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March 2024 by T Sansone
Had an experience I need to share. This was around 2008 or thereabouts. Lightning struck our tree in the backyard and ran down it into its roots. It blew out our central alarm system motherboard. Fried it with EMF that penetrated the ground and basement walls into the control panel box.So I called Checkmate. Their tech. came out and said yup you need a whole new alarm system. OK I figured that. Cost would be $1,200. I knew I had just replaced the 12V full size battery back-up in that box about 6 months earlier and told the tech. this. So that battery was new and they last about 5-10 years.So he does his thing in about 2 hours. Then he approaches me and says "I can save you $100 by not adding the expansion board". This is the board for extra ZONES. I agreed but should have said no at the time. What he did was take about 30% of the new alarm system capability away and only "saved" me $100 out of $1,200. Not a great deal. Then I had doubled up zones like Kitchen and Basement door or Dining Room and Garage, etc. The previous system was lots of zone with single names for each ! So he leaves the house after we paid, and I happened to check the control box and noticed that he STOLE my full size 12V battery back-up and left me with only the HALF size 12V battery that comes with the new alarm system ! I had to catch up with him and tell him to give me back my original battery that was NEW ! But this got even worse !I always would periodically check to make sure my alarm system was working correctly as anyone should. So the first time I set off the alarm, no problem - both loud full size sirens went off no problem. I then shut it down with the cancel code. Then about another 4 to 6 months pass and I go to test the alarm system again and to hear the sirens. Soon as I set off my alarm... the sirens made like a CHIRP and then complete SILENCE ! No sound whatsoever from either siren ! I though what the ??? So I go into the control box and I noticed that the SIREN wires were attached to this little tiny piezo speaker siren that can fit into the palm of your hand. So after more observance, I read the mother board and noticed that the wires to that little speaker siren were supposed to go to a DRIVER PCB ! Meaning that he hooked up my normal size large sirens to the internal driver pcb of that tiny speaker siren that uses little transistor CHIP drivers ! For those who don't know electronics, that is like using a chainsaw engine to try and drive a full size car ! No way could those tiny chips supply enough amps to drive those big sirens ! The technician STOLE or KEPT the Siren Drive board with the proper large regulator transistors instead of installing them !!! So I called Checkmate up and told them my alarm system is not working. They sent out that SAME tech. that installed the system a little over 1 year earlier. I pointed out to the tech. that he NEVER installed the proper driver board and used the tiny speaker siren to drive my sirens instead. He denied it. Then he said it would cost $200 to fix my system. So I told him I will be speaking to your boss and then he left. Before I confronted the owner, I contacted HONEYWELL who designed this alarm system and explained what this technician did to me. They agreed, that I was missing the proper siren driver pcb and that he should never had used that little speaker siren for the purpose and of course it would burn out those tiny chip drivers.That is when I took all my evidence and drove down to Checkmate and showed the owner everything and what his technician had done. The owner then could not deny it and had the technician go to my house and give me the correct siren driver pcb I should have had at the first installation. I bet that this technician has done the same things to many people and I never used this company again for anything. I used a family owned and run alarm system company in Huntington from then on and had no problems ever again. Dishonest technician from Checkmate was taller, thin/normal weight w/light brown/blon
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July 2023 by Charluch Deee
A great place to work at staff is professional let me know exactly what was wrong with their plumbing issues so I could resolve it as quick as possible to get them back in service
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July 2023 by Charles Daubman
A great place to work at staff is professional let me know exactly what was wrong with their plumbing issues so I could resolve it as quick as possible to get them back in service
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November 2022 by julia w.
look elsewhere.....scammers,,,,........... rude customer service,,,,,,,,,,,,,reckless workers..........
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September 2022 by James Kozlakowski
Avoid at all costs unless you want to be scammed into a 5 year contract with having to pay 80% of the full cost to cancel. Save yourself the trouble!
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February 2022 by LyLy Dooner-Rockwell
Staff security installers and office personnel are wonderful amd professional. Anytime I had a problem with my security system or cameras or computer software they came to repair quickly and resolve the issues. Problems very rarely occurred. They also reminded me of the yearly fire and security checks on the system. Checkmate has serviced 5 + years at my home. They were great in planning out my security system and installation. They use the latest updated technology and software and state of the art cameras . I can travel and still monitor my home on my i-phone with an app. Which is great. !And the call station are great staff too! Immediately they respond and call if the alarm is triggered. Great job guys. And THANK YOU for keeping our home safe !
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January 2022 by Omar MIller
great company very professional...
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October 2019 by Tyler M.
I've been using Checkmate for a few years now. They did a full installation in my old house but I have moved since so they took over the alarm in my new house. The new house had an older alarm so there were some necessary adjustments to be made. They were wonderful and worked with me even with my busy work schedule. They aren't exactly cheap but they aren't crazy expensive either. If you want quality work look no further. In my experience when you get cheap services, you also get poor customer service and products leading to a poor end result. A+++
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April 2019 by Trish Schmitt
No stars for them. We have an old, outdated system in our home that I actually cancelled a few years ago because the the system kept alarming for no reason. They charged me everytime they paid a house visit to check the system and never could fix it. They wanted me to pay for a whole new system, which was extremely expensive. I ended up cancelling because the system was useless and I did not like their attitude. They were so rude when I called in for help and seemed to charge for every little thing. Fast forward to tonight, years after I cancelled this system - the alarm is going off and I can't turn it off. I called the service line but because I'm not a customer they refused to help me. Mind you I have two kids one of which has special needs and is sensitive to noise. I told the women on the phone this and she was like too bad, you have to call back in the morning. Now it's 10:30 at night and we are trying to disconnect this piece of garbage but also don't want to cause another issue by cutting wires. It would have been nice if the "technician" agreed to talk to me tonight and talk me through unconnecting.
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April 2019 by FlamingHedgehog
Every time I call in, these people have an attitude. They are always quick to blame the individual stating there have been a "Change of IP Address" without doing any sort of remote troubleshooting on their end. These guys ALWAYS charge for a visit, no matter how small of a visit. EVEN IF THE PROBLEM IS WITH THEIR OWN EQUIPMENT, THEY STILL CHARGE YOU.
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January 2019 by Trish S.
No stars for them. We have an old, outdated system in our home that I actually cancelled a few years ago because the the system kept alarming for no reason. They charged me everytime they paid a house visit to check the system and never could fix it. They wanted me to pay for a whole new system, which was extremely expensive. I ended up cancelling because the system was useless and I did not like their attitude. They were so rude when I called in for help and seemed to charge for every little thing. Fast forward to tonight, years after I cancelled this system - the alarm is going off and I can't turn it off. I called the service line but because I'm not a customer they refused to help me. Mind you I have two kids one of which has special needs and is sensitive to noise. I told the women on the phone this and she was like too bad, you have to call back in the morning. Now it's 10:30 at night and we are trying to disconnect this piece of garbage but also don't want to cause another issue by cutting wires. It would have been nice if the "technician" agreed to talk to me tonight and talk me through unconnecting. Do yourself a favor DO NOT use these people , you'll end up regretting it.
