Monitronics International ripoff Dallas Texas

I have never dealt with such a screwed up company in my life. My monitoring contract was sold to Monitronics after I originally signed up with at "local" vendor. That was fine. The system was installed and I had paid on it for well over a year then, I moved to a new home. They told me I could get my system moved without a problem and provided me a contract to do so. They installed a new system in my house. I then sold the house and asked for the monitoring to be cancelled on several occasions. They never complied with my requests. Instead they kept sending monthly bills and I kept calling. Each time they would tell me that we'll get your request processed. Finally I gave up calling them. They had no track record of my calls. No sir, we don't show that you've ever called.

Working in the business, I know that the call records are only good as what the agent that logs the call. One day in July I got a collections notice (over a year later) from CMI, a Dallas Based collections firm. I called Monitronics and offered to resolve the matter for a reasonable amount, not $821.00 for a $200.00 system they installed. The supervisor listened to my entire plight then simply said, "Well I'm sorry its out of our hands and has been sent to collections." Well first that is not right because they could pull it back from Collections as easy as they sent it.

However, I called CMI and tried to negotiate some form of arrangement. They refused to even discuss anything aside from 100% payment. A few weeks later I called and offered to set up payment provided they did not report it to the credit bureau because I was still recovering from an identity theft.

They offered to set up EFT checks for $102.69 per month and if I met that obligation they would refrain from disseminating it to the credit agencies. I received a subsequent letter dated 9/29/2004 from CMI telling me that I had refused to comply with any previous requests and pay my bill. Keep in mind that I set up EFT per their arrangements. I called on three separate occasions and finally today, was able to reach the original supervisor I talked to.

He told me that they never promised to keep it off my credit. They proceeded to tell me that if I agreed pay 100% of the balance he would pull it all back from the credit reporting agency. So not having anywhere else to turn, I submitted and allowed him to EFT my account for the money.

Monitronics has quite possibly the worst business practices I have ever seen. Their customer service is sub-standard in my opinion. I am reporting them to the States of Texas and Florida Attorney General's Office. I also intend to pursue the matter legally as I believe they may have violated contractual rescission periods on the "move" contract they gave me.

I find it disheartening that I went through all of this. I tried, in good faith, many times to settle with Monitronics, but they would not listen or respond.

But overall, shame on me. BUYER BEWARE.

Scott
Orlando, Florida
U.S.A.