Deluxe Alarms

I purchased my new home and have taken on the alarm contract from the previous owner with Deluxe Alarms. They mentioned that monthly fee is $28.25 tax includ for most basic alarm monitoring. There was no mention of setup fee or any other fee. We took over the new house during mid-November. During this time, my agent initiated contact with the alarm company to begin inquiry about the transfer of the alarm monitoring acc. On Dec 17, sales rep emailed me directly a basic alarm contract with a full three year term with a balance of $0. The invoice/contract shows that with this 3 years term the "setup fee" is waived. Sales rep had not contacted me via the phone to explain any part of the transfer process, services or contract with me. I called Sales rep to get some clarification since I thought the previous owner had said that the contract term was 18 months. While on the phone Sales rep explained if we honour the 18months contract there will be a $224.87 setup fee which includes (replace battery, upgrade panel, test and reprogram to station), but if we do the full 3 years, the setup fee would be waived. This was an underhanded move since he didn't send me a contract with just the 18 months as an alternative. I did a little research on Deluxe Alarms and other companies in the industry. I asked my real estate agent if charging a setup fee to transfer an existing account is normal practice in the alarm industry, he said no. We asked our current alarm company and other companies in the industry, all of them suggest that this is quite unreasonable and most companies would do it without a transfer fee. I asked my agent to contact the previous owner to ask them how come this transfer fee was not mentioned. Turns out the owner have talked to Deluxe on 3 occasions to clarify the transfer process (1 with Sales rep and 2 with other staff) and in none of the conversation, was the transfer fee mentioned. I called Sales rep to clarify the issue. In the phone call I expressed to Sales rep that I thought the setup fee is unreasonable and concerning. I stated that almost all alarm companies industries don't charge a setup fee. He claims those companies are telling me that to get my business. I mentioned that the previous owner had been in contact with Deluxe alarm on 3 occasions and the message they got was it would be a seamless transfer with no mention of a setup fee. Sales rep suggested that can't be true as they always charge a setup fee. I asked him if there's anything that can be done on the setup fee. He mentioned about the 3 year term that was originally sent to my email. I was frustrated, since this is unreasonable. I did not sign off on the contract. He then said, well you work it out with the seller of the house. He said what he'll do is to send a billing invoice for the two months to the seller. After I called the company as a new home owner to get a quotation from Deluxe. I was eventually given a called back by a rep named Danson Hui. I asked him about the basic cost of monthly fees and whether there were any setup fees. Danson said $28.25 a month and there will be no setup fee on a 3 year contract. I then mention to him that there is a realistic chance that we will be moving from this house in the next 2 years, so I inquired about what happens to the alarm contract if I do decide to move. He assured me that the process is quite seamless - I can either continue that contract at my new place or have the new owner adopt the contract until the end of the term. I asked him whether there would be setup/transfer fee or any other additional fee on the part of the seller or the buyer. He reassured me with a "no". While this conversation is going on, I had recorded this conversation with my other cell phone (conversation was in Chinese). The only thing is that the whole conversation was done in Chinese. On Feb 4, I sent an emailing explaining my displeasure with the unethical practices of the company and is requesting that they waive the setup/transfer fee. No reply from Sales rep. I called the company to file a complaint, the company did not call back. I emailed the company as well under the contact us section and again no reply was provided. I called the company another time and finally reached a secretary, I requested to speak to a manager but she claims that there are no managers available and she direct me to a different sales rep. When I expressed my displeasure to the sales rep, they gave me no solutions other than to sign the contract and pay the setup fee, or to extend to 3 years or to buyout the contract. I really don’t think my concern was being heard. I requested at that point to speak to a manager, and she promised to take down my contact information and have him/her call me back. Again, there was no call back. In all of my contacts with the company, I’ve been polite and civil while expressing my displeasure. I have a feeling that I was being purposely ignored and that Deluxe Alarm has no intentions of provided a fair solution.
On Mar 9 I have been informed by the previous owner of the house that Deluxe Alarms had issued an invoice telling them to pay up the total amount to buy off the contract since we haven’t really connected the alarm since Nov; it is to be paid by Mar 21st. I feel that this is unfair and using legal means as a bully tactic to have me pay the setup fee. On one end they had no intentions of negotiating a solution fairly, on the other end they claim that we don’t want to honour the contract, but in reality we couldn’t honour it because they didn’t want to resolve the situation and is purposely ignoring my contact with them.

Found them through a friend who bought a new home.
Called and booked an appointment. Also called 4 other companies.
Decided on Deluxe Alarms and now have been a customer for 8 months.
Great service and fantastic prices.
Would definitely recommend