Platinum Protection reviews and complaints

Someone from Platinum Protection came to my home to sell me a security system. First of all, the system was a joke, and their "support" was even worse. But it was better than nothing.

But then I had to move for work. I tried calling the company repeatedly when I'd get their invoices, but no one would ever return my calls. Eventually the invoices stopped. That was more than two years ago. Then I was notified I was being sued by the company right before the statue of limitations ran out. I was given 12 days to pay or face a lawsuit. They claim you can't cancel their policy; all you can do is resell the policy. The person who sold it to me never notified me of this ridiculous policy - or told it was for a staggering five years.

Do yourself a favor. Stay far, far away from this company. There's a reason it's rated an F by the Better Business Bureau. http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/burglar-alarm-systems-dealers-monitoring-and-service/platinum-protection-in-american-fork-ut-22169304

Back in 2010, I cancelled the service within 3 days as the contract stated, and the cancellation was verified with the field agent who came to my house.

After 2 years of no contact or billing me, they sent me a letter saying that I owe them money since the account is somehow still active. Although I signed up in Apr, 2010, they had "unknown" errors in their system; so they did not charge me until Mar 2012. I understood that since I cancelled the service I did not get billed; that's not the case.

According to the head of tech support Peter, they do not know what caused the error, how many users are affected, who is responsible for the error, etc, etc...sounds ridiculous to me since they know nothing meaning they did not investigate. In my case, monthly fee is $54/month times 24 months of not billing me caused the company to lose about $1300. Assuming it's not just me (according to Peter, there are other customers who were receiving the service for free for more than 2 years...), the error(s) must have cost the company a lot of money...and nobody is responsible in their company for the error.

According to Peter and the head of billing dept, which I forgot the name of told me that they cannot handle the contract error. The only person who can deal with this issue is the CEO Jarred Hallows. So, I wrote the CEO a letter with certified mail delivery. The mail was delivered to their address signed by Angela on June 8th. Since the CEO won't show up to work nor nobody knows when Jarred comes to work according to Peter, I guess my letter was not yet read...but Angela handed the letter to Peter while I was on the phone with him.

Make sure to record the phone conversation with them. Peter lied to me several times, which I have proofs of.

BBB, attorney general, Utah bar association here I come.

Stay clear away from this company.

I worked for this Platinum Protection. I was ashamed to work for a company who scammed people many times a day in over 25 states. It is a company full of slick talking salesmen who know exactly how to get a person to sign on a dotted line then run the technicians over immediately to install a faulty and expensive product. I wish everyone would be smart and send these scammers on their way without listening to a word. P.S. Platinum makes thousands of dollars off each and every one of these signed contracts. The owners make millions of dollars.

salesman came to door offering free platinum protection, of course i listened to his pitch, he aske if he could come in so i did let him in, after talking about system he asked me if i was interested, and i said yes but i need to discuss with my partner, he asked me for my name and date of birth which i gave him, he said he needed addresse information, because he had to call and see if they could find the location, when he was on the phone he gave to whom he was talking to my name and addresse, and date of birth, i thought all was fine because i did not sign anything, and told him that i as not giving him my social security number and he said that was ok. I told him to maybe stop by later, and he did and my better half told him we were not interested, when i got up this morning i noticed in a email from my freecreditreport.com they had done a credit check on me how they did that i dont know, i never gave them permission, or signed to have that done, now i have to try and get it off it was a hard inquiry, i did call the salesman this morning, i asked him did igive you permission to do a credit report and he said no! i adked for his supervisor number in which he gave me, but he is not answering the phone, i called main 800 number and they are suppose to send me a paper to get this off my credit, this was a fraud! Now i have to do all the leg work to get this off my credit

Platinum Protection is disgusting. And brilliant. They sure know what they are doing. By preying on people's weaknesses, they sign you up for 60 months at $49.99 for a security system that doesn't work. By promising "free" equipment, confusing the 3 year vs. 5 year contract, and claiming that "all your neighbors are signed up" - they are humiliating and flat out stealing.

My senior citizen mother fell victim to the salesmen when he pressed the right button for her -- fire safety for your sweet new puppy, only to find that the puppy is new because her 13 year old pup companion had just passed away - "oh you wouldn't want to lose another dog to fire, would you?"

Anyone get anywhere with this?

