Security company leaves SWFL woman with huge bill

Reporter: Lindsey Sablan
Published: Updated:

FORT MYERS, Fla. – When retiree Thelma Hunter let a salesman for a security company into her home, she had no idea she would be left with two home security systems and a large payment.

Two months ago, the 76-year-old said a salesman from Alder, a company that provides home security systems, came to her door trying to sell her a new system. Hunter had been under contract with Safeguard Home Security for seven years.

“I kept telling him I had a contract with Safeguard and wasn’t I supposed to let them know if I’m going to go into another contract?” she recalled. ” And he [the Alder salesman] would say, ‘We’ll take care of that.'”

Hunter never had a problem with Safeguard but said the salesman convinced her to sign a new contract with Alder and told her his company would buy out the contract with Safeguard.

When that didn’t happen, Hunter says she was left with two options: pay Safeguard $2,849.43 to cancel the contract or pay $2,711.01 to cancel her Alder contract. Instead, Hunter submitted a complaint with the Florida attorney general’s office and WINK News Call for Action.

The Call for Action team contacted Alder to see if they would let Hunter out of the contract. They called her the same day and told her they would let her cancel the agreement free of charge and collect their equipment. They also sent a refund of her first month’s payment.

Alder would have bought out the Safeguard contract Hunter had, but Safeguard wouldn’t let them, Alder spokesman Adam Christian said.

“We do everything we can so the customer isn’t double-charged,” he said.

A quick search of Alder on the BBB website showed the company has a D-plus rating. Our Call for Action team also uncovered that the state of Utah has fined Alder twice for deceptive sales practices — once in 2015 and the second just last week.

The company is currently appealing the fine from 2015.

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