Bell Smart Home

I became a Bell Home Security client after being a long-standing Bell client. I am writing to make the public aware of a failure of Bell Smart Home to address a home break-in incident. While I was away from home at the end of the summer, my house was broken into, and burglarized during overnight hours. My Bell home security system was armed, and at 12:24am on an August night, the alarm was triggered by motion inside the house and by the back door having been opened. Bell Home Security dispatched a guard at 12:26am. He arrived at my home at 12:41am. This guard failed to correctly verify the perimeter of my house. His report indicated that this was a false alarm - his report showed a picture of my front window in the section of the report detailing the back of my house.This was a misrepresentation of the actual state of facts. The forced entry into my house happened in the back, through a window. The guard probably never left his vehicle, just took pictures of the front and sides of my house, and falsified his report.
I woke up several time zones away to notification on my phone about the alarms being tripped. This was about an hour after the critical security breach message appeared on my phone. I texted my neighbour (even though it was the middle of the night) and asked her to verify if indeed everything was ok - when she awoke, she went into my backyard and could see that a window was broken open, and that my back door had obviously been tampered with. The police were called, and I had to do a video walk through my ransacked home with them to complete an official Police Report at the break-in and theft in my home. In the final analysis I suffered almost 6-figures in dollar value of theft and property damage in this incident, which Bell Smart Home FAILED TO PROPERLY ASSESS. In the 2.5 months following the incident, I spoke to 5 different Bell front-line employees - always my reaching out to them - by calling the 1-877 number left on my voicemail (all the Bell client care centre employees I reached refuse to give their full names). Never once did anyone in a decision making capacity at Bell Smart Home reach out to me to acknowledge their failure to me as a client. I called because I wanted to understand how this could have happened - how could one of their contractors falsify information, and no consequences ensue? I also wanted to know what the organization would do to address this so that it doesn't happen again. All of the client care employees took details of my case, stating that they will report to their seniors and "... get back to you next week." No one from Bell contacted me to address this situation. Yesterday, another alarm was tripped in my home, and I finally was contacted by a "technical support manager" who had to take on my complaints about the historic case that was never dealt with. Bell Smart Home are liars. Their policy is a lack of transparency regarding their internal procedures when dealing with their failures to their clients. I am tired of being lied to. There is no way to speak to anyone within the organization in a position to respond and provide real answers, and take responsibility for implementing change. They are patronizing and dishonest. "...we're sorry this happened to you" is their response. Bell Corporations bears responsibility for employee's falsification on their reports but they do not come forward to deal with anything. I called Ontario Consumer Protection, and they told me my only recourse would be to take Bell Smart Home to court. Which I would do if I had time and money to waste, because as an unregulated sector Bell Smart home has no consequence for their actions beyond legal action by those they fail. I encourage everyone who has been failed by Bell Smart Home to contact consumer protection agencies to file official complaints about this business. Bell Smart home's only response to my questions was a pat "... this is the first I'm hearing of this, and it's not really my responsibility" answer.
As consumers we should unite and take them to court collectively.
Please leave responses if you'd like to consider collective action against Bell Smart Home.

Alarm Force has the worst customer service. They will do anything to nickel and dime you and in the end, claim that you never sent them their equipment back.

I was with Alarm Force for 8 years. Had normal problems over the years but in last two years several problems. So I just canceled the service. I had to mail all of the equipment back to them at a cost of $20.00 and I have to pay for two more months of monitoring fees, And the two months don't start until after they receive the equipment.

I have called alarm force six times since December to cancel my service. They confirmed that it was cancelled the second time I called in December, then continued to charge me. The next few times I called they told me they weren't able to cancel because it 'was a Sunday' 'their manager wasn't in' and we 'didn't have the account number.' I called again last month and they confirmed my service was cancelled again, and I have received yet another bill for a service that I cancelled in December. Actually, a service they are not even providing since the system has been completely disconnected since December and no one has noticed (an alarm system is no good if it can be disconnected without the company taking action).

We requested to have our service moved to a different location and were told there would be no fee. Once the date came to move it we were told the services would have to be paid for... As a business owner I don't think its a good way to represent your company.

In the last few months and since my upgrade to fiber optic, I have been having difficulty with my Alarm Force equipment. It is the app that is not working on a regular basis. I will call in, something will be re-set and like clockwork 1-2 weeks later my app will no longer connect to the control panel.

I have attempted to resolve this matter with the organization. To be fair, they have sent technicians to my home a few times to replace routers etc. Most of the customer service assistants and techs were professional and helpful except for the last loyalty customer service representative.

The last conversation I had with an individual at Alarm Force told me that I required a system upgrade and my costs would go up. In addition to paying for the upgrade, I was told I would have to extend the length of my contract another few years. I have just under a year left on my contract. To add insult to injury I came to find out that newer 'compatible' systems were installed in homes shortly after I signed up.

The app was the selling feature for me as it is the only convenient way to make the alarm system work for us.

We were customers of Alarm Force for a good bit of time. We decided to cancel our service which we did in writing to them. Now over two years after the fact, having never receiving any communication from them, I get a letter from a collection agency indicating are looking to collect $566.90 from me for breaking my contract and for equipment. My letter to them asked what we needed to do with the equipment. Obviously, since I never heard from them, it is still sitting in a box at my house.

