UPDATE: After filing a lawsuit and appearing in local court, the refund was issued. The comment…read moreleft by the business owner below is a direct contradiction of the court order.
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A representative Liberty Security Services (Ryan Hoy) was introduced to us by Sutton Electric as a contractor to provide remote controlled thermostat capabilities. Although Liberty seemed only to specialize in home security, Ryan insisted that environmental control was something they did. Ryan's team installed three battery powered thermostats with Z-Wave communication controls via remote application.
The device continually displayed incorrect temperature information and was unable to remotely control any of the devices. We contacted Liberty numerous times where we were told that everything seemed to be working on their end. We continued to try and use the application to no avail. Four months later, during yet another call to Liberty, they offered to send out a technician to see what the problem was. The technician indicated that the devices were not connected to the internet during the initial install and, as such, were non-functional. As requested, we had emailed Ryan our internet credentials to connect the devices, but this was never done. The technician connected the devices. At that point, we expressed disappointment, but did not request a refund for the monitoring services for which Liberty was charging over $30/month.
Despite the devices now being functionally connected, the remote control application continued to disappoint. Inconsistent temperature reads and no ability to control remotely. In January, we came to the house and 2 of the 3 thermostats were completely off. The temperature had fallen well below what is considered a safe range for the winter season. When we called Liberty, they again indicated things were working on their end. We indicated that the device screens were black and they were non-responsive to manual control. At this, we were prompted to replace the batteries. Once replaced, the thermostats became functional again. Ryan insisted he used lithium batteries that should last years, not 4-5 months. This was not the case, as the batteries we removed were not lithium and were seemingly used since they died so quickly.
Most disturbing, Liberty - serving in the capacity of an environmental monitoring service - was not alerted to the battery failure. We then requested a refund for the prior months' services charges, which Liberty agreed to reimburse. Weeks went by and we did not receive reimbursement; however, the thermostats continued to be non-responsive in terms of remote control. At this point, we requested a full refund for the products and services from Liberty and returned the equipment. Ryan agreed the service had not been up to par and agreed to refund us the cost of the thermostats, installation and service charges. In addition, we spoke to other contractors who indicated the thermostats should not have been used with our current wiring.
Despite numerous email communications and phone calls, the refund was still not processed months later. We called our credit card company, which was able to reverse some of the charges. Liberty then indicated that the refund could not be processed due to the credit card dispute and told us to remove it. Though we did so, and continued communication with Liberty, two more months have passed. Not only have we not received a refund, but communication has become non-productive to the point we are being forced to seek legal representation to compel Liberty to refund us, as promised.
Caveat Emptor: Based on our experience, it seems Liberty Security Services functions via two guys who install equipment without discussing limitations with customers, then charge customers a monthly fee to "monitor" said equipment. They answer their cell phones and tell you everything is working fine but nothing is really being monitored. Hopefully we will be able to recoup our costs, though unfortunately it seems we will require legal assistance to do so. As such, I hope this recount of our experience serves as a warning to others before engaging in business with Liberty Security Services.
