Overcharged Again

I got it yesterday and we decided to just send it back. I called customer service about it again and they said they would make a note of it. I'm glad that you were able to get your money refunding and I'm hoping we don't have issues with that now that we've sent it back. After reading this thread about how frequently people are being overcharged I just don't trust them. We looked them up on the Better Business Bureau site and they have been reported 241 times almost all regarding financial issues with refunds and being overcharged on monthly fees. I realize that number in and of itself is arbitrary but I couldn't believe how similar they all were.

In my six years with ADT, I had three problems.  They were all because of the subs that they used to install the system.  My ADT base was installed in my basement in the closet where my furnace is.  That's fine.  It worked and got a strong enough cell signal to communicate with ADT.  The problem was that the stoner that installed it (he appeared wasted and I asked him if he was and he pretty much admitted it) also installed the only siren right above the base station.  So when the system went off, it was difficult to hear from the first floor and impossible to hear from the second floor.  They sent someone else out to move the siren and just ended up installing a new one for free.  I had a couple of initial problems with motion sensors being placed wrong and a door sensor that failed early on.  They worked with the motion sensors and replaced the door sensor.  My problems with ADT had nothing to do with their equipment.

I left for a few reasons.

The cost - prices kept going up.  There were price increases yearly and sometime two or three in a year.  They were always small, incremental increases but by the time my service ended, I was paying around $20 per month more than when I started.

My system was barebones at best.  One siren that mattered, entry sensors on doors only, one glass break sensor in the room with the most windows, and the rest was made up of motion sensors "strategically placed" to cover all areas.  This left a major gap in coverage.  The motion sensor in the office, where all of my computer equipment is kept, was barely usable.  There were times when I forgot that the alarm was on and I went into the office, opened the blinds, and walked out, all without it going off.  My basement has three windows and the only thing protecting it was one motion sensor.  I figured out how to sneak around that the first day that I had the system.  I dismissed it because I knew the layout of my basement and someone breaking in might not.  The area with the largest glass had a glass break sensor and was covered by a motion sensor.  Thing is, that motion sensor was not active when we were home because it was on the first level.  I could add more sensors if I wanted to, but not by myself.  I'd have to buy them from ADT, and they were very expensive.  And I'd have to pay for a service call to get them installed.

I had no access to the layout of my system.  If I wanted to change a sensor so that it was active when set to Home, then it's a service call.  Basically I had access to turn it on and off, and that's it.

Testing the system sucked.  There was no nice voice telling  you a sensor was tripped like on SS.  You'd phone in and tell them to put the system on test, and then you'd trip the alarm, with the sirens blaring.  I would have to wear earplugs.  I already have hearing damage and didn't need more.

On my system, there was no app.  I could have upgraded the system, but then I'd be paying even more and I'd be locked into another contract.

I have heard many people tell me how difficult it was to cancel ADT.  I was fortunate in that when my contract expired, it went month-to-month and didn't automatically roll over into another three year term.  Still, they did miss my first cancellation and I had to cancel again.  They refunded me for the entire month that I was still on after I'd cancelled and didn't charge me for the last month before the pending cancellation was final.  I've been off of ADT for a month now.  I verified that I'm not being billed any longer.  I let my credit card company know not to pay anything else to them if they get a charge.  I have taken most of the equipment down.  I was considering leaving it up so that if I ever sold my house (I do want to move), I could list an alarm system as a selling feature, but I got sick of looking at the useless sensors.

I know that ADT now has DIY systems that don't have contracts now.  I'm not sure how good they are.  I like the fact that the DIY trend has cut into their market share enough that they had to change their business model a bit.

I like my SS system.  I have sensors on every door and window and motion sensors all over the place.  I like that I can add and move sensors anytime I want and that I can play with the configuration of the system.  There are definite flaws that are aggravating.  My base routinely loses contact with my locks, even though it is ten feet from one and 15 feet from the other one, with only one thin wall in the way  Overall though, I have no regrets about ditching ADT for this.  It's everything that I would have liked my ADT system to be.