Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Yarnell Security Systems's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Yarnell Security Systems

  241 N Plum St Lancaster, PA 17602-2792

• 

  Yarnell Security Systems

  PO Box 1882 Lancaster, PA 17608-1882

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:10/26/2023

  Type:Billing 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.

  Yarnell is a security system that we have for our residential home -- have had for about 6-8 years. On 9/8/23 we had service completed on one of our doors as there was a false alarm on 8/23/23 at 6:07am. There was no reason given for the false alarm. A tech came out - found nothing. Said, sometimes "that just happens". An invoice was sent (& paid) for $165.00 On Sunday, 10/1/23 - another false alarm occurred at 10:07am - same area. Since this was the second time, I had requested a tech to come out that day to fix the problem. On 10/1 - tech arrived and changed a "roller plunger" -- he stated that this was missed from the first tech. This fix seemed the fix the problem. I had called Yarnell customer service on the following dates asking for a return phone call to discuss not paying for the emergency service call on 10/1/23 (since the problem was not fixed on 9/8/23): 10/2 - spoke to a tech -- requesting a return phone call back from a manager 10/3 - spoke to a tech -- requesting a return phone call back from a manager 10/6 - spoke to a tech - requesting a return phone call back -- it was verified at that time that my messages were being sent, however still no return phone call. 10/17 - I called again, requesting yet again another return phone call. 10/17 - I emailed the manager & his supervisor explaining above As of 10/20 - still no return call nor email response. The Emergency call invoice I received (in the amount of $505.00) should not be my responsibility as the problem should have been fixed when the 9/8/23 tech came out (which I paid that invoice timely) I am requesting: The Emergency invoice of $505.00 to be removed and the 9/8/23 invoice ($167.00) be refunded.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/01/2023

  We have resolved the issue with *************  He accepted our offer on 10/27/2023

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

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/01/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  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.   I appreciated the follow up from the management team and resolution.  It should be noted that their service is a good service.  
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/29/2023

  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.

  Our household has been a customer with Yarnell for more than 15 years for both alarm and CCTV services (the latter for about 7 years) and paid all of our bills on time. In 2022, we began receiving notifications that there were issues with the alarm system, mostly having to do with it not being compatible with our phone system. Up until that point there were no issues. After much back and forth, a team came out in December to install a pricey new panel. It still didn't work. At that point, we decided to cancel, and on an invoice that was sent in mid-December, I wrote "please cancel". The paperwork that was subsequently sent was apparently only for the CCTV service, which, in fact, was not the issue... it was the alarm system. We realized that the alarm system service had not been canceled when we started getting phone calls again about malfunctions in 2023. I called multiple times.. each time, I was told that someone would take care of this, that we should ignore the bills, and that they were sorry they had dropped the ball. Fast forward to September, when we got another phone call about malfunctions, and I finally got cancellation paperwork, only to have amore than $2000 bill attached to it, apparently because I had paid my bill (which was tantamount to a signed contract.). I have offered to give back the equipment and pay a reduced fee for the installation. But I just keep getting bills for a service that no longer works and no resolution from the company. Please help. This company used to be responsible and reliable, and I am so disappointed.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/01/2023

  Good afternoon.  I am in receipt of the below complaint regarding the contract terms and early cancellation of their contracted services.  Please be advised that *** ****** signed a contract for a new alarm system to be installed at **** ********* *** Lancaster Pa.  This installation has been completed and the December 27, 2022 invoice in the amount of $796.00 has not been paid to date.  As ****** notes in her complaint that at times her alarm system does not work due to their phone system not being compatible.  Please know that it is not that the phone system is not compatible, as we explained several times, it is the customers responsibility to have working telecommunication. Oftentimes, customer will use their landline to communicate between the panel and central station.  This is not recommended with VOIP, voice over internet. There is not a 100% guarantee that their phones will communicate.  In these situations, we always suggest a cellular backup or a cellular device as the main line of communication.  Multiple attempts were made from January to May to collect on the past due installation invoice without resolve. On May 8, 2023 we were informed by ****** that she would like to cancel her services and the signed agreement because the system was "not working" it is important to note that from the time of the installation to this date, we never received a call requesting service or advising that there were any problems with the system.  Our cancellations department attempted to assist with these concerns but ****** was not interested so they advised ****** that the request to cancel is required as per the signed contract and the contract terms were reviewed at that time and an early termination fee based on the time remaining and the default term, was calculated. 32 months were remaining on this contract @ $38.00/month, the total due was $1,216.00, plus the past Of $796.00 for the installation mentioned earlier to satisfy the signed contract. ****** called our office on May 24, 2023 at 9:21 am disputing the final balance due stating the system does not work and spoke with our service manager, Dan Herr in great length. he confirmed with our central station that there were times here and there that the system did have some communication issues when first installed but has been communicating regularly. He was able to remotely connect to the panel via DMP Dealer Admin without any issue and advised ****** that he does not see any issues whatsoever in the panel but would like to send a technician out, at no charge, to do a full check of the system and diagnose what the problem is and fix anything with the alarm system that was needed and she unfortunately declined.  She spoke with our cancellations department again that day at 4:59 pm and asked that the contract balance be waived. She was advised that we were unable to do so, explaining they received the price of the new alarm system at the price that they did, because they signed a 3 year agreement and that needed to be satisfied, again offering to have service visit and go over the panel thoroughly and fix anything that may appear to need attention. She declined again.  I have attached a copy of the proposal, signed agreement and installation invoice for your review.
  
