ComplaintsforIllinois Alarm Service, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I received collection notice regarding balance with Illinois Alarm ******** **** Per contract I signed back in March 2022 I dont have any cancellation fees or terms. Im attaching copy of the contract for you to review. Contract that Illinois Alarm Company showed me when I asked about collection was modified by them using Paragraph number 7 in their contract. It says they can modify contract at any time within the first 6 months, which what they did, but they never sent 60 day notice, which is illegal modification per their agreement. They blaming me for changing their agreement, but there is one thing that didn't match their words their PDF file is secured and cannot be modified by anyone except of them. That means I had no chance to modify anything and modifications only benefits Illinois Alarm Company not me at all.When I was signing an agreement with them I called other alarm companies and no one has any contracts. When I purchased my buildings they already had equipment installed by Illinois Alarm and previous owners. Thats why I choose Illinois Alarm at that time to make process easier and of course no one told me about 7 year term, if they would tell this to their clients no one will choose them. When client signs the contract, they sign without term and then Illinois Alarm change terms using Paragraph 7 of their contract to put clients under 7 year term. No one would have that paragraph in agreement if you are not planning to use. Illinois Alarm had this plan from the very beginning, because nowadays no one will sign this long agreements. Their negative reviews on ****** and yelp prove that this happens to other people as well. After I made reviews, *** from Illinois Alarm reached to me to negotiate the price if I remove them, which shows that they are hiding something from people, and taking advantage of their legal wording in the contract. Now they are trying to hurt my credit history.If you have any questions feel free to call me ************

  

  Business response

  09/01/2022

  Mr. ******** entered into our Security System and Services Agreement for two properties he purchased from an existing customer of ********************************************* at *************************************** & ******************************* in *********** Illinois on the 28th of March 2022, for fire alarm monitoring at.  Any additional services such as annual fire alarm inspections, or any required service on a Billable T  & M ( Time and Material) Service Request.  The agreement was submitted and signed via Docusign and is not editable by Illinois Alarm per Mr. ********* claims, as Docusign locks the document.  The document is entitled SUB#****-New Agreement Sergii.pdf, which states, Signed and all signatures are valid, and if you attempt by either party to modify the agreement will state This document has been signed and cannot be edited.

  
  On April 29th, 2022, Mr. ******** called into our service department for a service call due to the fire alarm going into an alarm condition. Illinois Alarm dispatched a technician to address the issue. Upon arrival our technician found the panel in alarm due to the painters Mr.******** had on premise. Our technician cleared the panel and provided smoke detector covers, so this would not happen again.  
  Time stamp per our service ticket: 2022-04-29 12:28:53 - Panel went into alarm because painters were spraying did not spray detector.Showed the painter the smoke detector covers that were above the panel. Had to reset panel
  2022-04-29 12:29:25 departed

  
  There has been remolding going on at his locations as you can see from his posting, document entitled Sergii FB Posting.pdf.
  
  Mr. ******** was then billed for the service and did not want to pay as he stated in an email to our accounts receivable department dated July 1, 2022.  In his email which I can not  attached entitled *************************** *** Invoice #*****.pdf) stated:
  Service call, this should be included in your services. I would like to cancel my accounts as of today. I found better service. Thank you
  Please make sure it is cancelled 7/1/2022.

  
  Per the request cancellation of July 1, 2022 is subject to Paragraph 8 of our agreement states:

  
  8. Sub authorizes Alarm ** to investigate its credit,employment, income history and references. Upon Subs failure to pay any sums due Alarm ** under this Agreement, or upon termination of service by Sub or Alarm **, Alarm ** may terminate its obligations under this Agreement and remove any Alarm ** owned radio equipment, wiring and apparatus from Subs premises or alternately abandon all or any portion of the System. If Sub does not permit Alarm ** to recover all Alarm ** owned radio, equipment, wire and apparatus,monthly charges will be continued solely as a rental fee for such equipment (with no other services to be provided by Alarm **) until Alarm ** is allowed to recover its equipment. Alarm ** will have no obligation to repair or redecorate any portion of Subs premises due to the removal of Alarm **********. At such time, all charges incurred under the terms of this Agreement,up to cancellation date, shall immediately become due and payable. In addition,the parties agree that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain actual damages for any breach of Agreement by Sub, and the parties agree that Sub shall immediately pay to Alarm **, upon any breach, or upon premature cancellation of service by Sub, as and for liquidated damages, the sum of seventy-five percent (75%) of any charges remaining to be paid under the terms and life of this Agreement. The parties further agree that Sub shall pay all court costs, collection fees and reasonable attorneys fees of thirty-three and one-third percent (33 1/3%) of all monies remaining to be paid under this Agreement, if Alarm ** places this Agreement in the hands of an attorney for collection.

