Mar 23 2009
Alarmforce: You just don’t give up!
Anyone who is looking specifically for complaints about Alarmforce will find a number of posts here about my disdain for them..
It’s been no secret for over a year that I am very dissatisfied with their service–both the system and customer service..
So, I finally called them today to cancel my service. Our contract is up on June 1st of this year, but I wanted to give them plenty of lead time. After waiting on hold for about 10 minutes, I got to tell them that I was canceling. They asked the usual questions like why was I cancelling and “is there anything we can do to change your mind?” After several minutes, they said that I would have to either fax, mail or e-mail my cancellation request. I got the information from them that I would need to include and hung up. I then e-mailed them, as requested..
A couple days later, I get a call from them and get the same barrage of questions from them… This time I was quite blunt and said that I didn’t want to have anything to do with their service and I want it out of my house..
A understand the “customer retention” department concept, but all that last phone call did was piss me off more.. I was clear in my initial conversation with them and the e-mail. The final call was unnecessary, in my opinion..
So.. the point of this point is this.. if you have Alarmforce and want to cancel, keep the following in mind:
- They require about 60 days notice. Don’t wait until the last day of your contract.
- They will ask you to send back ALL of the equipment that is part of the system. I challenged them on this and asked why I needed to give back equipment that I paid for. They quickly amended their statement to say the parts that were part of the original installation — not the extra sensors that I paid for.
- Be prepared to ship the unit to them. They’ll provide the Purolator info, but they won’t come pick up the units themselves..
Hopefully, this helps someone.. 
THIS IS THE ALARMFORCE CENTRAL STATION! WE ARE PREVENTING YOU FROM CANCELING YOUR SERVICE AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.
That’s pretty much how it feels..
I’ll get them in the end.. by the time my contract is up, the bank account that they take their monthly “monitoring” fee is going to be closed..
arrrr i am trying to cancel too, except I dont have all the hardware. im sure i will be put through the ringer and charged a billion dollars for it all. What a joke. They dont tell you that you should keep it all.
Bad customer service – pour business practise charged for 2 false alarms caused by their faulty equipment (1st time) or faulty installation (2nd). Had to pay police for both. No restituation from AF. You can’t negotiate with terrorists. In the process of cancelling. Thanks for the tips! I’ll send the equipment back ASAP just to make SURE they get it and are out of my house. Not an impressive provider.
I had alarm force. Returned the equipment after 3 yr contract ended. Alarm Force is telling me I did not return all the product! Like i would want to keep it. Anyways, I have my cancellation letter, proof of deliver with UPS. The only thing i should have taken a photo of all the equipment in the box. TO ALL when returning product take a photo!!! they will send you a bill for $291.36 and send you to collections. This is stealling and harrassment!!
I do not recommend Alarm Form at all.
Bad customer service, rude … I can go on.
I have sent a complaint to Market Place and BBB. I will contact everyone about this. Horrible service.
HATE alarmforce!!
Still have 1.5 years left…:(
THERE IS NO WAY TO CANCEL
NONE
I’ve moved out of the original area that I signed up for and they won’t let me cancel, they’re telling me I’m in a ‘mail-out area’ and that I will need to install it MYSELF!!!
Are you joking me? What the he** am I paying for then??
LET ME OUT YOU MONEY HUNGRY LOSERS!!
And I agree with all of the prior posts…
Thanks for the tips, wish I would have found THIS site FIRST!!
I own a small security company and my contracts are always month-to-month and the customer always owns their equipment. I do it this way because I worked for other companies just like Alarm Force and they are all contract driven with auto renewals that are really the big “gotcha”. In the future don’t sign any term contracts with any alarm company. Month to month only and be willing to pay for the equqipment install so you truly own the equipment. There is no free lunch. If you see the words “FREE INSTALL” just say no!
Thanks for those comments, everyone. We will stay clear of Alarm Force in our choosing a security service.
