Brinks Home Security™ Reviews

Original Review: Dec. 4, 2014

As many others have already said, our dissatisfaction deals with the cancellation practices. I was roped into this alarm monitoring back in 2002 by someone knocking on my door at 8:00 PM on a Saturday night. NOT Monitronic's issue I know. After 3 years of monitoring and always on time payments (as they are auto deducted), we now have to jump through hoops to cancel the account. Mail a letter, wait 30 days and hope it is cancelled as requested. This is the only company I have not been able to cancel over the phone or send a fax/email. I understand they want to keep customers, but strong arm tactics are not a way to make a good name.

I got fed up and called from work yesterday (I get home too late to speak to anyone actually in charge) to speak with the "customer loyalty" department. We struck a deal, and I agreed to pay half of what they claim I owed Monitronics (they wore me down, but I still affirm that I shouldn't have had to pay a dime after 10 years of paying for subpar service and CANCELING the service). The supervisor (I have a name) agreed to credit the account as paid in full along with a confirmation number. The harassing robocalls have not stopped! I called tonight to find out what the heck is going on. Turns out the supervisor didn't credit the account, and there is still a balance. And of course, the rep cannot help me. Monitronics is a nightmare!

I called and waited for customer service another 15 minutes to get them on the phone when he said the Holidays has them short handed (I called Dec 1 after the holidays were over). Customer service told me that she had signed a 5 year contract and the only way to get out of the contract would be for her to pay for the remaining months of the contract around $2,400.00 or transfer the service to another person who would assume her contract. I told him that the system was too complicated for a woman of her age and that the system is useless if you cannot move quick enough for the alarm and your only income is social security. They would not budge. They refused to let her out of the contract considering the circumstances.

By the reviews I have read here, I am convinced Monitronics preys on the elderly and does not give out correct verbal information about contracts and that is a sorry way to do business. I hope they experience the same thing one day when looking out for their aging parents. You should be ashamed and I will spread the word in my family, friends, and neighbors and also hers about how you all prey on old people. Disgusted.

If this was a real contract for a material item we purchased such as a house, car etc. that make sense to me, but all they have to do is quit monitoring the system. It is useless because we are not there to use it and any new homeowners can call them themselves. It seems to me after reading all these complaints that sound almost the same as ours, that someone would do something about such business practices. I will be sending all these letters to the Better Business Bureau in Kentucky and Florida in hopes they will help or at least let others know not to do business with this kind of company.

August, I called to cancel - however you can't call to cancel. You have to write a letter. So you continue to be billed. Then I get a call regarding my letter and get pushed more and more to keep the system, and get told there are burglaries in my area. Are you threatening me or something? Very disappointed with this company. Looking forward to going back to ADT.

We have said time and time again that we have cancelled our service. One rep even went as far as saying that we did not transfer to a month to month contract, but rather it was a yearly contract. In my opinion Monitronics is a service that holds people hostage. I have to send a letter to cancel my already cancelled account and then hopefully they get it and take action on it. Why not just write a letter, scan it and email it to a customer service Rep? Makes sense since we are in the technology age, where the internet and email allows for near instant communication. This company is lower than low and somehow is able to maintain an "A+" with the BBB? I would not recommend Monitronics to my worst enemy, let alone my family and friends.

I tried to cancel my service today and was told I had to send in my cancellation via the mail and that it can 30 days for them to cancel the service. I told them I wanted it cancelled today and am not paying any further bills. Why couldn't I fax my cancellation like most companies accept, or even a verbal cancellation. This is unheard of in today's business world. This is just a way that they can get more fees out of you. They should be reported to BBB. As a matter of fact this is what I will do if they charge me one more penny!!

Original Review: Nov. 20, 2014

We have been with Monitronics since 2008. Their service continues to decline & they continue to raise prices. Finally with the last rate increase, I called to cancel my service. They are requiring me to give notice in writing & refuse to cancel my service until 30 days after they receive written notice. My contract ended in 2012 but they are insisting that I am month to month & therefore am still required to give AND pay for 30 days that I don't want. Their service is awful now anyway so I'm just giving them money for nothing. It really is too bad that this company has gone into the toilet & now in order to get money, they require someone whose contract ended in 2012 to give & pay for 30 days of a service they don't want.

This is an ABSURD business practice that we could be told the contract was no longer in our name and then 3 months later be told that we were back on the hook because the people who SIGNED a NEW CONTRACT with the company were no longer interested. DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY OR ANY OF THEIR AFFILIATES. They are scammers and impossible to work with and provide terrible customer service. Read these reviews and see the trend and reach out to someone more reputable like CPI or AD&T.

Well I mailed the letter and received a phone call today about the letter and was told that since the new buyers didn't want the service and we don't have a new home at this time to put an alarm system in, nor do we know anyone that wants an alarm service (I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone anyway!), our only options were to put the account on hold for 3 months and then go through this process all over again, or pay the account in full. When I expressed my frustration with this company I was told that because I had stayed on the phone longer, the option of putting the account on hold was no longer available and now my only option was to pay the account in full. CRAZINESS! Obviously I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that he was the supervisor. I said “Then I want to speak to someone above you.” He argued with me and said that no one else could do anything different but finally gave me to someone else.

Then I got to Timothy. He basically said that although he was sorry that I was not made aware of the length of the contract, the contract stands and there is nothing he can do. I asked if he could at least cut the remainder down by 50% since I did not like the service and the customer service has been terrible and he said the best he could do was 20%. I told him that was ridiculous as well considering I don't have anywhere else to put an alarm!! If I did, it would be a different story. I would've had no problem transferring the service for the remainder of the contract - but I'm not even using it.

The whole situation is extremely shady. Now I am receiving phone calls saying "congratulations on my move and that they are calling to verify my installation appointment." What appointment?? Stop wasting my time! The customer service leaves so much to be desired. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone and will never use them again. If this company had any sense, they would want to make their customers happy. By reading the rest of the reviews here, sounds like this is a typical practice for them. Consumers beware!!

More than a week later, they got the right technician here. It cost me $50 and a whole day of missed work, only to have the technician tell me it couldn't have been false alarm. I told him, "well, it was." Then he insisted we needed to upgrade the system because it would have been more expensive to fix than to buy a new one. In an attempt to have an alarm that actually works, like normal consumer would expect, I agreed to it. The technician then said he could not install it that day, but that someone would contact me to give me all the information and set up another appointment. No one called for another week. Finally, the company that the technician worked for, a local subcontractor of Monitronics, called to tell me that I would have to call Monitronics to buy the upgrade before they could send anyone out again. I called and was on hold for 40 minutes. I hung up. The subcontractor told me they added the recommendation to their system and monitronics should know about our need to spend more money upgrading our system.

I strongly advise anyone to avoid using this company. Apparently whenever you need service, you call monitronics. Monitronics contacts a local subcontractor who may or may not be familiar with your system. You have to wait for this subcontractor to call. It costs money for the technician to come out. And it costs you money even if the technician had no earthly idea what was wrong and eventually suggests you call monitronics again yourself to resolve a problem you just spent a week trying to resolve.

It is now a month later, the home is sold, and just now Monitroncs is telling me I owe them $1400 under contract term and a letter to cancel. The misinformation and bad service has led me to conclude that I no longer want anything to do with either Monitronics and the dealer and they should concede this $1400 due to the mishandling of this situation. Please stop wasting my time and deal fairly here. How can I trust my home security to a company with such bad business practices?

2 years later, my father's health started declining fast. He has been in the hospital 3 times in the last 4 months. His doctor told us kids that we needed to move our parents close to us. That they needed to be around family, not across the several states. My parents are also low-income and are out of money. They live only on their social security and a reverse mortgage income. My father is in the "doughnut hole" with his prescriptions because 1 of them is $600.00 a month. They got denied in their application for independent living because they do not have any savings. Therefore, we are moving them in with my brother.

I called to cancel the Monitronics and was told they still had a 13 months left on the contract. I asked if the contract termination penalty could be waived due to medical and hardship reasons. They made me send a signed cancellation letter, but never followed up with me. I have called numerous times and the customer service person was heartless and did not feel bad about charging my elderly low income parents a total of $714.87 for canceling their contract. This is after he tried to get me to get a family member, friend or anyone to take over the contract.

"REALLY". It is all about sales and contracts with them. They should respect the elderly and waive due to health or even finance issues. They are the cause of the contract in the first place. My parents never called them, they pursued my parents. It sounds like they target elderly people probably on purpose knowing they might not live in their house for the extent of the contract. Supposedly, the system and installation is paid for within the 1st year. So, I would never do business with Monitronics. When you browse for complaints, there are 1000s of them. But of course, elderly people are not internet savvy to do their research first.

Calls: no calls from Monitronics until they couldn't deduct payments & even then they were electronic calls advising if I was acct owner press 1, I did & after waiting 30 minutes on 2 occasions I hung up. On third occasion, after 15 mins I got a rep. Explained my issues & he offered to decrease my bill & we could address additional issues. I further advised I had a technical question as panic feature on my pad says "feature not enabled". After discussion, (as I was interested in his offer but knew he'd be impossible to call back), he would transfer me to Technical & call me before he left work (in 1 hr) that day. No call back.

There have been many calls. I receive an electronic call almost every day & a few times twice a day. When I have spoken to a live rep, I ask, 1) "Have you read my file?" Always NO. 2) "Are you a supervisor (as I have asked to have one call me on several calls and they don't)?" Always NO. I ASK TO SPEAK TO SUPERVISOR & get nowhere until I tell rep my issues. After I am completely upset by having to go through this for I can't even remember how many times the rep always says... "Let me have you talk to my supervisor..." I say, "I have just spent all this time explaining to you & I'm not starting from scratch again... You tell her & she can read my file and call me back." NEVER HAPPENS.

Now with all these calls, two big issues have come up that cause concern: 1) I received a call from Monitronics on my cell while shopping. I missed the call by minutes and returned call to be advised there was an alarm at my house. Since I was not at home (but now running to car), I was advised they would be sending police & for me not to pull into driveway if I got there before police & to stay outside. I waited outside in the dark for 30 minutes.... no police! I finally pull into driveway, walk into garage & into house quite nervous. After a few minutes I found my back door sensor had fallen off patio door triggering alarm. I had spoken to Monitronics on 2 other calls regarding this sensor falling off & was advised to put on new sticky tape. Third tech after this experience explained why it was probably happening & I should move sensor to middle of patio door. I did & no further issues w/ sensor. So with all these calls & discussing the no show by police I discover Monitronics doesn't even have correct agency! They have city police & I am in Sheriff's area. I have never been asked who my agency is & if the rep called Mtz PD, they would be immediately transferred to Sheriffs dept., & at that point rep would have updated my file. File never updated. Police never came. I don't believe they were called. No police agency would ignore this kind of call.

2) I had a kitchen fire, pan on stove. I got fire toned down, put on lid & carried to back lawn. Ensure pan fire is out & return to house, had missed a call from Monitronics. They called back asking about fire & was I ok. I advised fire contained just hse smoke & kitchen a mess & that I'm just upset & could they just turn off alarm. She wouldn't. I was dragging ladder through house to check attic as fire destroyed range hood (I believe while rep on phone) whose opening is right next to blaring fire alarm, she would not turn off. Attic ok. After a long discussion while I'm trying to secure my house, alarm goes off and we hang up phone. No fire dept ever dispatched. Had they been called they are within minutes of my home.

So, upon reading terms of Security Network's monitoring for a fire the alarm company FIRST calls fire dept & if rep cannot reach homeowner they contact fire dept to advise & affirm to continue to location of alarm. Were they even called??? I missed the first call to my home & before getting second call, if fire dept called would have been close... at least heard as I was outside & most likely would have driven by. Fire dept never showed, no sirens, rep did not put me on hold to cancel.... This scares me. I don't think they are calling & I have no faith.

