Whatever you do for security,
do not trust ADT Security Systems!

They will hide the presence of a little clause in the contract (in fine print) that holds ADT harmless in case their equipment should fail FOR ANY REASON WHATEVER-- EVEN FAILURE OF THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT! The experieneces described in this blog should be a warning to anyone considering ADT Security Services. They will not tell you the whole truth!

Recently I began searching the Internet for others with similar problems with ADT and found out there are many lawsuits over failures of their systems and countless complaints about their practices. Apparently they don't give a damn about your problems once you sign their contract and they have you on the hook for three years of payments whether their system works or not. I wonder how many people have been killed in their homes by intruders while they expecting ADT to notify police and they didn't?

Several of the complaints I found are included at the end of this blog.

Here's my painful and costly experience with ADT:

First, a description of my experience enclosed with letter I mailed them on July 11, 2005 describing my experience after they sent a repairman out to check on my phoned in complaint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ADT Problem

In the fall of 2004 I contacted ADT security services about installing a security system for our home. When the representative came to our house, I explained that the most important parts of the service would be a power off signal to warn us if our power went off and a temperature sensor to warn us if the temperature got too low indicating a problem with the furnace. I was assured those two concerns would be met by their equipment and service. We were concerned as we planned to leave our water and heat on so our many plants would be OK during the winter. The previous winter we had friends who watched our house and watered our plants and everything went well while we were gone for four months. We didn’t want to impose on them again so I set up an automatic watering system for the plants and depended on ADT to protect against power outages and furnace failures. Our friends would only need to stop by two or three times during the winter to check on things.

Our friends checked on our house late in December and found everything OK. Their next checkup was in mid February when they found a note on the door from REMC stating our power was to be shut off on January eleventh as they had not received our payment in December. At this point they called us to report what had happened. I called a service man to check on the house to see what had been damaged by freezing as there had been both very cold and unseasonably warm weather between January eleventh when the power was turned off and Mid February when it was discovered. He went through the house and reported to his amazement there was no sign of frozen pipes or water leaking inside the house. Even the canned goods in the pantry seemed not to have frozen. The only casualties were our plants were all dead (from lack of water or freezing or both) and all the food in our refrigerators and freezer was spoiled. He only opened one because of the overwhelming stench from the rotted food.

I immediately called ADT to ask why their system had failed to do the most important thing I was told it would do. They received no signal when the power went off and no signal when the temperature dropped so as far as they were concerned, everything was OK. They said I would have to restore the power before they could test their equipment to see what went wrong. I arranged with the man who had done the inspection to come and shut the master power switch off until someone could check the water pipes in the crawl space for leaks. After talking with the ADT representative several times he suggested they wait until we returned to turn on the power so they could come out and check the system. Since that was near the time we were planning to head for home I agreed. I was concerned about the crawl space under the house since any burst pipes would leak water even without power to our pump. Our well is a flowing well.

We arrived home on June 12 to find all but two of our plants dead, an almost unbearable stench on the back porch and a noticeable stench inside our house. I sealed the doors to the refrigerator and freezer on the back porch and the refrigerator in the kitchen and opened the doors and windows to air the place out. We lived in our motorhome in the back yard for the first five days until the smell inside the house was nearly gone. Examining the crawl space I discovered there were two burst pipes near the north end and water had been running into the crawl space probably since January. After shutting down the water, I waited two days for the ground to dry before crawling under the house to resolder the pipes. When we turned on the water I discovered only those two pipes right by the outside wall had frozen and burst. No other pipes were leaking from just the well pressure. I did not see any leaks when I turned on the pump so the rest of the system seemed OK. The only thing I did notice was our water pressure was considerably less than it had been the year before. I could find no reason for this change.

I called ADT on June 13 and told them we were back and would they please take care of our problem ASAP. I didn’t hear from them for several days so I called once more on Thursday, June 16 and spoke to Mike Smith, our ADT representative. He told me they were going to send a technician out to check the system on the following Tuesday. I mentioned that it was taking a long time to get anything done and that we were planning to move into the house the next day. I also said we needed our refrigerators and freezer replaced so we would be able to live in the house.

