Happening again with us, no response from company on any issues with our system. Keep sending bills without any service. For any questions they close their ears. Their reception never picks phone or responds for queries. It's suppose to be a monitoring service and they don't monitor stay clueless about their job. read more

The final piece of the moving puzzle: Security! Massive thanks to Bill at Sentry for helping us get settled in our new branch so quickly. The whole team was elite: Dre (sales) was so patient with my million questions during the estimating and quote, Misty handled the scheduling like a pro, and Drew did a phenomenal job installing the cameras. I feel so much better knowing this team has our back! read more

1. Sentry Alarm system took over my office building monitoring service by the end of 2024. 2. I decided to cancel it due to Sentry's horrible online reviews. 3. I called them and Sentry seems okay to proceed by saying that I should receive email for cancellation. 4. 1/7/2025, I replied Sentry's email by please cancel it. 5. 1/9/2025, I received another email requesting another reconfirmation for cancellation and sign a release which has a "HIDDEN Fee" never mentioned before. 6. They just want your money. If Sentry provide good services, they won't have 2.3 (41 reviews) with Yelp, right? read more

The only reason I gave one star is because 0 stars is not an option. This company is slow to respond and slow to keep up with technology. They installed a burglar and fire alarm system in my home 10 years ago. The sensors now need to be changed and they are unable to do so because they lack the expertise. Three service calls resulted in no solution. Another company replaced the sensors quickly and is now monitoring the system. Despite admitting that they can no longer maintain the system they insist on charging me for a service that they are not providing until the contract expires in a few months. That is fundamentally unfair and unreasonable. read more

August is wonderful to deal with here. After a few calls to get the right person, he came out same day and what a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I have to update this review. I wish I would've read the other reviews before hiring this company. The sales people, lure with kindness and then after they get your money, they don't do anything. I was upsold quite a bit of things and after talking to my homeowners insurance I was sold products that I didn't even need to keep my homeowners insurance intact. Now I'm having to go and change more of my insurance needs. I have reached out to Sentry Alarm multiple times to get help and they don't want to help with anything. They've already sent me a bill for monitoring a system that isn't even monitored yet! Unbelievable, and run don't walk away from this company. read more

Good company Never a problem We have been satisfied with their service and especially like the wireless sensors for out shed. read more

They were supposed to install a cellular device on July 1st. I got constant lies from the sales lady about the installation. After 5 months I finally received a full refund after threatening to take them to court. This was in the Portland metro area. read more

A sentry company sign should be a welcome message to criminals, our systems were purchased from another security company and Sentry said they all worked properly, they did not, we had several break ins and onerous contract and after egregiously failing to provide minimal service, we cancelled and they still came after us. I HIGHLY DONT RECOMMEND THIS SERVICE, RIng is a fraction of the price and 100% better read more

Worst experience in installation and services. Overcharging double for installation and continuing to charge after services were discontinued several months ago. As if they do not understand what the word "cancel" means. Avoid this company at all costs to save yourselves on a major headache. read more

terrible, unreliable service.......lock you into a 5 year agreement you re stuck with because their service is so bad....zero value for the cost read more

I would like to recommend Chris Hill and his team at Sentry Alarm. They have been outstanding - so helpful and accommodating! We upgraded our alarm system and had problems with the first keypad that was installed (no fault of Sentry; we do not recommend the touch screen display). We ended up swapping it out for a button key pad. Throughout the whole ordeal, the two techs Drew and Roberto were very responsive and worked until it was up and working perfectly. Amy was also very helpful when we needed to contact the office and schedule appointments. read more

Service is absolutely terrible, with month-long wait times for service and base incompetence when they actually arrive. I contacted them to switch my security camera system over to a new wifi network at the end of October. They sent a tech out that couldn't fix it, rescheduled another appointment for a month later, then sent the same guy out who still couldn't fix it. Cameras still don't work and we're looking at mid-December to get a third appointment to try and fix a very basic issue. Remarkably poor service, one of the worst vendors I've had the displeasure of working with in more than a decade of property management. read more

Excellent customer service, even if I do say so myself. I can guarantee you, that their Fire Sprinkler department is going to offer competitive rates, then go above and beyond once the job is started. I hope your experience is as delightful as mine. read more

