My Review: ADT Security Systems

Ever thought about getting a home alarm system? Ever considered going with ADT? DONT! Let me tell you about my experience. 

I bought a house in November and I figured out pretty quick that I would need a security system. So, who do I call? ADT because, they advertise heavily and make it seem like you’re getting a great deal. So a man from corporate came out to the house and gave his speech. He told me all about ADT and how they are the leader in security systems, he told me how much I would be paying which was $47.99/month and that I wouldn’t have to pay for any of the equipment of front, so basically no upfront costs. 

When ADT came out to install my system in January, I was excited and looking forward to having the peace of mind they constantly talk about. When it came down to a motion sensor that constantly went off 15-30 minutes after it was turned on and 3 phone calls to the police to check the house out while we were gone, I became frustrated when nothing was happening inside the house. We’ve had about 5 tech calls for the motion sensor and 2 replacements later, it seems to be functioning. That’s one of the major hassles with ADT, they give you malfunctioning and probably used equipment. 

So anyway, on August 2nd I made a payment to them with my usual method of a debit card. So usually you wait no more than 48 hours and you see your payment posted on the account. Mine was never posted however, I did a screenshot of my completed payment. After 3 days and it still wasn’t on the account, I contacted ADT via email and received nothing! 7 days later, I contact ADT again via email and still nothing. Yesterday, 12 days later I contacted ADT only to be told “Your payment didn’t go through, we tried taking it out on August 3rd and it was declined. Uh BULLSHIT! The money was in there for 12 days until I finally assumed they didn’t want it and I paid another bill with it instead. The customer service rep was so snappy and rude, I finally hung up on her. 

On top of all of this, you should know that there’s 2 separate ADT entity’s. The first being the advertisements you get in the mail which come from ADT’s corporate office or “Authorized Dealers”. The second being actual ADT that you call on the phone and specifically request an agent from there to come. I ended up getting the corporate ADT because, I didn’t know any different. When you sign up for new service you’ll receive 1 motion sensor, 1 keypad, 1 keychain remote and 2 sensors. Want more than 2 sensors? That’ll cost you $120 for 2 more of them. That’s right, they are not only killing you every month but, they also are demanding you pay 4 times the price for wireless sensors that you can buy online or other places that don’t want to screw you over.

The best part of all? You get to be stuck in a 2 year contract at a total of $1,151 to rent the service. Then if you don’t renew your contract, they will stop monitoring you and can even take your equipment. I will say this BUYER BEWARE!