I like the emergency part of the system, especially the smoke alarm and the temperature alerts when I’m not home. I don’t use the door security locks when I’m here. But if I go somewhere and I’m not going to be here, I like that I can lock it on the phone. I probably should get in the habit of setting it more often since I’m paying for it. I have large dogs, so I can’t use the motion detectors when they’re loose, but at night they’re secured, so I could set it then and just remember to turn it off in the morning.

I just told somebody about ADT because their furnace went out. I explained that if they had ADT and their temperature dropped below the level they set, ADT would have called them instead of them not knowing until someone checked the house. That conversation happened a couple of weeks ago, and they even called me afterward to ask what system I have.

When I call ADT, I usually get a one-minute wait time, and then I speak to a representative. Their attitude is very acceptable because they wanna take care of my concerns. But you need customer care services. Like this morning, the representative's concern was, “Well, how many smartphones do you have? How many smart TVs do you have?” So I told her, “Ma'am, there's nothing wrong with the cameras. It's that in your system, the clips is set up so when I hit the clips, I could see all the activities that's been going on, especially if my phone pops up and says, “Okay, Charles, there's activity."” I hit the clips and it can show who's coming and who's going.

But that system doesn't work. For some reason or other, it's frozen. The rep's attitude was, “Listen. I'll get you a tech and he’ll be calling you between 1:00 and 3:00.” I asked her, “Why? Can't you send me a new signal?” She said, “Okay. I'll send you a new signal.” Then three seconds later, she said, “Okay. I just sent you a new signal.” So I went back into the app and I told her, “But nothing has changed.” She thought I was a one-day dingbat. She said, “Well, I’ll have the tech call you between 1:00 and 1:30.” I said, “Okay. Thank you very much, ma'am. Have a nice day.” So you got those that have a caring attitude, and you got those that have a non-caring attitude. Overall, ADT is a good company. They do their best to satisfy their customers, but it depends on the representative that the person speaks to.

I like the app on the phone. The phone app is fine, and so is the system itself, because I can go to the panel and I can see and read it. I can also understand it. If any activity is going around the house, the app sends me a signal and it pops up, and then I can go directly to my cameras and I can see what's going on. If I see something that's inappropriate, I can contact ADT and let them know or I can call the police. They can immediately come to the house, and at the same time I can notify ADT.

We have been dealing with ADT three years and during that time they never called to see why the alarms went off and they went off several times in three years. As soon as we told them we were going to cancel they call now every day talking about something owed, equipment will not work 'cause they fix it like that once you prepare to leave. The pad cameras or nothing work since we told them over four months. I am in process with Lawyers with pictures, recordings and all. Then they respond by telling you to email them somewhere else, they know the case. Where you see the detectors on the pictures the others he put up are right in the open door, that close. Will only let you take one picture. Foul.

The installer that sold us all the equipment (some of which we didn’t need and he also placed the smoke detectors by our other smoke detectors from another company) gave me his phone number to call if we had any problems at all. So I called him in February to tell him about the 3 dead batteries he first said that will ruin my numbers or something like that. Anyway he told me to call ADT and not him for any problems. We’ve had problems in March25th, March 30th and now today March 31st. I’ve talked to them each time and got different answers each time as if no one knew what they were talking about. They are a HORRIBLE COMPANY. I’m so sorry we are stuck with them. I consider it the worst decision I’ve ever made.

If you are thinking about going with them - think again. When the batteries no longer worked I was told by at least 5 different employees the battery life was 10yrs, 5 yrs, 6 months, 60 days, and 30 days. You can’t get a reliable answer from anyone. I’ve spoken to account management a few times - they are no help - again I got different answers. If I could I would cancel this agreement but it costs too much. So we are STUCK with them.