General Security of Richmond

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
Regards,*** ***

Review: This company installed an alarm system and I signed a 5 year monitoring contract. After two years of services the alarm system no longer has monitoring capabilities because the sensors in several rooms are old and no longer work because they are from our previous alarm system ([redacted]) and are about 7 years old and were not replaced by General Security. Our current contact with general security specifies there is no service contact to repair or exchange the non-working sensors however monitoring monthly fees will continue. I have contacted General Securities on May 2nd, 2014 and again on June 26th, 2014 to notify them of this and work out an arrangement and they refuse. At the time of installation of the alarm system General Security assured me that there was no reason to replace the old sensors because they were not included in the current contact and would be repaired or replaced at no expense to me if they stopped working. Currently I am being held responsible for monitoring fees when the company cannot monitor my home.

Also, General Security claims I have not paid my monthly bill which is not accurate I have bank drafts that prove I have paid my bill monthly.Desired Settlement: This company can no longer monitor this home and should not be allowed to continue to assess monitoring fees. General Security has breached the contract and there for it is not valid.

Business

Response:

[redacted] My name is [redacted] and I am the Branch Manager of General Security in Richmond, VA. I am responding to a complaint filed by [redacted] – ID [redacted]. Today, January 7, 2015, we received two letters from the Revdex.com, regarding this complaint. One letter is dated 12/30/2014, and the other is dated Monday, January 5, 2015. They are both postmarked 05 JAN 2015 PM, and both went through the postage meter on 01/05/2015. I am responding on the same day I received the original complaint. Please find the [redacted] documents, including pages 1 and 3 of the contract between [redacted] and General Security. The contract clearly states General Security sold her a new, free alarm system including the following equipment: 1 Control Panel1 Keypad1 Door Sensor1 Window Sensor2 Key Fobs1 Motion Detector1 Alarm.com cellular unit In addition, she purchased a wireless translator to translate the signal from some existing devices she had, which enabled her to use those devices with the new control panel. Although the programming of these devices (one door sensor, four window sensors, and one motion detector) to the new system was additional work for us, we did not charge Ms. [redacted] for this, as a courtesy for a new customer. We replaced one door sensor, one window sensor, and one motion detector from Ms. [redacted]’s previous system due to those devices not working properly. These items are noted on the contract as free items, along with the new control panel, keypad, two key fobs, and the Alarm.com cellular unit. The contract between Ms. [redacted] and General Security has a clearly stated Limited Warranty, which states “In the event that any part in the alarm system becomes defective, or in the event that any repairs are required, GENERAL agrees to make all repairs and replacement of parts without costs to the Customer for a period of one (1) year from the date of installation.” General Security installed Ms. [redacted]’s system on July 27, 2012, resulting in free service for the system through July 27, 2013. On June 21, 2013, [redacted] spoke to Ms. [redacted] and discussed an extended warranty/service contract with her. She offered the service contract for $199.95 or an additional $14.00 per month added to her monthly monitoring. Ms [redacted] told [redacted] she would think about it and call her back. We never received a call from Ms. [redacted] regarding the service contract and her warranty expired on July 27, 2013. I have attached the log entry from Mrs. [redacted] which shows the time the log note was made and it cannot be changed. Ms. [redacted] may have her dates confused, but I am not sure how she would have contacted General Security on May 2, 2014 for a problem that occurred on May 12, 2014. We can agree she spoke to [redacted] in our service department at some point in May and it was determined she had a few low batteries. During that conversation, [redacted] explained to Ms. [redacted] that she was out of her warranty, and there would be a charge to service her system, but she could easily replace the batteries herself. The batteries are 3V lithium batteries and are easier to replace than the batteries in most smoke detectors. In fact, the majority of our customers replace their own batteries, because it is so easy. She stated she was not going to pay us to change the batteries, so we assumed she would change them herself. At no point did we refuse to service her system, we just told her