APX Alarm Scam?

This evening while my father in law was outside in the front yard working on deck stairs we have just installed a very clean-cut college age person came up and started a smooth talking sales pitch. He said his name was Justin and he worked for APX Alarm Security Solutions and wanted to talk with us about our alarm system. He came into the house and gave his pitch about window break and door sensors and that his system was cellular based and would work even if a burglar ‘cut’ our phone line.









It all sounded pretty good and he threw around names like “Honeywell”, ADT, Brinks, and Guardian which are other local companies who have been around Alaska for many years. He explained they had over 90% of the Anchorage residential market and could “waive” the two thousand dollar equipment fee if we placed their APX sign in our front yard (his hard part) and we could just pay the $ 49 dollar monthly monitoring fee (our easy part) for a period of three years.


I was not involved in the early discussions and got involved when Justin came inside to discuss where we would have the sensors placed and talked about the system. It all sounded great but I had several questions since I did not know we had scheduled an appointment for a security company to drop by.


I asked where there office was located in Anchorage since I am in the construction industry and had not heard of this company before. He stated that they had no Alaska office but the monitoring was in Utah. I then asked jokingly if he just “walked up” and he said yes they did door to door type sales calls and he had an installation crew close by finishing up another installation.


As I continued to ask questions Justin’s demeanor changed somewhat from the smooth talking sales pitch to a somewhat “let’s get this deal closed” attitude. As he talked to everyone I quietly went into my office and Googled the company name and was immediately has thousands of hits for scams popped up.


I politely told him I am all over the city in many different neighborhoods and could not honestly say I had ever seen any of his yard signs and we would discuss it and get back to him with our decision. He told us we had to make it tonight as he would be in Wasilla the next day. (Wasilla is about an hour away) Since we felt he had changed his tactic we declined on his system and he became somewhat belligerent wasting his time saying he would find someone else in our neighborhood that would be happy to advertise his system.


He left and I went to the internet to see what all was out there and it was about 95% negative about the contract, the system never was installed correctly and did not work or not monitored, and also the lack of service in dealing with the company in Utah.


All I can say is to be wary of those unsolicited sales pitches whether by phone or walking up to your door. If the person trying to sell you anything cannot wait a day for you to think about what you are buying or give you time to check out an unfamiliar name then you probably will be better off passing on the deal.


Ice

Comments

AK said…
I had one at my house today. He called himself Zach but didn't leave any paperwork when I asked for it. He did seem to ask too many questions about our house in Wasilla.
Icewind said…
It is a shame that people have to be on guard all the time to possibly keep from being ripped off by companies.

Ice
Anonymous said…
I just had one Trevor come to my house today. He was going to show me where they would place the door sensors, and after I let him into the arctic entry, the thought crossed my mind, "Dang - I just allowed a perfect stranger into my house - how do I know he's not here to scope things out?
MY inner alarm went off.
Also: He entered my property on foot, must have left his car down the street somewhere. Fishy.

I asked him for paperwork, business card - which he did not have.

Now I feel like calling the cops!
Anonymous said…
P.S. I am learning to be WARY when anyone uses FEAR to motivate me to do anything.
Heather said…
omg!!! i just googled this name, and just found this! i live in wasilla too and he just now, came to my door! Jacob Gregory! it's 10:30 at night!!!! my husband is in bed and he insisted on coming into my home to talk to me, and when i said no, he asked me why not! cuz i said so! funny! i asked for a business card 3 different times, he wouldn't even entertain the thought. when he left, i stood in my front window and watched him leave and he was picked up by a cadillac escalade full of...nevermind! i did tell him that my house was already wired...tomorrow when he comes, i'll be sure to have my husband let him know that someone else is coming on wednesday to install one!
Heather said…
Ok, I just called Wasilla PD. She said just as I've read. They are a ligit company, however, none of their system's work and inorder for you to get out of the contract, you have to pay way more! She said if I knew of anyone else that has been approached by APX, to please call Wasilla police, non 911 number, I called 315-3371 and pressed the number for Wasilla dispatch. They are trying to trace them and their track's incase there are any break-in's...they will be the FIRST suspect's. Anyhoo, I don't know who you are, but thought this might be helpful! I was wiered out by this guy! He too, seemed like a college grad...the kind you'd see in Girls Gone Wild, collge grad!! lol
~Heather
Anonymous said…
Hi from Houston, Tx, week of June 18,09. These people are working my neighborhood currently, as described in all of the complaints that I can find online. Buyer be ware. Don't open your door to anyone, esp. APX. They are good at conning people by name-dropping neighbors, and becoming familiar with names, to gain access to your homes. I found the phrase "get off my property or I'll call the police and don't come back" very effective in getting the guy to leave my doorstep.
Icewind said…
These people have been "working" hard here in Anchorage as I have seen their blue shirts several times now since I first wrote this post.

