Helping family switch from Brinks

Hi all. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the forum but I have a question for the group.

Background: Against my advice, several years ago my parents went through Brinks to have a 2GIG GC2 installed. They have used Brinks to monitor the panel for at least 6 years. The Brinks website says the system model is a 20S001.

I have been asked to help cancel the Brinks service and eventually switch monitoring over to SuretyHome.

Questions:

  1. During the cancellation process is there anything I need to ask Brinks for to make my life easier when I switch to SuretyHome? I’m thinking along the lines of a master unlock code or something.

  2. What will I need to buy to make the old panel work with SuretyHome?

Steps to get started with a 2GIG GC2 and what might be needed are found here:

If they already have a 4G LTE module, they would just need the current provider to cancel their Alarm.com account first then they can activate service on our website.

If they need a new module because their current one is 3G, cancellation of the existing account first is not necessary.

Only the master user code would be required to get started and run a cell test. This would be the primary account holder’s user code #1. Installer code can then be reset remotely in our system manager after getting activated.

Thank you. I have started the cancellation process with Brinks and am told it takes 30 days to finalize. Once the account is cancelled I am told I can contact them again to have the alarm.com account released/cancelled. I’ll post again once that has been done.

I wanted to post an update about our Brinks cancellation in hopes that it may help someone in the future.

My parents had a 2GIG GC2 with an LTE cellular module that was registered with Brinks. We started the cancellation process with Brinks during early December 2022.

We called customer service and explained that we wanted to cancel. They asked some questions and transferred us to someone else who made multiple attempts to keep us as customers. The lowest price we were offered was $14.99 per month but that price would have involved signing a new contract. We declined their offers. Eventually it was explained that we would receive a DocuSign by email and that service would be cancelled 30 days after it was returned. We did receive the DocuSign a day or two later and returned it immediately.

We received emails about every other day trying to convince us to stay with Brinks.

A few days ago (early January 2023) service was cancelled but the LTE cellular module was still registered on a Brinks/Alarm.com account and this prevented us from transferring service to Surety. We called Brinks customer service and explained what we needed and they tried to get us to sign up for service again. We politely declined and were transferred to someone from Tech Support who we could hear but who apparently was unable to hear us. She eventually hung up on us so we called again. The second person we spoke with from Tech Support was very helpful and had the Alarm.com account deleted in less than five minutes.

All in all it wasn’t a horrible experience but I very much prefer the way Surety does business. That’s why I’ve been a customer for six years. That’s also why I brought my parents to Surety.

Some takeaways from our experience canceling with Brinks:

  1. Be polite but firm. The reps at Brinks are required to try to convince you to stay. It’s very annoying but I still recommend being polite. “No thank you, we just want to cancel.”

  2. They will make multiple offers which sound great but keep in mind they probably require a new contract.

  3. I am fairly certain that Tech Support does not work on the weekends even though their website says they do. I recommend calling early in the morning on a weekday.

  4. I don’t know if we lucked out or just used the right words but the second rep from Tech Support understood exactly what we needed. I told her we were going with a new Alarm.com provider and that we needed the Brinks Alarm.com account associated with our panel/IMEI to be deleted. If you get a rep who doesn’t understand I recommend hanging up and calling back until you get someone more knowledgeable.

  5. Make sure they have the correct email address for the DocuSign cancellation documents and return them promptly.

  6. If possible, pay your final bill (ours was prorated) prior to the account being cancelled. This is my opinion but I would imagine they are less likely to work with you if there is a balance on the account.

I hope this helps someone in the future. Good luck.