Monitronics

I live in Fairfield, Ca and I tried to cancel my service and here is how they discourage you.
They make you write a letter (not an e-​mail) stating
* Customer#
* Code word
* Print and Sign name
* Reason why
Then you have to mail this letter (NOT E-​MAIL) to
Monotronics, PO BOX 814 530, Dallas Texas, 75 381
Lots of work when I should be able to call and cancel.
Why cant I call and give my code word and cancel.

Terrible company! I don’t think they should even be in business. Worst customer service experience ever. They don’t attempt to help you if you become disappointed with their inability to provide customer satisfaction! Make you write a letter to cancel? In this day and age that’s like asking us to send a carrier pigeon! This is supposed to be a tech savvy security company and you don’t have a system to cancel service over the phone? Oh you just want to milk people for and extra payment… that’s upstanding business practice, NOT! Please don’t spend your money here on security.
Just wanted to add, out of all these reviews not one single response from the company on Unilocal.This clearly states to all customers WE DON’T CARE! I hope anyone who is reading this hears that loud and clear.

Please, please don’t get a home security system with this company. Do yourself a favor and do a simple Google search of «Monitronics cancellation policy» and you’ll see thousands of customers fuming due to Monitronics shady cancellation policy. Here is the short version of my nightmare: I mailed in my initial cancellation request in mid July 2015. Well it’s now January 2016 and they still are trying to charge me and REFUSING to cancel my account, even though I sold my house and the NEW owner had everything switched into his name/​account in July ’15 — I can only assume they’re trying to collect the monthly fee on both of us. I even filed a chargeback with my credit card company (Chase) and WON, but that doesn’t mean Monotronics has stopped calling or mailing billing notices to me. So good news if that they can’t get any money out of my account as my bank had blocked them, but they still continue to allow my monthly fee to rack up. Not only unethical, but has to be illegal to charge for services that I’m not even receiving. I will be reporting them to the BBB and any other agency I can find — Stay FAR, FAR away

Horrible company. They installed their «wireless system» by super gluing little white boxes to my nice doors. Despite what they said about the size of animals my cats set off the motion sensor constantly. They never asked me for a verbal code. Once I came home with my daughter and put in my code. That set off an alarm that said I pressed the keypad too hard. They called my cell phone and I could not verify the code, that they never asked me for, so they sent police to my house. I ended up paying for the visit plus found out that Monitronics never told me I needed a permit for the alarm so I had to pay extra for that. Ended up the code was put in as just my last name. Worst of all, we moved from the house into a rental, and still had 7 months on the contract. If you call to cancel they try really hard to get you to transfer service to a friend or family member. They use scare tactics and guilt trips to try and get you to keep service. They told me I didn’t care about my family. They say they are «protecting America». They say that they see news stories everyday of things bad happening and that they help prevent those things from happening. Then if all the fear mongering, scare tactics, and guilt trips don’t work, they tell you well «there’s nothing you can do» but keep paying the contract. Not only do you have to pay to the end of the contract, for a service you no longer have, but you CANNOT cancel at the end of the contract without a hand signed letter sent to their office in Dallas, TX. They will extend your contract and keep charging you if you don’t type up a letter with a reason for cancelling, code word, and account number and snail mail it to Dallas. After finally getting this information from one of many people I talked to over months, he said that he was cancelling my service after the phone call, but that I still have to pay until the end of the contract. The ethics of this company are vile. I don’t know how their employees can sleep at night knowing they screw people over everyday for a living.

Alarm continues to go off for no reason. Technicians come out and say nothing is wrong. Do not use this company if you want a good product and want to feel safe and confident.

Worse company to deal with. Scam artist. I was with company since 2007 and now when my company relocated, i canceled. Months later they still charging me… i had already sent the cancellation form but now they claim its inaccurate and want me to pay for months that my company wasnt even active for. All people working there are really rude and have no access to consistent information. They dont have any call logs or information about previous conversation that we have had. Really bad experience. Stil awaiting call from one of the supervisors, lets home they can make things better.

I would have given a lower rating of Unilocal allowed zero stars. This was the worst customer service experience I have ever had. I was unhappy with the initial installation. First, after the installation, they put a 3 year contract in front of me. I told them I did not want a three year commitment. I was told that they mentioned this over the phone and if not, the installation would cost $ 500. I ended up signing (my bad). Second, they installation resulted in numerous false alarms. I called and they said they would have a local contractor call me to schedule an appointment. That never happened. The alarms went off so often that I was fined by the city. I ended up shutting the alarm off. I am now paying Monitronics for nothing for the next 18 months.
Oh, don’t be late with a payment. They will bombard you with calls.

