Not Happy with Alarm Force
Alarm Force is cheap but there are some serous bugs in the system. I initially went with Alarm Force because of the commercials, the low monthly cost, free installation and that the system is wireless so I would not need to run wires. When I had mine installed about 6 months ago (I paid an additional $700 for extra sensors, smoke detectors and 2 keypads so I don’t use my cordless phone to operate the system). The installer placed the receiving unit right beside my wireless router (at the time I was informed the Alarm Force receiving unit needed to be close to where the phone line comes into my home). The system seemed to work fine until I came home from work about a month later and my front door was kicked in. I called alarm force and they had not received an alarm. After 5 calls to their technical department, we figured out the wireless router was preventing the receiving unit from receiving signals from the sensors. I moved the Alarm Force receiving unit to another room and away from the wireless router. The Alarm Force installer had already been to my home 2X to repair my system previously. The components have obviously been used before they came into my home. I argued that the installer should have tested the system before he left and questioned his qualifications. Alarm Force backed their installer. I also questioned why the installer did not wear a uniform, did not have anything showing he worked for Alarm Force and why drove a rusty old car that leaked fluids on my driveway. I tried to get out of the 3 year contract but Alarm Force refused and no one would let me talk to a manager. Then, last month my back door opened around 3 am (I have no idea how it opened). The door chime woke me up but the alarm did not go off. To be honest, walking through a dark house ½ asleep looking for an intruder and waiting for Alarm Force to come on with 2 way voice communication as back-up that never happens is really crappy. The door that opened is set for instant alarm in the “home” mode and the alarm was definitely on. Also, I pay for cell back-up and if my phone line is cut Alarm Force informed me that they will notify me immediately. Well, the cell back-up does not work because the cell signal isn’t strong enough (ironically I live in a major city centre) and the phone line cut option does not work either. My wife accidentally unplugged the phone line from the wall to the unit for 4 weeks. Alarm force never notified us that the phone line was disconnected. Alarm force is still not sure why this option doesn’t work but they continue to charge me the extra fees. So basically, the only thing worse in my opinion to not having and home alarm is having a home alarm that you think works and actually doesn’t. I’m new to the home alarm thing and when my contract expires I will be looking for another provider. Maybe skip experiencing Alarm Force and roll the dice on another company.
Wish Never with Alarm Force
I have recently finished with a 3 yr contract and returned all equipment. I have my termination letter and UPS proof of delivery. Alarm Force claims that I did not return everything. I wish I took a photo of the box to prove I did. Now I have a bill for missing equipment for $291.36 and sent me to collections. This is stealing and harrassment. I have filed a complaint with BBB, Market Place and other blogs. Please do not get Alarm Force get a real security company. Also, customer service reps are rude and this usually comes from top down management. After researching this company I wish I never gave them my business and hard earned money.
Alarm Force not work
Put in a new alarm system and it works great, we’ve set it off a few times on purpose just to see…ha Our batteries have a 4-5 year life and we can replace all of them ourselves. Great customer service too. Alarm Force is nothing but old equipment that doesn’t work half of the time and that you are responsible for testing once a month or so they say. They put our box in the cupboard, we could hardly hear it! The techs installing our new system looked at us like we were nuts when we asked them how often we should be testing..a good alarm system will let you know via keyboard when a sensor battery is low.. Alarm Force never did, just stopped working and one of our door sensors never worked no matter what we did to it. The charge for them to come and look at it was crazy so we just left it and put our 130-pound Rottweiler and his bed there instead. Alarm Force is not very pet-friendly either. In general I am not a tech geek or anything but this alarm system is a bunch of crap and a ripoff. I would not recommend it to anyone! I only remain anonymous ’cause I don’t have a google account, I would gladly give my name…
Alarm Force Panic Button
I worked at a store with Alarm Force. My co-worker was attacked by thugs with a baseball bat. He kept pressing the emergency button but nothing happened.
Later on the Alarm Force technician came by and confirmed that the panic button had never been connected to the system by their company.
Astounding! I still cannot understand why they didn’t sue Alarm Force; something about the store still being owned by the prior owners at the time or something. Me, I would have sued til the cows came home.
AlarmFarce
I have worked for an security alarm company for a little over 5 year 3.5 as tech 1.5+ as an inspector. Alarm Force should be called Alarmfarce. The sytem they use is antiquated by design. What i mean is the technoligy is at least 20 years old. Also most of their customers use the phone to arm/disarm system (can you say redail!!!!!) also they do NOT have phone line siezure which means that if the phone is off hook it can NOT call out or if the Bulglar calls in it can NOT call out. Placement of the panel is another story. The kichen counter or behind a couch is good enough?? Next most devices are 2-way taped on?? Also for the first 30 to 90 seconds the “operator” you hear is a recording until a live operator can get to your alarm. Next and most important Joel Matlin advertises his 2-way as a good way to confirm alarms only thing is if the bulglar is queit the it goes the same way as any other alarm unverified. Next if it is a robbery in progress and the operator comes on after you press your panic button i really hope you are wearing a bullet proof jacket.
