Phonewatch Cancellation

mollybelle

I have moved my alarm monitoring to another company and phonewatch now tell me I am tied in until next February. Is this true or can I cancel without penalties. Getting different answers from both companies. New one says they can't charge me.

croo

Moved from Open Source... hope this is a better place for this question. I did consider consumer issues, please move if you think that might be more appropriate.

Colin

Paulw

mollybelle wrote: »

I have moved my alarm monitoring to another company and phonewatch now tell me I am tied in until next February. Is this true or can I cancel without penalties. Getting different answers from both companies. New one says they can't charge me.

What does your contract say? You signed a contract with Phonewatch, so I assume it's a Feb to Feb contract. Is there anything in it about cancellation?

KoolKid

Also if you got the system recently the contact may be for a few years.

mollybelle

Paulw wrote: »

What does your contract say? You signed a contract with Phonewatch, so I assume it's a Feb to Feb contract. Is there anything in it about cancellation?

I am with them about 5 years. They sent me an email in Feb, saying that the contract was being renewed for another year. apparently if I had cancelled then it would have been ok. Others are telling me that I can give them 30 days notice as it should be a monthly rolling contract. The new company I have signed up with sent them notice, signed by me which was cancelling the contract and they say I should not have to pay anything.

s8n

who are you moving to and are you changing the system ?

mollybelle

s8n wrote: »

who are you moving to and are you changing the system ?

Homesecure and the system is the same, just the monitoring has changed.

kub

mollybelle wrote: »

Homesecure and the system is the same, just the monitoring has changed.

Count yourself as one of the lucky ones, anyone with their new systems is stuck with them.

ronanl

did you get a resolution to this? phone watch are attempting to do the same thing to me?

mollybelle

ronanl wrote: »

did you get a resolution to this? phone watch are attempting to do the same thing to me?

Not yet. They said they are handing it on to their debt department. Waiting to hear from them. Everyone tells me it is a monthly rolling contract and as such I should have been able to cancel. Will post here if I hear anything else.

KoolKid

Have you their new system with the cameras?

mollybelle

KoolKid wrote: »

Have you their new system with the cameras?

No,the old system.

KoolKid

How long have you it installed?
You should be out of contact with them.

mollybelle

Apparently I got a letter from them in February saying that they were renewing the contract for another year, and I had 30 days to cancel. Don't remember getting that letter. I am with them about 4 years.

mollybelle

Apparently I got a letter from them in February saying that they were renewing the contract for another year, and I had 30 days to cancel. Don't remember getting that letter. I am with them about 4 to 5 years.

KoolKid

Can't see how an opt out only option like that would stand up to scrutiny .
Unless you enter into a new contract it should just roll with the billing cycle.
Maybe try posting in Consumer Issues they may be able to advise you better.

mollybelle

Thank you, will try that.

bumblebeemouth

mollybelle wrote: »

I have moved my alarm monitoring to another company and phonewatch now tell me I am tied in until next February. Is this true or can I cancel without penalties. Getting different answers from both companies. New one says they can't charge me.

Hi mollybelle, did you get this resolved? I tried cancelling today and got the same story that I'm stuck with them until next year!! Seems a bit unreasonable without any written or verbal consent.

mollybelle

A lady called to my house a few days ago with the same offer, she made it sound such a good deal, but I asked who would own the system after the 4 years. (would have to sign up with them for 1 year after the 3 year contract is up with Homesecure). she said I would still own it, when I asked if I could switch to another company after the year she said I would be free to do so.

During the conversation she spoke about how Homesecure changed their sim card and put their own one in to switch the monitoring, when I asked why they did not approach my neighbour who had the new system, she said it was not a sim so could not be interfered with.
I then said that obviously that means that I could not switch to another provider, she said " ah well, that is 4 years away and they will probably have cracked it by then.

I am convinced that if they put in the new system it will belong to them and if I stopped having it monitored they would take it back
(I may be wrong), but I made it up and I think if I accepted their offer and then cancelled after a year , they would be at the loss of approx. €1500. cost of monitoring for the 3 years and the cost of the system. so this just does not make any sense.

You know the saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true".

jelutong

Less than halfway through a 3 year contract with Phonewatch a lightening strike fried my control panel. I thought they would replace it foc. Not a bit of it. I had to continue paying those lovely people until my contract was up. I wouldn't buy a box of matches from that shower of bloodsuckers.

KoolKid

They would not be at a loss at all.
What they are selling the monitoring at is not what it costs them.
They will have their equipment back & they will have that money that you paid them for an installation that takes less than an hour.

bumblebeemouth

So if I was to switch from phonewatch before my rolling contract (which I apparently agreed to by doing nothing) ends, will there be any consequences?

KoolKid

There should not be. What PW system do you have?

bumblebeemouth

KoolKid wrote: »

There should not be. What PW system do you have?

Its one of the older ones, 4 buttons on top with a door/keypad underneath. I was told by Homesecure they could monitor it no problem.

KoolKid

Most companies can monitor these systems. Be careful not to get out of one awkward contract and into another.
Look for something with monthly payments and no time commitment.

Evolution1

You've a Simon Xt. You can have anyone look after that system. It can also ring your phone instead of a monitoring company

bumblebeemouth

So I cancelled my direct debit with phonewatch last month and I have just received a letter saying that they will be passing my details on to a debt collector and it may affect my credit rating. Should I be worried?

KoolKid

Did you cancel with them also?

bumblebeemouth

KoolKid wrote: »

Did you cancel with them also?

Yeah I wrote to them requesting to finish my contract a couple months back.

KoolKid

What was their reply.?

bumblebeemouth

KoolKid wrote: »

What was their reply.?

They didn't reply to the request, just received a notice saying my direct debit was no longer active and now this demand for payment up until next May.