The first call I got from Billing after my 30 minute monologue the lady advised she was turning file over to her supervisor - that was a few weeks ago. A call last week 10/7, another live rep, from Billing, not a supervisor, has not read my file - UNBELIEVABLE. After my monologue she gets sup on phone after I told her I'm not explaining the whole thing again. Suddenly there is someone else on phone "Rita". There was no time for rep to explain my issues nor for new person to read file.

I hung up while my sister sat shocked at the call & lack of skill of the rep. Rep could relay & a supervisor could call me back with some knowledge of my issues. This is only a handful, there have been more. I am disabled & I often watch my granddaughter who has breathing issues that sometimes require a breathing machine. Should something happen & her machine is not here I would need emergency help.... I don't have it and if I do, don't trust Monitronics to monitor efficiently. Additionally, I read reviews about permits with the emergency agencies. What is that about & since you didn't even have correct agency... I'm at a loss of what to even say. I don't trust you nor do I want your services & should be reimbursed by you for lack thereof on two serious occasions & many other non life threatening but serious nonetheless.

I am updating my rating from angry to satisfied with a caveat. I am Happy with the monitoring service that i have for 32 months although it would have been nice if it was about $10 cheaper. I am Angry at the process that I endured while trying to move the service. I am Satisfied with my contact with John ** and how he handled resolving my account.

Original Review: Nov. 10, 2014

We had a great set up and excellent monitoring service. Moving our service was a different story. We were moving 4 months shy of what I thought was a 36 month contract. I had all intentions of just eating the 4 months and cancelling the service. Upon learning that it was actually a 42 month contract I had a lot of back and forth with Monitronics, some good more bad but I conceded and made the decision to move the service. I spoke with Barry and he confirmed that the unit in our new home was a cell unit and that Monitronics actually used to monitor it so the $150 credit that they were providing would more than cover the service because all the technician had to do was come in and reprogram it.

The installer came to the new home and indicated that the unit would not function and would need to be replaced and that we would have to get authorization from Monitronics before he could put the new unit in and since it was Saturday, we would have to wait until Monday. Ok no problem. Upon calling Monitronics on Monday I learned that the cell unit would need to be replaced; however, it would be at my cost as the technician already billed them for 2 hours of service. I informed Monitronics that the technician was only there for 10 minutes, that we had advised the technician on Saturday that Monitronics was covering up to $150 so if the unit needed to be replaced then replace it but insisted that he needed authorization from Monitronics. Monitronics then contacted the sub-contractor they sent to do the install then called me back saying they would cover $150 for them to come out.

The installer called me back to set up the appointment. They then called to follow up regarding the unit and said that the old cell units were now being upgraded from 2G to 4G and now the unit was going to be $400. I'm now starting to wonder if this is a racket. If the display goes out when the power has been turned off to a home and they generate additional revenue by switching out perfectly good units. Either way our family decided that we are not coming out of pocket for "new" equipment so we may as well cancel the contract and eat the cost of the entire ten months.

I called Monitronics to remove auto-pay and make payment to cancel the contract. I had the misfortune of dealing with Ashley. Per the contract, I can cancel, terminate early for 75% of the remainder of the balance. When we set up the move they lowered my bill to $42 from $50. At ten months remaining that's $420. Monitronics would not honor this as they said that was contingent upon the move so my cancellation cost was being calculated at $50. I explained to them that this is completely unethical as that was 1). Not stipulated and 2). Even if the move had not been completed, come the end of the month they would have auto-drafted me for $42 anyway. Ashley even agreed that that's exactly what would have happened thus negating her contingent on the move argument.

So they won't budge on the $42 vs $50. But to add salt to the wound, they refused to send me an email confirmation that they canceled my auto pay and insisted that I would receive a letter in the mail within 7-10 business days. Ok so the company that just conveniently adjusted how much was remaining on my contract now wants me to trust that they canceled my auto pay and won’t send me an email confirmation even though they happily emailed me a copy of the contract? I informed Ashley that the internet was riddled with complaints of Monitronics continuing to draft people when they weren't supposed to and I would appreciate an email confirming that I canceled. She refused. Fine! So I asked if I could at least get an email confirmation of my final payment as I would like some proof that I paid $375 to cancel the account. She says I can only get that if I pay online.

So I try to log online and my account has already been placed in cancel status so it is not letting me log in so I have to call back for the umpteenth time. I pay the $375 and I am done. No email receipt or anything. I can only hope that come the end of the month my account is not drafted another $50 or $42 because then I will have to go through this process all over again and will have to write another review. In closing, even though we did not have problems when we had the service, based on how this company does business, I would not recommend them to anyone and feel sorry for anyone who saw my yard signs and signed up with them. Monitronics, you don't deserve the business.

I've been paying for nothing! How nice that she did offer 3 months of downtime credit after we move into our new home, but now there's a problem getting it reconnected (uses cell service) and they need to send out a technician. Ummm... I now live over an hour away so that's not happening. Like I told the lady on the phone, I'll be paying for a dead system because we can't come there for a technician. I'll add that a technician was already at our house this summer for problems with the system! It would seem that the majority of the time we've now been with Monitronics, our system has been malfunctioning and really has been nothing more than a decoration for $50 a month.

We've had so many problems that my husband told them they should cancel the contract, it's so bad, but of course they won't. There's NOTHING Monitronics can do to make this right because we've had so many problems this entire year. They don't communicate or put things in the notes when we call with problems which is what I tried to discuss with them today. We will ride out the contract and NEVER use them again after that. I have recommended to my friends to never use them, and we've had security on our home for 9 years with several different providers, but Monitronics is the only one we've had problems with. I've had enough "I'm sorrys" from them. For all the issues they should have voluntarily cancelled the contract.

With the new digital systems available, we decided to switch to one of those. We called to cancel Monitronics and the only thing they said was that we needed to send in a letter for their records. We were told nothing of a cancellation fee or a notice period. So, we proceeded with our new service installation. A few days later (after we sent our letter via snail mail which they expressly required) we received an email from them with a copy of our 10+ year old contract scanned with the note "here is the copy of your contract as you requested." No name and it was sent from a generic email. Not knowing why this was sent, we called them and they said we had a 30 day notice requirement and that we would owe for that period of time, despite our having already replaced their system.

This is the first we heard of this. We then asked what this amount would be and they couldn't give me a number, saying that it was based on 30 days after their receipt of our letter and after when they actually read it. WHAT?? Note that for each person we spoke to we asked for a last name and contact information (email or phone number) and were told each time that they didn't give out that information. We reminded them that likely thousands of their employees have access to our social security numbers, names, security code, pass code, address, etc., but apparently we can't have anyone's full name. We asked to speak with a manager who gave us the same story, then someone senior to that person who also said the same thing. We wrote an email to their (also anonymous) Executive Response team (had to dig deep on their website for that link) demanding an explanation and a confirmation of our cancellation without additional charge.

Meanwhile, we looked online for a way to stop our auto pay of the monthly amount but BEWARE THAT ONCE YOU SELECT AUTO PAY THERE IS NO WAY TO TURN IT OFF ONLINE!!!

We finally got a response from someone who allowed us to cancel without further penalty as I think they decided it wasn't worth it to pursue, but only after very harsh conversations and emails from us making it clear that we would not pay another cent beyond that already paid and that we were not going to back down. They promised to send us a confirming email but guess what...we never got that.

Then today, I received a letter from them (dated prior to my conversation with them) stating that "Upon reviewing your paperwork, we found that authorizing information is missing from your request." That's it. Nothing saying what was missing. And, comically, ending with "Thanks for allowing Monitronics to help keep you safe." I called immediately and was told yes, our account was cancelled and I could disregard that letter. I asked for my own edification what was missing. He said "probably a signature." Nope I said, it was signed and I have a copy of it showing the signature. The letter had our name, account number, address, date of cancellation, signature...what was missing? He couldn't say. I called the number on the letter that they sent me and they couldn't tell me what was missing. So what, if I hadn't had the separate conversation previously cancelling the service and I just followed their procedure to cancel, I would have had to guess what else they wanted? SERIOUSLY?? Because he confirmed my account was actually cancelled I decided not to pursue it further with him. However, I felt a duty to write this review so others can be forewarned.

Essentially they make it easy for you to sign up but throw up big roadblocks if you want to cancel (snail mail letter, response letter saying "information incomplete" without explanation, no ability to stop auto pay, no full names or contact info to hold people accountable, etc.). I'm baffled as to why anyone in this day and age would think that those tactics would work long-term but obviously they aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Yet another reason to pick a different monitoring company. BUYER BEWARE!!!

I tried to cancel my service again and was met with the same unhelpful customer service and a demand, and I stress demand, to send a letter. On an unrelated note, I had to cancel my credit card for security reasons a few months back and it had the benefit of stopping the autopay, which I wish I would have done earlier. I refuse to write a letter in this day and age. I waited 6 weeks or so and found the number on this site and called. Lo and behold! The impossible happened, I was able to cancel by phone. I cancelled my service on 9/22/14. They billed me until 10/22/14 which is fitting, and a final kick in the jewels, but at least it is finally canceled. I would give them no stars if it were possible. Horrible customer service, mediocre product, scare tactics and bad sales experience. The only thing positive about the whole experience was taking a 12 gauge to the alarm console once it was finally over.

Original Review: Nov. 6, 2014

I have had similar problems as many of the complaints already written. I, too, was with Security Network before they switched to Monitronics. I have not been satisfied with either company and would not recommend their services to my dog. I recently sold my house that I NEEDED an alarm for. I have moved and do not even own a house anymore. The people who bought my home do not want services and I don't know anyone who could take over my "contract" (nor would I want someone else to be a part of this mess). I was told that I still have a ridiculous amount left on my "contract". She claimed that a 5-year contract was signed. WRONG!!!! I feel like there has been NO attempt to right this mess after I have paying for this crap for already over 3 years.

I received a phone call at 2:00 pm stating that the technician was not coming and that additional action would be required on my part. I was told that the technicians in my area are not qualified to install the home automation products (switches and thermostat) and that I would need to contact a local electrician to obtain a quote, pass that quote back to Monitronics for approval, once approved I could schedule the electrician, pay for it myself, submit for reimbursement to Monitronics and then I could expect someone to come back to my house to activate the components, forcing me to take more time off from work (already took half a day off).

Are you kidding me? What kind of company offers products and services that it cannot support? I have to do my own legwork to add features and functionality to my system that I pay you a monthly fee for? Where is the customer service here? You expect me to spend my own time coordinating electricians and obtaining quotes all so you can extend my contract and charge me more a month? I had the highest of hopes after my first call with Monitronics after being transferred from Security Networks but something tells me it is just the same B.S. organization under a different name. If this is truly the case, I look forward to watching Monitronics fold just like Security Networks based on terrible customer service. You as a company need to realize people have a choice where we spend our money and come May 5, 2016, I personally will not spend another dime with Monitronics.

Soon after the technician set us up, we started having issues. The alarm would sound at random times with a Zone 4 issue. This happened in the middle of the night. It happened when we were at work. There were numerous times when I drove 40 miles home to respond to an alarm on a Zone 4 sensor. We had the technician out several times to diagnose the problem. Each time Monitronics wanted us to pay to have the wired sensors replaced with wireless sensors. Each time Monitronics wanted us to pay a service charge and extend our contract terms. Each time I said NO, because it hasn't worked since Day 1!! The third time they came out they said we needed to replace 10+ sensors and it was going to cost close to $1000!

I again said NO! I suggested that if they had installed the original equipment we were supposed to get that we probably wouldn't be having the problems we had. They said that was not their problem and we would have to pay for any other changes to the hardwired system. At the end of each service call, they would finally agree to replace (3) sensors at no cost. So over the last few months, we have have actually had about 8 sensors replaced. However, our problems continue...

I told their customer service as of the call a month ago, that I just wanted a system that works. I look forward to the day when I am no longer a Monitronics customer, which will be the day after my contract expires. I said I didn't want to pay for anything else, because I've already given them enough of my time, fuel, sleepless nights, etc. We ended that conversation and it was about a month before they called again last week.

