$20 per month ended up costing over $60 per month.
They purchase contracts from 'companies' that sell alarm service; this results is poor communication when there are problems they point fingers at eachother and leave you without service.
After going without service for several months- and paying for it - I called to cancel. I was told per contract I just had to send it in writting. The certified mail came back unclaimed- My Alarm Center said the address on the contract wasn't where I was supposed to send the cancellation request. After disputing the charges with the credit card company for several months, The Alarm Center finally admitted their error and stopped charging my account.
Several months later I got a call informing me that my account could not be canceled- and contrary to what they said before- I had to pay the full term, even though I was no longer recieving service due to their neglect.
We tried to work out a deal where I could get my alarm service back up and running- unfortunately, the various contracts they sent me did not contain the agreements we made on the phone- I told them I wouldn't agree to a 'verbal only' deal because they are claiming that any prior verbal agreements I had with them are invalid and now they want me to accept new verbal agreements as valid. Also every contract they sent me was longer than the prior and had more rediculous things such as giving them the right to destroy/disable my system without reason and making it so my system can only be monitored by them. Once i put my foot down and made it clear that I wouldn't agree to 'verbal only' deals, they stopped trying to pressure me to sign a new contract and started trying pointless 'collection' calls.
In the end they sent my 'contract' to a dept collector- although I didn't owe them, I paid a settlement amount just so I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore- they've wasted hours of my time, created alot of stress, and failed to provide Alarm Service.
Originally I thought they'd be ok as long as you don't have any problems- but now I realize that they are a hypocritical company and it would be ethically wrong to support them.
I encourage anyone who is considering their service to read their contracts- what you are told over the phone doesn't matter, it only matters what they want you to sign- don't expect them to keep their word. If the contract doesn't specifically state something (like they have to provide alarm service) then don't assume it! If they don't provide it to you in writting- its not valid.
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