Arizona State-Wide Home Security Providers:

Southwest Security Solutions (Monitronics Dealer)

Recent Review For Southwest Security Solutions: (Added July 11/10) It's the worst company out there.  They promise you all this free equipment and everything else when its the crappiest equipment you can get.  I had a house that was pre-wired and ready to activate.  Southwest comes in and uses there own system because its cheaper for them and tells me its going to be a hard wired system so I agree to them to install everything.  By the way they don't even have a professional van the installer that came out to me was in his own beat up car and dressed like a bum off the street VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!!!! Like 2 weeks later I had a problem with the alarm and call Southwest and they said they would have someone out by tomorrow. Tomorrow came and they rescheduled to the next day.  Then the next day came and they rescheduled again.  The next day again too!!!  I had to call Monitronics which is the Company that eventually will buy the account from Southwest and they had to get another company out to fix my problem. 6 months later I had a friend come over who knows alarm systems and he told me the system they sold me was the cheapest and most unreliable system out there.  It was a Honeywell All in One Lynx Panel which its not tied into the hardwired system and if someone broke into my house all they have to do is rip my keypad off the wall and the alarm is disarmed. It was a rude awakening because my house is pre-wired and has a separate control panel which is the brain of a system.  The Lynx Panel has the control panel built into the keypad Hint being a cheaper system and unreliable. That day I called (the owner) at Southwest and asked why they put the system into my house when it was pre-wired and she said the option I wanted which was 2 way voice was only available in that Lynx Panel and I said I wanted a hard wired 2 way system and her and her husband (******* who is also a Owner)  told me that I signed the paperwork saying everything was ok and said it was ok over a phone survey so it was my fault.  So again I called Monitronics and they had to try to help me out. It goes as follows:  They said since its not a year yet they can't help me out because if you go with a Dealer which is Southwest they own the account until a year.  So any problems I deal with them directly.  Monitronics buys the account in full after 1 year and Southwest has nothing to do with the account after 1 year as long as I'm happy and no problems.  Since I called to complain Monitronics said if Southwest doesn't fix the problem that they would not buy the account. That means that I'm stuck with Southwest and they are now my company for the next 2 years and they can have any monitoring company to monitor my house now!!!!   I called Southwest again and talked with ******* and he said again its my fault even though he is the alarm specialist, and I shouldn't of signed if I wasn't happy.  I have no knowledge of alarms at all.  He said if I wanted a hard wired 2 way voice system I would have to pay $799.  They lied to me the whole time and they did have a hard wired 2 way voice system but didn't want to install it at first because the more money they spend at first means the less they make in profit!!!! Once they install your system and you sign that contract they don't care about you anymore.  This is a beyond shady company so don't buy from them at all and stick with companies that are BBB certified because this company cant get a BBB account because they do stuff like this all the time.  If you have a Honeywell All In One Lynx panel already get rid of it because its the cheapest equipment out there.  If they are offering all this stuff for free you know that there is something wrong!!!!

Glendale Home Security Providers:

American Alarm (Monitronics Dealer)

Recent Review For American Alarm: (Added Apr 21/10) We finally have gotten out of our Monitronics contract. Now ready to change companies only to find the Monitronics equipment will only work for Monitronic.  We had a salesman come to our door 3 years ago, and did we ever make a big mistake.  We were sold equipment that did not work, and we did not need.  Every time I called the monitoring company people were rude, all they care about is getting you monthly payment.  I feel they do a big disservice to people who have the fear of something going wrong in their homes.  They know how to install that fear in you.   I will tell everyone that I know not to use Monitronics in their home even if no one else is available, they do not monitor your home.  We have never had a phone call in three years, even though the alarm has been set off.  Buyer Beware!!!

Mesa, Phoenix Home Security Providers:

Suncoast Security (ADT Dealer)

Recent Review For Suncoast Security: (Added March 8/09) We live in a gated community and even with that break-ins are on the rise in our area. We called Suncoast Security out of the phone book also found at suncoastsecurity.org and had them do a free estimate. After reviewing three other major brand name companies we decided that ADT was the best. We got a better deal from Suncoast while ADT does the monitoring and backs up the equipment for life. This was a big selling point as we are too busy to worry about false alarms and wireless or wired equipment issues. The installer was excellent and spent more than enough time explaining how the system can be used. He even had each of our family members go through the functionality to make sure we were comfortable with it. If you live anywhere in the Valley call these guys they really do offer peace of mind in uncertain times.

