Consumer complaint received 2025-02-07 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: Hillcrest Davidson & Associates
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
I have had nothing but issues with XXXX security since day XXXX. They installed a security system in a house that they were contracted with the builder on. We bought that house. We contacted them for XXXX months wanting information on the system. No one ever answered. We had several issues with the system. Someone name XXXX XXXX reached out almost a year into us living there. He told us they dont charge for equipment, but we would have to sign a XXXX  year contract. I stated both over the phone and via text that I am concerned about paying XXXX  years as we probably will be moving before XXXX  years to another state. He said that if we move to an area that is not serviceable that the accounting department will work with us and let us cancel. He sold the company as being family friendly and understanding. When we finally did move, I let them know we were moving before we moved, let them know after we moved, and even kept paying them monthly. They never responded until they wanted their money. Then, Id tell them that we dont live there anymore and we are selling our house to new buyers, and they would say theyd get back to me and never respond unless I followed up. Our house wasnt selling for months, so we had to do a short sale. We lost {$90000.00} on the sale of our house. We told them this and told them the new homeowners are taking over and we can no longer pay for a system that isnt owned by XXXX anymore especially because we did a short sale, which was XXXX step above foreclosure. They wanted over {$900.00} to cancel, and told us the only way to avoid it was for XXXX to make the new buyer take over the account. They put that responsibility onto us. we asked the home buyers several times and even tried to explain the benefits of having monitoring, especially since we got all the issues of the system fixed. They had XXXX interest and we had to stop bothering them about taking over the monitoring service. I told XXXX security we tried really hard to get them to take over and they said sorry we cant waive the cancellation fee I also then told them that we moved to an unserviceable area and there are consumer protections in place for non serviceable areas. We dont even live in Texas XXXX and havent for almost a year. XXXX of the managers finally calls me back after I call and email several, several, times ( because XXXX XXXX goes XXXX several times ) I think his name was XXXX? And he asks me to pay for the device they installed and tried to say its put value on the house no it absolutely did not. The buyer had no interest in taking over monitoring. I told the XXXX I dont have the money to pay it right now, so Ill pay it when I have the money. Then, as I looked back on my correspondence with them, I noticed that I told them we were moving and we could have had them come back and uninstall the device and take it back. They never responded even though I contacted them via email, phone and text probably a dozen times. Someone from accounting sends an email saying I had to pay them in XXXX  days, during the holidays, while we were gone. I had told the XXXX already XXXX going to pay it when I have the money because quite honestly, THEIR salesperson made it sound like we wouldnt have to pay to cancel if we move to a non-serviceable area and if we sell the house. I was upfront with him from the beginning about not wanting a XXXX  year contract. He convinced us to do it. I have texts with the sales person too. The XXXX tried say what was in the text wasnt clear, but it was clear he was implying that they would work with us on the cancellation fee, and I made it clear I had reservations about a XXXX year contract. I then get another email asking me to pay {$350.00}. I emailed XXXX times about this and ask them to clarify why its higher than originally discussed. No one answers me for almost XXXX weeks. They finally respond and say its their error. And she reminded me that she threatened sending me to a debt collector if I didnt pay it in XXXX  days ( unreasonable to ask someone to do during holidays when they werent expecting to have to pay anything ). They also never sent a final notice. Remember, this was all last minute. We werent expecting to pay anything. So then demanding payment within 10 days was completely unjustified. I reminded them that if they had just answered back when we emailed them that we were leaving and needed to cancel the service, we could have had them come and take the device back. We also paid them for months after moving out of the home and living in another state. I was in constant contact with them, and not once did they ask to come get the device. By the time they responded, the buyers had already moved into the home. They didnt care about the system at all. And it added no value considering we lost {$90000.00} on the home. They sold me a contract on a false promise, and now have threatened me with collections, and I havent even seen anything from this collections agency about it, nor have I been notified of it, I only found out they sent it to collections after emailing them XXXX  times about it. This seems like predatory practices. If you look up their reviews, XXXX not the first one this has happened to. My utility companies dont even charge fees for non serviceable areas- why are they? Not only that, but we almost lost the sale of our house because my realtor kept bothering the buyers realtor about taking over monitoring. The buyers were understandably irritated by being asked so many times to take over the monitoring. XXXX security should have never put that responsibility on us.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation