Brinks Home Security review: Stay away from Monitronics at all costs! 36

Offered extremely poor customer service. Representatives refused to respond to correspondence timely and appropriately. Instead, they suggested contacting departments that had nothing to do with the concern, overcharged for services not rendered, and avoided solving the problem by taking you through red tape. Representatives were not knowledgeable and were corrected regarding erroneous information that was being provided.

I agree, Monitronics should be avoided at all costs. It is nearly impossible to cancel the service once you are doing business with them. The latest scam is that they claim the form I sent in did not have my signature on it, yet I am sure I signed it and have a copy. They refuse to send the form back for signature, another sign that the original form was proper. They also confirmed all personal info including the passwords on the telephone yet would not cancel the service. The Feds ought to investigate the owner of this company and the Justice Dept should prosecute them under the Ricco Statute. Perhaps some letters to the Federal Grand Jury might get the owner indicted. They also send the disputed bill to a collection agency to continue to harass the customers. Naturally the monthly invoice continues to build long after you have switched to another alarm company and no longer are even connected to their service. Avoid the Monitronics rip off's.

Doug Wilson

The numerous letters on the internet regarding Monitronics Alarm Co. are all very similar, as is my experience with this company. That many people from different parts of the country who do not even know one another cannot all be making these experiences up. Mine was a nightmare as well. The alarm at our store starting going off "every" night between 9PM and 1:30AM. We would have to get up in the middle of the night, get dressed, drive to the store to turn the alarm off, only to find everything inside and outside secure. We reported
this to Monitronics who never sent a technician out but said from looking at things from their end electronically (with them being out of state), everything was okay and to call the phone company as it must be something with the phone line. The phone company could not find anything wrong and
said it was the alarm company. In the meantime, I ended up in the hospital for 8 days with a spinal cord injury and could not walk at all for months. The problem with the alarm going off nightly continued and my wife would have to go to the store late at night by herself to turn the alarm off. We called and sent a letter of cancellation due to Monitronics failing to keep their part of the contract as far as service. They continued billing and the scenario follows much similar to the other letters posted on the websites. This company is the most disreputable company I have had to deal with in 30 years of business. You would think the people working there would be embarrassed by hearing the same complaints over and over!

Yes ..this is truly a terrible company!
They continued to bill us after we had moved, sent the bill to our new home, harrassed us even though we had cancelled the service, until we eventually paid.
Unfortunately for us they had place it as a collection on my wife's credit report!
So here we are..we've paid for a service we never had, for a bill that was not ours and also still have a damaged credit report!
Has anyone ever tried to contact the President or any of their Vice Presidents?

I got a call about a consultation to have one of these systems installed. I setup an appointment. I then came strait to the PC and did research. After reading the complaints on several sites I decided to call and cancel. The person on the other started screamming at me and told me that I am stupid F**K. With that kind of rediculous behavior because I am cancelling I can only imagine what other horor stories are out there besided the ones posted here. THANK GOD I decided to look into them more closely! Be afraid... be very afraid!

I agree completely and had the same problem as most. it took me two years of arguing (and paying for service even though they were not monitoring). Long story short just before giving up I contacted the CA consumer affairs bureau. Within 24 hours I had an agent on the phone and in 1 week I had Monitronics Exec VP of Communications on my mobile. Within 24 hours of that I had an installer on the line scheduling the free system they promised. If all else fails go after their license, it gets their attention.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/online_services/complaints/index.shtml#bsis

I have a 13 year old system and the alarm will not arm. So I called Monitronics and they said they would give me a new system if I signed a three year contract I said OK. Well the technician came out and said Im here to do a survey because they never send us correct work tickets. He immediately said yes it's wrong, they have you down here for one keypad. He then was very nice and said you need to call them and get them to work out a new ticket. I called them and they said it only includes one keypad - I said who installs one keypad when there's two in the home? So the phone rep said I need to speak to a manager! He came back on and said we will give you another keypad if we can raise your monitoring rate three dollars a month. I said your insulting my intelligence, that covers the cost you just quoted me for the additional keypad.