Having called the collection agency (Professional Debt Mediation), I was given an offer to settle the amount for half but had to do it on the phone right then. Before any proof was given to me that I actually owed this money. I was told that if I didn't take care of it they would post a negative rating on my credit report right away, etc.

Under duress, I chose to pay the settlement amount.

It seems pretty easy for Alarm Force to claim they didn't receive anything from me and then wait over 2 years before sending information to a collection agency without ever sending anything to me. This makes it more likely that I won't have any information any longer and my memory of the details will be a bit more vague. I truly believe this is a very dishonest business practice.

We called and cancelled our service with them the beginning of August as we were selling our house and relocating out of state. We had to pay an early termination fee of over $900 in order to get out of the contract. We moved out of our house the 15th of August. The service was supposed to be turned off on the 5th of August . However apparently never turned off the MONITORING AS WE HAD BEEN CALLED SEVERAL times in September for the alarm going off when we didn't even have the service NOT to mention having to pay a huge termination fee. We had to explain to them EVERY TIME they called that we no longer OWED THE HOUSE OR THE ALARM. Now we are getting a whole new *** being billed for a false alarm in the middle of September when the service once again was to be discontinued in August and are being told we have to pay our city a false alarm fee. Still can not get any satisfaction for these continued issues.

I've been a customer of Alarmforce for 7 yrs now,
My first alarm system with Alarmforce seemed to always stop working at times which is very frustrating so Alarmforce suggested I upgrade to their new system which I did at extra cost to me and it's been a nightmare ever since, this system is worse then the last one and continues to stop working, my repeated attempts to have Alarmforce come and remove their faulty system is fruitless as supposedly when I upgraded at their suggestion it automatically put me back in a contract for 3 yrs , this was not mentioned when they offered to upgrade to fix the problem so know I'm stuck with a faulty alarm and a contract. I had the technician out 2 days ago to fix a camera, I had to wait 2 and a half weeks for an appointment, the technician fixed the one camera again and now the other camera is not working at all again.
I did this in plenty of time as I was going away for vacation for 3 weeks and wanted to make sure it was all working while I am away.
Now I have no security while I'm away. Great job alarmforce.
When I needed the alarm to work last month when I was alone with the kids and there was an intruder on my property the cameras again were down so the police had no evidence that he was on my property.
I just want you to come and get the alarm and be done with it.
I don't need the extra frustration, I got the alarm in 2010 for protection as I'm a single parent and on a budget and now I'm still paying for it and it doesn't work properly.
UPDATE
Well Alarmforce came to fix my front camera and after it was installed ithe trchnician showed me the camera pic and it was all shaded and dark with a purple lens over it, the technician said the purple picture it was showing would go away in half an hour or so after it adjusted to the light which of course it didn't, they came out again and changed the camera twice again before it worked properly, they informed me as I was concerned that when the doorbell was rung it no longer ringed to my phone so I could talk to the person at my door,that option was no longer available and now it would send a notification to my phone but it takes 2. 1/2 minutes before I get the alert and by then the person has left as their was no answer. I called into the office about this and they told me they would correct it remotely, they sure did as now when there is motion at any of the cameras it sends me 12 notifications for each motion which kills my phone battery in a very short time. I called Alarmforce again today to try to fix this problem and was told the new cameras has some defects that they are working on and hope to fix it soon.
Please don't get caught up in the conversation with them that they would come out and replace the faulty equipment with up to date ones then they don't tell you they just got you with another 3 year contract.
After being with this company as a client for 7 years and many days off of work to stay home and wait for repeated repairs they offer to cancel if I pay them 1236.00 plus tax??

I called in September to cancel my service. They told me to "call back on October 6th, you are still in contract". I called back on October 6th. It took me 3 HOURS to cancel my contract. I had to continually call and call to get to speak to someone. Once I mentioned the word cancellation, they transferred me and put me on hold, only to have the call dropped. I finally spoke to Gina M. She proceeded to tell me that I was "way out of contract, hon'". Way out of contract!!!??? I just called the previous month. Gina then told me that because I called to cancel "in the middle of the month", that I would be charged for the month. She also said there was "no documentation" of any prior call telling me to call back on October 6th. H

The other day my alarm went off (ALARM FORCE) and they have dispatched the guards without telling me additional information (i.e.: procedures if the alarm goes off, the guards time of arrival, what is the guard company, etc.). I've arrived home, checked the perimeter and the guards were still not there. I've asked to provide me a camera at no extra charge to provide me some comfort if these happens again (as the procedure will be the same in the future); however, they have refused it. I've asked how they will rectify the issue in the future and they have only offered me one month of credit. However, I've told that that this wont rectify the issue (no information about the guards, procedures) and if a solution is not provided I'll cancel my service. They said that is no problem; however, I will need to pay for the reminder of the term. I find that they have not come up with the right solution, neither the fee charged for cancellation is fair.

Unable to read contract, serial or account number. I just recently moved from a condo @ Unit 18, *** Rd, Ancaster, ON *** (where my alarm system was). Around the first of August 2017, l moved to Apt. *** Ave. E, Hamilton, ON *** One of the main reasons, l moved here, because of the security system in place and don't need Alarm Force. also, the apartment management told they don't allow alarm systems in my own unit /apartment. Am a senior, living by myself on a low pension, trying to save some money. Alarm Force WOULDN'T LET ME CANCEL MY SERVICE. I BEEN WITH THME SINCE 2011