  Please note that we are still more then willing to come to the premises and have the technician look over the system and diagnose whatever troubles they may be experience free of charge to get this matter resolved once and for all.
  
  Thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/12/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: the facts that Yarnell are offering up are not true.

  We HAVE working telecommunication in our house and it has been working since we first had the alarm system installed. We also have cellular backup, of which Yarnell is aware, since, in the past, they called our cell phones to let us know that things were amiss. 

  The conversation between *** and myself is a work of fiction. He never said anything about sending someone out to do a full diagnostic and he certainly did not tell me that he was able to connect to our panel. I did offer to have him speak to my husband to see if there was something they could agree on, and ***** called and left a message the next day.  And *** NEVER got back to him.

  Multiple attempts were NOT made to collect on the bill for the panel. In fact, I received OE invoice on Dec. 27, which I did not pay because the panel was not working, which we told the company about. Subsequent bills received over the next few months were for amounts ranging between 19.87 (which I believe was residual from our cctv service) and 38.60 for a monthly service (when I called the number of the bill for account help in Utah, I was told to discard the bills because the service had been cancelled).

  In the past several months, May and August, after receiving more invoices, and after talking with the parent company in Utah, I called and talked with ******** ******, and she told me that she would forward my complaint and request for a reduced or forgiven bill to her credit person (who she said was a stickler for rules and regulations) to see what might be possible. Again... NO RESPONSE.  At no time has anyone ever offered to come out, at no charge, to diagnose and fix the system.  I am thoroughly disgusted with the fabrications on the part of this company.
  
  As for the "contract' that was signed... there is no record in our email of this... I notice that is was electronically signed. The date corresponds to the last date that technicians were out at our home to try to diagnose/fix the issue, to no avail... and I cannot believe my husband would have signed a contract for a system that WAS NOT WORKING. 
  
  As I stated, I am more than willing to pay a reduced fee for the time it took to install the panel, but I am not going to pay for a panel that never worked, and I certainly do not want to pay for 3 years of a contract that I indicated back in December that I wanted to terminate.  I have gotten mixed messages from the parent company of Yarnell and the local representatives about what we owe (I have gotten electronic bills for $2012 and physical bills for about $1200) and how we can resolve this situation, and I feel hoodwinked and so very disappointed by the actions of the company that we once trusted with our security.
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 10/10/2023

  Good afternoon. First, I want to clear up the misconception in regards to the cell back remark in the beginning of the rejection.  Calling the customer on their cell phones has nothing to do with the cell backup on their panel.  A cellular backup is a device that we install on or near their panel to communicate to central station.  The reason for the upgrade was because the dialer was bad in the panel and would no longer dial out to central station.  Contacting a customer on their cell phone happens when the panel sends a signal to central station (by cell backup device), central station receives the signal and then proceeds to contact the customer on their home number, cell number (if provided) work number (if provided) and any other person/persons they have requested to be contacted should the alarm go off and they are not able to be reached.  I just wanted to be sure to bring clarity to that topic, as the customer seems a bit confused about the operations.

  I am puzzled over the response from *****************, as we have record of service call conversations and collection calls and emails. So I am not sure why this is denied on the consumers part.  As far as the contract signing, this was done via ******** with ***********************. It appears this was sent to him on 12/9/2022 to ************************ and we received back from him on 1/30/2023. Is she implying that we were fraudulent in obtaining a signature? I can assure you we do not, and would not consider such actions.  This is actually, as I am sure you can understand, quite troubling to me that such an accusation would be made.  

  I am extending an offer to meet halfway with this matter and will accept $600.00 as a negotiated settlement in an attempt to resolve this matter as amicably and fairly as possible.  The contract terms will be considered null and void and the account will be closed immediately upon receiving this payment.  Thank you for your consideration. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/13/2023

  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. 

  Please let me know how I may remit $600 to end this.
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/06/2023

  THis complaint was "resolved" with the business agreeing to accept $600 as payment. I wrote back to find out how to remit the payment and have not heard back.
  I am still getting electronic communications asking for $2012.
  Please advise.
  Thank you,
  ***** *******

  Business Response

  Date: 12/11/2023

  Good morning.  Please be advised that this matter was resolved between us and *** ******.  The $600.00 negotiated settlement was received on 11/21/2023 and the account was closed with the contract matter satisfied. Unfortunately, the December 1st invoicing had already taken place. Please be assured that this matter is closed.  We will personally contact **. & **** ****** with apologies for the confusion.  Thank you for your understanding.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/25/2023

  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.

