Brinks Home Security Reviews

I have had nothing but the worst customer service since Brinks took over Moni. 30 minute wait times for customer service. They don't support the equipment they send you. I tried cancelling my account months ago. I agreed to stay when they offered to lower my monthly bill and send me two Arlo Pro cameras. They did not send Arlo Pro they sent regular cameras which apparently I have to pay Arlo to use if I want to monitor on my phone. I have now wasted 4 hours on the phone with Brinks/Arlo and Alarm.com. So of course I tell them I just want to cancel as I wanted to originally and I have to call yet another department and wait another half an hour. After 42 minutes on the phone with Arlo they tell me that since I got the cameras from Brinks it is Brinks that has to activate them and according to Brinks its is Arlo that has to activate them.

Where do I begin? Run as far away from Brinks HS as possible!!!! 1. We had an existing system that they did not check before installing the new one. They said it wasn't necessary and the day it was to be installed we were backed up several months before it was done. 2. There were 6 false alarms in two months. Our police officers were quite unhappy and rightfully so. 3. The panel would say we had a window open on the hour and the window was not open. 4. One of our windows was struggling with sensor. TWICE we adjusted it with a tech over the phone and it still didn't work. When we spoke to a supervisor they advised us to hire someone to look at the window/sensor because THEIR POLICY WAS THAT THEY COULD NOT SEND ANYONE OUT TO CHECK OUT our not open window and unarmed window. All of these points happened in 6 months time. BRINKS HOME SECURITY CUSTOMER SERVICE is ABOMINABLE! I have never seen such negligence or disregard for the concerns of customers.

They will fraudulently charge you. I would give them -10 stars The system never worked. So when I went to cancel the contract I was told to submit a letter. I did send a written letter to cancel the account. I never got any communication back, nor did I get any communication about the account's overdue status. Two years pass and I'm getting harassed by collections. I tried to call Brinks to review the account and they refused to talk to me. The collection company won't remove the charges because Brinks sent them an Excell file showing that they continued to charge my account after I had formally requested the cancelation. Now I'm forced to pay $600 because this company is nothing but a fraudulent company. Don't get involved.

If you value things like customer service, honest dealings, and good value, Brinks is not the company for you. The security company I had been using was purchased by Brinks and my service was transferred to Brinks. Brinks honored the terms of my previous agreement, charging me the same amount while waiving the several dollar add-on charge that Brinks charges to all of their customers. For about a year and a half, my bill did not change. Then it went up by a few dollars (I later looked into it and it was the no-longer-waived extra charge that Brinks adds to all bills). I was fine paying a few dollars more, but then at the beginning of the year Brinks started raising my bill more significantly. After my most recent bill, I called Brinks and after waiting on hold for 20-30 minutes, I was able to explain my circumstances and tell them that I was ready to cancel my services. The customer service representative told me she would call over to the sales people and try to arrange a better deal (with a new contract). This was fine for me and I willingly waited on hold….for an hour, before the connection was broken. I called back immediately, but was told I could not talk to the person I was speaking with if I didn’t know her extension. So I went home and ordered everything I needed from Ring to replace my Brinks services. I called Brinks a couple days later when I had time to wait on hold (for more than 80 minutes!!) and explained that I had already gotten a new monitored security system and no longer needed any services from Brinks. I specifically asked if there would be any additional charges and I was assured that there would not be. Brinks lied to me and charged my credit card $35.90 weeks after I cancelled my services. Either that employee didn’t know what he was doing and needs more training or he was dishonest and needs to be fired. Either way it was completely unacceptable. After explaining the circumstances, I requested a refund of this amount and was denied. When you call Brinks, the automated system informs you that conversations are recorded. It seems that someone could probably easily confirm that I was lied to. Or, instead of going through that effort, just give me my money back for services I cancelled and have not needed for more than a month. As far as I'm concerned, Brinks should also be reimbursing me for the hours I wasted on the phone with the company. Brinks makes it nearly impossible to cancel services easily (I gather it would have been even worse if I tried cancelling while bound to a contract). There is no reason other than shady business practices that I cannot cancel services (or at least start the process) using my online account/their website. The recent customer service I received from Brinks was atrocious. I strongly encourage anyone looking for a new monitored security system to go elsewhere (I have both monitored security and smoke alarm services with Ring, which has been working well and is significantly cheaper).

