Re: ADT Essential Wireless Package

["Robert L Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I'm interested ]to know of the rife w/ problems re:  adt dealers.

FTR, I was not referring to ADT "corporate".  They seem to do good work for
the most part.  They charge more than some of these characters who spend all
their energy berating ADT.  However, they are an industry leader and they do
run an extremely "hardened" network of monitoring centers.

The problems I was speaking of mainly involve these so-called "authorized
dealers" -- actually independent contractors who sell and install mostly
inadequate, often poorly designed and installed systems.  They sign people
on for a multi-year contract and then "sell the paper" to ADT.  Because
their only financial interest is in the quick sale of that contract there's
little incentive to do a comprehensive installation.  In fact, there's a
financial disincentive to spending enough time to do a quality installation.

Many of these dealers misrepresent what they are selling as a "free" system.
The catch, of course, is that the customer is on the hook for 3 to 5 years
of monitoring service at an inflated price.  The misleading advertising by
these firms has been so bad that attorneys general in various states,
including Florida where I live, have sued them.  Every year several of these
crooked "authorized dealers" get fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Because the money is so good they keep right on doing it though.

There are all manner of horror stories that have been posted here by vict...
er, customers of some of these so-called authorized dealers.  One poor
fellow hired a Protection 1 dealer to protect his home.  They drilled a hole
through the DWV stack (the "poop pipe") from an upstairs bathroom, allowing
toilet waste to literally fill the wall and ceiling area.  He had thousands
of dollars in damage yet the company dodged his demands for them to fix it
for years.  I think he sued them though I don't recall what the final
outcome was.

The long and the short of it is, if you want ADT go with an ADT corporate
office -- not an authorized dealer.  If not, look for a well-established
independent installing company.  Check references carefully.  Best of luck.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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