Is Brinks a Good Home Security System?

Brinks Home Security is one of the most well-known home security systems on the market today. But although they’ve been around for some time, their customer service reputation is a little less well understood. Let’s dive deep into Brinks, what they offer, and what their customers say about their services so far.

Brinks Home Security Breakdown

Brinks Home Security comes with three main services, also called equipment packages. These are Smart Security Essential, Complete, and Ultimate.

The Essential Package

The Essential Package has everything you need for basic home security, and it’s not technically complex. As a result, it’s easy to install everything yourself. It comes with a single Brinks touchscreen panel, two wireless door sensors, a wireless motion sensor, and a yard sign. The bundle itself costs $199 while the monitoring service is an additional $39 per month. All in all, it’s enough for a small home or family without a lot of outdoor ground to cover.

The Complete package

The Complete package is $349 out of the box. It comes with everything from the previous bundle in addition to an indoor camera that has night vision capability, a motion detector, and an extra entryway sensor. Both the previous package and this one allow you to access your cameras through the mobile application.

The Ultimate package

Finally, the Ultimate package gives you everything from the previous two bundles for $1099, in addition to several other utilities like a video doorbell camera, another outdoor camera, and free professional installation.

Brinks also works with Nest Secure, which can provide professional monitoring and home automation features. These are sold in year-long contracts, starting at $29.99 per month. 

One last thing: Brinks allows you to either install your security systems yourself or choose professional installation, which is a nice option that not every security company provides.

Brinks Home Security Ratings

Let’s take a look at how other people review Brinks to get an idea about how much their service is really worth.

Consumer Affairs, the biggest review collection sites on the entire Internet, has Brinks at a current review average at about 3.3 stars. Most of their users who leave reviews are overall positive, leaving four or five-star reviews on average. General positive points include ease-of-use, easy installation, and overall consistency with the quality of the security equipment. There are some negative reviews, though these are mostly about customer service representatives or the time it takes to get a contract going depending on location. 

The Better Business Bureau also offers some insight into Brinks’ overall customer reputation. Brinks has about a 1.2-star average on this website. Most of the complaints detail issues about pricing and equipment malfunction concerns. But while there is a significant number of negative reviews, there’s also plenty of chatter from the customer service side of things. So it appears that Brinks’ customer service reps at least attempt to help disgruntled customers some of the time.

Lastly, Reviews.org gives Brinks a 3 out of 5-star rating. Their expert review demonstrates the quality of Brinks’ home security equipment offerings and their user-friendly approach to home security installation, particularly since you can DIY everything yourself. Their prices are decent if not incredible, and their customer service appears to be better than average compared to other home security companies in the industry.

Brinks Home Security Complaints

The majority of users who complain about Brinks have negative things to say about their customer service side of the operation. Most of the people who use their equipment and end up signing a contract with Brinks have good things to say or are generally satisfied with the home security service on a technical level. This goes to show that their equipment seems to be mostly in order and what you would expect from services priced around their ranges.

However, it’s clear from the majority of customer complaints that Brinks could do some work on the human side of things. Customers are having issues communicating clearly with customer service representatives or with getting their technical issues handled. Furthermore, several customers have complained about billing issues regarding their contract or random fees that they don’t understand or don’t feel are fair.

For instance, one particular complaint detailed how Brinks messed up their Social Security number and generated a copy. This resulted in an issue where the customer didn’t have the right to access their account and their money (and home security service) was suddenly put at risk.

Thus, some customers might want to pursue action against Brinks because of these grievances. Because the majority of these problems are caused by human interactions, they’re extremely preventable and shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Brinks Home Security Lawsuits

Brinks has already been in the news when it comes to lawsuits and pressing claims. For instance, a hedge fund group previously sued the parent company of Brinks in order to prevent them from restructuring their company organization. This came at a time when Brinks had recently filed for bankruptcy, and the CEOs and similar higher-ups were attempting to save their own skins without considering the needs of their employees or all those who worked beneath them. In total, the lawsuit amount totaled $100 million.

An additional class-action lawsuit against Brinks is currently taking place, specifically against the company in California. While the exact details aren’t known (as the investigation is still ongoing), it’s clear that Brinks violated California law by not reimbursing former and current employees for business expenses, like mileage.

All in all, Brinks does have a decent reputation compared to many other home security system companies. But there’s no doubt that many of their customers have valid grievances that they might want to be addressed one way or another. 

At Fairshake, you can pursue independent arbitration with one of our experts rather than going through the tiring inexpensive legal process. The best part about independent arbitration with us? It doesn’t cost you a dime unless you win, and we have the experience and drive to take the fight to big companies like Brinks.

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