Churches Fire & Security Reviews 56

Worked for the company for around a year, amazing place to work all in all. Customer service is always top of the list and most people do care. Churches fire and security are always looking for ways to improve and develop as a company for a better experience and overall level to the customer.

I was a customer for many years of the highly regarded Mono Alarms which were acquired by Churches Fire and Security in March 2022 and was told nothing would change. I pay an annual fee for the maintenance and service. At the (delayed) annual service in January 2023 I asked if the battery was ok as I had problems with a faulty battery when the alarm was first installed 30 years ago (replaced Sept. 2019, have the specification). On June 19th the panel started beeping, the system wouldn’t set and a message appeared to say the battery was running low.

I called out the engineer to replace the battery which turned out to be about 4 years old and should have been done at the service. While the engineer was on site I asked him to replace an old sensor. Afterwards I received a bill of £322.15 (including 20% VAT) for the call out which listed:
Call out charge £80, Sensor £126.15, Battery £43.57, Old battery disposal £16.55 (All plus VAT at 20%)

As a result I got in touch with one of my local contacts who has many years experience in the security industry and is competent and honest. I showed him the itemised bill and the detector which was fitted. An internet search for the prices of reputable brands of the items fitted confirmed my suspicions that I was being overcharged.
Battery disposal. Recycling centre is nearby for free disposal. Rechargeable 12 volt 3amp battery cost £14.95 + VAT, Sensor £13.99 + VAT
I have contacted Churches listing the internet prices compared with their charges and I await their comments and justification. If Churches Fire and Security don’t treat customers (and their staff) fairly they will lose business and tarnish the company reputation! Along with many other dissatisfied customers I will not be the first to cancel the service contract when the current one expires.

This company acquired Mono Alarms and we were told nothing would change.
We pay an annual fee for the monitoring, maintenance and service of the system.
Churches have recently been out to service the system and have left me with a bill of c£350 for changing the batteries and replacing a PIR (that was installed less than 2 years ago). The charge for the PIR was £233. I have found the same device online for £59.50. The bill charge for the batteries was £126. Screwfix supply the same batteries for c£35. To add insult to injury, they then wanted to charge £16 to "dispose" of the old batteries. The local tip has a collection box so these batteries can be disposed of free of charge.
I have challenged the charges but have heard nothing (despite a promise of a 3 day turnaround) and an email chase up.
I don't recall ever paying Mono for batteries and they would have replaced the failed PIR free of charge.
Churches is a consolidator buying up smaller alarm companies so presumably they have a rather large debt pile to service. I understand that they have to make profit but these rates are just ridiculous.
Mono was a great family company with an impeccable reputation. Unfortunately they sold to a corporate focused purely on profit rather than service.
So has nothing changed? - It doesn't appear to the the case.

So 5 days after calling to complain that the engineer failed to attend a planned call to my property for the second time in a month and a promise that someone would call me, nothing! I can’t believe how a company can behave in this way. Absolutely shocking.

Have emailed customer services with the same simple same query for the last 3 months and the only reply I get is we are busy and a reply may take a little longer. Absolutely useless. So many other providers out there and I will be switching

One star is one too many for this company. They purchased our existing provider Mono Alarms and have failed to resolve a call out that is over 12 months old ( I only need an new external sensor). Nobody appears to take ownership or has the ability to resolve problems. All invoices are in query. They blame Mono's systems, I didnt have any problems with Mono's systems for 9 years until these guys took over. Derek Ho has been trying to resolve this since July 2022. I have even been contacted to see if I would like any other services provided to me ! The Mono engineers have left. Avoid Avoid Avoid
UPDATE - having finally had the parts fitted in July23, and being credited in Sept 23 as they were included in my contract - Churches have now decided they have a different contract to the one I have that doesn't cover external sensors from rain damage and now want to charge me over £1k to replace two GJD's. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY.

EDIT;

I have now had a helpful conversation and email from Churches customer experience team.

I was left with the impression that my feedback was important for them to improve customer services and I am happy with the agreed outcome.

Dreadful company. Like other reviewers, they bought the company that installed my alarm at home, Mono. I paid Mono an annual amount which included an annual service and no call out fees for any issues.

Churches wrote to us to say they were taking over, and nothing would change.

They came out and did a fix on one issue.

The next time they tried to charge an exorbitant call out fee. When I queried it that asked me to prove I shouldn’t pay it, but declined my offer for them to prove I should.

I challenged the invoice and sent all the evidence in January 2023 and I’ve had no reply.

They serviced my wireless alarm in February and didn’t replace any of the batteries in my wireless shock sensors.

