CastleRock Security review: refusal to cancel ( 159 comments)

In June 06, we signed a contract with this company for 3 years. In Dec 06 we moved to a new city and the company said that we could transfer our service for $99 and a new 3 year contract. Because we did not like the company, we decided not to take their "offer". In order to complete our end of the deal, we have been paying them $39.99/month for 2 1/2 years for a service they are not even providing. Today I called to have them cancel my service (which should end July 05, 2009. I was told that they needed a written request at least 30 days prior to the automatic renewal. So, now they expect me to continue to pay for a service they are not providing. The phone number they are "monitoring" does not even exist. I was told that if I cancel my automatic withdrawal, they will begin the collections process to get the money. Is this legal!?! Why am I paying for a service they are not providing?

I agree 100%!. I signed a contract with this company (before it changed it's name for the 2nd time) back in June of 2006. They were using "honest" returned Mormon missionaries to peddle their services in Las Vegas. I have found out later that they heavily recruit these boys because of the recently learned salesmanship and send them out of their hometown to sell during the summer months (right now...so beware). Any how I signed up for a 3 year contract and paid them every month ontime, everytime. In December of last year I accepted a job in Connecticut and called to tell them I wanted to cancel my contract. They told me that I still had 5 months left on my contract. So I told them that I would pay them through May even though I would not be living in the house and in need of their services. Fast forward to April of this year. I am living in Connecticut with a new job, new home, and have mostly forgot about my alarm system until I happen to see it on my credit card statement. So I hurry and call them and tell them I want to cancel as I had indicated 5 month before. They told me I was two weeks late and that they would (not hadnt), would extend my contract for another year. I told them that this was ridiculous as I had already given them plenty of notice and it wasnt even past my current contract. They were indiginant and just said that it was my fault and I should have read my contract more clearly and that the fact that I was calling now I was admitting that I had done wrong and was just trying to get out of paying. I was furious! I told them that most people wouldnt have even paid for a service that they were not using, but because I WAS honest, I paid for these 5 months that I wasnt living in my house. I have had several conversations with the company since. Each time hearing the same thing from different people. They are the most corrupt company i have ever done business with. You can tell this because they have changed their name 3 times in three years. This is how they keep infront of their corrupt services, poor customer service and bad will that they have created. My advice: never do business with "Castlerock Security", "APX", or "SAI". They have horrible service and do not care about their customers. All they care about it milking people for every penny they have. They know that 95% of people do not think (or have time) to sit down exactly 30 days prior to their contract and draft up a cancellation notice to send in. They just do this to lock you in for more money. I cannot say enough negative out this company. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER DO BUSINESS FROM THEM...OR ANY ONE ELSE SELLING ALARM SERVICES DOOR TO DOOR.

same stuff is happening to me, it is not fair. They are bullys and they are thiefs. You hire this company to protect your house and they rip you off. Stay away

I signed up for this service and I cannot get them to turn off monitoring at a home that I no longer live at or own. They said that I can get an out of service agreement to pay out the rest of the contract, but I cannot even get them to send me that.

I had the same thing happen to me. Called 6 months ago to find out when my contract would expire and they never mentioned about sending a letter or anything. I called today (July 9th) and informed me about the letter I needed to send. What a scam!

Same sad story here. Sales person assured me that that I would be able to cancel my account since I was going to sell the house. Now I have been told that my cancellation letter came too late and I have to pay for another year. The choice seems to be to send them another $450 or try to find a lawyer that will take the case for less than that! The best offer they seem to make is to transfer the additional year to my new house! HA like I would even let them know where I live.

The same thing happen to me. I called today to cancel my service and they said that i was to late i need to write a letter 30 days prior. I have not even had service for a year because the system change and they said i needed a upgrade for 4200 to get new service. They told me today that i could get a free upgrade if i signed up for 2 more years on top of the year they have caught me in because of that contract. So now i am stuck paying for another year without any service provided.There is no way i would even think of doing anymore business with these people.

