BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE....\n\nMy mother lives in Montreal and was moving to a retirement complex.  She was already using Life Alert at home but wanted to save some bucks each month. I found Direct Alert on the web, called them, and was thrilled to find out that their monthly service fee was $19.95 if I purchased the $230.00 equipment upfront, which I gladly did.\n\nAnd then came the problem... their equipment would not work and they have no on site techs to assist. My 83 year old mother was terrified that something would happen to her and she would not have her safety button to call for help. After a series of calls they sent additional equipment which still did not work. \n\nThis went on for a couple weeks, meanwhile they charged my credit card for the monitoring fee even though it was not working. Then they advised to just return everything and go elsewhere. They sent the return label to the wrong address so after another series of calls they finally sent it to the right address.\n\nUPS picked everything up so after a couple weeks I called again asking where the credit was... and they charged yet another months monitoring...  I was told that they had not received the equipment back... after 2 weeks of being picked up.  I checked the tracking number on line with UPS and it was delivered and signed for 3 days after pick up.  Another call and they insisted they did not have it??? And needed me to send proof of delivery - something they could have done easily on line themselves.\n\nToday I checked my credit card account to find out that these incompetents hit the wrong button and charged my card another $252.83 rather than issue the credit for $252.83.  So now they owe me 2 X $252.83 = $505.66\n\nAnd yet another call to them (Steven) today who I've spoken to at least 6 times in the past couple months.  After explaining their error... he says \"wow\"?  Then claims the equipment needed to be returned within 30 days for a refund?? After explaining the new charge equal led the exact am out of the refund expected he was uninterested. I asked to speak to a manager and was told no but I could sent an email if I wanted??\n\nMy next call was to the bank who fully understood the issue and have processed the necessary disputes to reverse these charges. And finally I had cancel this card and replace it with a new one because the bank and I have no confidence in Direct Alert to not charge even more unauthorized charges in the future.\n\nEverything aside, this company is supposed to provide a secure and competent service for vulnerable people who need the extra sense of security. They absolutely did not deliver on any level... and then my mom finds out that several other residents in the complex also had horror stories to share about their experiences with Direct Alert.\n\n\nThe good out of all this is that my mom contacted Life Alert who matched the pricing without the need to purchase the equipment... and they were there the next day to install everything and make sure it worked 100%.