I said cancel my contract your not getting a dime out of me and Im going somewhere else.

This company is a ripoff. Beware! When you try to cancel your service they say they need 30 days to do that and charge you for that period. They also have rude customer service agents that do not want to help you. It takes forever to get a service rep to your home and than they usually do not have the parts needed! Do Not use this company!

I have had the same negative experiences with Monitronics. We moved to another state and they demanded that we buy out of our old contract. We argued that this was not in the original contract and that the sales person told us that the contract applied only as long as we owned the home. We now have the option of buying out our old contract for $400 or having a collection appear on our credit report. Stay away from Monitronics, they are unethical.

MY ELDERLYAUNT HAD MONITRONICS FOR SECURITY UNTIL SHE PASSED AWAY IN MAY OF 2007. I WAS THE ALTERNATE
TO BE CONTACTED IF SHE HAS A PROBLEM.

SINCE MY AUNT PASSED, I HAVE RECEIVED SO MANY CALLS
THAT I CAN'T COUNT INSISTING THAT I SEND A DEATH CERTIFICATE TO ASSURE THEM OF HER DEATH. NO MATTER
HOW RUDE I GET WITH THEM THE CALLS CONTINUE. I HAVE
GIVEN THEM THE NUMBER OF HER ATTORNEYA NUMBER OF
TIMES. AS OF TODAY ALL NUMBERS FROM MONITRONICS
WILL BE BLOCKED.

IF YOU DON'T WANT CONSTANT HARASSMENT, DON'T USE
MONITRONICS.

IN CASE THE BLOCKED NUMBER DOES NOT WORK. THE FCC
IS THE NEXT STOP.

THE NEXT STEP IS TO NOTIFY THE FCC.

I absolutely hate Monitronics.
We were referred to them by a friend so we gave them a chance based off of goodwill with our friend.
We had to sign a 4 yes, 4 year contract which I was against but my wife really wanted a system since she's home 24/7 with the kids.

The relationship with them started off bad from the beginning. The installer used one of my toddlers chairs to stand on to install the motion sensor. When I told him not to stand on it because it would break, he said, "Well, it didn't break last time". I was floored. I ended up telling him that it was my house, and those chairs were for my kids, and NOT to use it. I guess he was to lazy to go to the truck and get the ladder.

Shortly after the guy left, our home phone stopped working and the keypad was going crazy. I called them to open up a ticket and all he said was to restart the system (unplug it and then plug it back in) and it would fix itself. We ended up having a telcom guy come out to the house to fix our phone.

We initially signed up for Auto Bill Pay and everything went smoothly.
Then after about 8 months, they call me stating that I owe them for 3 months and they have NO record of me ever having auto bill pay.
Now, they keep calling and harassing me but I got a letter in the mail the other day stating I only owe for current month but the caller states that I owe for 4 months past due.

The keypad constantly kills our home phone and we've had numerous false alarms. When they call to verify, the password that we've reset at least 4 or 5 times never seems to work and then the Sheriff department ends up coming out.

I hate this company, their service sucks, and the only way to get out is to pay $1,000 +/- to "buy out" the contract.

This is crazy. how can a company provide terrible service, yet still hold us responsible for upholding OUR end of the contract when they fail to?

I truly wish I would have done my homework before getting the contract. Someone broke into my home on yesterday and the alarm did not activate. They keep giving me the run around and will not allow me to break the contract. The services really does suck! I wouldn't advise anyone to sign with them. My co-workers referred me. It's probably a reason I never heard of the company.

