I too am in a tough situation with Ranger American:
Within a week of moving into my new house, the guy from Ranger American comes by to "finish activating" the alarm system that had been built into my new home. It was a brand new home, and quite nearly my dream home, so I was already excited, and fell right into the pitch.
We talked at length about what the system should do, what it would cost and when it would be installed.in fact, it seems like the only thing we didn't talk about was the fact that I was about to sign a three year contract! (NOTE: I WOULD WOULD NOT HAVE SIGNED THE CONTRACT IF I HAD BEEN KNOWN!)
At the end of the consultation, I was asked to sign the "the preliminary contract" for THE SECURITY SYSTEM, "just so that we can get the guy out to do the install." I signed the paper, handed over my check, and the gentlemen left... Without leaving me a copy of the contract. His remark was that since the system hadn't been installed yet, the contract wasn't official, and that I'd receive my copy when I signed off on the installation. (NOTE: THAT INSTALLATION WAS SCHEDULED FOR 10 DAYS LATER, SEVEN DAYS AFTER MY LAST CHANCE TO CANCEL THE CONTRACT, AND THAT THE SALES REP KEPT MY COPY OF THE CONTRACT.)
Jump forward: The alarm was partially installed and worked for one day before an improperly installed door sensor failed. Long story short, myt alarm wasn't even completely installed and functional for the first 30 days of service.
Now, it's two months later, and the excitement of my new home is gone. And I'm upset that my alarm is more trouble than it's worth. I now realize that I am paying $45 per month for a service I really don't need, so I call to have it monitoring services disabled:
Me: I'm calling to cancel monitoring.
Them: (the very first words out of the representatives mouth are!!!) "are you calling in to pay the penalty?"
Me: (PENALTY?!?! WHAT F@#$^&G PENALTY?!?!) Um... No. What penalty?
Them: You signed a three year contract. Did someone tell you that you had to pay a penalty cancel?
Me: I didn't know I signed a three year contract.
... Long story short...
Them: Would you like me to send you a copy?
Me: Yes. (And they did. And I had signed it.)
Here is where my allegation of deceptive trade practice enters:
Claim #1: Fraud through misrepresentation.
Ranger and ADT do everything they can to lead you away from the fact that you are signing a three year contract.
Evidence for Claim #1: This entire sales process was very, very thorough, except for the glaring ommission the three year contract duration and the 72-hour cancellation window.
I was provided immense information regarding the system, billing, monitoring, upgrades, etc. I was told everything, except that I was signing a three year contract. Furthermore, if you look at the Ranger and ADT websites, the duration of the contract is never mentioned at all. The fact of the matter is the three year contract is only documented in two places: The service agreement, and the page that you sign. ADT and their partners intentionally hide this fact from potential customers.
Claims #2 and #3: Fraud through ommission.
The sales agent, and Ranger American as responsible party for the agent, committed two counts of fraud at the time of sale.
First, when I initially signed up, I was lied to about the effective date of the contract, being told that the contract was "provisional" and would not be effective until I signed off on system installation.
Second, based on the premise of this being a "provisional contract", I was not given my copy until 10 days later.
Claim #4: Deceptive Trade Practices by profoundly limiting the number of opportunities to discover that the service contract has a three year term.
Ranger American and ADT behave in accordance with the prior three claims on purpose with the intention of generating revenues that they would not receive otherwise.
When you purchase a celphone, you are confronted repeatedly with the fact that you must either purchase pay as you go services or sign a contract. You can't even pick out your phone without stumbling over that fact multiple times. Same goes with cable services, preferrential utility rates, service plans and every other manner of service contract.
ADT and Ranger American have one contract in Texas: 3 years with a cancelation fee of 75% of two years total service costs. They never mention any of this on their website, in their sales pitch, or in any of their readily available materials.in my entire life, this is the only term contract I have ever signed, completely unaware that I had signed a term contract.
Don't believe me? Go to the Ranger American website and the ADT website, and time yourself to see how quickly you can find a statement to the effect that the service requires you to sign a three year contract. After that, see how much longer it takes to find the terms of cancelation.
I just started down this road with Ranger and ADT, so we'll see how it goes.
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