Funny thing though, I still haven't seen any yard signs.

Again, be aware of what or who is knocking on your door.

Ice
Anonymous said…
I had the same experience but am very happy with this company and my installation. I have been in contact several times with the monitoring company and am totally satisfied. The system works perfectly and it was a great deal. The fee paid monthy is for monitoring. My home insurance company was satisfied and I received a refund of 20% from my homeowners insurance company after installation. I am extremely happy with my experience with APX Alarm Security Solutions.
Anonymous said…
Wasilla, AK 7/01/09 "college grad" type came by named Mike at 9:30 at night off of Vine Road. Walking, he claimed APX was offering free alarm systems to select customers to buy good publicity but he didn't have very much to say about the product. Mostly questions about our house, the good spots to break in, if kids lived there, how big our dogs were, when people were home and such. He was persistent even though I asked him several times to reschedule - he said they'd be leaving Wasilla by the end of the week.

He wanted inside my home but we didn't want company at the time.

Wasilla PD says the company is licensed but he didn't have business cards(said he only worked part time) and only one set of brochures- nothing to leave us. He got a little crabby and said callbacks are a polite brush off but I won't buy anything from a walking salesman late at night - with no car.

Be careful folks, anyone can pick up brochures and get a note-binder. This could be casing homes for burglary instead of just a poor operation.
Anonymous said…
I had the same kind of thing happen to me... I called the P.D. and found that they are a good company. I guess many of the Police Officers, State Troopers, and Fire Deputies have an APX Alarm. Wasilla dispatch said APX has a great response time. Reading peoples comments had me concerned... but after more research on the system I realized most people who commented just were scared from someone walking around. Did any one who made a comment have an APX Alarm... or any Alarm?
Anonymous said…
An APX Alarm security system saved my friend, Caroline Millers life on June 28,2009. She had a heart attack, pressed the medical alert and the ambulance showed up quickly and was able to take care of her! Thank You APX Alarm! There systems work great! John, Wasilla
Icewind said…
I am happy that those who have gone with APX are getting the benefits promised.

Since I first posted I have received emails from people who have been on both sides of the issue.

Like many things, there are both good and bad in this world so caution is the best Rx when looking to buy anything.

