Millions of people around the globe rely on security companies to make sure their families, homes and assets are safe. Research shows that 39 million people in the United States alone have a home security system and 56 million have security cameras.
For many families, paying for these services helps them sleep better at night. This makes sense because reports show that robbery incidents have declined by 2.3 percent between2023and2024.Even though robbery incidents have declined, porch pirates are still out there, making the security systems and cameras needed.
What happens when the company that the family puts so much trust lets them down? A family in Charlotte, NC found out the hard way.
George Allen lives in North Carolina and relied on his alarm company to help him feel safe. However, that safe feeling went out the door one early morning in April.
Allen said it was around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16 when he heard a noise.
“Everyone’s in the house asleep,” Allen said in an interview with WBTV3. “The alarm goes off, saying basement door open.”
He said by the time he grabbed his weapon and put on his pants and shoes; Brinks Home Security was calling him. Knowing that thesecuritycompanyalready knowswhat’sgoingonshould ease any homeowner’s fears because the company is supposed to call 911 for the homeowner.
Allen said even though it began that way, that’s not how it happened. He said with a racing heart, he went out the front door to walk around the side of the house to check the basement door. The agent inquired if Allen wanted the police to respond.
Initially, Allen told the agent not to call 911 because hethoughtthatmaybehehad left the door ajar earlier, and didn’t want a false call. However, that all changed when Allen said the basement door was shut and locked and he could hear somebody inside.
“I realized there’s somebody in my house,” Allen said in the interview. “So, I said, ‘Hey man, I need help, call police.”
The agent asked Allen for his password, and that confused Allen because the company called him, why should he have to verify who he is. Allen said through all of the chaos, he had a little trouble recalling his password but eventually remembered it and told the agent.
That’s when things took a weird turn. Allen said the agent told him that he had to dial 911 himself because his security permit wasn’t valid. Many cities and counties require residents to have a security permit to reduce the amount of false police calls that inundate the departments. Allen said initially, he didn’t question the agent.
Allen hung up with the agent and then called 911. While on the phone with authorities, Allen alleges that a woman emerged from his basement with some of his things in her hands. Allen said as his security cameras was filming the entire event, he hollered at the woman to get on the ground.
Officers arrived on scene and arrested the woman. However, Allen said it wasn’t till after the incident that he was able to start processing what occurred and felt violated all over again.
He called Brinks to figure out what happened and was told again that his permit wasn’t valid. Yet, when he called Charlotte Alarm Management Services, he was told his permit was valid till December 2024, eight months after the event. The Brinks Home Security app even showed Allen’s permit of being valid.
After calling Brinks a third time and being told his permit was, in fact, valid, the company offered Allen an equipment upgrade. Allen refused and asked how that would help.
“Your equipment is not what failed me,” Allen said. “It was your policy. It was your agent that failed me.”
Brinks gave Allen six months of free monitoring to smooth things over, but Allen said he didn’t agree to that. Allen said that more should have been done because his incident could’ve gone way worse.
Brinks Home Security sent out a press release about the incident.
“We sympathize with Mr. Allen and his family for this distressing experience and deeply regret the incident. We know that customers trust Brinks Home with their safety and security and understand that this incident has jeopardized our customer’s trust and we are doing all that we can to support Mr. Allen and remedy the situation,” the press release stated. “The Brinks Home customer service and technical teams have since taken action to address the extremely rare systems issue that delayed our ability to dispatch law enforcement to Mr. Allen’s home. The issue is now fully resolved and will not impact Mr. Allen’s service in the future. We have spoken directly with Mr. Allen to apologize and address any lingering concerns and to assure him that such an incident would not happen again. As a company, we remain committed to working hand in hand with our customers, like Mr. Allen, to resolveanyissuesorconcerns and will continue to do so in the future.”
Since millions of people use home security systems to turn to during times of trouble, the real question is who can they turn to when thecompanyletsthemdown?