Protection 1 review: Stay away from Protection One! 42

I agree with you! Protection One's customer service is horrific. They don't call you back as promised and renege on promises. The quotes for a new system is ridiculous and outrageous! The constant phone calls everyday are also a nuisance. I plan on sending a formal complaint to BBB regarding their actions.

TWY every alarm company has contracts, I would beware of the "local guy", if he is letting you cancel at any time, how good can the service he provides to you be. He needs recurring monitoring to fund monitoring stations, maintenance, equipment, employees, insurance, trucks, etc. If he gives you that option than he must have given everyone else the same. In anything in life, you get what you pay for. I had a similar experience with another national alarm company and it sounds like you are getting off the hook a lot easier than I did. I had 2 years and was required to do an alarm move to my new house in New Hampshire. There hasn't been a crime here in 50+ years. I understand the companies stand point being a retired company executive myself. Companies can only exist on profit. I don't know what you do for a living but, I'm sure whatever company you work for, does it to make money. Good Luck to you!

I agree. We put new windows in and our window guy made sure he pulled out the existing wire as far as he could so that they could come in and wire it back on. Didn't happen, they said it wasn't useful anymore and they would have to run new wire which was a fortune. Then I called to finally cancel (YEAH) in October and the rep said it was taken care of. Today (December) we had auto deduction which now the rep on the phone said we have to send in a letter for cancellation. FAX, EMAIL, and verbal are no good to them. Yet when you call them you have to give your password to ensure it's you. NEVER will we go back or refer them.

I agree regarding Protection One. We cancelled our service and even though you have to purchase all of the equipment when you cancel it is so that the alarm will chirp unless you completely disconnect all power to it. I think it is something in their system that causes that so you completely have to disable the equipement. A rip off, I think so!

Protection One is the greatest band of thieves to walk the earth. One of their greatest scams is to say you have to cancel via letter. They "accept" a verbal cancellation (calling an 800 number from your own home phone, they get your number even if it is blocked, you give your password, you state your intent, so they damn well know it's you and what you want to do), but then they don't tell you that you need to do it in writing, according to them. So they try to rip you off for another month or two's billing, which you don't find out about until they bill you. Then the calling starts. 200+ phone calls w/i 2 years, always leaving a message on your answer machine, "This is a non-emergency call from protection one. We have been trying to reach you. Our toll free number is [protected], M-F, 8AM to 10PM Central Time." They never say why. [Call this number from a pay phone, it's free, but it costs them.] Protection One's actions are nothing less than unjust enrichment, a legal phrase that should be a defense against their sleazy gouging. A search of the net reveals they have been sued by several states' attorneys general for their business practices. What is needed is a massive class action lawsuit against them for their sleazy business practices of evergreen clauses, multi-year contracts, underhanded "we won't cancel 'till you do it in writing" garbage. This is the WORST, sleaziest alarm company around. They even have their own agents post on these websites to try to justify their actions; some of these agents pretend to be "helpful" consumers, some ID themselves as protection one management lackeys who want to "help" you "understand" your bill. They rely on your fear of your credit rating taking a hit. When they send you a form letter, they say you owe X, it will be turned over to an outside collection agency, but if you "renew" your contract, they will "apply" the bill to their "service, " very obviously strong arm tactics. These people are utter slime. Avoid them at all costs. Send them a certified letter telling them you are canceling their service at the end of the "contract, " and go find another alarm company. If they threaten to ding your credit rating, just write a response for posting on the 3 credit bureaus' sites; you are allowed to challenge anything on your credit report. Boycott Protection One and put this slimy company out of business!

I completely agree with all these comments, especially Protection One's pernicious contract terms, which renew automatically every year for a whole year. After six loyal years as a well-paying customer who rarely had need for their "armed response" services, I was stunned to get a bill for $150 when my telephone line accidentally got disconnected from the "brain" of their system. Having paid well over $4000 so far, you'd think they'd let it go in the name of good customer service. But no. And on cancelling, they decided to hold me hostage for another six months due to their ridiculous hidden contract terms. They also said they will come in to uninstall ALL the equipment. Not so fast, I said, there was a system here before you came in. After checking their records, they agreed. Avoid this company, they simply do not care about their customers--except for that monthly billing.

