ADT Reviews

When the alarm signals did go off, it was monitored, things worked as they should. If there was a fire alarm, the fire truck would show up. The police never showed up, because we'd always get a call. We answer the phone, we provide a code to prove it’s us, and it worked exactly as we'd expect it to work. This year, 2026, we completely updated the alarm system. So, we went from 27-year-old technology to state-of-the-art stuff. We got push button to touch pads, no cameras to five video cameras, and wired contacts that occasionally deteriorate or corrode to wireless. It was control on a phone app versus limited control on a keypad. We have all the controls on the phone. We lock and unlock from our phone, but we don't unlock and unlock the door. It's important to us because we have big dogs. So, we have to balance out, keeping them in mind when putting a system in. There has to be flexibility for home dogs in our home.

If I was going to put another alarm system in, knowing what I know now, I'd go with ADT, and I would recommend them to relatives and friends. There are people that do the home install themselves. One of the top brand names of alarm systems is ADT. If you want it to work and you want it done right with minimum hassle, you call ADT to come in. Customer service has been fine.

As far as monitoring fees, they're not budget. They're not the low-cost provider, but they are good value for money. The cost didn't affect us because we were getting what we wanted, even though it probably cost a little more than other monitoring services. In terms of the new install, it was expensive. It was 15,000 bucks for an all singing, all dancing system with five cameras and recorders.

We have no issues at all with them. The install team and the sales guy were first rate. We haven't had any problems since the system was installed. The cameras went in complicated but perfect. There was a couple of sloppy things, but they came out as soon as I found them and gave them a call. They were back within a couple of days and made it right immediately. You can't expect perfection, but if they fix it immediately, that's real good.

One time, somebody jarred the back window and the alarm went off. I could hear him over by the garage. ADT called immediately and assessed the situation in 10 seconds. It was very quick. They called the police, and they were here within a couple of minutes. So, it was a very fast response. The police didn't see any footprints and they thought raccoons were just prying around the window, or when the light came on, it scared them, and they jumped and hit the window. It was a good outcome and the response was great. So, I was extremely pleased because I happened to be here by myself.

We started with just the door locks and then we added a camera to one of our homes in the front. There are doors in the back and we added motion cameras to the side in the back, too. We added another camera at the other house and did the same thing with our Airbnb. We had the door lock put over there and cameras on the outside of it. The door locks are great, especially when I'm coming home at night or after dark. I can stay in my car, where it's secure, and I can unlock my door, get out and go in. I don't have to fumble with keys or try to see the buttons to push. I can just do it from my phone.

Terminix goes to our second home to spray and we can unlock the door and watch our motion detectors and see where the tech is going. Then we have cameras out back from ADT that let us watch him. We've had Terminix for a long time and we know that guy pretty much, and we never have to worry about our house. But he'll call and say he’s done. We can see him on the camera and he would say we can lock the door. So, we just lock the door and set the alarm again. ADT’s system works out well because our second home is in a different state. It's extremely convenient. So, we're happy with ADT. The products are a little pricey, but you have to factor in that you're buying it once, and then it's there and it's monitored. We've never had to have the door locks and all the cameras repaired. And the techs helped me walk through changing batteries in the door locks.

However, after the installation, I reached out to an individual several times, but never got a reply back. That was one of the salespersons who ended up saying that they would keep in touch, but that fell through. I later learned that that individual made it to supervisor. Maybe that was why I wasn't receiving any calls. I wasn't too happy when I was calling to get back in touch with them. Also, after the install a few years back, I had found out that there were newer model of the OC845 cameras that were available. I would assume that they would be higher resolution. I was wondering why the newer model wasn't installed. But they work fine and I am happy with the repeater that I received. There was also an issue with one of the garage door openers, where an individual tech came out to troubleshoot and found a loose wire that was there.

When you go in with the app and you decide that you want to see 50 clips instead of the 20, you tell the app that you want to see 50 clips instead of the 20. It used to be that when you selected it and you backed out and went back in, those selections would be locked in. Now, that's no longer the case. Every time I log into the app, if I want to see 50 clips, I have to go in, tell it 50. If I want to see anything else that has triggered any of the cameras, I'll do that but it automatically defaults back. It no longer holds those settings for me. For the first two years, it did that then ADT changed their policy. Now, every time you go in to the app to make those selections, they revert back to the default settings.

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.

This morning when my husband tried to leave for work he couldn't disarm the panel, it was functional but it wouldn't allow him to disarm, holding us hostage in our own house. He had to leave for work which set the alarm off. I ended up taking the panel off the wall and putting it in a closet because ADT made sure there was no way to turn it off and no way to log into the system.

I got this system because I had a stalker, but ADT has been far worse. I was told I "qualified" for some of the equipment to be free and was then charged anyway. Then even after completely paying for the equipment and being told I owned it and it belonged to me, ADT bricked it by making it impossible to turn off the alarm because I didn't wish to continue the monitoring service, since they were in breach of contract. This has been a huge waste of time, money, and my sanity. All this in just a little over two years. After posting this review I'll be looking for any class action lawsuits I can join against ADT.