Problem with ADT Security Company

Most contracts I've seen only renew for one year periods after the initial term...I "believe" even ADT's is the same way.

A fair price for that work would be abt 200 bucks or so, plus contacts @ 5 bucks each (unless they're Pella type windows...then I charge more).

My guess is she has a contract that is not enforcable if it doesn't have a valid signature on it.

| > My godness, they have a deal for the new customer, $99.00 for | > installation with 2 years contract. For our old good customer, they | > won't give us any advantage on it, but try to earn some money from us. | > I think that $505.00 is not worth to spend for reconnected the system. | > Therefore, I called the ADT representative for cancel the alarm | > service. Their representative told me that I have signed another 4 | > years contract for it. I swear that I didn't sign any contract except | > the first one I signed on 1998. I asked the representative a copy of | > the contract, there is a name written down there but not my signature. | > I called them back and told them that's not my signature, now they said | > that they have to send me another package to deny the contract. | >

| > It's really a nightmare for me. Is there anyone who used to be in the | > same situation, and can give me advise on it. Your help with this | > matter is greatly appreciated! | >

| >

| > Thank you in adanve for your reply, | >

| >

| > Cindy Choy | >

| | |

The $99 you paid was a come-on to get you to sign up. HELLO? ADT simply wants your monthly monitoring revenue, and doesn't wish to be bothered with working on your system. Certainly not for $99. You can not cancel the contract just because you think their rates are too high, and it's not ADT's fault you got new windows and the contractor was careless. Wake up, people. Jeez. js

More like $300 in SoCal. $55 trip and $75/hr. js

Imagine how a forged contract would look in court.

Shaun Eli

Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for the Smart Mind (sm)

If the wiring was damaged by the window contract, you should probably seek reimbursement from him for the cost of repairs.

If you believe your signature has been forged on a contract you should probably seek legal advice or even turn it over to the DA.

Doug L

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:

The first contract you signed in 1998 likely had a renewal clause that automatically renewed the contract for the same period of time once again unless you took action sometime just prior to the end of the contract to advise them (usually in writing) that you wish to cease dealing with them. Check your original contract to see it this is the case. If it is, you are likely stuck, and will have to buy the balance of the contract out.

This kind of thing is a clear example of how many companies abuse this long term contract business. The first contract was entirely legitimate since you were buying into the phony "free system" concept, and they make up the REAL cost of the equipment and original labour in the inflated monitoring rate over a guarantee term of so many months. However, hooking you into another term simply because you failed to take action at the end of the original term, while quite common in this industry, is certainly "opportunistic", and borders on unethical business practices (IMO).

It always pays to remember, there is no free lunch. While these kinds of companies make it easy to buy in, the cost of just about everything after that is usually excessive. And this generally applies no matter which company you are dealing with that markets this way.

Remember this experience and let it guide your actions when you choose another alarm company....

R.H.Campbell Home Security Metal Products Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

more traffic there than here = more gas used I guess.

| > A fair price for that work would be abt 200 bucks or so, plus contacts @

5 | > bucks each (unless they're Pella type windows...then I charge more). | >

| > My guess is she has a contract that is not enforcable if it doesn't have a | > valid signature on it. | | More like $300 in SoCal. $55 trip and $75/hr. | js | | |

I thought she said; 3 hours

5 | >bucks each (unless they're Pella type windows...then I charge more). | | Since the original poster didn't even say how many windows he had replaced, | how in the hell do you come up with a "fair price" for this job? | | - badenov | |

It wouldn't look good...but it'll never get that far.

I'm kinda intrigued by this "package" they have to send her to "deny the contract". If I were her, I'd sure as hell read that "package" really carefully before I signed anything else.

RHC

Unethical? Whoa, you're out to lunch here, Bob... your month to month contract auto renews each month, what's the difference?

I would normally agree with you on parts of this RH but even with a 5 year agreement the customer can also cancel if he gives a 1 month notice after the contract finishes

BIG difference there Mike, certainly not in structure, but in INTENT and AFFECT !

