In July I was living in Gainesville GA. I was contacted by Protect America to obtain a free security system with monthly monitoring for TWO years. Both my friend and myself decided to join. We received the system, set it up, called to activate it, and all was fine for about 4 months. I paid automatically and was happy to have the service. I then graduated from college and moved into a rural area that had no land line service with the exception of cable broad band. When I called Protect America to convert the system over to the new house, I was told without a land line, the system would not work. This was not a case of my refusal to buy a landline, there was no phone service available where I lived, and the phone company was unwilling to run it to my new home. As a result, I was unable to use the Protect America system AT ALL. I called and explained the situation. I was told that it didnt matter if I couldnt use the system, that I had signed a contract (which incidentally I never did) and that I had to pay. I explained that no one had ever explained that I would have to continue to have a land line telephone service at all times to use their service, or I never would have agreed to anything. I decided to pay them for another 6 months or so, but then got very very irritated, and decided that they would not receive any more of my money. I called an attorney, had them send a letter, filed with the BBB, reported fraud to the credit bureaus, etc. They charged me through the end of a THREE year contract (yes, we were told 2, and then we supposedly SIGNED a 3 year contract) and put the entire amount on my credit report as having been sent to collections. I have never refused to pay something that was truly due, but I feel that being UNABLE to provide a service and UNABLE to use it should allow you out of any agreement. This was not just a case of me having cold feet, I COULD NOT USE their service in the same state, same city... Just more rural area. No exclusionary areas were ever provided in the contract. There are clauses in this contract that even say if their equipment is faulty, you still have to pay. Everything about this company is about getting you to sign, then what happens after that is your problem! BEWARE. I have never had a bad filing on my credit report. Funny thing is, they dont let it age at all, they rereport the debt every 3 months, so that it always looks like new debt and drops your score. Credit scores are done by the AGE of the debt, so this way Protect America stands to continue dropping your score by as much as possible for a period of 7 years. Ridiculous. No company in the US should be allowed to charge you for a service they cannot provide. That is a criminal act and in short is nothing short of theft.
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