Pinnacle Security sucks - beware traveling salesman

[laurence]

So we got took by a door to door salesman from Pinnacle Security. The "free" system ended up being really crappy, and when the alarm went off (false) their CONTACT THIS NOW line was busy for 30 minutes. Now the city has cited us. Went to terminate the service and they said, "Sure, just pay us for 2 more years right now". "Huh?". "Oh, you didn't read section 4.b.2.a.1.b? 3 year contract, no early termination clause except for failure of service. So I said they failed so clearly I'm out. No no, they are allowed a chance to correct it. How do you correct what happened. "After careful review, better luck next time" Wa La, we were "corrected" - no termination. WTF?
So I have engaged in an email war and reported them to the BBB. In addition, they automatically renew to a new 3 year warranty unless you snail mail a letter of termination and they acknowledge reciept of it 30 days before your contract is up. So I said, "well I'm mailing it now" and they replied, "oh, it's too early, we can't accept it yet" but then couldn't tell me when it wouldn't be too early anymore. Obviously, they sit on letters and then automatically renew and tell you to f*** off. Funny how the stooge on the phone magically became the manager when I asked to speak to one.
So, any tips? Anything else I can do? I'm thinking about setting up a "Pinnacle Security Sucks" website and doing my homework so it comes up high on Google. Maybe I'll picket outside of their local office, call the local news. Any advice? The salesman made it sound like you could cancel anytime, but I know that's not legel cover per se.

 

[73ss454]

Wow Laurence, I"m surprised that you signed up for something that you didn't read. I'm sure that they locked you in pretty good so I'd just rock their boat as best you can. Also make sure you use return receipt request when sending them mail. This way you have proof that you sent it.

 

[Moemg]

What I usually do is what my SO refers to as pulling a New Jersey . I get in their face and do not leave until they make it right . I insist on talking to a supervisor and then I just keep repeating my complaints over & over making a pest of myself . It really works good in offices or stores where the just want to get rid of you . If you doubt this call Best Buy and they will vouch for me as they biggest PIA they ever had to deal with .

 

[brewer12345]

Might be time to turn to legal counsel. A letter on letterhead stating that they did in fact fail to perform on their end of the contract means that you can cancel. Or perhaps call your state attorney general's office and ask if they will take a complaint.

 

[Gotadimple]

Start with your state Attorney General, they all have an office of Consumer Affairs. Let the state issue the first letter, then go to every consumer advocate service (local preferably) for follow up. I wouldn't even bother with your own attorney, between the state, BBB, and the local consumer advocates, I'm sure they find a way to get the contract cancelled.

Rita

 

[laurence]

I will try the AG and the legal letterhead next. My bad on the contract, they did most of the negotiating with DW and I came home from work kind of harried and hurried and said, "what? o.k., I guess." and signed it.

We had our previous company for six years, I was always willing to do the alarm system because my homeowners pays for half of it with the discount. I only want out because their service has failed us. We'll see how it goes.

 

[kumquat]

Why not a registered letter spelling out their "failure of service". Correcting it would include their paying city costs. Then, quit paying them.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

Get a new credit card # / checking account # on whatever account used to pay them. This changes the future situation (at renewal time) from "give us our money back" to "keep billing us all you want, we cancelled you".

 

[deepc]

Did you pay by credit card? If so, most cards have a dispute resolution process that's detailed in the fine print.

Essentially you direct the card company to not pay their portion of the bill because you've got a problem with the goods/services you purchased. This puts the onus on the company to make it right, and usually gets these types of losers off your back.

Previous advice to register mail, keep scrupulous records will all pay off.

 

[Westernskies]

On a distantly related note ....Had a knock on my door from a Securities Salesman this weekend- a poor sap from the new Edward Jones office, out knocking on doors trying to drum up business... after reading this thread it struck me that The Pinnacle guy would probably prove less costly in the long run

As for the security folks, I'd notify them via registered mail of their failure to perform, and submit the bill from the city. Then formally dispute the CC charge, followed by getting a new CC. Send a letter to the AG office, and the BBB. Document everything, but steadfastly maintain in all correspondence that they failed to perform, and you were forced to cancel the contract for security reasons. I'd also cc the CEO of Pinnacle on the AG and BBB letters- their customer service folks don't want the negative publicity at that level and he doesn't want the thing to escalate- the less exposure the better. The bill from the city is iron-clad proof of their failure to perform.

