We signed a contract with these guys in June when a salesman came by our home. It seemed like a decent deal - service charges of $50/month for 3 years in return for a security system and service for those months. We soon found that the service was a ripoff, as we didn't receive anything from it even when the alarm went off. That being said - we called in July to see when we could cancel and what the termination fee would be. There was a stiff penalty involved (I can't remember how much), so we agreed verbally on the phone to have the service through our termination date of June.
1st part of the scam: Fast forward to June. My wife calls Northstar and tells them that we would now like to terminate our contract. They tell us that we can't cancel over the phone. We must write a written request to cancel the service. This is the first part of the scam - make the customer physically write a letter, and hope that the customer doesn't get in the cancellation request on time.
2nd part of the scam: When we talked to Northstar on the phone, the representatives NEVER mentioned that our written cancellation request had to be made 60 days prior to the cancellation date. So we wrote the cancellation notice and sent it in. I then received a letter back saying that they couldn't cancel the service in June because of this issue.
3rd part of the scam: The letter I received also stated that since they did not receive my cancellation notice in time, that my contract would be extended until June!
Somehow they got a full extra year out of this contract. Do I have the time to fight it? No. It is not worth the money. I did tell them repeatedly over the phone that the extra $600 they made from me would sacrifice their business and reputation in my town and neighborhood, and I will spend the rest of my life destroying their reputation whenever the "home security" subject comes up.
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