ADT Salesman

Run away from ADT. Contract Nazis.

Avondale, what are you paying monthly and what does it include?

We've had ADT for over 20 years since the house in middle of nowhere was 1st broken into about a week after grandmother moved into assisted living.

They've lived up to their end of the contract without fail. Alarm goes off and they call the numbers we list with them. If they do not reach us/our local contact person up the road, they will notify sheriff. Sheriff then responds to check it out.

We've had 3 false alarms. Latest was right before that vicious cold snap. The hallway motion sensor tripped. (1 other false was 15 years ago same sensor) After reading up on how the motion sensors work, I'm pretty sure it was some kind of temperature bubble that either the on or off of the central hvac triggered (warm/cold air bubble either caught in draft against bedroom ceiling/above door space until heater turned off again or some such, and then the bubble passed in front of sensor, the temp differential triggered it). Since no other sensors triggered, especially points of entry, we knew it was a false alarm.

The other false alarm may not have been so false. Back door sensor had to be replaced as it somehow got misaligned in the middle afternoon of a bright sunny day while was at work 45 miles away. I suspect someone tried to kick in the door but no way to prove it as only the sensor was disturbed significantly. (after the original break-in the rear door was beefed up significantly)

They've also sent replacement backup batteries twice, no charge. They offered assistance if needed to change the battery for me but it's just a red and back plug connector and unscrewing a couple screws for the panel cover.

We are getting ADT installed. It’s expensive but the service is right for us. Three outdoor cameras, their version of Ring, 9 window sensors, two thermostats, smoke detectors and the monitoring...$93/mo.

It makes the wife feel better when I’m on the road. Are there cheaper DIY options? Sure.

They’re reliable. I’ll leave it at that.

Monitoring should run about $30/month everywhere else. That means you are paying $1600 for the sensors, keypad, and camera. I don't know how many you get for that price, but it had better be a lot.

That being said, no way I'd sign a 36 month contract with ADT.

The people that have ADT are all satisfied with literally the exact service that every alarm provider offers. I'd check into local monitoring companies. My last house I paid $25/mo, with a free month if I paid a year at a time. This included an app to control system (but no cameras, which would be more). You can get a ring for $100 and use the service for free (or like $3/mo for upgraded I think). It's not like the monitoring company is sitting around watching your camera feed, so no sense having this be a part of your monitored system imo.

About to add a home alarm system for the first time and 99% sure we're going with Simplisafe. Looked at Ring, and being owned by Amazon/Bezos is a deal-breaker for me.

Not interested in monitoring or cameras, we're just looking for basic intrusion alert system in case someone enters the house while we're sleeping. Wake me/wife up, BLAM BLAM BLAM, then call waste disposal to pick up the bodies. If someone breaks in while we're not here - we have great insurance and multi-layered strategy for protecting against smash/grab crimes. I don't want motion detectors because I'm prone to getting up in the middle of the night to go piss or go downstairs to my office or whatever and most of that time I'm barely awake and wouldn't remember to disarm / re-arm it before wandering about the house. Having said that a blaring siren doesn't mean I'm shooting whatever moves, I'd be alert enough to ensure proper target identification. I might think about the glass break detector for the possibility that a window is broken rather than opened. I'm not in a city or what most would consider a neighborhood.

So, having said all that - what's wrong with my planned approach considering my stated needs?

I enjoy ADT. Living in Florida ...lake house on Lay Lake. Storm, got a call ...alarm at the lake house ....45 minutes no call back....45 minutes more another call. Cops go out again ...can't see anything. We drive up that weekend ...

How do you miss a tree across the right circular part of the driveway? The same tree that Alabama Power cut fifteen feet out of and removed to get to the downed power lines across the back of the house? Cops didn't see that because ....they never drove out.

The last alarm was the workshop ...Got out of the car ...walked around and started laughing. Wife walks up, what's funny? Did we have a wood pipe through the roof when we left? Tree behind us had snapped hit the power line, bounced straight up and came through the workshop roof. neat ten inch diameter hole. Took two of us to feed the tree out through the workshop. Missed my table saw by two feet ...

Cops came out and the excuses started ...We had a tornado and were busy ...no, straight line winds. We drove the driveway and saw nothing ....no tree blocking the driveway. We drove past the cut tree and saw nothing ....that might be possible, I had to get out of the car and walk aroud to back of the workshop to se the tree ...Any other creative ideas before I thank you and send you to watch bikinis on the beach? Good have fun.