ADT Security compensates alarm monitoring, mobile patrol call customers

Tyco Australia Pty Ltd, trading as ADT Security, will compensate customers who did not receive the level of security services specified by ADT following Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigations.

ADT has provided the ACCC with a court-enforceable undertaking to compensate those customers who did not receive the grade of alarm monitoring service they had been promised by ADT. ADT has also undertaken to refund former customers who paid for mobile patrol call services that were not provided in full by ADT.

"Consumers pay security companies such as ADT considerable amounts of money to ensure that their homes and businesses are properly protected", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today. "They have a right to expect that they will receive the specified level of security monitoring they have been promised by their security company".

Alarm monitoring

The ACCC found that most ADT residential and small business customers who contracted for alarm monitoring services since the opening in August 2001 of ADT's alarm monitoring facility at Rydalmere, New South Wales, did not receive the certified Grade One or Grade A1 standard service promised. The ACCC was concerned that ADT's conduct may have breached section 53(aa) of the Trade Practices Act 1974, which prohibits corporations from falsely misrepresenting that services are of a particular standard, quality, value or grade.

ADT's Rydalmere monitoring facility did not receive Grade One/A1 certification for its high security section until April 2003. Even since then, most of ADT's residential and small business customers have continued to receive their monitoring service partly from an ungraded customer care centre at ADT's Rydalmere facility.

ADT will write to all of its residential and small business customers throughout Australia who currently receive alarm monitoring services from ADT's Rydalmere facility to apologise if the customer had understood that they would receive a Grade One/A1 monitoring service. It will offer compensation to each customer who provides information (via a toll free customer inquiry line) that indicates that they were misled as to the grade of monitoring service they were to receive.

Mobile patrol billing

The ACCC's investigation also found that ADT had billed some of its former mobile patrol call customers for scheduled patrol calls which were not provided.  ADT advised the ACCC this was the result of an administrative oversight in its accounting area. The ACCC expressed its concerns to ADT that this conduct may have breached section 52 of the Act which prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct.

ADT will write to all of the affected 339 former mobile patrol call customers who are owed a total of $27,638. It will apologise for its failure to previously provide a refund for any missed patrols, and will provide each customer with the applicable refund. The 339 former ADT customers are in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia. ADT sold its mobile patrol call business in September 2002.

Background

Grade One or Grade A1 alarm monitoring represents the highest, most secure grade of alarm monitoring under Australian Standard 2201.2-2001. It requires independent certification by a body such as the Australian Security Industry Association Limited (ASIAL) that a security company's monitoring facility meets the rigorous technical and security requirements of being a Grade One/A1 facility. Key security features of a Grade One/A1 monitoring facility include that it is a windowless concrete bunker with airlock doors and its own back-up power supply. The facility is able to continue providing effective alarm security monitoring services to customers even in extreme circumstances involving natural disaster or attempted sabotage.