Ice
Anonymous said…
BEWARE!!!! A 27 yr old man by the name of Luke Wren just walked right into my best friends house while she was asleep on the couch. HE tried to sell her the security system and had even placed a sign in the neighbors yard to serve as validity. He then proceeded to force himself on top of her and after she told him to get the **** away from her, he picked her up and took her to the bedroom and continued to force himself on her. Finally, she came up with an excuse to let her check her phone and convinced him that she was on call and just missed a call from the office and had to leave immediately. He did leave but asked if he could come back. THIS JUST HAPPENED....July 7th 2009 9PM!!!!!
Anonymous said…
WOW! most of you appear to be ignorant. from your comments i gather that none of you have any real experience in sales...if you do, you must not have been very successful... they are no threat, they are door to door sells man. if you are honestly that scared of a young manat your door, then get a stupid alarm and relax. My system from APX works brilliantly well. yeah, it is 49 a month, and well worth it. Scam? no, just a few ignorant people such as yourselves blowing this out of proportion. you are ridiculous.
common sense said…
Oh... and how does a car make someone more legitimate? Even a con man can drive a car.,. as for the rubbish regarding a kid forcing himself on top of a woman, I declare that that is a complete mis truth. You are all pathetic cowards, i cant believe that this bull shows up on a search engine when APX is looked up. Your claims are unfounded.
Parker said…
A while ago, a young man came to my door and said he represented APX ALARM. He talked about how if other people in the area ever wanted a security system, he wanted the buisness from them and I guess I cant fault him for that. He said that if I'd help him advertise he would make it up to me by giving me a security system. It sounded good, but i was a little sceptical. He quickly informed me that there was a catch and that i'd be responsible to have it monitored. I've owned an alarm system before so i know what is reasonable for monirtoring and i asked what the price was. He came in to discuss pricing and after i told him the things that were important to me, he said 55 per month. This price sounded reasonable for all that i was having monitored and I aggreed, but i told him i wanted to think about it and check him out first on the internet.
I found a lot of interesting things. I read both the good and the bad. I first found bad things like rip of report. This interested me so i dug deaper. I found out that APX ALARM has about 2000 sales reps in the whole country ussually during the summer. It made me mad to see that people were signing contracts and weren't told the truth by the rep. I also know that there are bad apples in every bunch. I also looked for any negativity about other companyies and it wasn't hard to find. After reading the prices that other people got from this site, I dicided i was going to call him back but ask him to lower my monthly service charge to 50 per month and see if i can get a better deal out of him. I called him back and he came and we settled upon 52 per month. I know this is about 6 or 7 dollars per month more than the cheaper companyies would charge, but I thought it was a fair price for a better company. When it comes to the protection of my home and family, I dont wanna just go with the cheapest thing in town either. So i justified the price to myself and asked some other questions just to see what he would say. I asked him about the contract. He told me that I was responsible for a 5 year term. I thought that was too long and we negotiated out a 3 year term instead as i've seen other companies do as well. They installed promptly. The tech was a clean cut kid as well. I figured they were probably mormons cause the company is from Utah.
I've had the system for a few months now and I am deffinatly satisfied. The company doesn't walk on water or anything. They just did what they said they would do. I accidently set it off the other day and within about 20 seconds, they spoke to me through the intercom. It was great to know that it worked. I know that if i wanted to cancel my system before the term is up, i would have a fee to pay. I'm okay with that. But i guess there are worse things in life. like going through another break-in in my house. I guess nothing is free in life, but i get a lot of peace of mind just from having a system in my home thats monitored. Thank you APX.
Sorry if you guys out there didn't have as honest of a rep come to your house. Just wanted to shed some light on it from a non biased standpoint.
Chomps said…
Imperial, California here:

This kid named Larry shows up out of the blue. Exact same sales speech that everyone said. Free alarm for free advertising. I told him that this sounded too good to be true, and why am I so lucky. As he waited outside, i googled APX ALARM SCAM, and i was very surprised.
BEWARE GUYS.
Anonymous said…
I JUST had one at my house fitting similar description and when I asked him to leave the material he showed me he said he could not. I am in Mobile, AL and he said he was new to the area. He also said he was out of business cards and he wrote his name (first name only - Jeremiah) and phone on a torn piece of paper. We have recently had a lot of break ins in the neighborhood which he knew about....BEWARE of these clean cut young people!! I don't care how good a company may be...a reputable company will not send salesmen out with no material to leave a potential customer and no business cards!!
Icewind said…
Thanks for everyone's responses both positive and negative as it presents all sides of this issue.

Here in Alaska it seems to be a mixed bag but the local paper Anchorage Daily News had an article on July 24 about some of the problems here with APX.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/874412.html

Cut and paste the above link in you browser if you care to read what is being said.

Thanks again everyone!

