Protect America Home Alarm Security Packages: A Cautionary Tale

With so much crime in my area, a home alarm seemed to be a good solution. I chose a home alarm security package from Protect America. What I have learned is that dealing with some alarm companies can be worse than the prospect of a break in. Read this article
 before you sign any contract for a home alarm system.

The Protect America home alarm security package was purchased from Armour Alarm two and a half years ago. I am not sure why, but Protect America has many alarm companies selling for them. When you find an alarm company with a different business name, they may actually be from Protect America. The two main complaints I have against Protect America is low quality equipment and dishonest business practices.

When I called Armour Alarm expressing my interest in purchasing a home alarm system they sent a rep to my house. They pulled out a contract that was a few pages long. The rep said not to worry about trying to read it all and that he would go over it all with me. This was my first big mistake in trusting the alarm company. He went over each paragraph and assured me that contract would only be a two-year commitment.

After signing the contract, Armour Alarm installed the new equipment. My first concern is that the window alarms are only secured into place by Velcro. They continually fell off triggering the alarm. One morning I had a false alarm. Luckily I was home and could disable it. This time it wasn't the Velcro, it was some other issue. I called Armour Alarm out to check the equipment. The technician seemed very unsure and did not know what he was doing. The next time I had a false alarm, I was not home. When I did get home, many police officers were there. The police department fined me for having a false alarm. I contacted Protect America and they blamed the false alarm on my dog. They told me that Pomeranian dogs have a shrill bark similar to glass breakage. According to Protect America my dog caused the false alarms. They sent me a new alarm that can withstand Pomeranian frequencies.

 
Comments 1 - 4 of 4  
Comments
Type in Your Comments Below

Who is going to "protect America" from Protect America? This company is shady, to say the least. I am having trouble with them and their auto renewal policy. I called to cancel my prepaid 3 yr contract *last summer*. The rep told me the penalties for canceling early would cost more than just letting the contract run its course. Tonight I got a call telling me I owe them 2 mos service and they auto renewed me for a year! Even after I told them about my conversation with their rep last summer, they refuse to cancel this. It's been broken since the first year! Why would I want to throw away more $$? Stay Away from Protect America.

Posted on 04/28/2009 at 2:04:11 AM

We tried 3 times to cancel our contract with this company. The first 2 notifications they swear they did not get. We also gave them a verbal notification over the phone but they would not accept it. Once they did cancel, they now want us to pay for time that service was not used. Finally got a customer rep to agree that we no longer owe them any payments. Guess what, they continue to harass us. They continued to withdraw from our bank account which we finally had to contact back to not allow this transaction from them. My advice, STAY CLEAR!

Posted on 04/03/2009 at 6:04:22 AM

wow thanks for the warning about this company

Posted on 02/23/2008 at 10:02:00 AM

Rebecca, Previously I worked for a home and biz security company Protection One. I experienced what Protect America did to folks first hand, and most didn't care for it. They simply ship you the equipment, there is no real local support, no real follow thru with any local companies. Lo and behold should you try to get another alarm company to service anything they put in, good luck. If you are very tekky, very into such systems and their installation, fine go ahead. In the long run with alarm systems you often get what you pay for, which may not be too much. There is little to no consulting except briefly over the phone. When a rep comes to your house you can see things that will help in a proper installation, like your dog situation for example. Those false alarm charges can be assessed each time they come out, but usually they let you off with a warning at first. Too bad they didn't for you. Hope this helps ABH Alexander

Posted on 01/30/2008 at 11:01:06 AM

Comments 1 - 4 of 4