‎Cancellation of monitoring | SimpliSafe Support Home
 
adamhalf's profile

Tuesday, May 24th, 2022 7:29 PM

Cancellation of monitoring

Since California has outlawed click to subscribe, call to cancel since 2018 and the FTC outlawed it in 2021 why do I still have to call to cancel my monitoring service?

Official Response

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

2 years ago

Hi all,

We are proud that our customers trust us to help keep their homes and loved ones safe. We take this responsibility seriously, and are constantly reviewing our systems and processes to ensure that customer safety and security remain at the core of everything that we do. This goes for your whole experience with SimpliSafe; from account setup, to rapid response from our professional monitoring, and even all the way to your experience when requesting a cancellation or modification of your service.

Account setting changes are a highly sensitive topic given that they can impact your level of protection, and it’s not difficult to imagine a situation where this type of request may be made under duress. If you are looking to cancel your subscription, you can always call our customer service team at 1-888-783-8441. Our Support team will verify your Safe Word passcode, and ensure the request for cancellation is authentic; they can then make any change as desired for your account. We are continuing to work with authorities and our technical teams to find other ways to receive cancel requests without jeopardizing our primary goal of the safety of our customers.

SimpliSafe exists to secure our customers’ homes, and that commitment extends to protecting your accounts from unauthorized access. But we also recognize the importance of giving you options to put you in control of your system. Your feedback helps us develop more streamlined processes, ensuring that you have a smoother experience in the future.

If you have any further questions, please send me a direct message, and I’ll be happy to put you in touch with the right team.

742 Messages

@davey_d​ 

Account setting changes are a highly sensitive topic given that they can impact your level of protection, and it’s not difficult to imagine a situation where this type of request may be made under duress

I'll say it again, this is dumb and poorly thought out at best. If I, under duress or not, have access to the mobile app I can literally disable notifications. I can remove every single sensor. I can change payment information so you all turn off the service. There are numerous ways in which having access to the mobile app already gives someone the ability to effectively disable their service completely.

It's 2023 now and your customers (and honestly, everyone else) expects to be able to handle these sorts of things (account changes and cancellations) via a mobile app or website. Having to pick up the phone and call someone, and face the inevitable attempt to retain the customer somehow, feels archaic and a bit shady. Even without there being a legal requirement to add this functionality there's plenty of good reason to add this functionality.

I'm replying publicly instead of sending a direct message because there's no reason not to have this conversation where everyone can see it. It's been almost 8 months and there's been no concrete response to the very simple question, does SimpliSafe intend to comply with CA and Federal law regarding this requirement or not? If not, why not? If so, what year/decade can we hope to have this change implemented?

1 Message

@davey_d​ 

"If you are looking to cancel your subscription, you can always call our customer service team at 1-888-783-8441."

Actually, this is also not true. You can't ALWAYS call and cancel. You can cancel during designated business hours that are convenient for Simplisafe and not Simplisafe customers.

I was on the fence before, but after seeing how difficult it is to cancel - I agree - this is some shady business practices being masked as "customer's security first". Every other high security company in existence has managed multi-level identify verification online - except Simplisafe. So either SimpliSafe's tech and security is outdated or worse - their messaging is profit focused not customer focused. 

I'll be sure to call Monday morning during business hours to cancel my $30/month plan -- and report to the FTC. 

3 Messages

@rgg​  thanks for sharing. I just submitted the form. 

1 Message

@littledole​ you can call doesn't mean anyone will answer in a reasonable amount of time

Accepted Solution

4 Messages

2 years ago

Until SimpliSafe chooses to comply with FTC, New York, and California policy, I highly recommend anyone coming across this post notify the appropriate agencies of this abusive practice:

FTC: Go here and fill out the form for 'Online shopping'. You do not have to fill everything out, but if you answer 'Yes' to 'Did you pay or send money', enter your subscription cost and payment method, and indicate it is a recurring charge, you can explicitly identify that 'I had difficulty cancelling a recurring charge'.