I have had monitronics for about a year now and LOVE them. I am not sure what all these issues you are having are. I moved into a house that had an alarm so I called Monitronics. Within a matter of days I had a rep on site to do a survey to inspect to make sure everything was working. I asked if they could put a few extra sensors on for me and they did at no charge to me. I signed up for the monthly service with a 3 year contract and have been just happy. I did have one wireless sensor fail and I called customer support up and they sent a tech out the next day. He told me the sensor I had issues with was actually a sensor they have lots of problems with. He changed it with a new type of sensor and it has worked perfectly. My experience with Monitronics has been very good. We have set the alarm off an accident many times and within a minute our phone is ringing. Very satisfied.

I have not had good service with Monotronics. If there is a problem with the system they are slow about having someone to call us to service the system. I made 4 request to receive a user manual. Each time I spoke with someone, I was assured that one would be sent and their records showed that a manual had already been sent. It was not until I said that if I could not get a manual I would discontinue the service, I received 2 user manuals by mail. My service has been out for two weeks. Still waiting for someone to call me. However I am sure that Monitronics doesn't waste time withdrawing the monthly fee from our account.

This company is taking people's money like a pick pocket would.I must have been insane when I signed a contract for their inferior service. I always want to laugh when they boast about how they monitor important this and that and how they are world class .If you want to be punished and pay at the same time, you can get monotronics; get a dog instead;its cheaper and it will not leave you unprotected.I canceled my service recently, and monotronics called me begging me to stay with them. They offered me a lower rate, and promised to do a free overall of my DUD system.The system blows batteries like crazy, and those batteries are not only expensive but also hard to find. I was not able to use my alarm for 9 months.What's the point of complaining every day?I just paid and paid until my contract expired. God Bess the DAY.

The alarm system was installed and had multiple equipment issues. I called the monitoring contractor, Monitronics several times for service and no service was every provided. I contacted First Defense, Inc. to describe the problems I was having with their security equipment. First Defense, Inc. stated they would send a service tech to my house; no service tech came to service my equipment. The faulty equipment at this point had resulted in over three false alarms with associated fees. I called the local police department to notify them that the alarm system was faulty and I was trying to resolve the issues with First Defense, Inc. I then contacted first defense again and notified them I no longer feel comfortable with their security system in my house, due to the lack of service and faulty equipment. I stated I wanted the equipment removed immediately from my house and the Alarm agreement to be voided due to First Defense Security, Inc. defaulting on providing me with service technicians and a functioning system. First Defense Security, Inc. finally removed the faulty equipment and I sent Monitronics a letter notifying them I was canceling my account. I recently received a phone a call from First Defense Security, Inc., which, I was told I would be responsible for paying the contract amount and would be sent to collection. I guess I am confused why I am responsible for paying out a contract when the company has defaulted in their commitment to providing me (their customers ) with the best available equipment, service and monitoring for their homes and businesses.

I want a functioning security system in my house and now that First Defense, Inc. is refusing to terminate the existing contract I can not sign another contract with another home security system provider. I am requesting First Defense, Inc. to terminate our existing security system agreement so that I can move-on and seek out a new home security system provider.

I just came to this board after filing a complaint with the Federal NoCall List since Monitronics "Jumped the Shark" and called me claiming I had called them for service. Since I despise people who try to sneak around that no call list bit, I played dumb and pinned down the boiler room operator until I found out EXACTLY who was calling and made the jerk spell out the name of the company. I'm glad I did. Maybe the Feds can slap them with a $10, 000.00 fine for violating the no call list thing as promised.
After all, who the hell is paying for MY TELEPHONE SERVICE, THEM OR ME?
What's a real kicker is that the caller suddenly got wise to me and hung up VERY FAST. I guess he knew he was in deep doo doo. Hope so.

Today I came home around 3:15PM and found the alarm did not act as it normally does. So I checked the home phone and found a message that was left regarding the motion alarm going off. Time of call 2:20pm – I arrived almost an hour after the alarm / call had been made. In that time, I did not receive a call on my cell phone as I normally do, so I walked into the house assuming everything was okay, thankfully it was, but it could have been dangerous.

Since I was not contacted by Monitronics and walked into my home assuming all was okay– I could have walked into a situation where an intruder or worse was hiding in my home putting myself in harms way. The call not being made to my cell phone as it should have been would have kept me from going in and waiting.

