Life Alert Emergency Response
reviews and complaints

My system fails more times than it works they always want one to upgrade. When talking to them they act like they do not care and once while speaking to them they hung up on me. Even our local firemen told me they are bad and I should go with a better company. They never take what you say as a real problem. After 10 years of being with them, I think it is time to move to a better company. I have let my local AARP be warned about this failed company and the staff that works for them. A letter was also sent to the better business bureau of Texas complaint Deptment.

Called company tosee whereI coulr return tha equipment to. For over 37 minutes I was transfered to at least 7 departments or people. They just kept transferring me and putting me on hold so they could check on something. I kept getting transferred around until the last person said there was nothing I could do. They had told me that when I was away from home, and hit the buttin, the GPS would send help to my location. I accidentally hit the unit. The first Responders were sent to my home...I was at the Drs. office...appearently the GPS did not work as told it would. This is a Sham Company. I would not reffer to anyone!

I cancelled my service due to financial issues after more than 3 years. 3 months later they took $300 out of my direct deposit dissability check, even after I told them I didnt want their service. leaving me without my rent money. I just want my money back. my name is Cesar Palomares my number is [protected]

I purchased the device for my 86 year old mother who lives in florida. After several months she does not want to use the device anymore. She has very bad knees and is in pain much of the time. She spends most of her time each day with my step father at the memory care facility and he is in the final stages of (7) alzheimer's. I do not want to continue to be forced to pay $70.00 per month for a device that is no longer being used. I feel like they are not being reasonable. I have paid for 15 months so far. So I asked them since my mother can no longer use the device can I transfer it over to another family memory who would be able to use the service. They said "appropriate" paperwork would have to be completed and I would have to purchase another 36 month contract and start all over. If the device can not be used I think it's reasonable to seek another family member rather than to be forced to pay for a device that's not doing anything. I feel i'm being taken advantage of at this point.

I called to request a life alert brochure for a family member. Now I am getting multiple phone calls from 800 numbers. On the voicemail it states that if I don't answer, I will keep receiving multiple calls a day because they just want to verify I got the brochure. I would have gladly answered had I not been threatened in such a manner. Very unprofessional and I'm probably going to take my business elsewhere now because of it.

The current commercial is extremely distasteful, offensive and seems to be aimed at terrifying susceptible, older citizens into buying their dubious service. It does not seem to be ethical to prey upon senior citizens in this manner. They should stop showing this commercial immediately, or at the very least remove the overly dramatic "buy our service or you could die a horrible death (paraphrasing)" parts of it. Just based on this commercial I would tell my own mother to never, ever use this service under any circumstances as the company seems to be in the business of manipulating vulnerable populations.

My Daughter from California set me up with a LIFE ALERT emergency system out of my concern for having to live alone while having significant heart problems and severe complications from diabetes. I found the system completely useless. When I tested it I didnt get service call for at least several minutes..and had several false alarms where I had to rush downstairs (almost falling down) to say there was no emergency . The cost of this service is rediculas..and I was able to get a much better system on Amazon that requires no monthly fee ..dials 911 and several personal numbers in an emergency..for a total of $206 with no additional fees, 3year insurance policy, and a 90day return policy.
When I tried to return my life alert unit because of my complete dissatisfaction with it, I was rudely told that I couldn, t and had signed a contract for three years. that there is nothing I can do because I signed it..I cant imagine how many other old people are scammed into this contract. If some one is unhappy with the product for poor service they should be allowed to break the contract. I didnt not realize it was a 3 year UNBREAKABLE contract which is obviously set that way to extract money from old people with poor health who dont understand the ramifications of their signature. I am totally disgusted and will fight them tooth and nail...even if it kills me...Thomas Alfieri