I was a customer for many (7+) years in California. Because the system was so old, I had them come and service it, replacing the backup battery. NOTE: I PAID FOR THIS SERVICE! IT WASN'T FREE! It turns out that this servicing "renewed" my contact terms and when I wanted to cancel the service 1 year later they stuck me with a bill for $920 for "early termination fee". I have a very good friend of mine who is a lawyer who said this is 100% fraud -- I intend to fight this vigorously, I have noticed there are some lawyers who are looking into this (class action lawsuit perhaps? who knows). My lawyer friend explained to me that they cannot do this (service your unit and then secretly reset your contract) -- it is FRAUD!

Oh my gosh! It is so good to hear I am not going crazy. We have been customers of Protection One for 10 years. When we bought the system, the salesman told us our contract was for only 1 year and that at the end of the year the equipment would be ours. Several times we accidently tripped the system, and it took them a good 30 minutes to call and ask if we were ok. Then when we tried to cancel, my husband called them within their tricky and specific window of time and they accepted our cancellation over the phone. HOWEVER, we continued to recieve bills and were told that we had to cancel in writing, which put us out of their window of time for cancelling. They have harrassed us by calling our home 2-3 times a day with recorded messages, etc. Very long and upsetting story later, we ended up paying for an entire year we did not use. Now they want their 10 year old equipment back, which we were told by the salesman was ours after a year. We set up a time for them to come and get their equipment. We both took the afternoon off of work because we didn't trust them for either of us to be here alone. You guessed it--they never showed up. One week later, we get a bill in the mail for a $49 trip charge! When I called their "friendly" staff to complain, they said their computer showed that a technician came to our house and if the computer says it, it must be! These people are the most dishonest, disreputable, rude company I have ever dealt with. Now I am afraid they will turn us in to a collection company and ruin our credit! I filed a complaint with the FTC, and am in the process of filing one with consumer affairs. Any suggestions about how to protect our credit from these snakes would be appreciated! Also, if anyone ever hears of a class actions suit against this company, i would love to testify against them~

Just searched complaints about ADT, Brinks and Monitronics. All had many more complaints than Protection One. ADT is about 6 times bigger than Protection One but had 11x as many complaints. Brinks and Monitronics are about the same size and both had 3x the number of complaints. In my opinion, Protection One has the best security service out there. Yes, there will be occasional problems, and you're absolutely correct to complain...but they simply are not the "biggest band of thieves to walk the earth." Good reliable security and customer care.

protection one calls every day sometimes twice a day. please make these calls stop.

thank you
[protected]
gerard swinson

I was told that I should have read the small print on what they have you sign. The contract will auto renew and you will have 30 days to cancel each year. You really don't own the system, and they will come rip it out when you cancel.

I HATE Protection One... just like everyone else.. I was a customer for 11 years. I called to cancel when I moved, and they told me it was $600 to cancel. "the balance of the contract"... WHAT CONTRACT - I had a TWO year contract... oh no - it renewed every year. I said - you've been out here one time, and since the system was so old - you couldn't even replace the battery, so you had to upgrade it! You've never had a false alarm - I've never been late on a payment - etc.

I can't believe that this is the way that they treat GOOD PAYING customers! I will NEVER use them again!

If you stupid ### would ever read the contracts you sign, then maybe you wouldn't have the problems you face. Every alarm company has contracts or else you aren't getting any type of system put into the home.

just so u know all of your complaints for the most part have to do with either a greedy salesperson or incorrect information. Every alarm company makes u sign a contract, and every alarm system will "chirp" as u say because it has a low battery(just like your home smoke detector) or hasn't been serviced ...all u have to do is disconnect the wire . And further more if u move into a new house you can take your previous alarm, or Protection one will actually give a $150 credit toward your new alarm system. Don't fault the company just because of an incompetent person on the other end of the phone. FYI Protection One was just named on Forbes 100 list as "the most trustworthy security company" in the nation. NO OTHER security company even made that list! So once again do not rely on one wrong or in-correct action

YOu would be better off buying you own system and paying a normal monitoring company like 495alarm.com 5 buck a month to monitor it. WIth no contract.

I gave them over 8 years of never missing a payment and this is the thanks I get. IF you goto their website and ask the live help after your contract is up, they will tell you that you own it. I was told that today by Melissa Dietz, but it is not true. Read that contract that says they will come remove it and if there is damage it is not their fault.

I was with them in 2 different homes for over 8 years and paid over 30 a month and the first time I had trouble, they were not there for me. After canceling and sending them two letters asking them to cancel it and paying the early fee to cancel, and being told I was done with them and not to worry about the system, now they want the crappy system back. My new alarm company is replacing everything and charge me 99 bucks with no contract and 5 a month montoring and I own the system.

IT does not matter what tell you, it matter what is in writing. Trying calling them now and asking them if you will own the system after the 3 year contract and see what they tell you.