I called Monitronics at 3:31pm and was on hold for over 10 minutes or more waiting to see if police had been dispatched, also to inquire why I was not called. Finally someone answered the call and told me they had dispatched, so I wanted to cancel the dispatch. Too late, the police arrived while I was on the phone with Monitronics. Because it was a false alarm, I will be charged by APD.

I see several things that were not done that could have lead to a very bad situation had there been an intruder in my home.

• Calling the home, when we are not home is useless
• Not calling the back up numbers to advise of alarm
• Giving us the option to dispatch or not
• Telling me that calls are made on a priority basis when it should be standard procedure to call all numbers as has been done in the past; to avoid a situation were possible harm could occur from an intruder inside when I walk into my home expecting everything to be okay
• Waiting an unbelievable amount of time to get an answer about the alarm

A trust has been broken; my confidence in Monitronics ability to protect our home and us is in question. This is not the type of service we had in the past, we have always been called and advised and appropriate actions taken.

My concern is genuine, this time everything was okay, but now can I trust that when I walk into my home that no alarm went off and there is no intruder in the home because someone failed to call me?

I had montronics as well. I ended up turning it off after a year due to false alarms. They finally came out and said it was a battery that shouldnt have died, but they could not return the false alarm charges. We turned the thing off waited for the contract to come up then it got fun.
We sent their required signature letter to cancel the service and got charged again. They said they had not received the letter. We ended up sending 3 letters all that somehow got "lost". The only way to get them to cancel was to refer them to our attorney. I am still dreading seeing that $30 charge on my bank next month. Supposedly I am waiting on a refund check for a charge after it was canceled.

GET SECURI-COM OF CANTON WWW.SECURICOMOFCANTON.COM

Our experience with this company is equally awful. They took advantage of my 89 and 88 year old in laws. They came door to door offering a "free" alarm system as a promotion. They were very pushy - my mother in law is legally blind and my father in law prior to his death had dementia. They pushed their way into the house then insisted that the system be installed right then. My mother in law kept telling she didn't want it installed then - two unsavory looking guys who must have been waiting around the corner came in to install.

We have been trying to get out for a year. We took the equipment out ourselves- my brother in law said it was even hooked up. We never activated the system. Yet they bill my mother in law more than she agreed to and we have never had the service.

Has anyone else successfully gotten them to cancel?
I tell them not to call my mother in-law to call me ( I am an attorney but not contracts or consumerism) they call her a couple times a month. We are not paying them --- and now I see all these complaints on the internet about them--- wish my inlaws had told us immediately when they got it installed...

Ok, This has to stop. I do apologize but I have been a customer of Monitronics for about 12 years now. I have had a few problems with the equipment in the initial 12 months but not so many after that. One problem with all of you is that you DO NOT read contracts. We as a society have that problem with reading contracts. Most of the complaints are about cancelling. I have found (yes because I did cancel) their procedures to be just as they advised me because I did EXACTLY what they told me to do. I sent in my name, SIGNATURE (not name printed) and all other information and was cancelled 32 days later ( I waited the extra two days). Now some of you need to understand contracts. Let me use something that everyone can understand. If I call my wireless provider and have 6 months left and cancel I pay an ETF (early termination fee). That is with my wireless providers contract. If not, the credit hounds will come after me. Why should Monitronics be any different. False alarm fee person. You were in a contract for 36 months but want to cancel after 12. I dont need to chastise you about that. People moving? They moved my system for free. Oh and you guys complaining about your repair issues. Monitronics = Monitoring of security systems. You have to blame the INSTALLING ALARM COMPANY for that.

As one person who worked for them for a very brief time, I can tell you they are an absolutely dishonest company. It became clear that a local representative- Alton Minton, is a notorious con man with numerous judgments against him in the Nashville, Tn. area and was representing Monitronics-the local dealer chose to continue working for him. I know personally of installs where Alton sold the customer something other than what they received and then wouldn't return calls when the customer complained. Not only would the local dealer-SECURITY 4 YOU do nothing, but neither would Monitronics corporate. Seems they attract con men and choose to do business with them.

