Hannah W, Bay Area, C.
Working well now but very rocky start - service was subpar at best.
My sister recommended Protection1 to me. She's always had a great experience with them so I was confident I would too. Unfortunately we had a very rocky start. In short: it took many frustrating calls with rude customer service representatives, a technician visit (which ended up being unnecessary) and a total of about 2.5 weeks before our system functioned properly. The long story is below. When I called to set-up installation, the sales team assured me the motion sensor was "good for animals up to 50 pounds." I have a 25 pound dog and mentioned this several times to sales, and also to the technician who installed the system. My sister has a 20 pound dog and needed to have her motion sensor calibrated twice, so I was aware there might be some things we had to work through. Installation was fast and courteous - no complaints there. Unfortunately, the first time we "Armed Away" my dog set off the motion sensor just by walking by. I called customer service to have my sensor calibrated as this was something I expected to happen. The first woman I talked to insisted that I might need to pay a $25 service fee to have the technician dispatched - which I refused considering they promised the sensor was good for dogs up to 50 pounds, and I believe Protection1 has a 90-day service guarantee. My sister was never charged a service fee. Then she suggested I needed to just arm my system "Away" every time I leave - which I also told her was unacceptable considering I was paying for the full service, including the motion detector. She was incredibly rude, had a very condescending tone and insinuated my dog must be jumping on furniture to set off the sensor. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor who agreed to dispatch a technician without service charge. The technician came to our house a few days later. It's worth mentioning, btw, that Protection1 gave me a service window of 12-5 pm - 5 hours! - which is worse than Comcast and I find appalling since I work full time and do not have flexibility to "work from home." The technician took one look at the sensor and said "there's nothing I can do to change this." I was shocked given my sister has the exact same sensor. He suggested we try another sensor that might work better with my dog, said he'd have to come back (which means I'd need to wait for another 5 hour service window) and left. I think he was at the house for a total of 5 minutes. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated. I called customer service immediately after he left, only to be told that the technician had put in an order for a new sensor and I'd have to wait until it came in to schedule another service appointment. The next day, I received an automated call asking me to take a satisfaction survey. I naturally indicated I was unsatisfied and was immediately transferred to customer service. The first man I spoke to on the phone was extremely rude and kept insisting "it's a motion detector ma'am, that's what it does, it detects motion" despite my explanation that the sale team promised the sensor was good for animals up to 50 pounds, and that my sister was able to have the exact same motion detector operate well with her 20 pound dog after a couple of calibrations. He continually interrupted me when I was trying to explain the situation and wouldn't accept that I felt like I was only getting half of the service I was paying for because I had to always "Arm Stay" when I left the house. I was eventually transferred to his supervisor, Emily Perkins. Who ended up being a godsend. Emily was apologetic and explained to me the differences in motion detecting sensors Protection1 offers (which the technician and every other customer service rep I spoke to failed to do.) She said the new sensor the technician ordered can be calibrated more-so than the current motion detector that was installed, but that it does not take photos. I thanked her for educating me on the differences so I could at least make an informed decision. She then explained the current motion detector installed in my home can only be adjusted for "high-normal-low" sensitivity, which is done remotely. I paused and told her the technician didn't call anyone when he was here to try different sensitivities. Emily was surprised and said perhaps it was because my detector was already set to "low" given that I have a pet. She double checked -- and sure enough my detector sensitivity was set to "normal." She preceded to change the sensitivity to "low" and asked me to test it. Sure enough - it worked. I armed the alarm "Away," rolled a ball across the floor for my dog to chase in front of the sensor and it did not go off. But when I walked in front of the sensor it triggered. The solution was so simple and it was implemented remotely by one, knowledgable, polite customer service supervisor. I wasted 5 hours of my day waiting for a technician who did not know about his own product, another 1 hour total speaking with extremely rude customer service representatives and many hours over the course of 2.5 weeks being frustrated in general by the entire experience. The alarm system, as a whole, now works just fine. I am a fan of the app and its notifications. It just took a while to get to this point.