  
  Shortly thereafter, Mr. ******** was billed his balance of contract by our accounting department, and in his response he attempted to use deceptive tactics of sending our department a fraudulent agreement in his email,titled FW:_Illinois Alarm Service, Inc. Invoice #*****_boc.pdf .This fake agreement titled Illinois Alarm contract Westchester.pdf attached and as you can see this document is editable by anyone. This document was created on July 6, 2022, and the authors name was Sergee just six days after the cancellation request again can not be attached properties entitled Sergii Fake Agreement ******************************************** was unwilling to hold up his part of the agreement by paying the 75% of the contracted balance, Illinois Alarm forwarded the account to ******************.  On the 15th of August ***********************. contacted him by mail to inform him of the debt owed to Illinois Alarm.  Mr. ******** then contacted Keynote by phone on the 18th of August disputing his account in collections, and at that time Keynote provided him all documentation of our claim as required by law for a disputed account. Mr. ******** then contacted Keynote on the 26th of August claiming to be a perspective client looking to place accounts with Keynote.  Unknowing to him, he provided Keynote with his name and phone number which was linked to the accounts Illinois Alarm placed in the hands of ****************** for collections, and then was informed that would be a conflict of interest. At this time, Mr.******** made claims of the dispute, and the call was ended without any resolution to the debt owed.
  
  During this time Illinois Alarm then started to receive fraudulent reviews on both Yelp and ******* by  Mr.********, his employees and friends as you can see by the attached document entitled sergii_highlighted.pdf which I can not attach at this time
  
  Mr. ******** is now referencing Paragraph 7 of our agreement which states the following

  
  7. Sub hereby agrees that Alarm ** shall have the right to modify the charges at any time or times beginning six (6) months after the date of this Agreement by giving Sub written notice a minimum of sixty (60) days in advance of the effective date of such change. If Sub is unwilling to pay such increase and notifies Alarm ** in writing by sending a letter by first class **** mail to Customer **********************, *********************************************************** or by email to ***************************************************************************** at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such increase, Alarm ** shall be permitted, at its sole option, upon written notice to Sub, to terminate this Agreement as if the term had expired or, in the alternative, to continue the prior rate and allow this Agreement to remain in full force and effect without further notice.Failure to notify Alarm ** in writing at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of increase will constitute Subs consent to the increase, and all other terms and conditions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
  

  This paragraph refers to the CHARGES, not the terms as he is stating.

  
  The continuous claims by Mr. ******** that he called other alarm companies, and no one has any contacts is again a false claim. Illinois Alarm can provide  three (3) of many copies of our competitors agreements that we have on file.
  
  Illinois Alarm Service, Inc. has been in business for 44 years, and we pride ourselves in the relationships we build with our customers,we are a family owned and operated company and our business is word of mouth and referral based. Mr. ******** and associates attempt to ruin our reputation by falsifying their claims is slander and defamation.  We are investigating all legal resources to end their harassment to our company name, and we request the Better Business Bureau close this claim as the statements by Mr. ******** are false and fraudulent.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************************
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  Customer response

  09/07/2022

   
  **mplaint: 17806112
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  ********************** and his team using below paragraph 7 to take advantage of their clients, other way they would not need this wording in their contract. Please read it:

  7. Sub hereby agrees that Alarm ** shall have the right to modify the charges at any time or times beginning six (6) months after the date of this Agreement by giving Sub written notice a minimum of sixty (60) days in advance of the effective date of such change. If Sub is unwilling to pay such increase and notifies Alarm ** in writing by sending a letter by first class **** mail to Customer **********************, *********************************************************** or by email to ***************************************************************************** at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such increase, Alarm ** shall be permitted, at its sole option, upon written notice to Sub, to terminate this Agreement as if the term had expired or, in the alternative, to continue the prior rate and allow this Agreement to remain in full force and effect without further notice. Failure to notify Alarm ** in writing at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of increase will constitute Subs consent to the increase, and all other terms and conditions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

  ********************** is saying about charges and not terms, but he wants money now, which means charges.

  All monthly services and extra service call invoices were paid even I didn't like or approve that. But they can not charge thousands of dollars for service they never provided, using their tricky agreement which only covers them but doesn't benefit clients at all. They blaming me for modifying but they actually saying to their clients they they can do it using Paragraph 7. And at the end of the day they want money from me, so they get benefit of changing the agreement not me.

  All the reviews and complaints were filed not only by me, but other clients also from couple years ago. They say they have been doing this to their clients for 44 years, and looks like other people had to pay whatever they wanted or they stuck with bad service for years. That's why I filed this complaint so businesses can value their clients and provide them with transparent service they expect. 

