What This is All About

The Problem
The Counterforce home alarm company has overcharged me by $150.00. However the are refusing to repay me. In fact, they are asking for $185 more dollars. This is a problem because I don't like giving away my money for no reason.

The Goal
The analytic part of me wants Counterforce to go out of business. I think they deserve that and I want to help guide the invisible hand of the marketplace. The emotional part of me knows that would result in a lot of people losing their jobs. That's not great because I like pretending that my actions have no negative consequences for anyone. On the other hand, I don't want anyone else to get screwed over by this horrible company (I'm referring to Counterforce) and probably means some heads will have to roll. So I guess I'll have to figure out what my goals are as I proceed.

The only thing I know for sure is that I want my money back.

What Happened
In June of this year I moved from Los Angeles (or "LA") to New York City (no nicknames) for a new job. As part of that move I had to cancel my contract with Counterforce, the company that provided the burglar alarm for my apartment. Back in 2006, I signed a 3-year contract with Counterforce. About a month and a half remained on that agreement.

When I called Counterforce to tell them I was moving and no longer needed their service, they told me that I would have to buy out the rest of my contract for about $40. No big deal. They also told me that I needed to cancel my account in writing, meaning that I had to send in a letter. No big deal, but a little annoying. Counterforce can easily verify my identity over the phone; they ask me for a secret password every time my alarm goes off. So obviously, the written-cancellation requirement exists solely to make account cancellation more difficult.

So that day, June 16th, I wrote a cancellation letter in Google documents. The next day I sent it.

CUT TO: three days ago. I'm looking at my credit card statement and notice that Counterforce has continued charging my card every month since July. Obviously, I should have been more vigilant and caught this before. But I didn't. My mistake.

I immediately called Counterforce to find out what's going on.

"We never received your cancellation letter," deadpanned the Counterforce Customer Service Specialist. "Also, had you canceled June it would have only cost $46.41 to buy out your contract. Because we didn't hear from you, your contract was automatically extended for one year in August. Now canceling will cost $185.64."

"But I definitely sent a cancellation letter," I replied. "It's dated June 16th in Google documents and 'cancel Counterforce' is crossed off my moving to-do list."

"We never received your cancellation letter."

"Can I talk to someone who has the authority to fix billing errors?"

"Let me have your phone number."

"You have my phone number. It's on the account that you never canceled."

I heard nothing for 2 days.

On the third day, I received a call from a Counterforce Customer Service Specialist Supervisor. I explained my situation to him.

"Do you remember how you sent in your letter?" he asked.

"I actually can't," I honestly replied. "I was doing a lot of canceling and opening of utilities and accounts during the move and I can't remember if I faxed or mailed my letter in. I do know that in three years I have never missed a payment to you guys and I generally do not write up letters and cross items off my to-do list without actually doing them. I am 100% positive that I sent the letter. But I don't have a fax confirmation sheet or a video of me dropping the letter into a post box."

"Well, we didn't receive the letter and the burden of proof is on you," he informed me.

This is when I got annoyed. Yes, I have no way to prove that I sent the letter in. But Counterforce registered my change of address when I moved in June and called into cancel my account. Furthermore nobody has turned on my alarm since then. They know all that. And I had a feeling that mine wasn't the first piece of paperwork they've misplaced. (A quick Google search while I was on the phone confirmed this feeling.)

"I don't want to make a big deal out of this," I said. "I've already paid $150 for service that I didn't get. Can you just waive the $186 cancellation fee? I'll send in another cancellation letter and we'll be done with this."

"I'll drop the cancellation fee to $100. But I don't have to do that."

"I'm not going to pay you guys another cent. Goodbye." I was seething with fury while spitting out these last two sentences. And I probably looked super lame while delivering them.

So that's why I hate Counterforce. This blog is going to document my attempt to get my money back/ seeing justice upheld. Hopefully readers will be helpful with suggestions. I also hope anyone considering signing a contract Counterforce will see this and not do it.