Salesperson:: I told the young man that we were on a limited income and really could not afford the system... He told me because my aunt had health issues we could get a prescription from her doctor and we could send it to Medicare and they would pay the monthly bill for us, do to her health issues.. We found out that was a lie and when I tried to contact him with the phone number he gave me . I did not get any return calls.. We have struggled for a year to make the payment and my mortgage went up which is making it more diffficult... They told me I had to sell the contract to someone else or pay80% of the remainder on my contract, which is another 4 years.. His statements were false and he also told me different neighbors that supposedly bought the system, and I found out he lied about that... I have called the company and now I was given the idea of calling WFTV channel 9 who does a lot of customrer complaints... We really are in a bind and no-one seems to care that their employ lied to sell his product...

To Joe Darling in Maryland - I ditto all you said and I more than feel your pain.

First let me say that I am permanently disabled with a serious back injury and suffer constant chronic pain, and because of the nature of medications I take my cognitive skills are lacking. The nature of the medications I have to take for pain are such that I had been researching video surveillance systems online so I could see if anyone was around my house. On August 28, 2009, Aaron Ross (I also have his cell number) from Platinum came knocking on my door with his sales pitch about their security system. I explained to him that I was interested in a video/camera system for the front and back of the house, he not only understood what I was looking for and said that would be provided, but they were currently waiting on the updated cameras sometime in the next month and they would be installed then. I also told him that I did not have a landline available only broadband, and he said it would work fine.

I never did use the system because I couldn't remember the code and I was waiting for the cameras. Because of a major setback in my health I was not able to contact Platinum until November 4, 2009 about when I could expect the cameras. I spoke to Deuce (seriously how can you trust someone with a name like that?) (Ticket #[protected]) who advised that the cameras were not yet in but were expected the end of the month. I called again the end of the month and spoke with a nice young lady whose name I can not recall who told me that I wasn't supposed to be getting any cameras. I told her about my conversation with Aaron Ross the salesman specifically about the cameras and she said she would contact him to see what he had to say and would get back to me. It is now January 17, 2010 and I've heard from no one. But have no fear I am continuing to get billed $47.69 every month from my checking account by Monitronics.

I've recently learned via internet research that this system wouldn't work in my home anyway since I had no landline. I still have not ever activated it. I did have an attorney I used to work for read all the contracts and materials for me. I was told basically I was screwed. I signed a 5 year contract and whether I used it or not would probably have to continue to pay for it. And nowhere are cameras even mentioned any where in all that fine print. He did however offer to represent me pro bono should I want to pursue the matter.

So to Aaron Ross and Platinum Protection I hope you are happy that you have taken advantage of a disabled woman living on $1, 500 a month in Social Security Disabilty benefits only and paying for a system that is useless to me and not at all what I wanted or needed.

I will post this same information on ever forum/website/blog I can find. Meanwhile I'll have a friend remove the equipment and yard sign as well. I surely don't want anyone coming to my home thinking I would use Platinum Protection. I'm a stong believer in Karma. To Aaron Ross as cute as your baby is I'm sorry he has you for a father, you are the lowest.

The following is a filed complaint with the Better Business Bureau in Utah along with a response from Platinum and my closing rebuttal.
If you are considering Platinum or if you have recently signed a contract, please remember that you only have three business days to take action.

(Case Description addressed to Better Business Bureau):

The sales team misrepresented the total cost of the security system. Cancellation of the contract requires full payment of the 5-year agreement.
Purchase date: July 6, 2009
Contract term: 60 months
Monthly payment $44.99
The sales pitch mentioned that our neighborhood had been selected for free installation of their system in exchange for advertising their service by agreeing to post a yard sign. Disclosure of monthly monitoring charges was not mentioned until paperwork was being signed. There was mention of notifying the local jurisdiction of the security system during the sales pitch, but there was no mention that there would be fees that would need to be paid by us to the county.
We disconnected the system after two weeks to avoid the risk of setting off the alarm system within the house. Prior to the sales pitch, we had never considered a home alarm system. We fell for the very effective sales pitch because it was presented as a free system and many of our neighbors had previously accepted in the day and were being used as endorsements during the sale. Simply stated: We would prefer not to have the security system in our house since we have no interest in using it. We would also prefer not to pay the remaining $2, 500 on the contract over the next 4-1/2 years. Because Platinum has informed me that cancellation would require full payment, I have decided to continue the service for this reason because the payments are spread out and the yard sign probably provides some value as a deterrent. I cannot dispute that the contract is clear on the cancellation terms. Three business days were available to cancel after the contract was signed, but personal circumstances did not allow for the contract to be scrutinized until after the 3 days expired. I am hopeful that others in the country/region have filed similar complaints against Platinum with the BBB such that there is a history of their questionable sales tactics.

