A door to door security sales company put in an alarm system and now charging fees not agreed to! What to do?

Question

An alarm company sold us a system that only works occasionally, which is bad enough, but now they charged us two months bill within a one month period.

The salesman told us any differences in billing dates were to be cleared through the company verbally by both he and I. The agreement was taped and entered into the company's billing system. I specifically told the salesman if the billing dates were pre-set that we would purchace their product in August.

So when the problem arose, oops, they suddenly could not find the record of the verbal agreement. (imagine that!). Today they put in for another autodraft.

They will not refund the overdraft fee connected with the first billing, nor will they work with us in any way.

The sales representives sent were from the Morman church. I have great respect for Mormons and have never known them to lie. They vouched for this company.

The company now quotes contract and treatening to ruin my credit.

What is my recourse?

Answer 1

Contact the attorney general of your state and the Chamber of Commerce and a lawyer.  And, of course, never trust a door-to-door salesman.  You should have gotten a printed copy of the contract.  If not, that may be good or bad.  If they are required to give you one it may be a way out.  If not, you have no way of proving your case.

Answer 2

Well, first off, I have never known of a door-to-door alarm company to tape a sales, so i'm pretty sure the salesman was just saying that to make you feel good, unfortunately. The only thing the company has to go off of is the contract. So, that is why they are holding you to that.

Usually how it works is that the bill is prepaid. So the first one would be taken out immediately, and the the 2nd one would be on the normal day of the month the bill would fall under. For example, say you signed up for the system on the 5th, and billing day was the 20th. The first month, you would get charged on the 5th, and the 20th. Basically, a 36 or 60 month contract, would be, in reality, shortened by a month, but you still make the 36 or 60 payments of $44+. I never really understood why they did it, other than to get a little more money quicker.

If I were you, I would make my case known to the proper authorities. If the system isn't working, get on it and get them to fix it! I would also check them out with the local licensing, make sure they had that taken care of. If they didn't, you could get out of your contract if you push hard enough. Keep calling the salesman until he does something as well. If he feels like he should bring up religion in a sales call, he should be good enough to keep his word, or at least help his neighbor out. It takes a little work, and I realize you shouldn't have to work to have a company that you are paying help you out, but with these companies, it's a little strange like that.

Good luck with it all.