ADT Reviews

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The bank rescinded the action, and it was a short time later that I received a bill from ADT.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.

After completion of the work the next month, I received a bill from ADT for $780 plus tax for repair services. I called ADT to question charges, they said I was responsible for the charges. I then asked the representative, "If you are gonna charge a customer for repair charges wouldn't the customer has to be notified and agree to the charges" because at this point my contract was over in the next few months.

I would have opted to pay the ETF, which would have been cheaper than repair charges for your equipment. She said no, we don't have to advise you and if you want to dispute you need to call the district office. I called the district office and they said they were sorry but the charges are valid and told me to have a good day. They are now reporting it to a credit bureau for charges I didn't authorize.

When I called customer service, I was told that's their policy and I would have to wait 30 days for my refund. When I explained that wasn't good enough and I had been promised that nothing would be charged in the first place, he told me to read my brochure (which I didn't have. I'd spoken to someone on the phone) and I would have to wait 30 days like everyone else. That's when I asked for a supervisor and the call got really bad. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep telling me that a supervisor was not available but they would call me back. When I said I wanted to hold, he told me that this wasn't a supervisor issue and they were going to tell me the same thing he had already explained. By the end of my phone call with him, he was threatening to "disconnect the call" if I couldn't realize that I didn't need to speak to a supervisor. I finally got the supervisor who said she would escalate the refund (that should not have been charged in the first place)! I hate ADT's customer service and salesman and cannot understand how they are still in business!

I contacted ADT five days after the fire and a supervisor advised me that the system still showed to be working properly when the complete house and all of their equipments were destroyed and there was no power or phone lines to the structure. Ask yourself what you would do if you lost everything and you will know how we feel. I lost our $500,000 home and personal stuff that can't be replaced.

I was not told at the time of the agreement that I would have to put money out to receive this Visa Gift Card. They requested that the $4.95 be sent either by money order or cashiers check. I feel that this is misleading and also now, reduces the Visa Gift Card amount to $95 plus the cost of the money order or cashiers check. I spoke with a customer rep at Protect Your Home named Vanessa and she said that this is how the company handles the gift card. I also spoke with Justin, a customer relations rep and he also advised me that Protect Your Home could not do anything to help me with this issue. He however did state that they are trying to bring the issue of gift cards in house.

I realize that this is not a large amount of money, but feel that the consumer should be made aware of this at the time the agreement for the service is made. I am also disabled and to have to make a trip to purchase a money order or cashiers check. This is not an easy task for me. I would like for Protect Your Home as well as ADT to inform the consumer of what I feel is misleading on the cost of validating the certificate.Your help is appreciated.

They called our home at least 3 times per week telling us we owe for their add on statement. Thanks God our contract is us soon and we will cancel this night mare. Our alarm service was out of order for over 4 months and we never heard from them. We refuse to pay their add on billing statement and they call 3 times per week. Tell me this is good customer service. All we can say is beware of ADT, the greedy so called alarm servive.

I was informed that the number we were calling could not process vacation vouchers (although they did on the last time we called) and they "transferred" us, which equated to putting us on hold for 30 minutes and then the line cutting out. I called back two more times with a similar result. On my fourth attempt, I was told that the woman I was speaking with was the most senior manager that anyone could speak with and that she reported "directly to the CEO."

When asked to confirm her title, it was customer service associate. When asked what company we were calling, she confirmed that it was not Ramada, but Carnival Cruise Lines. I asked her to stay on the line while transferring me to the proper department and she claimed that her phone system did not allow for that. When I offered to patch her in using two-way on my phone, she refused. When I asked for the direct dial to the department they had been trying to transfer me to, she said that there was none. I did finally get an extension out of her.

Of course, when we dialed this 1-800 number, it rang but no one ever picked up. We are 100% convinced that this is a scam and we are concerned about identity theft and the loss of value we thought we were getting as part of the ADT purchase.

ADT sent me a letter stating "sorry, we failed you" but said they had no liability. Read the small print in their contracts which I did not even have or they could not find. This company monitors fire on your home but should they be asleep or negligent, too bad. Oops, my bad. They will say to you and eventually try to blame you for fire. My entire home burned with all I had over 50 years. ADT let me down. My cat burned and I had to give all my Koi Fish away which I had raised mostly from babies up to 8 to 10 years in age. I had almost 30 fish in a 3000 gallon pond.

When I first was contacted by the agent, I was informed that additional sensors would be about $45 per sensor. The actual cost was $140 for the service call, plus $25 per area, plus the cost of the sensor. During my sales pitch, I was never offered a repair contract for the system. To my surprise, my system has failed several times on the garage door sensor. I haven't had this system for a year yet. To repair the system, they want $140 for the visit plus $25 for the part that is plastic, plus their time for the technician.

I have never seen a company that has fleeced the public like this one. They have more hidden charges than any other company I've come into contact with. Don't bother calling the 800 number. They will tell you to call the local dealer and they don't have the power to change anything. They use a lot of contractors and place the blame on them to keep their scam going. I have never seen such a business as this. Beware of them. Do not buy their product. You will be sorry.

In the end, ADT said that the carbon monoxide detectors were near the end of their useful lives and needed replacement and that is why they are beeping. I told my friend to go ahead and schedule the appointment for the repair with ADT even though ADT said the price of the service call would be $145.00, plus at least another $140.00 for replacement of the two detectors (note that I consider those costs outrageous).

When called for an appointment, ADT told the friend who works on the house for me that they could only give him a 4 or 5-hour window when they could show up. I would, of course, be paying my friend to sit and wait for ADT for up to 5 hours. My friend asked ADT if they could simply have their repair person call him when they were in route (as he could easily be at my place within 15 minutes). ADT said that they do not and will not do that. I then called ADT and they told me that they could only provide a 1 hour slot if we accepted a first morning call between 8AM and 9AM. Those are hours that my friend (who works a night shift is generally asleep).

Net result, I told ADT to stick it and will be canceling both my Oregon and Utah accounts with ADT this Monday after I am able to locate a company such as Brinks or someone else who can promise better service. Oh, by the way, during my conversation with ADT, I asked if they could run a test (which they have done in the past) to verify my alarm components, such as fire and burglar, are working properly. They refused to do so and said they can't do that. Basically, tell everyone you know to never do business with ADT.

Anyway, we had a pipe burst a month ago while we were away, and the water collected throughout the house, and the steam circulated throughout our entire home. Mold was everywhere. The fire department estimated that it had been going on for over three weeks, with temperatures up to 190 degrees in the sports room. Not one time did the alarm go off. The pipe that burst was right next to a sensor in our sports memorabilia room! We lost over a hundred thousand dollars worth of memorabilia; Babe Ruth autographs, Joe Dimaggio, Ty Cobb, and many, many items that will never be replaced, not to mention our house is now down to the bare studs. The worry now is mold, and nothing from ADT.

My husband has been on disability for the past year and a half and although I have been slightly late with my payments, I have always called ADT's billing department to tell them when my payments would be expected. On 12/18/09, I was invoiced $105 which was my quarterly payment. This is the only amount that was due to them.

Tonight, I received a call from the "home office" stating I owed them $60 and that they had terminated my service. No warning, no letters, no calls prior to the one this evening. I then called their 800# billing department and spoke to a manager (Lisa) who said my service was terminated because "they had made numerous calls and no one could reach me" along with the statement that letters had been sent regarding the termination. All lies! Funny how the "home office" could make one phone call and reach me this evening to tell me my service was cancelled. I still do not understand how in this day and age, a major company like ADT would cancel a very long-time customer over a $60 bill that wasn't even 30 days late?

To that, I say "good riddance! After reading the numerous online complaints about ADT that outnumber other monitoring services by 20 to 1, I can only hope homeowners do their research before signing up with a company who has zero value for their customers. I will also be asking my 3 family members who signed up (on my recommendation) with Wells Fargo back in 1985 to terminate their relationship with ADT due to the unscrupulous way they do business.

I called them today and was on hold for 15 minutes until a customer service picked up the call and left me on hold. Finally someone answered, and I requested to cancel my service, because I'm moving to an apartment next month. I was told that they don't own my contract and that I need to call the dealer. Now I'm confused. All along I thought I had a contract with ADT. When I called the dealer, I had to wait for 15 minutes for someone to pick up. And after explaining my situation, I was told that I had no choice but to finish the contract.

I've had this system for over 8 years. Even if it is in the so-called contract, what if I had checked it on Monday and it was out on Saturday, whose fault is it then? The thing is this system is a rip off. The so-called ambush alerts are no more than a watch fob that cost me $90 each and are absolutely useless. The ADT lady told me they only work in the house anyway not in the driveway as I was told. Also, they informed me if the phone lines were cut or the power goes out, the system is useless. Another lie I was told when it was hooked up. They can't even tell me when the so-called dead battery even went dead, so no telling how long the system was down and me thinking it was working okay. They never called and I never saw or heard anything as to anything being wrong.

I called them on January 9th, 2009 and demanded they end my contract since my system had been dead for almost a year anyway. They told me I still had to pay my monthly payments even though the system wasn't working. They have now turned me into a collection agency to bug me for the money or ruin my credit. The credit guy also told me even if I pay the owed amount for this year, my contract would automatically roll over and there was nothing I could do. Of course, an argument ensued and we've had words. I don't think I should have to pay this. As a matter of fact, I think with the whole system being a lie and them telling me I was covered and the system down, they should pay me what I've paid over the years thinking they had my back and it was all a lie.

ADT also proceeded to tell me that my system was put in before their new cell system, another reason my old one won't work if the phone lines are cut. Mine is an outdated system. They do not tell people this and they also don't inform their old customers of the new system since it would then inform the old of how their system never was any good. I've desperately looked for someone to help me with this but I see by this website that many, many people have had the same problems as me with this scam of a business. Isn't there anything we can do? If nothing else but to inform the public? I now tell everyone I know of how useless this company is and how bad their product is at protecting people's property. It's absolutely worthless.

I've sent a report into the state BBB and also local BBB here in Indiana to try and get the word out. Is there anyone that can help me not only to find an answer but also to stop them from ruining my credit? When this first started last fall, ADT told me they would drop it if Defender would. Of course, Defender isn't, so now the collection service is involved. I've not seen a contract in years and can't get anyone to send it to me so that I can re-read it. No one will talk to me on the phone since they've turned it into collections. Could you please help me with this or give me a lawyer's name to contact for this matter? Thank you so much.

Although I have concerns with the ADT contract in general (for it was not clearly explained to me in the first place), my recent experience has been upsetting to say the least. Ever since I have begun working with your office, we have found the customer service to be mediocre at best. The sales representative told us that ADT would transfer my services for free and then he quoted a $1,000+ installation fee. This is a true bait and switch tactic and is extremely insulting and unprofessional. While I am grateful the sales representative was able to come up with an installation that was less than that, this business particle is clearly designed to take advantage of the consumer. In addition, the lack of communication with the billing side of ADT has been unacceptable.

My original account was never closed out like I was told it would be by the sales representative. In the meantime, I have been receiving daily calls from ADT, on my cell phone, which has now become clear case of harassment. I was told by the sales representative that he would take care of transferring everything over from my previous home to my new home and as of earlier today, this has not been done. I have sent numerous emails to him asking for this to be taken care of and he continued to say that it was, as I continued to get collections calls. I finally contacted the billing department of ADT directly and they told me they had no notes or record of hearing from him or your office. I will never recommend your services to a friend or associate and am going to refer this case to my legal counsel. I hope that by bringing this to your attention, someone else will not have to go through the same issues as I have when moving their service and working with your office.

I had waited all day Saturday for the first appointment and lost an entire day waiting for ADT. The supervisor agreed and stated the tech would arrive Saturday between 8am-9am. On Saturday (12/12/09), I waited for the tech to show. Finally, I called at 8:45/ 8:50 to ask if the tech was coming. I spoke with a CS rep who told me no specific time was noted. I explained the issues from the past week and she put me on hold and I was then transferred. The next CS rep told me the tech would arrive before 9:30am. I stated he needs to arrive before or at 9:30am; otherwise, I will not be at home.