By Friday afternoon the smell in the house was almost completely gone and so I moved my wife into our bedroom. She had been in the hospital in Tifton Georgia for four weeks with pneumonia where she was near death twice. She has several other health problems that make her susceptible to infections and can barely walk. Since her hospitalization in Georgia she has been confined to bed. We were planning on placing her in a rehab institution after the July fourth weekend when numerous family members were coming to visit for our annual fourth-of-July reunion.

About four Saturday morning she called me and asked me to take her blood pressure saying she felt very weak. When I couldn’t get a reading I called EMS who rushed her to Goshen General Hospital. She spent five days in isolation in ICU with pneumonia and MRSA staph infection. She remained in Goshen Hospital until July 6 when she was transferred to Lakeland rehabilitation center in Milford where she will spend the next three or four weeks. While she was in Goshen Hospital, we had two Amish ladies come in and clean up the house including removing all the dead leaves from the carpet and carrying all of the dead plants out into the back yard.

On Tuesday, June 21, I met the ADT technician at our house and he started examining the system. Another man, his manager, also showed up. While he was there I related all the information written in this letter up to this point. I said I was greatly disappointed in ADT and their service as it was completely worthless as far as I was concerned. He kept saying there must have been something outside their control that prevented the system from sending a signal when the power went off. I reminded him that there was no low temperature signal either and that it was highly unlikely.

When the technician finished and reported there was no problem with the system after he replaced the battery, I asked, “If there is no problem then why didn’t ADT contact me or my local emergency person as stipulated in the agreement?” He didn’t have an answer for that. I then said, “As far as I’m concerned, ADT service was totally worthless because it didn’t provide the one alarm that was by far the main reason I contracted for the service in the first place.”

The manager promised to get back with me very soon with an answer as to what they were going to do about the problem. To add insult to injury, the manager said these parting words as they went out the back door, “There will be no charge for today’s service.”

I was furious! I wanted to lambaste him with a verbal barrage, but decided it would be a waste of effort so I merely said, “Thanks a lot!” in my most sarcastic voice.

I was hoping they would offer some kind of financial settlement so I could at least buy a new refrigerator and get the old ones hauled away. When I hadn’t heard from them for a full week I realized they were probably going to do nothing so I called the family and told them that we would have to cancel the celebration on the weekend of the fourth because of the problems with the house. Thirteen people had to cancel travel plans for the weekend and my wife was very disappointed no one would be visiting her. Fortunately My sister and her husband came anyway so Barb was able to visit with them. She really missed all the grandchildren she was so looking forward to seeing.

Since the costs of Barb’s health problems had decimated our finances, my sister and brother-in-law loaned us the money to buy a new refrigerator and replace some of the plants as well as help with the cleanup. Thank goodness we have family and friends to help out when we suffer such grievous and expensive damage.

I called them once again on Thursday, July 7 and was once more promised they would get back to me quickly. It is now a week later and I have heard nothing from them. It is now my opinion that ADT will do nothing without being forced. Their attitude seems to me to be, “It’s your problem and we really don’t give a damn.” It is now more than a month since we arrived home and the only thing they have done is to check out their system and pronounce it OK. In addition to the $325 we paid to have this worthless system installed, we paid a monthly service charge of $29 which we have just been informed is going to be raised to $30.29 in August. That’s a lot of money for us and especially for a totally worthless security system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Estimate of expenses included in the letter.

ADT Security Services
1710 Dividend Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46808

Estimate of costs for the complete failure of ADT services to do what was promised from the installation to date.

1. Service call to check house out in March $125.00
2. Replace two refrigerators destroyed by rotting food 1,500.00
3. Replace freezer destroyed by rotting food 600.00
4. Frozen meat, fish and other foods destroyed 500.00
5. Plants frozen and\or dried up 500.00
6. Repair two burst pipes in crawl space 250.00
7. Clean plant debris from living room floor and porch 90.00
8. Loss of use of home and cancellation of family reunion 2,000.00

TOTAL DIRECT FINANCIAL LOSSES $5,565.00

Indirect damages to health of Barbara Johnson Priceless!