I had a security system with MONI/Brinks for 12 years. The equipment began to fail. they sent a tech out and he could not get it to work. I requested cancellation spending nearly 10 hours on the phone. Even though my contract expired in 2017 they claimed I owed 5 years (approximately $2,400) I moved my service to ADP and I am paying more but the results have been excellent. Even after refunding me for overcharging, they continued to attempt to take payments from my checking account. They sent me a "Final Invoice" for "$0" and an invitation to return. Now they have sent me to collection for $81 and have started billing me again. I attempted to explain the 45 pages of documentation regarding this issue to the collection agency telling them the debt was invalid and I was told " it is valid, pay it or we will report you to the credit bureau" It is not valid and I will not pay it. They are trying to bully me into paying as the amount really isn't wort my time but it is the legal and moral principal of the fraudulent action.

I do not recommend Brinks! They have increased their "cost recovery fee" on my account twice within the span of 3 months (11/04/2021 and again on 02/04/2022), with NO explanation or notice. When I called customer service they stated they sent out a notice each time, which I have never received, yet their customer service is unable to tell me the date the notice was sent, or whether the notice was mailed or emailed. Being in a contract with them is pointless because they can always say they didn't increase the monthly monitoring fee, yet they keep increasing the cost of the monthly bill by increasing their "cost recovery fees." Brinks does not care because the majority of their customers will just settle for paying the increase in the monthly cost recovery fees, instead of paying to get out of their contract. As soon as my contract ends, I will definitely cancel my monitoring service. I do not recommend Brinks!

This security company is only good if you never need to call in and speak with an operator. We are moving and I need to cancel my account. I've called their customer service number, at least 8 times now and stayed on hold for over an hour before the line "magically" disconnect. I'm never able to speak with anyone to begin the cancellation process. I tried to connect via text message and chat, and each time I'm referred to calling their customer service line when I explained that it's for a cancellation. So the only way to cancel is via phone and no one ever picks up. SOUNDS LIKE A SCAM TO ME... I will be reporting this business, because I am still yet to reach anyone and I am no longer living at the address that's being monitored.

I was on hold for over an hour. Once I was able to get ahold of someone I was harrassed to sign a 60 month contract for a better rate. My cancellation isn't due to the price.  She didnt like that I wanted to cancel so she hung up.  I called back, waited another hour and was told that I needed to be tranafered to another department. One more hour of being on hold and some one finally answers. Again I am harassed for 10 minutes at an attempt to persuade me to sign a contract. Finally she allows me to cancel my subscription THAT IS NOT UNDER CONTRACT.  Its really amazing what I had to do today to get someone to stop taking my money. Felt wrong and dishonest and has put a horrible taste in my mouth. She said I should be gettting an email for the cancelation but nothing yet. Hope this issue gets resolved.

Brinks Home Security is not the best when fulfilling promises in writing made with Protect America of whom I was with before they were bought out by Brinks! I was told by Protect America that my rates would never go up but was bought out by Brinks and no my rates didn't go up when Protect America was bought out by Brinks but when I was out of contract, the rates went up and I was under the understanding that since I was originally a Protect America customer when Brinks bought them out, that my rates wouldn't go up even after I was out of contract! Buyer beware! If you are looking for a good in home security, go online and research ratings for the companies before you choose your in home security company! Beware of the fine print also! Brinks has made every excuse to delay my cancelling of my service from offering me discounts, etc, which I told Eric the representative plainly, I would not have signed up for in home security with Brinks a second time on my own! My first experience with Brinks when I was out of contract in 2011 left a really bad taste in my mouth! So, any and all consumers, if you are looking for a good in home monitoring company, go on the internet and check ratings and do like I did, type in complaints against and then type in the name of the company that you are thinking about getting your in home security system with and then read the reviews before deciding on which company you choose!

Being a customer of Monitronics, which was bought out by Brinks in approximately 2018, for 14 years , I expected better service than I have been receiving, so with 12 months left in a 60 month contract, I decided to break the contract. Numerous situations had occurred that had left a bad taste in my mouth concerning equipment replacement ( I have the original Monitronics control panel which was severely outdated and Arlo wireless cameras offered in that contract extension that never worked) along with materials order that was never delivered but charged to my account led to that decision. When I called to beak the remaining contract, a customer representative argued with me about the resolution of the equipment issue and passed me to a manager. The manager was nice enough, but in the end attempted to charge me the full 12 months due to finish my contract. Only after continuous back I and forth did I get it reduced 20%, but I will warn you that Brinks is a non customer oriented conglomerate that is only interested in the bottom line and does not care about customer loyalty or longevity. Buyer beware James Tuttle Knoxville TN

