ADT Reviews

Less than a week later, there was another occurrence. We were sitting in the front room when the alarm went off in one of the bedrooms. There was nobody in there. We were all sitting in the front room, so it was strange that it went off in one bedroom and then, later, in another bedroom. One time, an officer said there was smoke in the house, so the fire department came out. But there was no fire. ADT said the monitors’ batteries were both new. It turned out the smoke detector batteries had a malfunction. The guy came out, checked them, and put in new batteries. In one week, it went off in one bedroom, and the following week, it went off in the front room. And they charged me $250 for the batteries.

I hadn't even had the system for more than 30 days and that doesn't make any sense. I told them I was very dissatisfied, and the district manager for the area came out to talk to me. I was working on getting the $250 charge for the battery and he said he would get back with his people. That I should call ADT and tell them everything that transpired and that I talked to him. Within a week, they had taken that off. I called them back and I even called the person who helped me. I told them I appreciated it. But I was at a point where I could live in my house without the system. I told them that security is good in a sense, but God is the ultimate security because He sees all and knows all. That's why I felt hurt by what was going on with the system and they needed to do something to get it corrected.

It finally worked out when I told them about the heater. Sometimes, the heat comes on, and it blows towards the direction of the monitor. It seemed like it would set off the system every time. I made that comment to them and the guy said it made sense. They got everything monitored good and got the units set down to a different level where it wasn’t by the heater.

I’ve been with ADT since August of last year and it was a little frustrating at first because when you get a security system, you expect it to do what it's supposed to do. Then all these little issues started happening, and I was thinking that this isn't a good system if this is what happens. But after all that was said and done, they finally got it right. So, I'm very happy. I recommended ADT to one of my associates at church and she wound up getting it too.

We have an old house and got different things added on for 30 years, but our system works great. I am happy when I hear the Dixie. I had to go see who it is. I had to make sure I got clothes on, and it goes playing Dixie. My grandson has a home here, but what he does is he comes over to check our swimming pool. We've got a guest house and a swimming pool next to our house. So, he's always coming in and out and going that way. The whole back of our house is glass, so I have to really be careful that I'm not dancing to Dixie when the doors are being opened in my house. We probably have the most unique system in the whole world, simply because of the additions we've made on the house and that sort of thing.

We live in a village. It's pretty rural. If there was any reason for us to call, it would probably take 20 or 30 or an hour for someone to get here. We're really isolated. Many years ago, we had someone that actually was trying to come into our house while we were at church. That seemed to be the time that they knew we were gone. We've got a garage door that closes, and everything's push button, and that all takes care of everything. So, they really don't know how many vehicles we got or who's here and who's not. That offers security, too. But somebody tried to break in our house, and we're sitting two blocks away from our big church here.

So, since then, it's really made me more cautious that things can happen. I wear all this all gaudy jewelry, and most of it is fake, but needless to say, it doesn't matter if it is or not. A bank vault would be the answer for a lot of that. We take advantage of that, too. Needless to say, I am thrilled to death with the service that we have with ADT and all these doors we have that keep playing Dixie.

ADT is the best security I have. What I can do is arm the system with the garage door down and get in my car. My husband's usually around, but he does leave home sometime. I can raise the garage door, push a button, and park in my garage. I can get out safely. The light comes on in the garage, and then I get in my house and disarm the system. So, it doesn't matter about all the other doors. I couldn't imagine living without the security we have. I'm so grateful that I know that I have that security. It means a lot to me.

Choice said, "You can't cancel your current contract." I'm not even on contract anymore. "You can't quit ADT at what the price you're paying now and hook up with us a couple of days later and get ADT at our reduced prices." Because they quoted 59.99 for three years once the equipment was paid for, and it went down to 24.95. It's very nice prices. So I said, "Let me look into this."

The next day, I called ADT and the entry level guy who answered the phone said doing that sounded like a reasonable thing to do. I would expect Choice to say, yes, I could, and ADT to say, no, I couldn't, but it was reversed. So I asked him to get a second opinion and, rather than be the middleman, he forwarded me right on to a fellow named Jacob, who said he was at the corporate level. He was at least in a decision-making level and a level where he could access a lot of stuff to check things out.

He said, "We don't have a contract with Choice." So, I went on to cancel everything with Choice. They're out of the picture now. But he said we're still in the same conversation. I said, "I've been with you. I pay my bills, the whole bit. Any kind of incentive, loyalty, whatever discounts you can give me." He did not have a number for reducing my current payment, but he priced out if I upgraded and what that would entail.

I ran some numbers after I got off the phone with him and I priced it out for four years because I had to pay three years at 58 to pay for the equipment, and I could go down to their lesser price. I had to pay 58 plus 18. So the 18 would go away, and I would owe just 58. I priced it out and I was out $25 at the end of four years to be upgraded. I now had new stuff and I also don't know if my current price would have gone up in four years. It might well have. So let's call it a wash. But I would be upgraded. We started talking about upgrading and he said, "You got your smoke alarm and your carbon monoxide in 2019. They don't work anymore." I said, "What do you mean? They're blinking and you guys are charging me for the service." He said, "After five years, they're no good." I said, "You could have sent me a note."