This time my customer account manager (Taylor) said she can offer me a touch panel system (like I was supposed to get originally, right) and would replace all the hard wired sensors with a new wireless technology. My monthly rate would sound the same and I would just have to pay a $57 technician fee and agree to a 28 month contract. I'm thinking great, they are finally about to take care of this bad deal! My response was "it's about time" and Taylor responded that we would not have any more problems with the hard wired system after making this new change.

Well today (10/31/14), I took another vacation day to meet the Monitronics technician and to install our new equipment. Upon arrival (late by 45 mins) the technician takes out some of the new wireless equipment they are supposed to install and says "Well, this part is broken, so we will not be able to do this today". He also says "well, they didn't send me with any wireless sensors on this order" and "you mean to tell me you still have some hard wired and wireless sensors too?"

So, he got Taylor on the phone. This time she says she cannot extend the previous offer and now the terms need to change to a $125 technician fee, plus extending the contract to 48 months as well as going up on my monthly monitoring fees to almost $40 per month. There it is, the old BAIT & SWITCH!! I told her essentially that she is trying to bait and switch, I'm not paying more (again), I'm tired of being jerked around by Monitronics!!!

I'm sorry this story is so long, but it documents the last 4 months of HELL we have been through with this company! And to think, I used to be a HUGE Monitronics fan! Oh well. I'm looking forward to the day my Monitronics contract expires so I can go to ADT or Brinks, or somewhere else...anywhere else. In the meantime, I'm hoping the Monitronics sign on the road keeps my home safe. Fortunately, I am a believer in the right to bear arms. I'm paying $35 per month to display the sign and my system is worth $.02. As is Monitronics customer support.

Original Review: Oct. 31, 2014

We started our service with Monitronics Oct. 8, 2009 with a 3 year contract. We never missed a payment. March 10, 2010 we were advised that our system was not connected to our local Fire or Sheriff's office, since our county needed us to pay a permit. So in fact we had no service for 6 months except for the loud noise and hope our neighbors called 911. We let that slide and got our permit at an additional cost. Our problem came in July 2014 when our phone line was updated to digital making our system useless. I called that day to cancel, sent my letter yet continued to be billed. I called in Sept. to see why, they claimed no letter received. I sent a second letter the same day still being billed. Called again spoke the Josh (manager), he said my letter was received 10/7 and my billing would stop 11/7 due to 30 day notice I had to give per my contract. No one Ever mentioned the 30 day notice if they had I would have faxed letter.

My equipment is off my walls sitting in a box since July yet I still have to pay for the extra 6 months. That is a total of 1 year I have paid from the 1st error in 2009-2010 and now the lost letter and 30 day notice. I have my original contract and there is no mention of the 30 day notice, nor did the 3 people I talked to mention it. Their calls are recorded so that can be verified. All Josh would say is it's company policy, nothing he can do. He finally agreed to request a 26.00 refund but not to count on it due to company policy.

I am now using my system and feel completely secure....I've been assured that I will be taken care of if I need assistance in the future, and if not, I have John's number. Overall, I've been quite surprised by the rapid response I received from Monitronics, and look forward to continuing my business with them.

Original Review: Oct. 30, 2014

My original contract was with Devcon security company, but it suddenly changed to Monitronics after a year or so. I recently had some changes in my income, and also, I'm not using the security system so I called to cancel my service. I was told I would still be held responsible for the remainder of the contract, whether I was using it or not, until the year 2017! I specifically asked what other options were available and was told none. In addition, I've never been satisfied with the security of their system. Initially, 3 of my windows had no sensors at all, and when I was finally told this by Monitronics I was shocked...I had no idea, as well as upset that I my home was not secure.

Eventually they sent me the sensors to install myself, which I had to pay for, or they could send a tech, but I would have to pay for that too. So when I tried installing them, it was a problem b/c of my particular windows. After calling them, frustrated and angry, they sent someone out who also had problems, and the sensors just fell off a couple days later. I don't feel "secure" and at this point just want to stop paying for something I don't use, nor do I want anymore "help" getting it to work right. To be told I have to pay $50+ a month till 2017 for something I don't even use is ridiculous!!! And why I'm being held under a contract not with Monitronics is wrong.

Well several months later I noticed that they had began billing me again. When I called I was told my fax was never received, although they never tried reaching out. No letter, no bills, no email, nothing. I called customer service and was then told that faxes were no longer accepted and I had to pay to send a certified letter, and that they could not credit back the months I had been billed even though the system is off. I asked to speak to a manager that could resolve my issue, and was told none were available but that they would have a manager call me back within 48 hours. It has been over a week, no call. I hesitate to call back because each time I do I spend no less than an hour on the phone between hold time and being transferred around. I can dispute the charges with my bank but I would much prefer Monitronics properly reimburse me and cancel my service.

As someone else expressed, after this experience I would not recommend this company as their cancellation policy is to keep charging you as long as possible and will come up with any reason why. After reading other reviews it is clear that they are doing this on purpose and their customer service agents in the cancellation dept are trained to give customers the runaround. Do not enter into a contract with this company, even without a contract they still will continue to bill you.

The Monitronics representative declined the information. I had requested that Capital Connect and Monitronics respond to several issues which had been reported to the Alarms Systems Administrator and Codes Enforcement. As a result of problems created by Capital Connect, Capital Connect was ultimately denied licenses to solicit business and install alarm systems in the City of Las Cruces. The Monitronics representative who called indicated that although the Monitronics name was being used, Monitronics "only" had a contract to provide services to Capital Connect customers and clearly wanted to distance the company from the situation. Nonetheless, she said that she would take it to "higher ups" and call back the following week with a response. But the call never came.

The situation became so problematic that we exercised our right of rescission: cancelled our contract and had the system removed. The technician removed the Capital Connect equipment and left us with our prior alarm system in an inoperable condition. I am concerned that Monitronics opted to involve their corporation with Capital Connect and believe that part of corporate responsibility is to determine through due diligence if potential partners are conducting business responsibly. When I contacted officials with the City of Las Cruces I was advised that both codes and police offices had been trying to apprehend the individual marketing Capital Connect alarm systems because he was bringing carloads of teens to Las Cruces from El Paso and dumping them in residential neighborhoods to solicit business. Such activity was a clear violation of the city regulations regarding who is allowed to go door to door soliciting business (such individuals have to undergo criminal background checks to prevent citizens from being subjected to interaction with undesirables).

Below is the list of the problems that we encountered as a result of the activities of Capital Connect with whom Monitronics has an admitted contractual relationship:

Problem #1) The Capital Connect representative indicated the City of Las Cruces police would not respond in a timely manner to calls that were not verifiable. The delayed response time is only for those alarms identified as "nuisance" alarms. This is a serious misrepresentation of facts. Notes written on brochure by representative indicate that a "call over phone" system is not in compliance with the Las Cruces alarm ordinance which is also inaccurate.

Problem #2) Capital Connect makes representations on their brochure that are not supported by contract language and failed to provide a contract that would rectify the problem.

Problem #3) The Capital Connect contract specifically states that equipment was warranted on a limited basis for one year only. The brochure says otherwise, but there is nothing contractually to support the claim on the brochure.

Problem #4) The brochure states that monitoring is done by Monitronics, but the contract specifies that the monitoring service is being provided by Capital Connect.

Problem #5) During the course of the installation of our system, the representative, triggered a false alarm (a panic alarm) that resulted in a uniformed officer coming to our home. I don't understand how this could have happened if a two-way interactive system was installed. The representative was standing in front of the unit and could easily have responded to anyone seeking verification regarding the alarm signal. This raises questions regarding the reliability of the system. For the first time since we have had an alarm system in our Las Cruces home (for many years now), we were faced with potential penalties for having triggered a false alarm. A Monitronics representative called hours later regarding the panic alarm that was triggered.

Problem #6) Capital Connect did not have a license to solicit business in the City of Las Cruces.

Problem #7) Capital Connect did not have a license to install systems in the City of Las Cruces.

At this juncture and in this situation, I believe that neither Monitronics nor Consumer Affairs have manifested the level of corporate responsibility that they claim to embrace.

I finally had to call and find out when he was coming. He's scheduled a week later (paying for all services but don't have some for a week). The morning he's supposed to come I finally call because I hadn't heard from anyone. They tell me they have to reschedule because my technician didn't leave switches. Well, he comes today and supposedly the way my switches are, they were only able to set up my outside lights. Really?! Being able to turn on lights remotely were one of the main reasons for wanting to upgrade. Two people were in my house. They could have told me there would be an issue with my lights.

After this experience I would not recommend this company as their cancellation policy is to keep charging you as long as possible for whatever silly reason they decide to. After reading previous reviews it seem they are doing this on purpose or have extremely incompetent people working in the cancellation dept. Either way, do not enter into a contract with this company.

Original Review: Oct. 21, 2014

Poor Technical support, charging for it, sending person with basic knowledge and then charging for it. There is no warranty on their devices and you have to pay for it with some mark up.

I have been a customer for almost 3 yrs now and my contract will soon be up. I figured a company would like to have a continual contract relationship, just as cell phone carriers do. I can get a iPhone 6+ for $299 with a 2 yr renewal contract, while retail would cost me $850, just a point I am making, in relation to this. So I figured Monitronics would want me to continue my relationship with them for another 3 yrs. I can get an entire brand new system for what I was quoted at another alarm company, and become their customer instead.

A year later I accepted a job transfer to Pennsylvania and I sold my home. It was my understanding that the Monitronics contract had transferred to the new homeowner. What I didn't know was that the new owners decided not to use the Monitronics system and turned the system off in February 2013. They installed a different security system.

I never received any calls or letters of inquiry from Monitronics even though the system was turned off. But the auto bill payment from my checking account wasn't turned off and I continued to pay for the service, now over $800. When I discovered the oversight in Aug 2014, I contacted Monitronics and was told to send a letter. The letter is currently under review but I'm being told over the phone that there's not much that can be done. I'm told that I signed a 3 year contact and that my options are either: 1) take the service to my new home; 2) get the new homeowner to pick it up; 3) pay $368.57 to close out the 3 year contract.

I believe in paying for service. I've already paid over $800 for a service that was turned off. Now I'm being told to pay more money for the same 'no service'. My contract refers to another document which I never received for an explanation of my rights to cancel the agreement. At this point, I'm just waiting for an official response from Monitronics. If my money is refunded for service that was turned off, I will be offer to be their #1 spokesperson. But it my money is not refunded and if I have to pay more money for no service, well, my experience will be very low.

Last month we got our credit card bill and were surprised to see another monthly payment for Monitronics. My wife called and was informed that they never received our cancellation letter. She asked for a refund and was told that was not going to happen. I called later in the day and asked for a supervisor. I was told the supervisor had a list of customers she was dealing with, so I would be added to the list. She took my name and number, and as of two days later I have still not received a call! I was also told that they require 30 days written notice of cancellation, so I would be charged again next month...

This customer service level is unacceptable, and having read a few of the comments on here I see that is their normal service level. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!!

Now 2 weeks to the day tomorrow our system is still malfunctioning, alarm going off at all hours, sensors not working. We were told by Monitronics it would take 2 weeks to get a technician out to our home. They said we were not a high priority... REALLY!!!! Getting robbed less than 2 weeks ago doesn't make us a high priority??? I will NOT recommend this company to anyone! DO NOT TRUST YOUR FAMILY'S SAFETY TO THIS COMPANY. YOU COULD LOSE SOMEONE YOU LOVE. ):

We now are senior citizens, living in our RV, and cannot use an alarm service. Most companies allow people to discontinue services if there is a change in life circumstances. Monitronics expects us to pay nearly $2,100 in fees for a service that no longer exists, is associated with no monitoring costs on their part, and is impossible for us to use. Like many of the other reviews, I would not recommend this company to anyone.

We have always paid our bills, but I have a hard time sending a company $2,100 for nothing.

