After honoring my original two-year contract with Monitronics International, Inc., an alarm monitoring service, I called to cancel my service. The information was taken on the telephone, but I continued to be billed. I called again, only to find out that they needed a letter with my signature. I complied, and continued to be billed.
I called again, and was then told that my contract had automatic renewals, and that my service could only be cancelled if they received a letter prior to the anniversary date of my original contract. Further, when I pulled out the contract to search for this clause, I found that they need to be notified 90 DAYS IN ADVANCE OF THE RENEWAL DATE! I have never used this service. I find this situation horrible—I can no longer afford to carry the service, and as soon as one bill was late, they CALLED TWO OF MY FRIENDS that I listed as emergency contacts if an alarm went off and I was unreachable.
I spent tons of time on the phone with customer service (I went through menus, waited and waited on the line, was transferred, etc., etc.), only to get either incorrect or partial information. The automatic renewal seems very unethical—especially when they do not send out any reminders and do not require a signature. It is a vicious merry-go-round. I had another alarm service in another home, and had no such problems with cancelling the service.
Bottom line: If you acquire Monitronics for your security system needs, the least of your worries will be a robbery—Monitronics will rob you before anyone else has a chance.
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