  ********************** was offering me to make a deal if I remove reviews, he doesn't want this issue to go public, he was trying to hide this fraud activity for years. He even hired attorneys on top of collections to protect himself. Regular people doesn't have money to spend on attorneys so they always in trap with Illinois Alarm. But ********************** makes a lot of free money on his game and then he can afford paying everyone for his protection.   
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sergii Stetsiuk

  

  Business response

  09/09/2022

  7. Sub hereby agrees that Alarm ** shall have the right to modify the charges at any time or times beginning six (6) months after the date of this Agreement by giving Sub written notice a minimum of sixty (60) days in advance of the effective date of such change.If Sub is unwilling to pa such increase and notifies Alarm ** in writing by sending a letter by first class **** mail to Customer **********************, *********************************************************** or by email to ***************************************************************************** at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such increase, Alarm ** shall be permitted, at its sole option, upon written notice to Sub, to terminate this Agreement as if the term had expired or, in the alternative, to continue the prior rate and allow this Agreement to remain in full force and effect without further notice. Failure to notify Alarm ** in writing at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of increase will constitute Subs consent to the increase, and all other terms and conditions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.
  

  This paragraph Mr. ******** is referring to has nothing to do with his breach of contract and the money owed to Illinois Alarm for pre-mature cancellation. This means Illinois Alarm has the right, just like any other company such as your cell phone provider, cable / internet provider to increase (CPI) the recurring amount found on page 1 of the agreement.

  
  Mr. ******** did not pay the 75% of the balance of contact owed to Illinois Alarm by the agreement he signed, and it was sent to our collections department and their lawyer.

   

  Customer response

  09/21/2022

   
  Complaint: 17806112
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Paragraph 7 was always in agreement, which means they can change a contract in 60 days, but they had to inform their client via written notice. They never sent this notice and they never even provided proof of this notice to you or me. Using Paragraph 7 they added wording listed below on page 4, which wasn't listed on original contract.

  THIS AGREEMENT SHALL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT FOR A PERIOD OF SEVEN (7) YEARS FROM THE DATE ON
  WHICH THE MONTHLY CHARGES OR TIME AND MATERIAL CHARGES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT BE**ME EFFECTIVE,
  AND THEREAFTER SHALL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW FOR SUCCESSIVE TERMS EQUAL TO THE INITIAL TERM. THIS
  AGREEMENT IS TERMINABLE BY EITHER PARTY UPON WRITTEN NOTICE BY FIRST CLASS **** MAIL TO CUSTOMER
  **********************, *********************************************************** OR BY EMAIL TO *************************************************************************************************************,
  MADE AT LEAST THIRTY DAYS PRIOR TO THE END OF THE INITIAL TERM OR ANY RENEWAL TERM. THIS AGREEMENT
  SHALL NOT BE**ME BINDING ON ALARM ** UNTIL EITHER ONE (1) SIGNED BY AN OFFICER OF ALARM ** OR TWO (2)
  ALARM ** PROVIDES THE EQUIPMENT OR STARTS THE ADDITIONAL SERVICE.

  Now they trying to use trick to get 75% of balance for 7 years, which is crazy, because there are no companies nowadays don't even offer this long contracts. They wanted to charge money from me, when I rejected and started a fight they got scared of this issue go public and offered me a deal at 50% of balance if I stop doing everything what I was doing(Complaints, reviews and other stuff). When I rejected that offer they sent everything to collections and their attorney. I tried to call them, had no luck reaching attorney, collection company couldn't help me.

  To protect myself and my credit history I had to file complain with BBB and Attorney General, because no one else can protect consumers and regular people when they fight with big corporations.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sergii Stetsiuk

  

  Business response

  09/24/2022

  Mr. ******** entered into our Security System and Services Agreement for two on the 28th of March 2022. On July 1, 2022, Mr.******** then emailed Illinois Alarm stating that he would be cancelling the agreement.
  Per our agreement Mr. ******** is liable for pre-mature cancellation fees and was billed for the breach of contract which he refused to pay Illinois Alarm.

  
  Since Mr. ******** refused to pay Illinois Alarm for his pre-mature breach of contract, his account was sent over to our collections company, which he continually refuses to pay, even thou he agreed to in our agreement.
  Our collections company has turned this over to their lawyer and this is now in legal.

  
  Mr. ******** was informed that any and all communications should go through the lawyer (*******************) handling this case on behalf of ******************* and Illinois Alarm at ************.

   

  Illinois Alarm is no longer allowed to comment on this matter. This case that Mr. ******** opened with the Better Business Bureau should be closed as this will now be handled in the court system.

  Customer response

  09/26/2022

   
  Complaint: 17806112
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Illinois Alarm Company illegally changed the agreement to create non realistic invoice for the services they never provided. After I refused to pay they proceeded to their next step of the game - they involved collection company which was trying to scare me with hurting my credit history if I don't pay. They didn't even tried to talk to me they were screaming to pay them money and didn't even listen to me. After I refused to pay collection company they send this case to their attorney, who doesn't have a good reputation either. Their attorney negative reviews on yelp and ****** shows that they doing all of this to their clients on regular basis. I tried to call their attorney more than 5 times, his voicemail is always full. I sent couple emails, never received response. Regular people doesn't have anyone to protect them in this situation, so the only thing we can do is to ask you for help. Otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if they take me to court, which is financially unaffordable for regular people.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sergii Stetsiuk

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