  Initially when we called Yarnell (Oct/Nov 2022) to have our security system fixed; since Yarnell notified us that our nightly "test" of the system had stopped receiving signal. Yarnell informed us we should call our phone company, we then called our phone company and they informed us the issue is not with them; it is with Yarnell system. The system needed a replacement part. Thurs, we called Yarnell once again to request a service call. NO ONE called us back to schedule a service call, we continuously call weekly to get Yarnell to come out to fix the broken system. Still no one returned our call. Finally, I called to cancel the service with them end of Nov 2022, and they said they have to send it to their "cancel service" department and they will call me to confirm the cancellation. Still, no one has called us nor as Yarnell cancelled our pre-paid one year full service. In fact, Yarnell's automated system still calls weekly to inform us that our "nightly" test system in not working. Not sure why Yarnell is not returning our calls for service, or our request to cancel the service. Yarnell should be cancelling our service as well as refunding my fully paid annual service, that they cashed back in Sept.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/26/2023

  *********, 

  Thank you for reaching out to us. I have contacted our cancellation department regarding your request to expedite. It is marked pending for cancellation; I believe it may have been held as we haven't received a request in writing as your monitoring agreement states. This is being processed now.

  Javan R********

  Operations Manager

  Pye-Barker Fire & Safety
  
  Lancaster, PA 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/19/2022

  Type:Product 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.

  Yarnell home security equipment is no longer compatible with my phone system. Yarnell was aware of this but I wasnt. They sent a number of repair people to fix what they knew wasnt fixible and charged me for the work. They also kept a check I sent to renew my contract with them, even though they knew they could not perform the service. They then kept the check I sent to renew service to cover most of the cost of their fraudulent service. I am seeking a full refund of the renewal check I sent them in the amount of $464.34.In addition, I was not able to receive service for two months under the old contract because of my phone system was no longer compatible. I am seeking a refund of $70 for the portion of my previous contract that they were unable to fulfill.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/20/2022

  ***. ************'s home phone service and control panel were damaged. Customer requested to cancel service in lieu of repair. Cancellation processed on 8/25/2022. We called *************************** on October 14th and left a message on her voicemail stating the service call charges had been conditionally waived, her refund had been processed and check had been sent. 

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/28/2022

  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.  However, I have not been recommenced for the service lost under my original contract, nor have they acknowledged that they misled me on the incomoatibikity of my oh ine sysem with their hardware.  I hope they will treat other customers better.

  I am grateful to the BBB for their help.  I had gotten nowhere with Yarnell for the previous five months.

  Regards,
  
  ***************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/31/2022

  Type:Customer Service 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.

  Cannot get get.anyone to give me a phone number to call about problem that occurred with my service. The agent who answers the number listed for this company *************) refers me to a voicemail where I am asked to leave my number for a call back. No one calls me back. I finally called & requested my service be cancelled. Once again I was put on hold only to get a recording that stated that no agent was currently available. I will attempt to cancel on their website, but I find my treatment irresponsible, especially for a company that is supposedly monitoring my home security!

  Business Response

  Date: 10/13/2022

  Our Billing specialist resolved ***************************** via phone call last week.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/23/2022

  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 sent attached e-mail on Sunday 8/21/2022 to the following Yarnell employees:*********************, Service Coordinator ***************, Service Manager *************************, Operations Manager Yarnell Security Systems has not been responsive to my e-mail communications.I would like the following:1. Copy of Service Contract 2. Updated Zone List 3. Cancel Invoice Number ******* 4. Return to my home to complete work (repair/replace faulty device in bedroom); should be at no charge 5. Remove fuel surcharge 6. Reimbursement for each day fire and security system has been out of service Thanking you in advance.Warm Regards,*****

  Business Response

  Date: 10/13/2022

  We left a message for ***********************, asked him to call me back, gave him our Service Managers cell number, and sent him an email with the things he requested. We have not received any communication back.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/28/2023

  Hello, This represents a follow-up to my initial complaint number ********. Please review attached. I am requesting that vendor provide me with the following forthwith: Reimbursement for invoice number 3000200 = $286.42 Reimbursement for unused portion of Internet Monitoring, Central Station Monitoring Service, and Service Contract Agreement $43.20 x 6 months (August 2022 through January 2023) = $259.20 Return $421.40 payment, check number 2816. Of note, vendor converted my check number 2816 to ACH Debit transaction, without my permission!
  
  Desired Resolution:
  
  Desired Outcome:
  Vendor must provide reimbursement/refund in the amount of $967.02

  Business Response

  Date: 03/06/2023

  *** ******, 
  We have reached out to you via email, voice call and text last year (2022). We have sent you the documents you requested. We have not received a reply from you. Our Cancellations department has also reached out to you to process your cancellation request.

  To clarify the information:
  The system inspection on 8.5.22 would not foresee an unrelated problem 3 weeks later. We contacted you multiple times following your first complaint. We heard nothing back. If you are able to respond to us at service@***********.com or ********@yarnellsecurity.com, we can discuss the charges.