Complain about a product or service

Protect America

Joseph of Houston, TX December 12, 2008

Joseph of Houston TX (12/12/08)
I contacted ProtectAmerica because i wanted to have a home security system (pre-installed) activated in our home we just moved in. They called me on December 1, 2008 and the sales person aggresively pursuaded me to purchase the service from them, which i did. I thought they would have my system up and running in no time. After 3 days of not hearing anything from them, i received a call from them asking me what model was my existing system. So when i got home to check, i relayed the info to them.

The following day, she asked what specific model number, and again i relayed the information that night. The following day she asked me if i knew the master code, and to try the default. By this time i was getting irritated because she could have saved me the time by asking all the details she needed on the first day. After several days, they called again, and Kristen said that she would send me a converter panel that she was 'not sure' would be used by the technician when he gets there, but she wanted to charge me shipping for the panel regardless. I refused to pay for something that i would not use, and after talking with the supervisor, said i wont be charged for the shipping.

You can imagine my surprise when i was charged for it. Kristen did not want to schedule the technician without the panel arriving at my home, so she advised that i wait for the panel first, and then call back to schedule for the installation. On december 9, i received the panel, and when i called up Protectamerica (i wait about 15-20 minutes to talk to someone), they told me that the technician would come to install the system on December 22. After all this wait, my system would be installed 3 weeks after i purchased the service? I was not comfortable living for 3 weeks with no security, so i told them i would cancel the service. Kristen noted the cancellation on my account, and said that Terika from cancellation would call me for the details.

I called another security company and they had my system running in 1 day. Terika never called, and i attempted several time to get a hold of her, she was either out of the office or talking to someone else, but never returned my call. I am just trying to cancel my account, and i have to go thru so much trouble. I called twice on December 12 and finally got a hold of Terika, and now she informs me my account was not cancelled, i need to send in the converter panel for them to cancel the account. In the mean time i was charged for the first and last month, and SHIPPING charges. Plus there is a 79 restocking fee, which was stipulated in the agreement that i never received.

The staff are rude, i was on the phone for 60 minutes and was passed to 5 different people. The supervisors werent much help either, they were apathetic to your sentiments. One supervisor (Reginald Thomas) said he couldn't do anything, and that i should have read the agreement that they never sent me. I was hung up twice, once when i asked a customer rep that i wanted to speak to his supervisor. This company is bad, just look at the number of complaints with BBB, 1029 in the past 36 weeks. The service is horrible, the staff are downright rude, and nobody wants to help you with you concerns. These guys have no regard for CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, and will rip you off with swindling business ethics

Brooks of Houston, TX November 26, 2008

Brooks of Houston TX (11/26/08)
Around October 2007 my home alarm went off at 2:00am. The company called me out of town to tell me it went off, and informed me the alarm was no longer set up with the local police. The alarm did not wake up my wife or children and I deemed it ineffective. This was the first time I was informed that the alarm was no longer linked to the police due to a new regulation in Harris county? and that this had been the case for several months. I was informed that the connection to the police would require additional set up with them directly, accompanied by a fee.

At this point, we already had several problems with it both going off randomly and also not going off when it should have. Then when a legitimate event took place, it didn't even wake anyone up and was no longer connected to the police, without our knowing of the change. Protect America told me they could make upgrades to improve the alarm for additional fees and I declined. I felt they had not been honest so far and I instead chose to cancel service. I have not used the service after this date, and the alarm has not been turned on or even active since then.

I was told I was under a contract that automatically renewed in April, and that the cancelation fee would cost more than paying out my monthly remaining contract. This was the first time I was informed of the automatic renewal, as seems to be common based on the lengthy number of similar complaints on the BBB. I was also told they needed cancellation in writing. So, I sent the cancellation email in October 2007 from my Time Warner roadrunner email account to begin effective at the end of my current contract in April 2008.

In September 2008, charges were still being drafted from my bank account. 1st week in October I called Protect America and was told that although they had a phone log of my request for cancellation that they could not find my original cancellation request sent by email and they asked that I send a copy of this year old communication. I no longer have the email account where this was sent from a year ago since the email provider was bought by another company (Comcast). I was then told I needed to submit an additional cancellation in writing and this was all they needed for the service to be cancelled. I submitted the cancellation to the email address provided by the CSR and requested confirmation. I never received the confirmation in writing, but was told on the phone verbally that it was received. In order to protect myself from additional automatic withdrawls that I was told would no longer be coming, I gave my bank instructions to not release more funds to this company.