I totally agree !! The BS that they gave us years ago about their so-called service. First they told us that “in the event of an alarm the police would be dispatched”. Well that is lie number one as the only people responding were $8 an hour wannabe cops. Second lie was regarding the response time. While we were at home the alarm malfunctioned and went off. We couldn’t stop it until we unplugged the damn thing. It took almost an hour and a half for some ‘wannabe cop’ to show up. Good thing it wasn’t a real burglary as our whole house would have been ransacked. Third lie was the “you can cancel your service with 30 days notice” and of course we get the “you can’t cancel until your one year term is up”. That was the final straw and we cancelled right away and told them their equipment would be outside on the step for them to pick up.
ALARMFORCE STRIKES AGAIN!
Same thing as everyone else, and mainly with them wanting me to ship their unit back to them, their techs made holes in my wall and if I have to remove the sensors it will leave holes that I have to repair to sell my house. If I leave things as is I don’t have to repair the holes. If I dont send them back I have to buy them.
Same issues with breaking the contract and getting bent over and talking it up the ass. I have been with them for 3 and a half years, still not good enough to let me out without paying.
There’s a reason that they only have 150,000 clients in North America and when you search alarmforce, “Alarm Force Complaints” comes up as the second biggest hit with 2.1 Million….
I thought I was getting an alarm system to keep the crooks out but little did I know the crooks were the ones installing the alarm.
I agree, do not bother to sign up with them. I have a little over two years and I wish I did my research on the net. My system does not work and no one can figure out why but they still continue to debit my account. My advice – STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!
Alarm Force is cheap but there are some serous bugs in the system. I initially went with Alarm Force because of the commercials, the low monthly cost, free instillation and that the system is wireless so I would not need to run wires. When I had mine installed about 6 months ago (I paid an additional $700 for extra sensors, smoke detectors and 2 keypads so I don’t use my cordless phone to operate the system). The installer placed the receiving unit right beside my wireless router (at the time I was informed the Alarm Force receiving unit needed to be close to where the phone line comes into my home). The system seemed to work fine until I came home from work about a month later and my front door was kicked in. I called alarm force and they had not received an alarm. After 5 calls to their technical department, we figured out the wireless router was preventing the receiving unit from receiving signals from the sensors. I moved the Alarm Force receiving unit to another room and away from the wireless router. The Alarm Force installer had already been to my home 2X to repair my system previously. The components have obviously been used before they came into my home. I argued that the installer should have tested the system before he left and questioned his qualifications. Alarm Force backed their installer. I also questioned why the installer did not wear a uniform, did not have anything showing he worked for Alarm Force and why drove a rusty old car that leaked fluids on my driveway. I tried to get out of the 3 year contract but Alarm Force refused and no one would let me talk to a manager. Then, last month my back door opened around 3 am (I have no idea how it opened). The door chime woke me up but the alarm did not go off. To be honest, walking through a dark house ½ asleep looking for an intruder and waiting for Alarm Force to come on with 2 way voice communication as back-up that never happens is really crappy. The door that opened is set for instant alarm in the “home” mode and the alarm was definitely on. Also, I pay for cell back-up and if my phone line is cut Alarm Force informed me that they will notify me immediately. Well, the cell back-up does not work because the cell signal isn’t strong enough (ironically I live in a major city centre) and the phone line cut option does not work either. My wife accidentally unplugged the phone line from the wall to the unit for 4 weeks. Alarm force never notified us that the phone line was disconnected. Alarm force is still not sure why this option doesn’t work but they continue to charge me the extra fees. So basically, the only thing worse in my opinion to not having and home alarm is having a home alarm that you think works and actually doesn’t. I’m new to the home alarm thing and when my contract expires I will be looking for another provider. Maybe skip experiencing Alarm Force and roll the dice on another company.
My parents needed a security system for their house so I decided to go with ADT. I heard some good things about Alarm Force but the bottom line was that they didn’t send police during an alarm. MHB Security, an ADT dealer, offered the most equipment compared to other dealers and they didn’t try to sell me a system over the phone like some other dealers. I don’t understand how these dealers can tell me what protection was needed in my parents’ home without physically seeing the house and surroundings for themselves. I appreciated that a Manager from MHB Security was able to come to my parents’ home and let us know what type of equipment would go in their house and what extra equipment they needed since their house backs into a forest. He also suggested a medical alert button for my mom since she is a heart patient. I was satisfied that in case if anything happened to my mom she would be able to get medical help right away. Thanks MHB Security for providing my parents with the optimal alarm system.
