Five months ago, our apartment was burglarized while we were attending a funeral. Rough estimates of the loss came in at just over seven thousand dollars.
Yesterday at 4:20PM, ADT calls to say that the alarm had been triggered at our house. A fault has been detected in Zone 5 (utility room door) and they are aware that the pass code has been entered.
“That’s impossible,” I say, feeling my stomach drop. “My husband and I are the only ones with codes and we’re both at work.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m absolutely sure.”
“It says it was entered by remote.”
My remote, I know, is tucked in my handbag. My husband sometimes leaves his on the counter.
“God.”
“Would you like me to call the police?”
“Yes, please. Please call the police.”
By now, I’m scrambling. Closing documents, exiting programs. It all takes so long, I grab my bag and head for the door.
“My house is being broken into,” I tell a coworker without stopping.
I’m moving quickly down the hall of the office. Soon I’m jogging. And then running. I pass through the lobby in a full sprint. People are staring. I don’t care. I’m sprinting down the street. It’s four blocks to the lot where my car is parked. Waiting for the pedestrian signal is nauseating. The phone rings the moment I’m in the car.
“ADT says the police won’t come because we aren’t registered with the City of Dallas.”
“But we are. I filled out the paperwork. I paid. Remember? That guy Dave said he’d file it.”
“He didn’t do it.”
The traffic leaving downtown is bumper to bumper. My head is throbbing. My chest is tight.
“It will be too late,” I say, and it’s easy to hear how close I am to tears.
“I’ll call the police myself,” he says. But in the end, they won’t come. We’re not on the premises.
My phone stops recognizing its SIM card and I’m left, in quiet, inching through traffic, imagining what they’ve taken this time. Have the animals been smart enough to stay inside? God, please let them stay inside. Are the laptops hidden? Sometimes we forget. I’m mentally bargaining with the burglars to leave the bedding this time.
I’m screaming inside my head by the time I make the final turn into our neighborhood. I don’t have to imagine what it’s like to have everything taken. I know. And I can’t go through it again. I think briefly about where we will stay. I already know I can’t live in a house that’s been ransacked and feel safe. Or even sleep.
I park the car and race up the steps. My husand stands in the middle of the room, unbuttoning his collar, hissing into his speaker phone. He is enraged.
There’s no break in. The alarm never sounded. Whoever installed our alarm assigned the same identification code to another home. I stand there in the 90-degree heat of the living room and wait for my heart to stop racing. I try to reclaim those last thirty minutes, undo the panic, bring it back to “everything is fine” but it just makes me more fidgety and angry.
“I’m going to go buy some more fans,” I say, and then leave, knowing that whatever fury is boiling in me will be translated verbatim to ADT by my husband who is simply better at being furious. I would just cry.
Whoever Dave is, the dude needs to be fired.
Obviously, “Dave” is one seriously lazy individual! Ugh! I hope your Husband gives them hell!
Glad to hear that all is ok.
Deep breathes.
Yeah, Dave needs to be fired and blackballed! Hope your Hubby singed a few ears, and I’m glad you guys are OK. Well, as OK as you CAN be.
OMG I would’ve freaked the F*** out too! Gawd.. thank goodness everything was okay. BTW your story reminded me to get renters insurance for my new place. Thank you!!!
Oh myyyyyyyyyy god! I had to scroll to the end midway through reading to make sure everything worked out OK. I was so worried for you!!!! Stupid ADT! I’m so glad it didn’t happen to you again!
God, I wish I could have scrolled through it, too.
Who steals bedding? Honestly, that’s just odd…
When my house was broken into, they stole some bedding – just the top sheet in my niece’s bedroom. The theory is they wrapped up her computer in it to carry it out. It’s not that unusual, unfortunately
Was Dave high? Because Dave’s a moron.
I could write a whole manifesto about all the different ways ADT has effed up for my husband and me. But…I won’t.
I will just say that I am so glad to hear they erred on the side of stupidity and not criminal negligence and your home and family were safe and secure. I cannot even imagine going through that once, much less twice in a six month period.
I hate that these things are happening. We don’t “know” each other, but I know you’re a good person and you don’t deserve this. I’d send you sunshine and rainbows if I could.
Email me if I can help; I’d be happy to.
I’m with Rachel. ADT has proven to be nothing but a headache for us. Finally, we cancelled their services and went with another company. That was 6 months ago. They’re still billing us, even though we’ve spoken with countless “supervisors” who’ve assured us that they’d take care of the problem right away but haven’t. ADT sucks. Is there another provider in your area? I honestly would rather go without an alarm than use ADT. I’m glad, though, that it was all a false alarm and that all is well with you.
Good lord, woman. I’m glad it was a false alarm, and sorry that you had such a panic.
But you know, I’m now worried that someone else’s home was broken into. Is that what happened or did they just come home and used what they thought was their code?
Oh, Heather.
I guess I should be thankful that you discovered your ADT deficiencies over a FALSE ALARM, but I can’t help but be outraged on your behalf.