Original Review: Sept. 29, 2014

I originally signed a contract a few years ago with Security Networks when a salesman showed up at my door. Security Networks was bought out by Monitronics. Since I thought my contract was up - it's been over 3 years - I wasn't concerned about the new company taking over. I've paid my bill on time every month with auto pay payments. Here is where things get interesting: We recently sold our home and now Monitronics tells me I have a contract with them. I did not sign a contract with Monitronics. The home that we moved into has an alarm system and built in (it's part of a development), but Monitronics is now telling me that I owe them more than $1,800 to get out of a contract and they are still charging me for a monthly service that I cannot use.

Say what?!?! Why should I pay for a service that I cannot use? We've spoken to a number of representatives and were even - supposedly - transferred to their legal department. The rep even asked me for a copy of my contract. So how can you say I'm under contract if you don't have a copy of my contract?! You should be sending me a copy if I'm really under obligation to your company. Now they want to ruin my good credit for an obligation that they can't even proves exists! I don't have a problem paying for service or even a reasonable cancellation fee, but Monitronics is a bloodsucking company that uses unsavory business practices. DO NOT BELIEVE THE DEALS FROM DOOR TO DOOR SALESMEN AND DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH MONITRONICS.

I asked, since Monitronics usually only offers a 36-month contract, and I had fulfilled that portion of the contract if I could cancel for no penalty. The moving agent said it was unfortunate my contract was longer than normal, but I would have to pay $1,149.77 in order to turn off the services at a residence I no longer own. As someone who paid my bill on time and has already given Monitronics $1,849.63, I am very dissatisfied with their dealing with my moving. I would never recommend them to anyone and certainly won't purchase their services again.

What do I do at this point? I tell them that's really a devastating thing to hear and I'm very unhappy. That was the end of the conversation. At this point I'm depressed and feeling like a failure. Feeling like I'm so stupid for trusting people and what is wrong with me. So, a couple of days go by and I'm still not sure to do about it. Then, this person name Ralph calls me and starts screaming at me on the phone. I ask if I can cancel my contract. He then threatens to sue me. I start to get angry. Why is this guy yelling at me? He can sue me just for asking to cancel? He then proceeds to tell me that he will call the cops on me and tell them I have drugs in my house if I try to cancel. At this point I am livid and become quite defensive. He then tells me, "Just remember, I installed your security system and I can disable it so you better be careful". I feel violated. I feel abused. I feel scared for my safety. I want people to know what they did to me.

Original Review: Sept. 25, 2014

My equipment became faulty due to there no longer being 2G towers in the area. I called Monitronics and had a service call scheduled. I paid $199 for new wall unit that worked with 3G and at that time unannounced to me with no written agreement they locked me into a several year contract that doesn't end until 04/05/2017 and upped my price from $40 a month to $46 a month. I no longer live in the house and they refuse to cancel my service unless I pay the remaining amount on my contract. This is all due to their equipment being outdated and no longer working. Prior to the equipment being installed I was not under a contract. I was a good standing customer for over 3 years and now they refuse to cancel my service and by the looks of it this will all need to be resolved in court. DON'T USE THIS COMPANY for your home security service.

This morning I was informed that until their records indicated that they had received a letter requesting cancellation of service, they could not stop billing me. I sent that letter in July of 2013, and was told that the billing would end at the close of my contract, which was July of 2014. Since then I have been billed twice more. But their records do not reflect that letter, and they will bill me until it does. I was also told that it would take 30 days to process this cancellation of service. That is an extraordinarily long time... time enough, of course, to bill me another month of service.

I asked that they do the following: Confirm receipt of the letter. Close the account, since I no longer live at that address, nor have they provided service there for the past 14 months, nor do I require service in my present address. Confirm that the account is closed. Stop deducting money from my account. Offer a refund of all monies they have collected since the expiration of my (two year) contract: so far, $63.98. I would consider these steps a minimum standard for a company that wants to preserve a reputation for honest business dealings. I am not convinced they are such a company. I would like to be convinced. The profusion of similar reviews does not instill confidence.

I cancelled the Security Networks "service" in February, as none was being provided. They continued to debit my bank account for two months after the cancellation, even though their authorization had been revoked in writing, until I put a stop pay on my account to stop it. Even then, they changed the name to Monitronics, got around the stop pay, and debited one more month. I have repeatedly told them why I cancelled (breach of contract, failure to provide contracted service); they seem to think I am still going to give them more money. My attorney will begin legal action if the harassment does not cease - they are now frequently calling (harassing) a 3rd party who was only given as an emergency number in case I or my mother could not be reached when the alarm went off. My not paying them does not constitute this type of emergency. My next contact will be a complaint to the Attorney General for the State of Colorado; they need to take the money that they got for the many months of "service" when they weren't doing anything, and the 3 additional months that they illegally debited my bank account for, and walk away.

I have repeatedly told Monitronics reps that I am not interested in speaking to them by telephone. If they had wanted to contact me by email, they were welcome to do so, but they did not. They knew my address and could have sent me correspondence, but all I got (and continue to get) are "overdue ongoing monitoring" bills (more service that is not being provided). They obviously do not want any written record of any negotiations or complaint resolution. Instead they want to resolve everything by telephone on their "recorded line", so only they have record of it. STAY AWAY FROM MONITRONICS!

Original Review: Sept. 16, 2014

A few months ago, Monitronics acquired my Security Network account without receiving notice from either company. Not long after that, I received a call from Monitronics that my wireless security system was unable to communicate with their system. I told the rep I never had this problem with Security Network so he offered to send a technician to decipher the problem. The rep informed me that the technician would call to schedule an appointment. Scheduling turned from a simple process to a grueling one month ordeal.

It took 2 weeks to get an appointment. The technician never called to schedule and the appointment was made through a Monitronics rep. On service day, the technician called 15 minutes before the end of the scheduled time frame to say he cannot make the appointment. Another appointment was made for later that week. Two technicians arrived late (after 6:30), then informed me that they would have to return the following day because they did not have the equipment (a new wireless receiver) to fix the issue since Monitronics never informed them that the problem may be equipment related nor gave them a preauthorization to pick it up. Verbally, they told me they would return the following evening to complete the work order.

They never returned the next day nor did they call me to say they couldn't make the appointment. I called Monitronics and a representative rescheduled an appointment with a different contractor and for my troubles, she waived the monthly service fee for the following month. A technician finally showed up and he concluded that my alarm system/equipment was incompatible with Monitronics and I would need an entire new alarm installation; however, Monitronics may not cover this. My alarm system worked fine before Monitronics took over my account nor did I ever have a communication issue with Security Network so he suggested I speak with accounts resolution and he would document all the needed equipment for the installation.

I spoke with an accounts resolution rep and he agreed to install the new alarm system under warranty and I would not have to pay anything out of pocket. The same technician returned to install the new system; however, when he spoke with Monitronics during the set up, the rep claimed that keypads were not included in the preauthorization. The technician was in disbelief since he clearly documented that keypads/panels were needed and therefore have completely removed all of my old equipment. The rep took advantage of the situation and tried to force me to extend my existing contract or pay. I refused to extend my contract, after experiencing nothing but dissatisfaction with Monitronics. The rep was very unprofessional and rude. I told her I spoke with accounts resolution, who had approved the installation without fees.

Apparently, she did not read these notes since she was shocked by this info but chose to ignore the notes. Her comments were "Did you really expect you would get all of this for free?" and "Aren't we doing you a favor and trying to work with you?". I opted to speak with Monitronics after installation. I called the billing dept. and explained the entire situation. The rep stated that everything I said had already been documented and assured me that under my account, he entered a note that the installation fees were waived and I would not receive a bill. Since then, I have received two bills for not only the installation, but also for the waived one month service fee. This is deceitful practice and Monitronics' integrity is questionable at best. I am leaving Monitronics. I have a hard time believing this company received an A+ standing with the Better Business Bureau. I strongly discourage anyone from using Monitronics!

Original Review: Sept. 7, 2014

I signed a contract with Pinnacle on 3/18/10. Made payments. Next thing I know payments wanted by Defcon offering customers my service for 15 dollars less. Contacted them by email 3 x's to xnl no response. Next moved to Monitronics. Figured let it ride was just a name change. I WAS NEVER INFORMED this was a company buying out my contract and never asked if I WANTED TO CONTINUE WITH THEM. I did not for numerous reasons. Informed whomever I spoke to at least 3 times that I wanted to end my contract in Sept the natural end of my contract (Sept 18 2014). Got a bill. Paid it for August and SEPT and nothing else. Got a call info me that I am 44 days late on my OCT bill. Explained contract ends Sept and paid until then. Informed I need to fax and send letter 15 days in advance re cancel of my contract. Fax out and letter out. But, since I never had a contract with YOU I do not feel contractual - I neither have to honor this 15 day nonsense nor do I have to accept this. I HAVE TO PAY A MONTH IN ADVANCE OF MY CONTRACT so YOU can prorate money back to me. I EXPECT this to be resolved IMMEDIATELY.

Original Review: Sept. 3, 2014

I cannot understand for the life of me how my home is not being monitored but my checking account is being charged. All I wanted was for a technician to come out and show me their new system. Now I am being charged a monthly fee and I have no system that is monitoring my home. How can this be remotely acceptable from a customer service point of view, a value point of view or an installation point of view. Therefore, I must give the lowest rating to all three categories.

Original Review: Sept. 3, 2014

I was approached at my door 9/11 and was offered security service by a company called Pinnacle. I signed a contract for 42 months. Since then they sold their customers to Devcon then Monitronics. Devcon told me the contract was voided when they sold the company. Now Monotronics tells me I have a contract with them. I signed nothing with them. I'm moving to where the alarm is set and built in but they want their 6 months. I paid 36 months to a company I never knew. I called to tell them thank you but have to go will pay my last bill. No they want $311 for breach of a contract I never signed with them. I want this resolved.

I called today to check and was sent all over the pass and ultimately told that they would not allow it and that the contract is legally binding which may or may not be true but is definitely POOR customer service. I asked why they would ask for the fax and he stuttered and said it was for screening for canceling. The only options my poor parents have is to pay the contract, turn over to family, or sell it to someone else. When my parents signed the contract they didn't know they would need to go into a nursing home. It's something that happens. They said that the reason for the security was to magically keep them from a nursing home because they have a necklace to carry around. Do not be deceived!

Original Review: Aug. 27, 2014

After hearing the nightmare stories of cancelling Monitronics, I was hoping they were exaggerated. My contract expired this month. I sent written notification listing my name, address, phone number, account number, and password saying I would like to cancel my service. Should be enough right? No. This week I receive a letter saying they couldn't cancel my service because they are "missing information to cancel service". Of course they then proceed to charge me for this month. I've called several times. Apparently their "account specialists" only work special times of the day.

Original Review: Aug. 26, 2014

I recently lost my job. Fortunately enough, I was able to find another one; however, it required me to quickly leave Texas and move to California. I found a place to rent, but it does not allow alarm systems in the home. I called Monitronics to explain all this and they said I still need to fulfill my contract. That is absurd. Utility companies allowed me to break their contract because of my move and Monitronics does not?!?! The only other options I was told was to either leave it at my old house and have the new owners pay for it (I have no idea who they are) or have a family member install a system (that requires them to be in a contract with Monitronics). I have been a loyal customer for about 6 years and this is how you are treating me now? This is ridiculous!! I need this resolved ASAP!

I was told that you were not the company that I entered into the contract with, so going to an attorney would do me no good!!! (Told this by a Tony). He said I did not sign the contract with Monitronics, but another company. So it wasn't your company's fault that I was basically lied to so the salesman could get a sale! I said if that is the case my contract should be "null and void" and I should just be able to cancel. I am extremely upset. I was told 24 months (2 years) and this Tony said it is my own fault that I didn't read the contract better when I signed it. I will no longer have a house for an alarm, will have to continue paying your company for an additional 33 months that I didn't even know about, and will have a very limited income because I will not have a job while caring for my mother and my husband has been on disability because of a work injury for 18 years already, and that is what we will have to live on.

