Skyline Security Management
reviews and complaints

I recently installed a Brinks Home Security system on March 6, after working with *** for over 10 years. At this point, I wanted to get a lower monthly payment so I was looking for another security company. When ***, your agent, came by my neighborhood, he made the following verbal promises, so I was willing to switch. He offered me a new panel, a security light in my front, local monitoring from a Honolulu station, and a monthly payment of $40. However, when his techie came in to do the work, I was disappointed because he just took over the old *** panel, changed the batteries in my 3 *** motion detectors, and added a door bell. But I was looking forward to the lower monthly payment so I signed the contract for the installation. However, when I asked him for a copy of the contract, he said he would send it to me from his office. I never received the original copy of my contract, just a copy of the signature pages, so I never read the fine print at that time. The following week I got ready to take my morning walk at 4:30 am but when I went out the door, suddenly a loud alarm went off reaching 3 or 4 homes in all directions from my home. The alarm was so loud and abrasive that I had to wear ear plugs for fear of getting deaf! I worried about waking my neighbors but when I called ***, I didn't receive a call back till 8 or 9 am because he turned his phone off when he slept. That alarm never stopped screaming in my neighborhood for 3 hours from 4:30 to 7:30 am! I also desperately called the Brinks national line for help but this person was useless in stopping the alarm. All she did was have me take apart the panel and disengage one of the batteries but I had no idea what I was doing and the alarm kept on pulsating throughout the neighborhood! By then I was traumatized by the whole incident. At the end of the 3 hours, I solved my own problem because I realized when I locked my door to go walking, I had set off the alarm around my neck to scare away intruders and dogs on my walk, and this alarm going off had set off my house alarm. When *** and his techie finally arrived around 9 am, the techie fixed the panel that was a mess by then and took my intruder attack alarm so I couldn't set off the Brinks system again. I still am unsure why this tiny alarm interfaced with the Brinks system to scream an alarm for 3 hours. After the poor service both locally and with the national helpline with this traumatic event, I was ready to quit your company but I was leaving March 16 for 2 months in Tennessee so I had to leave my house with the Brinks security system operating. Meanwhile away from home, I began receiving notification of my monthly payments to Brinks and you were charging me $51.05 a month, only $5 less than what I was paying ***. This whole changeover did me no good! I still paid a high monthly rate and I received no new security panel or equipment. My promises from Brinks to add a new security front light, a new panel and motion detectors were never fulfilled. So as soon as I returned to Hawaii May 20, and 14 days after my quarantine in my home, I called *** because they offered me $30 a month to return to their company. I tried several times to reach *** and left messages, but he never returned my calls. After the poor experiences I had with Brinks, the *** assistant manager was a breath of fresh air and on June 18, he changed my old panel for a new one and checked my 3 motion detectors. He told me at that time that all 3 motion detectors were not working. Two of the detectors were upside down so would not have detected anyone walking around my house and the third detector had a non-working battery so the most vulnerable room to break in had no detector working. So for the almost 3 months since the detectors had been checked by the Brinks techie, while I was on the mainland, anyone could have broken into my house and the motion detectors would not have set off any alarms. I couldn't believe what he told me and I was upset, to say the least. By the way, the *** installer told me for the first time about a $*** to $*** early cancellation fee that Brinks might charge me, and I just ignored it because I had never been told of this feature of the contract. Remember that I never received a copy of the contract I signed so I could not read the things he forgot to mention like this early cancellation fee. After I had the *** security system installed, the next day, June 19, I called Brinks to notify them of my cancellation, and I faced another problem. I waited one hour to talk to someone on the phone and then she shifted me to a supervisor when I told her what I had done and that I wanted to cancel my contract. She wanted to put me on hold again, but I refused to get off the line with her after my hour wait just to talk to a person. At this point, the supervisor I was finally connected with said I had 2 options to cancel my Brinks system contract: 1) find another person to use my contract or 2) have a Brinks person fix the problems with my system. I flatly told her I would never want anyone else to install a Brinks system after my experience with your company and I already had ***'s system installed and would never work with your company again. Then she told me that she would start my cancellation process but I would have to pay $*** for the early cancellation. At that point, I Iost it! I told her I would never pay that fee and hung up on her. Since then, I have decided to write this complaint letter and I want to forward it to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser so that seniors can be aware of the problems with security companies. Other people concerned for senior scams, including the complaintsboard.com Los Angeles, will also be notified with this letter. Please be aware that I will never recommend your company to anyone and will work to ensure that your dealings with the public are made known. I have been totally devastated by my dealings with your company. Sincerely