Protectron

1) The person who said about the contracts - well, you're fault. You always read, and yes its very clear "3 YEAR CONTRACT" your other option is to pay for the system and get it down to a 1 year. But you didnt. Suck it up.

2) When you disabled the alarm, (by keying in your code) they get the signal that everything is clear. If you had NOT disabled it, they would have been out.

3) The $5 emergency response is crap - yes. Don't bother with it. Yes, the police are slow, which is also why they call other people on your call list. Set it up for your neighbour or someone close by.

My issue with them, is that they don't verify emergency contact info. We've been with them for about 10 years, and had an issue (about 90 minutes ago) where I burnt a porkchop using a new indoor grill. No problem. I disabled the alarm, and they had called at the same time it was calling out. They didn't get a voice so they called out the fire trucks. (No problem you'd think). I call them up and tell them it was a false alarm, and to cancel the fire trucks. Then I get a call from the city fire department (Im out in the country). They (protectron) gave the wrong city, so no one was coming out. In the event I wasn't home, (and my house was on fire) I would have been screwed. I have called back to them to find out their policies, and they inform me that they have the wrong number for my local fire department. I have asked them what their policy is on verifying, because really thats kind of important information don't you think.. so the bangladesh guy (or maybe brampton - tough call) (these are the jokes people..) escalated it to a supervisor and after talking to him for 30 minutes, and telling him that, you guys suck,a nd here's why, they will call me back on Thursday with a full review of everything that happened. I will update this post with what I find.

So..
In short - all alarm companies have contracts - deal with it.
If you disarm your alarm, you probably won't hear from them
Always verify their emergency information is correct - granted its not your job, but it is your belongings.


*Update. Talked to the Customer Service Manager - who basically told me its the Municipalities responsibility to notify them of updates.. that they share partial blame. So I will call my municipal office tomorrow. (Cause I think thats crap). I expressed my other issue that even though the other city's department had told them that NO ONE WAS COMING OUT, they did nothing to call them back. Big miscommunication - could be language barrier, as the call centre is in Quebec.

While I will review in total in short here is my summarization: Do not trust this company or of their contractors.

My advice, read everything, do not just trust them to answer questions honestly.

The whole situation started when a woman came to my door at my old address and offered the service with free installation. I asked her all the questions, like cancellation fees, how long was the contract. I had never dealt with contracts before this so I didn't have much of an idea. She said I could cancel at any time with no problems and it was a 1 year contract.

A year later when I was moving I decided that I didn't need it anymore and called to cancel, not only was there cancellation fees, but it was a 3 year contracts. Protection's stance on this was more or less too bad, you signed the contract. So I had to keep it or else there would be a huge fine.

So when I moved in December, I told them they could go get the old system and transfer it and such. They didn't they left it there and installed a new system. They presented me with a sheet they asked me to sign, when I asked them what it was they just said it was a sheet saying they were here and installed it with no problems and no damage to the house. So I signed it.

As it turns out that was another 3 year contract. As usual, Protectron's responce was the same.

Do not trust this company, they are out to screw the customer as much money as possible. And they don't even monitor it all that well.

My alarm went off 3 times, all false alarms, but I recieved no call or notice from them, they aren't even doing their jobs.

I also got rid of my home phone recently, so they want me to pay extra for a phoneless system. I said no to that and I wouldn't be caught dead dealing with them anymore.