We didn’t even have their crap installed! It was here when we bought the house. We paid it for 13 months and never turned it on. I called last October to inform them that I had stopped payment (BTW I paid the bill first) .We are a young retired couple. My husband had to take an early retirement because I suffered a major head trauma and had brain surgery. My husband has been diagnosed with Altzheimers last October and we have recently lost our medical plan. Give me a break you PIGS!!!! You are going to chase a retired couple. One thing I will keep in mind….before you sign with anyone for anything…..find out if they have their own legal department for collections.
How disgusting of you!!!!
CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! I am living the same hell as the rest of you. We haven’t even had the equipment plugged in in the last year because it stopped working and we couldn’t get anyone to help us sort it out. We told them over and over (via telephone) that we didn’t want it anymore, our contract was over, and we didn’t feel there was any reason for us to pay for a service they were incapable of and were not providing. After a year of this today is the first time any of those harpies in their so-called customer service department told me that the equipment needed to be returned. I too have never been allowed to speak to a manager and for some mysterious reason there is no record of me ever mentioning to any of the reps that we wanted out. These people are dishonest and underhanded! I too will be contacting the BBB. I just hope it makes a difference!
I have recently finished with a 3 yr contract and returned all equipment. I have my termination letter and UPS proof of delivery. Alarm Force claims that I did not return everything. I wish I took a photo of the box to prove I did. Now I have a bill for missing equipment for $291.36 and sent me to collections. This is stealing and harrassment. I have filed a complaint with BBB, Market Place and other blogs. Please do not get Alarm Force get a real security company. Also, customer service reps are rude and this usually comes from top down management. I had to buy the battries and change the battires my self, the problem is, when their battry runs low, we have to change the battries in each and every device, so it was costing me about $68 every 3 months. Their $25 per month is all bull shit, as we have to spend so much money to maintain their system. After researching this company I wish I never gave them my business and hard earned money.
Alarm Force Service is blocked when the phone is off the hook and their so called 2-way voice box is just pluged in to an outlet in kitchen. — so any smart burglar would know how to disable the system and the process to do his work in peace without interruption by the “security” system. There are several REAL security systems that cost no more — and actually provide security. I have done my re-search now and would be going with MHB Security for my new ADT System. I would own the system with MHB Security, so I will not be required to return any thing plus they will also change the battries for free during my 3 eyars contracts.
I have alarmforce in my home for the past 4 months, when the technician arrived I asked to see the system he would install, he showed me a new box never opened with new equipment. He asked is everything fine, I said yes, just checking as I heard you guys install used equipment, but I can see that is not the case here. We accidently triggered the alarm about 3 weeks after getting it, & realized the phone was not actived to it, I called them thereafter, spoke to a manager in total about 3 different people, they apologized & promised to send a technician to fix the problem, or remove the system alltogheter. The gentleman who came had a proper uniform & was polite, he fixed the problem & I have not had any other problems since. I often test my system & hopefully will have no problems if there is ever a real emergency. My advice to all those who blame the alarm companies is this, it is your responsibility to secure your home, just because you have insurance on your car doesn’t mean you will leave your doors unlocked. I have double deadbolts on my main doors & secure garage door, my windows on the main floor, if large enough are always secured when we are away or asleep. All alarm companies have faults none is perfect, my friend just got a letter from ADT ‘dear madam, we are writing to you to inform you that your alarm system seems inactive’ a letter to tell you, you are not protected, right.
Anyway, I don’t take sides but we should all be responsible for our lives, not rely on machines or others to look after us.
Lucy
I had another extremely rude call today from an AFB , I find it hard to believe that a company that claims to care about you family and your home could possibly be this PIG IGNORANT!!!!!
I have an Alarm Force system and I’ve been really happy with it. I’ve had no problems with the system or the service. I used to have an ADT system and that was problem after problem, and I was paying a ton. I think that some of the guys on here might have some valid complaints, but others I think probably don’t have a system and are Alarm Force competitors. It’s like if something doesn’t seem right, it probably isnt lol
Regardless, I’ve had no problems and have found that everyone I talked to there has been polite and I really dont have any complaints.