we could not service her system free of charge. It would not be fair to our other customers to provide service free to Ms. [redacted] for the same service we would require every other customer to pay for. The next time Ms. [redacted] spoke with someone from General Security was on June 26, 2014, when she spoke to [redacted]. Mrs. [redacted] called Ms. [redacted] regarding her credit card payment of $39.95 scheduled for June 25, 2014, which had been declined. Ms. [redacted] told [redacted] that she was no longer with that bank and she wanted to receive a bill in the mail. At no time during this conversation did Ms. [redacted] tell Mrs. [redacted] she needed service or she was having any problems with the system. If Ms. [redacted] was still having an issue with her alarm, it seems she would have mentioned it to Mrs. [redacted] during this conversation. I have attached a log note from Mrs. [redacted] which shows the time the log note was made and once again, this cannot be changed. On July 28, 2014, we sent a certified letter, USPS tracking number70132630000085706318, to Ms. [redacted], which was returned to General as unclaimed on September 3, 2014. The next and final time Ms. [redacted] spoke with someone from General Security was on September 9, 2014, when she spoke to [redacted]. Mrs. [redacted] was calling to collect Ms. [redacted]’s balance on her account with General Security. Ms. [redacted] told Mrs. [redacted] that the technician that came and installed the system told her General Security would replace the batteries for free. Mrs. [redacted] asked Ms. [redacted] to fax over the paperwork the technician wrote this on and Ms. [redacted] said she would send it the following morning. General Security never received anything from Ms. [redacted]. The technician who installed the system, Josh West, stated he never said anything regarding free batteries. I have also included the log note from Mrs. [redacted] which also shows the time it was entered. As for the payments to General Security, Ms. [redacted] claims she can prove she made the payments. If possible, I would be happy to write off the part of her balance due to General Security, if she can provide statements showing payments made to General Security on 2/25/14 or 6/25/14. The following statements are absolute facts: On July 26, 2012, Ms. [redacted] signed a contract with General Security.This contract clearly states “The full term of this agreement is FIVE (5) years”. The initials MLD are directly next to this statement.This contract clearly states we are supplying 1 control panel, 1 keypad, 1 door sensor, 1 window sensor, 1 motion detector, 2 key fobs, and 1 cellular module at no charge to Ms. [redacted]. It also states Ms. [redacted] is paying $150.00 for a [redacted] wireless translator. General Security clearly gave Ms. [redacted] more free equipment than we do as our standard offer, as shown in the price column stating what is typically free (NO CHGE).The monthly monitoring is clearly stated on the contract for $39.95 per month, including cellular monitoring.The contract has a clearly stated Limited Warranty, which states “In the event that any part in the alarm system becomes defective, or in the event that any repairs are required, GENERAL agrees to make all repairs and replacement of parts without costs to the Customer for a period of one (1) year from the date of installation.”The system was installed on July 27, 2012.Twenty-three months after installation, Ms. [redacted] spoke to [redacted] regarding a returned payment. During this conversation, Ms. [redacted] never claimed to need service. After this conversation, she never made another payment to General.The contract clearly states “The Customer agrees and understands that this system has been provided at no charge based on the Customer’s fulfillment of the initial five (5) year term of this Agreement. The Customer further agrees that should they terminate this Agreement for any reason whatsoever before the end of the five (5) year period, an amount of monies equal to $15.00/month (value of system) plus the basic monthly monitoring fees for the unexpired term shall become due and payable to GENERAL.” General Security installed all of the equipment listed on the contract with Ms. [redacted] and programmed her existing equipment (including 1 door sensor, 4 window sensors, and 1 motion detector) to the new system. At no time did General Security refuse to service Ms. [redacted]’s security system, we just told her we could not service her system free of charge. The security system is still a functional system when one or more devices has a low battery. Just as [redacted]r can provide electricity to a home with three non working light bulbs, we can monitor an alarm system with three low batteries in devices. I will be happy to provide more information if necessary. Please let me know what else I can do for you. Thank you, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

Regards,