WARNING: doing business with MCI is a massive mistake. If you haven't already been dissuaded by their other reviews, I will add my experience below.
1. The account was a takeover so they did nothing to get us started except install a new cellular radio. There was no walkthrough of the house, checking equipment to see if it was working or if anything was too old. Nothing was installed or fixed or mapped.
2.
They replaced our cellular radio with a "$795 radio" which was "discounted" to $395. I later realized this radio can be bought new retail for the price of $176.95 https://www.alarmsystemstore.com/products/dsc-le4000-at-universal-lte-communicat...⇄ .
3.
They did not even take the time to properly configure the panel for data, inform us that our provider has a mobile app, or teach any details about how to configure the panel. Just the bare basics of arm, disarm, that's literally it.
4.
They had us sign a contract which turned out to be 5 year contract buried in the fine print. There was no verbal mention of the lengthy term. They had us sign a physical agreement at the end of the first visit, so there was no chance to review it in advance.
5.
There was a configuration issue immediately. Two zones were erroring so the system could not be armed. They sent someone over to fix it and even though it was obviously due to a failure in the setup process, they charged us $219.62 for this visit to fix it. After pointing it it made no sense to change us to fix a failed setup on their part, they said the best they could do was a 50% discount, so we still ended up paying $110 to fix a failure on their part.
6.
When a device needed a battery change, they tried to charge a $170 service fee PLUS $60 plus tax for the battery to replace it. I ended up replacing it myself. It took about 2 minutes and $5 to buy the two CR123A batteries off Amazon.
7.
Here's the worst part: they refused to send over a zone map of my devices. Despite correctly identifying one device (proving they did have a zone map), they then claimed not to have one, and tried to push me for a visit to walkthrough and reprogram all my devices unnecessarily.
8.
I talked to another alarm company who informed that I could at least call central station myself to get the zone map, I just needed the number to know which station to call. I asked MCI for this information - ignored, no response.
9.
When I tried to cancel the service, they insisted on enforcing the full term which I was to pay out, even if cancelling before the end of my first year. Any failure to pay was getting sent promptly to collections.
10.
The contract is written in an incredibly one sided manner in which payment is due regardless of whether the service is provided, the unit requires regular testing by the customer even though it was not shown how this testing is done, and any referral to collections adds an additional 40% charge plus attorney fees (even if it never results in a legal case).
So to recap, we faced
- poor setup, onboarding
- fraudulent promise of equipment that was grossly overcharged
- charging to fix their own mistakes
- overly long and extreme contract despite no setup costs or equipment that needed to be recouped
- gross overcharging for batteries and pushing unnecessary visits
- refusal to provide a basic zone map of devices (!)
At this point, I can't imagine who would willingly do business with MCI.
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:MCI is incorrectly saying there is no connection between the June and November service callsIt was the same problemThe invoice from June states that wires were crossed and repairedThen in November we had the same recurring issues which led us to contact both the cable company and alarm companyTo reiterate, the system malfunctioning was NOT a cable provider issue, as verified by the cable companyThe cable company helped us troubleshoot for a temporary fixBut the root of the problem is alarm-basedSince we had paid for it to be fixed in June, we should not have to pay some months later for the same problem(Later, the supervisor said any repair is only covered for three months.) When the technician arrived in November we told him we would not pay again because of ALL of the previously mentioned factors, INCLUDING how the day before we said we wouldn'tWhen he said he would charge ANYWAY, we said NOWe wanted the alarm company to come and see about the same problem from June which we paid forYes, we had done troubleshooting with the cable company who KINDLY assisted us so we could temporarily have phone connection, UNTIL the alarm company did a thorough check and repairBut this tech did NOT come in past the door and did NO repairAND as we indicated on our initial complaint to the Revdex.com, we had a VERBAL exchange on the phone THE DAY BEFORE he came and then AGAIN once he arrived we spoke ON THE PHONE with the supervisor who said that "this time" he would not charge THEREFORE, we stand by our initial claim to the Revdex.com on all points Regards, [redacted]
1. The account was a takeover so they did nothing to get us started except install a new cellular radio. There was no walkthrough of the house, checking equipment to see if it was working or if anything was too old. Nothing was installed or fixed or mapped.
