Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/06/2023

  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.

  My complaint is similar to that posted to the BBB on 1/17/22. I have used Lowitts alarm monitoring since 2013. On 4/28/23 I requested service termination effective 5/3/23, as I was selling the house and moving out of their service area. To my surprise, they demanded a termination penalty of $1423, representing expected payments until ****. In transitioning many services over the years, I have not encountered this. Lowitt directed me to the 5y service agreement I signed in 2021 (presumably the same as signed before in 2013 and 2018), which they induced me to sign with a linked $300 repair discount. In trust, I assumed the agreement was reasonable and constituted a commitment to continue to use Lowitt at a specified rate, along with the expected legalese absolving Lowitt from liability for theft etc.But I see now that the agreements fine print legalese - below the signature line and under the uninformative heading 9. Legal Action contains a provision giving Lowitt full payments for the next 5y, regardless of service delivery. I think this grossly unfair, and at least should have been disclosed in a customer-transparent fashion.I have discussed this with Lowitt. I offered to pay back the $300 discount I received in 2021, but their position was you signed. They offered to reduce the penalty by 50%, but in my view, half of an unfair penalty is still an unfair penalty. I noted that my signing in 2021 demonstrated that I was unaware of the fine print penalty, since I was by then beginning to contemplate moving. In fact, had the provision been appropriately disclosed in 2013 or 2018, I would not have signed then either. Looking around now at the competition, I see other alarm companies offering better terms and lower prices. I suspect that the previous complainant and I are not the only customers unaware that Lowitt's agreement effectively guarantees them a full 5y of future payments on service day 1, even if a customer moves out of their service area.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/15/2023

  The customer required an equipment upgrade in 2021 and was provided with our standard price for Lowitt to perform the work. At the time of the proposal to upgrade the equipment, the customer had an Agreement with 2 years remaining on its term. The customer could have elected to accept the proposed price and retain his then current agreement. However, the customer requested a discount. ********************** agreed to the discount on the condition that the customer sign a new 5 year Agreement. The customer chose the discount and new 5 year agreement rather than pay the standard price.  The fact that the discounted price was based on the customer signing a new 5 year term agreement is noted very clearly on the work order directly below the scope of work and above the customer's signature. It is also noted on page 1 in paragraph 2 of the Agreement that the customer signed.  It appears that the customer was aware that he intended to move  when he signed the new 5 year Agreement. If the customer had disclosed his intention to move prior to signing the new Agreement, Lowitt would not have offered a discount for a new 5 year Agreement. Rather than sharing his intention to move and not receiving the discount, the customer chose the discount and committed to a 5 year Agreement.
  
  The entire point of a multi year contract  is that each party is committing to perform under that contract for the entire term. As is the case for many services, including cellular communications services, an early termination of the agreement results in the customer paying an early termination fee.  Lowitts monitoring services agreement is no different. The customer chose to sign a 5 year agreement in order to obtain a financial discount and now complains because he breached the agreement.
  
  Since the customer knew he would be moving, he should not have entered into a 5 year agreement. The best upfront pricing is based on the (5) year term which is why the customer elected to proceed with that agreement