APX Alarm | Customer Review: Feels Deceived By Salesperson

First off - getting an APX system was OUR FAULT - we should have NEVER let the salesman in the door and just said, "Thank you, but no" and shut the door even if he was still talking. If you give their salesman an inch, that's all they need.

Our doorbell rang around 4:30 p.m. June 24, 2010. My daughter answered the door thinking it was one of her playmates, but it was an APX salesman and he asked her to get me (one room away). He told me he was not a salesman - he was a "scout" for "sponsor homes" for APX Security, M--- K-------. He showed me his badge and identification and was clearly marked as an APX representative. He assured me it wasn't a scam. (Why would I need to know this unless they'd already been called this?? I had no prior knowledge of this company or its practices.) He said they were looking for "nice" homes to install their equipment and show off their signs. So, why, the next day driving through the barrio to the Boys and Girls club where I was volunteering, did I see their signs at several very run down homes?

I told him our house was already wired for a security system but we could not afford to buy anything right now, having just come off an expensive insurance claim, thanks anyway. He proceeded to ignore my remark, ask what company had wired the house, what does the system look like - questions that really are none of his business. I asked him why he wanted to know and he never directly answered my questions - he would always talk around them. He was very pushy, and very, VERY talkative - I could hardly get a word in edgewise.
He said we could have a $2000 security system free of charge for displaying the company sign in the yard and advertising for them. He said lots of our neighbors were getting systems, but he couldn't name names for privacy reasons. (Hmmm.....) He asked if he could see our current system and like a fool, I let him in. He proceeded to tell me how outdated and old our system was and then went on to show me the glories of their system, how it worked, how burglars cut phone/electric lines to get in a house, how there are only a handful of keys in the whole world that will open most locks, almost all criminals come through doors, not windows and that's why their system is better because it's cellular.

I told him to come back another time when my husband was around and he asked if I would call him at work, that they were only in town for a short time. (Another alarm bell should have went off then for me...) Again, I complied (really just wanting the guy to go away and leave me alone) and asked my husband if we could become a sponsor home and get a free home security system. I could hear the concern in my husband's voice and the whole time I am on the phone, the salesman is coaching me as to what to say to my husband on the phone and then he finally point blank asks if he can just talk to him himself - and does. After my husband reluctantly agrees, M--- starts writing up paperwork, saying his installer is just around the corner installing a neighbor's system and will be right there. Never mind that I told him we had somewhere to be in 45 min. "Oh, it won't take any time at all to install"... They don't want to give you any kind of time to actually think about what you are doing. He starts showing me all the stuff we're getting for "free" as he writes up the paperwork and then says that there is a $198.00 activiation fee. Well, "free" just flew out the window..... Then they'd want us to sign a 42 month contract and it would be $54.11 total with tax per month. My husband comes home from work as all of this is being described. We both exchange glances - I know we are both feeling the same pit in the stomach gross feelings.

As we sign the contract, the installer magically shows up and starts the installation. The installer was very nice and had perfect manners. The salesman, however, is still just talking away and oh, by the way, informs us the monthly fee is automatically deducted from a checking account, so can he have a voided check for routing and account numbers? Totally against my better judgement I hand him a voided check instead of leaning over and tearing up the contract. THEN, after all that he says, "Oh, and here's the form to fill out and give to your local police for the permit for the burglar alarm - and you'll need to give them $25 for the permit." Are you serious?!?!

Then he calls his corporate office and I have to answer a ton of questions like, "Did he show you his badge and identification?" "Did he inform you of the activation fee" and so on. The installer isn't even half way through and M--- is out the door on to the next conquest. We receive two flimsy signs to put on either side of our house - two days later the solar light on one of them quit working. We have to send our children ahead to the function we are now late for and we show up an hour later when Mr. Installer is finished and after we've had to answer yet another round of questions from whatever office he called to report his part of the job was done.

On the way to the function, I Google APX and I just get nauseated as I see "Scam!" and "Warning!" and "Don't!" time after time. HOW did we let ourselves get sucked into this?!?!?! UGH! After talking it over, we don't even feel like it's a good system for our home and it's definitely not worth $2000. One door is not covered and there is nothing for windows and only one motion dectector for our 4,000 sq. ft. home unlike one for every room like we had. When we get home, I devour every bit of paperwork we were left with and notice a 3 day cancellation stub of paper. We were not told about this option at all -imagine that - and at least we have a way out.

I sleep fitfully all night and feel completely suckered and stupid and am very angry with myself. The next morning we sign the paperwork for the cancellation and I spend $1.70 copying our cancellation letter and faxing it to the corporate office in Utah and then spending $20 more to express mail it to Utah to beat the 3 day deadline. I never hear from them. The July 4th holiday passes and I track the letter. It definitely arrived and was signed for and Telecheck Services, Inc. sends us a notice that they'll be handling our monthly automatic withdrawls. Who???

I call APX July 5, 2010 and when I tell them I want to cancel, I'm transferred to another guy who asks what can they do? What fees can they waive? And oh, by the way, let me offer you a thermostat for $6.00 extra a month that comes with some great coupons, etc. WHAT?? I'm cancelling and they are trying to sell me more crap!

No. Thank. You. They were very nice on the phone and did say the uninstaller would be around the next day between 9 a.m. - noon. And he was - he showed up at 11:00 a.m. and did a nice job taking everything away and patching up the few holes in my wall from the keypad. I asked the customer service rep about processing the refunds on our activation fee and the first monthly fee that had been taken out of our account and he said the person that deals with that was out of the office and could I call back tomorrow. Hmmmmmm......

When I called back July 6th - all customer service reps were "currently busy". I will update this review when this is resolved to let you know if we lost almost $250 in an expensive lesson learned, or if we got every penny back. I know some folks on here have APX and give it glowing reports. The main complaint we have is the salesman and ourselves for not being firm enough in saying NO and for not sending this guy on his way. Saddest for us is seeing 4 other homes on our block with APX signs in their yard and knowing he probably used our names to get them to sign on.

Update:
Today, July 13, 2010, we received in the mail a refund check of $252.11 from APX which covers the activation fee of $198 and the first month's service of $54.11. We had the account number of the credit card we used for the activation fee changed since it had been exposed/jeopardized so they were unable to do a credit to the card.

I had never called the company back to further check on our refund status and was never contacted by them about the refund, so I am very happy that this was resolved easily and in a friendly manner. We will keep an eye on the checking account to make sure no further drafts are made from the account.