First off, with a month to month contract, the client can leave whenever he wants, because a month is not an undue period of time to lock someone in (if that could even be considered being locked in). This period co-incides with his standard industry monthly billing and is no different than most other kinds of service billing (calculated monthly however actually billed). The customer knows up front, and it's only common sense, that the contract continues month over month to coincide with his billing. But the customer still remains "in the driver's seat" so to speak at all times, with full freedom to choose his own ongoing destiny. And the customer knows we must continue to earn his ongoing business, not demand it through a long term committment !

However, with an auto renewal long term contract for 1 to 5 years, the customer becomes locked in for a second (and perhaps third) time, because he or she didn't take some positive action to stop the renewal. This second long term is not being used to pay for the "free system" anymore, but to simply lock in the client's revenue stream for an undue length of time to benefit ONLY the alarmco. There is NOTHING of value or benefit to doing so for the client !! And in so doing, the client has lost his freedom to move, shop around, or cease the service without paying out a substantial sum of money.

THAT my friend is a HUGE difference ! It's a lot like "negative option selling" that Rogers got so badly mauled for recently. Most customer hardly remember what kind of system they have, let alone when a multi year contract is coming up for renewal !!!!! Yet if they don't, they're committed. It's the same sort of bulls*it that Alarmbridge pulls here locally with their hidden small print stating that the client must advise in writing three full months in advance of the desire to stop monitoring, or the contract auto-renews for another full five years.

You buy a cellphone with a contract; after the term is up, you go month to month. Although it's not a perfect analogy, if you buy or lease a vehicle, you either own it outright eventually, or if leased, you turn it back in at the end of the term. Your dealer doesn't hit you with another term if you forget to call him up. If you sign a long term natural gas contract, BOTH sides are committed to a certain rate for a given length of time. Neither can change that rate. But alarmco's see fit to raise their rates sometimes annually based on a "cost of living" increase, and the consumer has no realistic option to act if he doesn't agree with it.

It seems only in the alarm industry do we get away with this lopsided sh*t because for some reason, consumers let us do so !! Beats the hell out of me why !!

Unethical ? You're damn right !

RHC

Since the original poster didn't even say how many windows he had replaced, how in the hell do you come up with a "fair price" for this job?

- badenov

Could be...

| > Shaun Eli | >

| > Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for the Smart Mind (sm) | >

| |

Mark, normally what seems to happen in most cases is the client after the first contract has expired, goes on a month to month basis. Then the client remains on month to month indefinately. Then as you say, the client can terminate with a months notice. My only objection is some companies (a minority thankfully) don't operate this way; instead, they continue to duplicate the original term once again unless the client takes positive action, needlessly locking the client in to another long term.

That's what I'm suggesting is not a legitimate way to operate

RHC

that is written into the contract and if the prospective customer doesn't want that "auto renewal" then all they have to do is not sign the contract. Nobody forced anyone to sign a contract. But if you sign then you should live up to what you agreed to do.

You wanta bet that the contract probably came from an authorized dealer who changed some things before it went to ADT. Most all of these programs have had their share of bogus contracts coming in and by the time the mother company finds out, the authorized dealer is gone. When Westinghouse first started their program, they got hit by a guy writing contracts right out of the telephone book and sending signals from a panel in his office by simply changing the account number. By the time they figured out no one was paying and stopped by to visit him at his office, there was nothing but empty space. Got em for a ton.

True enough on the surface for sure. However, how many salespeople tell the client about this little clause when they first sign the contract ? Realistically, none. And how many people read each and every word of any contract they sign before they sign it ? Again, almost none ! Hell, I can't even get them to read my standard one page agreement !! Most people still deal with companies and each other from a basis of trust, and unless prompted otherwise, will go on that basis. And we of all people should be trusted; after all, the client is trusting us with his security !

Business contracts should not be set up with automatic "traps" for people signing them. If the company told the client up front about this, and the client was stupid enough to sign off on it (by initialling the clause or some such thing), then obviously it would be acceptable. But to sneak it in, as some companies do for the express purpose of limiting the clients options, is unacceptable.

But if the client is stupid enough to agree to this KNOWINGLY, then he will be held to it (unless the law itself gives him some sort of relief on this point)

RHC