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.