As I am walking out my door to go to another appointment at 10am, the tech arrives. I explained it’s too late, I have another appointment scheduled; and by this time, I am livid with ADT. I am now including the time over the phone into 4 to 5 weeks with ADT. I called ADT on the following Monday (12/14/09) to cancel my service. I spoke with a lady who talked me into keeping the service and provided two months of free service. ADT scheduled yet another appointment on Saturday the 19th between 7am-9am. I received a call early that morning stating the tech called off but another tech would be available between 3pm-5pm. I agreed and waited. The tech arrived in the time stated and checked the system. He diagnosed the problem as being a highly sensitive door monitor. He re-adjusted the monitor and his words were your problem is fixed.

I left about 30 minutes later. I armed the alarm thinking all is OK. Approximately an hour later, I received a phone call that my home alarm is going off. Note the tech had left only an hour before. I called ADT and asked what’s going on! The CS rep stated I would get an ETA call because they were sending the tech out again. At this point I decided to cancel the service. ADT has no appreciation/respect for customers and their time. The tech seems to be very knowledgeable, yet I noticed he didn’t check all of the sensors or monitors. This ordeal has been highly frustrating; and to top it off, ADT is billing me for early cancellation. I am cancelling the service because of their inability to schedule techs and their inability to properly diagnose and fix my problem.

Today, I called to change my mobile numbers. I was told by the person on the phone at 800-238-2727 my system hasn't been monitored and was cancelled from October of this year. I have bank statements to show payments. After I became upset, the ADT employee quickly told me he made a mistake and I'm being monitored and everything is up to date. I then hung up the phone and set my alarm system off purposely. I never got a call at home or on the cell phones that the alarm was going off and this was after two minutes of activation. I want all my funds returned to me. ADT is unsafe and dangerous if real protection is needed. They have put my family at risk from day one. I called from my cell and asked to speak to a supervisor. I talked to Monique who knew absolutely nothing about what was going on and about my past problems or the account. I have had enough.

Two different installers from a company called Defender Security have come out and said it's fine. Then, I set it off a few days later to test it, and nothing! I tried to find out who Defender Security is and their number goes to a company called Protect Your Home Security. I don't know who I am really dealing with. I am getting my attorney involved. I don't know what's going to happen but I know I am not safe or secure using ADT. With ADT, burglars and thieves really have no reason to be concerned! ADT claims to be the leading security monitoring company in the US. If I could go back and redo it, I would just install a system and monitor it myself!

The unit was put in on Sept. 23. I was told that the monitoring fee would be $49.00 by the tech. When I explained to the installer the price that I was given, I was told this was the price Protect Your Home of Springfield Va. charged. I asked about a senior citizen discount. Only if I was a member of AARP could I get a $2.00 discount (with much reservation after this second misrepresentation from a rep of ADT). I was somewhat confused by the brief instructions I was given, along with a copy of my contract (for 3 years) and the instruction booklet to read. I made a point to write on the contract that my billing date had to be after the 15th of each month since I am on S.S. I was told that would be fine. I was also told that the unit was working correctly and that it was being monitored. I slept well that night thinking I was protected.

On Thursday (Sept. 24), an alarm went off awakening me. It said that the ad (battery backup) was on working. I called ADT. I was walked through the steps to check the unit and told that the unit was protecting my home. On Friday (Sept. 25), I set the alarm and went to visit with a friend. I was gone over a night. I returned on Saturday (Sept. 26) to find that the unit was not working at all; most of all, that someone had entered my apartment while I was away. I was informed the unit had no dial tone at this time. I called ADT to report this and asked about the monitoring of the system - if an alarm had gone off and why had I not been alerted! I was then informed that the unit had never been monitored; also, that a tech would need to come and check the unit. I was told that the earliest anyone could get out to fix the problem would be Oct. 8!

I canceled the service. I was told that a “not” would be placed that I had in my records... But I would need to call back on Monday (Sept. 28) to cancel. I then called my bank to find that ADT had taken not only the installation fee but also a monitoring fee of $53.00! On Sept. 28, I called ADT and explained that I was again canceling their service. I was asked why. After I explained for the 100th time, I was told that it would take between 14 to thirty days for them to refund my money. And someone would be out on Sept. 29 to remove the unit. They had the tech sign a statement that he had the unit and left my home. On Wednesday (Sept. 30), my first bill of $63.00 came from ADT. For what, I had no idea.

I called ADT on Oct. 16 to see why I had no refund. I called ADT on Oct. 31 and still I had no refund. I was then told that it would take 30 working days, not to count weekends. The installation money ($99.00) was returned to my bank account on Nov. 5 but not the monitoring fee. I called ADT again and was told that it would be taken care of and not to pay any attention to the bill. I was also told that it sometimes took a while before the equipment was logged back in and that is why it took so long to refund. I called ADT on Nov. 14 again to ask why the monitoring money had not been replaced in my account. I was placed on hold. Once again, it was explained that it would take up to 30 days before I would get my money back. I explained the situation again but was told that I would have to wait. That was the best they could do.

Today (Dec. 2) I checked my mail, only to find that I have a bill from ADT for $42.11 due 12/17/09 but no refund. And $41.11 was taken out of my checking account on Oct. 17, 2009 - seventeen (17) days after canceling. When I called today to ask why, I was placed on hold for ten minutes. I hung up and called back, only to be placed on hold again for another 10 minutes. I called back a third time. I explained to Sydney who answered the phone that I was not upset with her personally but with ADT's practices. I was given a supervisor, Ms. Toby, who checked with Cali @ Protect Your Home in Springfield, Va. She verified that the equipment was restocked and I was due a refund. I was informed that there would be no more withdrawals from my account after today. I would get the refund I am due ($92.18). But, it will take thirty (30) days! I really don't feel it should take three (3) months to get a refund for anything. Where is my money?

They are still drafting my checking account and we keep getting the runaround from them on how to cancel service. We have no way of getting the new passcode from them to cancel service. Now, they just drafted my checking account again and sent me a bill for $1.00 more than the original contract. Please help us. I have read numerous complaints on the internet regarding ADT with people going through exactly the same runaround as us. The account is my husband’s name. Please contact me as soon as possible at **.

It is not even six months and we wanted full refund as advertised in their website because we are not getting any service, but they deny saying we have signed a three-year contract. The customer service representatives are rude and they say we have to keep paying for the rest of the 36 months. The credit card company says they cannot block the payment, but we can file a dispute. I see that this is becoming a pattern with ADT from the other complaints on this forum. They make easy money without providing a service, but making the consumers sign a contract. I want to cancel the service ASAP. Please help. We are wasting $38.41 every month. I have been on the phone for more than three hours this morning, but there’s no resolution for the problem.

Two weeks ago, we received a display that said FC, so again we called the ADT phone center that tested our alarm over the phone. They indicated they had not gotten a signal and, in fact, have not been receiving a signal for some time. I asked how that could be since ADT has continued to bill me like clockwork for the past year without notifying me that they were not receiving a signal. The phone center representative stated that we should have called for a manual test. Why would I call for a manual test if there were no indication up until the FC display that there was something wrong with our system? Today, an ADT technician came to our home and as soon as he learned we had Verizon FiOS, he indicated that FiOS is not compatible with your system. I was shocked when I heard this because, as stated, I notified ADT in 2008 that we had FiOS installed and they led us to believe that it was the door sensor that was malfunctioning, not a system compatibility issue.

Today, when the technician left, I called and asked to speak to a manager in ADT's customer service area and spoke with Albert. Albert indicated that ADT's system has not been registering a signal from my home for the previous 12 months and that was as far back as their system keeps records. I was flabbergasted that ADT's system is able to bill customers each month for a service they are not providing and when I asked about that, Albert basically placed the responsibility on me saying I signed a contract stating I would test my system each month. I challenge the ethics of that position of taking a customer’s money each month and placing the burden on them to figure out their system is not communicating with theirs. Again, my system was chirping when set, so I did not believe there was a problem. I am further flabbergasted that for something as important as home security, ADT does not take a more proactive role in reporting communication malfunctions to its customers.

While I was very happy when I was notified that ADT had purchased our contract due to my familiarity with its service, I can say I have only negative things to say about the service and the integrity of the company. I don’t believe a business who is interested in good customer service would continue to bill for services not rendered. Their customer notification system should be every bit as good as their billing system that takes my money every month. When I pointed out to Albert that my brother has a system with a different monitoring company that notifies him if it is not working adequately, Albert stated I could have that service also for an additional fee. That would be on top the additional $200 I was quoted to pay for back up cellular service since our systems aren’t compatible. My only other option, according to Albert, was to cancel service. I ask you, how would you feel if you have paid for a service for over a year which you haven’t received only to be told you need to pay more money to have it work correctly?

I feel the technician who came to our home in July of 2008 did not adequately check our system. If there was a compatibility issue, it should have been discovered at that time since the technician was the expert, not me. When I was comparing my brother’s service to ADT, Albert talked about ADT's four phone centers. If ADT was not receiving a signal from our home, what good are four phone centers to me? I am paying for four centers that I am not receiving service from. I find it hard to believe that ADT would treat a customer in this manner.

Albert offered no other remedies but to charge for additional equipment or cancel my service. I find it hard to believe that ADT is that inflexible in dealing with a customer that it cannot prove that it provided the service for which it charged each month. In reading the “Commitment to Your Customers” and ADT's “Mission Statement” from its website, I can find nothing that resembles the treatment I received today. ADT's mission statement is as follows: “To be the leading security systems, services, and solutions provider in the world. We plan to achieve this by exceeding customers' expectations through superior service delivery, world class talent and applied technological innovation, making ADT the most profitable business in the Tyco portfolio.” In my experience, ADT does not in fact value its customers and only deflects any responsibility it has in dealing with customer service issues.

In April, my grandson was born very sick and lived at the hospital so I was at the hospital everyday after I got off work. My grandson died in July and as I was home now, I decided to test my alarm system. I was informed by ADT that I had not had communication with ADT since February. They told me I was supposed to test the alarm weekly. Now with a baby sick in the hospital and trying to work, how the hell was I supposed to test my alarm weekly which I should have done after the lousy service I was getting with ADT. I asked the agent then why was I not notified because after all, I have been paying ADT for alarm service that I did not get. The agent said unless I had fire alarm protection, they would not contact me which is crap because when I had Comcast, they would call me when I lost communication. ADT said it was a problem with Qwest so here I go getting Qwest out to see what the problem is with communication to the ADT.

I have had Qwest out to my house 9 times. I have an interference on the phone line that either prevents me from using the phone or it states the line is in use. An ADT employee told me the alarm panel was the problem. I was told I needed a filter for the alarm, so I got that. Again, I paid ADT another $25 to have them come out and still no signal to ADT and the same problems with the phone. In September, I went into the hospital for surgery. I was informed by my kids that the police came knocking at my door at 2:30 am and they found two men in my backyard trying to look in my windows. They told the police they lived here. My kids told the police they did not know who these guys were and so they took one to jail and wrote the other a ticket for trespassing. I came home the next day and tested the alarm. Once again, no signal to ADT!

I scheduled to have Qwest and ADT out at the same time to have this corrected once and for all. The ADT tech called me outside and showed me a line that visibly ran from the top of the roof to the phone box. This line is actually exposed, cut and dangling from the roof. Now does that sound smart to have an alarm wire that hangs outside of the house so that anyone who gets into the yard can cut it? The tech said there were actually two phone lines running to the alarm that were active and said he would use the other line and leave the one hanging outside as a dead line. ADT charged me another $25 and left. The Qwest tech said I am going to have a chronic problem tech out so he could actually be able to spend the day if needed to troubleshoot all day if needed.

Qwest sent a chronic problem tech to my home which happened to be a former employee of ADT. This person said they cannot find why I am getting the static or the line in use message but told me when I get it, disconnect the alarm from the line and see if it goes away or clears the line. He also asked if he could see the alarm and where it was hooked up. I showed him the cut line and the alarm panel. He informed me that this line was hooked up in such a way that I did not have line seizure and if someone broke into my home and took the phone off the hook, there would be no communication with ADT. So therefore, they would be able to have access to my home without the police being notified. He also laughed at the way this alarm was hooked up and at the line that was visibly cut and hanging from the house. He informed me he would write up his employees for wiring the alarm in this manner.

