Complain about a product or service

Monitronics Home Alarms

Holly of Thomasville, GA October 6, 2009

Home alarm system sold and installed on 7/10/2007. On 10/2/07 and 11/4/07 I tired to contact the company for lack of service and to cancel monthly monitoring service. A letter was mailed to the above company address on 2/20/08. I had moved from the condo which was beeing monitored. When I disconnected the phone line which was how the system worked I didn't even get a call then. Paying a monthly fee of 39.95

Lynn of Spring, TX October 3, 2009

Cancelled service back in May 2009 and are still getting bills and harassing phone calls at work to my self and wife. Have tried to talked to these people but get nowhere with any of them. They did not tell us we had to cancel our service by offical letter until last month when were told we could not do it over the phone back in May. We have received numerous harassing phone calls and are very tired of it.I have read numerous complaints from other people on line and can not believe this company is still in business. There customer sevice people are very rude and you get a different person every time you try and discuss this bill.I have sent them there cancellation request back with a payment for the last month of service but don't think this will be the end of it.I am real tired of all of there phone calls.

Gregory of Piru, CA September 22, 2009

This company keeps calling me. I have attempted to call them back and the number that comes up on my phone is not a good number. I get a letter in the mail stating I need a permit. The rep did not say anything about a permit. I called today and they ( Monitronics ) said they could not help me. I come to this website and see many complaints. Gee interesting. So that is why I am contacting You.

Adrienne of Raleigh, NC September 15, 2009

I recently changed alarm companies. In the process of changing systems, my install tech shows me that the device I assumed had been monitoring my home for years was in fact a dummy unit. My home was not wireless, but the motion detector installed was only compatible with a wireless system. I wasn't going to complain, I just wanted the billing to stop. So I sent in my letter and we received numerous calls asking is we sure we wanted to cancel. Then I received another charge on my account for a service fee. A service I haven't had in two months!! Even if they have to bill thru the 30 days of the cancelation letter (aug. 19th) why am I being billed 30 days worth of service for Sept 10-19th?? This is ridiculous!! Do not use this company!

Sharon of Calumet Park , IL September 11, 2009

My home was broken into on Sept. 8th 2009 and neither me or the police were notified my husband just so happened to go straight home from work to see that our home was ram shacked and everything was gone, the criminals snatched the entire system from the wall and no signal were sent off, this is to be impossible because my system is wireless and I have a cell back up battery in the basement of my house. once I got home and after the police left I called Monitronics and to my unbelief they told me that they didn’t get any signals all day from my alarm not even a trouble signal and they couldn’t tell me rather I set the alarm or not (which I did), after speaking to various departments the only solution was to send out a tech which would be the following week and take 10.00 off my monthly bill ONLY if I sign a new 12 month contract. They are crazy and PLEASE DO NOT USE this alarm system to secure your valuables.

May of Omaha, NE September 10, 2009

Please read all the former complaints about Monitronics. We have had the same problems. This is how we got out of our contract. After multiple phone calls and being disconnected mulitple times I was told we would have to send a letter. I got all the information required by Monitronics for the letter. I sent them a 2 page detailed letter of all the problems we had and everyone we talked to.

I also printed a page from their website claiming "97% customer satisfaction on the first call" and pages from a complaint website. I made a copy of this letter for the President of Monitronics and one copy for Customer Service. I looked online for the executive address to make sure it was going to the correct place. I then sent each letter certified mail so they could not claim they did not receive our letter.

About a month later we finally received a short, rude letter from them stating they are disconnecting our alarm monitoring service. We could not be happier and will let everyone know to stay away from them.

Ruby of Stanton, CA September 4, 2009

Sept. 3, 2009 I received a call saying I was going to receive a free installation of a home alarm system including a voice monitor that would allow for medical emergency assistance if I just pushed the intercom or police notification if there was a break in. All I had to do was put a sign in my yard and a sticker on my window.