Before I went with ADT, I bought one. This has got to be 15 years ago. I remember writing in red on the plastic at the top of the curve so I could see it when the expiration date was. There are no dates written on these two. So, I'm not protected. ADT could have sent an email. They should have that set up when they install something. They automatically send an email six months before it expires. I'm sitting here with a smoke alarm that doesn't work or is not effective and carbon monoxide. I told him at that point that I needed to clean up the Choice situation first, and I would get back to him. Choice was very honorable about it. They refunded me every penny within 24 hours. They probably just wanted to get rid of me. But that's why ADT has come up in the last couple of weeks.

I've always had very good experience with the techs or the agents that I spoke with. I have cellular failure issues with it that I called about one time, because it just beeps. ADT checked the system. Everything worked. So, I just live with the beep. It's okay. It works. I set it at night when I go to bed. I was gone in the summertime, and I turned my air conditioning off. But I love that a week before I was planning to come home, I could turn it on gradually. So, I didn't turn it on the day that I came home and had to drop it 20 degrees. I like being able to arm and disarm my system remotely.

I've had a couple of issues with it going off, and it shouldn't have but things happened. When I first got it, I tried to sneak out at the house in the morning before I fed my cats. I tried to sneak out to get a walk in. I did my walk, I came home, and there's a police car sitting in my neighborhood. I walked past and said, “Huh. Did I disarm that system? Probably not.” It happened another time when I went out to feed the cats in the morning. It was a couple years later. I was out in my yard and I heard the alarm going off. I ran like Usain Bolt trying to turn it off.

I called back and the woman said, "I'm with ADT. Your alarm went off.” I said, “Everything is fine. You don't need to call the police.” But she said, "We already have. I'll see if I can get them to cancel the call.” She was very pleasant. She made sure that I was okay.

I'm happy with the system. However, the billing needs improvement. Maybe they were so excited about whatever they're doing to the website. But I would like to have known ahead of time that I would be charged a bit more money. Two times in the years that I've been with them, they've raised my rate but have not notified me ahead of time. The first time it happened, I called. It was only $5, but I called. I said I didn't know it was going up. So, they dropped the $5 off. This last time, they had sent me several notices about the changes they were making to the MyADT website. I don't know what they were doing. I got my credit card bill, and my monthly fee had gone up $10. All they told me about was improvements to the website. I did the chat bot thing, and they dropped the $10 off. I said, "I don't like paying more for stuff, but I don't mind doing it if I know I'm gonna have to."

The thing is says, “We usually like to give our customers 30 days notice that it's gonna happen.” But I got no 30 days notice. I'm used to getting an email that tells me, "Your bill is ready to be charged, and it's gonna be this much money." A week and a half later, they charged it to my card. It tells me my bill is ready to be submitted a week and a half before. And it goes to my credit card. If they had done that this time, I would have said, "Crap. It's going up $10. Oh, well.” But they didn't notify me, and they've done that twice. I know that things go up. I know that things cost more.

The performance is amazing. Sometimes, I'm in the kitchen and I'm cooking, and it's not a fire. It's just smoke. The fact ADT calls me to make sure that we're okay first. Every time they call me, they reach out to my emergency contact as well. It's simultaneously, which is top tier for me. Because if I passed out, my emergency people will call me and say, "What's going on with you?” If they don't get me, they know to call ADT back and tell them to send someone to my home. That's above and beyond for me.

ADT makes me feel very safe. Long before they allowed people to conceal and carry, we had ADT as the police between police, and that is great. I believe that the people on my block and myself who have ADT have had less people try to vandalize our properties, even if we leave our garages open. I've left my garage open many times, but they see that I'm covered by ADT, so they assume that I have a camera. They assume that even though the garage is up, ADT is going to alert me, and they might end up getting locked in my garage. ADT is definitely the police in between the police. And it does put a little fear in criminals’ hearts.

I just recently changed over my system, and ADT has partnered with my insurance company. That is the smartest thing that any security system could do. You can get a contract for three years and they give you a discount because you're going the extra mile to take care of your home and that is very appreciated as a homeowner.

At one point, I fought with them every day. Some neighborhoods are overlooked. One of the techs came, and he started asking questions and found out a couple of things about me. People don't take pride in their homes. A lot of people feel bad because of the property tax, where you can't afford the minimum for the house. But that's not everybody's situation. The tech just gave me a bit of information. I had to fight with ADT a bit to get that for my home. As a loyal customer and someone who has been around for a long time, technical companies that sell phones, security systems, Geek Squad sometimes forget about the people who have been around for forever. And they are catering to people who just started. That's like giving your mistress more than you give your wife. Who does that in the beginning?