He had me call ADT and see if the line would seize and lo and behold, no seizure to the line. This person offered to come out when ADT was here to make sure the panel is working properly and to make sure it was wired correctly to work with Qwest. I still have a lot of work ahead of me to ensure the safety of my family and house. Don't ever use ADT. I still have a year left on my contract and am paying for the worst service I have ever had from a company that claims to protect your family and home. I would not recommend ADT to secure a dog house.

After checking with my bank, I saw that my money had already been withdrawn not only for the installation of over $103.00, but for another $54.00 monitoring fee. And nothing had been installed! They had already taken my money and I had nothing. With less than 24 hours of having the system in my home, the alarm went off (September 24) stating that I had no back-up protection. After speaking with one of the technicians and running a test on the system, I was told that the unit was safe and working, which also turned out not to be true. After going away from my home for 24 hours (returning September 26), I came back to find that my home had been entered, but most of all I had no dial tone, battery back or protection. I called to cancel the service at that time and requested a full refund, only to be told that because it was Saturday, I needed to wait until Monday, September 28, to cancel because it could not be done at that time.

When I called on the 28th, I was asked a lot of questions. I was told that it would be 7 to 14 days for my refund. But the thing that troubles me the most is that, still after 30 days (and several conversations with their agents), the money which was collected from my account has not been returned to my accounts of today, October 31, 2009. Each time I request my refund, I am given an excuse and another date as to when my money would be refunded. I am given a runaround. My next move is to go to the BBB and to ** to post a complaint against your company policies. I want only what belongs to me!

Eventually after talking to numerous ADT people over the phone, 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 that we had no way to prove it was them even though once the telephone company redid it, everything was okay. Also, our alarm has gone off on two occasions once the fire and once from the door and there were 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.

According to Tony **, if ADT fails to connect their system using the landline phone, they would provide a wireless service with no charge. For both, they were not able to connect their system to the landline phone. While the payment is correct for one ($ 34.99), they have charged for the wireless service for the other. They would not correct this additional charge of $13.00, and forced us to pay the overcharge without correcting their error. Whenever I got the invoice with the wrong amount, I called the ADT sales representative, Tony **, but he never answered or returned my calls.

Regarding this payment, ADT always started to contact us during the office hours, while we were away from home. They demanded to pay the balance without correcting the overcharge. But on 8/25/09 when we were able to answer, the call got cut while the ADT personnel transferred it to their local office. We were waiting for the call on that day, but ADT never called. On 9/11/09 we sent an email to ADT but they never responded, although the website states that they would respond within 48 hours. Still, I did not get the response for the certified mail dated 29th of September. I wonder if ADT would ever respond to an emergency.

However, when ADT technician broke the power line in my kitchen, Tony promised to reimburse the workman's charge to get that repaired but he was not to be found at least to submit the claim. It was a nightmare to get them to change the location of the box which ADT technician fixed in a public area at **. The remaining holes on the wall would tell you all. They never cleaned up their messes. As instructed by Tony, I emailed the complaint to him, so he would forward it to the right person regarding these unethical services.

I want to get out of this contract but they need 75% of the payments for 5 years. God help me. ADT is the worst, and please, God, make them go out of business for these crimes!

The sales representative was nice, as was the other ADT staff member who accompanied him to my house. The gentleman informed me that if I was not satisfied with the installation or the service, I would be able to cancel the contract within six months of the installation. The fine print on the contract stipulates that the previous sentence is true only after ADT has attempted to resolve the source of the dissatisfaction to no avail. I signed the two-year agreement (USAA members do not have to be bound by the normal three-year agreement), acknowledging that the total installation cost of $1,428 would be divided into three equal monthly installments to be charged to my credit card. I also acknowledged on the contract that the monthly monitoring fee of $42.29 plus tax would be automatically deducted from my credit card as well. I supplied the sales rep with my Visa debit card for my checking account.

The installation of my system occurred on September 21. When the installer arrived, the first thing he said was, "The sales rep probably didn't tell you this, but if I hard wire your window and door sensors, it's not going to look good. There will be wires and probably tape sticking out. Now, if you want me to do that, I will, but I highly recommend that you go with wireless sensors." He then told me that with the wireless sensors would be an upgrade fee of $125. I told him to go for it. I asked him about the cost of an additional outdoor siren. He told me that it would cost an additional $175 but he did not have the siren in his van. It would have to be installed at a later date. The installer told me that if I went ahead and made payment for both of the upgrades, I would not incur any mileage/trip charges when the outdoor horn was installed. So, I gave him a check for $300. After he left, I remembered that I was probably eligible for a discount on the upgrades due to being a USAA member.

I called the USAA/ADT line and told the rep about the situation. She confirmed that, indeed, I should have only paid $265.50. She recommended that I call my sales rep and let him know. I called my sales rep and informed him about the wireless upgrade and the addition of the outdoor horn. I asked him if there was any real difference in having the sensors hard wired vs. wireless. His response was that the installers would rather do the wireless because it means they can get done faster. He also told me that he would make sure that my account was credited $34.50, the amount of the USAA discount. At this point, I was somewhere between amused and slightly nervous about the disconnect between sales and installers, as I started thinking about the plethora of negative reviews I had read about ADT online. Remember, my mindset was that if USAA recommends them, they must be okay. I also kept in mind that bad news travels faster and more often than does good news. I figured that for every poor review I read, there must certainly be thousands armed with ADT who pay their bills each month, do not have a break-in, and are content.

On September 24, I noticed while reviewing my online checking account that $300 had been deducted. I was not surprised about the debit, but I was surprised that there was no check number attached and that the transaction was listed as POS, which is how the debit card transactions read. Remember, it was a check for $300 that I gave the installer for the upgrades. It was also on September 24 that a different installer arrived to install the outdoor siren. It took him less than 30 minutes, as the wiring had already been taken care of. On September 28, while once again reviewing my checking account, I noticed two pending transactions from ADT Security. The first was no surprise. It was a debit of $476.04, which was the first of three monthly installation charges. The second charge, however, was a surprise. It was for $92.39. I spoke with two billing specialists at ADT who told me that they could see the charge on my account, but they had no idea what it was for. I then called my sales rep who told me that he wasn't sure what it was for.

I then called the USAA/ADT line, and the person I spoke with put me through to someone in the Little Rock, Arkansas office (I live in El Dorado, AR) who informed me that the $92.39 was for the first two months of the monitoring service. My sales rep called me back to tell me he had found out what the charge was for. I told him that I already knew, and that it would have been nice if he had shared that information with me. Fortunately, I had the funds in my checking account to cover the charge. The sales rep told me he had never heard of ADT billing (and automatically debiting) for the first two months at once. At this point, amusement gave way to nervousness and anxiety of the unknown. My mind resumed pondering all of the negative ADT reviews online regarding questionable billing practices, homes not actually being professionally monitored, lying salesmen, and shoddy installation. The following events absolutely incensed me and began yesterday (September 30, 2009) morning.

I was examining my checking account online yet again, and there was a negative balance. I thought I would throw up. I knew before I even clicked on the transaction detail link that it was ADT Security. Sure enough, ADT deducted $265.50 from my account, leaving me in the red with no access to funds and an impending $27 charge from my bank to cover the transaction. So, rather than credit me $34.50, they took an additional $265.50. I called the ADT billing department and spoke with a gentleman who looked at my account and saw that the $265.50 had been deducted from my debit card. He stated that he would process a credit in the same amount back to my debit card account. I asked how long it would be before the funds were replaced. He told me it would be two or three business days. When I asked him how I would provide groceries for my family with no available money in my checking account, he almost seemed concerned.

Five minutes after hanging up, I decided to call back and attempt to cancel my account. I spoke with the most uncaring female customer service representative I have ever encountered. I told her that I wanted to cancel my account. She replied that it would be impossible. I told her that the sales rep sat in my living room and told me that if I was unsatisfied within six months, I would be able to cancel the contract. She stated that the cancellation had to occur within three days. She then decided to lecture me that the six month provision was only applicable if the dissatisfaction pertained to either the installation or the monitoring service and if ADT had attempted to resolve the problem unsuccessfully. When I asked whose fault it was that ADT billing deducted the money from my account, she replied, "Your sales rep. He sold you the system, didn't he?"

I hung up furious this time and decided to reread my contract. She was almost right. The contract does not specify dissatisfaction with the monitoring service. It only reads service. I certainly include responsible billing practices as an important part of the service. With regard to ADT's resolution of the problem, the only resolution I had been offered by the billing specialists I spoke with was tantamount to you're **. I then, by God, had the right to cancel my contract. I next called the USAA/ADT line. The lady I spoke with immediately put me through to a mid-level manager at ADT in Little Rock. She said she had no idea of why this billing fiasco had occurred. However, she was sympathetic and stated that she could understand my frustration. She wanted to know if there was any way that they could rectify the billing issue and if I would consider giving them another chance. I told her that I had contracted with them for a service that was supposed to make me feel secure and that now, I feel less secure because I couldn't trust them with access to my Visa debit card account.

How could I be sure that the next time they would not take $500 or $1,000 or more (I do have that much in my account for about 30 minutes every two weeks)? I told her that I was also concerned that there is a $300 check I wrote to ADT on 9/21/09 that had not yet posted. She confirmed that this was true. I was emphatic that the contract would not be upheld and that I would be due a refund minus some reasonable expenses for the installer's time and mileage from Pine Bluff to El Dorado. She told me that she would be getting back with me later in the day after she had discussed how to proceed with others in her office. Today, I spoke with the gentleman who I believe to be the head of Operations for the Little Rock office. He sincerely apologized for the billing issues and explained that the installer should not have accepted a check and how their automated billing system caused the problems. He stated that he understood that I wanted to be done with ADT.

I knew what his first offer would be. He suggested that we could terminate the contract with no early cancellation fee since I owned the equipment. I reminded him that I did not own the equipment, as I had only made one of three monthly installments. I told him that I had a feeling that what he thought was fair and reasonable was probably a long way from what I considered to be fair and reasonable. He said, "What do you mean fair and reasonable?" I responded that I would gladly give up $350 to compensate for the installer's travel and time and 11 days of monitoring service but I want all the hardware removed and a refund of the remaining $783 from the $1,133 that was deducted from my account. He neither affirmed, haggled, nor declined. He said that he needed some time to verify the initial $300 deduction on September 24. He also informed me that a hold on my debit card was in effect, meaning that no more deductions would be allowed. I told him that I took care of it on my end too, by canceling the debit card and by stopping payment on the $300 check that was out there somewhere.

He told me that it would be about 15 or 20 business days before any refund could be processed. About two hours later, the same gentleman called me back and said that he saw where the $300 came out of my account. Though I'm thinking, "Duh, why do you think I'm so upset," I am no longer shocked by anything. To his credit and my appreciation, this guy is smooth. He told me that I would be refunded the entire amount minus a prorated monitoring fee for the 10 or 11 days the service is (was) active. Someone would be in touch with me on Monday for the removal of my system and he would touch base with me as well. He also acknowledged that this was entirely their fault. I was, once again, already expecting the last thing he said, and that was that because I canceled my check card, it would take even longer for me to get my refund.

They will have to process the refund to the canceled check card, wait for it to bounce back, and then initiate a check to me. I had already decided that I could tolerate that more than I could tolerate more unauthorized money coming out of my account in case they became more unscrupulous or if they could not get a handle on their billing processes. The bottom line is, if he follows through on what he says he and the Little Rock office will have done right by me. I wouldn't trust the corporate ADT billing department as far as I could throw them, however. As soon as this system is removed, I am having one installed by Electronic Alarms, a local company in El Dorado with monitoring done by a company in Little Rock.

I signed my two business locations. However, within 6 months, the Billing department was incapable and irritated me to no end. I cancelled. They charged me the rest of contract life. I called the 800 number and they explained to me that the "6-month money back guarantee" only applies to technical problems. I was infuriated and called Wes and demanded an answer. He told me that the same information he provided to me about the "6-month back guarantee" was provided by his manager (his manager at the time was now no longer with ADT). He also told me that he didn't expect for this to come back because no one has actually taken advantage of the guarantee before. So Wes and his manager were hoping for me to not have problems so this would come back to haunt them, but it did.

