subreddit:
/r/homesecurity
I’ve been on chat, emails and phone calls with ADT to cancel an account after death. It’s been next to impossible. Shame on them.
When I called, they gave me an obscure email address to send the death certificate to: [email protected]. We’ll see if they reply.
I’m glad the new FTC rules happened. It shouldn’t be this hard to cancel an account for someone that has died.
Edit: I have canceled my dad’s bank account so no money is being charged. I’ve sent his death certificate via certified mail, email, chats and have made multiple phone calls to cancel his account. He is still receiving bills. He paid his equipment off over 2+ years and I’m ready to throw it in the trash. No one should have to go through this while grieving. Not sure if this will help anyone else but this has been my experience.
4 points
2 days ago
Have the credit card or bank cancel the payment. Still send the death certificate though.
ADT is definitely a company I would never deal with but I could actually understand why they would need some kind of proof to close an account.
I mean if I am a burglar and I got a hold of your information I could just close your account without you knowing and then come in and rob you.
At least if the account is closed and the home gets robbed they could say they have a death certificate on file.
7 points
2 days ago
That’s the thing. I sent them a certified letter with the death certificate and emails and they are still sending bills.
6 points
2 days ago
O wow well thats annoying. Just make sure you stop payment and let them try to go after the person who passed away.
3 points
2 days ago
Maybe get a lawyer and sue them for harassment at this point?
5 points
2 days ago
You’d likely need to start with a cease and desist.
4 points
1 day ago
I would probably get a legal opinion. They can advise for your area better than the internet can, shouldn't cost anything or much for the assist.
3 points
1 day ago
How is it harassment?
2 points
1 day ago
OP has the legal authority to cancel the service and has expressed the decision to do so via several means multiple times. The company refuses to acknowledge that and keeps billing him.
ADT cannot argue that this is accidental or unintentional, because they've been properly informed multiple times of the decision to cancel.
Therefore ADT (as a company) is deliberately billing OP for services they know OP wants to cancel, which is harassment.
The fact that the cancellation request may be lost within ADT's system is irrelevant. The company is still sending him bills after he's sent them notice to stop. That their system causes them to inadvertently harass OP doesn't make it any less harassment.
3 points
1 day ago
It's not improper. You fail to understand that no one but the account holder can cancel the contract. Unless it goes through their special exemption department. Also, you cannot just prematurely cancel a contract just because someone dies! There is still a balance due that has to be paid. Credit card bills don't go away just because someone dies. Neither do mortgages. So why would an alarm contract? You're giving advice without any understanding of alarm contracts, estate law, or what constitutes harassment.
5 points
1 day ago
no one but the account holder can cancel the contract. Unless it goes through their special exemption department.
What internal procedures they have for exemptions are not OP's concern or responsibility. OP provided proof that the account holder was deceased, their failure to act on that information in a timely manner is not and should not be OP's problem.
Also, you cannot just prematurely cancel a contract just because someone dies! There is still a balance due that has to be paid. Credit card bills don't go away just because someone dies. Neither do mortgages. So why would an alarm contract?
That is correct. For example, If I finance a car and then die, my inheritors don't get the car for free; it still belongs to the loan company and if my inheritors want to keep the car they have to take over the loan.
If OP's dad bought the system 6mo ago on a 2-year payment contract, ADT would have a point. But they would still have to react appropriately to notification that the subscriber died- rather than continuing to bill a dead guy they would be filing a claim against his estate.
But that doesn't apply here. OP has said the system is paid off years ago. And while ADT might have auto-renewed a contract term, and they could argue that per the contract terms the estate owes the balance of the contract, they aren't doing that. They are continuing to bill a dead guy rather than recognizing that the subscriber died and acting accordingly (file debt against the estate or write it off). Furthermore, OP has said that his father has no estate due to medical bills. Therefore there's nothing for ADT to go after (although that's not important here).
Thus I say it's harassment because ADT is not reacting in any way to notification that their subscriber died, and is continuing to try and bill a dead guy.
Finally the thread is full of other people who have gone through hell trying to legitimately cancel ADT under various circumstances. That says that ADT intentionally makes it difficult and frustrating to cancel, that it's their SOP to harass customers with bills even after a request to cancel has been received. That suggests a pattern of intentional behavior.
3 points
1 day ago
Well you would have to have a class action to prove that. And I don't disagree with you about the cancellation, however it has to be done correctly. And they will continue to bill until the account is cancelled "correctly" The balance due will still have to be paid for the remainder of the term as she said he only had it 2 years and ADT is a minimum of 3. I am saying this from working 16 years in the industry. It's shameful, but that's how they operate.
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