I acquired my contract in July 2007. I was told that the monitoring would be done by ADT. It is also stated in the contract. Two weeks ago I received a call from a collection agency stating that I owned my security company, Castlerock, for 4 months and that it was past due. Of course I laughed because FL has my debit card number and automatically withdraws the payment from my account. The guy from Anderson Crenshaw & Associates insisted that I owed 225.00 that he wanted me to pay right then. When I refused stating he could be a company trying to scam me and that I was going to look into it before I paid him anything and that I would not be paying the full amount of 225 to get the account current because I do not have 225 to pay.

First Line never answered by call, so I called the number he gave. The person answering the phone greeted me as a Castlerock rep. When I explained the situation she stated that she had an account that had been passed to collections, so she could not give me any further info. She asked me to confirm that the number that she had on file was my number, it was correct. I asked, if you have my number, why didn't you call or your company notify me that you had taken over for Firstline, she had no answer and suggested that I contact Anderson Crenshaw. I asked, is your company still monitoring my home, she stated she did not have an account open for me. I asked, when did the monitoring stop, she reverted to you will have to get that info from Anderson Crenshaw...

I spoke to Morgan at Anderson Crenshaw that stated I was not the only person that has indicated that they were not notified and that Castlerock stated that they sent out a letter asking for payment. She stated that Castlerock then handed over to them a truck load of files for people that did not respond to the letter for collection.

My question to her was, since they have my number, why didn't they contact me by phone, or notify that my monitoring would be cancelled since they are suppose to be monitoring. Morgan responded with questions about my bill payment habits and follwed up with how would you like to make your payments. When I asked what payments, we never discussed a payment amount. I asked what payment and how much was she referring to, she stated that I owed more than $1000, but she would be willing to work with me since I have such excellent credit and she would accept 300+ for three months. Absolutely not, was my response, I offered to pay 50 dollars additional per month to get the contract current. She became beyond belligerent, bellowed since you have excellent credit that you were "bragging" about and instead of you sitting there like you are getting the "short end of the stick, I am trying to work with you by giving you a deal to pay this off in increments insted of the 1000+ dollars that you owe. I let her finish rambling, I asked her was she fininshed then explained, that the fact that I have excellent credit merely means that I always pay my bills on time and does not mean that I have an extra $300 a month laying around. she repeatedly bellowed her original spill about me acting like I am getting the "short end of the stick" and gave me an ultimatum to either pay the $1000+, NOW, or agree to three month installments of 300+ otherwise we can end the call and I could prepare for them to seize my property in court.

My reply was "Lets end the call". I contacted a law firm who stated as long as I pay them something each month, then I am okay. They are reviewing the contract from First Line and will contact Andreson Crenshaw.. will let you know the final result.

How Super super sad! I also was ripped off. They came to my home late at night . I had lots of company . The man that installed promise us we could cancel anytime and there would be no fees. He had us sign qiuckly never left us a reciept and left quickly!Over the next few days I started to realize something wasnt right. I called Visions (aka Castle rock security). The told me i signed a 36 month contract! I was so sickened by this! This man was so rude and for some reason not willing to accept that his employee lied to us.Would it have been that big of a deal to make things right since this was a brand new contract. Since then our family has faced tough times and now visions is suing us. Please every one contact your local news man and anyone you know. We cannot let this happen to another family.

THIS IS A RIP OFF AND A SCAM AND WE NEED TO FILE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. My parents in their 70's living in Omaha, NE had a contract with another company who later sold their "assets" to Castle Rock. Castle Rock told my parents that they can pay $541.00 for a years worth of service then they will release my parents from the contract. They never had a contract w/ Castle Rock.

There are enough complaints and people here that we can FILE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST CASTLE. If anyone else is interested in finding out what we can do to stop Castle Rock, please respond on this site.

L. McIntosh

Wow! What a bunch of scammers! I spent a better part of the day trying to cancel my service. My 36 month contract was up on the 20th of this month and they gave me the same lines. My wife and I have contacted BBB. I'm not sure if they can help us or not. We also have a call into a lawyer and are waiting to hear back from him. A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT sounds like the way to go. How do we get started? I'm ready to get the ball rolling!