I would love to hear what your husband told ADT. Did they give you proof that you’re now registered with the police? Have they sent you a formal apology? Given you a rebate?
My heart started sinking when I read the first few paragraphs. I can’t imagine what it was like to experience it. I am so, so sorry that you had to experience that gut-wrenching terror again. I hope that your heart has stopped racing now that you’ve had 24 hours!
I’m glad you’re ok. But, and maybe this is a cultural difference, I’m stuck on “the police won’t come” Seriously???? Can’t get my head around that. Honestly don’t think that would happen here. (Australia)
Since you really didn’t have the proper protection for several months, does that mean that ADT needs to refund the money you have already paid them? Is this negligence grounds for cancelling the contract? (You should check the contract you have with them and, if necessary, see a lawyer also.) If this is being paid by credit card, can you tell the credit card company that you did not receive the service you paid for and therefore you should be refunded and have future payments withheld? And yeah, that guy Dave should be canned.
Oh, does this mean that someone else’s house really was broken into?
Oh my goodness, my heart was throbbing as I was reading this! First, I’m so, so sorry that this happened, but so, so glad that it wasn’t your house! Secondly, I hope the hubby gave ADT the verbal face punch that they deserve!
You have to get away from ADT. I have had the same call in the middle of the night from ADT telling me the alarm at my store has gone off, only to find when I arrive that the alarm has not gone off. Somebody’s alarm went off but they called me. This happens about once every two to three years. And when I tried to cancel the ADT monitoring, I found out how scummy their employees could be. They asked me to fax and mail a letter saying I wanted to cancel, but they would claim to not receive either, meaning I was supposed to pay for another month of service. The same letter-fax dance went on for THREE months during which I refused to pay so they had a collection agency try and collect. I just ignored them. This all happened about 10 years ago, but I can say that ADT has not figured out how to cancel my service and if my alarm went off tonight, they would call me. Run away from ADT as fast as you can.
That sounds absolutely horrifying. ADT should seriously have to pay you for taking a year or two off your life.
fuck my heart was racing. i’m so so glad you guys are okay and that it didn’t happen again. i was already barely breathing as i read it, if it really had happened again i’d be bawling my eyes out here.
I am so sorry that you had to feel the same violation twice now…I’m relieved to hear that it was a false alarm, but that half hour was very real, and I’m inferring that it was (almost?) just as traumatic as the first few steps you took into your ransacked apartment five months ago. I’m not there to do this, but I’m imagining enveloping you in a warm, secure, 30 sec+ hug. I hope you can imagine it too.
I just want to say that I was utterly baffled to read this story. I work for Go Safer, a small alarm company in Maryland. I know it might sound cliché to say that “we wouldn’t do that to you,” but in all honesty, we wouldn’t. These are people’s lives we have in our hands and we take that very seriously. We choose to be a small company because we believe that every single customer should be fully taken care of and should receive personalized attention. We pride ourselves with our customer service and go the extra mile for the customer to ensure that they are completely satisfied. We not only register our customers with their respective county/city/burrow’s, but we also send them a copy of the registration as proof that we have done so, so they have a peace of mind. I am truly sorry that this happened to you and ADT should pay big time for this grave error. Please let me know if there is anything that we can do to help, and I truly hope that you never have to go through this type of experience again.
If suing was an easier process, you should certainly think of suing ADT. . . or get a class action together or something. . . seems like there are enough people with grievances. And I can’t believe the police wouldn’t come. That’s just WRONG!
Wow. I keep trying to type other things, but nothing seems right. I am glad it was just a false alarm, but I cannot even begin to imagine your fear, trauma, or anger…
OMG, my heart was racing for you. I worked for a small, local “mom & pop” security company for 3 years and something like this would never happen. Every customer got personal service and had the owner’s cell phone and pager number. Get recommendations for local places and get rid of ADT as soon as you can.
First, I’m so sorry that you went through another traumatic experience–which was probably even worse because it most likely triggered all of the emotions from the last experience.
Second, this might sound strange–but this was utterly compelling. You are a wonderful writer, obviously, but you have a real knack for present-tense, in-the-moment descriptions.
Third: this all sounds really sketchy. How did they assign your code to another house? Sketchy like they could pull off robberies within the company.
Here’s to better days, Fish!
I am so sorry you had to go through that! I went something similar but not nearly that bad a few years ago… one of my “glass break” alarms went off – no doors, nothing else. It turned out my cat had jumped up on the counter and knocked a glass into the sink. All’s well that ends well, but I do kind of know the feeling!
Thank God! That was hard to read so I can’t imagine how hard it was to live through. My husband and I were just discussing getting an alarm from ADT last night. Maybe another company???
I’m glad to hear your hubbie’s good at giving them hell. They need it.
Lakewood Alarm is fantastic. Kenneth is your man. Email me if you’d like more information… So sorry to hear of your unnecessary panic… I’m glad you weren’t broken into again!
How awful! Glad that your house and your pets were okay in the end. People who don’t do their jobs properly need to be fired (stupid Dave).