Wes contacted his manager now (a new manager since I signed). His manager, Dave, contacted me. He expressed that he wanted to deal with this internally before I go to Better Business Bureau. After waiting for a month, still there was no answer to my dispute. Instead, I got a phone call from a collection attorney. First, they falsely advertised to get me to sign. Second, they purposely postponed my process and then stiffed me with a collection attempt. This company is not good. I can't believe the unethical ways of this company. Ever heard of any one charging the remaining of the contract if terminated early? If that is the case, then why don't they just not allow early termination? And why do big companies like ADT send out employees and lie to get customers to sign? English is not my first language so understanding the fine print is hard enough. I trusted Wes and he and his company cheated me. I will now contact BBB and then a private attorney if needed.

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

A few days later, he called and told me he can’t make it, but if I would renew with him, he would give me a discount on my monthly billing. I asked how much and he said the new monthly charge would be $28 a month. I never got the discount. I paid the original $32 and some change monthly just as before. No discount and not another word from him ever again. Apparently, they change hands quite a bit. In March of 2009, I stopped using the service with ADT Security because suddenly our finances took a nosedive and we had to shut the landline telephone service down. ADT Security Systems do not work without a landline. We also closed the checking account that was associated with ADT’s monthly automatic payment. Suddenly, out of nowhere I start getting tons of phone calls a couple of months ago from a company named Appelles, which simply left voicemails for me to call back. It turns out they are a collection agency, and a very shady one at that, who says I owe somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 or more for a broken contract with ADT Services!

I called billing at ADT and was told by the rude representative that the account was no longer with them. It had been turned over to a collection agency and I would have to call the collection agency and work it out with them. The collection agency? None other than Apelles (other complaints exist for them as well, for their nasty and rude practices as well). I haven’t signed a new contract with ADT since the original one I signed in the year 2001. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen or heard from any representative of ADT since the call 6 years ago asking me to renew then! I’m not even sure I had monitoring services at all since I never actually had to use it, but with the complaints I’ve read from others about ADT, it’s a possibility I was paying for a service that never was. The clown at Appelles told me that the contract automatically renews. How can that be? How can a contract renew without permission of the person you are trying to hold to a contract? Nobody has been here with a contract and I haven't signed anything since I originally asked for the system in 2001.

I'm getting so sick of banks and corporates and collection agencies playing mafia with me and trying to rip me off and adding fees and more fees on top of what they say we owe. Everyone else has the government working for them, so where is the consumer's help? My credit rating has taken a beating since the new credit card laws were proposed by the president. Credit card companies are taking away our credit and hiking interest rates. So on top of that, now I have a service which I should have been in charge of whether I wanted it or not doing the same: ruining my credit score with their outrageous practices. I have paid them faithfully for 8 years. Now they send me to a collection agency because I choose to stop receiving their service? These practices against consumers must stop! They are getting out of hand.

We purchased our house in Phoenix in September 2004, and the ADT alarm system was already installed in the house. We did not move into the house until 9 months after we purchased it because the house was undergoing renovation. During that time period and for the subsequent two years, we never used the alarm system. However, beginning in the summer 2007, I became the sole (part-time) resident of the house and began to use the alarm system. As I recall, I spoke numerous times to the ADT service department because the alarm worked only intermittently and warning signals would indicate problems with the system. Eventually, the system worked.

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

It became obvious to me several months ago (with all of these problems with the system) that we were not really linked to ADT because when the alarm would go off, no one from ADT contacted us nor did the police arrive. So we were not benefiting from any ADT services.. All we had was a broken system that would make a lot of noise, never at the right time.

I was in Phoenix on June 22 to 23, and the alarm (despite it being off) was making strange sounds and would be set off automatically without reason. After several phone calls with ADT, I set an appointment to have a service person come to meet me at the house. I made a special trip to Phoenix to meet the service provider on July 20. The repair person was quite nice and spent about an hour working on the system. When he left, he told me I need to have Cox Communication (our phone provider) come to reinstall some hook-up but that for the time being, the system would work fine, and that I should turn it on when I leave the house and turn it off (as usual) when I am in the house. I left Phoenix on July 21, and followed his instructions turned the alarm on when I left the house that morning.

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

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

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

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

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

I agreed to pay because without that agreement ADT's service person would not come to the house and the alarm would just keep going off indefinitely disturbing the neighborhood. My colleague returned to the house yet again to meet the service person. As it turns out, the ADT phone people were giving the wrong information. There is no 18" box. All the equipment for our system is located in a closet in the adjacent room, just a big plug, no box!

I then arranged for an appointment with both Cox Communication and ADT so that Cox would come in the morning and ADT in the afternoon on August 7. I could not be in Phoenix on that date, so I paid my assistant in California to fly to Phoenix to meet the repair people at my house. I paid airfares and for one day of work time. Cox arrived that morning and rewired the hookup for the alarm system. ADT came in the afternoon and just looked at the hook up and said that everything would work fine now.

I flew to Phoenix on August 13-14, and spent the night at the house. When I arrived, I turned off the alarm but once again it began to sound off with no reason. I phoned ADT and they walked me through the same procedures where I put in the code twice and push some other buttons. The alarm appeared to be off (it said it was off). In the middle of the night, it started to sound off yet again.

It had been my intention to write to you immediately about these experiences and my complete lack of confidence in your company. Unfortunately, I was called out of town on repeated business trips, and then left for Europe for two weeks.

This past Friday, September 4, I phoned ADT to completely cancel my relationship and account. The first response from the staff was to inquire as to why I was doing this. I stated that I felt the performance of the company had been completely unprofessional and that I have had recurring problems for many months with my service. She wanted to provide me with some credits if I remained with the company. I said I thought I deserved lots of credits but that it was my intention to get a new alarm system with another company that would perform better than ADT. She then withdrew her offer of credit. She then informed me that I would be billed for another month, despite the fact that I won't have any service (and that I have not really had service from ADT for many, many months).

I was willing to put up with a less than mediocre service for a long time because my life is too busy to pay attention to a lot of these issues. But finally, I did pay attention and now I can see that your company is unprofessional, inept, rude, and cannot fulfill its responsibilities to customers. The only thing you appear to be able to do well is send out invoices.

As a business owner, I am well aware of the pressures and difficulties of providing service, caring about customers, managing staff, and all the other aspects that need to be addressed to perform well. It's clear that your mission statement is meaningless to your staff. I, for one, cannot see how you will ever exceed customers' expectations through superior service delivery, world class talent and applied technological innovation. As a professional who works with non-profit organizations who truly live up to their mission and work with value-based goals, your performance is a mockery of the very statements you profess to work to achieve.

If you have any interest in knowing more about my situation, or if you can figure out what you should do to address my frustrations, unnecessary travel and reliance on colleagues, unneeded stress, and of course payments for no service, feel free to call me. It is my intention to forward a copy of this letter to the Better Business Bureau and to post it online.

P.S. At my California house, we have had a security system with Bay Alarm for more than 20 uneventful years. We have never needed service; the alarm works fine.

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

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

I requested a full refund of my money back. I was told that I won't get my money back as I'm under contract & to seek legal counsel. Well, I am not under contract because the company canceled the contract. The contract was breached by them. Due to my investigation, I found this company has a grade of "F" by the BBB and I don't understand why ADT would send this company to people's houses. This was not the first time this company displayed unprofessional behavior. On the initial installation, they didn't even show up or call to cancel the appointment. ADT allegedly set up another appointment with another dealer and AVS shows up at my door. I didn't know it was AVS until it was time to sign the contract. I was so upset so ADT set it up for me to receive a $150 gift card which had insufficient funds.

After the system was installed, we went to make a copy of the certificate to get to our insurance company and found that they had left someone else's certificate with us, which leads me to my main complaint. When the salesperson was selling to us, I asked her when the money would be taken from our account and she said the first of the month. I asked her if that was for sure. She said that they probably would not take it until the following month. Well they took it immediately, which resulted in an NSF and 7 overdraft fees totaling $60.00. When I called her manager, he said he would reimburse me for this money. This was 3 weeks ago. He told me I would have the check last week and then he told me I would have it again this week. No check.

I have also found out that the person who sold us the system has been fired because she was arrested, which makes me wish I had never let ADT in my home because this person walked out of my house with a credit card number and my checking account information. I now feel I have to monitor these constantly to make sure I am not being robbed there too. This has been the most unpleasant experience I have ever had. And what makes it even worse is I don't feel I can trust the very people who are supposed to be protecting my home. I can assure you when my contract is up, I will not be continuing to give you my business. I feel safer with the people I am trying to lock out of my home than with the people who sold me the system to protect it. I hope this is addressed because it is horrible to have this sick feeling that you've been duped. If I could, I would have the system removed and go with a company who actually respects the customer.

I guess it was in the contract, but I didn't read it and they know people don't read these contracts. I think they're taking advantage of a lot of people using these tactics. Statistically they know exactly what their doing, getting people to sign contracts that would put money in their pockets instantly should they breach the contract. Also, the length in which a person has to violate their terms seems to extend way too far. I mean yes, I have had the service disconnected due to non-payment but that's over 6 years with the last time being 2 years ago. I think this is yet another example of a corporation taking advantage of consumers. I have no problem paying the past due and continuing the service but ADT doesn't do that. In fact, if your contract is cancelled, then you have to start a new contract and I guess the limit on that is 2, no three chances. I don't think there should be a limit at all as long as the consumer is willing make amends by paying off the past due.

After my disapproval of the first two options, Lamont told me to have a good day and hung up the phone. However, I took the third option. ADT collected my money regularly every month. The first time I needed regular help, ADT said it was an emergency and gave me no viable options. I wouldn't recommend anyone that I care about to do business with ADT.

I asked how much the cancellation fee would be for this. I knew ahead of time that I could pay up to 75% of the remaining balance on the contract. However, according to ADT, I had started a new contract when I moved to my previous location. I was charged a cancellation fee of $200 plus one more $50 payment because it takes 30 days to disconnect. I think this is dishonest since I never signed an additional contract with ADT and therefore, I shouldn't have had to pay these additional fees. I used the exact same service, but at a different location. The contract was slated for 3 years and should have remained so. I think ADT should have extended my same service at the previous address like they stated and not hold me liable to a contract that I never signed. This practice will only drive customers away.

I have been trying to contact the local branch manager and last month, he said he would be sending the agreement document. I have still not gotten and since three months, I am trying to get information and every other person tells me different information. I do not understand how this goes about, since they require business anyone say anything and if I talk to customer service, the only answer I get is, "I am sorry for the inconvenience but as per ADT, this is what's needed to be done."

Is there not a specific rule on how these companies work? I need to pay $758. This is quite a huge amount. When I asked for cancellation, they did not cancel and only next month they cancelled and they charged for the previous month. Is this the way the business has to go with customer satisfaction?

ADT has purposely made it difficult to spot the length of the contract. Not only is the contract length in tiny letters, but the length of the contract is typed as "five" rather than "5" to make it extremely difficult to find. All other numbers in the contract are numerical, e.g. "1 year" and "30 days". The number five is written out in letters to make it blend in with the other words to keep it hidden. This is misleading and unfair business practices. It turns out the sales rep who I signed up with no longer works with the company. I've contacted the manager numerous times who claims that there is an investigation but cannot provide me with any updates. He never returns my calls. It's been approximately two months of speaking with the ADT manager and I have finally filed with BBB.

ADT should make the length of the contract in large or at least regular font. It should not be purposely concealed so that even an ADT worker can't find it. ADT sales rep shouldn't lie about the length of the contract and ADT managers should handle cases in a timely manner. In addition, the cancellation fees are ridiculous. No other company I've dealt with has a 90% (over $1500) cancellation fee. I am willing to work with attorneys.