I’ve been a customer since 1995 when it later merged with Monitronics. I received a notice that my system needed upgrading. I’ve tried since October to schedule a technician to fix this. Then I was told my system needed upgrading. They sent a new system to my house. For 3 months, I’ve called at least 6 times, each time being on hold for almost an hour. I am told each time I schedule an appointment that I will receive a call within 24 hours. Never get a call. So I have to call back and explain the whole situation over and over. Finally I was given an appointment date for today. Nobody ever called to confirm. So I called to double check and was told that nobody was scheduled for today. I am beyond frustrated. I don’t understand why it is so hard to get a technician to contact me or to come out to the house to install the new system I was sent. Three months of dealing with this. My next step is to go to a local company. So frustrated.

I have the oldest equipment in history, never has anyone took the initiative to see if possibly I might need an upgrade. I am trying to get someone to come out and take a look because it's buzzing. I was on the phone and transferred, hung up on then told the office was closed. This states you will be charged $29 and I am being charged $40 for no bells or whistles, I have a very basic system that isn't even working properly. I went to pay my bill and was told I owed for an old bill in July??? Why wouldn't you pay the oldest bills first and then go forward doesn't make any sense. I would definitely shop around. There website states they are open 8 to 8 central time, but that is not correct , they are open until 5 pm central time and I am on the east coast. I am going to cancel and find something that offers me some safety and peace of mind If I can get a hold of them to cancel.

I've never gotten out of my way to write a negative review about a product before, but Brinks absolutely has the worst customer support I've ever dealt with. About a month ago resetted it's passwords for some odd reason and I was unable to login, and I've had to call multiple times to deal with it but the support agents were not helpful whatsoever. Be prepared to deal with a bunch of questions to verify it's you when it's obviously you. Even after I shared a password that I ONLY KNEW, they kept on requiring me to verify additional details. Isn't it already in your software? I highly would not recommend.

I've contacted Brinks several times regarding my outstanding bill from the new installation conducted at my residence on 9/27/21. I informed BRINKS that I was not pleased with the technician sent to conduct the installation, however now after offering to write a check to pay my outstanding balance for that work, your representatives (spoken to 4 about this issue) inform me that they will withdraw the funds from my bank account through auto pay and a check is not necessary. I've been waiting two months for the withdraw to take place and each time I call, I've been given false information even up to yesterday 12/7/21 regarding when this transaction will take place. I received phone calls from you people stating that my account has been sent to collections along with late fees that were attached to my outstanding bill. I'm set up with auto pay and cannot understand the headache and harassment I'm receiving trying to get you to take my money- just unbelievable! At this point I've had enough and need to speak to management

This review would be ZERO STARS if I could! Our system was installed on 11.09.2021 the very next morning I got a alert that the front door lock jammed. When I checked the front door it was locked but the app said it was unlocked. I called support and spent almost 2 hours on the phone with a technician trouble shooting it only to be told that a technician would have to be sent to repair it. Only problem was there were no appointments available until 12/11/2021. I have spent 6 hours today on and off hold trying to resolve my door issue and trying to acquire an insurance certificate without any success. I have completely wasted my time due to lack of customer service.

Today is October 25, 2021. I am writing my complaint while I am on hold. I am using 2 phones. I was trying to make sure my account was canceled.. I was on hold 12:05 to 1:15. I talked to Sandra, she suppose to transfer me to the manager. And the second person was Daniel, he suppose to transfer me to the cancelation department, I was on hold from 1:20pm and still holding on it's now 2:40.. I can see being on hold at least 15 minutes, not hours.. I will never get this matter taken care of. Now it's 2:43 pm. Then Carlos answer 3:03, I explained to him about canceled my service, now he us transfering me to the cancellation department. I am still on hold.. I will truly cancel my service and letting my friends and family to not use brinks especially being on hold for many hours. Customer service is unacceptable. No one should be treated like this and being on hold for many many hours.. I am not very pleased with brinks. I will no longer have confidence in brinks.and now it's 3:25 pm.. I was on hold from 12:05 to 3:25 pm., I did not have this taken care.. ms Freeman