I moved house and told them I wanted to cancel they told me that I have to pay the full term of the contract 43 months. I am still paying over $30 a month for a system that is in a box in my basement other than the window and door gadgets which are still in my old house.
This is a rip[ poff company how the BBB can give tem approval is beyond me. disgusted and frustrated with the whole thing
two things.. sounds like someone posting crap to promote MHB security..lol secondly 99% of these complaints could be prevented by READING INSTRUCTIONS AND THE CONTRACT!!
heres a few responses to some of the complaints
“Then, last month my back door opened around 3 am (I have no idea how it opened). The door chime woke me up but the alarm did not go off.”
–>The door chime doesn’t function when the system is armed.. so obviously you forgot to close your door and alarm the alarm..
“I had to buy the battries and change the battires my self, the problem is, when their battry runs low, we have to change the battries in each and every device, so it was costing me about $68 every 3 months”
–> if you READ your instruction booklet it tells you how to TEST your batteries in each device and determine which batteries are low (in older units) In newer units it tells you which batteries are low specifically
“We didn’t even have their crap installed! It was here when we bought the house. We paid it for 13 months and never turned it on”
–> you wouldn’t be responsible for it unless you AGREED to sign a takeover/transfer from the previous owners.. obvious
“Same thing as everyone else, and mainly with them wanting me to ship their unit back to them, their techs made holes in my wall and if I have to remove the sensors it will leave holes that I have to repair to sell my house. If I leave things as is I don’t have to repair the holes. If I dont send them back I have to buy them.”
–> whats your point here? The alarm needs to be attached to the walls and a small screw hole isnt too difficult to patch.
“They require about 60 days notice. Don’t wait until the last day of your contract.”
–> 30 days written notice.
“They will ask you to send back ALL of the equipment that is part of the system. I challenged them on this and asked why I needed to give back equipment that I paid for. They quickly amended their statement to say the parts that were part of the original installation — not the extra sensors that I paid for.”
–> whats your point here? they ask you to ship back equipment.. you say what about what I paid for.. they say keep it.. you keep it…end of story.. what good it is to you i’m not sure.. but keep it..
GOOD TO KNOW.
I recently had a polite young man come knock on my door with Liberty Security from Edmonton. They are a dealer for VOXCOM which I learned is now RELIANCE PROTECTRON. The two-way system they provide doesn’t require a BIG bulky speaker that goes by the phone it comes through an impressive GE panel and they provide all the equipment that I would need for security, fire, and medical emergency’s for just 40$/month. This is far better since VOXCOM/RELIANCE PROTECTRON is the largest Canadian owned monitoring station in Canada. Not some dinky little company like AlarmForce. Anyways, the system I have is absolutley wonderful and the technician was very qualified. I got a lot more equipment for free rather than paying an extra 700$ which is where AlarmFOrce gets you moneywise. I pay 180$ more per year but in 3 years that won’t even compare to the 700$ for extra equipment. The CANADIAN door to door salesmen are the best to just ask questions and get the best deals out of. Alarmforce has 25$/ month because they just offer 2 door contacts and a motion detector. LAME.