Phoenix Home Security Providers:

Titan Alarm (Monitronics Dealer)

Recent Review For Titan Alarm: (Added July 8/10) (Updated Sept 16/10) I had no trouble with installation or the system. However, I had a panic alarm and the monitronics company sent the Security company (which they call the police) to a bogus address. It took over an hour for them to respond. It turns out that   after 7 months of monitoring they had keyed in my address wrong. If   my house had been on fire, they would have sent the Fire dept in the  wrong direction by over 20 blocks. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. I spoke with customer service about this inexusable mistake and they offered me nothing in return except "sorry about that". I am VERY unhappy and now I understand why they make you sign a 3 yr contract because they know there service is poor and they know customers would be dropping right and left if they had a satisfaction guarantee. CHOOSE A DIFFERENT COMPANY. Update: I continue to be extremely dissatisfied with Monitronics. We had a front door alarm which they insisted was our fault and charged us $35. At the time our system was disarmed. However, our installation company did some checking and learned it was a "ghost alarm" caused by another installer using our code to test a new system elsewhere. Monitronics is uneducated about alarm systems and their customer service is the worst I have ever been associated with.

Tempe Home Security Providers:

National Alarm Company (ADT Dealer)

Recent Review For National Alarm Company: (Added Aug 4/10) We had a sales rep from National Alarm knock on our door in Mesa, AZ. We had been thinking about a system and had talked to a few other companies, so I let him tell me their deal. He was friendly and was very knowledgable and we ended up signing up for service. The main reasons I chose ADT from another alarm company were these: - He was able to waive my up front cost while the guy from ADT Corp came out and it would've been $199. Monitronics, SAI and a few other companies told me they could do this as well. - ADT has a 6-month satisfaction guarantee, so if the service is bad I can get out of the 3 year contract early before I get stuck paying. None of the other companies told me anything simalar. - ADT  had a bigger discount with my homeowners insurance (USAA 20%) it was only 10% if I went with another company. - National Alarm was one of the only alarm companies I spoke with that was a member of the BBB and had an A rating. - The main reason I went with them is because I got all 5 doors, 2 motions, and 2 keychains + the keypad for free. Some of the other companies I talked to would only give a limited amount for free and would charge for extra. Overall we are very satisfied for choosing National Alarm Company to do our alarm.

TUCSON Home Security Providers:

Eagle Security

Recent Review For Eagle Security: I shopped around for awhile and found lots of big nation wide companies in Tucson.  But I wanted a local company, somebody who would send a tech out quickly, and who knows my area of town.  I found a couple companies called Eagle Security, but I called the one in AZ.  They are a small dealer for Honeywell/Ademco alarms.  They explained everything about their alarms!!  They didn't offer a free alarm, but they did have a base package that I could build on if I needed it.  Eagle Security AZ also has a cheap maintenance program.  These guys were great!!  A real home town company that cares about customer service.  They also said they used SW Security Monitoring Service, a bonus because they are based in here in Tucson and the Fire Departments and Police Departments know them as good service providers.  If you're in Tucson look these guys up, I want them to be successfull- they're good people.

Secur-Tec

Recent Review For Secur-Tec: Secur-Tec operates out of far Southern Arizona, south of Tucson, and installed my security system for the builder of my new house.  As they were the only security company that could begin monitoring my house on short notice, I went with them.  They have a decent local reputation, despite pulling a bait-and-switch on me regarding contract length (verbally promising a 1 year contract, but putting a 3 year length in the written contract, and, when I noticed the inconsistency, verbally claiming it didn't really mean 3 years.  Huh?!) Wow, what an error on my part!  Within the first week, it turned out that 1) they did not register my phone number or even my name or address with their monitoring service, so the monitoring service did NOT recognize my incoming calls, and then 2) they registered the WRONG phone number-off by one digit-so the monitoring service STILL could not recognize automatic incoming calls from my phone.  Had I not tested the alarm myself, I would have thought I had security monitoring, but would have had nothing, nada.  Once we got past that, another problem quickly appeared that, unbelievably, is STILL unresolved AFTER almost 3 years.  We live in a windy area and lose electrical service up to several times a year.  Once power goes out, a battery operated power backup for the security system kicks in.  This backup supposedly lasts for up to 48 hours.  Well, my backup in reality lasts anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes at maximum, no more.  I contacted Secur-Tec when the system was under warranty from my home builder;  Secur-Tec came out and said the battery was "fine."  I then retested its service length the next day by cutting off my own power at the circuit breaker.  The security system made it all of about 30 minutes before the battery ran out of juice.  This has been the case for years now whenever power outages occur.  Either Secur-Tec made some horrific mistake while installing my alarm system (so that the system uses perhaps 50 to 300 times as much power as it should), OR Secur-Tec simply thinks it is not cost-effective for them to replace a bad battery still under warranty. Prior to Secur-Tec, in another house, I had a national security provider, and never had any problem with them.  Perhaps that was just luck, but I certainly would not use Secur-Tec again.  I always think of them as "Insecur-Tec."