• Report: #338837

Complaint Review: Northstar Alarm WARNING!!

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  • Submitted: Tuesday, June 10, 2008
  • Last Posting: Friday, June 19, 2009
  • Reported By: — pflugerville Texas
Northstar Alarm WARNING!!
1280 South 800 East Suite 350 Orem UT Nationwide 84097 U.S.A.

Northstar Alarm WARNING!! Beware they can pull your credit report with out your authorization Orem UT Utah


1Author 1Consumer 2Employee/Owner

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A Northstar alarm salesman came to my house to say I was in a perfect location and they would like to use my yard to advertise there company. In exchange they would give me a FREE system

I thought this may not be a bad idea so said I might be interested. He said he would be back the next day (in the area for the next 2) All he had was my name, address (easy to get since he was at me door) and phone number which I assumed he would call if he could not make it.

The next night he does not show and I had already checked on line and found I could spend a little for a system but get much cheaper monitoring at $9 a month instead of $39 which he said would be the only fee. It actually works out cheaper in the long run to buy a system and spend less on monitor. Once he did not show as he said and I decided this company is not reliable so if he does show the next night (Tonight) I would say not interested.

This morning I checked my e-mail and I see my credit monitoring has an alert. I check it and they have pulled my credit report. NEVER authorized and they were not given my SS#. I called the company and spoke with Ben Billingsly who basically said a SS number is not needed and they could pull the information. He really did not care but admitted maybe the salesman did not tell me he was going to pull this. I said I was going to check with the Texas attorney generals office and BBB. His comment "do what you feel you must do". BBB and the attorney generals office said there may be ways that as a potential customer they could get this data without a SS# but both thought this was unethical. The BBB was really surprised since this company is a member of the BBB.

Net result, I filed a BBB complaint. I contacted trans union (who they use) and was told they do not get the SS# but said too many inquiries could effect your credit rating. I am not worried about that, but there are probably plenty of others who this may have a negative effect on. It should be clearly stated when they show up at your door that they intend to check your credit before they even come back. Frankly this company is not something I would recommend and since I noticed the names of others in my neighbor hood I intend to warn them since they would not know unless they have a credit monitoring program too.

Based on the lack of sales skills of the salesman who showed up and the arrogant attitude of Ben Billingsly I Highly recommend when Northstar Alarm knocks at your door slam the door in their face!!!

Stevem
pflugerville, Texas
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 6/10/2008 10:08:17 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/sales-people/northstar-alarm-warn/northstar-alarm-warning-bewa-d23md.htm.

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author 1Consumer 2Employee/Owner
Updates & Rebuttals

#1 Consumer Suggestion

That's curious...

AUTHOR: Alarmsales.org - Salem (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Thursday, June 12, 2008

How curious is this that a "security" company treats your information so lightly. The kid probably pulled your credit report so he knows if it is worth going back to your house or not. They only make their money if it is someone has sufficient credit (600-625+) to be able to fulfill their contracts. However, if they are that relaxed with your credit/identity, how would they be with your alarm/security? There is a lot of personal information being passed around when you sign up for a security system, you'd think they'd handle it better.

Keep us posted on what happens!
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#2 Employee

Credit Check Apology

AUTHOR: Northstar - Provo (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Hi Stevem,

I'm very sorry that your credit was run without your knowledge or permission. This is definitely not something we condone and are disappointed that one of our salespeople would check a potential customer's credit without permission. We do, however, check our customers' credit when entering into an agreement with Northstar Alarm. There is a minimum credit requirement that must be met in order to qualify for special rates and offers. Let us know if you have any questions about our company or security systems.

Cari
Northstar Alarm
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#3 Ex-Employee

Stevem is right.

AUTHOR: Anonymous - Flagstaff (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Friday, June 19, 2009

Stevem,

You're right about salespeople checking your credit without your permission or knowledge. I used to work for Northstar Alarm Services as a salesperson.

When we were trying to sell an alarm system to somebody, we would say something like, “We can only sell these alarm systems to homeowners, so we just have to verify that you actually are the homeowner," and we make a phone call on our cell phones to the Northstar Alarm Services headquarters in Utah. Then people at the headquarters ran a credit check on the potential customer, using only their name, address and phone number, I think.

If the potential customer's credit was good enough, then we continued trying to sell the alarm system, but if the customer's credit wasn't good enough, we came up with some excuse (usually a lie) for getting out of there and moving on to the next house.

Here's another sneaky and dishonest thing we would do. (At least this is what we did when I worked for them in the summer of 2007.) When we were checking a potential customer's credit by calling the headquarters, we had a code worked out. We said on the cell phone conversation, which happened in front of the potential customer, “Hi, this is so-and-so. I just have to verify home ownership for so-and-so who lives at such and such address.” But the person on the other end of the line knew that “verify homeownership” really meant “check their credit.” Pretty sneaky, huh?

The person thinks that we're checking to see if they are the homeowner, but really we're checking their credit. I doubt home security system salespeople would get as many sales if they honestly said, "Before we can make this transaction, I need to check your credit."

I put a long entry about Northstar Alarm Services on my personal blog, Telemoonfa Time, here: http://telemoonfa.blogspot.com/2008/03/northstar-alarm-services.html
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