I am right here with you all. We signed up with SAI and I specifically asked if we were to move if we could cancel and was told yes we could. The nature of my husbands work pretty much guarantees that we would have to be moving prior to the 3 years. I contacted them to see what we could do. I was told we could move the service, but since we are now renting the management company does not want to do this and I can not make them so I need to cancel the service, I am selling the house and do not need their service. I was advised by their rep that I would receive a bill for the remainder of my account. Um no! I asked for a supervisor, had to wait for a callback. Misheeka (sp?) called me back, said that it didn't matter I would have to pay it. I asked her for the name and address of the CEO of the company, she did give me a corporate address but refused to give me the name of the president/CEO of the company, only giving me the name of her manager, Vicky. IF THERE IS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, COUNT ME IN!I am not going to pay for a service I am not going to be using at all, especially when I was told by the salesman that cancelling in case of a move would be an acceptable reason to cancel my contract without penalty. I deplore how some companies do business...it is sickening!

I am having the same exact experience. My contract was with SAI and then sold to Castle Rock who automatically renewed my despite my repeated requests not to. I was told I had to wait until the end of my contract to get released but now they renewed me for another year and want to bill me another $450! I am all for a class action law suit!

Rule number 1: Don't trust sales people. As an educated consumer DO YOUR HOMEWORK and DON'T MAKE IMPULSE PURCHASES particularly when it comes to the security and safety of your livlihood.

Rule number 2: People, READ YOUR CONTRACT. Like myself, you probably received a two page document that clearly defines the terms of your agreement, the cancellation penalties, and the move policies. A sales man's word versus your signature on a legally binding document will not hold up in a court of law.

I agree that I was not impressed by the sales company that sold me the system, however CastleRock security has monitored my security system quite effectively
for the past 2.5 years and has provided me protection for one break in and one medical emergency. Alot of the complaints on here are due to misrepresentation of sales agents and not CastleRock Security/SAI... Lessons learned friends? Do your homework, shop around, read your contract, and don't trust every mormon that comes a'knockin!

We are in the same boat- lousy company and even worse customer service. Their original equipment is obsolete and yet they use deceitful practices to keep their customers.
I guess when you have a dishonest and substandard company, the only way you can stay in business is to crew your customers in the fine print.
Don't believe them when they say "oh we will send you a confirmation of cancelation to your email" It won't come and they probably sell your email info to spammers.
This is an old school sleazy, con man style company and once we are free from them, we would never consider them for anything again.

DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THESE PEOPLE! It feels like having criminals in charge of your security!

We started with a company named apex security company. When we had this company for 2 1/2 yrs we were toldf that the co sold to castle rock securtiy co. I called Castle Rock 2 months before our contract was up that we were cancelling on july 17, 209. They said I had to send a letter stating that within 30 days of the last day of the contract. We got a letter stating that we could not cancel, because it was within 30 days of the last day. When I told them that their representative told me to do that, he said he would have to check all the tapes of conversations. he then told me that we would have to pay for 1 more year to fulfill the contract. We stopped them from getting into my account. I don't know what will happen but we have our attorney ready. These people are crooks and they have no business being in business. I agree with a classd action law suit.

Wow! I thought I was alone here. I spoke twice to Jamie @ Castle Rock & told him that my lawyer would be in touch with him; his reply was: "bring it on, our lawyer would happy to talk to yours. Someone should start compiling the names of the complainants here; it seems we have a quorum for a class action suit.
Keep me posted.
Luis Marin

I purchased the alarm system on July 2006. I called about 3 months ago to ensure that my contract would expire. The customer sales rep told me that it was set to expire July 2009, without any mention of AUTOMATIC RENEWAL! I called the company and complained, asked to speak to the supervisor and I complained enough that she said the she could do was lower the 1 year extension to 6 months. She said that a letter was mailed to me stating that the contract was about to expire, but I recieved nothing to that affect. I read over my contract and it's pretty solid. I guess the best I can do is just pay 6 months instead of 1 year. I will NEVER deal with this company again nor will I ever sign another contract without fully reading it. What a scam. These people care nothing about their customers.