I always wanted to know which is the best among the four Top home security providers in Canada and USA (ADT, Alarmforce, Brinks( Broadview) ,Protectron (VOXCOM). If you want to know more about these companies and their reviews just visit – goodalarmbadalarm.com
And if you have used these companies products and services, Please feel free to write reviews and experiences about the companies…
Hey I posted this in another website containing AF complaints but it does contain some good info about choosing alarms so hope it helps:
hahaha, you guys are awsome. I guess some of you are american and some canadian, but for canadians, i saw a post saying that alarm force is the largest in canada. You are kidding!!!. I’ve worked in the alarm industry for 7 years now, 4 yrs for ADT and for the past 3 for Reliance Protectron. First of all AF has a 3% market share in canada, second have you heard of a little concept called attrition rate? It refers to the percentage of total customer a business loses per annum. On the canadian alarm market the average is 6%. For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Reliance registered 4.5% attrition, ADT 6.5% and AF a world record of 25%, yes 2 5, twenty five percent!!! LOL!!! You don’t believe me? Check the stock market. Why do you think that is when you get from AF no upfront cost whatsoever and only $25 per month? That’s because they catch everyone on price and make things sound so easy, like the whole disarm from your phone thing. Let me assure you, a system without a key pad and control panel is useless! It’s missing the brain of your alarm! Another thing is the system they use, which is Paradox. Look up paradox systems online and compare to GE or Honeywell or even DSC. You’ll laugh your ass off. My advice to all of you is to spend some money, sign a longer 3 or 4 year contract with a serious company that can actually protect your homes and get a system that’s worth your hard earned money. DO NOT BUY THINGS BASED ON PRICE, BUY BASED ON VALUE! If you’re in the states, get ADT or Brinks, if you’re in Canada, buy Reliance or Voxcom, and most important of all demand GE equipment, mainly the GE Simon XT, the #1 system in N America. You all had the concern with changing batteries…well GE backup batteries last 8-10 years and cost $85 CDN, which is nothing over 8 years, the Simon XT speaks to you and tells you exactly which sensor has low battery with a month of battery life still left. BTW another good system is the Honeywell Lynx or Vista. I am not affiliated with them but i can’t take it away from them, it’s good quality. And one last piece of advice about the alarm market: when you research what company to go with, your top priority is not the quality of monitoring but reliability of monitoring. Look up info about their monitoring stations and how many customers they have per station. When you’ve selected a few companies then pick the one with the best quality of service. That’s why i quit ADT here in Canada, because their monitoring is indeed excellent, but the amount of customers they have in N America damages the reliability of their service and monitoring.
AlarmForce is useless. Aside from all the bullshit with the system if the power is out – and the other night the system was beeping all night after and didn’t let me sleep and when I called and asked to fix it from their side, as I know before they’ve reset it – the guy told me to shut it off till morning. WHY the hell do I have it then anyway ??? Another incident everyone was out and the alarm went off – they call our cell and ASK if we want them to check it out. I wonder if they couldn’t reach the cell what would be done ? left a message for me to let them know later ??? When I said that yes, they have to go and check. Whoever was there checking only looked at the front door and since nothing was wrong – called in and Alarm Force called me again to let me know nothing was wrong. We have 2 other doors in the back of the house that you can’t see from the front door. I mean what’s the point ????? What burglar in the right mind would go off the front entrance on the busy street ??????
Batteries are all yours to buy and sensors burn through them like clockwork every 6 months… Not even 2 years for the com-box battery – so that’s another 120$.
PLEASE think about all the costs when ordering an alarm service. 2 way talk is great but get yourself friends if all you want to do is talk- if you want security system go somewhere else. Alarm Force is useless.
Getting the same bs as the other comments from alarm force. With them 3.5 yrs, no contract left, won’t let me cancel until i give them the name of the new tenants. i said i wouldn’t 4 months ago. still getting charged today. i’m going to have the cancel my bank account. i don’t recommend
A few years back I signed up for Alarm Force because they boasted free equipment.
Then they declared two false calls, one of the days I was on vacation. They said the police responded twice and they were false. I never had any police come to my door. So without warning they canceled my service but still took money out because I was ‘under contract’ until Jan 31 2011.
Feb 1 2011 I cancelled my account and they then asked me ever so nicely to send all the FREE equipment back to them and when they receive the FREE equipment then they would cancel the account. They mailed me a shipping label and I packed the FREE equipment snug and secure in a box I had just bought computer speakers with. I called UPS and my daughter gave it to the driver when he came to get it. The driver did not leave a receipt. All was good
I noticed a couple months later, I had a lot of bills bouncing because Alarm Force was still taking out the money. (as everyone else I live paycheck to paycheck so I notice when things go weird this way especially when I get NSF charges of 45.00 each time and from the bank and whose bill bounced. Alarm Force is now costing me a fortune.