If they make this right and do what they say they will do in emails and over the phone, I will come back and update this.

constant harasasing phone calls sometimes 3 times daily .

I have been trying to cancel for almost 9 months. I have a canceled check, and have been assured by four customer service reps we are done, and STILL I get calls and bills. They stalled for three months just so they could roll over the automatic renewal clause and try to suck another couple hundred dollars out of me. I got that rescinded, got a final bill, paid it, and now they "can't find a record of it." They are either incompetent or their minimum wage lackeys will say anything to pass the problem on to someone else. And if your house is burning or a burglar is robbing you, they will leave a message on your voicemail--not call anyone else to check it ouit. My dogs are more effective. Customer service is anything you want to hear--but the bills keep coming.

Oh really? Why don't you check out their employee attrition at 60%. Not only are they a terrible company towards their customers, but to their employees as well. I should know. I used to work there and have never been treated with more disrespect and unappreciation. The A+ with the BBB is false. All of their ratings are falling and they are constantly being sued. In fact, they recently fired my friend that was pregnant for attendance (which she had a doctor's note for). She is currently filing suit. They can't even keep enough employees to take all the phone calls. I predict within a few years they will be out of business or bought out by another company. I can't wait...

I agree with most of the negative comments. I was a good customer of Protection One for almost 8 years when I sold my building and moved into a new building signing a 2-year lease with the landlord. I was approached by another alarm company who offered a free alarm system as long as I signed a 2-year contract at $40 a month. I called Protection One and explained the offer but that I would prefer to stay with them as a long-term customer (mislaid loyalty). Protection One promptly sent out a sales rep who said he would match the other company's offer - I agreed and unfortunately had the system installed while I was away on vacation. Imagine my surprise when I returned and read the contract, signed by one of my employees, for 60 months and a $600 charge for installation and new equipment. Dozens of calls to Protection One got me nowhere, the salesman had already quit (no doubt with some nice sales bonuses) and I was told I would have to honor the contract. At the end of the 2-year lease, I called Protection One and terminated the monitoring - the bills keep on coming (which I refuse to pay), Protection One now has collection agencies calling me and recently filed a negative report on my credit. I have probably dissuaded a dozen fellow business owners from going with Protection One and will continue to advocate against the company for as long as they exist. Protection One sucks.

Oh Susan. What I was stating a few months back is now happening. I regret yet am not surprised to hear the Protection One will soon be closing their doors. Therefore, it looks like you won't be able to help anyone. What a surprise! I hope you enjoy the merger with Brinks and ADT. :)

I have had problems also
There install destroyed so many little corners of my house! It was put in by the previous owners as I was purchasing the house. When It was all said and done they missed a window in my office; the most important room on my list. My friend was here for the insulation and they said they would charge me to come back to install the sensor.

The alarm has gone off 2 times. Nobody called for hours.

For the same price as their system and monitoring charges, I could have installed a custom system with video that would text or call me (and who ever i wanted) alerts of what sensors were going off within seconds. Fully accessible controls and video by my cellphone. False wiring to trick someone who is trying to cut my phone line. even a Bluetooth connection that could call 911 from any cellphone (turned off or not because of 911 emergency dialing from any phone) in the event a line was cut and certain sensors were going off.

WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!
GET A CUSTOM ALARM AND SAVE YOURSELF THE HASSLE, MONEY, AND CREDIT!

Protection One is a great company, Its a very simple process to cancel all they require is a 30 day written notice, THATS IT. So if you write "cancel this" and return a statment that is not considered a written notice because there is no signature. You cant just assume your account is canceled because you sent that in 5 months ago, You actualy have to pick up the phone and call and GUESS WHAT? LISTEN TO THE INSTRUCTIONS! They even make it easy and mail a cancel post card to your home and all you have to do is sign and return. Of course if you dont pay your bill your going to get phone calls just like anyother company, if you have aproblem with your system call Protection One and tell them. Dont just stop paying your bill, YOU HAVE TO CALL ! And dont be an idiot read your contract. Most are for 3 years with 1 year auto renewal depeneding on what state you live in. After that its month to month/

I agree. Before I signed up with Protection One, I knew we would be moving in a year. The Protection One rep. said they have the service moved at not extra cost. So year went by, move when we decided to move, they want $900 to move the service plus a fresh 3 year commit.
They also said they dont any thing in their contact to offer free move.
How rude. Never fall for high pressure or smooth talk sign up. Ask for the contract ahead of time. Read through every line. If you want something, ask them to put them in writing. Otherwise they will screw you.

this is true with any security company that provides first free install, they are there to get you, and wants you spend more than what you want to spend and lock you in for more than your lifetime. How greedy are these folks. There should be class-action & they should be taken to congress, seriously! very unregulated market

Best option is have a system installed by 3rd party and find a low cost monitoring business without any contract. If you unhappy with monitoring company, you can always switch to different low cost monitoring.

