Burglar Alarm Contracts--What to Watch for

Want to feel more secure by installing a monitored burglar alarm (one where a company responds by sending a patrol car or the police if the alarm goes off)?  Who doesn't?  It's great to know someone is watching.  And today, there are deals all over the place where you can buy home security systems for next to nothing, as long as you sign up for a monitoring contract with the company for a couple years.  We're used to such contracts, because that's how most of us got our cell phones, right?  Free phone with a two-year contract.  An article from a Seattle news network, though, highlights one of the things you need to watch out for: the automatic renewel.

A Seattle couple "got their alarm system for almost nothing. In return they had to buy the monitoring service for three years...Dennis figured their commitment would be over in three years, 'then if we wanted we would be able to renew.' But he says, three years later when he called the company to say they no longer wanted the monitoring service, the company told him, 'Sorry, the contract was automatically renewed for another three years at the original price.'"

Basically, they got stuck with another (pricey) three-year contract because they didn't realize they needed to cancel in writing at least 60 days ahead of the original contract expiration date.  The lesson?  As with so many things, read the fine print of those burglar alarm contracts before you sign up.  And then remember to keep them somewhere you can refer back to them easily, because the mind tends to forgot things after a couple of years!