This is a 5 year review. Where to start..... I'm very familiar with security alarms and have had multiple companies for over 25 years. That being said, they've been all great except this one. I moved to the Monterey area and was going to use ADT but I felt like I should give back to the community and use a "family" owned business to support the community. Bill was the guy who came to my house. Very nice, great salesman!! Suckered me. Told me my house is old (which it is) and quoted me over $4100 for install. This is on a house!! Does it really matter if its old?!? I went with it because he had a great pitch (was a police officer, had great stories). He made promises about his equipment. Said that I could upgrade to the "special" motion sensors that would allow my kids run around with motion sensors on. My wife and I fell for it!! When his installers came they had no idea what I was talking about. So they set it up, and of course in the middle of the night my 4 year old gets up in the middle of the night and the alarm goes off (horrible night, my son couldn't sleep in his bed for a week). Those sensors go off with humans because of the height, not the weight (hence why dogs have a weight limit on motion sensors to go off). The owner of the business who does the sales does not know his own equipment. He thought if it could work for big dogs, why not kids!!! I had to figure that on my own. They came and made "adjustments" but it never worked. So we dropped the motion sensor deal while we were at home and just used the motion sensors while we were away. I always test my alarms intermittently to make sure they work. 3 months after install, I was able to walk around my house no problem and the sensors would not detect me. I called them and they told me it would be a service charge to come over. I told them its been less than 3 months and I paid $4100. I had issues that first year in which they had to come 3 times to make adjustments (not to mention the number of calls in which we tried to fix it over the phone). Every time they tried to charge me $80 some dollars for service charge and I told them I want to talk to a manager and they then dropped it. I signed a 5 year contract so I had to stick with it. In the 2nd year of my contract, there was a time in which the motherboard made a loud beep every minute at 1am. woke up our whole house. They had no idea what to do over the phone. The on call service man was unreachable. They even called the owner that night (from what their operator told me). My whole house is awake. They then got a hold of the service man (around 45 minutes later), but he couldn't get a service man to me for 90 minutes. And of course its a SERVICE charge to come in the middle of the night!!! Well I broke out the manual and was able to disable the alarm. This was all a 2 hour debacle. All they had to do was do an "update" on their end and fix it the next morning. I'm on autopay with my credit card annually. My credit card expired (which is normal on every credit card!!!) and they notified me. Which is great and I gave them my updated credit card. But they wanted to charge me for a declined credit card transaction!!!! I had to take to the manager to drop it! I told them its not a bounced check!!! I told them ALL credit cards have an expiration date and all customers who have autopay will have this issue. I have a ton of autopay services and when a credit card expires, they call or email me and we change it. They said they understand, but its their policy. So my advice is to NOT enroll in their autopay. Just get the bill annually. Honestly I have never written a 1 star in my life for anything. But this deserves it. The company I work for has some of the same issues. I used to get a call everytime power went out in my house, now it is really hit or miss. I have had times when the alarm has gone off by accident, and they don't call. But there are times when they do call!! Its just a hit or miss, and hopefully its a hit if it is a true break in (or fire!!!). The best protection is the loud alarm that goes off and wakes up the neighborhood, which any alarm will do. But to pay $4100 for the equipment and then have the most expensive annual service for is ridiculous. My 5 years is almost up........... read more

After our house was burglarized two years ago, we contacted Steve Hahn of the Oakland office, who promptly had us set up with a useful alarm. The service has been efficient and professional. I would recommend Sentry to anyone needing a home alarm system. Zvi K Daly City, CA read more

I was a customer of Sentry Alarm for 12 1/2 years, 6/1995 through 12/2007. I had set up automatic payments on my account with a credit card. Apparently, the credit card Sentry Alarm had on file expired before the January 2008 payment was to be made. Instead of calling me to get the new expiration date on the card, they billed me a $10 "late" fee and then a $55 finance fee on the late fee--for a service that costs about $150 per year. They refused to reverse these fees, and ultimately sent the account out to collections. I don't know about you, but I don't keep records of the expiration dates of my credit cards and a list of which vendors are paid with each. I was rather unhappy with their treatment of me, since they knew the card I had on file was going to expire--it was in their accounting system. So I called them and canceled service when they charged me the fees. Ironically, my alarm system had been unable to call their monitoring center for more than 4 years, ever since I got DSL, so I had been paying for service I could not in fact use: free money for Sentry Alarm. It is offensive to have been charged a late fee for their accounting oversight, for services I did not receive. I discontinued the service when they billed me the late fee. I did not receive service in 2008. That they charged me the fees in the first place is absurd, given that they could have called me or sent me a letter. That they sent it out for collection is truly over-the-top. That they continue to refuse to reverse the fees--and threaten to ruin my unblemished credit history, is disgusting. read more

I inherited Sentry from RFI. After 13 years of paying for the service, I decided to get rid of our phone landline and install cameras instead. So I wanted to terminate my contract. Turned out I had signed a contract 13 years ago that renews every year for an entire year. No provisions for "early" termination. Had to pay the 6 months left on the contract to get rid of these weasels. Stay away! read more

After 6 years of paying their fees, the house was finally broken in to. The alarm went off and no one came. Enough said, new provider. Suggest you do the same. read more

We bought a house on the peninsula that had an alarm previously installed by another company and contacted Sentry to get the alarm up and running and change the codes, etc. They came out and got everything fixed for us right away. My contract is for two years. We've set it off accidentally a couple times, and had more service to add a couple options, and each time the service has been very good - friendly and knowledgeable techs and the women I've talked to at the office have been exceptionally competent and nice. I would recommend their service. read more

I recently had an attempted break-in of my residence. I was fortunate no access was gained, however it did make me aware of the need for an alarm system. I contacted Sentry and they immediately accommodated me. Chris Hill was great and thorough in his presentation. He did not attempt to over sell his product and listened to the needs of me, my property and the budget I was working within. Although it was under unfortunate circumstances that I had to see how great Sentry Alarm is, I highly recommend others not wait until there is a break in before they see the need for an alarm system. I did call another company as they advertise everything is free with a subscription to their service however it turned out to be a sales pitch to get their foot in the door. Kudos to Sentry for taking the "honest approach!!" read more

Not sure if it was the right move for RFI tl send residential customers to them. I met a customer who said he home was broken into twice and sentry never knew or reported the break in. read more

Shame on me for not reading the contract carefully. I was told by the sales rep that it was a two year agreement, but the document actually said five. I'm paying them off and canceling the contract. Good riddance, and I'll be looking for an ethical provider in the area. read more

We recently tried to cancel our service because we don't need it anymore, and were also informed of a hidden 3-year agreement. There was never any discussion about that with the agent up front and the contract was signed in haste during our home hand-over when we moved in. Should we have read the full contract, sure. Should they bring up major binding clauses buried in pages of tiny text that no one ever reads during a house move-in, yes. Sleezy. read more