Good luck.

 

[ratface]

This is what I did with CAR-X after they refused to honor their warranty on a muffler. Only the exterior of a muffler is warrantied and they have milage restrictions. Go to your attorney General or BBB and log a complaint, all you want tis the log number, they are both pretty useless otherwise. Now look up some of the competitors such as Brinks, ADT, Wells Fargo and get their coporate adresses and contact names. Now spend some time detailing a letter as to what resolution you want and what action you will take if you don't receive a response. Set up deadlines at which time you will make copies of the whole mess available to each competitor in turn, say two weeks apart. Dear Mr. Smith, I've logged said complaint on your business, on February 19th I will forward copies of your business practices to Brinks, marketing department, on March first I will forward copies to Wells Fargo, on March 15 etc. You actually don't send anything but convince them that you are crazy enough to do so. Everytime they pass a deadline contact them and tell them what you've done. CARX was stubborn but two months later the owner contacted me and said bring the car back, he had had enough. I had already replaced it somewhere else but got satisfaction in telling them I couldn't sell my ethics for the price of a muffler. I used email, never used profanity, and was a constant thorn in their side.

 

[Martha]

On a distantly related note ....Had a knock on my door from a Securities Salesman this weekend- a poor sap from the new Edward Jones office, out knocking on doors trying to drum up business... after reading this thread it struck me that The Pinnacle guy would probably prove less costly in the long run

As for the security folks, I'd notify them via registered mail of their failure to perform, and submit the bill from the city. Then formally dispute the CC charge, followed by getting a new CC. Send a letter to the AG office, and the BBB. Document everything, but steadfastly maintain in all correspondence that they failed to perform, and you were forced to cancel the contract for security reasons. I'd also cc the CEO of Pinnacle on the AG and BBB letters- their customer service folks don't want the negative publicity at that level and he doesn't want the thing to escalate- the less exposure the better. The bill from the city is iron-clad proof of their failure to perform.

Good luck.

Good tips, but judging from a google of Pinnacle, they don't seem to care much about bad publicity.

 

[laurence]

Yes, that's what I've found. Word of mouth is not their business model.

 

[Walt34]

We had some security company guy come around selling a "free" system for one year, if you put their sign on the front yard, and if you signed up for five years, but that part was only in the fine print, which I read.

Told him to pound sand.

 

[laurence]

RESOLUTION:

They sent me a letter basically saying they did nothing wrong, it was all my fault yadda yadda, but booted me from their company. Hey, they can have the last word, I got what I wanted. I think the BBB complaint is what did it.

 

[ziggy29]

RESOLUTION:

They sent me a letter basically saying they did nothing wrong, it was all my fault yadda yadda, but booted me from their company. Hey, they can have the last word, I got what I wanted. I think the BBB complaint is what did it.

"Booted" as in they terminated the contract without any further commitment on your part?

 

[laurence]

Technically, they transferred us back to ADT, but ADT is going to come out and re-set up the system or I can cancel with them.

 

[Nords]

Technically, they transferred us back to ADT, but ADT is going to come out and re-set up the system or I can cancel with them.

It'd be interesting to see a police department's "Consumer Reports"-style ranking on security companies vs false alarms.

I guess the BBB will interpret this to mean that your complaint was satisfactorily resolved...

 

[laurence]

It'd be interesting to see a police department's "Consumer Reports"-style ranking on security companies vs false alarms.

I guess the BBB will interpret this to mean that your complaint was satisfactorily resolved...

And they would be right...technically. But they still suck.

 

[Westernskies]

It took a while, but I'm glad this worked out in your favor.
Time wounds all heels?

 

[laurence]

It feels like getting out of prison, the thought of paying them for another 18 months was really gnawing. I'm not so sure how much value added an alarm system is at this point anyway.

 

[Nords]

I'm not so sure how much value added an alarm system is at this point anyway.

Like annuities and paid-off mortgages, it offers peace of mind... but our neighbor's alarm system drives us crazy when their latchkey kids don't properly disarm it.

 

[ziggy29]

Traveling salesmen are a problem. An NP-complete one, to be specific, if I remember my college studies correctly...