I spoke with Avril after being bounced around Alarm Force customer service. Oh yeah and conveniently UPS is showing they didn’t pickup the package. I was advised that because I shipped it to them then I had to do the extensive parcel search with UPS. I have worked with UPS before and this is a huge chore . When I contacted UPS they said that because Alarm Force created the shipping label and with THEIR UPS acct number that ALARM FORCE is considered the shipper and they need to do the search with UPS. When I contacted Alarm Force to discuss further they wouldn’t return my calls, or ‘accidentally’ hang up on me several time. This made me livid. They even told me that there was no manager or supervisor I can talk to and also that there is absolutely no way I can contact the president Joe Matlin.
I am a single mom on disabiity and and feel very frustrated and angry for the robbery by Alarm Force. Not only should they reimburce me the monthly withdrawls they have been taking from my back account, but I feel they should also pay the NSF fees becasue THEY caused the money not to be there for my legitimate bills like heat and hydro. And for that matter I want them to pay me for the full year that I had no ‘active security
becasue of the mistakes on their part. I also want them to get the proof for me that Peel Regional Police made this calls. I bet there isn’t even any .
I really hope you can help
This guys are cons and there needs to be some form of security in place to protect any future victims from this bureaucratic leeches.
MONIES OWED TO ME
Monthy charges since Feb 1 to present (I can provide a bank statement)
9 (Feb – Sep 1) x 28.25 = 254.25 plus any other months after sept 2011 that are taken out.
I found the more I tried to speak with a supervisor the ruder the people got
254.00 may not be much to them but when your medication is about 700.00 a month. 254.00 plus the feeling of violation is ALOT
I really hope you can help me.
Jacquie
I am just going through this right now. I sent them a cancellation request by email as per their request and they never sent me the cancellation confirmation letter. I had to fight with them on the phone for an hour and still got no official confirmation they kept saying that my email was sitting in a server somewhere so I sent them 10 more emails. They sent me the ups label finally because I threatened to call the police because I said it was fraud in that if they never confirmed my cancellation request then this could go on forever and I could never cancel their services right? They threatened to take me to court if I didn’t pay as I mentioned I would throw out all the alarm parts in the garbage and close my account, but I said that the Judge will first ask them why they wouldn’t confirm that they received my cancellation request and that my lawyer would fight them tooth and nail and she couldn’t handle the call anymore and also the supervisor was apparently unavailable. Then I called back and another guy sent me the label because I basically said that this situation can either end in two ways either very bad or end good, and that it was up to them to decide which way they were going to go. I still haven’t heard back from them or received the confirmation of cancellation and they will be receiving the alarm parts by courier early next week. I am wondering whether they will then stop withdrawing payments from my account? Any ideas as to how else I should proceed? Thank you. This is a great blog by the way and great discussion.
Alarm Force is a J O K E !!!!!!!!! I cancelled my service with them and they told me to send everything back that came with the system, so I did .They charged me an extra month gave me some BS about a time line to receive the equipment. I asked for them to credit me back and basically they said to bad. After reading the original post I came to realize that I purchased extras. I called and told them I want my stuff back and they said why, it won’t work with another system. I told the gentleman on the other end to bad I don’t care and that I paid for it. I was then put on hold once he returned he said he could send it back at my cost $$$. I told him absolutely not and to escalate my call, put on hold again. Upon his return he said okay we will credit you for the last month.. I guess they figured wow we can sell his stuff that he returned and rip someone else off.. I took that deal as I know they probably would have charged me $20 for the shipping.
I understand what you are going through & am @ the point that I may hand it over to someone else to deal with. I have been waiting for the prepaid UPS package since Monday to send the unit back. After several emails & several calls, I realize how terrible their customer service is. If I want a new system, they can be here the next day but on the other end, try to cancel & they are nowhere to be found. I suppose business must be bad & they need to gouge you for a couple of extra months (the way they operate, I can believe it. This is what they put you through after 9 years as a customer. Alarm Force….your way of dealing with this says a lot about your company!!!!!!
I will be forwarding the responses that I have received from your customer service(with dates) to everyone I know & hopefully they will forward these to their friends, etc.
The customer service rep said the reason for the delay was that they service Canada & the U.S. & there are not enough customer service reps to respond quickly. What are they doing with the money they are raking in? This recorded message has to be the best(even better than the emails)