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Am I right to be livid?
I asked ADT to quote for updating our alarm system. They quoted me £350 to buy the new system plus £50 a month for maintenance, with a 36 month contract. Obviously, they are making money on the maintenance to subsidise the installation cost, and that’s fair enough.
I paid the £350, and THEN they sent me a 19 page contract to sign. I am probably the only customer who bothered to read all that, because hidden in amongst all the small print it says that I won’t own the system but will only be hiring it. ADT will continue to own the system even though I had paid for it.
At no stage in the sale process was any of this mentioned. I simply said I was buying a system and nobody at ADT said that they would retain ownership.
This seems fundamentally dishonest to me. Essentially, they were changing the fundamental principles of the contract after I had already signed up. And, an alarm contract is founded on trust yet ADT have betrayed my trust throughout this process.
As things currently stand, they have my money and I don’t have an alarm. I suppose they will eventually get round to refunding me, but I have spent hours on this, and I would not have gone near them if I had realised that they expect me to pay for a system that belongs to them.
It’s an outrageous concept, but the way it was simply slipped into a lengthy contract, without any prior agreement, is what makes me livid.
Comments
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Do you have a question? If not then this probably belongs in Praise, Vents …. 🤷♀️
Jenni x0 -
You might not own it, but do they actually bother coming back after x years to remove the second-hand bits? Or "brick" the functionality of it remotely?
1 -
Certainly no reason to be livid as it is not at all unusual.
In fact it is probably advantageous to you as, as it is their alarm, they will come and fix it at no cost to you.
0 -
Not exactly at no cost, when they're charging £50 per month (!! really?) for "maintenance". 🙄
Jenni x4 -
Not unusual in what sense?
OP such a term should likely be prominent and without it being so would be subject to a fairness test as to whether it creates significant imbalance to your determinant contrary to the requirements of good faith.
Omitting the information during the sales pitch could be argued as a breach of the DMCC giving the right to unwind the contract.
It's unclear (to me at least) whether payment is binding you to these terms (in which case they wouldn't be enforceable) or whether you are free to walk away until signing the contract (which seems the most likely).
In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces2 -
I do have a question, namely whether I can force them to comply with the contract I thought I was getting? Before sending the 19 pages document they sent me a short contract that I signed, and then they rang me up to take the money. At that point the contract was concluded and it’s too late for them to try to alter it to a hire agreement?
Also, before selling a credit hire agreement do they need to run through some regulatory hoops?
No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?1 -
That’s the point. Having paid for it, I ought to be able to continue to run it without them, or throw it away without their permission. Or, transfer maintenance to another company. But, they own it, so I can’t.
They are obviously trying to lock me into paying them for much longer than the 36 months contract that I signed up for.
No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?2 -
I'm not particularly surprised that you are only hiring the system.
Isn't that common with alarm systems?
Do you own your existing system that you want updating?
0 -
I doubt they are going to re-write the contract. I would suggest looking for an alternative supplier.
"We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein1 -
Why are you thinking they are locking you into a longer contract?
At the end of the 36 months just tell them you no longer require the system.
End of the day £2,150 for a maintained alarm & is this monitored as well?
Would seem to be good value over 3 years.
Or you could take the other option & self install a maybe cheaper system (depending on house), which may not get a discount of your home insurance 🤷♀️
Life in the slow lane0
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