Pinnacle Security LLC

My experience with Pinnacle has been unbelievable, beyond horrible and I can't emphasize enough how strongly I would discourage anyone from doing business with them.  Their high pressure sales tactics were like an ambush and their misconduct so egregious that I will be filling a complaint with the Texas State Attorney Gerneral's Office. They came to my door on a day I was not feeling well and had taken medication.  I did not realize I was too compromised to be answering the door.  (It is of note that they were all Mormons with experience as Mormon Missionaries and they were very skilled at being manipulative and deceptive all the while presenting themselves as clean cut, honest, moral people.)  They offered me a free upgrade to my alarm system and I thought that after I signed the contract I would have the 3 days the law allows to think it over and cancel if necessary.  Instead, before the ink was dry, a technician arrived to install their syste!.  They beat me to the door and let him in and he started taking apart my existing alarm system!  They were so agressive they did not even permit me to answer my own door when he arrived.  It did not matter to them that it was after 6:00pm on a Saturday night and that I might have had other plans.  I was too ill to be assertive and stop them and kick them out of my house.  I did manage to make the technician leave at 10:00pm even though he had not finished. The next morning I was shocked to discover that the salesmen had stolen my 3 yard signs from my existing alarm company!  They did not even have the simple courtesy to speak to me first.  (When confronted, twice they said they would return them, but never did.)   I also discovered that Pinnacle has an "F" with the BBB due to more than 1200 complaints and multiple government actions against them.  I found buried in the contract that the salesmen HAD LIED about the monthly rate being locked in and I discovered that the company reserved the right to make equipment changes and charge me AT ANY TIME WITH NO NOTICE.  By 24 hours I had a sick feeling about the whole thing and exercised my right to cancel by faxing in a cancellation. When I called customer service to confirm they had received my cancellation, they convinced me to let them complete the installation and try the system saying that I had three days AFTER installation in which to cancel.  (It is noteworthy that ALL installation work was completed OUTSIDE OF NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS.  i.e. after 6:00pm)  During installation the technician made an inappropriate offer to install extra smoke detectors "as a friend".  I chose not to find out what his definition of "friend" was.  Also, he tried to sell me many accessories and changed the prices six times.  Every time I hesitated or declined an item, he would alter the prices verbally, but never actually changed the prices on the paperwork he submitted.  When I called custormer service to find out exactly how much they were planning to charge me, after 1 1/2 HOURS on the phone with them, they said they could not give me a specific total! The Pinnacle alarm system they installed never worked completely correctly and I quickly faxed in another cancellation before the initial 3 days expired.  (It is notable that their fax number was malfunctioning and it took 3 hours to get the fax to go through.)  Six days of misery after this all started, they have removed their equipment and all I have is wires hanging out of the wall.  I am very fortunate that my existing alarm company is coming next week to re-intall my old system at no charge.  (They indicated that Pinnacle has done this same thing to many of their customers.) After the Pinnacle technician who removed all Pinnacle's equipment had left, I called Pinnacle Customer Service requesting some form of email or written comfirmation that my account has been cancelled.  They said they don't do that (!) and would only give me a confirmation number over the phone saying that should be sufficient.  This refusal is very suspicious to me.  What kind of legitimate business can't give a simple written confirmation? It appears that I was able to cancel before any of the charges were actually put through, but I am going to watch my accounts like a hawk.  Please note: the $280.00 I listed above is an estimate of how much they were planning to charge me, but it is only an estimate because they never gave me a final total. After my cancellation was effective, they put through charges of more then $295.00, and never told me what the charges were for.  It then took 3 weeks to get refunds, at which point I learned they were planning on charging me again.  There were so many other things that went wrong or were done deceptively that my complaints could fill 2 pages.  Another irregular occurrence was that one sales rep claimed that the other salesman who came to my door is a Vice President of the Company.  What major national company sends a vice president out to do door-to-door sales?  If he really was a VP, then that suggests the company condones these tactics completely because he was the leader of the pack. During this whole experience my stomach has been in knots and I have done a lot of crying.  At first I felt too humiliated over the whole situation to tell anyone what was going on.  It is my opinion that Pinnacle preys on anyone they can, especially anyone who is sick, elderly or disabled.  When confronted about their tactics, one of the salesmen tried to tell me that most of their customers WANT them to install the new system immdiately .  Clearly, they want people to feel locked in because they have disabled the previous system and claim the law won't allow them to put it back.  When I did a Google search under "Pinnacle Security Scam" I found more listings than I could count of people complaining about this company and warning to stay away from them.  Again, I can't emphasize enough how strongly I would discourage anyone from doing business with Pinnacle, LLC.