Business ProfileforLife Alert Emergency Response, Inc.

March 30th 2021 The following describes a settlement that has been formally brought by a government agency. The New York Attorney General, alleges and charges as follows:

Consumers signing up for Life Alert's service are required to sign a 36-month monitoring service agreement and pay a monthly service monitoring fee, plus upfront programming and installation fees. Depending on the specific service they choose, consumers pay between $49.95 and $89.95 per month for 36 months of service, in addition to upfront fees and a shipping charge (typically $198.00) -- for a total payment ranging from $1,996.20 to $3,436.20 over the 36-month term. New York state adopted a law that specifically deals with these type of contracts. The law requires for consumers to be verbally told, as well be notified in their written agreement, at the time they sign the contract or purchase a service, that they have seven days after signing the agreement to cancel it. Moreover, the seven-day cancellation period does not begin to run until such disclosures are made.

Attorney General James' investigation found that -- from at least January 2014 through February 2020 -- Life Alert did not make these oral and written disclosures. Further, when consumers tried to cancel their service, Life Alert refused. The company instead told consumers that they had signed a 36-month agreement and that the best it could do was either lower the consumer's monthly payments or allow them to cancel only if the consumer agreed to keep their service for six additional months. Because Life Alert never gave the oral and written disclosures explaining the seven-day cancellation right required by New York law, consumers were, in fact, entitled to cancel their contracts immediately, upon request.

Under the terms of today's agreement, Life Alert will send notices to all of its current New York customers who are in the first 36 months of their contracts and who have never requested cancellation, notifying them of their right to cancel their Life Alert contracts immediately, if so desired. Additionally, for those consumers who had unsuccessfully requested cancellation during the 36-month term of their contracts, Life Alert will offer refunds of the amounts they paid to the company 30 days after they made the cancellation request, up to 24 months of payments or the number of payments they actually made, whichever is less. Life Alert will also pay the state of New York $750,000 in penalties, costs, and fees for the violations of state law.

To access the full New York Attorney General press release, please visit: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-scores-victory-thousands-elderly-new-yorkers