ADT Security Services

unknown

Horrendous experience that I am still sorting out. DO NOT USE ADT in PITTSBURGH!! Definitely the WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH!!! After being quoted an installation price of $199 for the cell phone transmitter my final bill was $459 - two key fobs, one control panel, and any number of other charges later. This was after what seemed like a staged con-job between the technician and a "manager" back at the office over "new fees." This all the while my old system has been ripped out and is lying on the ground. After four plus hours of a technician installing the equipment, I was stewing over the higher-than-expected charges. I felt like I had been completely ripped off. I then looked at the ripped up trash the technician had given me and found a copy of my consumer right to cancel the service within three business days pursuant to PA law. I confirmed this on the Attorney General's website, wrote a letter, and mailed it priority mail the following day. It was delivered Monday and a week later I received a bill. Called ADT billing who then called the PGH office who claimed no letter was ever delivered. "Did I have a signature?" Well, no, I didn't. I sent it Priority Mail and confirmed it was delivered. Nothing indicated a requirement of signature receipt. Well, to make a long story short, I've been going back and forth with ADT Pittsburgh and ADT central. The installation manager, and his manager, are "out of the office" and the PGH office's attempt to get me to cancel at ADT Central failed - the lady there explained that if I canceled there I'd get charged. Only Pittsburgh can let me out of my contract. I am still waiting and am filing complaints with the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, and sending letters to the heads of TYCO International (ADT's parent company), ADT Worldwide and North America, and letting everyone on Angie's List know to AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. FURTHERMORE, IF YOU DECIDE ON ANOTHER PROVIDER WRITE ADT AND LET THEM KNOW WHY!!!!! I hope the entire crew at the Pittsburgh office is either retrained or let go. Absolutely horrendous business to work with. UPDATE: After sending certified letters to the CEO of TYCO (ADT's parent company), the head of ADT's North America wing, their chief counsel, etc. etc., I FINALLY received a refund. This took MONTHS! They also promised to return the equipment they removed from my home. However, when the technician arrived he was not given my equipment to return and subsequently I have never received my equipment back. I am stuck with useless ADT equipment and will have to pay to have another alarm service installation completed by the company whose original equipment was removed. ADT remains one of the most unresponsive and unprofessional companies I have ever encountered. Their Pittsburgh office is uniquely poor. Caveat emptor!

We did some research and ADT Home Security made us feel the most comfortable. I like that they are stable and well known. ADT has been very good. I also like that they do not mind answering my dumb questions and always talk to you through problems.

Three problems: 1) their call center cannot distinguish what part of the alarm system is causing a problem; 2) they sell a maintenance contract under fail pretenses; and 3) their call line staff are indifferent to customer satisfaction. I have been paying for the QSP maintenance program for the 4 years I've been dealing with ADT. The program is advertised on their website as covering all parts and labor on defective parts of the system. When part of my system malfunctioned, I received a message from the equipment saying there was a failure with one of the senors. I called the service line. Although the system gives separate messages for low batteries and failures, I was told to replace the batteries in the door sensor. That didn't work, so I called back, got a different agent, who told me the problem was not with the door sensor but a different sensor in the same room (one wonders how they can tell whether your home is on fire or being burglarized if they can't tell which sensor is failing). I was again told to replace the batteries. That didn't work, so I called back and got a third agent who told me they would have to send out a repair person. Although I have paid extra for the service maintenance contract (noted above), I was told there would be a $25 fee. I was told the fee was a "trip charge" and therefore did not fall under the "parts and labor" coverage of the maintenance contract, even though the program is advertised as covering repairs "free of charge." I decided to cancel my contract. I had to speak to yet another representative, and told him I was canceling because the QSP had been sold to me under false pretenses, and further told him I would be filing a complaint with the BBB and a report on Angie's List. He put me on hold, and came back after several minutes to tell me I had to give 30 days notice to cancel. Period. Clearly, he only "works" for ADT, and didn't care about being responsive to customer dissatisfaction or company reputation. I'll be switching to a more local company in the hopes their staff will have a better attitude.

The sales guy was initially great, answered a ton of questions. The install went so well-those installers were genius about threading the wires. I wish we could contract them out for other wiring jobs! We had to wait awhile for our signs, and still don't have our other key fob, so that wasn't so great, but the rest of the experience went very well.

The tech arrived late, but he did call to inform us of the delay and gave us a chance to reschedule. Despite it being very late, he took his time with us and answered our questions. The quote he gave us was comparable to other big named companies, but we decided to go with a local company.