Protection One is a horrible company. I'd never use them again, not only do they charge you (hidden fees) for early termination, they do not call when the alarm goes off... I set mine off a few times, never did anyone call me from the company... I suppose if there was a true problem, it wouldn't matter, too late, no response... 911 would have to be dialed while running! Waste of money, waste of time, don't use them.

My termination is $730

I signed up for Protection one over 10 months ago. When I talked to the salesperson on the phone, I clearly stated that I would only be in the home for 10 more months. I relocate for my job pretty frequently. However, I was broken into and didn't feel safe not having an alarm system. He told me not a problem.

So, installation person arrives, sets everything up. He was 2 hours late so he didn't arrive to my home until almost 6. He ran into issues when installing the system and wasn't finished until 9. He proceeded to tell me he had been up since 6 and really wanted to get home. He then brought out the 5-6 page contract in 7 point type for me to sign. In all honesty, I didn't read the contract in its entirety. He was telling me had to to get home, he hadn't eaten since noon, and I just was tired myself so I signed it without reading everything through.

I didn't realize until a month ago when I tried to cancel that the contract on paper was completely different than what the salesperson sold me on the phone. I called the customer service and asked them to pull up the recorded conversation. Conveniently, the every call is recorded option didn't work in my case. The phone call was not recorded. If it had been, they would have found that the salesperson very blatantly lied to me.

I cannot renew the contract in my new place because I am not allowed to install a security system per HOA rules. Most contracts offer you an out if you are unable to fulfil the requirements of the contract. Now I have to keep paying the monthly charge for something I can't use or pay $750 to cancel. Even cell phone contracts are only $250, plus they prorate the $250 over the 2 months!

My name is David Sung and I am the digital media coordinator at Protection One. It concerns me that so many people posted negative comments about us. I would like to let everyone know that we are always striving to improve our procedures to help all of our customers as much as possible.

For those of you who have complaints about bad service, false alarms, or any other issues, please come and visit us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ProtectionOne

I can personally guarantee that our online services team will be there to help you. Please come and talk to us.

Wish I had seen this before I went with these CROOKS! The home I purchased a year and a half ago had Protect One's system installed. They seemed like nice people so I continued the service. The guy that came out said that if I signed up for auto withdrawl, I would only have to agree to the payments for one year. Fast forward 18 months later and financially I can no longer afford the payment. When I called they were extremely nice ... that is until I got transferred to the "disconnect" department. They offered me a free month service to keep me as a customer... when I told them that was nice but I couldn't afford the service, they threatened that my homeowners would go up. When I told them that I would deal with my homeowners, they told me that I couldn't cancel because I had a 3 year contract. Then I was told that they would make a "note" of my cancelation but that I had to wait for a post card in the mail from them that I had to sign and return. After returning the post card I was told it waould take ANOTHER MONTH OR SO for my request to to go through. She then told me that I would be sent a final statement for the remaining period on my contract which is supposedly another 16 months.

After reading all of the other issues folks have had with this company, there's no way that I'm going to wait for them to send me a "postcard" to sign. I'm guessing there will be some more "small print" stating that by signing and caneling I agree to pay all fees. NOT GONNA HAPPEN! I intent to fight this one 'till the end.

Hello Nancy,

My name is Rosalinda. I work in the Office of the CEO where our focus is on resolving unique concerns that occasionally occur.

At Protection One, we do strive to provide an exceptional level of customer service, and I regret learning of the incident you described. I would sincerely appreciate the chance to review your account more closely with you. Could you please contact us anytime between 8:00am and 5:00pm CST Monday through Friday at [protected] or at CustomerRelations@ProtectionOne.com? Please be sure to provide your name, contact information or account number. You also may reach us at CustomerService@ProtectionOne.com seven days a week.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

I use to work for Protection One as an Administrator and I can tell you first hand whats going on. They had a merger with a company PSI a few years back and it was a complete disaster for Protection One. Since this merger didn't pan out, they let go of Protection One VP's and gave the positions to the PSI management crew they inherited in hopes they would deliver on what they invested in. I personally saw great Sales Managers, District Managers, Operation Supervisors get pushed out in favor for the PSI management. These new management people are extremely manipulative and cut throat to customers, techs and sales people. They turned Protection One into PSI with the Protection One logo on it. Really horrible. I even saw one of the highest paying residential reps in the country walk away in a bad job market because of the ridiculous [censor] nature of doing business his GM showed. Not good.

