Off contract soon with Apex, I'm looking for cheaper monitoring

Hi,

I signed up with Monitronics/Apex in May of 2005 during one of their door to door campaigns. They wired my house with their goodies "for free" as long as I kept a 3 year contract. It seemed I got decent service (I have nothing to compare it to), but the only alarms were maybe 5 or 6 falses I accidentally set off, and Apex called me within a minute every time. They did come out in January and changed out the analog cellular transmitter to a digital GSM one for free, due to analog cellular services being phased out.

I read online that when your contract is up, that often you can have your monitoring taken over by someone else for a far cheaper rate than was in the contract. As I don't have a landline, my system uses the cellular backup only, and I get charged about $43 a month plus a few bucks tax.

Any idea which firms will monitor systems set up by Monitronics/Apex which I think is just Apex now, for less?

Anyone ever re-negotiate with Apex after the initial contract for a much better price? That almost $50 a month has gotten a bit steep for me, thanks much,

Dan

Reply to
DK1000
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They will monitor your radio for roughly $20 a month.

Jim Rojas

DK1000 wrote:

Reply to
Jim Rojas

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and
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are both able to monitor your system. Both charge much less than Monitronics. 911Alarm is a small company that resells the services of several UL-listed monitoring firms around the country. NextAlarm is a monitoring company that caters to DIYers and "takeovers" (situations like yours, where the homeowner has finished his obligation to the installing firm and wants a more reasonably priced solution).

They'll likely offer you a reduction when you cancel but it won't come close to what you can save by switching. NextAlarm charges something like $8 a month for basic service. 911Alarm charges around $12. Both charge an increment for Cellular monitoring but nothing like what you're paying now.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

If it's a Monitronics panel you may not be able to reprogram the dialer number. And switching a GSM account will also be a challenge!

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Reply to
I brive a dus

they replaced it for free and now you want to dump them. whatta guy!

Reply to
Beeno

Jesus.

Reply to
alarman

Yup, can't do the GSM without a programmer unless the current monitoring station turns it off first

Reply to
Mark Leuck

I think too if the account is abandoned for more than 3 months you can reactivate it as a new account (??)

Reply to
crash

They didn't replace it for free. They charged him $1548 for monitoring three years of services that should have cost him $288. That's $1,260 extra he paid for the "free" deal. His best bet is to get away from Monitronics and their incompetent staff.

Reply to
Robert L Bass

gawd what an basshole. they installed an entire security system and 2 radio backups and maintained it for over 3 years for that money. it's no wonder that nobody likes you.

Reply to
Norton Nescio

Thanks much everyone for their replies. Looks like I have some options to check out. I really didn't post this to escalate tensions between posters, so please everyone should have their say without getting flamed.

To Beeno who posted "they replaced it for free and now you want to dump them. whatta guy! "

If Apex can re-negotiate a fair deal, fine, I'll keep them, but as just about everyone knows here, they were charging me a much bigger premium than some other monitoring places may have been even with Cellular, and I'm sure their investment in equipment is pretty much paid off by the higher fees. The changeover to GSM isn't my fault, and maybe it isn't Apex's, maybe the FCC's? Yes, I kind of feel bad that they just replaced that part of the system not long ago, but what if they would have replaced it two years ago or so instead, would that change things? Did Apex know about the upcoming change when they first installed me? Who knows? That's part of doing business. Needs change. Companies change. The company who set up my system changed once if not twice, from Monitronics to Apex, and now seemingly to APX (without the E). Customer's financial situations change also. I'm sure APX looks at their bottom line, and when your personal financial situation takes a turn for the worst, you better be looking at your own bottom line. I have fulfilled their contract (in another month), so I'll do some research that everyone posted leads, and run it by APX if they are playing hardball on the rates when I call.

I'm about to get rid of my cable to save some money, that keeps going up and up and up. I just got two converter coupons in the mail, and I will see what I can do with the OTA digital offerings, as I only really watch local channels. I know this is a bit off topic, but just showing how someone has to cut back sometimes and take better or different deals. Ditching cable will save me almost $50 a month. Too bad I can't ditch the damn gas pump, that's where a big part of the headaches lie, and everything else going up in price. Not to mention an ARM mortgage. So you see I have a bottom line to take care of also. Cheers.

Reply to
DK1000

There are three issues that I don't believe have been discussed.

The first question is whether you own the equipment. Considering the rates you are paying, you may not. Your alarm company might not want the three year old control panel back, but they might want that nice new GSM radio back. You'd have to read your contract to know for sure. This will obviously affect your changeover cost. Fulfilling your contract does not automatically mean you've bought the equipment. This could be more like a car lease than a time purchase agreement, meaning you don't own the car when the lease is up.

The second question is whether you, or some other alarm company, can reprogram your current system. This is partially a matter of whether the equipment has been electronically locked, and partly whether the equipment itself is some proprietary system that only the original installing company can reprogram. No way to answer this question without more information.

The third issue is whether your contract automatically renews itself. Many alarm contracts do so unless you give written notice a certain number of days prior to the expiration date. You say you only have a month to go; better read your contract and see whether you have been/or are about to be stuck with them for another year.

Reply to
Nomen Nescio

You are confusing Monitronics with Brinks. Monitronics would never stoop that low. Brinks has been a major eyesore in the alarm industry for many years now. Their deceptive ads on TV speak for themselves.

Jim Rojas

Nomen Nescio wrote:

Reply to
Jim Rojas

nomen's got some good advice. if you can get them to drop the fee to about $25 for monitoring and cell backup you would be doing good. or pick up a part time job.:)

Reply to
Beeno

Which deceptive ads?

Reply to
Mark Leuck

All of them.

Husband just pulls out of the driveway, burglar kicks in front door, alarm instantly triggers...they are all lame, and depict women as helpless victims.

Jim Rojas

Mark Leuck wrote:

Reply to
Jim Rojas

How exactly is that deceptive?

Reply to
Mark Leuck

Reply to
I brive a dus

Reply to
I brive a dus

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