I always wonder how companies like to stay in business. Hopefully more people will read the reviews and reach out to the others here. This company is known for installing equipment that does not work or never installing the equipment and billing you. Many phone calls to the company and refunds are never given. They fall back on their bogus contracts and fraudulent sales. Absolute worst people and company. Class action lawsuit is for sure to happen with Sentry alarm in Monterey. read more

After being a customer for 8 years, I switched alarm companies because of the incompetent customer service and poor quality system installed. They are the least expensive providers for a reason - the cheap man pays the most! Strongly recommend seeking other options if you're in the market for an alarm system. read more

Sentry Alarms, 100% recommend by a former tech. Was a great experience to be part of Sentry Alarm. Great and friendly Costumer Service Thanks Hill's Family and all office staff, Field professional technicians on each Branch: Monterey, Oakland, Sacramento, Sonora and many more. Thanks Dan Sol. read more

I had a terrible experience with Sentry alarm and Bill Hill ,he plays the religious game then he screws you hard I've seen it more than once ,he is full of crap. he sent over his installer and he tried to charge me $1600 to put the system in and installers. It would take about an hour , then he tried to put cheaper alarm. System in different sensors. (Cheap shit)bait and switch. Typical thief stay away. We went to Allsafe, and they seem to be honest and trustworthy. I am tired of everybody screwing everybody just like our government. There is the big problem starts at the top here we go. read more

Worse customer service ... I have been their client few years but only bothered with something now to extend my warehouse, and they are not responding to my emails or voicemails... How can this company respond to theft? Runaway... read more

COMPLETE RIP OFF: i'm going to elaborate later, but anyone considering this company RUN FAR AND FAST. They charge 4x what their service costs and they try to lock you in for 5 years. Get a Nest or a Ring or a Lorex and save yourself literal thousands of dollars. A simple 5-year contract for 4 cameras and a DVR is TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. read more

The person coming to fix our alarm system couldn't find the front door and left. I'm sorry, but, how can that person be trusted with our complicated alarm system. So disappointed. read more

FIRST, they don't return emails/phone calls promptly. They suck at customer service. SECOND, they don't reward long-term loyalty. FINALLY, in fact, they take advantage of it and pretty much push you out the door. As a 27-year customer, I asked to cancel service. Rather than just charge me a disconnect fee (which I asked for)... they also said that I owed through March and it was in a contract that I signed in 1992? Unbelievable. I did not read that in the fine print on the form. The rep said she ran my request by "management." That said, I would not ever recommend them. read more

Worst experience in installation and services.overcharging and continuing to charge after services were discontinued.Avoid this company at all costs . read more

They'll lie instead of protect you, they'll damage your property instead of protecting it, and if you ask them about it they'll attack you with absurd logic. Don't expect them to understand the new technology they deploy - it seems it's mostly just for looks. One of their drivers got so angry at one point he revved his engine really loud, took off, and scraped the side of my car! Of course they totally refused to pay for it. Avoid this company! read more

This service bought our contract/system from our provider in Morgan Hill who sold his business. (TruLink which was great). From day one we were over-billed, poor service & unacceptable customer service. One evening, we had an activation (our fault) and we waited for the monitoring center to call...never heard from them. We called & they indicated there had been no activation received. Fast forward a couple of months to 3:00am...same thing. NO call to the PD from the monitoring center, no call to check on us... Call to Sentry was hey, It's your problem!! No help, no information...no bueno!!! Now with ADT...1st activation got a prompt & courteous call form the monitoring center... Don't trust this service with your security...there isn't any!!! read more

I got Sentry Alarm right after my house was broken into in Salinas. I immediately called them. Their territory representative came to my house and I signed for the service then and there. 1 1/2 goes by and I found myself in a position where I needed to sell my home. At this point I contacted Sentry Alarm and they notified me that I had signed a 5 year contract. There were several conversations that I wont go into detail with but ultimately their initial response was if I wanted to terminate the contract I had to pay the full amount (roughly $ 1,400). I was completely shocked that I had signed a 5 year agreement. The sales representative never told me that my agreement was contractual for 5 years. I had signed the contract on the spot and relied on good faith. I even paid over $ 1,000 for the alarm system so its not like they gave me a discount for the equipment. To make a long story short the owner gave me 3 options. 1. I could pay half the 5 year bill ($ 750) 2. I could roll over the account to my new residence 3. Make it a contingency for the new homeowner to have to take over my contract If you are thinking of using Sentry Alarm I would highly discourage you. The tactics they used during my dealings was just shy of used car salesman tricks. If you do sign with them make sure you refuse a 5 year agreement. I think anything over a 1 year agreement (if you pay for all the initial fees of equipment and installation) deplorable. Shame on them. read more

