News 12 at 6, July 25, 2008

AUGUSTA -- For the past few years, Michelle Johnson had been sleeping easy, believing her home was being protected by the company ADT. That is until she got a rude awakening when she found her protection wasn't as protective as she thought.

Michelle knows her house is pretty well-protected by her four legged security system. But she wanted a bit more. That's why she got another security system with the company ADT.

She thought she was good until she returned home recently.

"I had a message on my machine from ADT saying we had an alarm event," Michelle told 12 On Your Side.

That's not the weird part. This is:

"They were sending the police to 301. I live at 307."

That's right, the company she was paying for security didn't have the right address. The authorities were sent to the wrong house.

Dispatcher: "This is ___ with Columbia County Emergency Services. How can I help you?
ADT Operator: "This is ___ with ADT security services. I was calling dispatch on a residential burglar alarm signal."
Dispatcher: "Okay, what's the address?"
ADT Operator: "301 __ Road."

Again, Michelle lives at 307, not 301. Strangely enough, there isn't even a 301 on her road. The addresses start with 303.

The company may not have known where to send first responders, but it did know where to send the bills.

"I received all my bills here. I had all my contracts that state 307. As far as I'm concerned, they had the right contract," she said.

12 On Your Side got this response from ADT:

"Due to an error in the programming of the alarm panel at this residence, ADT refunded the customer's money as she requested."

Michelle ended up getting back all the money she had paid during her almost 4 years of service.

But even when her cancellation letter arrived, there was something weird. 301 was still listed as the service location.

"Even after all of this, they had the incorrect monitoring address," she said.

A lot of you have security systems, and it's recommended you call your company and make sure the service address is correct before an emergency happens.

With the $1400 we helped Michelle got back, that makes a grand total of $402,057.67 we have helped recover for our viewers.