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My husband and I are looking to purchase a security system for our new home.
I signed up on a website to have 3 competing companies call me about their services. I have CPI coming out to the house tonight (don't really know anything about what they are offering) and I spoke with ADT on the phone.
I know that ADT services A LOT of people and just by virture of their size, there are going to be numerous complaints. But I have read some serious horror stories about them.
I've heard stories about double billing, 3rd party contractors that won't respect ADT's initial offers, failing to really move your equipment for free (as they advertise) if you change residences, etc. etc.
I think it's smart to get referrals from actual people. I would really appreciate any information you can provide. Thanks!
BTW: I just got off the phone with ADT and the sales lady was REALLY REALLY pushy. They want you to pay $99.00 to schedule an appointment and then they tell you it's refundable if you need to cancel. Well that's all well and good but I simply explained to the pushy lady that I had CPI coming out tonight and I would call tomorrow if I wanted to proceed (did not want to schedule an appt and pay the fee right now). She argued me down about how I may not get the same offer tomorrow and I will risk losing some additional free equipment they had offered. I told her I appreciate her concern but I'll take my chances and discuss things with my spouse. She then told me she didn't think my spouse would have a problem with my signing up if I was getting the best security system in the US for virtually nothing. Nothing by the way is $35.99/month with a 3 year contract.
I also asked her point blank of ADT uses a 3rd party contractor at all and she told me no. But this cannot be true because doesn't a 3rd party contractor install the system? Anyways, please help.
There are two different ways of contacting ADT. One is to contact ADT sales directly (see www.adt.com ), where you will deal directly with ADT employees and have ADT employees install and service your system.
The other way is to deal with a third party re-seller who will install and service your system.
The difference may be in who you deal with for ongoing service, yet you're paying ADT for the monthly monitoring.
It's similar to buying a cell phone. You can buy it directly from Verizon or AT&T or Sprint, or you can go into BestBuy. Yet you still pay the phone company directly for monthly service, but who is handling your sale and hardware issues?
When I've moved into my house my security system had been installed by another company. We had Welcome Wagon come out with their coupons & offers and one of them happened to be for ADT. We had ADT in Massachusetts. The system there would go off as if it was possessed. Customer service was fine but we could never figure out what was wrong with the system & neither could they. There's nothing like the alarm waking you up from a dead sleep & encountering the police in your kitchen when you're naked, but I digress.
Here in Charlotte we called ADT from one of the offer sheets that WW gave us. A salesperson came out & explained that they would remove the previous system & upgrade it with their system. There wasn't a charge for this I think because we were new homeowners. That was in 2000 so I'm sure we aren't state of the art anymore. We have added sensors over the years as our needs changed. They weren't cheap. The average cost for adding a wireless sensor was $100. Our monitoring is now roughly $38/month. It has risen since we've been here. But we've also never had a break in. Whether that's due to our neighborhood or the stickers on our windows I don't know.
I've never had a rude customer service rep encounter with ADT. On the contrary they've been very helpful. But then again I've never had any problems with Sprint's customer service either.
I'm not pushing ADT. My advice is to research the various companies & decide for yourself which one best suits your needs. Hopefully you'll never be on the receiving end of a home invasion or burglary.
I think there are at least 20 different posts about this each year. Please do a search on this forum. The results from most of them are that CPI seems to be the favored.
I use CPI and they are great (and local) which is nice.
I have no clue if they require a contract since they purchased my previous alarm company but I pay $22 a month every six months and since I do not have a landline it is $5 extra a month. Always read what you are expected to sign to make sure you are signing what they tell you. HQ is in MD.
<LI class=pg-org>ASG Security
I think there are at least 20 different posts about this each year. Please do a search on this forum. The results from most of them are that CPI seems to be the favored.
I use CPI and they are great (and local) which is nice.
Sorry for the extra post. I did a search for security systems and only 3 other threads came up and they were from 2008. (But, then again I searched for security system in the title only).
I have CPI coming out to my house tonight. Have you ever had any issues where you actually need them or needed to contact customer service? I think that might be the true test of how a company works. Like insurance, they are so nice when you pay your bill and you don't really know how great they are until you need them to help you with a claim.
When I've moved into my house my security system had been installed by another company. We had Welcome Wagon come out with their coupons & offers and one of them happened to be for ADT. We had ADT in Massachusetts. The system there would go off as if it was possessed. Customer service was fine but we could never figure out what was wrong with the system & neither could they. There's nothing like the alarm waking you up from a dead sleep & encountering the police in your kitchen when you're naked, but I digress.
Here in Charlotte we called ADT from one of the offer sheets that WW gave us. A salesperson came out & explained that they would remove the previous system & upgrade it with their system. There wasn't a charge for this I think because we were new homeowners. That was in 2000 so I'm sure we aren't state of the art anymore. We have added sensors over the years as our needs changed. They weren't cheap. The average cost for adding a wireless sensor was $100. Our monitoring is now roughly $38/month. It has risen since we've been here. But we've also never had a break in. Whether that's due to our neighborhood or the stickers on our windows I don't know.
I've never had a rude customer service rep encounter with ADT. On the contrary they've been very helpful. But then again I've never had any problems with Sprint's customer service either.
I'm not pushing ADT. My advice is to research the various companies & decide for yourself which one best suits your needs. Hopefully you'll never be on the receiving end of a home invasion or burglary.
I understand what you mean. I have T-Mobile phone service and I hear complaints all the time but I think they are great to me.
I will continue to do my research and read other's opinions.
I cannot imagine what it must have been like to greet the police in the nude.
Sorry for the extra post. I did a search for security systems and only 3 other threads came up and they were from 2008. (But, then again I searched for security system in the title only).
I have CPI coming out to my house tonight. Have you ever had any issues where you actually need them or needed to contact customer service? I think that might be the true test of how a company works. Like insurance, they are so nice when you pay your bill and you don't really know how great they are until you need them to help you with a claim.
We have had CPI for 3 years now and are very happy with their service. They call you every time the alarm goes off, even if you turn it off, and I appreciate that. They also call very quickly - usually within 30 seconds to one minute. My neighbor has ADT and they have waited as long as 10 minutes for a call. I've only had to call CPI a couple of times, and they always answer quickly and are friendly and helpful. The most important part for me is that they are a local company.
We have had CPI for 3 years now and are very happy with their service. They call you every time the alarm goes off, even if you turn it off, and I appreciate that. They also call very quickly - usually within 30 seconds to one minute. My neighbor has ADT and they have waited as long as 10 minutes for a call. I've only had to call CPI a couple of times, and they always answer quickly and are friendly and helpful. The most important part for me is that they are a local company.
Thank you! Do you have any idea what the cost is for installation? and monthly fees?
I cannot imagine what it must have been like to greet the police in the nude.
Well I actually went to school with one of the officers so that made the encounter much more awkward. But they'd been keeping a close eye on the house because my mother had a heart attack about a week previous to this encounter & they had responded to that call as well.
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We have added sensors over the years as our needs changed. They weren't cheap. The average cost for adding a wireless sensor was $100. Our monitoring is now roughly $38/month. It has risen since we've been here. But we've also never had a break in. Whether that's due to our neighborhood or the stickers on our windows I don't know.
