Small Claims Guide Class Actions Lemon Laws FAQ Newsletters
|
|
NEWS
RECALLS
COMPLAINT FORM
SCAM ALERTS
RESOURCES
Small Claims Guide Class Actions Lemon Laws FAQ Newsletters |
Share |
| Automotive Education Employment Electronics Family Finance Health Homeowners Insurance Pets Shopping Travel |
 Print This  Email This
|
Life Alert Emergency Response16027 Ventura Blvd. Suite 400, Encino, CA |
|||||||||
|
A few recent complaints ... Anne of Bensalem, PA November 13, 2009 My cousin purchased the Life Alert for her mother. My cousin lives in AZ but her mother lives in Phila. PA so my husband and I look after her. Life Alert called me in work last week saying they needed someone to check the machine and since I work and am not available during the day and my husband was over taking care of our grandson. I asked them if I could call from her house on Sat. and she said that was fine and she gave me the number and the option number to push. Well for over an hr. and a half I was put on hold. I was told to hit #3 which was Tech support. When I was transferred to them they said "hold please." First time I was on hold for a 1/2 hr. and hung up. Then I called back and pressed the # for customer service and they in turn transferred me again to Tech Support who picked up and said "hold please." After doing this at least 5 times I screamed into the phone "don't put me on hold" and of course I went on hold. I called back and asked for a supervisor and they said they would put me through to a supervisor and instead went back to the tech support, who picked it up and put me on hold. This went on for an hr. and a half. We even press the option button for emergency and they couldn't help us and put us through to Tech Support to be put on hold again. I gave up because I had to go somewhere. My cousin lives about a 1/2 hr. away. So yesterday (11/12/09) my husband went down to her house to try again for over a half hour to no avail. They don't even give you a chance to say anything they just scream "hold please." How does a company survive like that. I would never ever recommend them to anyone. They needed us to be at the house so they could tell us what to do with the machine. Laurie of Lake Station, IN November 6, 2009 I called the telephone number on Life Alert's website to receive their "informational" packet, making the mistake of calling from work during my break. The person I spoke with took my contact information, which did NOT include my work telephone number. Before the info packet ever arrived, "Mani" called me at work to try and sell me the system! I asked how he got my work number, as I never give it out, and got the response that it was the number I gave them. I know that's not true so I can only assume that they have caller id or something like that. Anyway, I asked "Mani" what the monthly cost is and he wouldn't give me an answer. When I would push, he would just keep saying that there were different levels of service. So I asked him what their basic service cost and he gave me some run-around answer that finally ended up as being "very affordable". I tried to explain to "Mani" that affordable is relative, and I wanted a price but was never able to get an actual dollar amount. I told him I would get back to him after discussing it with my mother. He called me at home that night and I told him I hadn't spoken with my mom yet and would call him when I had. He then called me again at work the next day. At that point my mother was in the hospital and I explained that I wanted to get her current health problem resolved and then I would speak with her and get back to him, and that I couldn't receive sales calls at work. He said he would note my record. The next day, however, he called me at work again! I refused to take the call so he waited about 15 minutes and, according to my home caller id, called me at home! At this point, I'm considering it harassment. When I got home from work, I called and told the young lady I got hold of ("Mani" had left for the day)that I wanted all of my numbers put on the do not call list and if I received a call from "Mani" or anyone else from Life Alert, I was going to contact the Attorney General. Hopefully that will stop the harassment. Kelly of Pleasanton, CA November 3, 2009 My Mother has had life Alert for years and has never had to use it. She is handicapped from a stroke she had 20+ years ago, and up until June 1, 2009 she was able to live on her own. On the evening of May 31, 2009 at about 11:30 my Mom was about ready to fall out of her wheelchair and pressed her life alert necklace. Seh continued pressing several times before she finally fell on the ground. While on the ground, she continued to press the button on the necklace. She lied there on the floor for 18 hours, until i went over to check on her after work. She was dehydrated, and delirious when i found her. As a result of lying that long on the floor, she had a bed sore on her bottom. Not to mention, when the equipment failed, she had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to die there. In addition to the bed sores, she now has several other health problems as a result of this nightmare, that she never would have had otherwise. She has gone from hospital to hospital, as a result of Life Alert's equipment failing. Had the equipment worked, she never would have been in this situation. She's still in the hospital trying to recover and regain her strenth. I would like to add though, that the only compensation that Life Alert offered were a few months for free. My mother may never get out of the hospital as a result of this faulty equipment, and they want to offer a few months for free? Not to mention, a manager at Life Alert already told me that if the battery was dead in her necklace, she would have received a phone call from the company. William of Parma, OH October 18, 2009 My sister bought a Life Alert system for my mother when Mom became aged. On 22AUG09 Mom fell in the kitchen of her suburban home. Life Alert failed. I arrived and tried to activate the sytem. It failed. No activation. Mom spent seven weeks in the hospital and rehab for surgical considerations. Upon return home, a new "pendant" was sought and paid for so as to possibly prohibit a repeat of an elderly retired parochial school teacher laying on a kitchen floor with a broken hip. Upon trying to activate the new pendant, I found that Life ALert does not work "regular" weekend hours. I phoned their number around 10:00 AM yesterday and was summarily put on hold until I had to disconnect due to needing to take another relative shopping. I returned home and tried again. Again, I was put on hold until I had to leave to meet a friend. A "Ryan" answered the call both times and kept me on hold. Today (18OCT09). Today, I was shown some respect by "Operator 305". It is sad that with the fees and prices they charge that they cannot offer better service. I guess they feel they are the only dice game in town. There is not an email address to allow for email contact. That is reprehensible and an effort to insulate them selves from their consumers needs. Mary of Hudson, NY October 16, 2009 Looked into this when my mother in law was getting frail. I told them we were just inquiring, but