I do not know if a lawyer will be able to help me or not, and I certainly don't have the funds to hire one but I also do not have the funds to pay for 33 months of service that I cannot use. I am extremely disappointed. It took me over a month of calling before I was able to finally speak to a "relocation specialist" and this is what I was told??? I have a hard time believing that you could have gotten the Customer Satisfaction Award for 2013.

I was instructed by the woman from Monitronics to write a letter to Monitronics stating our intent to cancel our service and to also include a copy of a recent bill to further verify our identity. I complied with both requests and faxed the information to the phone number which the woman provided. The following week, I followed up with the woman by phone and she told me that she had received the letter and that the billing would end after the current month, which I believe ended sometime in mid-November 2013. She said she would try to pro-rate the bill back to October 31st (the date I requested payment be terminated) but that at worst, we would need to pay for the full month's payment, which were essentially the September-October bill and the October-November bill. I said that was agreeable and anything she could do would be great. I also asked if there would be any additional charges, cancellation fees, etc. and she said there would not.

I wanted to be sure that there were no loose ends because I was leaving the company effective October 31st, 2013 and could not technically act as a officer or representative of the company after that date, even though I did call up later to confirm the faxed information had been completely received, which she stated it had.

Several months later, in early 2014, I began receiving calls from the Monitronics billing department stating that our bill was delinquent and that our account was still active. I went on to explain to the Monitronics representative that I had faxed in our intent to cancel in October, as well as all additional information they required, and that our service should have been stopped on October 31st, 2013. The new representative then told me that there was no information on my account showing that though there were records of calls related to cancelling our account in October of 2013, that no fax or letter stating our intent to cancel had ever been received or recorded in their database.

Over the course of the spring and summer of 2014, I continued to receive periodic calls from different Monitronics representatives regarding the same issue, that our bill was past due and that our service was STILL in effect even though I had stated previously to CANCEL the service immediately. Now in early August 2014, I began receiving harassing calls from someone who stated they were with a new company (which sounds like a law firm, but is most likely a collections agency) stating that I owe them something like $380. They say that they are contacting me because I was originally the one who signed the contract, even though I was acting as a representative of the company at which I worked. I have NO intent to pay anyone other than Monitronics. I just want Monitronics to admit their error and agree to a final payment, which should have been somewhere around $60.

This collections person stated to me all kinds of contractual obligations, that our contract automatically renews each year, etc, even after the representatives at Monitronics said that we would only be responsible for the last two months of service since we had fulfilled our original contract of three years. I have no problems agreeing to pay what I feel is due per my conversation with the Monitronics rep back in October 2013. Our original contract was for three years, which would have concluded in 2007. We have always been in good standing with Monitronics and the woman I originally spoke with at Monitronics seemed genuinely friendly and willing to help me get the business account cancelled and I had never had any problems with their services or customer services prior to this.

To make matters even worse, they are reporting the collection to my own personal credit history! I'm not even employed by the company anymore! This seems like extortion and definitely smells of illegality to me! At this point, I'm not sure who I can contact at Monitronics to help me resolve this issue, short of hiring a lawyer. I no longer have access to any of the billing information as I am no longer with the company, so I really don't know what to do.

Original Review: Aug. 20, 2014

I called to cancel my service. Initially the customer service representative was pleasant and helpful but then I was transferred to the "Loyalty" department to complete my request. I was put through several minutes of high pressure sales to keep the monitoring service when I repeated my request to cancel the representative became very rude and demanding I provide a written cancellation and they claimed they would still autodraft payments from my account.

Original Review: Aug. 19, 2014

So apparently if you are selling your home that has a Monitronics system but can't use Monitronics in a temporary facility while your new home is being build then you are still contractually obligated to pay for their service even though they are not hooked up to any system or protecting your home. How is this legal? We will make sure our new home will not use any security system related to Monitronics. Horrible business.

Then in July, lo and behold, more phone calls and letters demanding payment! So I call Again! On Aug 1st and I am once again told I am sort blah blah blah, "it is cancelled and won't happen again!" On Aug 3rd they call again and when I finally get a human and speak with Edgar, he assures me we will not receive anymore phone calls, and it is cancelled! But it could take 30 days to cancel, seriously? It takes a freaking push of a button these days, and it's been since May! So my brother calls today and says he has a letter from Monitronics for delinquent account!!!!! ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WVA RECEIVES MY NEXT PHONE CALL. GOOD GRIEF. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN CHARGE OF SECURING OUR HOMES AND YOU CAN'T EVEN HANDLE A SIMPLE FLIPPING PHONE CALL!!

We had serious concerns regarding Capital Connect and Monitronics which we documented and provided in an e-mail to Tony ** who represented himself as a manager with Capital Connect (the text of the e-mail is presented below). Various representations had been made by Capital Connect in the sales brochure that were not supported in the contract language subsequently provided. Mr. ** failed to respond to our concerns and we learned that the City of Las Cruces had also been having major problems with Capital Connect. Capital Connect was denied the right to do business in the City of Las Cruces on/about August 11,2014.

We exercised our right to cancel on Monday, August 11 (which was within the 3 business days as provided in our contractual agreement) when Mr. ** did not respond to our concerns and after we learned that Capital Connect had not only been denied a license to do business, but that the police were looking for the Capital Connect representative who had been instrumental in placing the system in our home. Capital Connect had failed to secure the proper certifications from the City to permit installations and solicitations. The Capital Connect representative had been loading up juveniles in El Paso and bringing them into Las Cruces to solicit door-to-door without the background checks required for door-to-door solicitors.

Upon cancellation of our contract, we sought to follow up with the Monitronics survey department regarding the situation and the Monitronics representative claimed that they could not discuss the situation with us until after 30 days had passed because 30 days was required for cancellation! We are concerned that Monitronics and Capital Connect are ignoring our cancellation notice which should have been in effect per the cancellation provisions that we were provided. The fact that Monitronics has affiliated itself with a company that has such a dubious track record is one concern. In addition, Monitronics itself appears to be unresponsive to our entreaties regarding the cancellation of the monitoring program which is also very troubling.

You should be aware that I have had some serious problems with how Capital Connect has handled the business transaction for our residence at 2048 Pine Needle Way, Las Cruces, NM. I have been in discussions with our City Council representative and with the Community Development Department of the City of Las Cruces regarding these problems.

Problem #1) Your representative, Trevor **indicated the City of Las Cruces Police would not respond in a timely manner to calls that were not verifiable. The delayed response time is only for those alarms identified as "nuisance" alarms. This is a serious misrepresentation of facts. Problem #2) You make representations on your brochure that are not supported by contract language and have failed to provide a contract that would rectify the problem. Problem #3) Your contract specifically states that you warrant your equipment on a limited basis for one year only. Your brochure says otherwise, but there is nothing contractually to support your claim. Problem #4) You claim that monitoring is done Monitronics, but your contract specifies that the monitoring service is being provided by Capital Connect.

Problem #5) During the course of the installation of our system, your representative, Trevor ** triggered a false alarm (a panic alarm) that resulted in uniformed officer coming to our home. I don't understand how this could have happened if we truly had a two-way interactive system. Your representative was standing in front of the unit and could easily have responded to anyone seeking verification regarding the alarm signal. This raises questions regarding the reliability of the system. For the first time since we have had an alarm system in our Las Cruces home (for many years now), we are now faced with having triggered a false alarm.

Problem #6) Your company does not have a license to solicit business in the City of Las Cruces. Problem #7) Your company does not have a license to install systems in the City of Las Cruces. Problem #8) Your license to do business in New Mexico does not authorize your company to do any and all business in the State, there are municipal codes involved.

Obviously I am very concerned about this situation and require an immediate response with a truly satisfactory resolution to my concerns. We still have the opportunity to rescind this transaction under the Notice of Cancellation provided and will rescind if there is not an immediate satisfactory conclusion. We expect you to provide the correct contract language that supports the claims you make in your brochure and address the issues raised regarding non-licensure. We are anxious to have a just and appropriate resolution to this problem and want to have the cancellation of the contract with Capital Connect and Monitronics honored.

I originally signed a contract with Security Networks, which was acquired by Monitronics this year. When I started having problems with my alarm system (the sensors didn't pick up motion when armed), I called to speak with a technician and was only then informed of the change in service provider. They then told me that my account was inactive, which was a complete surprise to me. I spoke with several different people and was finally assured that the first representative with whom I spoke had been mistaken and the account had never been inactive. Honestly, they could tell me anything and I have no way of verifying it, since the alarm never appeared to give us any problems. I don't know if that is because we didn't have service during that time or because the alarm was never tripped.

Monitronics then sent a technician out, who worked on our system and installed a new sensor (after some haggling over double billing issues they reduced the price of the sensor installation). When he left he said that everything was working properly and we shouldn't have any more problems with the sensors not picking up motion. I was also told that the price of my service would be reduced to $35/mo from $49, but no mention of any other contract terms changing.

This was in May. Since then, the new sensor has NEVER worked. Additionally, today we became aware that the other sensors are not working. I called to cancel my contract and was told that I would need to pay the remainder of my account, until August 2018. When I informed the representative that they are in breach of their contract by not providing the service they agreed to provide and are violating the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by engaging in false, misleading, and deceptive acts, she wanted to send a technician out to try to diagnose the problem. I do not want another technician to come and "perform" services so that my alarm can continue to not work. The technician then told me that I am in breach of contract because I am not allowing them the opportunity to correct their problems. I have already given them the opportunity to correct their problems and they have not and have only charged me more money and extended my contract without my consent.

Probably the most deceptive and unconscionable act Monitronics is guilty of committing is that after the previous service in May, I received a letter that my contract was extended another 6 months after the end of the current term. I never agreed to that and was not advised that by having my system serviced that I would be bound to another 6 months. Very deceptive and misleading practices--to extend a customer's contract without his or her consent or without even notifying until after the fact. I am truly horrified that any company would treat its customers this way.

I am considering legal action. No company should be allowed to breach its contract repeatedly by failing to provide a service it agreed to provide, deliver terrible customer service and keep the customer locked in despite that company's failure to substantially perform the contract.

At approximately, 6:27 p.m., I called the company and explained my situation, and told them that I was within the 72-hour window of cancellation and I was transferred to a person by the name of Nick, Exchange Service Supervision. He also put me on hold and came back and told me that the Retention Department had just closed. I asked what time would they open the next day, and he said he was not sure, but he thought they might open around 7:00 a.m. I told him I would like an adjustment on my bill, which I have to pay next week, or I would like to cancel and he told me to call the next day. I told him that tomorrow I would no longer have the option to cancel after 72 hours, and he said that they would see what they could do for me.

Right now, I am frustrated that I was lied to by the Representative, Madison **, who stopped by my home on Friday, when I was outside doing some staining. I later was told I have a 5 year contract instead of the 3 year I agreed to. If I cannot get an adjustment, I would like for my contract to be changed to 3 years as I agreed to in the first place.

Original Review: Aug. 11, 2014

Last July we had a salesman come to our door and pitched us on a "advertising home" with perks on a security system. We were told there were no false alarm fees, free equipment, and we could call him personally anytime. After signing we had questions and the salesman never responded to our calls. Not once did he mention the buy out after the first year. I called Monitronics to see what we needed as far as moving goes. I was told by salesman just leave it and we replace at new house for free. Of course leaving out the fact you add 12 months service to do so! The customer service representative I talked with had no idea what options I had when it came to moving and ended up emailing me my copy of signed contract. I feel mislead by this company and still need to resolve this as we vacate the home on the 19th!

Original Review: Aug. 11, 2014

I have Monitronics since they took over System Networks. I was not notified till they told me my payment was late. Since then I have been making my monthly payments assuming I had home security. I did not know I didn't till my power went out. When it was restored the alarm box said communication failure. I was told by the tech that they could not get a signal because of my modem. I was told It would cost me $300 dollars to fix it. I have had that modem for years. I was paying monthly payments for a service they did not provide and never notified me. I do not want to do business with this company any longer and would like my payments refunded for money I feel was stolen.

