Two-star Yelp average
- Dubious marketing claims (money-back guarantee infeasible)
- Disorganized customer support (long wait times and counterproductive service)
- Incompetent technicians (high maintenance expenses and misguided repairs)
- Outdated account management systems (require mail-in forms for account changes, including cancelation)
- Unprofessional demeanor (spelling and grammar errors in customer communications and reports of technicians invading customers’ spaces)
Reviews source: “Ackerman Security Reviews” Yelp, www.yelp.com/biz/ackerman-security-norcross. Accessed 7 Mar. 2022.
Names have been changed to protect user privacy.
Zero is my actual rating. Do not sign a contract with this dishonorable company unless you intend to keep forever or want to waste countless hours on the phone getting transferred around and told variable things each time if you rightly deserve credit or refund for anything or try to cancel service!! You’ve been warned.
I had used Ackerman for 9 years and would have continued service with them indefinitely had they done the right thing.
In late May of 2019 I had to disconnect my system because the battery seemed to be faulty and the alarm was continuously set off. After a call to Ackerman, a tech was scheduled to come out on June 11th. Tech replaced the battery and, of course, I was charged $100+ for the battery. Within 72 hours, I was having the same problem! New Battery seemed faulty. I had to disconnect my system again.
Due to extensive overseas summer travel, I wasn’t able to schedule another service call until late July. The actual scheduled date was August 1st when the tech finds that the new battery received wasn’t the problem….the control panel is bad. He states he can replace it but my system is outdated and it would be best to upgrade. I agreed and stated I would talk with my husband about specifics since we are wanting to integrate cameras into our system anyhow.
I decided it was time to do some research and see what was possible with an upgrade or new service. In the meantime, I contacted Ackerman customer service to ask for a refund for the service visit in June and the battery since I was charged but it did not resolve my problem and I haven’t been able to use my service since May. Basically got the runaround. Had to waste several more hours over multiple days of follow up calls, transfers and being told different things to include an email stating that I will receive a credit. As of October 24th I still never received the credit and discovered that they have been charging a monthly service fee all this time after request to cancel and they’ve known since August 1st my system doesn’t work.
Now, please tell me why would I sign a new 5 year contract with a company that couldn’t refund the $100 + they charged me for the service call that didn’t resolve my problem and battery I didn’t need.
Please tell me why anyone would sign a new 5 year contract with a company that would continue to charge a monthly service fee knowing my system doesn’t work.
When I called AGAIN today to get cancellation in writing, I was told I owe them $95. Seriously!! They stated some BS about how my service renews every January and they need 60 day notice of cancellation. I asked for clarification. Basically they say I needed to have given 60 days notice prior to January 2019 to not owe anything. Unbelievable! And funny since my contract expired with them long, long ago.
I don’t even care about the money anymore. I’ve wasted so much time on phone with this dishonorable company, I just want to be done with them!
DO NOT SIGN A CONTRACT WITH ACKERMAN SECURITY!!!
Response from Ackerman
Dear Mr. Josh,
We are very disappointed to hear about your experience with Ackerman Security. Normally, our protocol for bad reviews is to respond with generic corporate phrases (written by yours truly), such as: “We’re sorry to hear about your experience with Ackerman. Please contact us, so we can make it right.” However, because you went into an exorbitant level of depth, it didn’t feel right to slap that response below your review. Instead, I’ve decided to use my personal time to address some of the concerns present in your review.
First off, you claimed that we are a “dishonorable” company, because we refused to give you credit for a battery that didn’t fix your problem. Well, Mr. Josh, this is a bold claim. Sending out technicians and ordering parts costs us an arm and a leg. Do you really think we have the money to issue credit every time we make a mistake? The answer, if you were unaware, is no. Blame those horrid DIY security systems that have started to kill the professional security industry. Now, you may be thinking, “Isn’t the customer always right? Isn’t giving credit, even if we lose money, a good business practice?” Well yes, this may be true, but we already have enough satisfied customers and having 1 unhappy customer out of 25 happy is nothing to us from a business standpoint. Just look at our many glowing 5-star reviews!
Next, you continued, stating that we didn’t refund you the monthly service fee while your system was nonfunctional. Well, Mr. Josh, this is a standard practice for us. It is clearly stated on page 8, line 42 on that contract you signed with us back in 2010. You probably didn’t read it, however, most customers don’t. Interestingly, we conducted a thorough study back in 2015 to see how many customers actually read our contract (that Mr. Ackerman himself wrote many years ago!). Our results—only one of the 50 customers read all 10 pages. This customer, Mr. Bob, is a happy Ackerman customer. Your ignorance is clearly your fault, Mr. Josh. If you were Mr. Bob and having problems with your system, you would not have written a one-star review bashing us because we refused to give you credit. You would have either remembered (Mr. Bob has a good memory), or obtained a copy of the contract from your records (Mr. Bob is very organized) and reread it to find that specific statement on page 8, line 42. However, I am going to digress from this topic because you, Mr. Josh, are not clearly as intelligent and don’t follow the same etiquette as Mr. Bob.