I politely told her no. She then started quoting statistics of house break-ins, etc. I pointed out my dog growling at her and said I have a security system. Of course, Amanda took several steps backward. I told Amanda that everyone in this area is a cop, federal agent or a marine and none of us have ever been robbed, etc. She still insisted we were not safe from crime. I could not help it, I started to laugh at what she was saying. I started to close my door as she rambled on. She got the hint and started walking away. Her final words to me were, "You know you’re a real **".

I called ADT and basically got the runaround and they never were able to reach a supervisor. I called back and received phone numbers to call. Conveniently, all the voice mail boxes were full.

I have lost a few days of work because I have work at home job and spend money on those technician fee for a few hundreds dollars. Even worse thing could have happened. Without a dial tone phone, if my family needs to dial 911, they don't have a phone to call. If my alarm goes off, ADT can't call to get help for us. These two companies only know charging customer, but fail to deliver the service as it should be.

I went back and forth between ADT local tech and AT&T tech. Finally, ADT said we will send our own ADT tech out to check. The tech came and said no, there is no way this is going to work and I will make a report to ADT that the system is not compatible. I was told by ADT that if the system is not compatible, they would let me cancel my contract without any penalty. Now they are giving me the runaround about canceling my service. I need help.

I complained about the misinformation and I was only given an apology. Still, I was told that I need to pay $100 before they will do anything. I asked the rep if we could just take the items with us and was told "no." They will just reinstall new equipment at the new location and not to worry about that. Later, I received a call from Durrell from a place called Defender Security (collections dept). Durrell rudely advised me that it was past my 30 days from when I moved and I need to let him know if I am going to pay the $100 to have the security system re-installed or send them a check for $1,400 to pay off the 3-year contract.

I advised Durrell that I did want to have a security system in the house as well, but it took everything we had to make the move and we are just getting caught up on the regular bills. He told me that he was giving me until June 30th, which is next week, to pay $100 or $1,400.00. He also advised that they will not be installing the upgraded equipment I purchased, but only the standard security. He told me that if I wanted the upgraded security system, I should have taken it down myself and brought it with me.

I am very upset because the ADT rep that I talked to when I called told me not to touch the equipment. It is okay to leave it at the apartment and they will reinstall new equipment. Durrell agreed and said that they will install the new equipment for the additional cost (for having it upgraded). I will have to pay that again because I did not bring the other with me.

I did what I was advised by ADT's reps, not to mention that not long after having the equipment installed, someone tried to get through my front door. The alarm went off. I could not get my key alarm to work that they provided me and once I was able to get the system to shut off, I had to call them! I asked the female rep did she not show that my alarm was going off. She replied yes, but since I cut it off within a certain amount of time, there was no need for them to call me to see if all was okay.

I thought ADT was a security company--a company looking to secure people's safety. But they are the robbers and thieves because they came into my home and ripped me off of everything they said they would do. Something needs to be done about this!

Two days later, I got a call from ADT which told me that there was a system failure at the garage door. I knew that because I called ADT two days earlier. Okay, it's been established that I have a system error. I spoke to at least 20 representatives, all were very rude, except two. The two, who were somewhat nice, promised to help. But you guess it, I have not heard from them again.

I asked for weekend appointments to have the system review and was told that there were no weekend appointments. This confused me because a weekend appointment was provided when the system was installed. So I could not understand why the weekends was a problem now. Someone showed up about two weeks later on the weekend, and guess what? The sorry repairman told me that he didn't have the part to repair the system. Just sorry.

I phoned ADT again and spoke with an insensitive CSR, so I asked to speak to her supervisor. The supervisor came to the phone with an attitude. I asked for her name, and she gave it to me and decided to spell it for me. Surely, I'm capable of spelling a name as common as **. She was trying to be cute. I guess I disturbed the smoke break; her voice sounded raspy. She too offered nothing but excuses.

I decided to take advantage of the telephone number given to me for the CEO. I phoned and was told that I was speaking to his assistant. As expected, she was useless as well. She gave me her telephone number and told me to call her when the technician came out and she would see about refunding my monthly fee. Imagine that, I was to call her. News flash, I'm the customer here. It seems to me that she should have been keeping an eye on my account to see if the technician came to my home and she should call me to tell me that she's refunding my fee. I guess that seems too much like the right thing to do.

I placed another call to the CEO office and talked to another lady who said she was the CEO's assistant. This CEO must be one busy person, considering all of his assistance. Now my question is busy doing what? Surely his time is not invested in customer services, because his CSR, supervisors, and assistants all appear to be just simply out of touch with what's going on with the customer.

I wanted to cancel my service today, and a little voice told me to check my contract (something I should have done in the beginning). Sure enough, I'm stuck like Chuck for three years. (LOL) I plan on telling everyone I meet about the service I received from ADT and my experiences as it relates to me.

The reason I cancelled was I did not like that the camera frames had up to a 7-second delay which would allow any burglar time to get out of the view of the cameras. After speaking to him, I spoke with Becky from the local billing office in Pennsauken, NJ. She was very nice, and after saying I had to fax a letter of cancellation and why, she said there were no problems and she'd set up a date for the installer to come back and uninstall the system.

He came within 2 days and took down the cameras and wiring. They still charged my account over $400.00, the first installment for payment, and they have now sent my account to a collection service. The collection service, when I spoke with them, put the file on hold, because they did note that ADT had a letter in their file that it was supposed to be cancelled! What is going on?!

I stayed in the third location for 3 years. I cancelled the monitoring service when I went out of business. I am now being hounded for a cancellation fee of $1,490. How long are the contracts?! Either I took over the contract for the other woman (2 + 3 = 5) or they let her out of her contract and started a new one with me. I don't think they can have it both ways. Since I paid them for a total of 8 years, I think they have their pound of flesh. I don't need this irritation in my life.

We called the alarm company and they wanted to charge us $140 for thirty minutes for them to send someone out to see if it was wired wrong. It was awful customer service; they sounded like they were reading from a script and kept wanting to give me different phone numbers. The company they contracted to do the wiring, there was no answer and I left a message, and do not expect a call back. We would love to cancel our service but don't know how to get out of our contract. It is not stated anywhere. They are awful!

Unfortunately, it stopped working in February 2009. Since then, I have contacted them, their local office, and their sales representative to handle this issue. They sent a technician. Then they told me that the system was inoperable due to its old state. The technician told me that the system was beyond repair. I called ADT office to cancel the service. However, they asked for $800 cancellation charge!

When I called today, I was told that the final statement was not really our final statement and that they attempted to charge my credit card on file for the outstanding monthly monitoring service still due, but it was declined so I needed to send payment. The card they had on file had been compromised and a new card was issued, but I never gave them the new number because they didn't need it since I had sent in our final payment. I repeatedly asked why the statement would say final if it was not and was told basically it's not final and pay up. No amount of conversation was going to sway them. We will pay the outstanding amount because we do not want to jeopardize our good credit but will never ever do business with ADT or any of its subsidiaries.

I was given a number by the nice lady the only one at ADT and by the time I hung up, I had misplaced the last four digits of the number. It was 877 238 something. I kept getting Stephanie who would not give me a number to lodge a complaint about the dealer who would not put the extra keypad at the inside garage door where the main box is located. He refused at the $800 price. Stephanie would not put me through to a manager except hers who said he would move the keypad to the downstairs and I would not have one upstairs but that would cost also. I want one upstairs and downstairs and three sensors and forget that was not wanted.

But the buck stopped with her and she was so nasty. I want and will cancel come Sept. 09 and I got so upset having to talk to Stephanie that is will just leave my system off. I have been defrauded and no one except Stephanie can I talk to. The first lady said that there was a dealer department that oversees the dealers and consumer complaints, but know it all Stephanie said there was no department and no escalation consumer complaint section either. The buck stopped there with her. What kind of company is this? When you wanted a jet airplane and I went to Palm Beach, met your chairman and then flew to Bermuda to close to avoid taxes, your company was so nice. I want someone to fire the people that do injustice with your company and call me about my problem.

The system was installed on 4/28/09. The installation tech was rude and in a hurry to get to his son's baseball game. When he called to activate the system, he was told that the contract had been canceled. I told him that I tried to cancel it but was unable to do so. Eventually, the account was activated. I was asked to do a service survey while the technician stood next to me and listened. Again, I felt coerced. I wasn't able to give accurate answers to the survey while he was standing next to me.

After he rushed through the instructions on how to use the system, he left. I had not read the contract until now. I wasn't given time to read it before signing it and I didn't bother to read it after the sales rep left because I had every intention of canceling. I now realize that I am stuck with this system for 3 years! I was never informed of this. The next day, $43.85 was debited from my account for 4/28-5/31. I received a bill stating that I owed $43.85 for the same billing cycle. The amount was debited on 5/19/09.

While he was gone, I noticed a big envelope that had my name on it. I looked inside and there was the initial paperwork from the phone call with my entire bank card number typed on it. I closed it back and said nothing. Once he returned, he had a more expensive part because they didn't have what he needed and that he said I wouldn't be charged for because it wasn't my fault he couldn't get to the necessary area in my home. Upon installation, he briefly went over the mechanical part of operating the system and asked me to sign the paperwork. I was rushed and didn't read it because I was still traumatized and felt relieved of being afraid in my own home.

On May 5th, I went to check my bank account and they had removed $469.00 from my account, which had me in arrears with the bank and caused $198.00 in NSF funds. I immediately contacted ADT and talked to about 10 different people - all but one were totally arrogant and rude. One offered to help, was quite nice and assured me they would get my money back, and that she was making notations in the systems about my account and that she would call me back the next day. She even took my phone number. When I didn't hear from her, I called back and and of course there were no notes of my phone call in the system and no evidence that I had been calling. The contract that I have at my home only speaks of the the $215.42 and nothing else.

I feel traumatized because I didn't have homeowner's insurance and now I'm robbed again. I'm in the red with my bank and can't afford what I owe them due to someone else's greed. I cancelled my bank card and my bank is disputing the charges.

Then I got hold of Jammie and told her that I was unhappy and wish to discontinue. They said it would be no fees if done within 6 months. Well, it only took 30 days. They charged 30 dollars a month for monitoring fees but they weren't monitoring. Today, 5-8-09, they came out and removed the system and left a 2 ft. by 2 ft. hole where the box was mounted in the wall. When I called, they said it was in my contract that they don't fix holes. Well, if the contract didn't come out to be good on their part and they are refunding my money, shouldn't that make them responsible to fix their holes? After all, if they held up to their end of the contract, they would have never had to remove their equipment.

I did get an estimate of $250 to fix the holes, one in the basement and one in the foyer. I called Tina ** again and she was very irate with me which made me even hotter that they didn't hold up their contract and then gave me an attitude. So I checked further into things. They installed my system on 3/18/09. They charged $65 for a permit and I do deal with permits all the time as I work for a plumbing co. Well, I went to the Permit section in AACo and found out that they didn't get the permit till 4/6/09. I do know that the only reason they did this was because I told them I wanted to see the permit. I am sure they are charging everyone the $65 fee for permits and are not getting them after all. All they do is plug the unit into an outlet.

They also lost my credit card number on the contract. Somehow someone misplaced it, so now I have my credit card number on a piece of paper somewhere with all the info on it. Now I have to keep my eyes on that to make sure nobody gets that. They charged $908 on credit cards and then charged me for monitoring fees or $28.61. Then I have 2 hole that will cost me $250 to fix. I want them to take care of these issues or I will keep on complaining to every government authority I can until something is done. They said the money all but the money for the hole which they refuse to pay for should be back on my cards by next week but they have to pay for the holes also. Plus, I think it is time for the government to step in and start seeing about them charging $65 for permits that I am sure they are not getting unless they are asked about them.

The other thing is that I know, as a plumber, you cannot start work till the permit is purchased and is on the job if one is required. They should also be fined for that, just like I would be if I did a job the way they did. I look forward to hearing back from your office. Thanks for the time.

So yesterday, 4/29/2009, a cleaning company that cleans my home came later than usual while my wife and I were out running around. We had forgotten that we had set the alarm and they didn't know the code to turn it off so the alarm went off. The cleaning company called my phone to advise me that they accidentally set the alarm off. Now keep in mind that they (cleaning company) called me and I didn't pick up until 30 minutes later or so to call back and asked what was going on. I told them what our passcode was so that they can turn the alarm off. I then rushed home thinking that the police will be there because nobody called me when the alarm went. When I returned home, there was no police and the cleaning crew was cleaning like nothing happened. So, I called ADT and they told me that they will send out a tech. I asked again, "Why didn't you call me or the police," and their response was, "We're not sure until the tech comes out."