On or about 10/26/18 life alert came to my house to plug in their system (that's all they did was plug it in and hit the button). Included in the shipping box was a contract that they wanted signed and returned via UPS. When I read the contract there was an item on line 17 that stated they could assign my account to any other alarm company they wanted and I had no say. Needless to say I crossed that language out and made a note by my signature to see the changes on item 17. UPS picked up the envelope on or about 10/30/18. On November 2nd I received a call from
Life Alert legal stating they would not sign the altered contract. At that point I advised them that since they would not complete the contract they were canceling the sevice as of 11/2/18. It took multiple phone calls to finally get some one to arrange for a UPS pickup. The pickup took place on or around 11/14/18. I again waited two or three days and called them to make sure they refunded my money. Of course they wanted something like $300.00. I refused to pay and had my credit card company place both charges in dispute. They waived the yearly service but still insist on the $96.00 setup fee. My opinion is since THEY refused to sign the contract all charges should be canceled. I can see this winding up in small claim court here in Pa. Which is another item in their contract that states all court actions must be initiated in California. Thank goodness they never signed the legal document that would have placed that language into effect. STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE. If you do deal with them get them to send you the contract before agreeing to any sevice.

Please remove your add.
I find your commercial with the fallen women at bottom of steps very upsetting.

My mother fell and laid saying help, me help me in a hospital.
It triggers my anxiety. I must change the channel immediately.

If your add needs a previous printed "trigger warning" you should reconsider how your choice will cause others to react.

I cannot watch it or worse even listen to it.

Surely you can come up with a better advertisement campaign.

So I called life alert for my 87 yr old mom. Talked to sales man who made it sound good. Paid my 198.00 for equipment. He told me they would ship it right out and it would arrive on Thursday and a service tech would be out on that Friday. 3 weeks later after I called twice and the same guy said he didn't know why and would call me back. Never happened. Then it's was suppose to have gps but it was not there. So I called back the same sales guy and he says you have to send this and that! Bla bla! Anyways I live in Vt and my mom in NH. I said Look I just want to cancel. I told him my mom is not going to do all this she is 87 Do Not call her. That man the minute I hung up called my poor mom and walked her through exactly what I told him I was not willing to do. I am just grateful I called my mom the next morning before she had a chance to send. She was very upset. Now they refuse to give me my money back for the equipment. 198.00 for nothing. I feel very much scammed.

If I could leave less than one star I would. It is less about the service and more about the hoops that they make you jump through when you need to cancel.
I was the account holder and paid for the service for my mother for the past 6 years. My mother's living arrangements changed and she had no need for the service anymore. After 4 phone calls and 2+ hours on the phone, they finally sent me to a tech that had me disable the unit. When I asked to be transferred back to a retention supervisor, he just transferred me to the retention department (again) and would not let me express my displeasure with the runaround and kept citing "the contract". Contract was concluded 3 years ago and it should not be this hard. On top of this, they kept offering to reduce the price if I would stay even though I told them that it was not needed.
Do not sign a contract and find the next best option for your needs as you will regret doing business with them.

I'm sure Life Alert is a fine company, however their commercials have much to be desired. The original commercial with 2 elderly women and a man who had fallen was on air for so long, I'm sure the handsome customer service rep, most likely is on filing for Medicare by now. The newest, really? It's like a bad Halloween spoof. Well, I thought I may just call Life Alert customer service and mention they may want to consider hiring another ad agency to produce their commercials, I didn't feel I was being rude in the suggestion, that said, the rep hung up on me. So much for that.

Please discontinue the current ad. It is very upsetting to me. I found my wife passed away a couple of months ago laying on our bedroom floor. Your commercial punishly and painfully reminds me of my traumatic experience. Your old commercials were bad enough. But this latest one is scary and upsetting like a horror movie. I am considering contacting a lawyer to get Life Alert to stop airing this commercial. It is truly way beyond civil. It should be given an R rating

My Father fell and was taken to the Hospital in March 2018. He then entered a Rehab Facility eventually becoming a permanent Resident of Cavalry Hospice Hospital in NY. Even though the social worker from the Rehab Facility sent a letter stating he would not be going home and would become a resident of the Hospital, they did not like the verbiage so will not cancel the contract. They are not even willing to provide a letter that needs to be signed! Talk about making a horrible situation worse!

