Monitronics Alarm Employees Speak Out

"I run a Monitronics dealership in Florida and I understand the concerns that people have with their service. Since it seems no one else has addressed it, I will".

First off, PLEASE stop lumping every one under Monitronics. Each location is like a franchise, similar to McDonalds or many other businesses. We go by certain guidelines in order to work as a dealer under them but we all operate seperately from them.

In regards to one comment about the alarm systems being branded with the Monitronics name on it- all companies do this. It is for brand identification and also to lock out potential non-Monitronics dealers from utilizing the equipment. This is actually done by the manufacturers and all companies do it (ADT, Protection One, Brinks, etc)

The Monitronics corporate office works to keep all dealers running good businesses but just like ADT or any other larger company they are not able to be everywhere at once. Some of the dealerships hire inexperienced staff or unknowledgable staff which leads to issues with the system. When you are deciding who to choose, check that local company out with the State licensing boards and the Better Business Bureau. If they have issues call a different Monitronics dealer. I know in my area there was a dealership (which has closed) that customers had many many isues with, and we have gone out to repair problems due to this. Every company whether big or small has issues, and it is because it is all run by humans. This is why most people get great service, and some others do not. If you don't like the way you are being treated by any company, address it with a supervisor. They may not be aware of how that person is handling you and they can be either corrected or possibly terminated.

I am a home owner and have cable and phone service (as everyone does), and when I have called I once in a while get someone who gives poor service so I ask for a supervisor- so they are made aware. Please know that we are not all one in the same and to do your homework and check on any company you have coming into your home to provide any type of service.
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"Overall I have worked for Monitronics for over 8 years and there are 20 things I would like people to know about the company and how their alarms systems work:

1. Monitronics does not install alarm systems, only monitors them.
2. The company relies on a large network of installing and servicing companies for field work. This allows these little guys to compete with the big companies without having to open a 24 hour facility which is expensive. Monitronics supports small business.
3. By not installing alarms, the company also does not compete with their dealers. (Unlike other monitoring companies that also install, which can at any time undercut their own small sub-contractors and the mom & pop companies.
4. Monitronics has by far the quickest response time in the industry for retail residential alarm systems. The monitoring operators do nothing else but work alarms. The dispatchers do not do tech support, data entry, customer service, or billing. This costs more because the company has to have multiple call centers to handle these calls. But the response times are faster because it frees up the monitoring operators to do one thing and do it well.
5. Industry wide most of the alarms received are false alarms due to user error. (I set off my own alarm by accident plenty, that just means I am using it.)
6. Monitronics monitors a lot of systems with the CP-01 False Alarm Reduction protocol. This means the systems are hard programmed to help prevent false alarms. For instance, on a Honewell system if the alarm is triggered but disarmed within 15 seconds, the system will not sent a signal to the monitoring station. The keypad will show a CA (canceled alarm) on the screen telling the user the system was disarmed quick enough to prevent a signal from being sent. Another thing is a lot of systems will not activate a motion detector if the system does not see a door open and then close. The system know the customer is still home and turns off the motion to prevent a false alarm. Customers who do not realize this think their system is broken.
7. All new systems with CP-01 protocol delay the start BURGLARY signal for at least 15 seconds from the time the siren sounds to prevent false alarms. (A lot of times customers do not read about this in their user manual and think the system is not working because of this.) - Note, there is no delay for emergency Panic or Fire signals and they are dispatched on first.
8. As boring as it my be, read your manual.
9. Call Monitronics with your password ready, and test your system monthly. The operator will be more than happy to walk you through the process.
10. If your system is not able to send a signal it will show a trouble or fail to communicate on the keypad and the system will drive you crazy beeping to warn you if this happens.
11. If you are near the end of your contract and like and use the service call Monitronics and offer to sign a new contract, but at a lower monthly rate, they will in most cases be happy to do it.
12. Monitronics has an Installation Quality Department, that will check on their installing dealers to make sure all the equipment is installed and working correctly. This is done at random inspecting these customer's systems at no cost. This is to make sure the dealers are not doing sub-par work.
13. Due to large number of different dealers and systems they monitor for, Monitronics tech support supports over 85 different types of alarms systems. (System that customers still use and like, but are not even made any more).
14. Monitronics is a UL (Underwriters Lab) listed station.
15. Monitronics is a 5 Diamond certified monitoring facility
16. Monitronics is the largest private alarm monitoring company in the country.
17. If you are getting an alarm system from any company, make sure the installer takes as much time as YOU need to learn your new system. Know how to, arm and disarm without a keychain remote, change your code, power down your system if needed, turn your chimes on or off, replace batteries, test the system, and make you understand all the different ways to arm your system. (Stay, Away, Instant/No Delay)
18. Do not be scared or upset if you set off the alarm and the company calls. That is what you pay them for, you can set it off every day if you like but know this: Have your correct password ready, if you do not they WILL sent the police, you pay them for this also. If you send a police of fire panic signal, they will dispatch first, its like calling 911.
19. If you have your system working through a phone line, and you leave town and realize you forgot to arm your system, call Monitroincs they might be able to remotely connect to and arm your system for you, no charge.
20. Get the extended the warranty, it covers most everything except, intentional damage, acts of god, and batteries. Customers often feel that the monthly payment means that any service issues are included with the fee. In reality the monthly fee is used to pay keep an actual human being in the United States, heavily trained, back ground checked, drug tested multiple times a year, paid real living wage on alert at the ready 24/7/365 to answer your alarm, real or not. If it is 4am on a Sunday, Christmas morning during a blizzard, your alarm will be answered".
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"I read some of the Monitronics "customer reviews" on this site, and I am inclined to agree with the May 2/09 submission. It almost would seem as if our competition is typing scare tactics to the "practical thinker" who will use customer testimonials as a research tool".

