The Monitoring Center

After recently moving into our new home and seeing the "Home Monitoring" stickers in the windows, we decided to give them a call. From their call center, to their technicians, to their follow up call personnel, everyone was a pleasure to deal with.

Our initial phone call answered the questions we had, so we went and booked the technician's visit. He arrived on time, was polite and extremely helpful. He tested the system and gave us instructions on how to use it. We were "live" in no time!

I would recommend these guys to all my friends and family. A+

Our alarm went off twice in a week - they didn't bother to call and follow up. We called to complain - they were rude and unprofessional. Absolutely horrible services!!

I switched to The Monitoring Center after my 5-year contract with another home security provider ended. Driving through my community, I noticed that many of my neighbors had The Monitoring Center signs displayed in front of their homes. I contacted The Monitoring Center. The sales representative was knowledgeable, professional and very helpful. She made me feel valued as a potential customer. She answered all of my questions and even called me back to make certain that I understood the process of how to switch my service. She scheduled an appointment and the technician came to my home. He was prompt, courteous, professional and very knowledgeable. He tested the system and all went well. During the test, the alarm sounded and I immediately received a call from The Monitoring Center. The approximate cost includes installation and monitoring service. My experience with The Monitoring Center has been a very positive one!

All around 5-Star service. Prior to ordering all questions were answered. Ordering process was smooth as well as the scheduling. They do schedule you out at least a week or two so keep that in mind. Install Tech was highly professional, did a great job as well as answered all the questions. The only negative I have if any is the pricing on their alarm system seemed a little bit high. The initial system is priced properly, however if you start adding up Contacts / Motion sensors, the price jumps up very quickly. Compared to their competitors, I could have paid the same price and got 2 years of service and an additional 5 contacts than what I have now with a 2 year contract. Other than that, monitoring so far has been great on all the tests performed. They call you immediately (within a minute mostly) if the alarm is tripped and within 5 minutes if the alarm is tripped and cancelled locally as that decreases the priority of the alarm as I have been told. Overall satisfied with everything except for the price of the system.

The experience with scheduling was horrible. I called in late November to get an appointment and there were availabilities for the first week of December. Two days later and I am pushed out to December 23rd. This date was a gamble and I was put on the waiting list.

So for the discounted price, I am now waiting two freakin months! And now I'll be sitting around on my birthday for the site visit.

Wow ... this is AMAZING service. NOT!

I want to clarify that there is no existing provider so there is NO CANCELLATION THAT I AM WAITING FOR!!!

January 12, 2015 Update

After the incident, I called Ascanio (the nice guy who sold the alarm system) and after hearing the story, he emailed Mirella and suggested that I should contact her directly. I decided to hold up my complaint to the BBB until I had a chance to discuss with Mirella.

She been kind to follow up with me very quickly on the issues of the staff’s tone and threaths and the communication/control unit bypass.

Mirella assured me that the unprofessional tone was an isolated occurrence; she referred the matter of the control unit by-pass to another staff who is working on it.

Mirella graciously offered me 2 months free monitoring services (thank you) and a two year prepaid contract calculated at $9.99 per month (thank you also). I accepted the offer and renewed with TMC.

I visited TMC's website and explored every single link and I have yet to find where the increase to $12.99 is mentioned. I tried calculating the savings (the big green button on about every pages) and could not reconcile the savings. Maybe the website is in need of an update!

Speaking of update, I am revising my rating as a result of TMC’s goodwill to 8.
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I had a monitoring system installed in 2009 after a break-in. All went well except for the communication unit that broke a couple of time. It was blamed on the Bell wiring! That second time the system failed, the technician indicated that he will temporarily bypass some features of the communication unit to allow the system to call the centre if the alarm is set off. The draw back was that an incoming call could not be disconnected if the system was attempting to reach the centre. I was told to have Bell check all its wiring and TMC would replace the IC in the communication unit. I'm still waiting for it! Last year and maybe the year before, the monthly rate was increased to 12.99 without warning or explanations whatsoever. This Saturday, someone called me to ask for a credit card number given that my card was renewed since the last automatic charge a year ago. I told the lady that I was planning onchanging monitoring because TMC increased the monthly rate without prior notice. This is when the lady waved a "contract" argument (this is a poor business approach to keep clients btw) that after 3 years there is a rate increase. The salesperson -- a nice guy -- certainly did not highlight that contract clause when selling the services, and who keeps reading a contract that was done 5 years ago!!!! Even TMC website leads you to believe that the monthly rate is 9.99 all the time. On its "Buyer Beware" page, TMC writes in bold red letters: With TMC your alarm monitoring cost is ONLY $9.99 per month!! So much for buyer beware.
I hung up on the lady after her contract argument and her indication that I only had 9 days to inform in writing TMC of my cancellation (a verbal contract is a contract... this being said I can expect a number of legalese arguments that TMC could include in its reply... if it does! I'm well "trained" by mychildhood friend who is a contract lawyer!). Anyhow, the lady called back and left a message about sending my file to a credit bureau and a collection agency if I did not cancel by December 15. So much for trying to keep the business!
I don't take threats and I'm not making any! But I'm certainly filing a complaint with the BBB about TMC's representations on its website that leads one to believe that the monthly rate will remain unchanged!
Mind you, I'm not dissatisfied with the monitoring service itself. I'm with the unprofessional business tone,representations or promises! A good friend of mine recommended this company at the time! It's now my turn to make a recommendation to him at this time.

I've used this service for 18 months now. (first year paid for with 6 months free service)
I don't usually leave reviews unless its either really good or really bad--and TMC has been exceptional. Their service works well and the staff calls within a minute when alarm is triggered. I only wish they offer promotions for customers resigning. My contract will expire soon and it seems as though I wouldn't recieve the same offer as before. I have recommended TMC to two family members over the years.

Most unreliable service. Uneducated tech support run around. Unprofessional people. Will never work with there customers. Will put blame on your home phone company as no idea what to do. I am using my screw driver and messing around with wires. Please DONT USE THE MONITORING CENTRE WASTE OF MONEY

My elderly mother needed to push her button one evening, and the Monitoring Centre was perfect. Paramedics were at the door just as the neighbour arrived from 4 doors down. Excellent service.

I have been a customer of TMC for over 4 years. I couldn't be happier with my alarm system. It is very affordable and I have been singing their praise every since I got started. I don't have to think about my alarm system. I feel safe that they are always watching over me. I have been spreading the word that my friends in other states are envious. I want this company to be world wide. They truly desire it. Spread the word.