You're gonna give the mistress the house and you let the wife be in an apartment? That's not how you do. Technical companies do that a lot. Once they've already got you, they don't want to give you the discounts. You have to fight for the discounts. I understand that they need new business, but this old money. They feed into new money, and it's many systems out here on Amazon and SimpliSafe, and all of these people who don't give the quality service that ADT gives. But people will leave them for the one-time price of this or the one-time price for that. Being a homeowner, I have learned that it is better to be in a contract, and it is better to have a warranty than it is to not have a guarantee.

I got ADT because I'm recently out of a bad relationship, and when my two kids are away at college, I'm by myself. I felt safer having the extra protection, as well as I have two pets in the house. When I'm at work, I work overnight as a nurse. I also have that extra protection for fire. The system was good to have in case I'm not there to be able to react right away.

When I leave the house, I lock the door and set the alarm system, and I have no worries. When I come home and I'm in my house by myself, I set the alarm system and have no worries as well. Everything's covered. I've even had a couple of instances over the past couple of months. My one son who came home from college was cooking, and too much smoke filled in the kitchen. He had windows open and the system went off. The way ADT reacted and called so fast to make sure it was legit or not, it was very warming to me to know that they were that quick.

ADT never gave me a reason to get mad at them or for not giving me good service. The system does its job. I used to install alarms 100 years ago when I was a young guy and I'm happy with the technical aspect of how well it works and what it does. The other morning, I forgot to shut it off when I left for work and it went off. I shut it off and I got a text message within a minute saying that a door got opened with the alarm on. The price was competitive at the time when I had the system installed. I originally paid for it almost 20 years ago and when I moved from one house to the other, they gave me a credit. So, it didn't cost me the full price when they installed the new system in the new house I got. I've recommended ADT to my sister. They got them since I got mine. My daughter got married, bought a house for her and her husband, and they have ADT.

I had to upgrade IQ Panel but the system has been great. They also had fixed the doorbell that came with it and replaced a couple of smoke detectors because they kept going off plenty of times. As a matter of fact, the police and the fire department showed up a couple of times. I told ADT there was no problem but I guess they missed the call. But they came and moved one of the smoke detectors from in front of the the air duct into the middle of the living room, and I haven’t had any noises. I would tell others to go ahead and use ADT. Sure, there are some hiccups and things go bad in there, but above all, everything is good. They call you when the alarm goes off and make sure that you’re okay.

I called ADT and, after dealing with an AI bot and waiting about 30 minutes, was transferred to customer service. I explained that our system had been down and no one had notified us. I was told ADT had called us three times. They did not. We have a complete record of incoming calls. We checked every call and even called back numbers we didn't recognize. There were no calls from ADT. A supervisor later insisted that ADT had called three times. I asked whether these calls were made by AI or a person. He told me both. Again, we have no record of these calls.

At that point, we had a much bigger concern: We no longer trusted ADT to properly monitor our home or notify us when our system wasn't working. So, after 26 years, we decided to leave. ADT now wants to charge us approximately $600 to get out of our contract, PLUS another month of service for a system that is completely dead. They offered us discounted deals to stay. But when we said no because WE NO LONGER FEEL SAFE WITH THEIR SERVICE, suddenly 26 years of loyalty didn't matter. A multibillion-dollar corporation is squeezing another $600 plus an additional month's payment out of a 26-year customer who no longer trusts the service they're paying for. Twenty-six years of loyalty. A system down for two days without our knowledge. No notification that we can find any evidence of. And a $600 bill to leave. Terrible.

I used to just go on my app and pay my bill. But then, I couldn't. I had to go to ADT.com. I just fixed that. I pay it a year at a time so I don't have to monkey with the app and going online. That's the only negative thing. I'm a loyal customer. I'm just aggravated with the website and couldn't pay my bill online. I always get service a quick response and customer service has always been good for me when I needed them. For a woman who lives alone on the first floor, it's great security.

ADT's service package has been excellent and we've never had to Upgrade, but we have. We voluntarily added a few features when we came to the new house in Northern Alabama. They had a few things that they had not had the last time I upgraded in Pensacola, which was also voluntary. When I managed to set off smoke detectors, they called to make sure that I was safe. I am generally satisfied. I sleep better knowing that we have ADT in the house. They've been very comforting over the years.

I've had ADT for maybe five years and it's not bad. When the guy who sold me ADT came to my door, he was very nice. His name was Jacob. He told me he was my neighbor and when I want him, I can call him any time. But he just made me sign this contract. I called him and nobody answered. That made me feel bad because he made me feel secure, and then when I needed him, he disappeared. So, I cannot recommend anybody. Nobody wants to pay somebody to protect them. Everybody knows what he can afford. Life is very expensive, but I do it for my situation. I live by myself and I'm scared. At least when somebody opens the door, I know something happened. That's why I keep it, even though life is very expensive and I don't like paying monthly.