A company is only as good as its Customer Service. I consider it extremely poor customer service when you place a service call and the earliest they can get there is three weeks. I definitely rate it as piss poor service when the Tech fails to follow instructions to enter gated community and leaves claiming "we missed the appt" and reschedules us for six days later without even asking if we'll be here. It is especially terrible customer service when the client in question is recovering from a stroke while also fighting stage 4 cancer. The whole reason we gave the Technician explicit instructions on the Gate Code & how to use the Gate Intercom if he somehow couldn't make the simple 4 digit code work is because that's how a person enters. Not using either and deciding to call the cell phone of the 86 yr old disabled person as the only option is VERY POOR Customer Service. Then to make it worse I just spent almost 2 hours trying to get someone here sooner. The Brinks primary phone is an automatic 30 minute wait which in reality was over an hour before I disconnected that phone. Simultaneously I was using their TEXT SYSTEM that finally 30 plus minutes later connected with a person that accomplished nothing. Fortunately I had other phones in play & after speaking with four other people from two companies, talked to a scheduler who told me they don't have anyone in our area of 200k people until that later date. Bottom line is dealing with Brinks who places Robo Call Phone Answering above actual humans and has so few technicians in an area with combined population over 600,000 leaves me doubtful that as a SECURITY COMPANY where FAST RESPONSE IS CRITICAL they are at all up to the task.

I only clicked on one star because zero was not an option. The system malfunctions repeatedly. BEEP BEEP BEEP. Used to be that I could acknowledge the problem and the beeps would stop. No more. It eventually stops but last time it went on for close to an hour. Called technical support - waited on hold for over 30 minutes - no help at all - then put me on hold again. NEVER sign a contract with this company. Talking to customer service is like speaking to robots - completely unhelpful - just repeating whatever line the company has trained them to say. System doesn't work - tough. Driving you crazy - tough. Raise your rates or fees in violation of the contract - tough. For your sake do NOT pay these thieving scoundrels for crappy, malfunctioning equipment. Go ANYWHERE else for less than half the price, get equipment that works, and customer service that is helpful.

Brinks took over from our previous alarm company. It was cheaper than the original company, so that is a positive. However, they are deceptive about renewals. We had a fire alarm go off, which triggered a call to the police and fire departments. When they got here, they asked us to call Brinks since the alarm was still going on. My wife called Brinks to do so. Later, when we tried to cancel and move, they told us that during that call, we actually renewed our contract. When we asked for proof, they did not give any. My wife has called multiple times about this, but they keep saying they'll review the call and call her back.

I purchased security from Livewatch about 7-8 years ago. They were great! Easy to get a hold of. Professional if they had to call and let you know there was an alarm going off. Text messages would go out before they called. Since Brinks took over I have had nothing but problems: *unprofessional when calling to warn about an alarm. My back-up person didn’t even know they were an alarm company calling to tell them my alarms were going off. *extremely difficult to get a hold of anyone during an alarm going off and any other time that you need help or have questions *hours on the phone to correct a very serious alarm issue (alarm would not stop arming itself) *people you speak with are not knowledgeable about how it fix things and have to be told when to stop the police from coming (on the phone trouble shooting and they didn’t seem to understand that now they sent the police to my house) *texting choices do not answer your questions or give you help *many different numbers to call or text *no email address as a contact *hours...and I’m not kidding...hours on the phone to correct serious problems. Transferred to different people because they kept making mistakes. MANY false alarms because of THEIR mistakes *no warning that when they are asking you to open the base unit an alarm is going to explode in your ears causing severe tinnitus, no apology for it, no care that it happened, and no direction has to how to turn it off being that they base station keypad wasn’t working to begin with. I am trying to get out. I am switching to a new company.

My mother's house has been sold for 2 years and they've been automatically deducting $50 every 2 months despite the account being cancelled and without an active police permit. I was on hold for 30 minutes before being told that I would have to call back on the same number the next day because the no one was available in the accounts department and because the so-called customer service department is only an in-bound call facility, they can't forward my complaint to anyone with any authority to call me back or give me a direct number to call without waiting. Can't imagine what would happen if there was ever a real emergency if they continue to bill even absent a police permit and don't have authority to call anyone. Luckily my HOA has private security, but if ever I needed another home security company, this experience has demonstrated that Brinks would be my absolute last call.

I AM OFFICIALLY CANCELLING my services with Brinks and it has NOT been 24 hrs. I asked the service rep who's name was Tyson, if Brinks provided services that were not on a contract!!!!! I made it very clear that I was interested in not being on a contract. I had to learn through the reviews that Brinks provides something called Nest; and that is month to month. I was not offered this plan. Extremely Disappointed !!!!!! What I do not appreciate is the untruthfulness of this company. Take my credit card off of your files and please send me my CANCELLATION FORMS JUST AS QUICK as you sent the other docs to me. The customer service email does not work!!!!

