chuma.org

I’ve discovered NextAlarm.com. They can monitor virtually any existing security system, via phone OR internet, for $14.95/month or $8.95/month if you pay a year up front. Even though those prices are in US dollars, it sure beats the utter living crap out of my bloody ADT contract.

Next step: find out whether or not I “own” my ADT system yet, and how I can get out of my monitoring contract with them.

Sandy and I watched CBC’s Marketplace last night, which was entitled “Underdogs” and was all about consumers trying to get things fixed from big corporations. They focused on four people:

• One couple had signed up for some all-in-one insurance company and were told their premiums wouldn’t increase for 10 years, and then had their premiums doubled after four months. They phoned and mailed the company and eventually CBC flew them to Toronto to speak with them, but instead of resolving the issue, the company’s lawyer contact them and told them their premiums wouldn’t go down, too bad.
• One man was paying Bell Expressvu for satellite service yet Bell couldn’t find his payments, so they kept on cutting off his satellite TV. This happened for four months until they finally figured out the payments were going to the wrong Bell division. He didn’t get compensated. The phrase “super-pissed” doesn’t even begin to describe this guy either.
• One woman had the transmission in her 1999 Dodge Caravan blow up, costing her $2200. Chrysler wouldn’t admit over the phone that they were aware of the problem, but with help from the CBC they discovered that Chrysler had since redesigned the part that had failed and literally blew a hole in the side of her transmission casing. They visited Chrysler in Windsor only to be told that Chrysler had made a corporate decision not to help out 1999 Caravan owners – in essence, her van was too old.
• The final case was a couple whose Dodge truck caught fire due to a faulty headlight. They took Chrysler to court and won the cost of their truck plus $25,000 in damages because Chrysler was aware of the problem and did nothing. However Chrysler dragged them through the court system for seven years until the couple finally appealed to the Supreme Court, who ruled in their favour.

I came out of that program with two thoughts:

1. Don’t buy Chrysler.
2. It might be one hell of an upward battle to break my contract with ADT.