"Dishonesty and my very frustrating experience"...
I'll relate my experience exactly as is, and let readers judge for themselves.
My wife and I recently bought a new home. Two HomeStar employees came to my door a couple months afterward offering ADT security as a service.
I specifically told them that I never buy anything without doing significant research first, so there was no way I would accept their offer without looking into things.
As is typical of such door-to-door sales, I was told right out that they had a "limited time offer" and I had to accept on the spot or lose out. I believe their offer was to waive the installation fee, which would have otherwise been some number of hundreds of dollars. I actually now suspect I could have called them later and they'd still have waived it for me, but pushy salesmen and being put on the spot had their affect that day.
I would typically immediately say "that doesn't matter to me" and stand my ground, however, I was told specifically that "if I was not satisfied, I could cancel within the first sixth months". I honestly wish I had recorded the conversation. I said "Are you sure? No questions asked? No hassle? Any reason?" and was told that yes, I could cancel for any reason. This seemed a little too good to be true, and I repeatedly asked the salespeople, specifically, "If I want to cancel in the first six months, I can cancel with one phone call, no problem? No back-and-forth on the phone, no nothing?". The salesman confirmed and even called his boss on the spot (Michael P) to demonstrably confirm this in front of me. I very specifically, and repeatedly, confirmed this. This condition was the sole reason I said "Well, sure, why not? If I don't like the service or decide there's no value, then I have six months to research this and cancel."
So, I'm a moron, I know, but I signed the ADT contract. I should have looked at it more closely instead of trusting the HomeStar salesman/manager. I completely understand this, and understand how this is ultimately my own fault. I actually did skim through the (enormous) contract to look for information about cancellation and noted a paragraph about cancelling in the first six months under certain conditions, and assumed that a phone call to HomeStar would be all that was required, as I was told at the door.
So, here we are, three months later. I researched the need for security in my area, other security options, and reviewed my finances, and decided I didn't want the service and called ADT to cancel. I'm immediately told that I am contractually obligated to pay until June 2018 because I signed a three year contract, and that the only option to void the contract within the first six months is if the system hardware malfunctions. This is completely different that what was told to me at the door by the salesman and confirmed by Michael via phone call right in front of me.
I immediately call HomeStar and ask to speak to Michael, and tell him exactly what happened.
I specifically repeat exactly what was told to me at the door by the salesman and how I only signed up under this one condition. Michael himself did not "correct" me initially when I said I was told I could cancel within the first six months. I'm not sure that the conditions for the six month refund were even fully understood by HomeStar; after I explained myself, I was put on hold for some number of minutes while my contract was reviewed.
The conversation that followed was bizarre and extremely unsatisfactory.
* No apology or offer to do anything was made. I was repeatedly told "I don't remember the details of the conversation but we don't sell a satisfaction guarantee". Fair enough not to remember every phone call and every sale, but hey, I (the customer) remember exactly what I was told and how many times I confirmed it.
* The contract was repeatedly justified and that's it (the three year contract pays for the cost of installation, etc). I asserted that this was irrelevant since I was lied to at my door and told multiple times by multiple people that I could cancel, and you cannot simply expect me to be satisfied with a three year contract because a big corporation will lose some pennies if what I was promised at the door was honored.
* No follow up or attempt to work through the problem in any way was offered at all.
* Recommendations that even with financial hardship, it wouldn't be wise to cancel home security under any condition - very much dodging the problem at hand.
* Questioning whether or not I actually read the contract I signed. Very, very fair question. I certainly should have actually taken the time to read and triple check everything. This is a classic scenario (salesman says one thing, small print says another). Ouch.
TL;DR:
Salespeople don't fully understand what they're selling - not even the managers seem to! Be careful and fully read all contracts. Don't trust what you're told at the door, and instead trust your gut. read more
