CastleRock Security, Complaints, Scam and Fraud

CastleRock Security tried just over a year ago to make this domain name go away, to which I told them to pound sand and vowed to make this site rise up to theirs in Google’s search rankings. If you have found this site then you likely already know that it ranks 2 and sometimes 3 for the keyword “CastleRock Security”. I am capable of making it rank number 1 above CastleRockSecurity.com but I don’t feel investing any actualy effort is called for. If you google their company name then chances are you are not looking for them but for complaints about them.

This company is wrong on so many levels. They provide a service that is questionable to begin with and marred with complaints of not responding properly to distress calls and not having the necessary emergency phone information to respond properly. Obviously the most common complaint against CastleRock Security is their aggressive contract renewal scam in which they knowingly don’t tell people their agreement will auto renew then force them into another year of service. They are now being sued by Cook county in Illinois and I was extremely happy to see that this company has been made liable for these actions.

Since launching this website I have managed to put the keyword “life insurance quote” on page 1 for my primary website YourLifeSolution.com, and I will soon have “life insurance quotes” on page 1 which is worth three times more. Between these two keywords I will have an immense and independent income. Why am I telling you this? I’m not, I’m telling the CastleRock Security folk who are reading this . PS If you appreciate this website run a life insurance quote at my website YourLifeSolution.com and find out if I can save you a bit of money over your existing policy, and if you don’t have coverage by all means buy some.

CastleRock Security lost the battle, the war, and will lose the lawsuit to Cook County. As of the time of me writing this they have 918 complaints over the last 36 months with the Better Business Bureau. They are simply falling apart and I can tell you as an absolute prediction they will not last much longer.

As I brought up earlier, Cook County is now coming down on CastleRock Security. A lot of people are wondering how to contact Cook county and find out what they are entitled to. Contact Cook County State’s Attorney Consumer Fraud Unit at (312) 603-8700 to learn more.

IP Address Location

IP Address 63.150.20.163
City Arlington Heights
State or Region Illinois
Country United States
ISP Security Associates Intl.
Latitude & Longitude 42.088360 -87.980627 MapG MapV
Domain CASTLEROCKSECURITY.COM
ZIP Code 60005

This ip address has been trolling this site frequently and attempting to defamate me.  This is the type of professionalism you can expect from

CastleRock Security

In addition to seeking restitution for the victims, the lawsuit seeks to enjoin CastleRock Security from engaging in deceptive practices in the future. Consumers who believe that they may have been victimized by this company can contact the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Consumer Fraud Unit for assistance at (312) 603-8700.

A national home security company has been accused in a consumer fraud lawsuit of ripping off customers by providing false and misleading information about the company’s cancellation policies, Cook County, Illinois, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said.

CastleRock Security Inc., of Arlington Heights, Ill., is accused of violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act as well as the Automatic Contract Renewal Act. Also named in the lawsuit is Brian Johnson, president of the company.

their service contract.

“These individuals all believed they took the appropriate steps to cancel a service they no longer wanted,” said Alvarez. “Consumers should be aware that there are protections under the law that prevents them from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous practices.”

According to the lawsuit, CastleRock employees are alleged to have routinely omitted or provided inaccurate information to consumers who called to cancel their service contracts causing them to incur thousands of dollars in unwanted charges and harassment from collection agencies.

Although automatic consumer contract renewals are allowed under Illinois law, a company is required to notify customers at least 60 days prior to expiration of the contract in order to provide the consumer with the opportunity to cancel the contract in writing or by telephone.

In the last three years, the Better Business Bureau has logged over 750 complaints from consumers nationwide in relation to the business practices of CastleRock Security.According to the lawsuit filed by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, one of the victims was assured by a representative of the company that her service would be cancelled when her contract expired.

A few months later she received a bill from CastleRock and when she inquired was told that proper procedure to cancel her contract had not been followed and thus it had been automatically renewed for another year. When the victim refused to pay, the company sent her past due bills to a collection agency that continues to contact her to this day.

In another instance, a customer attempting to cancel her service was told that in order to cancel she was required to fax a letter to the company prior to the contract’s renewal date. A few months later the victim discovered that the company had deducted money from her checking account despite her having faxed the proper cancellation letter.

When she called the company, another representative told her that the letter had to be received at least 30 days before the expiration of the contract and that her contract had been renewed for another year.

All of the victims represented in the lawsuit had their bills referred to collection agencies that continue to contact them to this day. The disputed charges were also referred to credit reporting agencies.

One of the firefighters killed by a security company's negligence

CastleRock Security complaints are actually pretty petty compared to how their negligence killed several firefighters as explained in this article below.  This is a post regarding the CastleRock Security lawsuit and ongoing CastleRock Security scam.  Just to clarify, SAI and CastleRock Security are the same operation run by mostly the same people. 

From the Contra Costa Times:

Carolyn Desmond is suing in Contra Costa Superior Court Utah-based
Pinnacle Security, one of the country’s largest residential alarm
dealers, and Illinois-based Security Associates International, one of
the largest alarm monitoring companies in the country, for what she
says was Desmond’s wrongful death. Desmond, fire Capt. Matt Burton and
husband-and-wife homeowners Grace and Delbert Moore, died in the July
21, 2007, fire at 149 Michele Drive in unincorporated San Pablo.
Desmond’s family is asking for unspecified damages.

CastleRock Security is currently at 696 BBB complaints.  At the rate they are climbing they will likely reach 700 complaints as of today.  To put this in perspective, ADT has about 4 times as many complaints, but does roughly 100 times the business.  CastleRock Security manages to get 2-4 new BBB complaints per day.  They can continue blaming their problems on those they purchased their contracts from, but this is an obvious red herring.

Here are CastleRock Security’s actual financials according to Nasdaq:

CastleRock Security's method for retaining customers

Here is an actual response CastleRock Security made in response to someone asking they waive their sneaky auto-renewal:

Also extended my contract one week before I called to cancel. They are not getting my money..I closed account that was being debitted. Customer service is rude and not helpful. I have registered a complaint with Illinois Attorney General, 100 West Randolph St., Chicago, IL.’
Register your complaint so we can put an end to this company’s fraudulant practices!