SAME PROBLEMS, CAN'T GET ALARM TURNED OFF OF A HOUSE I DONT EVEN LIVE IN. CUSTOMER SERVICE CAN'T GET IT STRAIGHT WHO TO CALL, SENT THE NEW ITEMS TO AN UNKNOWN NON EXSISTENT HOUSE. NOT EVEN SURE IF THEY ARE MONITORING THE RIGHT ADDRESS. I WOULD BE WILLING TO SIGN FOR A CLASS ACTION SUIT.
K IN OKIE

my question is.. has anyone actually had the service stopped?

The same thing happened to me. I signed up with the service over 3 years ago. I called them when they were SAI about a year ago to find out how much longer was my contract. They told me it would end in May 2009 and had me to believe it would be month to month after that and I could cancel anytime after my end date. I called them in July and I was told that my contract for end in May 2012. I could not believe it. They said it automatically renews itself if a written cancelation letter was not received before the end of contract date. I have been and still out of work for the pass year and I continued to pay them until my contract was up. My house is going in to foreclosure and I will soon not have a house to project...(project... they have really bad service anyway...) This seems illegal to do, they did not send any letters to me at all about anything. I wrote them a cancelation letter anyway and have not heard anything from them. They are still getting money from automatic payments, even thought my ATM card expiration date has expired. So I am going to call and put stop payments on it and just deal with them with collections in the future if I have to. COUNT ME IN ON A CLASS ACTION SUIT. What else can we do... contact our congressmen... Better Business Bureau.?

My, problem. Well everything was fine and the alarm worked a couple of times and we were happy. Than when it switched from Pinnacle to SAI, everything seemed ok... for a few months. Than it quickly changed from SAI to Castle Rock. Thats when things started really becoming an issue. The first problem was when I called to talk to the "new" company and speak with the reps to check on the account status, passwords and contacts they informed me that they had seen that my account had renewed for a year? I thought, I didnt renew thats kinda strange? Then the smooth talking sales rep informed me that, I had a month window to cancel and that month window has to do with my original instalation date. Since I didnt mention anything in that month window, the account "automaticlly" starts a new billing cylce for a year!
I was like, ok? thats pretty messed up, no call, no email, no land mail. Just we got you by the balls and we are not letting go. Any reputable company would give you advanced notice and at least try to communicate. Yet these guys are so messed up, complete disregard for customer and any type of honest business practices. Then it started getting real bad. They messed up on my bank account. When it was Pinnalce and SAI, they were automaticlly pulling from my checking account with my routing number. Some how when it became Castle Rock, they couldn't understand my routing number and my checking account so they pulled from my savings. My money is in checking & Money Markets. so When they pulled from my Savings it bounced. The Bank hit me with an over draft, Castle Rock said I was now behind on payments. The bank blamed castle rock for the mistake and castle rock blames the bank. Hello, its my money and my credit thats getting screwed. I spent a few hours on the phone with a few different reps from castle rock trying to figure out how to get out of their nightmarish company. After working my way through a couple average reps. I spoke with the smoothest talking customer rep I have ever spoken with. In a roundabout way he said, you can never get out, you can never leave and we will never let you go. I told him we'd be Defaulting on the house soon. He said take the alarm with you to the apartment you rent. yeah right. He said that When I sign a contract its for life and to deal with it. He said the whole thing was my fault because I didnt read the contact. Yet the contract is written so crafty, its hard to understand certin aspects of the terms. I have re-read the contract a few times and see the information in regards to the 3 year terms. My time will be up this spring. I'll let you know how it goes. I have spoken with a few consumer advocates and Will work with anyone here if they want to cordinate an attempt, yet most legal eagles I speak wih say a contract is a contract. I do agree Castel rock is a hoax, a joke and they are spineless theifs, but I also blame myself for signing a 3 year contrat without really reading the devilish details that makes this company an evil profitier praying on new homeowners, retired people and "people that are generaly trusting" believe me if its too good to be true it is. I seriusly want to go and and see these guys face to face, yet my temper is not something I want to put in the same room as those A-holes in the Castle Rock Security, Inc 2101 S. Arlington Heights Rd
Location.