All the items mentioned in the other reviews are right on. If you are inclined to go with this company you either did not review the other reviews, like poor customer service, frustration dealing with poor customer service reps, endless waiting on hold or are just another dumb consumer.
It took me 37 days to cancel the service after countless hours on the phone, an «official notification letter» and then a letter from them saying all the before mentioned stuff was not sufficient and I had to sign their form letter. This added another 7 days onto the cancellation time. It is all a game to get you so frustrated that you quit trying and go back to being captured.

I called to cancel my service. I was told I had to call back tomorrow and talk to activations from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p m Central Time. So I called back and was told I had to mail a letter. I asked why yesterday I could not have got that information and why I cannot fax it in? She informs me that activations is the only one with information on how to cancel and it has to be sent through the mail and the account will be cancelled 30 days after receiving the letter. She continued to tell me how other companies are not as good as them they are 911 trained. After battling to cancel with her I received another phone call and again I had to battle the guy about why I want to cancel so to save you time I will list how to cancel here.
To cancel
Customer #
Security Code on account
Reason
Signature
Mail letter to
PO Box 814 530
Dallas, TX 75 381
Wait 30 days…

I would also give zero stars if I could. I signed up only 4 weeks ago and now I have to replace 7 sensors and the radio something. They didn’t have to spend a dime for me to take over the system. They inspected it and said everything was fine — now just a couple of weeks later I have to spend over $ 500 to have a working system. I would cancel monitronics but they suckered me into a 3 year contract. I hate this company — they would do nothing for me…

Stay away from this company, they are really bad news. See other reviews… buyer beware! Almost a year after canceling service I’m still being billed, and I filled my 3 year commitment. I agree they deserve zero stars.

It’s pretty sad that Unilocal doesn’t have an option for ZERO stars, but with that being said, I’ll just leave my experience with you. If I could write a college length essay about how much I despise this company, I’d get an A. I’m just going to do a little copy/​paste action from my review that I left them on Angie’s list after we sold our last house in June 2015…
Worst decision of our life was signing up for Monotronics. We were told they only offer 3 year contracts. That should’ve been our first clue. Any company who requires such a long term contract, obviously doesn’t provide the customer service that would keep their clients happy and coming back. Anyway. We sign up to have the alarm installed. The guy shows up as my son is watching Guinness Book of World Records and STOPPED the installation to watch the show because of his mini cooper obsession. Weird. We had a few issues here and there with false alarms. Getting ahold of someone who can actually help answer questions? HA! Good luck. Fast forward 2 years, we sell our house and relocate. Same weirdo comes to remove the alarms, even though we requested someone different.
As we get into our new house, two techs come to install. They took the key to the fuse box in the garage, so it’s left open. One of the sensors for the window fell off. Really comforting that my alarm is supposed to protect us, but can’t even stick to the window. We call to complain, and we’re told we’ll be charged $ 25 for them to come out. For their screw up. No.
A few months later, another sensor goes out. We call again, and they agree to send someone out… for $ 25. We pay the fee. Guy comes out, checks the system, checks everything, and we’re good for 2 more months.
Last weekend, we go to set the alarm, and get a system failure message. When I called them, I’m told via recording that their office is closed. So as far as 24/​7, that’s a lie. Around noon, I get a recorded call saying that my systems had failed at 6:31AM… Why the h*** is it taking 5 hours to call and let me know my systems have failed?! Obviously safety isn’t a priority. After multiple attempts, I finally get through to some idiot in whatever department. She said I need to check my batteries. I’m explaining to her that I have done that, and we’re still getting system failure messages. She basically said she didn’t know what to do, but they can send someone out the following week. For $ 25. So, not only am I going 4 days without a system, that I bet they’re still charging me for, I also have to wait and pay for them to come out.
Unfortunately, we’re not waiting. We’re canceling. Paying them the cancelation fee is more than they deserve, but good riddance. Don’t waste your time, energy, or money here. They don’t care about your safety. They simply don’t care.
***UPDATE***
Our house still isn’t built, as with most new builds, there are delays. So, I was a little surprised this afternoon, when I checked our account only to realize that Monotronics went ahead and charged us for a monthly service. After calling twice, and being hung up on twice (seems to be a trend with them), I finally got ahold of someone who informed me that I should’ve called them and let them know the house wasn’t ready. No, they’re not my mother, no I shouldn’t. The only plus side to waiting to cancel is that the fee is smaller. I cannot wait to get rid of this shithole company. Luckily, my bank disputes charges for «services not rendered».

