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Protect America

Sharifa of Washington, DC June 2, 2008

Sharifa of Washington DC (06/02/08)
I called to cancel my order a year ago. They told me that I couldn't cancel until Feb 2008. I called again in May and they told me that I couldn't cancel until Feb 2009. They did not inform me that my contract was going to automatically renew. When I asked if I could have a technican come to my home to fix the stupid gadgets so that they work correctly - I was told that it would cost 150.

Financial - I stuck paying these highway badits for another 7 months!

Stephanie of Watauga, TX May 29, 2008

Stephanie of Watauga TX (05/29/08)
I stupidly signed a contract on 4/6/05 with these people. Found out within a few months that the system does not work half the time, sends alarms needlessly, etc. so disconnected, but continued to pay the full contract term. I send my cancellation (certified, return receipt) on 10/17/2007 after verifying with their accounting department that my account WOULD NOT BE DEBITED after 2/15/08 (since first/last months was paid up front).

On 4/18/08 I discovered that they had debited my account illegally for March AND April. I contact the organization who told me it would take 10 to 14 BUSINESS days to check out the overage. On 5/2/08 they refunded the payment illegally debited from my account on 3/15/08; I contacted them on 5/7/08 (the FOURTEENTH BUSINESS DAY) at which time I was told that they had to wait for the second debit to clear (my bank confirmed that it cleared the day they debited the account).

I called again on 5/13/08, 5/20/08, and 5/22/08 and was told REPEATEDLY that the payment had been processed and I should check with my bank. I called the billing manager on 5/27/08 and told her that I would be filing a complaint with the small claims court unless I got my money. Christine at X8412 finally called me today and the infamous TEN TO FOURTEEN days has begun again before she asserts I will receive my money. In the event it is fourteen days, that will have been TWO MONTHS AND 3 DAYS since they illegally debited my account. How could it possibly take that long?

I have lost interest money and have spent WAY more time on this than should have been necessary.

Robert of Santa Clarita, CA May 21, 2008

Robert of Santa Clarita CA (05/21/08)
I was told i could return the system within 7 days no questions asked. i was made to fill the online agreement with the rep all along on the phone with me what he didn't tell that the cancellation would mean forfeiting the 79 (two months service fee)which they charged upfront and also will charge restocking fee of another 79 + 3 dollars extra and shipping charges

their system is so bulky and looks straight out of the star war movies era and its too heavy and one has to leave it on the table or some shelf and then rush to the door (if your exiting the house once arming it) they said we gave u free extra lighter touch pad which is meant only for indoor use and cannot be taken outside (meant only for arming and disarming) and i told them if they could give me a free keychain instead of this touch pad it would be more useful but their manager was outright rude and blatant in saying well everything costs money so have a great day!! and hung up

i made the mistake of filling the agreement online where one cant read everything so quickly and one focuses more on filling the forms correctly. but this cancellation terms should be read out aloud by the sales rep. only thing that got me sold was that they were giving 10 entry points( charging 1 for an additional motion detector) and 2 year contract why do they want to take your 2 months fees + restocking fees ?? its like forcing the customer to buy your system i certainly do not recomend this system not because of their unreasonable delaing with me but because its so unconvenient and bulky and limited visibility in the market as well which i came to know later (i thought GE brand name was big)

79(two month fees)+79 restocking fees + 3 (god knows what fees was that) and 20 shipping fees (for that ton of a package heavy equipment)

Greg of Hibbing, MN May 13, 2008

Greg of Hibbing MN (05/13/08)
I have already sent a complaint to the Better Business Bureau in Texas and the company called me to offer a broadband box at the price of 209.00 or 5.00 more a month on my bill. I signed up over the phone for a security service with Protect America. Since this time I have found that we do not use the system and was not informed of some issues like the company will not call you if you have an alarm and it is acknowledged witjin 60 secs. They also only give you 7 days to return the equipment and service.

A contract was never sent to me until I requested that I was not using the system and would like to cancel. At that time I was told or reminded, I don't remember them telling me this but was informed that I have signed a 3yr contract and can cancel if I want but will still be charged the 29.95 per month for the remainderof the contract. I feel I should have the right to cancel with some sort of penalty, for example as they do for cell phones.If you cancel before the end of the contract time you are charged 200.00 for early termination.

Also 7 days is not enough time to see if you like the service or not. After speaking to them and them offering me to buy a modem and then calling back again to tell me that they could give me the modem for free I was told that those are the options. By this time I am fed up with this company and want the contract suspened with some minor financial penalty as described before. The total left to pay is approximately 820.00 and with this they offered me a 209.00 free modem so why won't they just cancell the contract.

There are issues as stated before with myself not being totally informed on how things are done and what I can expect to happen if a alarm goes of, among other things they did not tell me. My last question is can a contract be binding if done over the phone?

I could use the extra 29.95 a month. Does not seem like much but every dollar will help.

Allan of Wheat Ridge, CO May 13, 2008

Allan of Wheat Ridge CO (05/13/08)
Like most of the other complaints registered on this (and several other) websites - we have found Protect America VERY customer unfriendly. When wanting to cancel our account, we were told to simply enclose a letter with our invoice and everything would be taken care of. When the contract came due last December, we were given a litany of reasons why we would have to pay another year, including: The cancellation letter had to be sent at least 60 days in advance; The letter had to be mailed in its own envelope, not accompanying a bill; The cancellation letter had to go to a different address than the address bills were remitted to. - on and on.

As reasonable as the people I have talked with are - they are absolutely, positivily unwilling to even consider that they are in any way contributing to the problem. Long story short - Protect America has lousy customer service - can not be trusted to be open and up front with their customers and should be avoided at all cost! There are plenty of good (and local) security companies out there who want the business of good customers - Protect America is not one of them.

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