Ice
Unknown said…
An APX door to door salesman just came to me as I was watering flowers outside and gave me the whole pitch. I guess I don't trust stuff for free; and I also didn't like the fact that you have to not only make the decision right then, but also agree to the installation right then. The guy was very nice and not pushy, but I don't know enough about it all to go for it.
TC said…
I have done my research on these apx alarm. I must say there is a lot of negativity from a few bad sales reps or technicians but when you get to the nitty gritty they are very legit. They did win the JD power associates award a year ago and are preferred partners with honeywell as they state on the door step. Also everyone I have talked to seems very happy with the system. All in all they are protecting my West Virgina soil from those theives. I must say they are damn good sales men. With a really good deal compared to most companies.
Anonymous said…
As of August 7, 2009, they are in the Newton, NC area peddling their "merchandise". The young sales guy kept trying to talk even though I told him we already had a state-of-the-art alarm system which was installed while our house was being built. Once I said that, he should have thanked me for my time and left. But he just kept right on talking. So, I told him I wasn't interested in buying anything from him. That's when he said he wasn't selling anything. I asked, "then what are you doing?" And he replied that he was giving something away. That was the red flag I needed to advise him we were through talking about this and I had other things to do. Period. End of discussion.
He moved on to some other houses. This was around 8:30 PM at night. Later, I noticed he was standing on the side street beside our house in total darkness at around 10:15 PM so I kept an eye on him. Shortly after I noticed that, a Ford crew-cab dually pick-up truck stopped to pick him up. It was full of other APX "sales guys". And they wonder why people are suspicious of them and don't want to buy their products!
Anonymous said…
Oh no! A truck?! What is this world coming to?? I had one of those guys knock on my door. Same situation but at the end of the day, he got picked up in something even worse! It was an actual car!! Yeah I said it! And to make matters even worse, it was a BMW. And rumor in the neighborhood has it, that he actually owns it outright with no loan! AND THEY WONDER why no one wants to buy their products!

Look maybe I'm crazy, but when someone works hard and is succesful, they actually make a good living. Why are you critisizing him? Is it actually because of the truck that picked him up? Weird. Really weird. I'm seriously shocked.

I perchased a security system from another company about 3 years ago. It was state of the art too. I got a pretty good deal on it. I think it came to about 500 dollars or so. An apx sales rep knocked on my door the other day too. I told him I already had a security system. He just insisted that I listen to him for 2 minutes. He seemed reasonable so I did listen. He ended up upgrading my system for free. I go a new keypad, more window sensors remote controls for my system, (which are great by the way) smoke protection, and a second motion detector. All for free!!! I'm not making this up. All I had to do was switch my monitorin over to APX. I'm paying about 3 dollars more per month. But the nice thing is that we have a contract for te next 3 years or so that keeps my price from going up AND I have monitored smoke protection am a better system. I don't know too much about APX, but it's pretty nice to call the customer service number and have someone answer within 10 seconds. I love love love apx so far. It's only been a week, but the other day my son came over and wanted to test out the system. Within 15 seconds of the alarm going off, they came and spoke through the keypad to us. I was so excited that it works so well. I'm still waiting for that sales rep to grow horns and come back to charge me for all that equipment...but I have a suspision that he won't. He was great salesman. I wasn't an easy sale, but his persistance and great offer make him a great little salesperson. I wouldn't be surprised if he males a great living. And even drives nice vehicles. I work hard for my money and drive nice vehicles...so why can't they?
Anonymous said…
I am an apx employee and this site has to be one of the most mistaken i have come across. Apx Alarm is the third largest Alarm company in the U.S. It is the NUMBER 1 fastest growing alarm company in the U.S. and it is the second alarm comany to ever receive the JD Power and Associates award. Brinks, the Largest alarm company, is the other winner of the award. None of the summer sales companys give out literature or have their employees carry cards.
Anonymous said…
All BS. The company is legit, the sales reps and technicians are trained and licensed for the states they are working in. The systems work, and from my experience, their technicians usually do a better job than local companies. Sales reps and technicians caught doing anything shady are usually fired on the spot. Why not try talking to actual customers as opposed to reading blog posts from people who have nothing to do with the company.
Anonymous said…
We had one come to our door, and he wouldn't leave after being asked. We ended up calling the police! The salesman was scarier than most potential burglars! I don't know if they deliver a legit service, but their extreme sales tactics don't engender trust.
Anonymous said…
Heather no offense, but your ridiculous call 911... the PD should know who they are, since you have to be licensed to work with the company as well as in a city...plus I really don't think a company would case a place go to your door than break in. Maybe it could/has happened.

