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March 9, 2022

Middletown’s Safe Home Security faces $5M judgment for faulty equipment, service

Photo | Safe Home Security website Safe Home Security's Middletown headquarters.
By Liese Klein

Middletown-based Safe Home Security and its president David Roman face a $5 million stipulation judgment by the state for years of “bad business practices,” state officials announced Wednesday. 

Attorney General William Tong and Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull issued a joint statement on the judgment, attributed to  the company’s ignoring court orders to improve its performance since 2007. 

“Families turned to Safe Home Security to safeguard their homes, and the company failed them,” Tong said. “We have heard from hundreds of angry consumers who were locked into bad contracts and left with broken and poorly installed equipment.”

Seagull said, “It is time for Safe Home Security to do the right thing, come into compliance with these court-mandated requirements, and provide consumers with the level of service and professionalism we expect from Connecticut businesses.”

Joseph Lipari, an attorney with New York's Sultzer Law Group who represents Safe Home, said the attorney general's statement was inaccurate and that the company had made a business decision to settle the case.

“We settled the case, there's been no finding of liability,” Lipari said, adding that the statement by Tong and Seagull was misleading. “What a disappointing statement, and it is so divorced from the reality of the case and the circumstances surrounding the settlement.”

“Safe Home is a highly respected company with satisfied customers across the country,” Lipari said. “Safe Home has employed many hundreds of Connecticut men and women over two decades and Safe Home is very disappointed that the attorney general has chosen to put out this inaccurate statement."

The state Attorney General’s office first sued Safe Home Security Inc. in 2007 in response to numerous complaints about defective alarm and monitoring systems, unresponsive technicians and missed appointments. The state also alleged that the company’s long-term contracts did not comply with Connecticut law and were renewed automatically without giving customers an opportunity to cancel.

A settlement including $30,000 in customer restitution and a $70,000 civil penalty was reached in 2014, but hundreds of complaints about Safe Home continued to arrive in subsequent years. In 2019, Tong issued a warning to consumers about doing business with the company. 
 
Under the latest judgment, Safe Home Security must pay $1 million within 10 months, with the remaining $4 million suspended pending their compliance with orders including hiring an independent monitor to review their performance for a period of five years. 

Safe Home must also establish a dedicated email address to receive and track complaints and, “make a good faith effort to resolve all unresolved complaints filed with the Office of the Attorney General.”

According to the Safe Home Security website, the company has 200,000 customers and is ranked as the 6th largest residential security company in the U.S. The company is based at 1125 Middle St. in Middletown. 

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
 

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