(Desired Resolution addressed to Better Business Bureau):

I contacted Platinum a couple of months ago to request cancellation of their service since I had disconnected their monitoring system. To honor the contract terms, I will need to either pay the full contract amount of approximately $2500 (55 months remaining @ $44.99/month) for immediate cancellation or continue monthly payments and provide written notification 4-1/2 years from now to avoid a contract extension. For now, i have opted for the latter as I have described above.
The settlement that I desire is immediate cancellation of the contract and removal of the security system and accessories without further additional payment.

(Response by Platinum Protection to the Better Business Bureau):

This letter shall confirm receipt of your correspondence dated 12/2/2009 regarding the above referenced matter. Please allow this letter to constitute our official response to Mr. Darling. We are truly concerned with his complaints.

We would like to apologize for the frustration Mr. Darling has felt with our company. Our company utilizes a door to door marketing approach, feeling this method is far more effective than traditional marketing campaigns that utilize advertising through the mass media. The savings our company gains by not having a traditional advertising budget allows us to market free systems to our customers. According to our records, Mr. Darling received free equipment and free installation on a brand new system.

In addition to this, we would like to apologize for any confusion that may have taken place regarding Mr. Darling's responsibilities upon signing the Agreement. We try to eliminate this confusion, and in most cases do so, by utilizing bold text on our agreement. In section 3 on the front of the agreement it clearly states, ''This Agreement shall continue for an initial term of sixty (60) months...'' Furthermore, a financial disclosure statement is included on the front of the Agreement so our customers are fully aware of the total fees associated with the entire Agreement.

As a secondary precaution we have every customer take a recorded survey outlining the most important aspects of the agreement. In the pre-installation survey we ask, ''Let's review the Terms and Conditions of your Monitoring Agreement: The Monitoring Agreement is for an initial term of 60 months and during this time your rate will not increase, is that correct?'' We asked Mr. Darling this question, and he responded, ''Yes.'' Finally we asked, ''Do you understand the initial payment will be drafted within 5 business days and thereafter the Monthly Monitoring Rate of $44.99 plus any applicable taxes will automatically be drafted by credit card on the 25th of every month?'' Mr. Darling answered, ''Yes'' to this question.

In his complaint, Mr. Darling indicated that he did not take the time during his right of rescission period to review the Agreement in further detail. While we find that unfortunate, our records indicate that Mr. Darling was fully informed regarding his responsibilities to our company following his signing of the contract. Had Mr. Darling expressed his concerns during the right of rescission period, we certainly would have discussed possible amendments to the Agreement and would have honored his cancellation request if necessary. Because Mr. Darling waited over two months to request cancellation, he was informed he would be responsible for eighty percent of the remaining balance of the Agreement (rather than 100% of the Agreement as he indicated in his complaint). At this point, we are more than willing to honor Mr. Darling's cancellation request, however we would expect the cancellation charge in full. To release Mr. Darling from his contract without requiring him to fulfill his obligations to our company would be unfair.

If the cancellation option does not work for Mr. Darling, our contract takeover option may be a possibility. Should Mr. Darling know of a qualified individual who is interested in home alarm services, Mr. Darling's contract can be transferred. We invite him to contact us at the number below to discuss this option at greater length.

Finally, in his correspondence, Mr. Darling expressed frustration regarding the permit fee associated with the alarm system. Because each locality has differing laws and ordinances regarding alarm systems, we recommend that our customers contact their local authorities. In the post-installation survey, we asked Mr. Darling, ''Some emergency services, localities, and dispatch agencies requires you to register your alarm system with them before they will respond to an alarm. Platinum Protection encourages you to contact agencies in your area to ensure all local laws are followed. Are you aware that you are required to contact these agencies?'' To this Mr. Darling responded, ''Yes.'' Had Mr. Darling contact his local agencies as we recommended, he would have been informed of the permit fee. Had the permit fee problem motivated Mr. Darling to cancel during his right of rescission period, we certainly would have honored his cancellation request. However, because we are only now learning about this issue, we are unable to honor cancellation on those grounds.