This company is nothing but a scam! So we called and cancelled so we thought. Now they are illegally charging my account! I wrote them one check and I mean just one and they keep running that check over and over now and we have no idea how they are doing it! And they keep telling me now that I gave them permission to charge my account every month and I NEVER gave them permission. They did the auto pay on my husband's account and the one month he had a problem with his check, they must have called at least 20 times asking about their money so I told them I would send them a check to cover that month and then they could resume charging his account the following month.

But after the alarm kept messing up so many times and it did not work after not one but two break-ins, we decided to get rid of them and we thought we cancelled but they still charged his account month after month so we decided to cancel his account and open a new one. That is when they started charging my account. All because I sent them one check in the mail! I do not know how they get away with this! And on top of that we are elderly and very sick and live off of a very small budget! They should really be ashamed of themselves but more than that the Better Business Bureau should step up and put a stop to it or if they cannot somebody out there can!

If anybody knows who or what company can put a stop to these scam artists, please let me know and I will definitely call but if everybody on here calls and tells their story, then something will definitely get done because they cannot ignore all of us! These people really need to be stopped before they bleed all of us dry. I am just waiting to see how much they charge my account next month because that was the other problem. They told us the bill would be $28.00 a month and not a penny more and after just 8 months of service they are charging us $69.53 a month now and that is just wrong! I just hope maybe we can all work together and make a difference and get these scamming lowlife ** shut down for good!

I signed up for the service in 2012 and moved in 02/2014. Upon agreement to add the one year I had multiple conversations with contracted technicians and customer rep from Monitronics. It is 08/2014 and I just scheduled for the third time for someone to come out to install the new equipment in my new home that I moved into in February. Once again I was told I am required to pay over 300 dollar out of pocket if I DID not want to add another year to the contract or pay over 1500.00 to end the contract. The only other option was to add the year to my service that I have not missed a payment on since initiating it in 2012. This company is full of manipulating money hungry liars and I promise as a disabled vet to spread the word to my brothers in arms never to support this company in any way shape or form. I don't deal well with strong armers.

The company had the audacity to assume it was my fault that a technician never came out to my house when scheduled to. My wife waited over 6 hours one day to no avail, for a technician to install the new equipment. Months later I find that the ticket was closed and the technician had the audacity to say I kept forgetting. As a consumer I don't forget to handle things that cost me money on a monthly basis. The supervisor basically dismissed my concerns. I would really like to cancel this service, however I don't have the money to pay a termination fee of over a thousand dollars. I'm a vet on limited income with a wife and three children.

I am in the process of moving and no longer need the service- when I called on 7/25/14. I spoke to a Mr. T. ** employer ID number ** at which time he informed me that I had to pay $1,812.01 and send a letter for the reason I was cancelling and that I would then be billed. I have attached the letter which I sent return receipt (also attached) and in the letter I clearly state that I will consider the cancellation accepted if I receive no written explanation response by the end of the thirty days. I was billed at the end of the month for 50.99 and my service has not been turned off. Interesting thing is that the zip code is wrong (the postman picked up on that). I'm sure we all know the reason for that. If I have to hire an attorney I will.

This last time I called I was put through to the cancellation department. There I talked to someone named John who stated to me even though it was canceled it is still an open account and that they were still charging my dad this whole time. I said, "How could you charge someone for a service you're not providing?" Literally the system was turned off, it was nonexistent. He stated that even though they weren't monitoring his house and he cancelled them his account was still open. WHAT?!!! I had no clue my dad was still paying a bill for service he wasn't receiving. My 80 year old father was terminally ill and now from what John (THEIR OWN EMPLOYEE) tells me, I feel they took advantage of my elderly father!!

John tells me to send him my father's death certificate and pay these charges. Pay for What!!! We have no service through Monitronics, why should we pay for NOTHING?!!! Why should I have to send a death certificate when the system was canceled years ago when my father was still alive! I am going to check my dad's bank statements and see if what John was saying it true. You might be hearing from me again! WHATEVER YOU DO STAY FAR AWAY FROM MONITRONICS!!!!

My wife and I are in the process of of selling our current home. When we originally got the service we were told if we moved the equipment would stay here and we could cancel the service. Now monitronics is telling us we have to either get the new owners to sign, or get anyone else too sign. Or we have to pay 600 dollars for a service will not be using. Then the lady on the phone tells my wife we can transfer service and pay a service fee plus sign another 36 month contract. I looked monitronics move service up and it says it is free service if you move. It also never states that you will have to re-sign a contract. Why would I have to re-sign if it is moved? Also why was I told I that if we moved I would be able to cancel. I asked the lady about settling and was told that is not an option. We have had several issues with the service ever since monitronics took over security networks. My front windows were broken while the alarm was set, I never even got a phone call. I accidentally set my alarm off and when I was called they never verified anything. What am I paying for?

On Friday suggest first 2014 when customer service was asked to speak with a manager we were told that one was not available. The. Utmost rep told my wife if we were originally monitronics customers they would work with us but since they bought it from security networks there is nothing they can do. When my wife asked to speak to a manager she was told the same thing, that one was not available. I have expressed that I do not wish to transfer service and I don't not 600 is fair. I want to speak with a manager on this issue but apparently they don't have any. I recommend if they contact you you hang up, if they door to door you slam the door. They are a bunch of shotty con artist that will rip you off.

This is ridiculous and I would not recommend this deceitful alarm monitoring company to anyone. After three yrs of service, the equipment costs should have been more than covered. They are greedy and just want your money, bottom line. Service is terrible. Took the installer 4 hours to install the bare minimum equipment and after a false triggered alarm, no call or contact was made. This is the worst alarm monitoring company and extremely rude customer service. They will call you several times a day, even send your cell phone texts for payment but are slow to contact if at all when your alarm is triggered. Every contact made, they want to transfer you to a move agent. I asked repeatedly to cancel the service and explained the situation. They insists on transferring service, ask you to transfer to a friend or relative. Do not use this company.

Original Review: July 31, 2014

When the salesmen first came to sell the service, we told them that we were in the process of selling the house, and that we would not want to transfer the service to the other house. They said it would be no problem to cancel the service, and pointed out that it would be a selling point. On those terms, we switched from our alarm company to their service.

In October, we started having trouble with the battery in the garage glass break detector - less than three months after it was installed. I was told they would charge $50 to come fix it, and I was unable to find a replacement battery, since they use a hard-to-find type. I had several episodes where the open window detectors fell off due to shoddy installation. I had to replace them myself, since they were going to charge me $50 to have a tech come fix it.

We had an alarm go off accidentally, while we were home and no phone call was made to any of the contact numbers. I got an email; that was all. Another time, my son set off the alarm accidentally, and my wife was shutting it off at the control panel. No attempt was made to contact her through the control panel (one of the selling points; they say they can talk to you through the panel). Later the glass break detector with the bad battery detected the garage door operating and the police were dispatched while we were away.

I called to cancel the monitoring service on June 28, 2014, since we were about to close on the sale of the house. They said no one was available in customer service (it was a Saturday). They gave me a work order number and said someone would call me. I called again on June 30, since no one had yet contacted me. The representative said they would stop the monitoring.

On July 8, six days after I had closed on the sale of the house, and ten after I had called, customer service called back on the work order. I was shocked that they were still unsure if the monitoring was even turned off. The rep said she would call me back, since she didn't know. Three weeks later I still have not gotten a call, and I have no idea what is happening with the monitoring. They took the monthly payment out of checking for a service I don't want and can't use.

Even worse the new system only came with what they call glass breaks for window protection. I was not interest in having these. I wanted what was installed in my previous house which was a detector on each window. I was told this would cost me $45-$90 per window depending on installer. I certainly could not afford to do that, so I was left choosing which windows were the biggest concern to have these installed. At that time I said I wanted to cancel my service and they stated it would cost me over $600.00 to cancel and that was a break from the total they could collect. I had no choice, but to continue with the service and pay additional money to have it installed in my new house.

Fast forward to last weekend. My alarm was triggered and went off for over a minute before I gave my mother instructions on how to disarm. To my surprise I never received a phone call from Monitronics. I called them to find out why and to discover first they could not look up my account by my cell phone number (this is the only number they've ever had for me). Second the agent named Jay said actually several calls were in fact attempted that morning in regards to the alarm. After I explained to him that I've had my cell phone with me all morning and the backup is my wife who also had her cell on her right next to me he apologized and said he was incorrect that no calls were attempted and that the alarm did not go off long enough... A MINUTE... that's a really long time to not make a phone call.

I called yesterday to cancel my account and explained the situation to the first person. He transferred me and I remained on hold for 16 minutes before explaining to second person. He stated that I needed transferred to the moves department. I explained this is not a move issue anymore, it's a lack of monitoring service and confidence in your company and ask to speak with his supervisor. He apologized and put me on hold for the Moves department where I waited another 12 minutes before hanging up. I certainly hope after posting this someone can cancel my service as Monitronics has not held up their end of the contract. Thank you!

Yes, my fault with the financial issue, but kicking a man when he is down will not get you any new customers. I am spreading word to all my friends, neighbors, and co-workers what happened and the piss poor attitude they have when dealing with me. I feel bad enough that my life was turned upside down and now I have to deal with these unforgiving representatives from this company.

Original Review: July 22, 2014

We have fulfilled our lengthy contract which was too long to start with but that's our fault. Now the company has all these hoops to jump through to cancel. We followed what they said and now it's still going to be over a month just to get out of this. Cancel should mean cancel now not after they suck more money out of us. We haven't used this in years and yet we keep getting charged. No way out without being charged for many months. I just have never been happy with their service. Even when we first asked to cancel we were told the payment we just made only caught us up and we were actually behind a month and had been. What?? Now we are behind but you never said anything before?? Ugh. Not happy.

Original Review: July 22, 2014

May 16, I had a new system installed. The sales rep and the technician were both very nice and professional young men. The technician made four phone calls while installing my system presumably to insure it was operating properly. I thought he was using his cell phone. Much to my dismay, I received my home phone bill and noticed a $47 long distance bill for calls made to Utah. I verified the number was to the folks to set up the system. I have contacted Monitronics - no help there. I have contacted the salesman and he gave me the e-mail address to the technician. The e-mails will not go through to the technician and the salesman was supposed to call back after attempting to contact him. I have waited about 2 weeks and nothing. If I had read the reviews, I never would have signed up with Monitronics. The monthly charge is outrageous and the service is non existent.

Not sure how legal it is but Monitronics to just buy a contract from the other company, I am not an animal that you buy and sell, I did not sign a contract with Monitronics, I was never given a choice nor was I even properly notified. Welcome to Nazi Germany now call the USA where companies have the legal right to step all over you.

On July 8th they again withdrew funds from my bank account and on July 21, 2014 I received a letter in the mail saying my service was scheduled to disconnected on 7/25/14. WRONG! Service had been disconnected by the new company on May 2!!! Seems to me that a security company would know if a system was no longer connected. Another point I have noticed in reading other review/complaints is that I have been paying a lot more than some others and I don't know why. I am beyond angry with this company. In my opinion, collecting money for a service that is not connected is theft, and unless I am reimbursed for this expense, I will contact the BBB and any other consumer service organization I can find to report this company to.

In a court of law under any other circumstance this contract would be considered a breach of contract. Monitronics is only considered holding me to a contract for a service I have never received. A professional alarm company would notify their customers if signals are not being received. That is there job. That is service I am paying for but unfortunately not received. I am still expected to pay my monthly payment to Monitronics for the remainder of the 35 months contract or Monitronics will precede legal action for a service I had never had or I can buy out my contract for a dollar amount. How Monitronics business practices are even legal? If Monitronics was a professional business they would clearly see the injustice that has taken place and offer a resolution to my complaint instead of forcing me to pay for a contract that Monitronics clearly is in breach of contract.