People are so desperate to be heard ha, you don't see people writing in blogs about how great it works, how it saved a life, how many people got one because who cares?, really if people want an alarm, think its a good peace of mind than they should be smart enough to read the contract.

It's so stupid how you people waste time in your life to talk about a company going around knocking on doors. I am because I work for a door to door company and enjoy reading about the problems that are going on. Yes some sales people are ignorant, lying, misleading. Those people are every where look at our economy, look at your countries leader!...if you feel some one is giving you the run around than do your job and read the contract.

The reason they push to do it that day is people are lazy as well as they invest time plus 99% of the time people just do nothing till they come back the next day and say oh yeh "no sorry we thought about" or " my spouse said no"...bull sh+t you shut the door sat down and went back to your TV...

no one is getting ripped off its a business, yea you pay it off in the monitoring sure not going to argue, but if you were toi spend $600 on equipt than $20 a month for the 39 month term you sould spend $1380...where as if you got the APX system for $39.99 it equals $1559.61 little more yes, but this is over three years, plus if you ask you will get way more up front.no one is getting ripped off its a business, yea you pay it off in the monitoring sure not going to argue, but if you were to spend $600 on equip than $20 a month for the 39 month term you should spend $1380...where as if you got the APX system for $39.99 it equals $1559.61 little more yes, but this is over three years, plus if you ask you will get way more up front.
Brad said…
I bought an APX alarm 5 years ago from a door to door salesman. The sales tacticts did seem a little pushy but it did sound like a pretty good deal to my wife and I so I bought one. I can't tell you how happy we are with APX! I am GLAD that the sales rep was pushy because we had a break in at our house and the alarm worked! The police were at our house in a couple minutes. My wife, kids, and I feel so much safer knowing that we have 24 hour protection from a totally legit company! THANK YOU APX ALARM!!!
Icewind said…
Brad,

I'm glad that everything worked out for you during your break in and hopefully the thief did not get into the house.

Ice
Salax said…
What do you want to bet all the good reviews were by APX workers? They've been around my neighborhood as well.

TSoH, Palmer AK.
Anonymous said…
I can see why people can be cautious, Door to Door companies can sometimes seem fishy. However I just purchased a system with APX a few weeks ago and it has been wonderful. It's there new touchscreen system that none one else in my neighbor hood has. A few of them after seeing the new system have decided they want one as well. I have only had it a few weeks so I can't say much about the monitoring service other than we have had no problems... just sharing my experience so far, if things change I'll make sure to leave my experience.
Steve said…
Now why would anyone pay $49 a month for monitoring when it can be had for less than $20. You can save over $30 a month. Any alarm dealer can sell the same equipment that APX does. Any dealer! The monitoring stations are doing the same thing if they are UL listed. What is worth the extra $30?

If you get a local company, you might be able to get service when you need it. But if you want to overpay a company out of Utah, go ahead.
Anonymous said…
Just had the prototypical college-grad-in-jeans salesman at my house in Wasilla today. Legitimate or not, I was suspicious because he was on foot, had his badge turned around backwards (and left it backwards after noticing that I noticed), had the clipboard, sign, etc., but no literature to leave me, and when I asked about finding out more about their service online or getting a business card, he became pissed, said, "Nevermind. I can sell these all day," and marched off.

If he's a legitimate salesman, he's a piss-poor salesman, but he flew all the social engineering flags. I could take his script, go down to Kinko's, and probably get access to a half-dozen houses a day. Not trustworthy, in my book.
Anonymous said…
I laugh at all this!! This blog seriously cracks me up. The company formerly known as APX is now known as Vivint. They have signs EVERYWHERE all over Alaska! You've got to be blind to not see them. They use to be blue & white and now they have the new Orange signs literally everywhere. They must be seriously amazing at what they do for so many of us Alaskan's to buy their product. I cannot even drive down one street between Wasilla, Eagle River & Anchorage without seeing a Vivint sign.. Maybe next time you get one of their sales reps at your door you should actually listen to what they're offering you. It might just end up saving you life one day. I love my vivint system and their servicing is done here locally and is just amazing. TWO BIG THUMBS UP!!!

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