I have been greatly distressed and disillusioned by the complete lack of concern expressed by ADT personnel during this entire debacle. Once we were home, calls were not returned and promised efforts were not forthcoming. The only thing that was done was your technician checked out your equipment to see if it was working properly. To add insult to injury, I was told there would be no charge for that service.
I want the amount listed above paid by the first of August. In addition I want all money we paid for the worthless service paid back including the original installation. I want your services cancelled and I want all your equipment removed from our home and the holes in the walls filled and repainted to the condition before it was installed.

Howard Johnson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since that time I have been contacted by a firm they hire to settle problems. This company told me that there is a clause in the contract (in fine print) that holds ADT harmless in case their equipment should fail FOR ANY REASON! If this holds, I am still going after them because their representative told me the system WOULD alarm them if the temperature dropped below forty degrees and WOULD also alarm them if the power shut off. He didn’t tell me their system MIGHT send alarms or that if it failed it was TS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Found on ADT website:

Customer Benefits

ADT Money-Back Service Guarantee

Refunds the installation price and pays all monitoring fees if you are not satisfied within six months.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10-23-06 - Mary Joiner called and I explained what had happened. She stated someone from the local office would call me. Her number is 866-561-0952 - X8284. I explained that I had already contacted them several times and all they offered to do was send out another service man to repair the equipment. That most certainly would not address the problem. When I did call, true to my prediction they wanted to send out a serviceman-- and charge me of course! I asked to talk to someone who could address my complaint and received absolutely no satisfaction. I did ask that the contract be cancelled and was told I would have to pay $279.00 which I refused to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4-17-07 - A Canadian collection agency called demanding payment of about $279.00. I explained to the collection agent much of what is detailed above. He gave me a number for ADT Customer Service - 800-238-2455. He told me that if I didn’t call ADT within seven days the collection calls would continue. No other threat was made.

In spite of the fact that I had called ADT several times in the past with absolutely no results and certainly not one bit of effort on the part of anyone from ADT, I decided to call them once more.

I called the number

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of the complaints about ADT I found while searching the Internet.

ADT Security Systems

ADT is by far the largest home security alarm service in the U.S. and also does a big business in providing service to business and government. ADT works with independent re-sellers and it also has partnerships with Sears and other retailers.

It's important to note that you're buying two things when you get a home alarm system -- the equipment and the "service," which basically consists of monitoring your system and responding in whatever manner you agree to when alarms are received. Note that you must provide a working telephone line.

Like cell phones, security services will offer all kinds of deals, including "free" equipment and, sometimes, "free" installation. Of course, it isn't really free. The cost is simply built into the contract you sign, which usually runs two years or more. Like any contract, the ADT contract means what it says -- and only what it says. Nothing your salesman tells you means anything.

Verbal promises are meaningless. - Therefore, read the contract fully before you sign it. Understand what you're getting into -- a multi-year contract that obligates you to pay whether the system works or not, whether your phone line works or not, whether you have a job or not.

Sure, there might be a few cases where you could get out of the contract but it's a lot easier to be safe than sorry. Read it thoroughly. If you don't understand it, don't sign it until you find a disinterested third party, preferably a lawyer or paralegal, who can read it and explain it to you. Otherwise, you'll end up like the complainants whose tales appear in this section.

ADT - Sales Practices

Richard of Gloversville NY (4/22/04):
I am a federal military civilian employee. On september 11th we were sent home as our military installation was being "locked down" for the rest of the week due to the WTC attacks. Yep, you guessed it the next day ADT had a subcontractor in our neighborhood called SOS Security selling door to door ADT security systems with the "no obligation cancel at any time home security systems. All we want to do is place a sign in front of your house for advertising".

We repeatedly asked and were told that we could cancel at any time. After about a year of monthly payments and calming down like the rest of the country I decided to cancel the monthly service. I was told that to read the fine print in the contract and I was liable for two years at 75%. Currently a collection agency has contacted me and ADT want the two years at 75%. I am more than willing to go to court as these bloodsuckers should not be allowed to capitalize on my personal fear for profit. Their timing was by no means accidental.

