LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Home security contracts are causing financial insecurity for some local families. So they reached out to Contact 13 when they felt like they had no way out.
13 Action News anchor Tricia Kean shows what happened next.
"I just feel so disgusted. How can you take advantage of people and don't care? Absolutely they do not care," said Schebania Williams.
She felt like she was duped into a lousy home security contract. She and her husband signed up for Brinks Home Security back in June, after a salesperson came to their door. She says there have been equipment issues from the start, with constant false alarms.
"It would just be the wind, the air, an animal. It would catch everything. Your phone is going off with all these notifications, and it's not catching what's important, which is a person, a car, or a package," Williams said.
Frustrated, they tried canceling the service. That's when the company pointed out; the contract states customers must cancel "within three business days."
"It really upset me. I was so angry," Williams said.
She claims she and her husband were told they had 30 days to cancel. But she admits they didn't read through the entire contract before signing.
"The contract was on the small little iPad. All he was doing was going with his finger and verbally telling us what we're signing," Williams said.
So they called Brinks corporate office to complain. But they were referred back to the local contractor, CRS Services, also known as Commercial and Residential Security. Schebania says they were no help. Cara Evangelista feels the same.
"I just want out. Would you want these people protecting you? I don't even know if I'm being monitored by Brinks," Evangelista said.
A salesman came to her door back in July. Just like Williams, Evangelista signed on and said she has also had countless false alarms.
"I think it went off 67 times in one day. It was ringing at three in the morning, and no one was at the door... now I was more afraid. You know what I mean? For having a security system, now I'm more scared," Evangelista said.
When she tried to cancel, she was also shocked to learn she was too late. So Evangelista tried complaining to Brinks, and when that didn't work, she went to the local office for CRS.
"I said look, this is my fifth visit now. The system is not working. I really want to cancel; this is ridiculous," Evangelista said.
With nowhere else to turn, Williams and Evangelista both reached out to Contact 13. We called CRS Services, which declined to speak with us on camera and directed us to Brinks corporate.
In a statement, Brinks Home Security says:
"CRS Services is one of more than 300 Independent Authorized Dealers in Brinks Home Security's nationwide network."
"Because we take our reputation of having the highest customer satisfaction in the home security industry seriously, the Executive Response Team at our national headquarters directly apologized to these customers for an experience not consistent with our standards of customer care."
"We have confirmed that they are currently receiving 24/7 monitoring from Brinks Home Security, and we are committed to resolving this situation to their complete satisfaction. We will take this as a learning opportunity to improve customer experiences with our dealers nationwide."
In the end, Williams and Evangelista say Brinks is now offering to cancel their contracts, which is what they wanted.
"I feel like finally something was done, and I don't think it would've been resolved if I had not contacted you," Williams said.
"I would just be stuck with who knows what going on if I hadn't called Channel 13. It does work when you guys get involved," Evangelista said.
