Call Kurtis: What You Should Know About Door-to-Door Alarm Sales
VACAVILLE (CBS13) - Linda Leduff wishes the alarm went off in her head when a door-to-door salesman showed up asking to see her current alarm contract.
"He took a quick look at it and said 'Yeah, I can get you a better deal,'" said Leduff.
She says he promised to get her out of her current alarm contract and to upgrade her equipment.
Leduff, thinking it was such a good deal, she told her daughter Nina Hubbard about it. Hubbard took Mom's advice and switched to Safeguard America.
But now Hubbard is sorry so took the deal, "I am pissed," she said.
Because both she and her mom later learned they were still on the hook with their original alarm contracts.
"I was thinking somebody made a mistake here, didn't do what they're supposed to do," said Leduff.
"Door-to-door alarm sales has been a perennial issue," said Gary Almond with the Better Business Bureau.
He says no alarm company can waive your contract with your current company and says he often hears about these types of tactics of door-to-door alarm salesmen.
"They have so many more effective ways of reaching you; why would they canvass your neighborhood?" said Almond.
We reached out to Safeguard America, which blamed an independent dealer for Leduff and Hubbard's issue; saying "Thank you for letting us know, so we could rectify the situation."
Safeguard released both mom and daughter of their contracts.
And after we told the original alarm company what happened they agreed to write off their contracts with both customers, allowing them to make a fresh start.
Lesson learned, for mother and daughter.
"I will never do this again," Leduff said. "You try to believe people and unfortunately you can't believe everyone."
We reached out to the door-to-door salesman who didn't call us back.
The company he worked for, Global Alarm Protection that contracts for Safeguard America, told us they cannot comment and no longer have a sales agent in Sacramento.
If you find yourself in this predicament, send the company a letter and demand that the contract be rescinded due to misrepresentation of the sale. Tell them it's an invalid contract.
Full statements
Safeguard America/Safe Home Security Response
Dear Ms. Christian:
I am responding to the above referenced accounts. Please be advised we will cancel both accounts, per the request of Nina Hubbard and Linda Leduff. As I mentioned, due to they're independent dealers, not employees, we are not aware of any issues, unless or until they are brought to our attention. Thank you for letting us know, so we could rectify the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience or misunderstanding, regarding this matter.
We always try to do the right thing, for the customer. They will get a notice from the monitoring station the accounts have been canceled, but if you have their email addresses, I'd be happy to send them a cancellation confirmation.
Email from Safe Home Security-Safeguard America to Nina and Linda
I am writing regarding the above referenced matter. Please be advised your account with safe home security has been canceled, with no further obligation to the company.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
READ: Monitronics Cancellation Letter
Global Alarm Protection Full Statement
"At the moment we cannot comment because for the last 5 months we have not had a marketing agent or sales representative in the Sacramento area." - March 31, 2016