Stephen of Ballwin MO (11/11/03):
Based on a telemarketing call we purchased a 3 year contract for ADT monitoring and received a free security system. We were planning to move so the salesperson told us the system would be moved for free anytime during the contract. He put this in writing after the fact. We later found this company was an authorized ADT "dealership" not ADT itself. Keep in mind that ADTs name was all over the documents we signed, and we are being billed by ADT on our credit card too!

Anyway, we signed a contract. No address was specified for monitoring on the contract as it was left blank when we signed (I have a copy). To make a long story short, we moved and ADT wouldn't honor the salesmen's promises. They say the "dealership" made the promises of moving our system, not ADT as they just provide monitoring. Of course, the dealership is no longer in business. An ADT rep told me that they don't like working with the dealerships and they are trying to get rid of them because of these issues.

What's funny is ADT won't provide monitoring services to me if I reinstall the system myself at the new address. They're talking out of both sides of their mouth. So, I'm stuck with paying my pre-authorized credit card charges of 29.99 which they say I can't stop, and ADT will NOT provide monitoring services to a different address. The Better Business Bureau was worthless beacause they just note that we agree to disagree. I don't even see my complaint as a "black mark" on their web site.

ADT keeps asking for extensions of time to respond to the compaint, and I just keep paying them. What really steams me is that ADT bad mouths the authorized dealerships and blames all issues on them, but they are aware of all business practices of dealerships and are glad to purchase new contracts from them. FYI, you can buy security systems from local companies (or wireless self install kits online) and get monitoring for 1/2 the price of ADT.

Sam of Ocala FL (6/14/03):
I was consulted by a group of door to door salespersons in June 2002 about a free installation of the ADT equipment if we agree to put their sign in our yard and on our windows. Several times my wife asked, "what's the catch?" We were assured several times by the salespersons that there was no catch. They presented us with a Crime Grid of the area, stating the incline of Criminal Activity.

At the time, we were considering putting our house up for sale and we explained that to the salespersons. They told us that in order for us to receive the "free installation" we would have to sign the contract for three years. I again explained that we do not think that we will live in this house for three years and that we did not want to sign the contract. They were persistant. One "pretended" to call a supervisor and ask if we would be able to break the contract if we moved within the three years. The "supervisor" reassured me that the contract was easy to break as long as we SOLD OUR HOUSE we would not be obligated to the terms of the contract.

I asked that it be put in writing, and that section be crossed off our contract. The salespersons did cross it through and intitial it. We were satisfied with their cooperativeness and we agreed to have the system installed. In Nov. 2002 we put our house on the market and it sold in two weeks. We officially sold our house in Feb. 2003, at which time, we called to cancel our contract.
During the phone conversation, the person agreed to cancel our service and stated that they would send our final bill.

When we received our bill, it stated that we owed over $950.00 for 75% of the contract. We were completely surprised to say the least. My wife called and was told that NO MATTER WHAT we could not break the contract. My wife explained that we were assured and reassured that by selling our house, the contract would be voided and she was laughed at by the phone rep. When asked to speak with the Manager, she was told that there was no way a manager would talk to her. Aggrevated, my wife hung up to call back a different day. Of course, each and every time she called, she got the same run around.

Finally two months later, she talked to the only helpful person at ADT, Melissa. Melissa explained to my wife that independant contractors do the door to door sales. (by the way they work on commission only) She told my that ADT gets a lot of complaints due to the deceitful tactics of these salespeople. She also told me that ADT does not officially own the contract, that the company that initially sold it to us holds the contract for one year and then ADT buys the contract. She told us to contact that company for problems.