I've spent hours on the phone and got the same old song and dance they tell you what you don't want to hear. They hide the details that you need to figure out what you can do to understand the contract. They do the bait a switch. They talk big and threaten alot yet it is obvious they are total slimeballs. They do everything in there power to draw out and prolong the process, so you just feel like giving up. They will debate with you fro hours if you get the well trianed reps on the phone. They have a your calls compiled and folders on the "problemed customers"
Many other times I sat on hold for an hour only to be forwarded to a v/m box where I'd leave a message only to be never returned. Other times I'd talk to a clueless rep for a half hour only to get no where. A few times I spoke with their #1 smooth talker Jonathan. A few times I also Spoke with a supervisor named Lee. These are the guys I have gotten results from, in regards to information yet they still boast that I can not get out of the contract no matter what. At one point I was told that I need to stay in the contract as long as the life of the loan, ok. a-hem thats 30 years! OMG.

talk me me people.

I originally signed a 3 year contract with Apex Security for alarm monitoring of my home. Apex provided the wrong debit card number to my bank and the first 3 months were an absolute nightmare trying to find out why they were not getting paid. Soon after this was taken care of Apex sold to SAI. You guessed it, when they sold to SAI the incorrect debit card numbers were provided to them by APEX. YEP, another 3 month nightmare. I was later notified that the system I had was utilizing an analog system and all of the backup systems were changing to digital. I found out that the government had required this change and had been working on this during the time my system was sold to me. It certainly appears that the company who installed the system (APEX) new that this change was going to be required and was "dumping" analog systems and later sending out notices that customers "must" update to the digital syetem for a fee. I did not upgrade and was furious, because this was hust an additional problem that I was having to deal with over this alarm system. II informed SAI to cancel my contract when it was due for renewal. I have since found out that my contract was sold to another company, Castle Rock and you guessed it, Castle Rock eitehr was given the incorrect debit card numbers again, or the credit union would not honor another change. I am writing this at 10:17 PM and unable to find out for sure what the situation is.
I was contacted by Castle Rock tonight and got no where. I spoke with a supervisor (after talking with many other people who could not assist me to my satisfaction). I informed the supervisor of the above and explained the situation to him. Obviously he was of little or no help, as I am writing this complaint. He informed me that the contract renewed annually automaticaly, unless the company was informed in writing 30 days prior to the expiration date of the current contract. I offered to pay for the previous months which are in arrears for the same reason as with the previous 2 companies and that I wanted the contract cancelled. I was informed that I would be required to pay the remainder of the contract if I cancelled it. He went on to read the contract to me, in an insulting way. He then gave me 3 options. 1. to continue the contract and cancel it in writing 30 days prior to the next annual renewal, 2. To "cut the contract period in half" or 3. Cancel the contract now and pay the cancellation fees. I informed him that I had an option #4 which was to not pay anything at all.
I asked for the email address and was instructed to go to the web site and send an email to information@castlerocksecurity.com.
I did this and in the email instructed the company to cancel the contract and that I would pay for previous months due, but would not pay for something I had already requested be cancelled. I also wrote that if this was not acceptible I would not pay anything, and that any further communication from Castle Rock would be considered harassing communications and legal action would be taken for same.
As I sit and write this I have received an email back saying the email I sent could not be delivered to the address provided on the web site.
I AM AT MY WITS END AND WILL NEVER USE A FLY BY NIGHT ALARM SYSTEM AGAIN. I AM HAVING A LOCAL ALARM COMPANY INSTALL A SYSTEM AND MONITOR FOR ME.

I HOPE THAT ANYONE READING THIS UNDERSTANDS THE INPORTANCE OF USING A LOCAL COMPANY WHO IS REGISTERED WITH THE LOCAL BETTER BUSINESS NUREAU, SO COMPAINTS CAN BE REVIEWED LOCALLY.

I too got caught up in the renewal of the contract for another year and that's fine I saw it after reading back into the contract. I've got something for them though. I'm gonna use the hell out of the. TEST YOUR SYSTEM DAILY! My system is now set to instant on and everytime I come through the door they have to call to make sure I'm ok.

