Sentinel Alarm Systems

I just thought I’d share this review that I wrote for Angie’s List in 2012. Our service started on 8-​3-​2011. It is now January 2016, we have long ago paid up our 3 year contract. I sent in written notice of cancellation at the contract’s end at the same time that I wrote this original review (March 2012). I also stated that the contract be cancelled at its end, over the phone to their accountant in 2012. I have spoken with a new accountant for the past few months. Apparently, the previous accountant is no longer working there. She told me to send an email, so I sent her an email stating my wish to end the contract. She stated that they normally require written requests to be sent via certified mail. However, because I had already sent in a written request, and have requested cancellation in the past because we were not satisfied with the service, an email would suffice. She had also found the previous written cancellation request in my file while we were speaking on the phone. She also found the notes about other phone requests for cancellation. She was supposed to call me back to follow up, but never did. I assumed it was cancelled after the email was sent and I called her the another time. So, why did we keep getting billed? Also, my husband recently received a collections letter from them for months outside of our original contract. Do not deal with this company. They are just horrible and I am shocked that it is still in business at all.
Original Review from 2012:
*Read my review for more detail*Battery replacement after 5 months Garage sensor kept going off, tech disconnected it-​unacceptable Did not receive new signs or stickers with our new contract-​unacceptable Called for cancellation fee, have to pay up entire contract, even though we’ve had nothing but bad experiences, still haven’t given us a total Barn sensor kept going off, refused to disconnect for us Will not connect our barn/​unattached garage to our system with out a separate account Company does not offer new services, behind the times Bad mouthed competitors Rigid, rude, unhelpful company techs not very knowledgeable or helpful, customer service rep was rude ****Read my review for more detail****
Member Comments:
We currently use Sentinnel. I am not impressed at all with their service. As another reviewer said, it is not possible to cancel their service if you are not satisfied. You will be required to pay for your entire 3 year contract. My husband’s reason for choosing this company was that the previous owner’s of our house used them. When we 1^st moved in, we were having issues w/​our phone not working for approximately a week, which meant our security system was not working. Sentinel did not notice at all. So, if someone were to cut the phone line would they not notice that either? A sentinel rep told me they only check the system once a month. Also, soon after we moved in we had an issue our garage sensor, it kept going off. The service tech that came out decided to just disconnect that sensor, meaning the garage is no longer secure! That is truly unacceptable, considering the garage has two huge windows and it’s attached to the house. He didn’t look for a problem or a solution, he was here for less than 30 minutes. Turns out, our squeaky garage door was causing the sensor to activate, all we needed was wd-​40, you would think a tech would know that since there was absolutely nothing else it could have been! Another problem we have with them is that the previous owner used our barn as his business office. Because of this sentinel refuses to hook it into our home system. They said we would have to open a separate account because it WAS a business. It may have been a business before, but for us, it’s just our barn/​detached garage! We actually had another problem with the barn when we moved in. Apparently, other owners did have two separate accounts, home and business. We did not turn on the barn since we cannot write it off on our taxes because we do not have a business. Because we did not turn on the barn system, the alarm would go off twice a day every day for hours each time. Because we did not want a new account, sentinel refused to turn them off for us, they refused to give us the code or be helpful in any way. Even when the tech was here for the garage, he refused to help us with the barn. I still can’t believe he could disconnect the garage sensor so easily, but refused to do it in the barn! They know they have us for three years, so they seem like theyre not too worried about winning our future business. Last month (5 months into our service), our battery went out. Sentinel charged us pay $ 50.66 for a new 12 volt battery, and no, they did not install it, they mailed it to us. Why, after only 5 months do we have to pay for a new battery? Why didn’t they install a new one when we signed the NEW contract?

Poor account management and customer service is pretty accurate. Instructions for service tickets were not communicated. After a service call when work was incomplete or incorrect, they just scheduled me for a service call in two weeks.
The takeout was even worse. They just cut all wires and pulled their hardware. So much for the new company using the hard wired sensors.
Horrible! !!!

Not real happy with the customer service department also overpriced for the monitoring service