My wife then called that company. She was told by the Manager that the sales crew that sold to us that day no longer works for the company and that all of the files for that crew has come up "missing." I agreed to send a copy of our contract, which I did. Of course I received no call. I called back two weeks later. The manager stated that he can't be sure who put that line through the part of the contract in question, however in any event, the salespeople are NOT AUTHORIZED to alter the contract in any way. I explained to the Manager that they called their supervisor and got authorization. The Manager said that the supervisor was the one who initially sold me the service, and of course he is no longer with the agency. And we were instructed to call ADT.

Sam should go to Small Claims Court with a copy of the contract that was modified by the salesperson.

Richard of Detroit writes:
A sales representative came to my home as he was going fromm door to door. He told me that if I placed their company's sign in front of my house, that they would give my a home security system free of charge. All I had to do was to sign up for the service, and that if I didn't want the service later on, that I could cancel it at any time, and that the company may either take the system back out, or let me keep it.

What he didn't tell me is that after the three-day cancellation date if I decide to cancel the service, that theie contract says that I have to pay them 75% of the remaining service charge for a three-year contract. I called the company a few months later because my mother didn't like the system, and she didn't use it. I sent a letter of cancellation in November. Then I found out that I still owe them $742.00. I believe this is contractual fraud, and that I have been deceived by ADT Security Services, Inc.

Richard ought to read contracts before he signs them. Also, when he has an evening to spare, he could go rent a copy of "Tin Men," where he'd see the exact same pitch used by some pretty spiffy aluminum-siding salesmen.

Angela, who owns a small retail store in Banning, CA, writes:
On 08-10-00 at about 6:13a.m., I received a call from ADT stating "the store alarm had went off and entry showed at zone 1 front door". I asked if the police been dispatched and the lady said yes. Because I was at least 40 minutes away, I called the police department and the officer told me that the burglary occurred the night before and the alarm company said they could not reach me, so the police secured the building as best possible.

When I arrived and went inside the business had been burgularized and I called the police out so they could take a report. The officer told me again that this occurred the previous night and the alarm company said they had no way of contacting me. I told the officer that three different telephone numbers are listed with the alarm company.

The loss was estimated at about $1,000.00. I then called ADT to find out why I wasn't notified and spoke to Marty. She said I was paged and no return call came in and then she connected me with Kim who read over the log and said that proper procedure was not taken, all the contact numbers listed should have been called.

Kim said she did not know the procedure to be taken next but there are some people who need to be trained on this type of situation.

The business remained open all night long. The front door was standing wide open, a person passing by called the police and notified them the door was open again. The economic damage is loss of inventory and fixtures needed to operate the business.

Diana of Edmond OK (2/23/04):
I have tried to cancel service with ADT since January, 2003 because Cox Cable cut the ADT wires and ADT was no longer able to monitor my home. I called and wrote letter trying to get them to stop drafting my account to no avail. In September, 2003 I filed Bankruptcy listing ADT as a creditor. Even after receiving the First Meeting of Creditors, ADT refused to stop drafting my checking account.

Finally, after exhausting my checking account, ADT's drafts bounced in November and December of 2003. They sent me a bill for two months services plus $40.00 overdraft charges. I wrote them, sending them copies of my Bankruptcy Final Discharge, asking them to prove that they were providing me services as I no longer lived at that address and the power had been turned off since September, 2003. I informed them that their services were discharged in the Bankruptcy and that they had broken the law by drafting my account after the First Meeting of Creditors. I just received another bill for 4 months services and $80.00 in overdraft charges. I give up! There seems to be no way to stop these people. Not even through Bankruptcy.

Because of ADT continually drafting my account after being told not to, the bank closed my account because of overdrafts (from ADT) in the amount of $101.00. After the Bankruptcy was discharged, I now have $101.00 from the bank in collections, and outstanding bills from ADT that I can not get off my credit report because I've already filed bankruptcy. This has all be due to ADT's incompetence and lack of obeying the law.

Suzanna of Hermosa Beach CA (12/10/03):
ADT has installed a faulty alarm in my restaurant. The original technician was sent out on July 16, 2001, and instead of doing his job properly, managed to make a sexual advance at me. Up to the present time, I have had nothing but a hard time with ADT when it comes to customer service, billing, repairs, questions, etc. My restaurant has been broken into 4 times, and instead of fixing the problem, ADT sent my account to collections.