I totally agree, this is the worst security company in the world. This is the 3rd company change and I have been screwed every since. First they screwed a bunch of my payments, then 6 months before my contract ended I wrote a letter and told they that I wanted to cancel at that time. I also gave them a call to verify that they recieved my letter, the company told me yes and they also stated I could just wait and pay the balance a few days before the cancellation instead of doing right then and there which was 6 months before. Well the day before the contract ended they told me it was too late so they automatically renewed my contract for another year(they were still named SAI at that time). I was no longer living in that house so I have to pay them to not monitor a house that I do not own any more. What I ended having to do is cancel my account that they were drafting from and started sending a payment without auto draft because I lost all trust in this company. Now these clowns keep running my closed account and charging me overdue fees even though they are getting payments every month and they also keep telling me they are going to turn me into collections. This company is a complete fraud and are a bunch of crooks. I would also be willing to sign for a class action suit.

I'm in for a law suit. We are in the same situation.

Class Action suit? Sign me up! I can agree with every one of these posts. I refused to have the automatic bank withdrawal, so I send them a check every 3 months. Castle Rock is more expensive than Monotronics, which gives better service. C.R. can come and get their equipment, it doesn't work anyhow. The sensor fell off the back door almost a year ago and they refused to come and fix it without charging us for the call, and told us to use double stick tape. How lame! BTW, the tape didn't work either, so one day I returned home to find the alarm going off, the sensor on the floor, and no one had called any of our contact numbers. Pretty secure, eh? Pretty scary for a security company.

Can we do a class action suit? We have enough people. We tried to disconnect the service and they told us we had to wait a year because it automatically rolled over. I am from Iowa and was told that in Iowa you don't have to sign a contract. Does anyone know how to find out if there is a law for this or not. My security system does not even work! I have been paying about $43.00 a month for a system that does not work. Plus this is the third company that we have dealt with as our contract was with two other previous companies that were not even legit..Any thoughts?

While my husband was in the Navy stationed in Norfolk VA, we were approached at home by a sales representative for SAI security. During his sales pitch I had asked him about a contract and indicated that we were planning on getting out of the Navy and moving back to California in a year. He stated that the we would still be able to cancel because we were military. My husband and I agree to have the system installed as he was set to deploy the next month to the Gulf on the Eisenhower for an 8 month deployment (Fall 06-Spring 07).

In the Fall of 07 we sold our home and moved back to California. I called several times to cancel the service to no avail. I was bounced around to rude customer service reps who did not want to help. When I finally was able to speak to a "supervisor" I was told there was nothing they could do. Feeling like this was a lesson I would have to learn I continued to pay the $44 service charge each month for an alarm service I was unable to use as we were living with family members in a home that was not ours. Every month we paid our service fee on time with our Credit Card even after I received a notice from SAI in mid December of 2008 (the notice was generated on December 12, 2008) that "the service provider for your alarm system's cellular communications service AMPS is no longer supporting this service in your area" and if we contacted them before 12/31/08 they would install a new digital GSM communicator at no charge. However living 3000 miles away and not owning the property, we were not able to do this.

I only received 2 mailings from SAI in these two years. The fore-mentioned and a post card that was warning customers to beware of people calling posing as SAI reps. Today I tried to call SAI on the number that was on the 12/12/08 notice to find that they were no longer SAI but Castle Rock Security. After I gave my account information to the Castle Rock rep it wasn't long before I felt like I had felt two years ago. I was told that because they had not received my written request to cancel 30 days before the automatic renewal of the service I would have to pay them for another year of service. I asked several times to speak with a supervisor but was denied until finally I was extremely rude. David, operator id 1191, finally said he would see if his supervisor was available. I was on hold for several minutes when he came back on the phone and stated that his supervisor was on the phone but would call me back. I asked for his supervisor's name. He indicated that it was Ricky. I asked for a last name but was told he could not give that information to me. Finally after heavy argument he gave me the first initial of Ricky's last name which he stated was "B". We then ended the call.

