Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/12/2025

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  the alarm system was faulty based on inspection by Vallejo fire department inspector.Upon Notifying alarm co.,they took 2 months to send technician to rectify the issue and billed my company $321.80. i contested that charge,but continued to pay my monthly alarm monitoring dues.they in turn terminated my monitoring service and billed me for the remainder of the contract (24 months). they threaten to send my account to collection.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/30/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We cancelled our account with First Alarm in ******* **. after 24 years. We had to upgrade our Alarm system to cellular from land line. They inspected the system and gave us a quote. We ordered the work done, and transferred our phone to a cell contract. First Alarm then advised us what they quoted won't work. They quoted another option twice the cost, then said that won't work. They made us pay a service call to see if an AES radio would work, the technician arrived and without putting it in told us it would not work. I called the office for explanation and was told I would receive a call back right away. No call back, 2 weeks later I get and e-mail stating the unit the technician did not install was send a good signal. I advised them it was not installed and they told me they could put it in because they knew it would work (after making me pay a service call to check it)! I spent days on the phone myself troubleshooting their system with no regard or service from them. We finally terminated the account and went with another company. I was advised the account was closed and no further fees owed. Now they are billing for the 30 notice. Staff does not have a good industry knowledge. A year prior they made a bad connection and cut our phone line for a week, refusing to come back in a timely manner to fix it. I had a phone company employee fix the line, First Alarm refused to wave their ****** service call at that time as well. They cannot fix or service their systems.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/28/2023

  *******,
  

  ******************** was unhappy with the handling of her final billing caused by internal miscommunication and after reviewing the situation I dont blame her.  We have taken this as a training opportunity for our staff so we can learn from our error and improve our customer service.
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  Controller

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/11/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I rented a security system for over 12 years with this company. Mid May I cancelled my service as I was moving. They never came so in early June I once again called and said that I would be out by the end of June with no access after that. My husband also called. They said fine but I needed to fill out a cancellation form, which they had to send to me (through docusign). I did not get the form and called again letting them know that I would no longer have access to the building and they needed to pick up the equipment. I eventually got the cancellation form on July 17! Now they want to charge me for the equipment because THEY, given almost 2 months notice did not pick up the equipment. It is still there but I no longer have access. I did not receive the cancellation form until July 17th, which is 2 months since we first informed first alarm that we needed to cancel our service. They keep sending me an "equipment buyout" bill for $750 but tell me they will "waive" it if I use their services in my new location, and, if I don't they'll send it to a collection agency. This is extortion. Furthermore I over paid them for 2+ months. I was told I'd be refunded. I was not. There are multiple similar complaints on both yelp and ****** from multiple people over the years so this is not a one off. It is policy. I have called them at least a dozen times since receiving these notices, speaking to multiple people (one of whom is named ****), all of whom assure me they will "take care of it". I got the latest threatening bill today.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/28/2023

  Jazmin,
  
  This issue was resolved September 8, 2023.  The customers account was settled with a zero balance. We were owed for July, the last month of service, which the customer paid.

  We were notified by the customer to cancel the account in June.  The call was logged on June 28, 2023 and we started our cancellation process which involves several departments and includes retrieving our equipment.  Per the terms of our contract we are *********** a 30-day notice to allow time to wrap up the account and schedule a time convenient to the customer to pick up the equipment.  As a result we billed and collected through the month of July.
  
  For quality control purposes we keep detailed notes on our conversations with customers.  In reviewing the notes of ****** account we concluded that we did inconvenience ***** and her husband, both long time customers, and that we need to do better.  As a result we waived all other fees and are taking steps to improve internal communications.
  
  We wish ***** and her husband ***** all the best.
  
  Sincerely,

  *************************

  Controller

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/28/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  First Alarm called me at 8PM January 6, 2023 to tell me my home was no longer being monitored because the had lost access to their cell tower. The next day after many phone calls their sales manager admitted that although they knew this was to happen they had give us zero notice of it in any manner (while sending regular bills):I was upset we were left without monitoring especially for fire as we were going away for a couple days leaving our adult son at home.The sales manager told me they would install equipment to resume monitoring only if we paid $99 and signed a new one year contract or a three year contract. We decided to contract with another company and informed them promptly.They have sent us an unitemized bill for contracted services claiming we owe them for 30 more days because our one year contract from 2017 apparently said that if WE cancelled service we had to give 30 days notice. WE did not cancel THEY did when our monitoring stopped through no fault of ours. That contract called for them to monitor our home which they stopped doing. They acknowledged that contract was void by requiring us to sign a new one to get service reinstated.We are happy to pay for service through January 8. The bill is for $155 does not give service dates but I was told on the phone it includes 30 extra days due to THEIR cancellation of the service they promised us,leaving us in the lurch. This is unfair as they violated the contract not us. Please advise.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/14/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  During COVID I cancelled monitoring service with them and when I did not upgrade services is when the ******** and harassment began. First Alarm has ******** me for the last year regarding a return equipment fee of ***** They have repeatedly sent me invoices and each time, I have responded and returned the invoice asking for documentation and my requests went unanswered. First Alarm just continued to send monthly ********* I've attached a few here. Now they have sent me a letter dated August 8 ********** *********** to send me to collections. First Alarm wanted to enter my home, during a time COVID was rampant to retrieve equipment. When I informed them, I was ill they then said "well we don't want the equipment you need to pay us ***** Attached pic of ******* old ********** I then asked for the agreement I have with First Alarm that states I owe ***** They sent an agreement from ****** ****** a company that has been out of business for over 5 years, in addition does not address the **** fee First Alarm is claiming. First Alarm has NEVER provided documentation, for which I signed, regarding a return equipment fee. I believe this is motivated by my discontinuance of their monitoring services. They have now ********** me with reporting me to collection.