So today (4/30/2009) as I'm typing this, the tech is trying to figure out why nobody called me or the police. To my surprise, when my sales person sold me the alarm, he asked if we had a landline and I told him I only use my cell phone because I travel and work a lot. He told me that it was okay and just put my number on my contract and he scheduled me for my installation. He failed to tell me that I needed a special device for a signal to reach my cell phone and to call the local police. So, I called ADT customer service and asked them who would be responsible if we were robbed and the robber killed or rape my family. They couldn't answer that but what they did tell me is that I would have to pay more money to get this device put in.

Yesterday, April 29th 2009, Defender showed up to correct the problem again. They even had a "Regional Trainer" with them. His name was Robert **. They told me everything was now OK, yet this morning I got up, tested the alarm, and yes you guessed it, it failed - no phone contact and even worse, no siren. So should the smoke alarms go off, we would not have even heard it, and my children could have perished from the smoke. You need to warn everyone of the dangers of dealing with ADT/Defender Direct. Their incompetent workmanship and inferior equipment will cost someone the lives of their children. Please help save a child’s life.

I asked ADT to come finish the job. A guy came but left within 20 minutes saying he didn't know how it couldn't signal properly and he would be back next week with the new equipment. He never showed up again even after next week. I felt so unsecure and asked if I could talk to Melvin **. She said he didn't work in ADT anymore. I felt trapped and asked if I could cancel the account. She said we had to pay a $500 early termination fee. I felt it was so unfair and dirty, and I tried to talk over it. No resolution came out and we still had to pay monthly fee for a non-working system.

A rep called and told me our system's battery were dead. I asked if they could send some responsible tech to fix the system since it was not working properly. She asked what the problem was and I told her the issue over and over again. The tech came to check on it and said the same thing to me, "I don't know why." He changed the battery and left. A couple weeks later, I received a charge of $182.86 for trip fee and if I don’t pay, they will place my account to a collection agency. I felt it was abusive charge since it was their fault in the first place and I shouldn't pay for their unfinished job. I had called ADT so many times. Their service toward consumer was so poor. I'm afraid it will affect my credit score that I value so much, so I had no choice but to file a complaint to BBB.

A week later (Friday morning), ADT called us because of BBB. They wanted to offer a schedule service at no charge and I said okay, but I also asked them about the $182.86 charge. They said they couldn't give me the decision regarding the charge yet until the system service is done and they promised they would call back on Monday regarding the charge. The tech came on Saturday and checked and did stuff. Finally, the system seemed to be fixed. I expected a call from ADT on Monday, but there was no phone call at all. So, I had to respond to BBB.

On Friday morning, ADT called and told me their decision was I still had to pay $182.86. I was so mad and asked them why. They said this $182.86 was an additional contract (maintenance fee) to my account asked by my mother. It really was a big fat lie made out of no way. First, my mother doesn't speak English at all. How could she speak with them? Plus, it was their fault at the very beginning for not providing the working monitor. My family and I felt so helpless and stressed. I asked them to reconsider the issue or I will need a lawyer. They hung up the phone on me without saying anything. What should we do now?

When they came to install the business one and we listed how many sensors, key pads, etc. we would need, the service rep said that there would be additional charges. We ended up being on the phone with them fighting for what was already promised. Eight hours later, we had to give up 4 months of free service to cover the additional equipment that I was assured would be included.

We never wanted to get anything for free; we never asked for it. We simply wanted what was already promised. It was completely unfair. This sales guy was so eager to sell us that he promised the world to make the deal. The installation guys were very patient, said they dealt with this everyday, that the ADT salespeople offer everything and then never follow through. Not to mention the fact that their customer service associates were talking about us after we got off the phone, or so they thought. The girl had not disconnected the line yet and I heard her telling her associate what a pain in the ** we were, when really all we wanted was what had been offered and promised. We never asked for any of the upgrades and perks, but we sure as hell weren't going to let them screw us either.

When the installer came, he advised that they could not use our current system; it would have to be upgraded. I was never asked what type of system I was looking for or what my security needs would be. He came back with a total price for this system of approximately $600. I told him that I did not want to spend that much for a security system and felt I could do much better with someone else. He then asked me to give him a minute while he called his boss. He came back with approximately $100 knocked off the price.

I had my husband on the phone and we both became quite uneasy with the dealing that was being done. The installer had me speak with his manager via his personal cell phone which did not get good reception in my home. I asked for the manager to call my husband and explain his offer as I was not comfortable agreeing to something when I could only get about every other word the man was saying. After the conversation with this manager, my husband felt this was some sort of con going on. This pricing was given to my husband via the manager.

It became a bidding war. My husband finally said that if they could put this system in for $300 to do it but that was all he was willing to go over with the $99 that had already been given to them for a total install of $399. The install took close to 5 hours. The installer had problems getting our home phone into their box for monitoring purposes. After this installer left, I went upstairs and noticed that his ladder was left in the closet with an install manual. The next morning, I noted that both of my phone boxes were left open with wiring hanging down and out of the box exposed to the elements. I later found that the phone to my barn had been disconnected.

We got a call from Trisha from Absolute Security which was left on our answering machine leaving us a message to please return her call regarding our installation. The number she left for a return call was a ** site. The motion detector in the hallway of the back of the house does not work upon testing this system ourselves, as this was not done at installation. We never received a call from ADT after the alarm was activated twice. I called Absolute Security and asked them if they were aware that my alarm had been going off for 20 minutes and they told me no. They took my name and number to have a customer service representative call me back within an hour.

I did receive a call back from a gentleman who said his name was Tim and was the customer service manager for Absolute Security. I was mad about the whole situation especially the ** number I was asked to return my call to. He told me that he would need to be at his computer to be able to check install dates and asked if he could contact me on Saturday morning. We found at this time the barn phone was out. My husband had to spend almost 45 minutes in the rain to get the phone service back into the barn after the mess the installer made of the phone boxes.

When Tim called me this morning, he was telling me that my system was in Test mode and would be for a week. He was telling me that the sensor in the back room was working when it was not. He was arrogant and argumentative. I told him again that I have a mother who lives with me who has senile dementia (Alzheimer's Disease). If she were to go out the back door and fall in the pool, she could drown.

What if I needed help? That is why I put a monitored service in this house. I was so angry at this manager's responses I hung up on him. My husband has now called for this Tim leaving four messages. He refuses to return his call. How can I get service if my call is not returned? I called ADT themselves and they advised that my system is not in Test mode. It is fully activated and functional. I wanted a monitored smoke detector which Absolute Security states is more money from us; however, they list it as free for new activation.

Unfortunately, they couldn't complete the installation. Needless to say, we were very dissatisfied. We called the company and asked if they could do anything about the extra money it was going to cost us in time from work and travel expenses to make a second trip so they could complete their work. They were rude and offered no assistance. So we returned and we were asked to sign the paperwork confirming that the job was done. We had to get back on the road so we signed and that was that. We moved recently and called to have the security system relocated. The company has refused. I asked them for their recorded copy of our agreement and was told that the second agreement (the one I was told was just to confirm the equipment was installed) superseded the original agreement I had with ADT.

The installation company still wants $300 to relocate the system, which I was told would not cost me. They talked about cancelling the contract for just under $1,000 and not have the system at all. When I asked about a copy of my contract with them, the recorded contract, they said they wouldn't send it and furthermore didn't have one. My contract was the signed (order completed paperwork I signed) contract with the installation company. I'm so mad I don't know what to do. Is there anyone out there with a class action lawsuit against these crooks? Forget burglars, we need to be more scared of security companies.

We signed a three-year contract and now they are expecting us to pay for a service they really never even provided. I am urging people to get a class action lawsuit going so we can stop these thieves from taking advantage of more people, and hopefully some criminal charges will be filed. The so-called supervisors they give you never answer their phones; some, in fact, have even been disconnected. I guess they took the money and ran with it! We have been told the only person in the whole company that can make a refund to us is Brian ** and that number has also been disconnected.

The next one we were passed on to was the regional supervisor, Terry ** in Tampa. We left a message on his voice mail and, of course, there was no return call. His number is 813-806-7000. All the clerks are trained to do is just keep you being transferred. Each time was a minimum of 42 minutes or longer, only to get no results. The money this company is making from scamming people needs to be made public on TV, magazines, and any other form to let the public beware to stay far away from them!

It is very disturbing to have a system put in your home to give you a feeling of security, and it does nothing but make you feel insecure because it never works properly. The government shuts down other companies for these types of practices, why is this organization being allowed to continue?

When the alarm went off for a couple of days, they had me disconnect the system. They had to walk me through and remove the back up battery; they could not even send anyone out when this was going on, unbelievable! They stated this would fix it so they would not keep calling me to see if there was a problem and there was no reduction in the bill for service that we did not have.

Then a sales rep comes by several weeks later and mentioned that I signed a five year agreement, which I quickly corrected him. He called his office, and they said I had a five year agreement. I know I was really suspicious of this whole exchange so I refused to give him a copy of my agreement, and asked that he provide a copy of this notorious 5 year agreement that I never signed. Of course none was produced, and I thought the matter was closed. Then in January, I received a dunning letter saying I owe the remaining balance of a five year agreement in the amount of $1,830.92. Of course, I called and was told that I must provide a copy of my agreement for them to credit off the remaining balance. I told them that they must provide a copy of the five year agreement with my signature, which of course they can't because it doesn't exist. They threaten to turn it over to collection in 15 days, but said they would send me a copy of the agreement. I can't wait to see this! I had been recommending ADT Security to the new tenants, but I now will warn them of ADT's deceptive sales tactics and service agreement.

I hope this doesn't affect my credit rating but I refuse to pay for services I'm not receiving and didn't agree to in writing. It seems to me that these companies are using the threat of poor credit score to force people to pay. This really seems like an illegal practice.

At 8:30 am on January 6, I found her on the floor of her home unable to move with the ADT companion necklace on. She was lucid and talking to me and the various police and ambulance personnel who helped to get her to the hospital. She told me and the police at the time she was trying to contact ADT by pressing the button but never got any response from ADT. My mother’s hip and ribs were broken and she was in pain for over 12 hours. Can you put a price on that? Well obviously, the hospital can. She is still at the hospital and will continue to follow up after the operation at a facility to help her walk again. Psychological damage for an 81-year-old woman with Parkinson’s Disease is incalculable.

Now that we no longer have our business, I will never use ADT again or recommend it ever again. They are a bunch of scam artists that want to collect money for nothing. We had to close our business after the lease was up because my husband had a heart attack and underwent a triple bypass. I have fibromyalgia and can no longer manage a store, so we are now trying to work from home. We followed all the rules and receiving these collection letters from Barry Serota & Associates (law firm for ADT) caused us a lot of stress that we do not need at this time. In this economy, to have a company with such malice out there is not right. That is why I am letting everyone that I know not to trust ADT.

She said everything would be cancelled. A week later the check I wrote was cashed and it took my checking account negative. I called them back and complained. The lady said that they could reverse any transactions, but I would have to wait 20 days for a check to be sent in the mail. What I believe happened was, the salesman who came to our home told the company different so he could get the sale. I can't believe this company that is supposed to be honest and help protect our families would do something like this.

I need to tell you about the discussion I had with several of your company's agents. On October 16th I received a coupon in the mail offering... FREE HOME SECURITY SYSTEM at no cost to you for parts and activation with only a $99 installation fee and the purchase of alarm monitoring services... worth $850.00? So I called the number, spoke with a gentleman who went through the installation process with me, including what the tech would do with the Brinks equipment that I already have in my home. Then I asked about the monthly monitoring fee and he told me, with tax, $38.00. I said that was $11.00 a month more than what I am already paying. I said, "Thank You but I can't afford it because I am on a fixed income of only my Social Security."