Now, Mr. Josh, up to this point, I have been extremely hard on you. I sincerely apologize if I offended you. It’s nothing personal, I just hate this part of my job. At this point, I remembered that I am a Customer Experience Manager, and that it is my job to ensure that you are satisfied. In your review, you mentioned that you were looking to upgrade your system. You may also know that we recently became an ADT Authorized Dealer. That’s why I am excited to offer you a complimentary upgrade to our latest system, the Ackerman SafeTouch Panel 2.0 powered by ADT. The SafeTouch Panel 2.0 offers some huge benefits over your old SafePad panel. Some of these benefits include a seven-inch capacitive touchscreen (similar to your phone), support for up to seven wireless security cameras (which you expressed interest in adding), a sleek mobile app to control your system anywhere, and support for home automation devices, such as locks and lights.
These are great benefits of the SafeTouch Panel 2.0, but all of these are pretty generic and offered by many systems. Perhaps the greatest benefit, currently not offered by any other system on the market, is the protocol itself. Your old SafePad system uses older insecure wireless technology to communicate with sensors, designed to provide as little interference as possible. Your system uses the 433 MHz (megahertz) protocol, and can easily be hacked with household tools, such as a TV remote or a garage door opener. This new system, however, uses military-grade encryption on the 433,000,000 MHz protocol and is designed to provide maximum interference. This would make it impossible for any burglar to interfere with your system, making this our most secure system yet! A small subset of our customers have experienced some slight side effects, however. These include frequent migraines, permanent loss of senses (hearing, eyesight, smell, and taste), frequent illness, and even death. Not to worry, though. I have this system in my own home and can confirm that the benefits outweigh these side effects. We graciously hope that you will accept our kind offer and renew your contract with Ackerman Security. Please don’t hesitate to follow up with me; my contact information is listed on our website. We appreciate your business, and hope to continue keeping your home safe.
Sincerely,
Niles Whigby
Customer Experience Manager
Ackerman Security, Norcross, GA
Our actual technician, Luke, was amazing. He was quick, clean and very knowledgeable. The sales rep, Ben, came out & was kind but did not examine our existing equipment in detail and did not give us or the technician the correct information. As a result, we had to come out of additional money that was unexpected. Luke called Ben from our home and Ben seemed very nonchalant about his mistake. Even if a discount or some type of benefit from his miscommunication could happen, that’s fine. I would have at least to have personally heard from Ben for a full explanation of what to expect and, quote frankly, an apology.
SOLD MY HOUSE AND HAVE TO CONTINUE TO PAY FOR THIS SERVICE. So please make sure that you are not moving within the 5-year contract. Do you know what’s gonna happen in your life for the next five years?
I called, and this really nice lady was able to give a monthly discount. I’m still never getting an alarm again, but it was nice that she worked with me.
Would not recommend. We had consistent problems with our service and if you need any maintenance service things done to your alarm system I won’t be able to schedule somebody for weeks or even months to fix it. Then, when you want to cancel, they require you to MAIL in a form that they email you and there is no other option. It seems to me it’s meant to inconvenience the customer, they EMAIL a form and require us to snail mail it back and then wait 10 days for them to get it before canceling. Even though my service had issues where I stopped using it all together years ago, this purposeful inconvenience is why I’m leaving a one-star review.
My biggest complaint is the lack of knowledge of everyone who answers the phone. Even the technical support department seems to know nothing. All anyone can do is schedule a technician to come out. Half the time they don’t know anything either. I’ve wasted an incredible amount of time trying to get a properly working video doorbell. I had someone come to fix the original one, he couldn’t fix it. I had it replaced with the newest model. It’s not recording until people leave the sight line, which makes it useless for identifying who came by. And today’s technician could only suggest going and buying a Wi-Fi booster. Why couldn’t technical support tell me that on the phone? Still no guarantee that it will work.
GET A REAL TECHNICAL SUPPORT DEPARTMENT. One that can actually help people over the phone. SENDING OUT A TECHNICIAN SHOULD BE YOUR LAST OPTION, NOT FIRST. I wasted a week not to mention my day waiting just to be told to go to Walmart. That doesn’t count all the time waiting to get to this point.
Build a knowledge database and populate it with every possible issue someone might call about. Then populate each issue with everything a person could try to resolve that issue without a technician. It will save you money on sending out technicians and save your customers time waiting for a technician, and save you from getting bad reviews.
I have not had service for 6 months and am still being charged. Have had 2 service calls and neither guy was able to find the problem. The second service man said I need new equipment, but I just had equipment replaced 18 months before. At that time apparently I signed(digitally) a new contract for 5 years (until 2024) but the installer neglected to tell me that and the fine print was so tiny I did not see it. Sent in cancellation notice but am still being billed for service I am not receiving for equipment was disconnected by service man in June and is sitting on the table where he left it. Numerous calls have been unsuccessful– just told they would look into it and get back to me and that never happened. I refuse to pay the reminder of so-called “contract” of over $700. Am trying to find how to remove monthly service charge from my credit card