Brinks is a customer service nightmare. You can ignore all the glowing reviews from those here who are happily using Brinks but haven't yet had to cancel the service. They don't yet know the brick wall they're headed toward. When the time comes for you to cancel the Brinks service (as it will for everyone), this is what you can look forward to: -- 1. First, you'll discover there is no option to cancel your service on the website or automated chat. -- 2. Next, you will see there's an option to enroll in autopay on the website, yet there is no option to turn OFF autopay on the website or chat. -- 3. Brinks will send no email notice before a payment is made—only after a payment has been processed. -- 4. The only way to cancel your service is with a phone call—prepare to wait 30-60 min for an answer. -- 5. That call then requires you to talk to their "Cancelation Department" which operates at reduced hours—call again later. -- 6. Once you get through, the "Cancelation Department" is actually a "Retention Department" so get ready for the strong sell on why you should remain a customer. -- 7. Then, you'll need to wait 2-3 days for them to send a simple email containing a "critical" document that "requires" your signature. Don't worry the sales agent will be unable to explain what's contained in the document. Note: there is a good chance you won't receive this email (as I didn't even though 4 increasingly desperate retention emails came through) which they will not resend unless you repeat steps 1-6. -- 8. Once you receive the "critical" document, it turns out to be yet another veiled retention tactic (no surprise) -- 9. Once signed and returned, it will then take 30 days to "process" said document ensuring you will pay an additional unnecessary month—with no mention of any of this in their Terms of Service. It's been 3 months, and I'm still working to get my service cancelled and funds refunded. I've seen bad customer service but Brinks is, hand down, the most predatory I've ever seen. It doesn't matter how good you are at what else you do if you can't treat your customers right when it's time to say goodbye. ---- UPDATE: Brinks replied with their stock response from "Daniela" (that I've received 4 times now) promising they'd happily reach out to resolve the issue. A week later, and still nothing.

Absolute terrible experience with customer service and Brinks. First I was originally with another monitoring company before Brinks took over. In total, Brinks had 6 years with my account. While living at my residence, other companies had approached me about new technologies (cameras, automatic door locks, web interface capabilities, etc). Never received a call about any of these upgrades while being with Brinks. Also, each year I was with Brinks, my monthly rate kept going up with no added features from the company (I only have my service monitored for $50 per month). When I recently moved from this address, I was asked to sign a docu sign agreement to get out of my contract. The contract was very vague and it stated I would be subject to cancellation fee's and additional payments to possibly cancel. When I sent an email back to have them clearly define what these possible "fees" were going to be, of course crickets. No response from Brinks. I submitted my cancellation in December. (Also, I haven't lived in that residence since October) They did not process the cancellation until January 4th. So what do I recently find out? It takes 30 days to process cancellations so because they processed on the 4th of January I owed for both January and February because the 30 day time limit is based on when Brinks processed my cancellation. Oh, an an additional kicker was they went up on the monthly for 2021. So I owe 2 months at the increased rate. When talking to customer service and asking if I could speak to a supervisor (I had already went through customer service on my prior calls in December and January with no resolution), the rep told me that there was no supervisor on hand. I had to demand that a supervisor (when available) call me back which I seriously doubt will happen. I find it truly amazing that companies like this that can't act professional from beginning to end wonder why they can't retain customers. I have taken surveys for them so they can improve their company but it really doesn't matter if they don't do anything with the information. The one good thing about the internet these days is that it allows a platform for customers to relay their experiences both good and bad so consumers can make an informed decision. I also happen to give great reviews when I feel like companies go beyond to make their customers happy. I truly appreciate when people take the time to communicate their experiences so consumers can make the best choices to the companies that offer their services out there. Its not hard Brinks. The more positive reviews you receive the better your products and service sells. It only takes the company to realize that if you treat your customers well all the time and not some of the time, then people will be highly respective of your company. Update- 2/11 - was contacted by Brinks immediately from CS to contact them regarding not finding my information. I sent email that same day with all my contact info for the address in my posting. No return to email. Sent a follow up about asking for an update on my issue. No response again. Just making everyone aware that the response to my post was immediate to reach out and help me but no further action was taken after that. Just a response so the viewers could see they responded to my post quickly but did nothing to follow up and resolve this issue for me. Don't be fooled!