In the mail at my house I received a bill on 11/23/08 from Protect America with a due date of 11/11/08 for services in November. I submitted an additional email to the two different CSRs I spoke with previously, one of which was returned as undeliverable as it seems to be an email address no longer in service. I again requested confirmation of receipt of the email and they sent nothing back in writing. I also went to their website and sent a complaint to the CEO in the form they had there for complaints asking for a refund of 162.10 for payments after 5/2008. I forwarded the thread to both general billing? and support? at Protect America to make sure that someone was getting my emails and would respond. I still received no written response.

On 11/24/08 I received a call from Kyle Young (1800951-5111 x-8349). He said my contract was not cancelled, that the contract was renewed again, and that it would expire in 04/2009. This is not what I was told by the previous CSRs that I spoke with and sent cancellation letters to! He suggested that he was willing to resolve? the account issue by charging me only half of the cancellation fee instead of the full rate. Kyle also informed me that if I did not pay the Nov. bill that he would send it to collections.

This is not acceptable! I paid for this service 13 months after my original cancellation request. I have met every request this company asked and now they are asking me to pay more. This company has not provided a valuable service, service I thought I was getting and has done things I find to be dishonest solely at the disadvantage of the customer. I do not want to do further business with them or pay them anything else! id? How can this company keep doing this to people for so many years? It seems that the only group protected under the law here is the business and not the consumer. Just look at the number of compaliants here and on the BBB. It is absolutely unbelieveable!

Protect America has already received 421.46 for services I did not use after my initial cancellation submission and is asking for an additional 194.52 to complete my bogus contract that they did not cancel when they said they were going to cancel it before the last automatic renewal. I have also been required to spend over 20 hours dealing with their customer support BS, the BBB, and finding out about legal actions to take because this company did not do what they said they would do. Their service is terrible, they obviously don't care about their customers, and they are making money off consumers that do not want and do not use their service. Where is the justice in that? I thought consumers were supposed to at least have reasonable protection against unscrupulous companies.

Michael of Indianapolis, IN November 25, 2008

Michael of Indianapolis IN (11/25/08)
I contacted them about possible security services. After receiving a very hard sell from a Mike, in which he asked me to buy services from them without telling my partner, I called to advise we did not want to work with them. I also received an email from a Robert and replied by return that we had decided not to work with them. I'd provided my cellphone and my girlfriend's as an alternate, and we then began getting frequent calls to our cellphones, with no messages being left (all from different numbers).

I called to direct that we both be put on their do not call list. Within a couple of hours, she'd received another call. I called to complain and was put on hold. After five minutes on hold, I hung up and called back -- and there was no answer.

They used cellphone minutes on both our phones. They disturbed our workdays and our evenings.

Danny of Encino, CA November 20, 2008

Danny of Encino CA (11/20/08)
This company has repeatedly called my cell phone - despite the fact that my cell phone number is on the do not call registry - with an automated sales call. I have repeatedly asked them to stop calling me and put me on the do not call list. After the third call I asked to speak to supervisors or managers and they would hang up on me. Yet, I still get sales calls from them!

cell phone airtime usage

Mr. of Manteca, CA November 15, 2008

Mr. of Manteca CA (11/15/08)
In January of 2006 I signed up for a 2 year contract with Protect America. In June of 2007 I was going through a divorce and sold my residence and called Protect America to cancel my contract at which time I was informed that I couldn't cancel the contract until November 2007, 60 days prior to my contract date. I continued to pay monthly on my contract agreement through January of 2008. December of 2007 I faxed a copy of my cancellation request and I was told on the phone that they would honor my request.

I continued to receive bills from Protect America and in May of 2008 I contacted Protect America and they said that they never received my cancellation request, so I faxed them the request again along with the original fax conformation. I continued to receive bills from Protect America and in October 2008 I contacted them again and got the same excuse that they did not receive my fax so again I not only faxed but I also scanned and e-mailed they original letter along with 3 fax confirmations, at which time I called them back to confirm that they received them. They informed me that they would get back to me concerning my account.

It is now November 2008 and I am now receiving threats. I contacted them and the first thing I confirmed was that they had my cancellation which at this time they said that the cancellation would be good starting January 2009. After explaining to the for the 6th time I was informed that they still required me to pay for a service that I am not using for the entire year of 2008. I met my contractual agreement financially and even paid for a service for 6 months that I did not use. Now they expect me to pay for an additional year. I have made repeated attempts with no avail. As many complaints that I have read about Protect America with many many other clients that have this exact same problem, why is there not a class action lawsuit against this company. If you search the web and other sites you will find many other people with the same problems. Their business practices and the way they handle business is reprehensible must be stopped.

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