Thank you for contacting us to assist you in this matter. If we may be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us at 1.888.507.7683.

Platinum Protection

(My rebuttal addressed to Better Business Bureau):

First off, let me just say that I have great admiration for Platinum Protection’s business model. The Platinum Protection sales team was the first to successfully sell me a product through door to door marketing and through this experience they will definitely be the last. I must offer a small token of gratitude to Platinum for providing me with a costly $2, 500 lesson on “free systems” such that I “won’t get fooled again”. In fact, this experience has also convinced us of the value of caller ID so that we can head off telemarketing. All we have to worry about now are the ineffective “traditional marketing campaigns that utilize advertising through the mass media”.

I appreciate the efforts that Platinum made to recite questions and answers to their “recorded survey” that proves that their contract is binding both orally and in writing. I now regret that I did not make efforts to videotape and/or record the sales presentation prior to the survey.
A video may have shown how the salesman refused to take my wife’s “no” for an answer on Friday afternoon.
It would have shown how the salesman came back on Saturday to retool the sales pitch to me and convince me that my wife and neighbors were concerned for their safety in the neighborhood.
It would have shown the recognizable GE logo on the salesman’s shirt that certainly helps to legitimize the critical first seconds of the sales pitch when most door to door salesman are greeted with a “not interested” reply. (If I’m not mistaken, there was a recorded survey question making sure that I understood that Platinum Protection was not affiliated with GE. I’m sure that I replied “yes”.)
A video would have shown the salesman mention that our neighborhood was selected for a special promotion deal to receive “free systems” as long as we agreed to advertise their services with a permanent yard sign.
It would have shown my disbelief that our tucked away neighborhood was receiving such a generous gift as the salesman continued to put emphasis on the word “free”.
It would have shown the salesman mentioning the names of all of our other neighbors who had agreed to help Platinum with their advertising over the past day.
It would have shown the Platinum salesman making a plea that no one in our special neighborhood should tell others that we received “free systems” because referrals were the way they made money because they would not receive “free systems”.
It would have shown the dumbfounded and apologetic expression on the salesman’s face when I failed to understand that “free” security systems rely on 24-hour monitoring services that are not “free”. (I believe his words were, “I’m sorry, I thought that everyone knew how security systems work.” Boy, did I feel dumb at that moment.)
Finally, the video would have shown the salesman closing the sale and setting up an appointment for a future installation date only to have him return minutes later with an installation crew ready to go. Brilliant strategy. Without the product installed and functioning, I may have actually had time to study the terms of the contract and reconsider within our 3-day right of rescission period.

I’ve been asked to provide a middle ground offer in an effort to resolve this dispute. There really doesn’t seem to be any point in doing this. Platinum has built their defense with my signatures on the contract and my recorded “yes” responses as a secondary precaution for these situations. My only defense is that they caught me at a vulnerable time when I was preoccupied with a multitude of other more important issues. Maybe their recorded survey also contains noise of my three children in the background getting anxious and playing in the house while Dad is preoccupied with someone on his only day off from work. If you type in “Platinum Protection” on Google, “scam” is the 2nd entry that comes up after “home security”. Type in “Platinum Protection complaints” and there are 37, 900 entries. If nothing else, I know that I’m not alone with my regrettable decision this past summer.
Consider this case unresolved. I’ll give Platinum a call in 2013 when I’m close to 80% through with my contract and they can come by and pick up the box of “free equipment” that I have since uninstalled and stored away in the basement.

We had a door salesman stop by and tell us about a free GE system for placing a sign in our yard. We had to sign a 60 month contract and pay $40. and a $99.00 activation fee.

We had false alarms everyday we used it. They sent a technician to fix the problem (did not work). It has been a horrible experience.

They withdraw the payment from your account each month. You have to pay them $50.00 to mail your payment in.

We are very unhappy and they refuse to let us out of our contract. I will be talking to a attorney.

I and one of my close friends both worked for this company. I have seen everything they do, from the sales side, to customer service, to the collections and technical part of it. There are a lot of good people who are just trying to do their jobs there. Sadly I have seen many a customer service or collections person trying to get a contract nulled or money refunded that was owed them, only to have their supervisor tell them that they aren't allowed.

I know of a 16 year old who signed her mothers name, because a rep told her it was ok. I know of many people who were lied to by their reps, but it was never resolved. Beware what you sign and what your promised, because if it's not on the contract, they won't help you.