To Life Alert:

For the most part I have been happy with your company. I have used it to support my mother for over 2 years and had one of your representatives do an exemplary job in locating my mother in a local hospital when we did not know where she was. I do have to inform you that the last 2 months have been enough to sour my opinion of the company. My mother went into the hospital at the end of March 2018. I called on March 1st to inquire about closing the contract because the prognosis was not good. She was being helped to breathe at that point as she was unable to breathe on her own. I spoke with a young man who was nice enough, but in a matter of fact way explained that the contract could not be cancelled without a death certificate. He stated he would note the account so that the billing would not happen for the next cycle once you had the certificate.
I called again at the week of May 1st and was instructed to fax the death certificate to stop the billing. I did that same day and the representative emailed me back saying she did not get the attachment (which I did not send because there was a scan of the certificate in the body of the email. I made a separate attachment and emailed it back to her specifically and got no response. I emailed it again to the main email and got no response. I called again on the 4th and finally got the right department after 4 transfers and a being dropped in some persons voicemail box. I got a young man who saw the document and the previous conversations and set up an appointment for the equipment to be picked up. I explained my situation to him and wanted to ensure no further payments would be withdrawn. He told me a payment had been attempted to collect on the 3rd of May, which was after my conversation with your company and the receipt of the death certificate. I explained that I wanted to avoid any more billing and he advised since the status of pick-up was pending the billing would be on hold.
The next day May 5th my account was billed. It is difficult enough to be making arrangements for the loss of a loved one and the last thing we need is for a company we have depended on to appear greedy and uncaring. No provision to suspend billing until a death certificate is provided is a morbid enough way to end a contract, but to continue billing and frustrate a customer during this time is completely unacceptable. Now I must get back with your company to recoup money which is exactly what I told the young man I spoke to on the 4th who assured me that would not be the case.
Unfortunately, you have turned a satisfied customer into one who is extremely dissatisfied by billing me for 2 months of service that you did not render and will be as vocal as possible about my displeasure and recommend alternatives to your service to anyone who will listen.
Harold Myers

On [protected] Life alert was installed. My daughter whom I live with, was there. The installer was very rude. He mentioned this was a three yr contract & I was shocked. I said I wasn't informed of this. He said call your rep. MY Daughter was there too. She didn't know I signed the contract. After the guy left, which was like a flash in the night. She was upset with him. Then she went over the contract too. She said Mom I told you not to sign it until I saw it. Anyway I called & left a message the next day & left the message I wanted to cancel. No one called me back, Called again, the day after & my service rep Jeff called me, I want to cancel. He talked to me almost 30 minutes. My Daughter, seeing my frustration & confusion, took the phone & she got the same run around. She said cancel it & hung up. The next day I got a call from Anthony with the same message only really rude. I felt my throat closing up & the anxiety level high. My daughter saw my distress & told Anthony cancel & I could not talk to them any longer. She ended up hanging up because the record wouldn't stop. I unplugged the machine. I've called the BBB & I'm going on my facebook to warn Everyone about the scam you pulled on me.

Trying to discontinue service for 96 yr old loved one who is now in a nursing home is like pulling teeth. First you have to ask nursing home to fax letterhead from them and as requested they have done same. Now life alert is not happy with wording because it states loved one is in physical therapy section of nursing home and they need it to say she is in nursing home. Gentlemen that I have spoken to has already hung up on me and now I am receiving calls on my cell phone ringing once and hanging up. Harassment in the first degree. How can a company be so hard to deal with at a time that is so stressful for family. I would never recommend this companies service to anyone, STAY AWAY

My elderly mother, who has no business engaging and signing contracts, signed up for Life Alert, almost 3 years ago. The contract was for 3 years. This month she has moved to an assisted living facility. Because her contract is up in 2 months, I decided to let the contract run out (February 2018). Now, they are saying that they will not cancel the charges unless they talk to my mother. She has severe dementia, wouldn't know how to answer a question from them if she had to. I will be putting a stop payment on her account in February and am willing to return the equipment anytime they want. She is 90, her credit can't be ruined so I'm not worried but I want people to know they are pushy and rude. There are several medical alert companies who do not make you sign a 3 year contract. Please, please use them before you go to Life Alert.