I loved monitronics at the beginning. The dooor to door sales person within about an hour had the system installed and armed. I had it for 3 years and our contracted was for 3 years. I wife loved their service. When the alarm was activeted, we got a call instantly at home. The false alarm was always a false alarm. So, my wife felt very confident that the monitoring employees would call everytime. The wife then decided to try another company and we cancelled monitronics, ofcourse they required a 30 day notice. The new company added more features, which my wife decided to change to a new company. I was not at home when this occur, but my wife did consult with me on the phone, which I asked her, why do you want to change companies if you are happy with the service?. Ofcource, she made the decision. So, a year later, we moved to a new house, which has an alarm installed. My wife was not happy with the previous company as they did not call promptly, as Monitronics did.

We decided to call monitronics for service. My wife started to ask my, I just opened the door and the alarm is armed, why is it not being set off. We had to 3 sensors, who only worked when they wanted to work. I called the technician to came to install the system and he never showed up. Then the alarm would go off by accident. We were ready to talked to the rep. in the two way communication, but they never called. They never called our home phone or backup number. At this point my wife and I were not very happy with monitronics.

We have sence moved to a new house and we are in the process of cancelling our services with monitronis, The 2 year contract was passed and I should be able to cancel the contract. Ofcourse, they will say that a 3o days notice is required, which I'm not sure if it is true, I need to find the contract document. But I'm very sure that we won't be getting monitronics again.

I too am trapped in the remainder of the 48 month contract for $49.95 a month with Monitronics. I moved out of my house in Houston, where the alarm was installed, to Philadelphia. To cancel, they want the remainder ($2000.00). Now I'm paying $50/mo. for absolutely NOTHING. I have no one who would want to take over the contract. If I just stop paying they'll turn it over to collections agencies and ruin my credit - which is an option of course, but I have enough bad credit.

Stay away from Monitronics and Counterforce, in fact, just don't bother getting an alarm system unless there is no contract, they're more of a hassle than they are worth. You have no idea where you will be even a year from now.

I have worked for reputable security companies including Monitronics, ADT and Protection One. Most of these complaints on this site are because the consumer does not read their contracts or you just like to complain. All companies require a 30 day notice to cancel a contract and if you don't do it within that time frame they will renew you for at least a year. Read the contract. If you don't fulfill your contract all companies will charge you. It's in the contract. If you move, most companies will give you a BASIC system to replace your previous system, not replace everything you had before. READ the contract. And why wouldn't a company ask for a death certificate? A lot of companies will ask for that in order to stop billing.
Monitronics is actually a good company. They have a dealer program just like ADT does. There are good Authorized dealers and bad ones. Some of these complaints could be attributed to bad dealers. All of them hire their own techs and staff. I happen to work for a very reputable one with an A rating on BBB. Consumers need to check out their local authorized dealer of these companies before doing business. Don't blame the monitoring company for how a few dealers choose to do bad business.

imigigi you sure would be pissed off if you were at home and set the alarm off but didn't get a phone call before they dispatched. And if you go threw the cancel dispatch directory on the call option menu there is no hold time. As for them not calling your contact list I agree with you there but I imagine they did and your contact list probably wasn't updated or something since you didn't say what the company said about calling your contact numbers. If you step back and really think about it your alarm did exactly what it's supposed to do. Contact the police. it's just because there wasn't someone there this time you are upset. Had someone been there inside your house you would be grateful. And lets just say you didn't have the alarm and someone had been in your house, then the cops wouldn't have been pulling up out front a few minutes later but that's much better then false alarm fees.

