I have unfortunately been dealing with SAI Alarm Monitoring for almost a year trying to get my account straightened out.
I too contracted with APX Alarm for the alarm system and monitoring back in May. I too found out two months later that my account had been sold to SAI for monitoring. My son was the one who talked me into getting this alarm system. He got one from APX a few weeks before I did. APX also sold his account to SAI. He left for the Middle East in June and I am left with taking care of his billing also. Thus our saga began.
When I called at the end of June to find out why we had never been charged for June (we had both paid our May payments directly to the installer when the systems were installed and my son had thought he was signed up for the automatic payment then), I was told that since APX had sold the account to SAI it takes up to 60 days for the billing to catch up. They said they did not have any bank information for my son or I and took the information. They told me to call back in 60 days if we hadn't been debited from our accounts and to be sure and keep the money available.
I waited 60 days until the end of August, and called back because we had not received any paper bills or been debited. I was told again that our information was not in their computer. The operator said they were switching between computer systems and maybe it hadn't transferred over yet. So she took the information yet again. I told her to go ahead and pay the 3 payments for June, July and August that were due for my account. This was charged to my debit card. I then gave her my son's debit card information yet again, and told her to pay those 3 payments for his account as well. I provided each account number with each payment. She also told me that our next month's payments in September would be debited from our separate bank accounts.
In September I received 5 paper bills from SAI for my account and 5 paper bills for my son's account. The end of September came and no debits for the payments. I called again. I was told I owed $224.95, which is the equivalent of 5 months payments. I explained the situation again. I paid one month's payment for both my son and I, and was told that she would make notes in my account and to call back next month to check the balance and it should be correct. Sure I thought.
I called back November 8, when yet again no payments had been deducted. Now I was told I owed 6 months' payments ($269.94). After I peeled myself off the ceiling I again reiterated my previous experiences. I added that the previous payments had all appeared on our bank statements so I had proof that the accounts were up-to-date. The operator acted very helpful and said if I would fax the bank statements with an expanation of the events, she would personally take it to the Billing Dept. And make sure it was straightened out. I do auditing for a living, so I did a detailed audit showing every month's payment that was due and every payment that was paid and included copies of all bank statements with each payment circled. A monkey could see that all the payments were collected. I was of course told to call back in a month for the status. Oh boy!
On Dec. 24 I received a call from an account representative wanting to know why I had not paid my bills. Really?! I explained the previous situations to her again!!! She did actually do some researching right there on the phone and discovered that the 3 months payment I had made at the end of August had actually been applied to my son's account and not mine, even tho the debit card had my name on it and his 3 months payment from his debit card had also been applied to his account.!!! Again I was told that she would straighten all this out and everything would be fine by the end of January. I have this operator's name and extension so I can call her back personally. I have to give her credit for being willing to give me that information as the previous operators did not want to. I consider it good cusotmer service to be willing to be available to customers. A tiny bright spot in the abyss of dealing with this company. Something you don't find often these days.
I'm a little wiser now, so I mailed in the payments with the bills for December and January. I'm not dealing with payments over the phone again. And, especially after reading the other consumer complaints for this company, I am never using automatic payments.
I called again in the first week of February to see if my account had indeed been righted. Guess what!? No such luck. I did call the same operator back, and she seemed upset that the person in the Billing Dept. Had not taken care of it as she had promised she would do it that day. I guess she gets lied too just like I do. This operator promised to call me back on Friday of that week to let me know the status. Guess what again?! No call. I called the next Monday and left a voicemail and it is now a week later and I still have not been contacted. I intend to call again on Monday.
I am exhausted from just trying to pay my bill. I have been dealing with this problem for almost 10 months. I have never dealt with a stupider company. I always pay my bills and I resent this company sending me letters that they are taking me to collections when I have paid all my payments and apparently their monkey cannot see them. I am vigorously encouraging others not to deal with APX Alarm or SAI Alarm Funding or Security Associates International, Inc. Don't do it! Go with a company that has a good reputation.investigate first! I am considering getting an attorney, although I hate to have to pay money to prove that I have paid my payments all along. I would certainly welcome joining a class action suit against this company.
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