ZERO should be an option! Monitronics is a horrible, predatory company. I now have a collection on my credit report 2 years after my contract was completed. They don’t listen, don’t respond and are relentless in trying to collect what isn’t theirs!
You have been warned, if you do business with them it will end badly.

The worst experience from a business I’ve ever had. Annoying calls that are all automated. There account debit program is faulty and every month they make a call on my credit saying I didn’t pay. Avoid this company at all cost.

This company is the worst. I’m not even on contract anymore and they are giving me a hard time canceling. I called 30 days ago for shut off August 1 2015. Kept trying to get me to move Svc. I sold my house new owner is occupied. So I call August 3 to make sure Svc is off since I don’t want charged acct mgr proceeds to tell me «you need a cancel letter! «Why didn’t u tell me a month ago all this after 30 minutes on hold. I repeatedly told them I don’t want charged for alarm and house I don’t live in. The letter consists of :
Diana per our conversation here is the following information that is required to cancel the service.
1) Your customer number
2) The reason for the cancellation.
3) Your code word.
4) Your signature.
Thank you
Stacy Jackson
What a bunch of shady folks holding people hostage like this. Nothing on website about cancel letter.

Zero stars. Monitronics is a company of thieves that prey on the elderly. They tricked my grandmother into signing a 5 year contract. 5 year contract for elderly people??? Are you kidding me? There are two years left on her contract and even though she sold her home and moved into assisted living they will not release her from the contract. They are predatory scum and there is a special place in hell for those who prey on elderly. On top of this, to get into the house to steal the account they pretended to be ADT (my grandparents alarm co. at the time) and said they were just there to service the account. Liars!!! Thieves!!! The VP’s name is Rob Washington. Get it… ROB!!!
A-​holes I swear! Buyer beware!

What company makes you mail a letter to request a 30 day notice for cancellation? After waiting on hold for over 20 minutes that is what we were told. It felt as if the company has made it as difficult as possible to close an account in the hopes you won’t.
Not to mention I was helping an elderly person I work with do this. When I explained to the rep that this person is currently living in a motel and needs to save every penny so they won’t be homeless, he still tried to convince him to keep his account for the «moving help». Seriously? Shady company.

This is the worst company in the world. They are a big Rip off.
Don’t use them.
I had pinnacle and they changed to Monitronics and when They went to the basic Big business mentality. Customer service, Yeah Right!!!
Ive had them a couple of years and then the door sensor for the garage stopped working and I called them and the guy came out and Said the sensor went bad and he would put a Motion sensor in Garage .Then I go to cancel after my contract was up and they told me that when They put in the new sensor that lengthen my contract another 2 years.
I switched to another company and when they took the system off the wall and took the battery out, I received no call from the service for Months.
When the new service was installed they had me take the battery out a few days later they immediately called my cell phone to find out what was going on. also when I turn the power off to the house they call me. thats how the service that you pay for should work…
They are still going to charge me over $ 600.00 for the rest of the contract.
I may contact a lawyer and SUE THEM also, Like ALOT OF PEOPLE ARE DOING.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM ARTISTS …

If I could give 0 stars I would. They started off great years ago, but over time their service has degraded significantly. We had a few break-​ins and I had multiple answers on what zone was going off. Unfortunately most of the time it was we don’t know.
When I called to stop service I dealt with the rudest «account manager» ever. She refused to escalate the call, said her Supervisor doesn’t talk to customers, and then proceeded to tell me she was in management because she was an account manager. I managed to get the service stopped (why pay when the alarm has been ripped off the wall and we were moving out anyways). Thankfully the call was recorded and when I complained via Facebook I received a call back apologizing for the behavior.
Flash forward a month and a half. I get a form letter saying my monitoring was stopping (nothing to monitor with no alarm and no phone) and a form email telling me about free move services and upgrades. Tells me that they don’t bother to look at their customer files at all. They just use automated marketing processes to mindlessly send out materials.
Evidently I have a credit on my account, will be interesting to see how long that takes to get back.

Stay away! I’ve used them for so many years and when I had to cancel the account they try and do anything in their powers to make the process super complicated. Special letters mailed to PO boxes etc. I am sending their information to our lawyer to request refund for all the stolen money from us. Avoid at all cost.