How to Cancel ADT?

[FarmFam]

I am trying to cut back on bills.  And boy is it hard to cancel services. 

ADT told me that we signed a 3 year contract.  Which is bull!!! 

We had them for 7 years at our previous house, and we moved 1 year ago.  When we moved they made us install new equipment even though the new house had the same equipment as the old. And they made us sign a new contract.  My husband signed it. He didn't even know it was a 3 year contract.  I would have never signed a 3 year contract.  I thought they were illegal as only contracts up to 2 years are allowed.  I would have had reservations if the contract was legal.

So, anyone with information/advice on how to cancel this? They want to charge us 75% of the remaining balance to cancel ($700).

[slugline]

This sounds like one of those situations where the answer will probably vary depending on the state where your home is located.

[windypig]

Stop paying them. Ball is in their court.

[FarmFam]

Stop paying them. Ball is in their court.

I can close the account or card (I have to check which one) the payments are coming out of.  But can they ruin my credit?  I need my credit to be good so we can refinance our home.

[windypig]

Stop paying them. Ball is in their court.

I can close the account or card (I have to check which one) the payments are coming out of.  But can they ruin my credit?  I need my credit to be good so we can refinance our home.

You said you didnt sign a contract, so presumably they dont have your SSN, and therefore have no grounds to ruin your credit. If you did sign a contract chances are they will send it to collections before they try to touch your credit anyhow, at which point you can play hard ball negotiation with the collector starting with a letter like this:

To Whom It May Concern:
I am sending this letter to you in response to a notice I received from you on (date of letter). Be advised, this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.
This is NOT a request for "verification" or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your office provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you.

Please provide me with the following:
What the money you say I owe is for;
Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe;
Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe;
Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable;
Identify the original creditor;
Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account;
Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state; and
Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent.

If your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the three major Credit Bureau's (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion), said action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following:

Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Defamation of Character

If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist.

Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel. This includes any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is.

If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately.

I also request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls or correspondence sent to any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter.

This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose.

Best Regards,
Your Signature
Your Name

[FarmFam]

My husband signed the contract. 

Also, I don't think the alarm monitoring ever worked. 

The guy who installed it said it worked through radio signal, well in all the documentations, it says cellular signal.  WE DON'T GET CELLULAR RECEPTION WHERE WE LIVE!!! 

The alarm has gone off and no one tried to call us. 

Also, the test doesn't work.  I noticed a couple weeks ago that the ready light was blinking on and off.  I did a test and the test didn't work. 

But when I told the woman on the phone this, she said they received the test signal once a month since it was installed.  I think that is BS!

Can I use this to my advantage somehow?  That it never worked?  I mean, I have been paying for monitoring that never happened.

Any advice is appreciated.  I just want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I make my first move.

[retired?]

Stop paying them. Ball is in their court.

I can close the account or card (I have to check which one) the payments are coming out of.  But can they ruin my credit?  I need my credit to be good so we can refinance our home.

Agree with WindyPig.  But, will also note that these sort of situations are why I pay by check each month for some services.  In particular, ones like these which don't always seem on the up-n-up.  Takes a little more effort, but I find it worth it.

And, RE ruining credit, I have found that if you have relatively solid credit, then the smaller things like this won't have much of an impact.

[FarmFam]

It is under my husband's name.  His credit is currently 675.  We are trying to get it over 720 to refinance and figure by the time we pay off our CC and Car loans to get below the 43% income to debt ratio the score should rise.  This will take about 5 months from now.

Do you think this will keep him from reaching 720?

Or do you think we should keep paying until we finish the refinance and then cancel the ADT payments and deal with it then?

Thank you for all the advice!

[GizmoTX]

Without reception, you are not getting the service you contracted for & should be able to cancel without penalty. It's probably time for a cancellation letter, sent certified mail. Also stop the automatic payment -- you may be able to do this online.

If you decide to continue the service, I'd insist that ADT come out immediately & demonstrate to you that your system works, including setting off a test & getting a callback from the monitoring station.

I recently cancelled our ADT service, but don't remember how long we had it. Our system was previously monitored by Brinks, which became ADT somehow. Our alarm was refusing to be set & the door sensor no longer worked. ADT didn't give me any problem other than some gloom & doom about being unprotected. We left the signs & stickers in place.

[retired?]

With a sub 700 credit score, you might not want to simply stop payments.

However, if you are having a service issue, i.e. the product is not being delivered, do as GizmoTX suggests.  Force them to show they can make their product work.  If they cannot, you are off the hook.  If they can....well, then you need to find the original agreement.  At worst, it should, like phone plans, have a cancellation fee.

Last ditch idea, claim you are moving.  Most services like this have a clause that lets you out if you move.

[PathtoFIRE]

Last ditch idea, claim you are moving.  Most services like this have a clause that lets you out if you move.

I also really want to cancel my ADT service (our 3-yr contract is up in May, so decided to just wait until then, actually several months before as I've read stories of automatic renewals if you wait until right before your contract is up), and so I read our contract and read a bunch of things online. It seems like there is really no easy and sure-fire way to do this. I saw the "claim you are moving" idea, and it seemed to work for some people, but I think the key was to say you are moving out of country (and I guess pick a country not serviced by ADT), as they are more than happy to transfer services to your new address.

Argh, just thinking about this makes me upset again, DW really wanted the service, and just now has come to agree that it is worthless really, and in our first house, I insisted on a 1-yr contract. The salesguy was confused, and basically had to leave and find a copy of one and come back another day, and of course we were charged higher rates, but I felt much better about it then. But then we moved to this house 2.5yrs ago, and I don't know what I was thinking, but agreed to the 3-yr. Oh well, this will be all over soon enough for me.

[FarmFam]

Thanks for all the advice.

I called my bank to see if I can get any protection since it was paid through my Visa.  She said she can get me refunded for what I have paid since I never got services that I asked for.  Turns out, the bank person also lives on my street!  She said that she tried to get security system when she moved in to, but that the installer couldn't get it to work because there wasn't any cellular reception in our area.  It was good for her that her installer told her the truth, mine gave me service knowing that it didn't work and continued to charge me.  She said though for future charges, I would need to close the account.

My next step is to follow your advice and get proof from them that it is working.  I know that it isn't so, I will then see if they would work with me to cancel since it never worked.  If they don't work with me, the next step is BBB, attorney general, Visa dispute, and closing the account.

If they try to hurt my credit, I will fight that as well which I know I will win because they know they are in the wrong and will probably not respond to the credit report companies.   I will use the letter that was given to me in this forum as well.  Thank you for that letter!

[Rube]

I wrote some stuff last night and then deleted it because it seemed weird. Now this sounds completely bogus.

I think you have a weak understanding of contract law and how credit works. Some agent at the issuing bank told you that they believe your claims, will issue you a refund and you'll be off the hook? I'm not so sure that you won't have problems down the road, maybe including a lien on the house.

But going back to the start, why does everyone look for a way out of contracts they freely entered? This is a lot like government-backed student loans.

[YoungInvestor]

You signed that contract, whether you read it ornot is another matter, but for six months, I'd weigh the cost of waiting compared to the effort needed to get out of it. Which seems to be a lot.

[ZMonet]

As others have mentioned, if they misled you into signing a contract for working service and actually did not provide that service, then it is they who have broken the contract, not you.  I would send a certified letter to their headquarter office, file a claim with your state AG and file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau stating that you want a refund of the money that you have already spent for service you did not receive.  I'd also Google and see if there are others who have been in your situation.