Two police reports have been filed with the Hermosa Police Department. I feel very violated and unsafe in my place of business. I have a broken safe, and $800 missing. After the 1st police report was filed, ADT did send a technician out, but 2 days later disconnected my service. I did not receive a bill for the month of November, and even though ADT knew my system was faulty, they sent me to collections.

Jane of Buffalo NY (11/10/03):
In December 2002, my husband and I purchased a home and for security, we wanted services from ADT. Months went by, then we noticed that the livingroom monitor was not working. Actually, we noticed that it never worked because no one is to walk into the livingroom area in the nightstay mode. From day one, the alarm never went off. Therefore, if an intruder was to walk by the monitor, no alarm would go off. What can we do about this situation? I can't get out of the contract until anouther 12 months.

I believe that we should not have to pay $80 for a serviceman to show up and do the work that was to be initially done with the $250 intallation.

"M" of Pemberton NJ (11/5/03):
After having continuous errors with the ADT system, telling us a window was open when it wasn't, we called ADT for service. They told me it would cost me since I did not have the service plan. I told them to cancel the account. They asked if I would not cancel if they sent a service rep out free of charge to fix the problem. The rep came out replaced the battery with another dead battery, disconnected a panel and left wires hanging out of my walls.

I immediately called the support center and told them to cancel the service. Two months later I received an overdue balance notice. I again called and they told me it took a billing cycle to remove the amount from my account. They also sent a letter to this effect. This all took place in May/June 2003 timeframe. I received over 3 calls with the same results. Finally two weeks ago I was informed the only reason they did NOT cancel the service was because THEIR rep did not ask me for my security code in June. They have turned the balance over to a collection agency and refuse to discuss the error of their own system and failures to cancel the service. Today they told me because I allowed the service tech in my house I was responsible even though I called to cancel on more than one occasion.

The consequences is that a collection agency is now hounding me for $75.25 which I refuse to pay since I've cancelled this service repeatedly.

Reinaldo of Brooklyn NY (11/1/03):
I had a home security system which malfuctioned. I spent 8 weeks making phone calls trying to get my equipment fixed. After numerous missed appointments I got fed up and requested that the alarm be taken off. Now they keep trying to send me bills for a service I never had.

I just received a letter from a collection agency for the money, which I am not going to pay.

Reinaldo of Brooklyn NY (7/26/03):
I had an alarm istalled in my house. Durning a time where I had construction in my house we needed to disconnect the alarm. ADT was advised of the situation and instructed us how to disconnect and reconnect the alarm. Upon reconnection the alarm's key panal was not working properly. We notified the company and they stated they would send someone to fix it. After taking numorous day off of work and my wife cancelling numerous appointments no one came to fix anything.

At the end of three months of this I got upset and requested the alarm to be taken off. Again I received more appointments for someone to come and take the alarm off -- again no one came. After another month of this I was told they do not come to get the equipment since they cannot use it again. I told them to close the account. Now they keep sending me bills stating I have a contract and they want to charge me $500.

Vincent of Lincoln Park, MI, writes:
I had ADT install a security system in two of my houses. They were both faulty. Neither house was being monitored. After months and months of calling them with my complaints they finally agreed to remove the systems and release me from my contract and also to refund all monies paid. I even have a letter from the company president that states this and it is dated March 8, 1998.

Even after the system was removed they still kept taking the payments out of my bank account. They did this for many months. Also the police were sent to my house for no reason and I was charged by the police dept. for a false alarm. I am a diabetic and the stress and frustration has aggravated this condition.

I try calling and they tell me they will settle this matter but after I hang up the phone I never hear from them until I call again and get the same response.

Vincent should stop calling and start writing. He can send a certified, return-receipt-requested letter, reminding ADT that it has previously agreed to refund his money and stating that if he does not receive payment within 30 days he will institute legal action. Ideally he should include a copy of the letter he received from ADT. If ADT doesn't pay up, Vincent can sue them in Small Claims Court.