OKLA. CITY – Lately our In Your Corner hotline’s been ringing off the hook about salesmen going door-to-door trying to convince homeowner’s to switch their alarm system.

83 year-old Christine believes her alarm company’s sign out front made her an easy target.

“He wanted to talk to me about Protection 1,” she said.

Protection 1 is her alarm company of 17 years.

The guy who randomly showed up on her doorstep the other day is a sales rep from a competing alarm company, Alder Home Security.

“He told me my equipment was old, Protection 1 equipment was old.

We get complaints like this one all of the time.

Essentially the rep from Alder was trying to take Christine’s business from Protection 1 and it worked!

They swapped out the old equipment and installed their own, convincing her to sign a second contract with Alder’s salesman.

Christine’s boyfriend, Bob, was a witness to the whole exchange.

“[The salesman] was writing it on a legal pad and I don’t know the content of it, but I seen him writing it down and he said I’ll mail this to Protection 1 to get you out of that contract,” Bob said.

Christine is a long-time member of Rancho Village Baptist Church and volunteers there several times a week in Pastor Floyd McKee’s office.

“I called both companies, Alder first,” Pastor McKee said. “They informed me it was a 5 year contract [and] we needed to contact protection one so we could cancel it.”

Nothing seemed to work though.

That’s when the In Your Corner team kicked it into high gear.

We checked.

Alder Home Security and its sales rep are licensed to be doing business in our state, but we uncovered more evidence of unsatisfied customers, including 220 complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau in the last three years alone.

A spokesperson for Alder says his rep was transparent with Christine and his company was more than willing to pony up the cash the buy out her contract with Protection 1.

Alder’s Statement: 

“Alder strives to provide exceptional service and products and makes every effort to ensure each customer is satisfied.  After reviewing Ms. Hackett’s account, it appears that our onboarding process was followed.  However, we have spoken to Ms. Hackett and have released her from her agreement with us.  We are pleased that she is happy with the resolution.”  -Adam Christian, Alder’s General Counsel

At this point though Christine wants everything to go back to how things used to be.

The great news is Alder has agreed to let her out of her contract, meaning she won’t have to pay for the same service twice each month after all!

The In Your Corner bottom line:

• Read the fine print.
• If you sign any agreement in your home you have 3 days to cancel it!
• The Oklahoma Department of Labor regulate alarm companies.
• You can verify a license for free here.