Knowing all too well from my last experience with "this company" I immediately called back and spoke with a rep named Lee. I asked for Ricky B and he put me on hold. I was on hold for 15 minutes before he got back on the phone and requested that I wait for a call back. As feeling like I had no other choice I begrudgingly accepted. It has been over four hours and I have not received a return call. After getting off the phone the second time, I "googled" "security won't cancel my service". I have to say I was not surprised that the first article in the web search was about this very company and their unscrupulous business practices. This poor excuse for a business is extorting consumers all over the country threatening collections. I NEVER received any documentation indicating that Castle Rock was my provider. This company SAI/Castle Rock has never offered anything other than lies, horrible customer service, and general unwillingness and indifference to provide their customers the service they are paying for.

After finding this web site I have filed a compliant with the BBB referencing this website. For information on filing a class action law suit please visit eHow.com "how to file a class action lawsuit"

I strongly advise if you are reading this to please post your complaint here and then file a complaint with the BBB. The more voices the louder the complaint. This " business" has taken advantage of all types of situations and that is UNACCEPTABLE.

I have the same problem, a few months ago castle r. bought the company i was using and three weeks ago i found the alarm is not working, something with the phone systems, i am paying for NOTHING, my contract is for five years they do not listen when i said they broke the contrant because are not giving me the service that i paid for . Today i am sending a letter to minnesota general attorney. I want to know my options I do not want to deal with this company anymore but i have automatic payment . LETS ALL GET TOGETHER AND DO SOMETHING, The internet is a very powerful tool, facebook, myspace lets tell everybody out there :DO NOT WORK o do any dealing with this company.
Think abou a class action suit,

Hi Everyone. I thought I was alone. Apparently misery loves company...

Has anyone had any luck settling a payoff with them or making them deal with an attorney?
Someone out there must have a relative that is an attorney that will make Castle Rock jump through some major hoops.

Although most states allow auto renewal, most of our complaints fall within the auspice of "deceptive business practices" which no state allows.

Or, we could all change our address to Arkansas which does not allow auto renewals!

Usually the only people that make out in a class action lawsuit is the attorneys.

The same thing happened to me. I was a day late canceling, and they didn't care they said I would have to pay for another year, so I told them my alarm system wasn't even working and they said they would have someone come out and fix it, but I would have to sighn a 3 year contract. I laughed at them and told them I would't pay, they said they would turn it over to a collections agency, I told them to go right ahead my credit is outstanding and I don't mind one bad mark to keep them away from my money. So I canceled the card that they were taking money out of every month, and ignored all calls and letters. By the way when they call they will say something like this on your answering machine. ( Mr. Soinso, this is Calvin please call me back at blah blah) they never tell you why they are calling, so naturally why would you call them back. Any way don't know if they will try anything else but I swear they won't see another dime from me!

Boy, I feel like a broken record... I too am in the same situation. Can anyone give us good news about how to cancel? I sent a complaint to the BBB.. I encourage everyone else to also. I signed a 3 year contract that was 2 pages, when I got a copy of what they had on file.. what do you know, a 3rd page appeared! they must be magic. I moved at year 2 of my contract, I could not call anyone to have them give me an address to send the letter. All the letters I send now, which is 1 every month come back undeliverable. I have called and acted like a new customer, when I ask about the canceling of the service, I am quickly headed into another topic. At one point I had called and asked them about the canceling of the service, I was told " just call and cancel". When I asked for a copy of the contract to look over beforeI sign, Ii was told they can not do that. I didn't sign a contract with this company, I would have done some research on them, I then would have seen the complaints and stayed far, far away.

I will continue to check back to see if anyone has canceled the service. Good luck everyone

I completely removed their junk hardware and was told once I completed my 3 yr contract I could cancel at any time. LIE! I'm interested in the class action suit. I'd be happy to simply have the $39.99 stopped from my credit card and never hear from Casterock/SAI/APEX again. Not that I heard from them ever!

Well I have to disagree Castle Rock Security has been nothing but great to me they have protect my family and home for so many years. I am greatful for their customer service staff because they are alway informaitve and patient with me. i have nothing but good things to say about this company, I think we all shoudl take responsability as adults when it comes to reading any leagal documents.