I have quite a few Monitronics customers who I have set up with protection. I call to check up on them every so often. Never have I ever been cursed out, screamed at, or even had a complaint about equipment, service, or billing. The only ones who have billing issues are usually those who either 1, don't pay, or 2, pay but don't keep good financial records (i.e. any at all).

I saw Nov 18, 08, they are fighting with their bank and having to dig up financial records...seriously, like that's even an issue. Most banks will print you anything you want within a matter of seconds. That's a pretty weak complaint anyway. Look at the monthly statement. If monitronics drafted 6 months in one go it will be on there.

I saw another that said we incorrectly charged 2 months worth of late fees after the first month. How and why would we do that and have it stick?

May 15,09 said we never called to contact her on the phone. Did you leave a contact number? If you did and we refused to uphold our end of the contract, get your phone records as proof we didn call that day and a lawyer and get out of the contract. Seriously.

The guy who owned but lost his house (probably a renter) and moved into an apartment who lived off of student loans. How did you get a house and approved for an alarm system when monitronics prefers better tiered credit scores. You have no actual income past student loans and any grants or scholarship funds you may have recieved. The debt to income ratio is terrible. Then you wanted to break your 3 year contract by paying an early termination fee? Monitronics did you a real nice favor by offering 20% off of the remainder. They didn't even have to give you that. It's a contract. A CONTRACT. We don't provide cellular service or car rentals, we offer life safety solutions for HOMEOWNERS.

Last but not least, to the guy in the apartment who had his door kicked in. MONITRONICS OWES YOU NOTHING. The persons who actually owe you are 1. the represenative who signed you up with protection (no renters, no apartments monitronics rules) 2. the person who pulled your credit (no verifiable home owners credit or record of home purchase) and 3. the owner of the company who signed you up (for allowing it to happen as he goes to the bank.

I don't know what to say. almost all of the testimonials are incredible, and not in a good way. Every company anywhere in the world will have issues here and there usually relating to billing. Many of those issues stem from someone trying to "get something for nothing". Monitronics protects close to 2 million homes in the United States. We are the fastest growing security company for the past 7 years. And our central monitoring center is rated at a 5 diamond (absolute top notch) by the csaa. Adt, Brinks, Vector, these companies can't guarentee that to every customer as most of these companies subcontract out their monitoring to the lowest bidders. you get what you pay for.
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"I wish to offer pros and cons to Monitronics, as I am a technician for a dealer".

I have been in the field for almost ten years, three of which with Monitronics and find Monitronics to be the best alarm company out there in terms of response time to the alarm. While working for ADT, and being able to get free monitoring, I still paid for service with Monitronics, because I have seen first hand ADT's response time to alarms. Monitronics rates are better then others, and the warranty is great as long as you add the warranty to your service. Standard three year agreement, as with any company (and good to know that people sign a bunch of paperwork without asking what it is in more detail, so then "I didn't know I signed a contract" happens). Monthly invoicing is available with them as well.

The downfall to Monitronics? They don't have company installers/techs. They rely on their network of dealers to do the service and installation....and while there are good dealers/techs out there, there are many dealers that hire inexperienced people and send them out into the field....in turn doing unprofessional work, making others like myself look bad. I take the extra time not only to fix a service issue when I am on site, but also fix any other things that I may find while I'm there to insure that there won't be any more problems. The same problems do happen with other companies such as ADT, as ADT has a huge network of dealers that come and go.

It's unfortunate that with Monitronics being such a great monitoring company that they allow just anyone to install their systems".