*Initial installation: they showed up almost 2 hours early, and dad didn't let them in because he was confused. They called me and I advised they cannot install when he is home alone because he has dementia. We rescheduled
*Next installation: they did not show up at all
*Next installation: they showed up at scheduled time and my teenage son was there to learn how to use the supplies so that he could show us.
*Notes clearly state he has dementia and should not be contacted
*Dementia is listed on his medical form

It has been 3 months and my dad does not use it. I called to cancel and they said that the installer had dad sign a contract and we cannot cancel it without a dr letter stating he has dementia. It is absurd (and a waste of my time) that I now have to obtain a letter and send it in, when NO ONE SHOULD EVER HAVE A PATIENT WITH DEMENTIA SIGN A CONTRACT!

The manager I spoke to was rude, and tried to tell me that my father seemed ok to sign it. (he was not there at install, and he couldn't even give me the installers name)

Manager: Jr
Installation person who had dad sign the contract -- they have no record
Cancellation fee : -- no buy out/fee - you just have to pay it

I have a huge complaint and problem with Life Alert and would like to have the recorded phone calls, not just the typed account notes reviewed and be reimbursed for fees charged due to being told the account was closed.
I called to cancel our account . The account was closed. Then I got a call and was told the account wasn't closed and that I had to pay a fee to close it or the account would continue to be charged until the equipment was returned. I was charged a $200 fee to close the account even after I was told the account was already closed. I was transferred many times to several different departments. How can I be held responsible for internal issues within the Company and how am I supposed to know who does and doesn't have authority in any of the departments I was transferred to when I'm asking to speak with supervisors.
Oct 27, 2017 at approximately 4:15 pm, I called to cancel my mom's account. I was transferred, and I believe I spoke to Ganadi. He asked me why I wanted the account closed. I explained that my mother could not afford it anymore and that our local Agency on Aging was going to help her. I was told that I need to return the equipment then he would cancel the account. I explained that I did not know where the equipment is. I was told I needed find it or they would not stop payments from our account. I have diligently searched for the equipment. As of yet, I have not found it.
I explained that our local Agency on Aging had gotten my mother a different medical system through a contracted agency due to her disability and low income status. A technician from the contracted company came out and replaced the Life Alert system. He stated that he left the old system at the house. The system has not been located.
Oct 30, 2017 I called Life Alert and was transferred. I believe I spoke to Ganadi again and I asked to speak to a supervisor and told him that I was unable to find the equipment. He advised me to contact the Company that installed the new system and check to see if their technician may have taken it with him. I asked Ganadi if we would be able to cancel the account over the phone with a three-way call between Him, myself and the Technician if he located the equipment. Ganadi said yes and that the system just needs to be deactivated and we could do it over the phone as long as an account holder was on the phone along with the technician.
I called the contracted Company on Oct 30, 2017 at approximately 2:30pm and requested to speak to the technician that installed the new system. They advised that they would contact him. I again called on Oct 31, 2017 and asked to speak to the technician that replaced the equipment. On Nov 1, 2017 at approximately 11:30am, I spoke to the Technician advising him the Life Alert System is not in the house. I asked him to double check and to go through his utility vehicle and tools again to make sure.
Nov 6, 2017 at approximately 10:20am, I called Life Alert again and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was transferred to James. I explained everything that had occurred and that I was trying to close the account. James said he would see what he could do. He put me on hold. When he came back on the line, he advised me that he could help me and canceled the account since the equipment was so old and wouldn't need to be returned and asked me to put the equipment into recycling if it was ever located. James said if anyone had any questions, have them contact him.