This promotion was only available for Friday, Saturday and through the Monday holiday. I asked where they would be monitoring from, what state. She told me Texas, I said that's a long way from California, didn't seem like a good idea. She asked her manager to explain how it worked and he said that there was no problem because it was a wireless device and the connection was instant, they monitored from Texas just as most other alarm company do. He wanted to set up an appt, but I told him I'd like to investigate his company first before someone walks into my home.

He gave me the company web site, but I decided to google them and found this complaint site of their previous customers. Thank God I did, what a wake up call. I will never buy or set up an appt from a solicitor, too dangerous because they may be a scam just to get into your house and case it for a robbery OR WORSE! Thanks everyone for your complaints, I'm sure it saved me lots of money and misery.

Valerie of Austin, TX August 31, 2009

I sensed the woman at my front yard gate was a sales person. I was just leaving in my car. I realized she was opening the gate and my 2 dogs were gonna get out or jump on her. I called her over, she wouldn't come. I kept calling her and she brought her clipboard over. Monitronics, she said.

After getting her to finally admit it was a security system, and no I don't want her sign in my yard, I realized she'd been trained to be manipulative. She left my front gate unlocked! Luckily the dogs stayed home. Thanks for assuring me my feeling was right!

Nicholas of El Paso, TX August 26, 2009

What a nightmare! Monitronics provides monitoring services in a market place which is very competitive and very lucrative for those companies able to sign up as many customers as possible. Simply ask yourself, how many times you see thoses emotional commercials where the guy breaks open (usually the front door) and a clean-cut guy on the other end answers and is "sending help now!" Your tears are welled-up and your ready to sign now to have "the added protection." But please don't sign with Monitronics.

I am a regular guy who travels often and all I want is decent monitoring service such as I have had in the past with other companies but NOT Monitronics! Check the Better Business Bureau. See what they say about Monitronics and the other companies for that matter. Why? They are a horror story. I write you from El Paso, Texas where their service were imposed on me by the local alram company First Alarm (they have a hand in this as well) with a contract which even goes as far as to say they don't even have to perform well -- only get paid! Not to be confused with the part which says that they are not liable for losses due to theft and such (that's reasonable and common in most monitoring contracts). These people want your money if they screw up. Such as they did this past July.

They called me to inform me "my house was being broken into by an upstairs window -- and that they were going to call the police..." I told them I was returning to the house at once. Monitronics advised me to stay away from the house and asked me to descrbie my vehicle for the police that would respond. Then they called back and said we didn't have a permit and that they were calling off the police. Then I asked them to please call permit or no permit (which BTW they forgot to file through their agents First Alarm).

I called 911 and asked for police assistance (alarm permit notwithstanding). The police told me they did not respond to homes without permits - I asked (and El Paso Police agreed) that there was sufficent reson to believe that a bugarly was in progress; accordingly, they requested I park away from the residence and wait for police to respond.

Unbeknownst to me Monitronics called off the police and then lied to me on the phone while we waited more than one and half hour in the hot El Paso sun for the police. They are a disgrace to monitoring companies everywhere and to those companies who sell their services such as First Alarm of Texas. Don't kid yourself -- the contract is ILLEGAL under Texas law. The only requirement is that they get paid! This amounts to extortion.

A good monitoring company is a good thing; however, you will never know how good they are until the day comes that you need them. Monitronics has proven to be total losers. The only time we hear from them (quite a bit now) is with their heavy-handed bill collectors who want to extort us. Can't go without saying that Monitronics almost destroyed our relationship with the local El Paso Police who are the GREATEST and from teh beginning I never doubted and helped us to understand what really happened that hot day in July 2009.

Jamey of brenham, TX August 14, 2009

We opened an account with monitronics in September of 2008, and have had nothing but problems ever since. The security system has never worked properly, but all they say is we'll send someone back to your house for 150.00 to evaluate the problem. The problem is that it never worked properly from the start, and ow they want to charge more to fix their problem.

I was told that i could buy a wireless motion detector to replace the one they installed and install myself, but now after purchasing one they now say that they will hve to come out and charge me another 150 to program. They are a sorry outfit, and nobody should get involved with them unless you plenty of time and money.

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