The following day, October 17th, a young lady named Kendra left two messages on my answering machine. I called back and spoke with a gentleman named Travis; he went through pretty much the same discussion about installation and the monthly fee and I told him that I couldn't afford it. So, he handed me over to his Manager, Chris who told me that they would only charge me an installation fee of $89.00 because I am an AARP member, and they would refund that amount to me, plus send me a $100.00 VISA Gift Card. Well, it sounded so wonderful BUT... I still didn't think I can manage the extra $11.00 a month and I don't want to have to chose between my food, medication and security. SO.... he handed me over to the Supervisor, Loretta **. She told me that not only would they refund the $89.00 installation fee, she would give me a $100.00 gas card, a $100.00 VISA gift card AND send me a check in the amount of $300.00 to help me pay the $38.00 monthly monitoring charge for the year.

Well, this was too good to be true! Ah, yes, that it was. After I agreed to switch from my present security provider and go with ADT, Ms. ** said: "...and you must be sure to cancel your security service before our tech comes to your house." I said that, "I would cancel my service right in front of your tech while he was standing here." She said that would not be good enough; that I must cancel even before the tech come here. I told her that my house was broken into several years ago and that if I canceled my security service I would not be able to go to sleep; I would be afraid to get into a shower; I would be afraid to leave the house!!! None of that was reasonable to Ms. **. I asked ...what if when the tech checked my equipment, he found it was not compatible with what ADT requires? She said they would then put sensors at the doors and the only things that would be unsecure would be the windows. Of course, there would be NO security. WHAT???

Yep, like I said, too good to be true. It started to sound like that old bait & switch? Because then I would have to pay for all the equipment and the installation. SHAME ON YOU!!! I am 70 years old, live on a fixed income and I am NOT a stupid old lady!!! If I told Brinks to disconnect/discontinue my security service and your tech dis-assembled it, I would have to crawl on hands and knees to beg Brinks to re-connect my service. What nerve you have!

I added the maintenance service to my contract (at an additional cost of course). I asked for a tech to come out to repair the detector as well as replace my keypad. My first appointment was scheduled from 8 a.m. - noon. I had to take off work for that visit. No one showed. I received a 2 p.m. call stating that the tech was unable to come and I would have to reschedule the appointment. So, I rescheduled for an evening appointment. Again, no one showed and I received another 2 p.m. call stating that the tech had an emergency. I called to complain and was told that a tech would come out the following week from 5 - 8 p.m. Today, I received a call stating that the tech could not come out as scheduled and was given the option of choosing an evening appointment next week. I voiced my displeasure in the quality of service I have received and hung up. I have had enough.

They said it would be $150 to end my contract early, or they could offer me a lower rate of $34.99/month (I have been paying $50/month.)

I checked my bank account today and noticed the old rate was still being taken out. I called and the man told me that the department that approves such things said the lowest they could go is $39.99.

1) Don't promise me a price, THEN check to see if you can offer it to me.

2) Why didn't you change the amount being deducted from my account to $39.99 then?

I asked him to please set my rate at $39.99 and that I should be reimbursed for the money that I paid over that amount since June.

I was asked to call back in a few business days to check on the progress of that happening.

I am out $45 dollars at worst, and $30 dollars at best. I've lost my trust in the company.

In July of 2007, I contacted Mark Taylor, a business salesperson for ADT about transferring the service to our home which had recently been broken into. He said if we left it in the businesses name we could carry out the remainder of the contract at the house without renewing the contract. We did however have to spend $600 to install the hardware into our house. He finally came out to sign us up on August 16th, 2007.

Mark gave us a rider that said that we could cancel the agreement anytime after the 3 years is up. After writing a check for Mark in August 16th, 2007, we waited until the end of September to have the service installed. By early September, we had a collector from Sko, Brenner, American out of New York calling us. Once he found out that they still hadnt installed the service and hadnt cashed my check, he took care of the account. However, it still took some time for ADT to come out and install it. Then once they installed it they had to come back a week later because it wasnt working properly.

In January of 2008 I took a job in MI and we moved out of state, selling our house in May of 2008. We maintained the service while the house was empty. The new owners, however, have not activated the service to our knowledge. Once we moved up here ADTs collections department called about once a month. Each time I gave them the new billing address to send the bill to. They finally update our address so we received bills in June of 2008.

We sold the business, which actually dissolved because it was taken over by a company with a different name, and the house and no longer have a place to have the service and would like to terminate our contract. ADT wants the remaining $1500 it says we owe as a cancelation fee.

We would like to terminate our contract. We currently have a collector calling from Sko, Brenner, American for the cancelation fee and cannont pay it.

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.

Now they say I have signed a 2 yr agreement, which I was unaware of. Is there a class action lawsuit currently in the works? Thank you. They are attempting to bill me for 75% of a 2 year contract, minus 3 months, or $358.15.

They have messed up the accounts so bad by setting one up in my wife's name, one in mine and applying the payments to the wrong accounts that I told them to cancel service after August 31, 08. Now they say I have signed a 2 yr agreement, which I was unaware of. Is there a class action lawsuit currently in the works? Thank you.

They are attempting to bill me for 75% of a 2 year contract, minus 3 months, or $358.15.

It's now September 2008. Because we have moved. I had some friends there at the house to wait for ADT. They will testify to this. All ADT said that they could do is go back to June of 08 to reimburse us. This was a manager Mrs Herndon that I spoke with. Thank you

When they pulled the Box from the wall, they damaged the wall and some of the celling.

This again worked for about 6 months and then stopped working, I tried all my efforts but could not get it started. This time again we called them, they told that the DVR is bad and took it for repair, after which they dis-appeared. not sure if they still have it or they resold it else where, when we call they keep transferring us to different depts and we cannot get thru for a good answer. Its been six months now and we still don't have the DVR they took for repair nor do we have any status. I am disgusted with their service.

1. ADT systems are priced outrageously high. You can get good survellance system from costco etc. Also, ADT systems are made differently so you have to replace anything you want to only thru them for high prices. 2. ADT charges outrageously high prices for sending techs out. These techs are also not trained properly, you will know more than them. 3. If you call for a trouble, you spend a lot of time on the phone with CS with no goood answer.

We did not have any recording when there was a robbery. Lots of time wasted with customer service who never calls back even if you tell that you will be making consumer compplaints. They just don't care. The $9000.00 we spent for the system and tech time was all of a waste since it worked only 40% of the time.

Loss of time.

Still, I haven't heard from anyone. I am paying for a service that is not working properly and have not been able to contact anyone to help me resolve this issue. My next action after this will be to send everyone I know an email regarding this poor customer service. Perhaps, if enough people boycott this company maybe they will be forced to improve their customer service.

I just called ADT and spoke with a Charles. A new technician comes out each time something needs to be done. He said he would call me back today, but as far as I'm concerned, this situation should never have happened. It should have been installed and activated correctly without breaking anything in my household with one technician visit. I also found out that they are not with the BBB and the rating they have with them is unsatisfactory. What do I do now!!!!!!!!!!

Our computer doesn't work.

My complaint is with Customer Service, which is almost non existant. When I called the toll free number I have for ADT I got the National Monitoring Center. They explained that my problem is with the local sub-contractor office in Pasadena. Apparently National and Local Pasadena don't get along very well because each says the problem I'm experiencing is with the other.

The Manager I talked to at National said I needed to talk to the local office, and if I'm unhappy with ADT and want to cancel, then I need to talk to yet another department. In other words, he was not at all helpful. I called the local vendor three times. Their solution to customer service is simply to not answer the phone or return calls.

The bottom line is that I paid for a system that doesn't work, I'm paying for monitoring that doesn't work, and I can't get anyone at ADT to take responsibility to get it fixed.

I called Mr.B on 08/18/08 @1:58 he said we would get signs to us by Thur or Fri. I called Mr. B on 08/22/08 @4:35 left message he never called me back. I called Mr B on 08/26/08 @ 2:31 no return call and it is TWO weeks today since we had system installed and still NO SIGNS I could have gone with another security company that would have been more reliable. Those signs are to be placed in ones yard to show you have a system.

We don't want to have to go to out local TV station and I will write a letter to the BBB they accepted my check and cashed it but we have not gotten what we were promised and we are very, very upset about it!!! this is why people are going out of business because you cannot depend on them to follow through. We will not renew our contract and will not recommend ADT to anyone but we certainly expect to get our two ADT signs that we paid for!!!!

Aggravation because ADT did not do what they promised!!!! Did not follow through as we did when we gave them our check in good faith and expected the same from what we thought was a reliable company!! Now they are avoiding our calls!!

Then ADT called and said they could pull a license form City hall for the system as my store addressed wasn't on their books. Over a year ago I asked them to cancel the service. Very long story short, after approx 15 phone unreturned calls to them and a year later they had a lawyer call and string arm me threatening courts, credit rating etc unless I paid a $1,000 bill for a system that never worked.

I gave in and paid. Not once did anyone from ADT EVER return my calls. Not once did they send anyone out. Spent over $1,000 on a system that never worked.

Fortunately I did not have a multi year contract, so I was able to cancel without a major financial penalty.

but the problem I'm having with the situation is that it is now 2008 and you waited over 7 years and now you're asking me for some money and a month ago got mail from ADT wanting me to get ADT again and I know this isn't right no letter no nothing and now 2008 requesting money and I'm not forsure if that is even what I owe them I also ask this man from SOS not to call me again at work and wanted me to send him something stating where. I guess I will need to call Cumo's office to see if they can do this why now ? I want to know what my choices are with this situation and another thing I thought they couldnt bother with you after 7 or 8 years it should be written off

Only thing I was told they could work something out with me or they will handle it there way

7 months later, new tenants who bought the house 4 months ago inform me that the system is still under my name and that I need to call in to cancel it. I was surprised, I called and I have spoken to 5 different representatives.. the last was a manager that informed me, this is a business we can't waive the $450 termination fee since u signed the contract. I was so inflamed and mad. Finally I got a hold of the contract from the real estate agent and sure enough, nothing was stated on the front portion, but all the fine print filling up a full page about a 2 year contract and how there would be this $450 termination fee if I cancel within the first year. I'm so SHOCKED at this situation.

The new tenants don't even want service from them and I'm sure every person that reads this or I tell will never ever deal with such a horrible company. Also, the contract says that they are suppose to send me a bill quarterly and not auto charge my credit card. They have been charging my credit card quarterly apparently, which I never saw when I look over my statements. which I have yet to see. the recent charge. To top it all off, they first told me that the person had inputted my contract wrong and placed me as a 5 year contract. I cannot believe anyone would sign up for a 5 year contract with these people!

What a backward company to have such a lack of customer service that they turned my daughter over to a collection agency who started calling for a cancellation fee on 7/30 when her other service only ended on 7/25 and they have an appointment to set up new service immediately but THEY could not come to our home until 8/5! WE WILL NEVER USE ADT WHEN THIS CONTRACT IS UP AND ARE CONSIDERING PAYING THE CANCELLATION FEE JUST TO AVOID PAYING ONE PENNY MORE THAN WE HAVE TO!

Mentally - this is exhausting to deal with on top of everyday life!

At approx. 3 p.m. no one had shown up or called so I called ADT and was told the tech would still be at my home to program another remote for me but he's taking care of another customer who as it turned out had a later appointment than I did. He never made it & I never received a call that he wouldn't be here. It is now almost 1 p.m. 7/21/08 and no one has called or come out. I called ADT earlier and left my phone no. for a call back but have still heard nothing.

No physical damage but an entire day lost waiting and how do you put a $ amount on the stress this has caused?

On June 2, 2008, I contacted ADT about upgrading my current system, in an attempt to have better protection in the future. On June 4, 2008, Azieb A., an ADT Residential Sales Rep arrived at my home and began showing me products to upgrade my current system inclusive of additional motion detectors. It was at this point that I asked Ms. A. if she wouldn't mind checking my current motion detectors and she immediately replied "Yes I'll check them but I can see they're working because I see the lights are on and activated." I asked her to check them anyway, which she did and discovered -- to her amazement and mine-- that they were not activated for some reason. She advised me to call ADT and speak to a customer service representative about sending a repairman. That same day (June 2) I called back to ADT made an appointment for a service person and agreed to pay the $25 service charge for the visit.

