Interactive Security is used by Fox Ridge Homes for low-voltage and security in their new homes. We spent 5,000 dollars in security system, audio-video, and other systems with Interactive when we bought our house. \r
You have to sign a 2 year monitoring contract to get a security system installed during building your home. We did that. It turns out that we don't need the monitoring, or really even enjoy that ""living in fear"" lifestyle. We lock our doors at night or when we leave. That's about it. We only turned the monitoring on when we went on vacation 1 or 2 times a year. We have the cell-only monitoring because we don't have a land line. That's an additional 5 dollars a month on top of their regular 30 a month. About 2 weeks after our 2 year contract was up, we called to cancel the monitoring, and found out that we signed an ""automatically renewing annual contract"" and that we wouldn't be able to turn off the monitoring until another (3rd) year was up. Half-way through that year, they told us we would have to pay 200 dollars for a new digital cell unit because they were turning off our ""backup"" analog cell unit. We said no. \r
They took the 5 dollars a month off of our bill and have continued to charge us 30 a month for a monitoring service that is not connected and does not?and cannot?work! I tried multiple times to get out of the contract, but they want an 80% termination fee (when it was 11 months left on the auto-contract scam, that would have been $275)! \r
I'm sure the monitoring service is fine, but i feel like I got robbed. We set the alarm fewer than 1 dozen times in 3 years. That's over 100 dollars per usage! One little fine-print sentence on one of the 100's of things we signed before moving into our house. You expect a mortgage company to steal from you. But a security system monitoring company? Ironic and sad.
Pros: system was installed properly
Cons: they know they are taking advantage of new homeowners and are unapologetic about it.
more