Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromWilliam S

  Date: 01/09/2023

  3 stars
  We have always received good care from these folks. I only gave them 3 stars because sometimes it takes them a while to get to you. But the equipment and service is good.

• Review fromHenri W.

  Date: 08/30/2022

  1 star

  Henri W.

  Date: 08/30/2022

  SMS monitored my home security system for many years, but I had to fire them because of their outrageous behavior. In August 2021 I replaced an old phone line, inadvertently causing a failure of the monitoring signal from my home to SMS. Without that signal, monitoring is impossible. To restore monitoring the customer must know that a problem exists and then get the signal restored.I didn't know there was a signal failure, but SMS did. They received continuous reports (I didn't) showing a failure and knew they could not monitor my home. But SMS kept me totally in the dark and failed to tell me I was not being monitored. Four months later, in December 2021, they sent an annual monitoring bill for 2022, but still did not disclose they were not monitoring. They took my money, even though they knew they could not provide the service for which I was paying them.In May 2022 I learned from a third party, not SMS, that my new phone didn't work with SMS's system. I contacted SMS who said they knew about the signal failure and hadn't told me and admitted that they had not monitored my home for the previous 8 months.I fired them and demanded a refund for the 2022 fee, because they hadn't monitored my home at all in 2022. They refused, and their explanation is truly remarkable.SMS didn't just accidentally fail to tell me they weren't monitoring. They actually have in place a policy of deliberately not telling customers about signal failures and the resulting failure to monitor, based on language contained in their standard contract. They claim that because I inadvertently caused a signal failure, they don't have to tell me anything and can leave me completely in the dark not knowing I have no monitoring. They also claim they can keep my money without providing the monitoring for which I paid.If you want a company that doesn't monitor, keeps you in the dark and says it will keep your money without providing anything in return, SMS is a great choice.

  Smoky Mountain Systems, Inc.

  Date: 08/31/2022

  This customer was a longtime customer with SMS and had signed a 5 year monitoring agreement with us in January of 2019 and because of his long time business we did agree to release him from the monitoring contract that he signed.  In the agreement it states that it is the customer's responsibility to maintain a line of communication to the panel and to test that communication on a regular basis. The systems that are installed are owned by the customer and we do let the customer know that we are here to help and that they are to call us in the event of any trouble.  To be quite specific, the account was still being monitored even showing it late to test.  We were looking for the account number, but the customer's equipment was not communicating due to changing their form of communication.  I would think that a phone call with questions for your alarm company prior to canceling your phone service or changing your phone service would have resulted in a very different outcome. This customer is one of many of our customers that we service, and our company has been in business since **** and value our customers and quite frankly were caught off guard with the accusations from the customer's demanding and outrageous first email accusing us of possibly "sinister" business practices.  We were billed for the monitoring of his system even though his equipment was not able to communicate with our Central Station due to him changing phone service. Just like not knowing the speed limit because you chose not to read the posted speed limit sign isn't going to get you out of a speeding ticket; not knowing how your security panel communicates and "inadvertently causing a communication failure" because of a change you made at your home and not reading the monitoring agreement that you signed, does not make the "inadvertent" cease in  communication of your panel our fault.  We do appreciate your years of business with us and hope that you do have a wonderful evening. 

  Henri W.

  Date: 09/02/2022

  SMS confirms what I wrote. The admit knowing for months about the signal failure which meant they couldn't monitor for a break-in, a fire or a panic alarm, the very things we paid them to do. They admit they intentionally left us in the dark, letting us believe we had protection, while billing us for services they knew they couldn't provide. They claim they had no legal duty to tell us (which we dispute), but nothing prevented them from doing so - they could have told us if they wanted to. They have never explained why they made an intentional decision to withhold that information. Despite my 14 years as their customer, they could not find 30 seconds to send me an email or call my cell (listed on the contract), so I could get the problem fixed.They try to muddy the waters by claiming that my account was "still being monitored", a misleading statement. The contract required them to monitor four things: telephone, intrusion, panic alarm and fire. The telephone line is the conduit through which the signals from the three emergency alarms pass. "Monitoring" the phone means testing to see that the signals are coming through. So, their claim that they were "still monitoring" is misleading. They were not monitoring the three emergency alarms the contract required - they couldn't. They were "monitoring" only in sense that they were testing whether or not the signal was coming through the telephone line. When the testing continued to show a signal failure for nine months, they intentionally withheld that information (information which would have allowed us to fix the problem and restore the emergency monitoring). So, their "monitoring" of the telephone at that point served no real purpose.They try to divert attention from their conduct by introducing a red *******, a phony issue. They are outraged over my supposedly claiming the signal failure was their fault. That claim is false - I have never said they were at fault for the initial signal failure. Their fault comes later, in deliberately keeping us in the dark for 9 months, knowingly leaving us unprotected for all that time and charging us for services they knew they could not perform.