I've been communicating with the Service Dept regarding a couple of sensors that would not reset on the keypad. The Service Dept Reps tried to reset over the phone, however, after a few attempts, the decision was to have a technician look at the sensors. On June 3, a technician named Jerry, came about 10:30 am (our time window was 10:00am-12:00pm). Jerry was very friendly and very knowledgeable. He resolved both sensor problems and showed us why and how he fixed it. He also checked our Control Panel battery and found that it was a rechargeable type which is rarely seen so he said we have a good one! He also showed us a few options on the keypad when we set the alarm at night or leaving the home which was helpful. After he left, we felt more knowkedgeable about the alarm system and definitely more confident. Jerry made us feel like a real valued customer!!! Also, we experienced the same kind of courteous service for the Service Dept when calling in. read more

Great service provider! Even their COO gets involved to solve their customer's issue! Very appreciate that! And wish there would be more companies and COOs like that! read more

Following a scary prowler incident a couple of months ago, I had a security alarm system with video cameras installed by Sentry in my Santa Cruz home. The guys who did the installation (Robert, Esteban and Gabriel) showed up on time, worked efficiently, did a great job and patiently explained (and re-explained... ) how to work everything. I would definitely recommend these guys! read more

We recently updated our alarm system. The service was excellent. We live in the Sacramento area and the technician who came to our house, Ryan, was knowledgeable, friendly, and explained everything to us. I highly recommend Sentry and Ryan. read more

We inherited Sentry after our previous security system company was acquired by Sentry. Totally the worst ever, and not knowledgeable. Our new security company discovered that we had motion detectors disconnected, sprinkler system had been disconnected, some door contacts not working. Inept, totally horrible service. Never experienced service like this! read more

Watch out! Very expensive equipment and outrageous service calls. Just try to get a refund for canceling monitoring service. More than three weeks and a ton of phone calls for $30. Needed four approvals to finally send a check. No wonder their BBB rating is D- read more

We awoke this morning to the beeping of a smoke alarm battery. The alarm is high on the wall of a stairwell. Of course, today we are expecting a houseful of company for the weekend! When I called for service at 8:30 I was told that they were booked until next week. But, Brian in the service department went out of his way to rearrange the schedule and got three talented technicians to our house at 11:00. They replaced the noisy battery and then two others that are on high walls since they had the ladder in the house. What service! We have used Sentry Alarm to monitor our alarm system for the last 15 years. I highly recommend the company. read more

I've been a customer with Sentry Alarm Systems for over 6 years. In that time, I've found their customer service and technical competency to be highly unreliable. Regarding their monitoring service, it is hit-and-miss, as has been noted by others. Sometimes, when the alarm is accidentally tripped by one of our family (as is fortunately the case 99.9% of the time for most of us) they'll call you within 10 minutes; other times up to 10 hours later or not at all. Over the years, I'd give them at best a 60% rating for timely responsiveness. Ask yourself, do you want to entrust the security of your home and your family to a company with a 60% average of times they respond? My experience has been that their front-line customer service reps have very little training in the way of resolving technical issues. After years of unsatisfactory service, I had a frank talk with Sentry representatives, who assured me that things would improve. When I wanted to upgrade to a cellular connection earlier this year, after years of being a loyal customer, the Sentry salesperson I worked with initially stated that he would be taking care of everything, including the installation, as he had previously been a senior technician. When he came out again, it was only to have me sign an acknowledgement and disavowed his earlier commitment. Despite my clearly expressing that I would be cancelling my service if I didn't experience much more professionalism, six months later their monitoring call-back average had improved only slightly. So, what would I say about Sentry Alarm Systems? Like most companies, I believe that there are employees who are sincerely trying to do their best for their customers. But my experience tells me that the owners and management see residential security as a volume business, where the emphasis is on getting more customers who become locked into long-term contracts for expensive security bundles and options. What they clearly do not seem to focus on is a strategy of increasing market penetration by being the most trustworthy; what they don't seems to care about is retaining customer loyalty through providing the best service at a reasonable price. read more