Hello,
I had a wired system with Monitronics for 2 years; the unit only worked properly for a total of 6 months. Either the battery kept dying soon after it was installed or the sensors did not work. I complained and canceled my contract. An "executive support" person called and gave me 6 months free service and had a wireless unit installed saying that it was better. Well 6 months later, my home was burglarized (05/25/10, Clarkston, GA); the burglars cut the power to my home; the wireless alarm did not go off. I was told by Monitronics that even though their relatively new system did not work, they can't be held accountable.

If anyone is listening, do not purchase a monitoring system thru Monitronics!

I will never, EVER use this company again. We just ended our business with them after realizing that their so-called "24 hour monitoring" meant that police would be dispatched because of an alarm, but WE COULDN'T SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING.

That's right... Alarm sounding at 11 am on a Sunday and we couldn't reach anyone at the office. Nice, right?

So, we canceled our service since we were out of contract. It took them two days after the new system was installed to contact us to say "they lost the signal."

Now they want $63 because we had to cancel in writing and, get this, our service would not be considered "canceled" for 30 days from the receipt of the letter, which of course meant we had to pay for a month+ of service FOR NOTHING. Not to mention I just gotten off the phone with someone calling about the bill I JUST GOT YESTERDAY.

In a word, they SUCK.

I absolutely hate Monitronics. I feel that we were deceived by them on numerous levels from the beginning. We had similar situations as many of the above and would definitely advise potential consumers to stay far, far away. The service itself was shody, the system never conected properly and, if god forbid we had an actual break-in, the system would have completely failed. We tried to make it work for nearly two years and decided to go with a different company. After spending countless hours on the phone with various reps (who are not knowledgable about the product and their own procedures) in nearly every department and as many different stories about how to cancel, I finally bought out of my contract at the discounted price of $244. As ridiculous as it sounds, it is worth it to get rid of the frustration and annoyance of that dreadful company. - Laura in Denver

hello every one!
resently i purchise a monitronics alarm system with servise. this is a worth alarm company i ever had! starting from salesman, who is the biggest lier in the world, from the biginning he told us what first 2 false alarms a year is not countible (with paid police permit) wich we paid for. after two false alarms and bill for $598.00 they said we will proccess your alarm permit. its took tham 4 month (from december till march)
customer service ( Destiny) is very unprofessional and very aggrivated. when i call them about falls alarm they told me what we pushed panic button on the remote, (at the time off this event me and my wife was about 6 miles away and system was disarmed!) when i call to monitronics they symply explained what its can happened. 6MILES AWAY? then i was connected to a technical support "mat" he explained to me what systems laying in the werehouse for a few years and battries become weak . Quastion? why at the time of instalation battery never replased? now they addmit by replacing my remotes, what they are in fault! then why i supposed to pay this bill? or better yet they told me what i have to go and attend a alarm school!? are they count me as their imployee? if any body aggry with mee we have to do some thing about this.
please, e-mail me to: kooldaddya@roadrunner.com any suggestion wil be appritiated

myself i work 3rd shift and i have not had any bad problems with them and i have been with them for 2 years. in the first 3 month i had a issues with a door sensors so i called Monitronics and they sent out a tech who was better than the one who installed it.I was on vacation and my pet sitter set the alarm off 3 different times the local police came. i got a call on my cell they called the house and they sent emails that i got on my cell phone...Every Time i call them they are great and NO i didn't read all my contract and didn't need to..I got what i asked for no more no less. i sometimes mess up and set the all the sensors so when my wife gets up in the middle of the night it sure wakes her up...LOL

they have never called us about an alarm going off, or when the fire alarm came on on and there was a fire in the house, no fire department no nothing, they dont monitor anything. they take your money and bind you in a contract and do nothing at all but take your money, they dont monitor anything, they dont call when it s not working. you are supposed to call them and make sure it works~! some company that supposed to MONITOR does NOT, all they do is take your money and nothing else. they suck.

I had some door knocker come to my home and offered to give me an alarm system for free. I thought that was a great deal until I started getting bills for $49.00 a month. I did sign a paper that they said and now I feel like I was taken because I was lied to. HELP