We take complaints like this very seriously and will investigate further. It would be helpful if you would be willing to either provide us more information, including your name and contact information or file a report on our Ethics Hotline via calling [protected] or via the link on our website (can you insert the link). Our new management team believes that individual integrity is the cornerstone to our brand. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

I am still trying to get this resolved because they still keep charging me a monthly fee. They also gave me a person to contact but when I contact this person, I don't get replies back so it would seem this is some made up person.

Hello,
My name is Rosalinda Hernandez and I work in the Office of the CEO with Protection One. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss your concerns in further detail. Please feel free to contact me at [protected] or by emailing me at customerrelations@protectionone.com. I look forward to hearing from you so that we may move forward in taking steps to an agreeable resolution.

Respectfully,

Rosalinda Hernandez

I agree that Protection One has some issues, especially when it comes to billing, but they are actively working on streamlining this department. I have been a customer and employee of Protection One for about 9 years. While I have never had any problems with my system, many customers whose accounts were acquired from other companies (IASG, PSI, etc.) have had several problems. Most of the issues that I encountered with these accounts were due to the previous companies letting the accounts slide once they realized they were being bought out and a handful due to the slightly rough transition. Overall Protection One has done a good job at cleaning up these messes but they still need improvement in the billing department more than anything else. The technicians are extremely that are in my area are extremely knowledgeable and have passion for what they do. The one thing that I would have to say has crashed in the last couple of years is the morale. Most other companies understand that sales reps, especially 100% commish ones, are responsible for generating revenue for the company and in turn support them and treat them with respect- this is not the case here. Sales reps are treated like bitter dregs and the internal politics have really broken down what used to be a great place to work.

We've paid this company every month for over 20 years. Now that we want to discontinue our service, they state that our contract (which we signed with a company that they took over) is on auto renewal and is extended until 2014! In short, it doesn't matter that you've been a loyal customer. They have no mercy and will call daily asking for payment. DON'T sign any contract with this company. They hide their sneaky "auto renewal" in tons of fine print. Isn't that just what you want from a "security" company?...Dishonesty?

I am an attorney and recently read your comment regarding Protection One. I agree, they should have honored your contract. How did you know your calls was recorded? I am interested in speaking with you regarding your situation.
Please call my office at [protected].
Thank you.
Bonnie Fong, Esq.

I can tell you why P1 sucks as I worked there for a few weeks before I bailed and got a better job. All they care about is $$$$$ they are nothing but greed but will tell you all the time what a great place they are to work for but they have to bribe their employees to come to work with gift baskets and free lunches of greasy finger food to get 1 month of perfect attendance out of them! Their year end bonus? A chintzy ornament and a book telling how great the company is doing! If that's not a kick in the crotch for what the employees have to put up with I don't know what is. Now you know why nobody stays there and why morale is bad, the company only cares about how much $$$ they are making and will push you to the limit to make sure their pockets are lined but don't care about the employees at all as evidenced by how they reward them for their hard work at the end of the year!

Ughhh Same here! The rep new i was renting and told me I could easily move my service for as little at 150 to 200 dollars. That was reasonable to me since i kind of knew i wouldnt be staying at my rental for 3 years. When i was moving to another home I called them in advance to move my service etc. Same as everyone else... 900 dollars to move my service 4 miles down the road. What a fn rip off! To sign up i paid less than 300 with installation etc. Are they joking? Now theyve sent me to collections. Of course. F Protection One. Go with another company and have everything IN WRITING!

If you decided to fight, you are not alone.
Check: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/article/protection-one-stuck-in-lawsuit-accused-of-fraud-and-deceit-march-24-2014.
They are thieves, it is our duty to stop them.

I had Protection One, when I signed up with them they checked the house and recommended 2 motion sensors and reuse the rest of the ADT system. They had 2 service calls to figure out how to add these sensors. I realized that what they did left my home unprotected in stay mode. I called American One and scheduled a service call to get this fixed, the technician that came did not know what he was there for and all he knew how to do was do a test. I called ADT and the next day ADT was there the very next day and corrected the problem. I called and canceled Protection One who became rude and is now harassing me and threatening me.
STAY AWAY FROM PROTECTION ONE!