California residents: Go here and fill out the form to file a complaint with the Attorney General

New York residents: Go here and fill out the form to file a complaint with the Attorney General

1 Message

@rgg​ Thank you! This should be at the top. I am a California resident, so I'll be submitting that and the FTC form. 

742 Messages

3 years ago

its SS policy

Which somehow supersedes California and Federal law? I know your support for SimpliSafe runs deep but you can't be serious.

Hey @davey_d can you give an official comment on this? Based on a few sites:

https://www.consumerprotectionreview.com/2021/11/california-passes-updated-automatic-renewal-law/

https://www.cooley.com/news/insight/2021/2021-10-27-california-passes-updated-automatic-renewal-law

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB390

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1598063/negative_option_policy_statement-10-22-2021-tobureau.pdf?utm_source=govdelivery

It seems pretty clear that you all aren't meeting requirements under CA law which was signed by the governor on October 4, 2021. Based on the FTC document above you may not be meeting federal guidelines either?

In addition, negative option sellers should provide their cancellation mechanisms at least through the same medium (such as website or mobile application) the consumer used to consent to the negative option feature. The negative option seller should provide, at a minimum, the simple mechanism over the same website or web-based application the consumer used to purchase the negative option feature

Are there plans to fix this to comply with state and federal law or am I misreading something here? Please note that this may be a legal matter and, "we cannot comment on future plans" is in no way an acceptable response here.

I'm not looking to cancel for the record but it does irritate the heck out of me that I can't cancel online or via app on general principle and I'd like to see the option there. (It also comes up a fair bit on reddit.)

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Hello @worthing , thank you for calling this out. I'm working with our higher-level teams, so I can make sure that I have the most accurate answer for you.

Captain

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6.2K Messages

@worthing​ While it is true I a am a very loyal SS customer, if you search my posts in the past, I do, without hesitation, call Simplisafe out for when I feel service, products, or a customer experience is not what I would consider satisfactory. Given my experience with the likes of an ADT, where I would say the California law was initiated for, the process I described in my original post was meant to say "not burdensome", and I gave a personal example and what their current policy is. Yes, I was definitely serious.  BTW, the links you provided were very informative and were clear what the points of the law are.

(edited)

742 Messages

@davey_d​ 

Thanks so much! Government regulations aside, it's 2022 and y'all are long overdue to add this functionality. I know millennials who would rather text the fire department and sit in a fire and wait to be texted back than have to call someone. :P 

(edited)

742 Messages

@captain11​ 

Ah, I think I get it now. I thought you were literally making the argument that SimpliSafe could ignore state and federal law because they have a policy that runs contrary to the laws which is why I was so astonished.

2 Messages

@davey_d​ So have your higher ups given an answer yet? I'm about to be filing an FTC complaint myself since you guys won't let me cancel.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

2 years ago

Hi @adamhalf,

Thank you for bringing this up. I know that there’s quite a bit of interest on this topic! We want you to know that we’re taking the issue very seriously, and our leadership continues to look into it.

I can tell you that our current policy is in the interest of protecting our customers – we are a security company after all! We maintain a strict protocol where we require verbal confirmation of your Safe Word passcode on a recorded line, so we can make sure that whoever is making the request is authorized to do so, and that we have a record of that action taking place.

We do want to make the process as easy for you as possible. Flexibility in your monitoring is a big part of what makes our service unique! If you like, I can put you in touch with a senior specialist to assist with any issues specific to your account.

5 Messages

@davey_d​ hi Davey, for the record, your current policy was ultimately circumvented when I switched my payment method to an expired one. You helpfully emailed me then to let me know my account was cancelled for nonpayment. I could have not paid under duress. 🤷‍♂️

1 Message

I tried this but it wouldn't accept my expired card.

I called the number to cancel and was told that I'd have to wait on hold for 10 minutes for a "specialist" to deal with my request. WTF.

7 Messages

@davey_d​ How are you taking it seriously if its been 2 years and nothing has changed?