Sunshine in Miami

I am having the same problem, and first off, yes I did read the contract. I followed the instructions when I called them to cancel in April of 2009 (well over 30 days prior to contract expiration) as well as mailed them a letter stating my wishes to cancel. When I called them prior to the expiration of the contract I was informed that they mysteriously did NOT receive my letter nor did they have on record ANY previous recorded conversations of me calling to notify them of my intent to cancel. How convenient! When they "informed" me that I was automatically renewed for another year I told them they were not getting one more dime from me and as soon as I hung up I cancelled the credit card the automatic payments were coming from and immediately filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I have also filed a complaint with the FTC.gov website as well.

This company uses deceptive practices and they are relentless in their harassment of their customers. During my tenure with them, the first 2 yrs of service were just fine. Going into the 3rd year I started having equipment issues and was without service for over a month because the main control unit quit working after a thunderstorm/power surge. I had called them the first day of the outage and was put on hold for over an hour. I finally got the problem resolved but they wouldn't credit me that month I was without service even though they wouldn't repair the equipment. I had nothing but trouble ever since that "turning point". I also had several door to door salespeople trying to get me to upgrade my equipment and informing me I would have to sign on for another 3 yrs (with Pinnacle, NOT CastleRock). I told them no thank you.

Pinnacle sold my account to Castlerock security i had nothing but problems after they took over. I changed my account on my credit card last spring, so they couldn't billed my credit card. CastleRock want me to pay 269.94 for six months monitoring fee ON NON WORKING SYSTEM THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN. They call every week to collect this amount. Last month they transfer my account to Anderson, Crenshaw & Associates, L L C they call up to three times a day leaving wierd massages on my sell phone. This madness have to stop. I wrote letter to castlerock and will file complaint with BBB, Attorney General and FTC.

I have had nothing but problems with this company since I had the system installed. Castle Rock bought out the company I was origianly with and have flatly refused to cancel the service. I have tried three phone calls and one letter with the same results. I spent twenty minutes on the phone with a guy trying to give me an upgrade of service that never worked to begin with and of course they had no record of my first phone call that was well within their time limit and no record of the letter I sent on September 22, 2009. I've had three differnt reps from this company come to my door that knew about the cancelation phone call but according to the man I spoke with they do not send people to the door. Awfully strange the guy had an ID from Castle Rock, paperwork from Castle Rock and said he reprecented them and could up grade the system for me. I was informed that this man was from another company trying to steal my business. Why would a man use Castle Rock ID if he was from another company. How did he get the ID and paperwork and how did he know the details of my account and the system I currently have in the house. The Castle Rock Rep on the phone suggested the other guy was stalking me to get the inside info. I guess since I go around talking to strangers about my security system all the time thats how he got what he needed.

I have a serious problem with Castlerock too. I had the system installed in may 2006 and I never used the system because after fiding out that if my alarm went off by accident and the police showed up I'd have to pay a fee, and because I had roomates in the house all the time and a dog I had great chance to have the alarm going off accidentally. I had problem in refinance the house and I was going to move out. So I called the alarm company trying to cancel and they told me because the house was not sold it was no reason to cancel...Okay, I moved and continued to pay and in november 2008 I sold the house (short sell) and then I called them to cancel because the house was sold and I didn't need that anymore and told them that I could send back that system. They told me they didn't want the system back and that I had to pay it till the end of the contract, then it would be cancelled automatically. So in april 2009 I called them to remind them to cancel it and I was told that it had already renewed. I got so mad and wrote them a letter to cancel it and they replied saying that to cancel I had to call 30 days in advance. They continued taking my money till august 2009 then I cancelled the checking account they used to take the money and today I received a letter from Anderson, Creenshaw & Associates, LLC trying to collect the money.

I've been working with the BBB now for what feels like an eternity on this same issue. Has not seem to help the situation at all. The company representative is simply repsonding with parables about the case and never directly assiting in resolving the problem.

Any updates as to a class action on this company please post!