Brinks Home Security™ Reviews

Each time my business was broken into, the store front glass was broken. The last break-in was in Nov., and we had special shatterproof glass installed. On Feb 23 the alarm went off again--after someone took 3 minutes smashing a hole into the shatterproof glass with a very large brick and proceeded to climb inside the store. Glass break sensors are installed; they never went off. Tests by the company prove nothing; their system shows everything working. However, give a criminal 5 minutes alone, and the outcome is much different. This is the 3rd time the alarm components have failed to work.

Be ready for a yelling match every time you call this company's customer service center for repair or otherwise. I can't wait for BOTH of my contracts to end with Monitronics--Commercial & Residential. The door replacement cost has averaged $535 - $700 each incident after break in, and the criminal still gets to wander around stealing products, money, and merchandise before alarm sounds. This contract I chose to sign was the worst--the most wrong decision as a business owner I have ever made the mistake of signing. I can't believe I fell for some nobody salesman who was on an internship for college. What a mistake. I am interested in finding those who have threatened a class action suit. I would participate and split initial cost of going after this business. Consumer reports, BBB, and Consumer Affairs have an unbelievable amount of negative press on this company.

PHYSICAL DAMAGE - Store front door, door casing, door hardware. Damage could also be assessed by a Physician to assess health risks involved with the levels of poor, irritating customer service. My heart should not ever pound when talking with customer service or with any company because a customer agent was either interruptive, argumentative, or just rude. Physical damage result... (3 )$600.00 doors over the last year. That is hard on a pizza business.

An attorney called me about 2 years ago asking for my father regarding his address--but for my account. I told her the situation and told her to get it straight and then call me. I never heard another word....until now. My parents ran their credit reports yesterday and found out that they are being sued for $1547 for my account because I didn't meet the requirements of my contract. They say that my father cosigned and that they haven't been able to reach either of us for the past 2 years. First of all, I'm still at the home that they were supposed to be protecting with the same phone number that they were supposed to call if my alarm went off. Second, my parents are still with Monitronics at their new residence. Third, if my father cosigned, why is nothing showing on my credit report for this? I am now filing with the Attorney General's office to get this resolved.

My parents now have this on their credit report which is affecting their percentage rate in buying a new car. I now have to figure out how to get it off their record and onto mine or just pay it which it not possible right now.

So I tripped it again a week later and let it run for five minutes and again got no call. I called back and they ran another test and guess what, it worked. So at this point I'm pretty convinced they just aren't paying attention to the signal. By now I have had it and I'm not willing to do any more tests. I just gave up on it. I decided I would start looking into another monitoring service for my alarm. A few months later I was ready to make the switch. So I called Monitronics to cancel my contract for lack of service. While I was on the phone the contract guy tried to walk through the standard stuff like if I had run a test and how long I let the alarm run, etc. I wasn't interested in talking about it any further at this point as I had already done several tests. While we were on the phone I was googling them and found several complaints against them at Consumer Affairs. So he informs me that I can't get our of my contract early. At this time I was done. After seeing what I saw on google, I had no interest in wasting my time any further. I decided I'll contact my attorney to let him deal with the contract, one that I think is broken by Monitronics because they fail to provide the service in the contract.

Think about this. I get a discount on my homeowner's insurance for having an alarm. What if someone breaks into my house and Monitronics doesn't follow the procedure on their end. My insurance company is not going to be very happy. And that is the least of the problem. So I am adding this information to Ripoff Report and Better Business Bureau as well and I will let my attorney handle my personal dispute from here. But I do have a sore spot for bad businesses so I'd also consider a class action suit.

Monitronics has reported to credit agencies that I owe them $80.00 for service I did not even use. I sent letters in writing stating I would like to cancel my contract and they said they did not receive my letters.

I continued to be charged and had several conversations with Monitronics. Then the alarm went off for the new owner who had no way to shut it off. She had the fire dept and police show up. I called Monitronics AGAIN. Keep in mind that I have been willing to pay the balance in full but cannot get this thing canceled! I was told I had to write a letter with the exact wording I would like to cancel AND CEASE MONITORING. I did this and again included my credit card number for them to charge the balance in full. Guess what? The alarm went off again for my new owner who had the police dispatched. I called AGAIN and was told she would have to call and have someone walk her through powering down the alarm system. She did. Wow, I actually was not billed in September! But wait, the charges started again in October. I just got off the phone with Monitronics begging them to charge the balance in full to my card so the new owner and I can be done with this. I won't hold my breath. Funny thing is I asked the guy I spoke with if they had any history of my conversations and letters. Sure enough, they have it all but just seem to ignore it! Don't sign a contract with them - it's not worth the hassle if you need to cancel.

I let my husband call back as I was furious. They told him they would not have said that it would be a free move with the old system. Basically, we have been told something different by each person we talked to. Also,they referred us to Pro Alarm who could not help us and referred us back to Monitronics. No one is willing to help.

We are continuing to pay $40/mo for a service that we are not using. This may not seem like a lot, but in the next 18 months that equals $720.

Because there is a delay in receiving the statement, I am forced to pay and mail this bill within 4 days of receipt to assure that Monitronics has the 5-7 days to post before the late fee is assessed. In effect, the due date is prior to the end of the security monitoring service period, and Monitronics is charging a late fee of $3.00 within 2 days of the service period and within 11 days of my receipt of the statement. I find this to be unreasonable and question its legality.

Eight months prior I had cancelled my local phone line, meaning they had not had an active connection to the alarm system in eight month, and they had not even noticed. I was then informed that my contract did not end until the following year. I was a little upset, and asked for an explanation. I was then told that my contract had ended on the 15th of the month, 10 days prior, and that since I didn’t inform them that I wanted to end my service before the end of my contract, that it had been automatically renewed for a year.

I became a very upset at this point, and the customer service representative hung up on me. I called back, immediately asked to talk to a supervisor. Once I was connected I ask if they had the ability to end my contract, I was informed that I could pay the balance for the rest of the year, and they would close my account for me. I then asked to speak to someone at the next level; the supervisor took my information, and said someone would call back within the hour. Three hours later I called back, asked to speak to a supervisor, then asked to speak to someone at the next level, and told the supervisor I would hold. After holding for an hour the supervisor came back on, and said that the floor manager had already gone home for the day, and someone would have to call me tomorrow. The next day came and went without a call.

Forty-eight hours after my original call, I called again, asked to speak to the floor manager, was told I couldn’t hold for them, and they would call me back within the hour. Thirty minutes later I called back, and asked to speak to the floor manager, the story was the same, so I waited thirty minutes and called back again. This time when I asked for the floor manager, I was transferred to someone. I spoke to the first reasonable person at Monitronics. She actually heard me out, and explained what the fine print actually said. Turns out I needed to inform them in writing 90 days before my contract ended, that I wanted to terminate my service. Otherwise my contract renewed for another year, and the monthly rate increased by 5%. Something that was never pointed out when I signed (although it was in the fine print).

I was very upset about this, but after discussing all my options, she finally informed she could settle with me, by taking my 90 notice over the phone, and I would have to pay the 90 days of service, and then be free of the contract.

The contract states I only need to contact them in writing and does not specify an address that this notification must be sent. Anyway, the rep then informed me that there is information on the back of their statement that indicates where all correspondence should be sent. Once again, I informed him that I took the proper steps based on the contract to no avail. I have tried to escalate up the chain of command with this organization, however, they will not let my call pass the associate level. I was told I would be called by an Erlene who has never contacted me to date.