The second date they gave us they told us that they would contact the company that was installing the system for us. About one week before the supposedly scheduled date we received a call from Monitronics asking if we had received a time to have the system installed. We told them no. We were told that they would contact the company and get back to us. This was two weeks ago. We have heard nothing from Monitronics. They have given us credit for 2-3 months we don't really know but the point is we do not have a security system like we were guaranteed. We were caught up in the scandal of Monitronics buying out companies and not providing service. Our original contract was with Security Networks. We are sick and tired of Monitronics and want them to cancel our contract in writing to us.

I then got a SECOND bill from them saying I owed from 5/19-6/19. I called AGAIN and was told they would make the billing update. Additionally, I sent them a WRITTEN NOTIFICATION with my final check, which they immediately cashed, of course. Today, 7/16/14, I got ANOTHER bill for services to 7/19! I called and spoke with Ann in Billing who said she needed to three-way call me to "moving" which I told her was NOT my problem; I'd already spoken to them repeatedly. I called again and asked for a supervisor and was told the same thing. I immediately told the man on the phone I do NOT have time to waste fixing THEIR errors and would like me to contact the State Attorney General about their business practices here in Minnesota for fraudulent services! I have spent too much time and effort on this already and expect Monitronics, whose own staff says “I see the notes that you'd be moving back in April and May" to fix THEIR ERROR.

This is the most idiotic company, fraudulent, incompetent I have run into in a long, long time! Bad enough they scared my buyer, but to acknowledge they have my cancellation order after I talked to the CORRECT department and expect me to think that talking to them again will do ANY good, after having sent them a WRITTEN notice, is just stupid. This needs to be taken care of TODAY. Based on my experience I would NEVER recommend Monitronics to anyone!

Original Review: July 15, 2014

I have had 3 conversations with representatives of Monitronics, beginning in May 2014. In each conversation I have asked them to cancel my account (because my contract is up), and 3 times I have been put on hold and disconnected. Then when I call back all they say is "let us sell you an upgrade"...really? I've tried sending in the letter of cancellation to the fax machine, and it gets rejected, so I guess it's a bad number they've given me three times now. I got a letter in the mail three days ago now saying that I owe them $74?!? Someone needs to resolve this or I will call the BBB.

Original Review: July 9, 2014

I recently contacted Monitronics to have a home security system installed at my residence. I spoke with a sales representative and he outlined the packages that were available and which package would best fit my needs. The package that was fit for me included the following: three(3) door contacts, one(1) motion detector, a Lynx Ls100 touchpad w/siren, two(2) key chains, one(1) smoke alarm, four(4) window decals, one(1) yard sign, and a waived $99 activation fee. The sales representative made it a point to ask me if I had a smartphone, I replied yes, he said I would be able to monitor my system through an app; I would be able to turn on, turn off, etc., through this app. All of these features for $39.99/mo, three (3) year contract. I agreed.

I then was told that a technician would be able to make it out to my house today, at 6:00pm. I explained to the sales rep that it was a short time frame but I would be able to get out of work to be home by then and be available. At 6:30, no technician was in sight. I contacted the sales office; spoke with the sales individual who set up my package. He told me that he would contact the technician and find out where he was. The sales rep called me back, explained that he would be there within the next 30 minutes. 30 minutes go by, still no technician. I tried calling the offices back and they were closed for the evening.

Finally after 7:30pm, the technician arrived; I expressed my frustration with him. No one had the decency to call me and tell me he would be running late. We still went forward with the install. As we were going through the paperwork, I started to go over my equipment, the package, etc. with the technician. He told me that I am NOT getting the Home touch technology and that my order is for a basic install. At this point I am livid; I was misled by the Monitronics sales reps, all to close the deal. The technician explained that this package is at least $47.99/mo, and he doesn’t have the authority to override or change this. Then the technician shows me my equipment, he shows me the keypad, it was the wrong keypad. A different model than what I was promised over the phone.

If this is any indication of how Monitronics does business, it will not be worth the hassle for the next three years. I have three (3) days to cancel my package with no repercussions. I WILL be canceling my service unless Monitronics can convince me otherwise.

However, this resolution came after years of asking and headaches. Complaining on social media and Consumer Affairs is the only reason they worked with us.

On another note, the service they provided was acceptable. We only had the alarm go off once (accidently) in years and we were called quickly. If you do go with Monotronics read your contact VERY carefully.

Original Review: July 7, 2014

As I have shared with everyone on my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, I would like to share with you how awful Monitronics has been. Back Story: My husband and I are first time homebuyers. We felt the need for a home security system so we bought (what we thought was) a 1 year contract through DEVCON ("Con" should have been a clue). Close to a year, and not using the system, I called to cancel. Devcon said we had a 3-year contract. We decided 3 years was fine, we would just start using it more and then be done with it. Two months later, we were bought out by Monitronics.

My experiences with Monitronics: I'll skip every little detail but you should know 1) At first there was a very rude, middle eastern woman who was unbearable to deal with. Yes, I also got the line of you owe thousands of dollars if you want out. 2) When we were originally moving out of state, we were told about the transfer - great, like I want to take this crap with me. When this woman found out that we were going to a place where there is no Monitronics service...back to paying out thousands of dollars. 3). I called again recently...finally nice, understandable customer service...but still no help. In fact James said, "Oh you've done 25 months of your 36-month contract - oh wait - 60-month contract." 60 months? Who in the hell would knowingly sign up for a 60-month contract? What is your 5-year plan? Did you know it would involve a home security system? Since Devcon did not have a payout (or cancellation fee on the contract) I have to pay the remaining term upfront to get out - thanks for helping the customer out Monitronics

I am here to tell you... absolutely do not use Monitronics or any company that sells to or uses Monitronics for monitoring. Oh and if you do buy home security through someone else... have them put on the contract that if sold to Monitronics, you can cancel your contract for free. I was understanding until today. Now it is my mission to tell EVERYONE that Monitronics is a company to avoid.

After listening to the call that my husband made the agreement on, it was clear to me that he didn't realize it was a whole new contract. The lady states she's going over the contract terms and says using the 36 month term your new contract end date is September 2015. The only time she says the word new is right before stating the contract end date. My husband's quick response and move to his next question indicates that he didn't realize it was a change and thought she was simply restating the contract to him. Why in the world would a upright company accept a quick statement as an agreement to a new contract when they require so much effort in writing (can't be emailed) just to cancel a contract. All I can say is that unless you know you want an alarm service forever, you should never get one... especially with Monitronics!

This was a nightmare. I called and when I FINALLY got through I was talking to someone who had a heavy Indian accent who rudely took my call. I told him I wanted to cancel and he said to get a pen and paper and call the right department. He wouldn't or couldn't transfer me for some reason. I called the number and to my surprise, it was ADT!!! and the animated system kept trying to make me take a survey to win a trip to the Caribbean which I could not by pass. I ended up having to hang up and try again. 3rd try, I finally get through to someone, I find out I've been in a 60 month contract not a 36 like I thought and in order to cancel I need to pay more than 1,000 dollars! I don't trust this company, I don't trust the service, I don't trust them with my life. I just want out of my contract. As a Iraq vet (11B) I feel I can protect my own home better than they could. They say they have an A+ BBB rating, well the reviews tell a different story.

Original Review: July 3, 2014

We bought our system over two years ago from "devcon" security, later bought by Monitronics. Had a bad battery in the main panel from day one, but never got any advice beyond "Try unplugging it and plugging it back in again." Whatever. Guy said we could cancel at anytime, but it worked well enough even with a bad battery so we kept it. Now that we're thinking about moving, I went to go ahead and get this off my to-do list and was told that I had signed a 58 month contract and would have to pay $1,650 to cancel. ONE THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS. How could you better ensure that a customer NEVER considers giving you their business ever again?

I Paid for the installation on my Chase credit card which I have a facsimile of. Anyway, 12 months after which Devcon Security bought Pinnacle. I owned the installation equipment. So Devon sent me a letter about the acquisition and two signs. They informed me that I was on the same wireless telephone network as I was with Pinnacle, and the switch was already made! "12 months after that Monitronics pops up as the 3rd owner". This is when around 6 months ago I ask them to reduce my rate.

We went back and forth for a moment about extensions which I refused, and merely responded that it would be easier for me to vacate my relationship and go with a competitor. At which point there was a moment of silence and shortly thereafter we came into agreement! The rate was changed with no obligation. Recently I took on Vector Security, and Monitronics denies that this dialogue between the rep, and I made that agreement. They are trying to bind me to both contracts! Help.

Original Review: July 2, 2014

A year ago, my roommate was approached by a guy working for Security Network. She told him she didn't deal with the alarm system that was my roommate's (me) job who wasn't home at the time. He insisted that I would be okay with his system; it was a great system to have. She agreed and at no time during the conversation did he tell her she was signing a 5-year deal nor did she receive a copy of what she signed (contract). I noticed back in May that the alarm bill hadn't been taken out of my bank account so I called the only number I had and was told that they were processing it now. When I checked my bank account in June, I noticed the name was Monitronics. Then June 21st, Protection 1 showed up on my door step saying Security Networks was bought out by Monitronics. He asked if I had a contract with them and I said no, and he signed me up with Protection 1.

I sent the cancellation note and called to make sure they had received it and they did on June 26th. BUT after a long hold numerous times I was told to call back due to high call volumes. Which I did and was again placed on in extensive hold time the 1st time 25 mins and the 2nd to talk to who I needed to was 45 mins and then she told me the cancellation dept was closed and they would call me in the morning. I called my roommate before she left for work and she told me she did not hear from them. So I called while working and again, was placed on several hold times. When I finally talked to someone, she informed me that my roommate had signed a 5 yr contract and it would cost me $1,439.55 to buy it out. I told her this is BS and I need to talk to someone else regarding this matter. She placed Greg on the phone after another long hold time I have been on the phone an 1 hr while at work.

And he informed me that due to my roommate's age, I could get out of the Protection 1 contract. I told him that's crap and she signed with the other company and I signed up with Protection 1 due to the fact that company was bought out. But I pay the bill, and now I am liable for 2 alarm bills and only one is hooked up. At no time was I contacted regarding the change of ownership, and why would I pay for a system that is no longer in my home. He suggested we do a 3-way with Protection 1, hoping I would cancel them at which time she suggested that he email me the supposed contracted for me to look over and either fax or email it to Protection 1. Well Greg did email the contract and yes, it has her signature, but my roommate doesn't remember signing anything but on an Ipad. Which we all know things can be copy/pasted on those things. All I want is out of this contract and for Monitronics never to contact me or take anymore of my money.

I know longer have any of their equipment nor did they know it was taken off Great Monitoring System. If this is not resolved, I will seek other options for this matter with the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau complaint. I am happy with Protection 1, and I totally feel that the guy who talked to my roommate totally took advantage of her being home alone and couldn't come back and talk to me regarding it knowing I pay the bill on it. I believe this could be border line elder abuse due to the fact my roommate can be nave to a good sales pitch. Thank you for your time and I hope we can resolve this in a timely manner.

Original Review: July 1, 2014

My husband entered into a contract with National Security a while back, and our contract period with them is due to end in May 2015. I have not been happy with the coverage for various reasons, and have decided to go with a new company for our security service. In investigating our contract, I found out that Monitronics bought out National Security (first I'd heard of it!). I contacted them this morning to find out how to close this account, and what the contract termination terms are (as I have no paperwork with them at all), and I am incredibly dissatisfied by the process.

First, I was put on an extremely long hold to speak to anyone in customer service. Once I was connected with him, he checked my account credentials, and when I told him what I wanted, he offered to connect me with the correct department. After another incredibly long hold (and I don't have a land line, so this is costing me minutes), I am connected with another operator, who again checks my credentials (I am fine with that - it's security, after all). As soon as she finds out what I'm after, though, I was treated to what I consider an extremely unprofessional sales pitch that included badmouthing the company I am switching to. I had to be direct to the point of rudeness to get her to answer my questions, which were 1) what do I need to do to cancel this contract; and 2) what is the cancellation fee. She finally answered with details about the letter I have to write, and that it will take thirty days for it to cancel, which is not ideal, but not completely unreasonable.