On June 4, 2008, Gonzalo C. came to my home to check the motion detectors. Upon entering he noticed that the sensor lights were on and that the devices indicated they were activated. His response was "They should be working due to the lights being on, but let me check it out."However, after investigating, Mr. C. discovered that the sensors had never worked because they had never been installed properly. Per his words, "They were tempered (open) and if they were properly installed they would be closed. One wire was misplaced which gave them power but would never sound an alarm because they were in backwards." Mr. C. knew nothing of my burglary at the time. I informed him of it after he told me what was wrong with the system.

After Mr. C. left, I called ADT and spoke to Ms. Keahna A. who advised me how to proceed with my claim and sent me a letter outlining our conversation and the claims/liability department address. I had this system installed in 2001--7 years ago-- only to find out it has NEVER been fully operative despite the substantial sum I paid for installation and the fees I've paid since then. During the past several years I have frequently, although irregularly, had the need to be out of town for business or pleasure. Each time I departed, I always knew there was the distinct possibly that my home could be invaded but felt assured that I had the best protection available because of the ADT system I had purchased and been paying to have operating. I now realize that my confidence was misplaced because my alarm was never fully engaged.

While I understand that ADT is not an insurance company (per your customer service rep), it does hold itself out as providing a service that I relied on to my detriment because I erroneously paid for the improper installation and monthly service of a system for the past 7 years that did not provide the promised service or protection. The Police believe that the ADT alarm was triggered upon the EXIT of the burglar(s) from the front door of my home. Most of the valuables taken by the burglars had to be searched for in the room of the house that is farthest from where they entered. Clearly, they would not have had time to ransack several rooms and ultimately find their way to most of my valuables --located in that furthest room -- if the alarm had triggered sooner, something that would have occurred if the motion detectors had been installed properly.

As I am sure you foresee when you make assurances to people about the "deterrent effect" of alarm systems when you are selling them, a burglary is an invasion of your privacy and creates severe emotional distress and yields the loss of personal assets that have substantial financial value. You sell your systems and services on the premise that ADT provides a high level of protection that homeowners otherwise would not have. But I did not get that high level of protection--there was no "invisible blanket around the things that value most" to me (quoted from your website). Indeed, the burglar(s) had full reign of my home until they were finally ready to depart through the front door of my house, finally sending a signal to ADT.

So here is where we are left: a. [ADT] employee, the expert in installation, determined that my system was improperly installed in 2001, and the Police have determined that the burglar(s) entered through the cut and broken kitchen window and likely exited through the front door (which is where ADT says the alarm was triggered). I paid ADT to install a system, specifically paying extra for motion detectors, and paid fees for the past 7 years only to discover when it mattered most that the system failed due to ADT's fault. I have suffered the loss of over $75,000.00 in jewelry, a few pieces of which are unique and will be difficult to replace. Others are family heirlooms that cannot be replaced.

I have suffered grievous emotional distress since this incident due to the personal violation, loss and emotional turmoil, compounded by the trauma of discovering that my security system has never been fully operative for the 7 years I have been paying for it.

I have consulted an attorney who advised that I am entitled to compensation from ADT for all of this, and in a sum beyond the insurance deductible covered by your Theft Protection Guarantee, and the reimbursement of my installation and monthly fees. Every day that this goes on unresolved adds stress and anguish in my life, so I would prefer to resolve this matter promptly and without initiating formal legal proceedings against ADT. Accordingly, I look forward to receiving your immediate response and cooperation.

Today, July 18, I received a letter from Mr. S. of Sedgwick CMS, the insurance company for ADT, that basically stated they held no liability in this matter due to a clause in the ADT contract given to all customers. This clause only made them liable for up to $250 - which is what they offered me. I read my contract prior to writing the letter to ADT and understood that in normal procedures, ADT could not be held responsible for any robberies or stolen property and that you should contact your insurance company. However, this is a totally different case because the system was NEVER installed properly and I PAID them for 7 years. Basically paying for a faulty system for 7 years! Also, had the motion detectors been working, the thief would not have had ALL the time in the world to find what they were looking for.

Lastly, it is an invasion of privacy, terrifying and insulting that a company that says they provide a "Barrier of Protection" (which is on their website) doesn't have to provide what they claim and what I've paid for, for 7 years. When I thought that the alarm was working properly I went along doing business as if I had just been robbed... Fixing the window, filing the police report, filing a claim with my insurance carrier etc. I had no intention of contacting ADT other than to upgrade my system-and pay the additional costs. It was upon the revelation that it wasn't installed properly by their employee that I realized that some of this incident could have minimized. Yes, the burglar would have still entered my property but the alarm would have sounded sooner, signaling to them that the police could be on their way. Since that didn't happen, they had free reign in my home (which is a frightening thought) and didn't activate the alarm until they opened the front door to leave. (Again, this is in the ADT report)

I am a person who is constantly traveling (I can't tell you how many times I've traveled believing that my alarm was working... S. Africa, Italy, Paris, Greece etc.) and since May 2nd - I haven't been anywhere because I'm a little afraid to leave my home overnight. So outside of the monetary items that were stolen (approx. 100k), the money that I paid for 7 years to ADT for a system that wasn't installed properly and ultimately failed when needed, I am now suffering from the outrageous chain of events that have happened to me...from the burglary, police departments, time consumed and now the audacity of ADT/Sedgwick CMS claiming that they hold no responsibility. Totally Unbelieveable To Me! Thanks for your time and cooperation. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

I never received anything else from them, then on July 14, 2008 I receive a notice from the collection agency stating that I owe ADT $2,017.22. I called and all Ben could tell me is that was what ADT says so that is what I owe, but that he would try to look into it, and that 9 out of 10 business owners are wrong (direct quote). I don't know why no one from ADT ever contacted me.

If this has already been sent to a collection agency then my credit will have a negative mark on it which could affect my interest rates on loans I have through the business. During these difficult times I am just trying to keep my employees on the payroll, let alone pay for some fraudulent, mis-managed debt that I do not owe. I wonder how many others are out there like me.

This amount is excessive as I work only part-time as a college adjunct. I understand a nominal charge for this minor job, but $125 is absurd.

Guess what all the messages were in tack. They dismissed my findings for their own. Now every employee with a non-existing title claims at ADT claims there is nothing to do but to purchase a new panel = $250 replacement (orig. $299). And, the order of the day is no return calls should be expected. My complaint is what happens when the next panel fires. Do I keep buying panels until my contract wears off.

$250 Manatory or $500 payout of a two year contract.

3 yrs at roughly 30$/mo plus approx 700$ install.

The amount of money involved is small. The maddening part of this equation is not. I wonder what laws have been skirted enabling ADT to do this. Shame on ADT.

I decided to cancel the service and then things got ugliest, they would not allow me to do an immediate cancellation so they could bill me for another month.

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.

Sercurity companies are the worst, where my system never worked correctly from day one. I recieved 3 months free service to get me to keep the service and upgrade to a cellular connetion, which also cost more per month.

right now we can't afford any extras being I am not emplyed and husbands income dropped over 1/2 what he was making. they will not cancel our contract like the rep said they would.

excessive customer service calls made to Defender Security automated telephone system because a live person is not available to take customer calls in the middle of the day, 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday. Excessive bank penalty fee's due to negative balance as a result of them illegally processing the installation fee for the security system twice in the same montn. Who do you know that installs two (2) residential alarm systems in one (1) month? NOBODY thats who. I WANT MY MONEY BACK. AND I WANT TO ENSURE THAT THAT COMPANY IS PROHIBITED FROM EVERY ILLEGALLY ACCESSING MY PERSON BACK ACCOUNT EVER!

My home was broken into, contents stolen, and a pending contract that ADT refuse to cancel without any cost to me as the customer.

The following day I received a call from Patrick Schalkofski, he insisted I keep the system if he waived all the Tellular fees and refunded my initial monitoring fees. He also stated that I wouldn't start paying until May 1, 2008. I have this all in a fax he sent to me the day of our conversation. More than a couple weeks passed, and I hadn't received my check, so I called Patrick, left a message and waited for a return call.I also needed help installing my system completely. I had tried calling the tech that came to install it with no return call. After a couple days, I tried again, no answer, no return call. Just recently I tried various times to get a hold of Patrick, and I explained the situation to the receptionist, Valerie. She indicated that I should talk to Vanessa, the office manager. She tried repeatedly in the following weeks to have Vanessa answer the phone, and I left countless messages with no return phonecall.

The point where I understood that there was something really wrong was when I picked up a letter at the post office from Absolute Security indicating that the cancellation process had been finished and that I owed $1539.65 for the unused portion of my 3 year contract. They were also threatning legal action if I didn't pay. I am really upset and feel I was taken advantage of, and that the lack of communication with me is suspicious. I was willing to keep the system, but these were not the circumstances. I have paperwork indicating my conversation with Patrick, and call records of how many times I tried to contact the company.

I lost $30 to the county for installing the system. $66 for monitoring fees deducted from my bank account, and now a bill for around $1500, which I do not feel I owe. All I want is for them to remove the system and return the fees I paid.

Now they said they mailed out a check, but in a lesser amount more than a month ago from my call on 5/14/08. I asked to speak with a manager, but they said there wasn't one available. So I asked the rep to have the manager call me on my cell phone, but I haven't received any return call. Now I'm waiting not only for the refund, but to clear up the amount that needs to be refunded to me.

The aditional charge of 107.17. interest charge on my card Time spend calling to resolve this issue

Then I called ADT to see why they hadn't responsed, the option said press 0 if you alarm is going off, so I did, and after a few minute wait, an operater came on. I asked why no one had responded, and they said that our alarm had been turned off before it was dispatched. I told them it had been on for over 5 minutes, but they kept referring to it as an aborted alarm. I asked them why no one had responsed before it was aborted, and they said they were having unusually high call volume that evening, so it hadn't been dispatched before we shut it off.

This is not the first time we have had the alarm go off with no response from ADT, but this was the worst because of the length of time the alarm was on. I would be interested in knowing if other people have had a similiar experience with ADT or other major security services.

Even though I was not actually robbed by a burgular, and for that I am thankful, I feel that I have been robbed by ADT because they faithful collect the fee every month, but they do not respond to security alarms in a timely way.

In December of 2007, I received a service interruption and balance of $222.42. I contacted the Vegas office and was told to fax a letter describing the incident and request for cancel, which I did on 12/17, 2007. On 1/5/08 I received a billing for a balance of $230.19 and I called the Vegas office again on 1/15/08. They show a letter received and denied, but nothing sent to me about this. They agreed to contact the local office to waive what they said was a $1200 cancellation fee.

Today, May 10, 2008, I have received a letter from Law Offices of Barry Serota stating that I have five days to pay $208.09 or legal action would be taken. I will not pay this amount and if necessary, I will file against them for the harassment.

This has caused severe stress and sickness due to the loss of my business and ADT constantly sending bills and not handling the issues when I call them. It is as if they are not even listening to my problem, but just answering the phone so they can get some sort of credit. I cannot pay this, as it is not due them...what did they monitor??? There wasn't even a system in place, as the whole building was burnt to the ground.

I am economically being withdrawn by paying for no service and I am getting upset because I sent them a letter from my commander stating that I will be deploying soon, his orders will be coming in 3-4 months.

Hundreds of dollars wasted, stress.

This has put a hardship on my husband. He is on disability and the stress to us has caused sickness

In a classic bait and switch, Joseph Morte signed us up on a 2 year contract with a $500 early termination fee. We discovered all of this quite by accident when we called ADT to freeze our account a couple months later. We have been fignting with ADT for almost 6 months now and the company is completely unwilling to alter our contract so it reflects what we were told we were purchasing. Everyone at ADT acts powerless. One cusomer servive rep explained that ADT was in the business of making money and therefore would not change the contract. We filed a complaint with the BBB and ADT contacted us saying they had a resolution, they ended up telling us there was nothing they could do, wow, some resolution. Google ADT lied, we are not alone.

We have lost all financial flexibility. We are stuck paying ADT $30 a month for the next 2 years. The alternative is to cancel the contract and pay a $500 termination fee which makes little sense.