Ackerman Security Systems

Overpriced. Waste of my time. When the technician came out told me couldnt do the traditional install with charter VoIP..mind you it is 2013. At that point I had to call them back and they tried to up sell me and give me a higher monitoring rate with a longer contract term. I was tired of the game called back and cancelled EVERYTHING and found a much more straightforward deal with another monitoring company. I also paid half as much to get additional sensors installed. I gave them 3 stars for service because they responded to my cancellation request in a timely manner.

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A month after installation, my keypads started beeping and showing a trouble indicator on the keypad displays. I could enter my code and the beeping would stop but it would start again every half hour. Each time it started beeping I had to physically go to the keypad and enter my code again. THIS WAS HAPPENING AT 3:00 A.M. I called customer service and was basically told that they didn't know exactly why it was doing it or how to stop it. All they could tell me was to keep resetting the system and hopefully it would stop. It finally stopped around 5:00 a.m.

The next day the system tested ok.

The same thing happened on random occasions for the next couple of months but this week it started doing it again and simply wouldn't stop. Customer service was no help whatsoever and eventually told me to just unplug the whole system and deactivate it so that I could sleep that night. The soonest that they could get a technician out was FOUR DAYS LATER!!

At this point, their faulty system was causing me more problems than it was worth and I just wanted to terminate their services. However, they then tell me I am locked into a three year contract and I have to keep paying them regardless of their crappy equipment.
This is the character of this company. DO NOT EVER USE THEM. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU.

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Great company to deal with. We have interacted with our sales rep Bill a few times over the past couple of years as we have added features to our system. He is extremely knowledgable and helpful. The installation crews have been top notch, and you can't beat the monthly service price.

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As with many, I too bought into the contractual obligation of a decent starting price for alarm monitoring. However as a loyal customer my reward has been consistent price increases over the years. The caveat is that like many others I had forgotten all about the auto renewal clause in the contract so when I finally decided that a change was long overdue, I find myself roped into a remaining seven month period where I am obligated to Ackerman.

I will not complain about the service as that is not an issue. The fact remains that it is no longer a value against the competition and the contract obligations block the ability to make a change for the better. If I could do it over again, I would have cancelled after the first year in the 60 day window of opportunity and gone to a company without a contract.

I would strongly advise against signing on with any alarm company requiring a contract of any sort. If you do choose Ackerman, be very careful to read the terms and be ready to act in the short time that you have to make changes. My overall advice would be to avoid them altogether so that you do not have to worry about contracts.

Once my term is up, bye bye Ackerman.

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I signed up for monitoring on a 2 year contract and recently cancelled my service after 6 years to go with another provider that was less expensive. I received a collections demand letter for early cancellation and when I called was told that they auto-renew their contracts every year. What a great business practice. They auto-renew your contract and raise your rates at the same time, so you get to pay more than new customers. When I spoke to collections they waived the early termination fee, but wouldn't refund any unused monitoring fees they had auto charged me. This is at the same time they're calling me asking what I thought of their service and trying to save the lost business. I initially left Ackerman with a favorable opinion of their company, but after seeing their business practices, I'm won't be doing business with them in the future or recommending them.

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