My daughter and I are in disparate need of your help. Last September we changed our security alarm system from ADT to a company called Firstline Security, Inc. The reason we changed was because the man who sold us the system assured us it was a better system which worked on a cell phone calling system instead of a land line, which we had.( I have since found out that the cell phone is only a back up to the land line.) My daughter is recovering from a recent aneurysm eruption in her brain, which left her right leg and arm paralyzed and she is unable to speak or write due to apraxia and aphasia. I have power of attorney for my daughter and I thought this improved system would be more secure in the event of an emergency. We signed an agreement to have the payments for this system taken directly from our credit cards. The original amount of the payments were $44.00 a month, but have now been increased to $47.00. Two months ago we both received letters saying we owed the company $79.00. I tried calling the company only to get an answering machine. Recently sellers from another company tried to sell us a new system and I declined because we are under a two year contract agreement with Firstline Security. This new seller explained that Firstline Security was out of Business because of bankruptcy and we should find out who is monitoring our system. Again I tried calling the company and got the same answering machine. Earlier this week, I received a call from some one saying he was calling from Firstline Security about the $79.00 I owed. I asked what the payment was for and he replied that the payment was for the monthly monitoring fee. I explained that payments for monitoring my system were being deducted from my credit card each month. He asked me to fax him copies of my credit card statements. I became suspicious and I asked him which months were not being paid and he replied that no payments have been received since September 2007. I knew that was wrong and I did not choose to send my credit card information by fax and told him so. I told him I would try to call the company again to get this problem resolved. He said to me, “well will just stop your service”. I’ve tried calling Firstline Security several times and I got a recording. One recording suggested I call a “Monitronics” monitoring service for questions about my monitoring. I called “Monitronic” and the people there tried to help me. In test mode they discovered my motion detector in the living room was not working, but they were not getting any signals on their equipment that would occur if there was a break. They too tried calling Firstline Security but only got a answering machine. They tried to schedule me for a technician’s visit but found that I had to call Firstline Security to set up a visit. I received a letter from a company called Alarm Services of Albany New York that said they would be performing the billing of my monitoring services. This letter was sign by the COO of Alarm Service and the CFO of Firstline Security. I tried calling Alarm Services and got an answering service. In the meantime payments are still coming out of both our credit cards. I talked to a person at Consumer Protection who suggested that I not stop the payment because I would be breaking the contract even though my system was not being monitored.
I would like some answers. I want to know who if anyone is monitoring both our systems. I want to know what the $79.00 charge is for, because we are both still paying. I would like to get out of the contract with Firstline Security for both my daughter and me, not pay any penalties and resume service with ADT. I would like both our moneys back for any time our systems were not being monitored. And, I would like to be compensated for all the grief this company has caused me.
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