Nov 6, 2017 at approximately 2:55pm, Ganadi called me and stated that our account was not going to be closed because He won't close it until I return the equipment, not just deactivated. I explained that James had canceled the account and said if anyone had any questions, they could contact him. And, I asked him how can he re-open the account if it had been closed. Ganadi said I could pay a fee of $300 immediately and he would close the account. I told him I did not have $300 to pay it immediately. He said there was nothing else he could do and that James didn't have the authority to close the account. I told Ganadi that who does or doesn't have the authority wasn't my responsibility and that it was an internal issue within his company. I, was told the account was CLOSED. I again asked to speak to a supervisor. Ganadi told me that he was the Account Manager and that I had no choice but to pay the fee. Ganadi set up the continuance of monthly payments until the $300 fee was paid off and said I had no other choice.
Nov 7, 2017 approximately 8:00am I called Life Alert to get ahold of James to advise him that Ganadi re-opened the account. Got the phone-tree and the call was disconnected. I called 3 times.
Nov 7, 2017 approximately 8:20am I called Life Alert again. This time I entered X1333 (I meant to dial 1300) and I asked for a supervisor. I was transferred and spoke to Carlos. Carlos asked why I wanted to speak to a supervisor. I explained that our account was charged a fee after I had been told it was closed. I asked who the supervisor would be and what his extension is. Carlos said James wasn't the authority and there was nothing he could do. He transferred me to Renee. I left a message explaining why I called.
Nov 7, 2017 approximately 2:21 called to speak to Renee, got Jonathan. He wanted to know why. I explained to him that my account was closed and the re-opened and I was charged a fee. He said James wasn't an authority to close the account and there was nothing he could do. I told him the Company's internal issues weren't my responsibility. Transferred me to Renee. Renee said there is nothing he can do and I would still have to pay the fee even though I was told the account was closed. Again, I stated that the Company's internal issues aren't my responsibility and I shouldn't be charged an additional fee, since I was told the account was already closed. I asked for a different supervisor. I left my contact information with Renee to give to Erica.
Nov 7, 2017 approximately 8:50 attempted to contact James again. Unable to leave message.
Nov 8, 2017 approximately 10:30am Erica called my cell. I was unable to answer due to being t work.
Nov 8, 2017 approximately 12:10pm attempted to contact James. Unable to leave message.
Nov 8, 2017 approximately 12:14pm called Life Alert again to contact James. Got Sandy and asked to speak to James. She transferred me. The phone system transferred me numerous times and Juan answered. I explained to Juan that my account had been closed and reopened and I was being charged an additional fee and how can I be held responsible for the internal issues of his company and that I have asked to speak to a supervisor multiple times. Juan said there was nothing he could do, that I would have to pay a fee even though I was told the account had already been closed, and put me on hold. Juan said he would transferred me to Junior who is a Contract Supervisor at 12:55pm. Junior asked if he could call me back so he could review the account notes.
Nov 8, 2017 approximately 1300 Junior called me back. I explained what was going on and that I was told the account was closed and then was told it wasn't closed and that I would be charged additional fees to close it. And, how can I be held responsible for internal issues with who does or doesn't have what type of authority when I have been transferred so many times and have no idea who everyone is or what departments I've been talking to. Junior said there was nothing he could do and that I would have to pay the $300 fee to close the account even though I was told it had already been closed.
I told Junior that I keep asking to speak to Supervisors so I can get this resolved and every Supervisor that I have talked to tells me that "There is nothing I can do". I told him that is ridiculous, Supervisors have the ability to make judgment calls, that's why they are Supervisors! He told me he would call me back.
Junior told me I should pay the $300 fee since my mother was getting a FREE service now for her medical alert system through the contracted company with the Agency on Aging. I advised Junior that the Agency on Aging stepped in to help with a medical alert system because my mother is disabled and on a fix income. I told Junior that we have been loyal customers for 5 years and how can they charge me a fee after I was told the account was already closed. Junior said he would call me back.
Nov 8, 2017 approximately 1328 Junior called back and said if I pay it off immediately he would only charge me a total of $200 fee instead of the $300 fee. I paid the Fee under protest.
I do not feel that I should be charged a fee after I was told our account was closed by anyone in your company who closed it regardless of their authority or non-authority. Internal company issues are not my responsibility and I shouldn't be held responsible. I called in good faith and explained what happened to try and resolve this issue.
Apparently, Life Alert doesn't care about ethics and don't stand behind their word. They are in greater need of a $200 fee than a disabled senior citizen on a fixed income.