During the month of April I was approached at home by an Apex Alarm salesman. I was subsequently given the sales pitch about home security - something my wife was bugging me about for some time. I signed up for a 2 year contract and the service technician was scheduled to install my new alarm system the very next day. I ordered the cellular adapter at an additional $10 per month because I use VOIP for phone service, and I asked for sensors on every door - including the garage door to protect my quads and BMW. I also signed up for the automatic montly payments so I would not have another bill to pay manually each month.
The installation technician installed all of the sensors on every door of the house expect for the garage door. He installed a sensor between the garage and the house so my quads and BMW are not protected. This issue has still not been resolved.
In December of the alarm system started with a few audible notices "check system", and then a few days later, the system would not power on at all. I called Apex, and learned that my account had been sold to SAI or Security Associates International. I called SAI and after waiting for more than 30 minutes, I was finally patched through to their technical support unit. I was then told that my account was about to go to collections because I owed them $139 for 3 months of mis-payment. I was shocked to hear that payments were missed because of the auto-payment feature I signed up for. I was told that I missed payment for July, August, and September, but they received payment for October, November, and December. They wanted immediate payment before they would help me repair the alarm system. I absolutely refused to pay until the system was repaired. I was then transferred to another level of technical support and went through over an hour of instructions on repairing my system. I opened and closed doors, opened sensors, opened the keypad, opened the cellular unit, and tested for power. I also spent countless minutes entering in combinations of numbers into the keypad and reading off error codes. I explained to the technical support unit that I would not continue with their diagnoses and that they needed to send a technician out to make repairs. The support unit then transferred me back to the "collections" department. I spent 4 more hours (yes thats right four hours) talking with both SAI and Apex to try and determine what the billing problem was, how it was going to be resolved, and how my alarm system would be repaired.
SAI is a very unorganized, unprofessional, and un-courteous company that seems to employ very unskilled people. It turns out that during my account transfer, someone made an error in not billing my account. As a consumer, I don't believe I should be penalized in having my alarm system denied repair when the error was not mine. After having a 3 way conversation between SAI, Apex, and myself, it was determined that I only owed 2 months of service because Apex received a payment during the transfer. SAI agreed to send a service technician out to my house - which would usually cost $35.
I subsequently made the payment to SAI the following day and requested that a service technician come out and repair my alarm system. I was told that my account was transferred back to Apex, and that I would need to call them for an appointment. I called Apex and was given an appointment time within the same week at a cost of $25. I explained the whole story to Apex again, and I was placed on hold. After holding for about 15 minutes, I was informed that my account was still with SAI, so I needed to contact them with technical support. I called SAI and was hold for another 15 minutes until I was transferred to technical support. They wanted to start the entire diagnostic procedure over again even after I explained that I had done this before. I was informed that the service call would cost $35 and that someone would call me in a "couple of days" to set an appointment.
At this point, I really don't care about the fee, I just want the system repaired. So now I wait for a phone call - I'll be holding my breath. Take my advice - if an Apex or SAI salesman comes to your door, DONT ANSWER IT!!!
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