AlarmForce

STAY AWAY! I've had several alarms from different companies over the years, but when I got married my wife had an existing contract with AlarmForce. The hardware is pretty limited compared to what I was used to (primitive keypad with limited functions), but it seemed workable. Over the last 2 years I've spent $70 and endured a fair amount of frustration changing batteries in sensors, which seems odd considering I've never changed a battery in the 15 years of having other alarms. The main unit which has the voice connection looks like a brick, and has terrible sound quality.

Now that our contract is up, we scheduled a visit to have a couple of things looked at (we were considering having an additional sensor, etc). We we told on the phone that our main unit was old, and would be replaced if we signed up for a new 3-year contract.

What followed was a mess. The technician that arrived was helpful enough, but the representative we spoke with before and during the visit was terrible. In short - the hardware couldn't do what we wanted (you can only set one contact for delay). The technician told us that the main unit we had was known to be a faulty model, and should have been replaced. The phone rep was going to give us a new one only if we signed a new contract. They weren't prepared to offer us anything for signing a new contract (besides the main unit which should have been replaced anyway). When my wife told the rep we were going to think about it and possibly consider a different provider, they decided we were going to be charged $50 for the service call! There was no mention of the when we booked the appointment. Even the technician seemed shocked. My wife ended up having to argue with a very rude phone rep about this, and he finally relented. You can bet I'll be checking my credit card statement carefully.

Needless to say, we won't be renewing with AlarmForce. Disrespectful representatives, inadequate hardware, ridiculous charges....