Because I didn't have a service contract, I was paying $115 for the first 30 minutes. I was eager for the tech to get started. He brought an extra keypad with him and explained that he had replaced a perfectly good keypad of someone under a service contract just to make them feel better. He said that if my keypad was the only issue, he would replace it without charging me for the parts. It turned out to be the problem. Then, to my dismay, he offered to sign me up for the one year service contract at $85 rather than charging me $115 to do the single repair. He didn't have to offer that, but because of his honesty, I'll keep coming back to ADT for my security needs.

The price is on a monthly basis. I have not really used them in any emergency. The price is pretty competitive with the other companies around this area. I have never had any problems at all with them.

We have used this company for about six months now and so we are happy with the service they provide. We really haven't had much contact with them. I feel if a problem should come up, they will respond fast and will send the police right out.

They installed the system in 2002 which cost us $1,688. When the power is out they call right away. One time I was cooking and turned on the fire alarm and they called immediately. They are a reputable company and I trust them.

We have never had any kind of problem with them as long as we have used them. The only real way to know if their service is good is if someone breaks in and that has never happened. I am very satisfied and will keep them on as long as possible.

The cost is based on a 4 year contract which averages $900 per year. They called me this past week about being alerted to some concerns. They noticed that someone attempted to enter my home and the alarm did not sound. After checking the system, it was determined that it had been inadvertently unplugged. I was so pleased with their follow up. I truly like the alarm system, as it makes me feel safe and content in my home.

About 3 weeks ago, I began having problems with my alarm system. I was out of town on business, and my contact person called to say my alarm was going off. The police came, no break-in or tampering evident. Upon my return, the alarm went off nightly although it wasn't set, no one was breaking in. I called the 800#, and was advised that the system would be set to test so the police would not be notified. One technician came out, and replaced the main panel batteries. That evening, same alarm went off. Had to put system on test to get the alarm from continuing to go off. A few days later, another technician came out, and did his thing. I came home last night, entered my code, and the alarm would not go off. Spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with a technician who seemed not to have a clue how to get the damned alarm turned off. Finally, I whacked the panel with a hammer a few times, and got the alarm off. Tech was supposed to be here today, no call, no show.

Shortly after initial installation alarm went off and unable to reach me ADT dispatched the police dept. It turned out to be a false alarm due to FAULTY INSTALLATION of a window sensor. ADT tried to charge me for the tech to come out and fix the problem that they caused and insisted charge was my responsibility despite their error. This week the alarm has completely MALFUNCTIONED sending off multiple FALSE fire ALARMS with the in-house siren and hard-wired smoke alarms going off randomly thru the day and night. ADT is unable to advise me as to where the mains power source is (they say it should be documented in my file but told me 9 times out of 10 it is not) so I have had to turn off the FUSE which powers bedrooms in my house as well as the keypad in order to stop the false alarms and in-house siren. ADT did not show up for my scheduled appt today. They again accept no responsibility and will again charge me for a visit when they do come. Beware of ADT- POOR, POOR service AND quality.

TERRIBLE! 1st visit - technician said wires were not exposed. So I arranged for my contractor to pull the wires through the doors 2nd visit - technician did not have the appropriate contacts, 3rd visit - technician installed some contacts but the last pair required the removal of the sliding doors. I said my contractor will be here the next day to paint the doors, so he'll have them removed and technician can install contacts. Technician called his supervisor to ok the scheduled visit for the next day. Technician never showed up the next day as agreed. I had my contractor waiting here with the doors down. Called dispatch to find out estimated time of arrival. Dispatch would not tell me - told me I'll just have to wait for someone to call me. Nobody called me until late in the afternoon, asking to re-schedule the appt. I asked for someone from Customer Service to call first and address this issue before I will re-schedule. To this day, nobody has called. I've terminated my account.

The salesperson came and looked at the system and then gave me an estimate for the monthly monitoring fee. When I told him I would consider it, he asked me to sign the contract, which I refused. Then he told me that the system that is built into our house (in the door frames, etc. from original construction) is really the property of ADT, and that if I would not sign the contract, he would send workmen back to rip the system out of our walls. I threw him out of our house. THIS WAS AN ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. We were looking for a system to make us feel more secure, and were essentially threatened by ADT. I WILL NEVER USE ADT.