Tom Molinari is a great employee who treats his customers with care and a true desire to make sure their alarm is working properly to provide peace of mind. His expertise and knowledge ,along with making sure his customers are taken care of, is one of the main reasons we will stay with Sentry. Thank you Tom for great service today. read more

I had service from Mountain Alarm in Sonora before they sold the business to Sentry. When I sold my house I called to disconnect the service. The next day they charged me three months fee. I called to request a refund and they said it would come in 2-3 weeks. After 2 months I called again and was told the check was waiting for CFO's signature. After 3 months I called again and was told they will not be refunding my money. read more

If you are looking for a burglar and or fire alarm service, keep looking. It's no wonder they have as few stars as they do. Their customer service is horrible, that is the only word I can use to describe it accurately. It would be better if you got India when you call them instead of the condescending people who answer the phone a grill you with 20 questions before they transfer you to the department you've ask to talk to. If for some reason you do decide to do business with them, they make you sign a contract (read other reviews with out explaining the details or 5 year commitment, and then guess what, it automatically renews, so you can never get out of it without the blessing of the "owners" who of course you can never get transferred to. Heads up Sentry, it's not just about the best pricing, it's who can provide the product and service that is at least expected, if not a bit surprising better than what's expected. read more

I purchased a home in Monterey, and decided to have Sentry Alarm monitor my home since I know the owners (The Hills.) I've met and spoke with Mr. Hill on a number of occasions (if he remembers me or not) and he seemed like a very genuine straight shooter. My problem arose from the contracts they have their sales representatives write. The representative that came out quoted me a cheaper leased equipment install on my new home with a 3 year contract. He said I could buy the equipment up front, and that would drop me down to a 2 year contract. I in good faith paid a huge sum of money for the "used" equipment to have a 2 year service contract. After the 2 years of service, I was unaware that my contract would renew for another 2 years (my mistake for not reading fine print!) My service gets stopped since I stopped paying since I only wanted 2 years, and I get sent to collections for the balance of another 2 years. Then I have the attorneys the Hills hire knocking on my door asking for their money for the services I did not receive. I can't imagine an alarm company threatening to sieze my assets so they can pay themselves for alarm services I did not receive after I paid a lump sum for the equipment. I had called sentry to ask about this. I spoke to Laura Pryor and I asked for my service contract to be sent to me so I could review it vs my copy. I received no call back, no email, and no contact whatsoever. I called again and they said a representative would be returning my call. It took almost a week for them to get back to me. I guess when it comes to a new install, they can have someone on the phone right away! This isn't so when you have a problem. All in all, I understand that the contract automatically renews for 2 or 3 years which is very unethical. I just paid a huge bill for the services that were not rendered, but I would stay away from this company. I bought my home with good faith that sentry would protect it, my wife, and baby daughter. In the end they would rather make an extra buck and live in a nice big home than take care of their customers. If there was a rating lower than 1, the Hills as the owners of Sentry Alarm deserve it. BTW, Chris Hill will respond to every Yelp review with the same politically correct answer and do nothing. I didn't think Bill raised his son to be just as unethical. WoW!! read more

I had a system installed by a private contractor when I purchased my home 25 years ago and paid for the monitoring separately. Sentry purchased my previous monitoring company many years ago and until recently I was satisfied with their monitoring. If I needed some hardware adjustment, I contacted an independent contractor with experience. Recently, I decided to offer Sentry the business since they were after all monitoring my home and the previous contractor retired. Bad mistake. After requesting two smoke detectors be added to the current system, Steve Hahn contacted me and claimed I had to have an independent fire alarm system and my current system wouldn't do. Said I needed to get a city permit, etc., and he would not authorize adding them until I did or until I got the Fire Department to say otherwise. After much time spent doing so, I did get the Fire Department to give me an email to forward to Steve Hahn that this was not necessary. His next response was to try to upsell me a wifi smoke detector that would supposedly be read by my non-wifi enabled alarm system at a tremendous price and the fantastic deal of a 3-year contract at far more than I am paying now. I admit that I am spoiled because I have no contract with them and pay a low price per year. I have decided that this company is trying to do business by dishonest means and I intend to contact the Better Business Bureau about their practices. I believe that the folks in charge of the monitoring and the technicians are honest people, but the sales staff and S. Hahn are not doing the company any favors. I've also been in touch with another monitoring company. While more expensive than what I am paying now and requiring a two-year contract, I am seriously considering the switch. I don't care to do business with dishonest people. read more