I never really got a satisfactory answer to the second question. She indicated that I am on the hook for 10 more months of monitoring, period. (Even cell phone companies do better than that.) All in all, this phone call took 31 minutes of my time and my mobile usage minutes, to relay 2 minutes of information. And all of this is with a company I never chose to do business with in the first place. With those hold times, lack of transparency and high-pressure sales tactics, I can't recommend this company.

Original Review: June 30, 2014

My sister was talked into a 5-year contract with initially Platinum Protection, which was bought then by Monitronics. She has since put her house up for sale and has moved in with me 3 hours away. Monitronics is all about advertising their "free system move" at no cost. That is not true at all. I have been trying to figure out all the options and what the actual amounts will be and if my current system can be reprogrammed. I just received a phone call from a licensed technician contracted through Monitronics and the company is 150 miles away and can't do it, but he is going to keep the ticket open and someone else will call????? How can I get out of this contract immediately??

Original Review: June 28, 2014

Would you believe the problems I have had with this system? First I got stuck in a 5-yr contract by a young man that was a good con! I am a widow and was when this young man came around to sell this product. He gave my neighbors a 2-yr contract because there was a man of the house there. Never did he mention that I could do 2 yrs. They never mentioned if there was a maintenance contract to buy, so 2 years later, the battery dies, I went on line bought one and could not get it to install.

When I called, they sent out a tech but never mentioned I would have to pay him $50.00 to put in a battery. The alarm was constantly going off when I was at work. Now that I have not set the system for the last year because it did not work, they contact me and say it is not working, because my contract is up in one month. Would never recommend this company to anyone. Shafted by a company because I was a widow!!!!!!!! More I could say but it says only minimum 200 words!!!!!!

Thank you, John, for resolving this issue.

Original Review: June 23, 2014

If I could give a 0-star review, I would. The security system pre-installed in the house I purchased back in 2006 was owned by Monitronics; taking over the service was part of the process of becoming the owner of the home we purchased in Florida. That was 8 years ago. In 2011, an ADT representative tried to acquire our business with a better offer, so we contacted Monitronics to give them an opportunity to match their offer. They did apparently at the mere cost of a tiny 4-YEAR extension of my contract.

As an active duty USAF service member, I received military orders to permanently relocate to a base in Texas in January 2014. At that point, Monitronics didn't even offer to cover the cost to relocate the system. Instead, they offered to pay $150 of the total costs. The cost to remove the system? $149. That means I would have to pay out of pocket to have the system re-installed. And that was assuming we bought a house in the first place, rather than renting. We decided to rent a house that already has a system installed, so now there is no reason to keep business with Monitronics. At this point, they have received six months of payments for nothing and my contract still has ten months remaining, and they are refusing to break the contract. Stay away from this company. They will NOT work with you. Absolutely horrible.

As they were installing the system we come to find out he didn't work for the same company or the company associated with Vivint but was their competitors and had just tricked us into a new company. And then told us well Vivint is going out of business and this was a better company. When all was said and done we had been tricked. As I said I didn't get a copy of the contract. Well Devcon went out of business and was sold to Pinnacle and then Monitronics. I called Monitronics and asked for a copy of the contract. It was a very poor copy, half of it I couldn't read but at the bottom it said the contract was for 58 months, and then my signature. That's not the contract I signed and we were already 6-7 months into the contract. I'm assuming either Devcon or Monitronics pasted my signature onto a nearly 5-yr contract. Nevertheless when I called Monitronics about wanting to cancel, they said I will have to pay half of what was left on my contract. Since I signed a contract for a year that is not going to apply to me, since by that time I had been paying them for 2 yrs. We did try to sell (fraudulent 5-yr contract) to the buyer of that house but since the payments are 47.99 and many other companies are ranging around $20-30, they didn't want it.

I don't want it at my new house AT ALL and since I was tricked into a contract and then it was changed to 5X longer than that I signed I WILL NOT pay to get out of it. I will pay for June because Monitronics did monitor that house for the most of June, but not another red cent. I'm sending All equipment back to the company certified mail with receipt (including batteries and screws, though batteries are in box and not in equipment) so I will have proof that it was received. So you can't charge me for it. And will be turning this into Consumer Affairs and the BBB and see if they can resolve this. If there is a hit to my credit, I will call all three credit bureau and explain what happened and have it removed. I have been paying you monthly for 2 ½ yrs and the customer service with Monitronics, they used threat tactics to keep me as a customer and didn't care if I was happy with the service. You will be receiving notices from Consumers Affairs and BBB soon. It would be wise to just let me out of this idiot contract.

I can sent a copy of the contract to Consumer affairs agent, it doesn't say anything about contracts being transfer ownership of the contract. I feel I was deceived and the contract was changed and i am not going to keep paying them for something I don't want. Please see if there is a way out. I hope it is not lawfully permitted to put someone under a 5-yr contract for a security system. Thank you.

Original Review: June 20, 2014

I have been a customer with Security Networks since 2009. When they were bought by Monitronics, I received no notice about the change. Since then, we had to move and in order to avoid all the installation fees, we signed a 5-year agreement. Big Mistake. Here we are a year later, and we are moving again. I called to request a transfer of service. They advertise this to be free. In order to transfer service free of charge, I would have to sign another year extension to our plan. I was not interested in doing this. Since I wasn't, I would have to pay $600 or more in installation fees on top of the amount to pay the technician. I was very upset by this, because I've already been a customer for 4 years and a guaranteed 4 more. The associate on the phone got upset when I asked to speak to a supervisor and ultimately disconnected my call.

I called back, again, and explained to another associate the problem. We went in circles for about 20 minutes. That conversation boiled down to me signing another year, continuing with my $50 a month payment, but I would only have 2 door sensors there... No window sensors or motion detectors, all of which we have now. He suggested I uninstall everything here and transfer it to our new home on my own in hopes the technician could install and activate it there. I ultimately decided after a very sarcastic and rude associate told me he was the one trying to work with me, but I wasn't meeting him halfway (because I wouldn't agree to his only option of signing another year) to terminate my contract. This would be around $2500. He gave me a 25% discount on that, bringing it down to $1900. I agreed and asked him to connect me with billing so I could arrange a payment plan.

That's when he told me they don't offer payment plans, and that I had to pay it in full. This seemed INSANE to me! I told him that after having my payments auto-drafted each month for 4 years straight, I should be a reliable enough customer to know that I will make payments each month, and that I couldn't afford one large payment like that. I explained that I'm a teacher and it's no secret what our salaries are and I would be spending almost a full month salary on terminating a contract.

He then offered to break it into two payments for me, but he would need a letter of cancellation first. I agreed and asked when I would get a bill for the payments and a notification of when they would be due. He then tells me that (technically) since they don't do payment plans, he can't put anything in writing to show I can pay it over two months. He said if there was a question about it, someone could refer to our recorded phone conversation. I told him that as a customer, I would not pay any amount of money without a bill and explanation of payment and a recorded phone conversation that I have zero access to wasn't enough for me. He told me there was no way to put in writing his "deal" for me and if I didn't take it, he would charge me the amount in full for one payment. So, sadly, I was left with no choice.

Their customer service is unbelievably bad. This associate kept offering me "deals" that I didn't feel were valid since none of them could be put into writing. I was declined an opportunity to speak with a supervisor because he/she "would tell me exactly what I've already heard and can't do anything to help me." I learned my lesson, the hard way, and all I wanted was to feel safe in my home.

It only took the technician a few minutes to look at my system to tell me I had no service. I did not check my system once a month like I was told was my responsibility, but I feel if a technician can tell within minutes I have had no service for years, I think a customer service call would have been expected for my protection. After many promises of calls and faxes from the Response Team, I am frustrated of the lack of service and care of this company. My concern is how many other customers are paying monthly for something they do not have. I have changed companies for about half the price I was paying for NO service for years.

Original Review: June 17, 2014

I moved and was offered a new system for the new house with no cost and no installation fees, so I did it. This was in December of 2013. Originally I called in late May, 2014, as one of the sensors had fallen off a door. Was told I had to get two-sided tape to try to re-attach it and call them so they could check the entire system to make sure nothing else was wrong. I tried it, but it won't hold because it is a metal door. I tried calling again and told them it didn't work and I get told that maybe I need to use some type of glue. Their installers put it in about six months ago, I don't think I should have to repair it and then stay on the phone with them for who knows how long so they can check the entire system. I told them I wanted a technician to come and fix it. They said it would cost me $50 and they would pay anything over that. Then they wanted me to go to the screen for the system - well, I'm calling from work and I can't go to the screen at my house. She said to call back later when I can get to the screen because if they don't know the EXACT sensor that is out and it turns out to be a different sensor, then the guy won't fix it.

What kind of a business is that, that has such unreliable technicians!! If there is a problem with the "system", why can't they check the ENTIRE system! It's not like there are a gazillion different sensors that they use - at least in my house they are all the same, so what is so difficult!!! This is ridiculous and as soon as I can get rid of Monitronics, I will!!

Original Review: June 16, 2014

In early May 2014 on a Sunday, we had a salesman (Juan) knock on our selling an upgraded alarm package. We were month to month on our current contract with ADT. Juan offered to upgrade our equipment at a reduced installation and lock in our monthly cost for 5 years. I mentioned that I had just paid our current months bill and didn't want to pay twice for an alarm monitoring service and that maybe it would be better to wait to next month. The salesman immediately said we can give you a rebate for what you already paid. Cut to May 21st, still no rebate and I have now been debited for 2 months of service with Monitronics (the current and the next month). I texted Juan to find out what the status on the rebate. He apologized for the delay and stated he would personally deliver it.

I asked him if it would be easier just to mail it, he said it would be easier if he could just deposit it directly into my account. I can't believe he was asking for my personal banking information, but there was no way I was going to give him that. On May 23rd, still nothing and I text again, he says he was going to drop it off that day. On June 4th, still nothing and his response is "Oh, I thought my manager had mailed it..." and he promises to take care of it. On Wednesday June 11th, I send him a rather kurt text. No there's no answer at all. The amount of the rebate was only $36.99, but what bothers me is that it's clear that this company's representatives were willing to say whatever they had to in order to get the system installed that day. I don't like to be lied to. This is my first interaction with this company, I only hope that the service itself is somewhat good. At this point I don't have high expectations and I would not recommend them to anyone.

I was wrong about monitronics, they are extremely kind and care about their customers. Thank you John!!

Original Review: June 16, 2014

My parents got their service installed the 17th of May and they left our house before they finished installing the camera. We were told that someone would call us that night and finish the installation process, no one ever did. My parents and I have been calling their company almost everyday regarding the camera installation, and they would promise to send someone out, no one would come; someone was supposed to call us the next day, and guess what, no one ever called. Today is the 16th of June and I just got the camera working, because I had to call and hound them.

The red headed guy who "installed the system" is extremely rude. He blamed my parents for the camera not working for the past 4 weeks, saying that they should have called him directly and that he hasn't seen any complaints from my parents, even though they've called his company several times. He then insulted my family and yelled at the customers. Don't be duped by their "cheap installation price" because they'll leave your house before the job is complete and then once you call them to fix it, they give you the run around and blame you for the job not being done. Take your money somewhere else, where customer satisfaction is one of their priorities.

Original Review: June 16, 2014

I was pleased with Monitronics until I tried to cancel the service. After several attempts to reach them by phone, always put on hold for far too long, I was told that the cancellation had to be in writing. A letter was sent to them, removing their authority to automatically take payment from my bank account and notifying them of the date I was no longer going to be needing their service. I received a letter indicating that I would now be receiving paper statements, but nothing was said about cancellation of the service. I called again, and had another long wait time on hold. When I did get through, I had to be transferred to the cancellation department, because there is no direct line. After another wait, I was told that there was a final bill, covering the period that I no longer lived in the house. At that time I was told that cancellation would be 30 days from receipt of my cancellation letter. I let the representative know that I was not going to pay the bill, because I had already advised them that I was selling my home as of a certain date. I suggested they credit my account and consider the matter closed.