they continued to hound me by phone, and I couldn't get rid of the high-pressure salesmen until I had to lie and say she'd passed away! Only then did the calls stop. Needless to say, now that my mother is in a similar physical state, I will not consider life alert for her. I have no idea how a frail, elderly person could deal with their tactics. Paul of San Francisco, CA October 4, 2009 The above phone number is the recent one, as advertised on television, Oct 4, 2009. My wife's mother just called from Palm Desert; this is the current number provided for Life Alert subscriptions. The number my wife's mother was given in early 2007 is not in service. Nor is the Life Alert system. My mother-in-law, had accidentally activated the system shortly after it was installed. It worked as advertised. On September 13, 2009, with a medical emergency, she again activated, but with no response. Judging from the complaints here, it appears that Life Alert does not provide the service advertised. My wife will attempt to have her credit card people deal with this as suspected fraud. Tula of Joliet, IL September 10, 2009 What everyone is saying about Life Alert’s sales/customer service is true! They have been calling my phone 3 to 4 times a day trying to reach me. I just wanted further information, not to be harassed. They tracked me down at work. He flat out lied and said that was the number I gave them. Are you kidding me? They searched for me on the internet. The only way they could have gotten my work phone number. Joey of Maryville, TN July 29, 2009 My Mother is 74 years old and my Father is 76. Both are battling cancer at different stages along with my Father has a broken back. My Mother and I have discussed looking into an alert system of some kind for her and my Father since both have a history of falling and unable to get back on their feet at times. She with out my knowledge saw a late night infomercial about Life Alert. She called the 800 number and talked to a couple of different ladies about the service. She explained to them both that she was NOT interested in purchasing anything until she spoke with me about it. That is when she was transfered to the "Closer". The slick, fast talking, never let you get a word in edge wise by consistently talking over you, salesman by the name of Mark D. Before my Mother knew what was going on she was asked if she used automatic withdraw payment system through her bank? She explained that she did. She was then told that while she was discussing the system with me and deciding if she wanted to spend the one time fee of 233 up front and 49.99 per month for the service, Slick Mr. D would be more than happy to take her bank account information and a cancelled check number over the phone and get that part out of the way. There would be no hold up and they would be able to get the life saving system to her and installed immediately. So she would not chance falling again and not have a way to get help. He assured her that they would not bill her for anything until she made the decision that she wanted the product and signed an agreement not a contract? There was no mention of a contract period. She was led to believe that she was simply buying the hardware and then could utilize the service as long as she paid the monthly service fee. The following day she was contacted again by Life alert but this time it was a lady named Carol. Carol explained to my Mother that they were not allowed to give their last name??? Carol was calling to let my Mother know that the box would be arriving in 2 to 3 days. MY Mother explained to Carol that she had not purchased anything and has not asked for anything to be shipped to her home. Carol said to open the box when it came and read the paperwork inside. It would explain how to go about returning the box in the event she decided she did not want to keep it...... I called tonight and asked to speak to Mark Dozier. When Slick Mark came to the phone I politely tried to explain that my 74 year old Mother had received a call from Carol after she had spoken to him explaining that the box would be there in a couple of days. I told him that she did not want to purchase anything at this time. That we were simply investigating our options for preparation when both my Mother and Father were out of the hospital and back in their home thus in need of a product and service like theirs. He very rudely told me to "NOT START PULLING HIS CHAIN" and telling me that my Mother did not buy anything. That she did buy something and she knew it. That she was sold a system and was scheduled to receive it today. He kept talking over me would not let me complete a sentence. He implied that I was lying and my Mother knew exactly what she was purchasing. Even though she never signed anything and had no knowledge of what it consisted of or what if any terms were implied. I tried to explain that he might have talked fast enough and confused the issue enough to get my Mother to agree to something but it was not a fair and legitimate sales practice to prey on the elderly using confusing double talk tactics. He told me to enjoy our new system and to have a nice day then rudely hung up on me. I called the number again and talked to a different gentleman and asked for Mark. I was told there was no Mark working tonight.... Carolyn of Lakewood, CA June 26, 2009 I asked my mother to call Life Alert to find out the cost of their system, as the brochure they had mailed us earlier (and their website) made no mention of it. Before I knew what she had done, she had apparently signed up for this system for 297 "installation" and 80/month. When she told me this, I called Life Alert back and told them to cancel this order, as I wanted to look into other systems. The rep, Paul Jones, said he would put it on hold for 24 hours while I looking into other providers. Less than 24 hours later, he called back and I told him I had decided to go with Lifeline Systems instead. Then he tried his hard sell tactics on me - after trying to interrupt him several times, I told him "shut up". He responded "fuck you" and hung up. I called the phone number back and asked to speak with a supervisor and was directed to Robert. I told Robert what I thought of his representative and their service. He assured me that Paul would be disciplined, possibly terminated, and that if any system arrived we should refuse delivery. I found out from my mother that she has received at least 3 calls from Life Alert since then, including one today from this jerk, Paul Jones. I told her to hang up on him the next time he called, or to have him call me. I can't believe they still employ this guy. I called them again today and was told they had no manager by the name of Robert, so I talked with Steven instead and told him to put my mother on their "do not call" list and if she got any more calls I would report them to that CA Attorney General. sasha of palm desert, CA June 26, 2009 despite repeated calls to her supervisor requesting i receive NO MORE CALLS, i am still receiving calls from this aggressive sales rep. i do not like being stalked, and i do not appreciate the obnoxious, harrassing, annoying calls. please please please make them stop. thank you.
| |||||||||
