Platinum Protection Customer Review: Service, System Design Issues, Updated

What a nightmare! We had our system installed in late July before leaving the country. When the system was installed, the technician was out multiple days, despite being initially told the installation would take about a day. He replaced things that didn't need to be replaced. In addition he didn't clean up after himself.

We discovered he hadn't alarmed the door from our house to our garage. We called and they sent him back out to alarm the door. Without telling us, he drilled unnecessary holes in our wall that we will now need to patch and paint. He tossed sawdust into the garage, not only on the floor but inside our shoes. Since he hadn't done his job, they sent another technician out.

Even after that, we had to have another tech come out because the cell unit wasn't communicating.
Two days before we left the country, we discovered another door they had never alarmed, the door leading from our bedroom outside. We had to argue to get a technician out on the weekend because they said this was not part of the initial installation. Platinum didn't want to acknowledge the problem was their fault, but after speaking with multiple people, they agreed to send a person out. He alarmed the door.

Before we left the country, we tested the alarm system and it took seven minutes for them to call- certainly enough time for a burglar. This had us worried about our house since we were going to be gone four weeks. This is the responsibility of Monitronics, their monitoring company, so we are starting to suspect neither company is good.

While we were gone, our emergency contacts received calls that our alarm was going off. We discovered the installation on one of the doors wasn't registering properly. We couldn't do anything to repair it while we were out of the country. We worried that our alarm system wasn't working properly. Two days after we arrived home, we called for another technician to come out to repair the door. He promised it was repaired properly, but while we were gone, our emergency contacts received calls that someone was breaking into the house. The door to the garage still hadn't been repaired and didn't register that the door had shut after my husband alarmed the house and left, therefore setting off the alarm. This has happened multiple times to us, but this was the first time it has happened while we were gone. We assumed that since we had listed them as emergency contacts, our family could be given information. Platinum refused to give information to them because they didn't have the password. We didn't know we needed to tell them a password. Disclosure of this information would have been helpful before a potential emergency situation. Since our emergency contacts couldn't be given information, Platinum had to dispatch the police to our house under a false alarm.

The same thing has occurred multiple times since. Now we are unable to leave through the garage. Instead, we have to take the garage door opener out of our car, alarm the front door, leave out of it, walk around to the garage, open it, and leave that way. Or else we have to choose to leave our house unalarmed. Neither are appealing choices. We are concerned that there are other doors with the same problems and we just haven't discovered them yet.

We have had to take time off work at least ten days now and we have seen at least six different technicians. No one can seem to solve the problem, and we cannot continue to make sure we are around all the time so they can send ill-equipped technicians out to the house to deal with this over and over. We have had to argue with Platinum to not charge us for the time our system isn't working properly. They agreed to send us a $10 voucher in the mail in order to compensate for the paint and spackle we have to buy to repaint where the technician drilled unnecessary holes, but it was never received. No one has even shown concern about the situation. We've been told there is not a manager, customer service representative, or technician who can speak with us at times. The customer service has been terrible. The whole business is unprofessional.

We are currently trying to cancel our system, and we are receiving so much headache from Platinum. We don't believe we should have to pay for a system that was never installed properly, caused damage to our house, and has never worked right. Although I have had to take ten days off work to be home for them to "fix" the system and will have to buy paint to fix the holes in our wall, we are only asking to be let out of our contract without a cancellation fee. We would have been able to cancel in time if we hadn't been in Africa for four weeks. Platinum will not even do this for us. Please save yourself a lot of headache and do not go with this company.

3 Month Update:

Unfortunately, our problems with Platinum Protection have persisted. In fact, we just finally settled with them the same week I received this e-mail (Note from admin: She is referring to the email our site sends out requesting an update on a review). After numerous deliberations on the phone, written letters, and e-mails, we had to file a claim in small claims court to try to get our money back. After serving the papers to a very rude employee at Platinum's closest office, we were contacted by their lawyers who agreed to compensate us for part of the cost of reinstalling our old alarm system. We decided to settle out of court to save ourselves the hassle, and we have now finished our business with Platinum. I would still never recommend this company to anyone.