Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/20/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On May 17th, two servicemen from Cincinnati Alarm system arrived at our house to check out why our alarm that was accidentally trigger a few night earlier but did not receive a call back from their central station to confirm our alarm went off. We were concerned because we were heading out of the country for a vacation. These service men who did not do any physical work other than taking a look at our current alarm system and told us that it is too old and is incompetible with their system. In no more than 10 minutes of their time was spent, we were billed for $234. We were told that they were there to provide a quote on the new system, thus the charge. However, no quote were given to us at the time and besides it was not the purpose of our orignial call anyway. As we complain about the charges, they told us that they will provide a quote separately and if we go with their new system, these charges will be removed. We resent the fact that we must go with their system or else we have to pay the amount. We have addressed these issues with them in a letter (see attached letter that was send to them by my husband) that it was an unreasonable charge for the amount of work they delivered. As written in the letter, we are willing to pay when a reasonable charge is being adjusted. To us what we consider a reasonable service charges are based on other types of repair such as electricial, plumbing services, appliance repair..etc. for a typcal service charges that are normally rendered for providing diagnostic evaluation. In their billing statement, they stated that we are being charged for "The invoice was for the trip charge, fuel surcharge and labor of the service technician to assess the current system. We charge by the hour for our service calls ". However, I have never received such an outrageous charge for 10 minutes of services . They will not budge on our offer. I would like to seek your help in resolving this issue.

  Business response

  07/10/2023

  *** *******,
  
  I am responding to correspondence received from your company dated 7/3/2023 regarding complaint number ********.
  
  *** ***** contacted us regarding issues with his alarm system which provided 24/7 monitoring.  At the time of scheduling the customer is notified that there is a minimum service call charge for diagnosis of the system.  *** ***** agreed to those terms prior to dispatch.  This occurred on 5/15/2023.
  
  Upon arrival at the customer’s residence, our technician inspected the system and informed the customer that his system was installed in July of 1987, is obsolete and could not be repaired.  Consequently, we quoted the customer on installation of a new control panel keypad and communicator.  We have a record of the current system design and device locations and utilized the information to generate a quote.  The quote was delivered to *** ***** on 6/15/2023 once he returned from his trip.  In an effort to retain our loyal customers, our policy is to credit the initial service call back to the customer, minus a trip charge in the event they accept our quotation.
  
  Unfortunately, *** ***** refused to accept our quotation and demanded that we remove all service fees or he would report us to the BBB.  I’m happy to provide all documentation of the demands and threats. I would appreciate a response from your organization.  Thank you for the help.
  
  Regards,
  
  Gary
  Cincinnati Alarm Systems, Inc.

  Customer response

  07/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 

  Regards,
  
  *** *****
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