ADT not Greatest
ADT Isn’t the Greatest Solution either. They are just as bad when it comes to scamming the consumer… They just do it on a larger scale.
As far as Dialer tests go, they are useless unless they are done daily. With how overleaded the receiver lines at ADT are, they generally ignore 1 fail to test, sometimes even 2. In this scenario, you will not find out about a buggered panel for up to 3 months. Yes, some panels will indicate a failure to communicate trouble, however ADT disables that on most of their panels because they do not want extra service calls.
In addition, ADT has a 30 to 45 second Abort Delay STANDARD. What this means is if a crackhead breaks into your home, they have the initial 30 seconds to do whatever. Once the alarm starts to ring, they have up to an additional 40 seconds to find your panel and destroy it. This is not difficult as most ADT Systems are wireless and the whole alarm is on the keypad, or the panel is right next to the siren…. Not hard to find that with the siren ringing and the panel doing squat for 40 seconds.
That is over 1 minute of useless alarm people. Think about it.
Alarm Force Crap
Whether or not the Alarm Force “panel” was at fault, fact of the matter is, Alarm Force is crap. The Alarm Force system consists of a shoebox sized plastic box with a tiny transistor radio sized speaker mounted right next to the microphone. This box is usually placed on the kitchen counter and plugged into the phone line and power there.
As for the “$100″ battery, this is a tiny $5 battery (at most). Alarm Force is NOT a service company. Their whole purpose is to obtain as many monitoring contracts as possible. With that much emphasis on sales and “alarm systems” which require little or no installation skill it is no wonder Alarm Force customers have problems getting service.
Expensive Voxcom
I have had similar experience with Voxcom (Reliance Protectron since 2008) and would not recommend them to anyone. They have a 3 year contract which they roll over automatically without notifying you that this will happen. They also claim to service your alarm free but in reality have a $35 call out fee for each visit. They also charge for additional hardware e.g. if you need an extra sensor. Their customer service is very poor and their attitude can be summed up in their comment to me “well, you signed the contract”. Buyer beware I guess. Getting a Voxcom alarm has proved to be a very expensive mistake….
Nomore Voxcom
Voxcom (Reliance Protectron since 2008)… very interesting company that does splatter advertisements that they are looking for you… they care, the service they offer…. I had no complaints also until I moved out of the province… for the past 5 months I have phoned, emailed, trying to make arrangements to originally move the equipment to now refusing to pay. They seem to find my phone number to offer promotions etc, but each time I speak with them, they tell me someone has to call me back, it’s not their area. Today I received another bill for service that I am not receiving – when I called again… I was told that it is not their problem that someone has not called me back. It is my problem, my responsibility and all bills for service at an address that they are aware I moved from 5 months ago – I still have to pay for. I was also advised that I have to now pay an additional 23 months worth of contract if I cancel. The man that I spoke with told me he spoke with people all day who had stupid problems, and accused me of not dealing with this and that although they had record of speaking to me – it was still my problem that their company does not return phone calls to get my account moved. They have enjoyed taking the money from my account for service they are not providing.
It is interesting that their big plug when they were selling the system was the ease of moving the contract with you…. I guess they have it right – the contract moves with you but the security service you are paying for doesn’t….
I would not recommend Voxcom to anyone at all!!
Nomore Alarm Force
NOT Alarm Force anymore.
We have had Alarm Force for 10 years and now we are going away from it due to their one-man service. “Free”is good until you have a problem. their system shorted the phone line ( relay locked open probably) and cooked the high speed modem ($79.95 plus tax) but the fellow refused to admit any problem, and insulted my friend the phone line fellow. then he said we should have been running a full test of the system every month. then he suggested over the phone a “hard reset” of the system. I wanted another unit; he didn’t want to do that and said again that “you can never be too sure with the phone system”
I’m going local with the ADT all in one price, and they have a line check they do every month for problems. AND no extra charges for battery service.
Alarm Force, the main unit, which they own, has to have the battery replaced $100 plus sooner or later, 3 or 4 years max.
If we were broken into would they say the system was not at fault because we didn’t test it every month?
There are problems getting calls back within 2 days, and I heard it cost one older lady $200 to have him come and check and replace her batteries throughout the house.
Certainly something similar I know of happened to my folks, $100 plus to check the batteries.
I’m not happy with service, a one man show.
Me? I’m an Electro-mechanical research gadget builder and know a little bit about this over the last 30 years, so to hear it passed off on the phone company again when I was there with the meter in my hand- well that’s just crap.