2.
They replaced our cellular radio with a "$795 radio" which was "discounted" to $395. I later realized this radio can be bought new retail for the price of $176.95 https://www.alarmsystemstore.com/products/dsc-le4000-at-universal-lte-communicat...⇄ .
3.
They did not even take the time to properly configure the panel for data, inform us that our provider has a mobile app, or teach any details about how to configure the panel. Just the bare basics of arm, disarm, that's literally it.
4.
They had us sign a contract which turned out to be 5 year contract buried in the fine print. There was no verbal mention of the lengthy term. They had us sign a physical agreement at the end of the first visit, so there was no chance to review it in advance.
5.
There was a configuration issue immediately. Two zones were erroring so the system could not be armed. They sent someone over to fix it and even though it was obviously due to a failure in the setup process, they charged us $219.62 for this visit to fix it. After pointing it it made no sense to change us to fix a failed setup on their part, they said the best they could do was a 50% discount, so we still ended up paying $110 to fix a failure on their part.
6.
When a device needed a battery change, they tried to charge a $170 service fee PLUS $60 plus tax for the battery to replace it. I ended up replacing it myself. It took about 2 minutes and $5 to buy the two CR123A batteries off Amazon.
7.
Here's the worst part: they refused to send over a zone map of my devices. Despite correctly identifying one device (proving they did have a zone map), they then claimed not to have one, and tried to push me for a visit to walkthrough and reprogram all my devices unnecessarily.
8.
I talked to another alarm company who informed that I could at least call central station myself to get the zone map, I just needed the number to know which station to call. I asked MCI for this information - ignored, no response.
9.
When I tried to cancel the service, they insisted on enforcing the full term which I was to pay out, even if cancelling before the end of my first year. Any failure to pay was getting sent promptly to collections.
10.
The contract is written in an incredibly one sided manner in which payment is due regardless of whether the service is provided, the unit requires regular testing by the customer even though it was not shown how this testing is done, and any referral to collections adds an additional 40% charge plus attorney fees (even if it never results in a legal case).
So to recap, we faced
- poor setup, onboarding
- fraudulent promise of equipment that was grossly overcharged
- charging to fix their own mistakes
- overly long and extreme contract despite no setup costs or equipment that needed to be recouped
- gross overcharging for batteries and pushing unnecessary visits
- refusal to provide a basic zone map of devices (!)
At this point, I can't imagine who would willingly do business with MCI.
WORST ALARM COMPANY EVER.
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:MCI is incorrectly saying there is no connection between the June and November service callsIt was the same problemThe invoice from June states that wires were crossed and repairedThen in November we had the same recurring issues which led us to contact both the cable company and alarm companyTo reiterate, the system malfunctioning was NOT a cable provider issue, as verified by the cable companyThe cable company helped us troubleshoot for a temporary fixBut the root of the problem is alarm-basedSince we had paid for it to be fixed in June, we should not have to pay some months later for the same problem(Later, the supervisor said any repair is only covered for three months.) When the technician arrived in November we told him we would not pay again because of ALL of the previously mentioned factors, INCLUDING how the day before we said we wouldn'tWhen he said he would charge ANYWAY, we said NOWe wanted the alarm company to come and see about the same problem from June which we paid forYes, we had done troubleshooting with the cable company who KINDLY assisted us so we could temporarily have phone connection, UNTIL the alarm company did a thorough check and repairBut this tech did NOT come in past the door and did NO repairAND as we indicated on our initial complaint to the Revdex.com, we had a VERBAL exchange on the phone THE DAY BEFORE he came and then AGAIN once he arrived we spoke ON THE PHONE with the supervisor who said that "this time" he would not charge THEREFORE, we stand by our initial claim to the Revdex.com on all points Regards, [redacted]