742 Messages

2 years ago

@davey_d 

Any updates here? We're 6 months since the original post and I don't see any option to cancel or downgrade online. Is this something you all plan to implement to meet the state and federal legal requirements or have you all decided this isn't something you're going to do?

7 Messages

Its only been two years, but "they are taking it really seriously"

1 Message

2 years ago

Frustrated

1 Message

2 years ago

what a pain in the butt to cancel.  twice had to give my email and safeword. 4 times had to tell them I sold the property. In total 15 minutes on the phone. And they cancel your hardware warranty btw. 

1 Message

2 years ago

Customer service from time of order until cancel has been nothing but frustrating with SimpliSafe. 

(edited)

742 Messages

2 years ago

@davey_d 

Any response to this?

742 Messages

2 years ago

@davey_d 

Tap tap tap. Is this thing on? Pushing on 7 months to get a simple answer of, "we're going to add that soon" or "we have no plans to add this". This is ridiculous SimpliSafe. What the heck is going on over there?

Captain

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6.2K Messages

Nimbleness is as good a word as any for a company to be able to respond to customer, competition, economic or legal considerations. Again strongly recommend Simplisafe reach out to other companies outside their industry to exchange ideas, practices, poliices, processes etc. Benchmarking is a method that can improve all of the organizations involved.  My former emplyer, while in the medical device industry, has many similarities with Simplisafe, and would be an ideal candidate to benchmark with.

Now back to that elongated "safari search"of an answer.....

742 Messages

@davey_d​ 

Thanks and I'm sorry to keep beating you up but I hope you can understand my frustration when topics (and not just this one but the many others waiting for a proper, informative, useful response) go unanswered for forever. I get that you're the middle man for most of these questions/issues and not the person able to address or fix them and I genuinely appreciate your patience and efforts.

Also, still available for part time work to shape up y'alls knowledge base (fix current entries that need it, expand the amount of content greatly, etc.) and work with the community. I'm champing at the bit man, let me at it. :)

1 Message

2 years ago

Same issue: I logged into the @SimpliSafe web portal to discontinue service. I could not. I reached out to your support chat, and they said to call to discontinue service. Forcing a consumer to call to cancel service is illegal in all 50 states per the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection. Here is the law: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-ramp-enforcement-against-illegal-dark-patterns-trick-or-trap-consumers-subscriptions

The FTC’s policy statement puts companies on notice that they will face legal action if their sign-up process fails to provide clear, up-front information, obtain consumers’ informed consent, and make cancellation easy.

This is unacceptable and needs to be fixed.

1 Message

@cybergeistmrw​ You, and everyone else, should report this to the FTC. It will certainly get the attention of the higher-ups.

742 Messages

2 years ago

@davey_d It's been almost a year since this topic came up and 6 or more months since you were gathering data to give me the most  accurate answer to my as yet unanswered year old question.

Is it safe to assume this topic has been completely forgotten on yalls end? Or that y'all have made an intentional decision to simply ignore us? I can't think of any other valid reason why it has taken this long. (Please don't insult us by saying this is still being worked on when that's obviously not the case. )

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

Hi @worthing​, 

The answer has not changed since our last Official Response in this thread. At this time, users still need to call into our customer service team to downgrade or cancel their monitoring plan.

742 Messages

@emily_s​ 

I take your response to mean 1 of 2 things:

- SImpliSafe disagrees without interpretation of the CA law and therefore doesn't believe they are required to make the change

- SimpliSafe does agree with our interpretation of the CA law and has simply decided they're not going to be compliant

Can you please let us know which position your legal department has chosen to take?

2 years ago

I had the "pleasure" of canceling this morning. I canceled because of SS's stance of "we'll never add HomeKit integration".

The rep on the line said "it's unsafe to add HomeKit" but of course they do support Google Home and Alexa, so that's complete nonsense.

The rep also insisted on giving me incentives to remain. THIS IS WHY THEY INSIST ON CALLING TO CANCEL THE ACCOUNT.

The service provided is great. The monitoring has always worked well for us. But the company's practices are disappointing.

