George Alarm Company Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/08/08) */
We have been notifying our clients for over 2 years that conventional landlines will be phased out by the telecom industry and this may impact alarm systems. Clients have been advised that they need to investigate alternative communications,...

such as cellular communicators. In addition, clients have been advised that 2G cellular units will be obsolete by the cellular industry in the near future and those clients need to upgrade to 3G/4G units.
We have advised our clients that the failure would occur without notice based on whenever [redacted] decided to discontinue the service and recommend changing before that happens.
Mrs. [redacted] took over service on May 14th 2015 on an owned system from a previous customer that had a 2G cell unit already on the system. Mrs. [redacted] was told on multiple occasions stating back to January 2016 that the reason her system was going in and out of service was due to the cell unit needing to be upgraded. We told her since she was in contract that the unit would be $299.00 with no monthly increase and that she could make payments. We did try to work with her and lowered the cost from $299.00 to $229.00. She had mentioned cancelling service in which she was informed that ending the contract would lead to an early termination fee of $250. She told us she did not know if she wanted to upgrade or to cancel her service and would let us know what she decides to do.
Her alarm system has not been disarmed but us in any way, is still active to the best of our knowledge, and she is still currently making payments. We are more than willing to work with Mrs. [redacted] to settle any complaints she may have, but her contract does clearly state all terms and agreements as explained to her.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2015/07/01) */
George Alarm Company has a 5 year contract with Penn Station please see the attached copy which is signed by Penn Station and approved by [redacted], an officer, as required by the contract. If we had a 3 year contract then how did I get a...

fully executed 5 year contract?
Our contracts are carbonless 2 piece forms. The original white copy is signed by the subscriber and returned to our office for processing the yellow copy is left with the subscriber. Once the contact is returned it is reviewed by me and signed then it becomes valid as per the terms of the agreement. Penn Station has an altered version of the copy of the contract and states that we agreed on the change. That is not true, I made no such agreement and I am the one whom approves all contacts.
He contacted us to attempt to get out of the contract early and was told no since the term was 5 years. He then tried to work with Michele Kasten to seek a change of opinion and the answer was again no. We offered to lower his rate a few dollars to match the bid from another company that he wanted to switch to and we did so and sent a revised invoice on June 1st. It is important to note we bill quarterly not monthly. The rate was lowered as promised and the invoice was sent. When Penn Station called claiming we did not lower his rate we again sent, via email this time, a copy of the invoice at the lower rate.
George Alarm holds to our position and shows an executed contract as our support.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2015/07/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Interesting how this company waited until the very last minute of their 2nd deadline to respond to our concerns. This is how it has been, dealing with them since April.
George Alarm is not speaking the truth. Mr. [redacted] is being unethical.
We did not just get in touch with them to get out of the contract early. We were waiting for the 3 years to end, since we were told from the beginning that this contract was. The original monthly price was $39.95, and eventually went up to $41.15, and when that happened we told ourselves we would get in touch with them at the end of the 3 years. It was our understanding and agreement from the beginning.
How can it be our fault that our copy was marked to 3 years at the time of signing and their version still says 5. Mr. [redacted] may have seen just the contract stating 5 year when it was reviewed by him before Mr. [redacted] met with us. But again, Mr. Barger made the change to satisfy and us to sign the contract - 3 year. It appears he now doesn't remember doing this. We understand how this could be possible. But we ourselves did not alter the term of the contract from 5 year to 3 year. That would be forgery and fraud. The company representative, Mr. Barger did that.
Now George Alarm should stay with the commitment that his representative made with us on his company's behalf.
Why would a customer like us make something like this up? If this had been an actual 5 year contract in our knowledge, we would be happy to fulfill our obligation. Not play games to get out of it. But in reality, it is not. This company is taking advantage of us. Dealing with a company like George Alarm makes us nervous for ourselves and other customers, and we hope that what goes around comes around to their business.
This is not right and not fair. We are requesting the Revdex.com assist us with this genuine and honest case on our behalf and help us. We will also further escalate to the Attorney General's office to see if we can stop [redacted] Alarm from such unfair practices with his customers. We are willing to go this extra mile for justice. Period!
And as mentioned before, Mr. [redacted] tried to lure us into staying with his company by stating he would drop his price to $37 per month and will send in writing via email, which we never received.
This company needs to be further researched to see how many other cases they may exist that they are taking advantage of. Thank you.