One went over the May bank holiday weekend and they wanted £160+VAT as a call out fee, despite the fact this battery should have been replaced in February.

Called them to challenge this earlier this week - lots more “prove it!” attitude from them. Have sent a complaint but as they don’t reply it will never be answered so I am left with a non functioning house alarm.

So now I’m looking for another provider. Avoid Churches at all costs.

This company charges exorbitant prices for replacement fire extinguishers that can be bought for a fraction of the price from other suppliers. Be warned, do not accept these costs until you have checked the prices elsewhere. Churches have always been the most expensive company by far but play on "regulations" to get more vulnerable customers to stay with them.

This company had the cheek not only to bill me 46 days after I had already paid the original bill in full, but to add £1.20 on to the original bill on their "reminder" invoice. I sent them an email to their "customer services" drawing attention to their oversight and unsurprisingly I'm still waiting to receive an apology or explanation.

Churches Fire & Security took over Detect Fire & Security - the firm who installed a CCTV system at our property in 2021. For the first few months since Detect installed the system it was working perfectly, then the alerts stopped working properly so when the annual service was due, I reported this. The Churches Technician attended in March 2022 and was unable to resolve the CCTV alert issue and left, telling us that he would speak to Churches Technical team and report back. We heard nothing for a number of weeks and upon contacting Customer Service was informed the Technician was off sick. We have since been sent an invoice every few months for the CCTV service but I have refused to pay as the job is still unfinished. A lot of going back and forth has been going on and still no nearer to getting the problem resolved. Now churches are claiming that a Technician attended in March this year and the outcome is that we need to upgrade the CCTV!!! Well this is a lie as we have not had a Tech visit since March 2022. Their customer service is shocking. Be warned.

We have been a customer of this company for over 18 years albeit they purchased the original company we were with. They have then repeatedly failed to service out alarm but have billed us and threatened us with court action even though they failed to actually do anything. We have ended our involvement with them because of repeated poor service and we are trying to be reimbursed for the amount we have paid for which we have not received any service. Their customer service is appalling we have not had an apology. They took seven weeks to respond to our complaint, the response to this was that “they have been busy” if I treated customers like this I would be out of business

Albert arrived on time and was very friendly and professional. He gave good advice and was able to replace some of our equipment there and then, which was great and has left me feeling a little safer!

Churches Fire & Security took over our existing provider and charged much higher fees for our village hall. When we told them that we no longer requred their services they charged an exit fee from the contract although a written contract was never signed or issued. Apparently this is normal practice for them according to those in the trade. Please be aware of this before thinking of employing them. I also wish there was a zero star rating!!

Dragon, taken over by Churches. Gone downhill. Have two properties with them and leaving.
Amazingly they charge 50p a minute to phone them! without any warning of charge. No modern simple chat function.
Tried emailing them 2 days ago - haven't heard back.

This company, (Churches Fire Security Ltd) bought out the company that serviced and monitored my domestic security alarm system. They did not communicate this well at all and the level of service dropped immediately, it seemed like they were not really set up for working with domestic customers. Contact details changed overnight and were not communicated to me. Costs were increased quickly, and the way service visits were booked changed without any notice, even trying to make a simple enquiry led to spending hours on the phone talking to people who I felt were not really interested, in an attempt to get to the right person. They came to fix a fault, eventually, but it recurred, and they came back several times before it was put right, but then tried to charge me for each visit. I was paying for alarm monitoring and then whilst I was on holiday abroad and had a notification that the alarm at home had activated - it was a false alarm, but they refused to reset the alarm remotely - so we had to leave the property without an active alarm for over a week (begging the question why pay hundreds of pounds for monitoring if that's how it works?). The annual contract I paid for shortly after they were forced upon me has now expired and I asked them to cancel their service and found a provider that is much better value for money in a domestic situation. However, as well as trying hard to get me to tell them who I have moved to (its none of their business) Churches are now trying to charge a "cancellation fee" citing a 12 month notice of cancellation period in their terms and conditions, which I have never seen - and despite me never having chosen them as a provider - they were forced upon me as they took over a company and I was given no notice of that or choice to opt out. I had little time to consider my options before their first annual payment was due. My impression is of a large company mainly aimed at business customers, who are not set up to deal with domestic customers and to whom customer service levels do not matter, and who are only interested in making as much profit as possible from the customers of businesses they have acquired, and they are well versed in the tricks of their trade to try to get one over on people.
UPDATE
After threatening to sue me for the full cost of a years service contract, for daring to cancel their contract before it renewed, Churches have now finally backed off and cancelled that action.