I am very upset with this company. We had an alarm system installed back in May because my husband was going to start working nights. Everything appeared great from what the salesman actually told us. He said we could cancel any time we wanted and that we would have our equipment removed from our house. He never mentioned that we were signing up for a 60 month agreement or that if you cancel you will have to pay 80% of the premium for the five years of service.

I had an issue with the alarm when in August my husband got home, opened the door to let the dogs out, and the alarm went off. I was out of town at the time and I had a missed call and voicemail when I checked my cell phone. Basically the company called my phone because the alarm was going off and they were checking to make sure everything was fine. I called my husband and asked him what happened, he told me he set off the alarm. I asked if he spoke with someone from the company, he said no he did not. The police did not show up to see that everthing was ok and the company did not actually talk with someone to confirm that there was no problem.

I called Platinum Protection today to tell them that I wanted to cancel my service. They told me that if I wanted to cancel I would have to pay 80% of my total bill for the life of the contract which they told me at that time would be 5 years. I asked to speak to a supervisor.

A supervisor got on the phone a few minutes later and I explained that I wanted to cancel my service, and that I was not satisfied with the service that was provided. I told them that on the day the alarm went off I was upset to find that the company simply tried to contact us once on my phone and that if someone had broken into the house we wouldn't have known about it and they could have stolen anthing they wanted. Luckily, it was a false alarm because my husband was home, but if it wasn't they didn't take care of the situation like I felt they should. He said he would contract Monitronics, which is the company that moniters the alarms and find out what happened.

He put me on hold, and when he got back on the phone he said that the alarm had gone off and they tried to call our house 2 times, but it was busy because the alarm system runs through the phone line and since it was going off the line was in use. Then they called my cell once and left the message. Right after that the alarm was disarmed. I said I would have been happy if they called my husband's cell phone because he would have answered since he had it on him, and he could have told them false alarm. I asked him why they would call the house if the alarm system uses the house phone to contact them. He never really answered that question. He basically said, sometimes, it doesn't make the phone busy. I said well, I am not happy with the fact that someone could have broken into my house disabled the alarm and stolen items from my house with no problem. He said well they wouldn't know the code to disable the alarm, I said we have the key fob and keep it right next to the alarm system because we do not use it, all they would have to do is push a button on the key fob.

I said I am not happy with the service provided, I want to cancel my system. I am willing to pay 80% of the payments until next May. He said no, there is nothing wrong with the equipment, I said no there is something wrong with the people who work there because they are not checking on the system to my satisfaction. They have both my husband and my cell phone numbers, they also have my parents house phone, and my mother in laws cell phone number. They could have gotten ahold of someone. I asked to speak with his supervisor and he said there is no one else you can talk to. I asked if he owned the entire company, he said no. I said well, I will be calling back.

I spoke with my husband, who basically was the person who did most of the talking with the salesman. He said that the salesman told him he could cancel at any time and it would not be a problem. I called Platinum Protection back again and spoke with the supervisor of the second guy I spoke with. I explained everything to her and that my husband was told we could cancel at anytime, and that we were never told anything about a 5 year agreement, we would never have signed up if we thought we would be roped into it for that long.

She said that she's sorry the salesman said that to us but there is nothing she can do about it. If we cancel we will be charged basically $1800 for the remaining 80% for the service. She said even though we were never told about it since it's on the contract we signed we are stuck. I asked her what she was going to do about the salesperson, she said basically nothing, they don't know what he said and they can't do anything about it. I said I'm also upset because of the way the situation in August was handled, or not handled I should said. She said they did what they said they would do they assumed the alarm was disarmed and it was a false alarm. I said that is not ok with me. The alarm went off for 2 minutes and no one checked on the house, and they never heard from us if everything was ok. I want to cancel the service I consider worthless. We don't even turn it on anymore because it will do no good.

She said basically the company will not do anything. I told her I wanted to speak to someone above her that can and will actually do something about this complaint. They have to have someone that will do something. The customer service is horrible. She said no one will do anything for me and I'm either stuck with the service or I can cancel and pay the fee.

I am appalled at this so called "customer service". I've worked in customer service for years and there is no way a respectable company would treat a paying customer like this. There was no help in resolving the problem except you can cancel but pay a large fine. I would NEVER recommend anyone use this company. Doing further research online, I've seen numerous complaints about sales people, the system itself, and the company as a whole. They are only looking out for their interest and not the clients.