ADT DOES A GOOD JOB WITH THEIR INSTALLATION AND MONTHLY MONITORING SERVICE. THEY PROVIDE PROMPT CALL S WHEN THE ALARM SOUNDS ARE HAPPY WITH THE SERVICE BUT THE MONTHLY FEE IS GETTING EXPENSIVE.

THE INSTALLATION WAS COMPLETED PRETTY QUICKLY. THEY OFFERED ME MANY DIFFERENT OPTIONS AND I CHOSE WHAT WAS BEST FOR ME. I HAVE HAD MY ALARM ACTIVATED ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS AND THE STAFF WAS VERY HELPFUL.

THE COMPANY DISPATCH HAS BEEN VERY KIND AND HELPFUL EACH AND EVERY TIME WE HAVE NEEDED THEIR ASSISTANCE AND WOULD RECOMMEND THEM TO EVERYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS TYPE OF SERVICE

THEY SET UP THE SYSTEM QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY. I THOUGHT THE TUTORIAL AND TIME TO ACTUALLY EXPERIMENT WITH THE SYSTEM WAS A LITTLE RUSHED WITH A FEELING OF 'YOU CAN DO THIS - IT'S EASY'. I'D LIKE TO SEE A FOLLOW UP CALL MADE TO FAMILIES AFTER INSTALLATION AS WE HAD MANY QUESTIONS AFTERWARDS. WHERE THEY PUT IN THE WIRES UPSTAIRS, THEY LEFT A MESS WITH DRY WALL CRUMBS ON THE CARPET. I THINK THE MONTHLY MONITORING COST IS TOO HIGH BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW DIFFERENT IT IS FROM OTHER COMPANIES AS WE WENT WITH THEM BASED ON A RECOMMENDATION FROM OUR INSURANCE CO AND FELT WE WERE IN SOMEWHAT OF A TIME CRUNCH. I ALSO DON'T LIKE THE IDEA OF A MUST HAVE 2 YEAR CONTRACT FOR MONITORING.

THEY WERE VERY EXPEDIENT, THE BATTERY WAS A BIT EXPENSIVE, BUT THE JOB WAS PERFORMED QUICKLY AND PUNCTUALLY. AFTER THEIR VISIT, EVERYTHING WAS IN GOOD ORDER, AND THE PROBLEMS WERE GONE. IN GENERAL, ADT HAS BEEN EASY TO WORK WITH.

I HAD A VERY BAD EXPERIENCE. THEY DIDN'T COMMIT TO THE MONTHLY PRICE QUOTED, WHEN SIGNED UP OVER THE PHONE, OF $29.99 PER MONTH IF THEY TAKE IT DIRECTLY FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT. I FOUND OUT THREE MONTHS LATER THEY NEVER TOOK OUT THE FUNDS UNTIL I WAS BILLED A STATEMENT CHARGING ME A HUGE AMOUNT. WHEN I TRIED TO DISCONTINUE THE SERVICES, THEY TOLD ME I HAD A 2 YEAR CONTRACT. WHICH I ADVISED THEM AT THAT TIME THAT WAS NOT TRUE. THEY DID RESEARCH AFTER A WEEK OF ME TELLING THEM I WAS NEVER SENT A CONTRACT AND TO THEIR RECORDS THEY COULDN'T FIND ONE. THEN THEY TOLD ME IN ORDER TO DISCONTINUE THE SERVICE I HAD TO CONTACT A LOCAL OFFICE. WHEN THEY PUT ME THRU TO THE LOCAL OFFICE THEY SAID I HAD TO SUBMIT A WRITTEN STATEMENT I NO LONGER WANTED SERVICE AND TO GIVE MY REASON. WHEN I CHECKED UP ON MY REQUEST A COUPLE OF WEEKS FROM THAT, THEY SAID THEY NEVER RECEIVED MY FAXED STATEMENT AND STILL TO THIS DAY THEY ARE BILLING ME AND I DON'T EVEN LIVE AT THAT ADDRESS ANY MORE.

THE SALESMAN WAS VERY PROFESSIONAL AND FOLLOWED UP TO MAKE SURE WE WERE HAPPY WITH THE INSTALL. THE INSTALLER WAS EQUALLY PROFESSIONAL, THOUGH NOT AS PUNCTUAL, BUT I'LL GIVE HIM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF CONSTRUCTION AROUND HERE.

BY INSTALLING THIS SYSTEM, OUR FAMILY BECAME MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE BEING HOME ALONE.

TECHNICIAN, DID A GREAT JOB. RELIABLE AND CONVENIENT FOR ME.