Long list of complaints.
1. No presence in neighbourhood despite a large number of clients. Promises made and not met. I made it home after an alarm from 33Km away faster than the response vehicle. All they do when they do finally arrive is hear our dog barking and drop a note in our postbox.
2. After 16 years of ever increasing fees, I have to go through all the admin myself to have it reduced to what a new user would pay. This is administratively laborious and after years of loyalty, it is still more than a ADT guy handing out flyers advertised. I said I want to cancel and sign at cheaper rate - I was told this is not an option.
3. I finally cancel my "service" after 16 years, and they claim they will remove the alarm as it is a rental system. The paper I signed said "Free alarm on signing 2 year contract". I even have an advert of theirs where it even says "No catch, no hidden costs. Subject to signing a 2 year contract. All the equipment belongs to you". The alarm installed 16 years ago was also not even completely supp**** by ADT as I had to buy my own pet-friendly sensors and additional keypad at the time. This alarm broke roughly 10 years ago, and after an exorbitant quote from ADT, I replaced it through another company at my own expense, yet .... I get constant calls harassing and politely threatening me, I ask them to produce a contract which they can't or don't, and then they leave me for a day or two, rinse repeat. It is incredibly Aggrivating - produce a contract or leave me alone - stop harassing me. I have the trashed alarm sitting useless in a box in my garage, but I refuse to hand it over out of principle!
4. Knowing how these things go - and based on others experience with ADT I insisted on written confirmation of my cancellation and that I will not be charged further. Even though I received confirmation of the cancellation date - guess what. I have to phone numerous times - send emails and bank statements and sit on hold for hours and I still dont have the money back.
5. The individual help and support I got from the poor innefective employees was very polite and apologetic. They are just doing their job, but ADT company policy and procedures mean no-one can actually do anything ,,, just "escalate it" into the void where nothing happens, and tomorrow the client sits having to go through the process all over again. This has happened almost EVERY time I have called. Good support people + bad business practice = NO CUSTOMER SUPPORT.
6. Every time I phone - they can pull up all the details, but they can't do anything - it has to go to the first person I dealt with who is (surprise) busy. They will call me back (no they won't).
7. This customer-last attitude is very off-p$$$ng and seems to be the norm for ADT, who give the impression amongst many I have spoken with, of acting like the mafia demanding "protection money" so they don't harass you.
8. As many people in our neighbourhood have recently cancelled with ADT and moved elsewhere, suddenly an ADT response vehicle was parked nearby for a week, and on the weekend a very ****y, overly pushy sales team were driving around shoving flyers and hot air in everyones hands, promising an increased presence in the area - Too little too late! And even after this - they didn't keep the pretence up for more than a week .... I haven't seen an ADT vehicle in the area since.
Guys - I was a loyal client for 16 years, paying over stupid amounts of money. I did not plan to "part" on bad terms, despite issues 1 and 2, however your whole approach and treatment of me has taken me from a client who wants to try out a new security service - to someone that will actively bad-mouth you and go out of my way to reccommend to others they don't use you.
ADT acts like a passive agressive bully who uses beaurocracy and inadequacy as an excuse for your shocking "service".