The rep ended up hanging up on me without saying goodbye. A fitting end to my SimpliSafe journey.

1 Message

1 year ago

I’ve been a SS customer since 2018. I haven’t been utilizing the monitoring as much the past 6 months. The frustration of calling to cancel was significant, especially considering the representative was more interested in preventing me from canceling than making the process easy.

The most frustrating part was the representative told me that I will lose the lifetime warranty on my products if I chose to cancel the OPTIONAL monitoring service - @davey_d is this true? 

I’ve invested a significant amount of money in multiple products since 2018 and it was never disclosed that the advertised OPTIONAL monitoring plan was required to maintain the warranty. If this is true, this is horribly shady and false advertising.

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

@erinjessica07​ I'm sorry to hear about your experience when calling to cancel your monitoring subscription. By default, all SimpliSafe products are covered under a one-year limited warranty. When subscribed to the Fast Protect™ monitoring plan, one of the features is the lifetime warranty that covers your devices for as long as you are subscribed. You can learn more here.

Captain

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6.2K Messages

@erinjessica07​ While I will be the first one to say sometimes it feels like Simplisafe MarCom can't chew gum and walk at the same time, I will not say anything "shady" is going on here. For years (at least 2012 when I started with SS) their policy was a 3 year warranty on all products. They announced on the website, and in an email that I got, that last year they were changing to the current policy of 1 year or for life if you had the Total Interactive Plan, or whatever it was called that month. (Part of the communication comment I stated earlier.)  

Word of advice to SS: follow KISS for your and your customer benefit as you did formerly when smaller. An example: "FastProtect Monitoring is less than a dollar per day"  Drop the ADT like garbage and just say it's 27.99 per month, and if you prepay a year, you get two months at no charge and then will be billed the annual fee -- that is, if that's still available.

 Another suggestion: ask a group of customers before you come up with new programs, features etc.   You wll be surprised how beneficial it will be.

Finally, I personally like the current policy, as it prevents unauthorized parties from cancelling my service. And if you want to see what really hard ways to cancel is like, try ADT. Ugh.

(edited)

248 Messages

@captain11​ Now it's $29.99 per month.  (Or $30 per month in non-marketing-weasel-speak. Or "just one dollar per day!" in weasel-speak.)

Captain

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6.2K Messages

@simplistuckon​ Better late than never, I just saw your post. Still best value in the maket segment, IMO but, as usual, communication improvement is needed, as is the cancellation process.

742 Messages

1 year ago

It's been two months since I asked what I am sure is an uncomfortable question for SS and still no answer so I'll repeat it here:

@emily_s​ 

I take your response to mean 1 of 2 things:

- SImpliSafe disagrees with our interpretation of the CA law and therefore doesn't believe they are required to make the change

- SimpliSafe does agree with our interpretation of the CA law and has simply decided they're not going to be compliant

Can you please let us know which position your legal department has chosen to take?

(edited)

Community Admin

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3.4K Messages

@worthing As a security company, SimpliSafe's procedures put the safety of our customers above all else. As we have said before, we purposely do not speak on legal matters on the Community, but please know that our teams are always evaluating our processes with our customers in mind.

742 Messages

we purposely do not speak on legal matters on the Community

OK, where can we go to discuss them? I'm happy to set up a conference call or a Teams/Webex/Zoom meeting. I'm totally serious here.

Captain

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6.2K Messages

It is very disappointing that Simplisafe has gone the "customer retention" route with an entire dept to have a "discussion" on cancelling monitoring. The likes of ADT, Comcast, Sirius Radio and, locally, the Chicago Tribune go through giving customers an extremely hard time before they finally make their cancellations "complete".

Again, If I call in, give the agent on the line my safe word and then say "cancel", repeat it back to me. Once they say yes and I am on a recorded line, I say thanks and hang up. Period. Yes, I have tangled with ADT, the worse, who has a contract you need to do your homework on, at Sirius radio who you can't contact for hours etc.

At least SS doesn't have a contract and you can reach a human agent. But SS, still disappointing. 

(edited)

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