Called four time never to get what i needed , said they would email the battery style . never received it . Absolute terrible service. Cannot get through to anyone. When you leave a message they don't get back to you. finally had to take the box apart my self. to get the battery style. what do they do for $35 a month. nothing. Gordon M read more

This is a 5 year review. Where to start..... I'm very familiar with security alarms and have had multiple companies for over 25 years. That being said, they've been all great except this one. I moved to the Monterey area and was going to use ADT but I felt like I should give back to the community and use a "family" owned business to support the community. Bill was the guy who came to my house. Very nice, great salesman!! Suckered me. Told me my house is old (which it is) and quoted me over $4100 for install. This is on a house!! Does it really matter if its old?!? I went with it because he had a great pitch (was a police officer, had great stories). He made promises about his equipment. Said that I could upgrade to the "special" motion sensors that would allow my kids run around with motion sensors on. My wife and I fell for it!! When his installers came they had no idea what I was talking about. So they set it up, and of course in the middle of the night my 4 year old gets up in the middle of the night and the alarm goes off (horrible night, my son couldn't sleep in his bed for a week). Those sensors go off with humans because of the height, not the weight (hence why dogs have a weight limit on motion sensors to go off). The owner of the business who does the sales does not know his own equipment. He thought if it could work for big dogs, why not kids!!! I had to figure that on my own. They came and made "adjustments" but it never worked. So we dropped the motion sensor deal while we were at home and just used the motion sensors while we were away. I always test my alarms intermittently to make sure they work. 3 months after install, I was able to walk around my house no problem and the sensors would not detect me. I called them and they told me it would be a service charge to come over. I told them its been less than 3 months and I paid $4100. I had issues that first year in which they had to come 3 times to make adjustments (not to mention the number of calls in which we tried to fix it over the phone). Every time they tried to charge me $80 some dollars for service charge and I told them I want to talk to a manager and they then dropped it. I signed a 5 year contract so I had to stick with it. In the 2nd year of my contract, there was a time in which the motherboard made a loud beep every minute at 1am. woke up our whole house. They had no idea what to do over the phone. The on call service man was unreachable. They even called the owner that night (from what their operator told me). My whole house is awake. They then got a hold of the service man (around 45 minutes later), but he couldn't get a service man to me for 90 minutes. And of course its a SERVICE charge to come in the middle of the night!!! Well I broke out the manual and was able to disable the alarm. This was all a 2 hour debacle. All they had to do was do an "update" on their end and fix it the next morning. I'm on autopay with my credit card annually. My credit card expired (which is normal on every credit card!!!) and they notified me. Which is great and I gave them my updated credit card. But they wanted to charge me for a declined credit card transaction!!!! I had to take to the manager to drop it! I told them its not a bounced check!!! I told them ALL credit cards have an expiration date and all customers who have autopay will have this issue. I have a ton of autopay services and when a credit card expires, they call or email me and we change it. They said they understand, but its their policy. So my advice is to NOT enroll in their autopay. Just get the bill annually. Honestly I have never written a 1 star in my life for anything. But this deserves it. The company I work for has some of the same issues. I used to get a call everytime power went out in my house, now it is really hit or miss. I have had times when the alarm has gone off by accident, and they don't call. But there are times when they do call!! Its just a hit or miss, and hopefully its a hit if it is a true break in (or fire!!!). The best protection is the loud alarm that goes off and wakes up the neighborhood, which any alarm will do. But to pay $4100 for the equipment and then have the most expensive annual service for is ridiculous. My 5 years is almost up........... read more