Saber Security Systems

We have had our security system with Saber for almost 3 years. The installation went well and the system has worked well. The problem we have is with their office staff and customer service. About a year ago I had a question regarding the operation of our security system. I made three calls to the office. Never did get a return call or have my question answered. They had a no care attitude. I had another issue this week trying to get my security certificate faxed to my homeowner’s insurance company in order to keep my discount. After three contacts, it is still not taken care of. They again had a no care attitude. Seriously rethinking if we want to stay with them.

After losing our home to a fire on Christmas Day 2009, we knew we needed to include modern safety features when we rebuilt our home. And we’d never had an integrated home entertainment system and so we decided to include that as well. It’s all fairly easy to do when you’re building from the ground up.
Matt was great in helping us to design the systems — taking into account our budget and our lifestyle. He gave us good pricing on the home theatre equipment so we purchased almost all of it through Saber (I think 5 TVs total came from Saber, but the big mac daddy 60″ one in the living room we purchased elsewhere due to some phenomenal sale we stumbled upon — and Saber installed it for us). So Saber ended up installing the integrated fire alarm/​security system and a whole house entertainment system, including outdoor living spaces. We have not had them do any monitoring for us.
I don’t think we had them do too complex of a home theatre set up — basically wall mounted cable TVs in the bedrooms, mac daddy in the living room with the whole surround thingy, apple TV, and stereo system. We wanted to be able to do some basic stuff like:
— watch movies in the living room
— play music from our iPhones, or from iTunes via our computers, throughout the house (think spring cleaning)
— play music outside (while gardening)
— run a slideshow using photos from our computers while playing music
All of this was doable, Matt assured us — nothing was out of the ordinary. And so we wrote them a big check, and they set us up, handed us the universal remote, and life was good. The price for their services was not cheap, but since we’re not AV geeks, it was fair.
But the problem with most technology is that sometimes things just stop working. Whether it stops working because it just feels like it, or because someone inadvertently presses some mysterious sequence of keys that tells it to stop working, isn’t really the point. No one is to blame, just sometimes things stop working. Like suddenly we could listen to music in the house, but the outdoor speakers stopped carrying our tunes. Or we suddenly couldn’t reach iTunes on one computer, but could from another. Or the super duper universal remote suddenly stopped operating one of the many devices and so we had to pull out a second remote to operate just that one device.
And this is where things go south in a hurry. Because after you’ve paid Saber a handsome fee for their quality work, you are now stuck with a system that is too big for your britches when something goes wrong. Saber will gladly come out and fix you up, but that comes at a hefty hourly fee. We have sucked it up and shelled out the bucks to have them come out (i think) twice during the past five years when we had these mysterious mishaps. The first time, sure enough, they got us operational again — but the second time the technician did not finish all he was supposed to correct (i don’t remember the exact issue but at first he tried to tell us «it doesn’t work that way» and when we insisted that it _​had_​been working that way, he promised to come back or call back to finish the work, but he never did). So basically what we have now is a slick, modern, quality home theatre system that kinda sorta works most of the time. For the investment we made, «kinda sorta» just doesn’t cut it. and so I am dissatisfied.
I really wish Saber would do something like offer an annual «checkup» service. I’d gladly pay them up front, say 50 – 75 bucks a year, to come out and review my entire system — tweak the things that need tweaking, reprogram the things that need reprogramming. Or, I wish they would have provided detailed documentation about the system they installed for us, complete with an FAQ that covers self-​care for the simpler stuff. Or, I wish they would have a self-​care section on their website for troubleshooting issues. Any of these things would tell me that Saber cares a lot about the relationships they are building with their customers, and that they understand that we hired them because we don’t understand how this stuff works (and quite possibly don’t care to know).
Are they skilled? For sure.
Will you get a good system and will it be expertly installed? Yes, and somewhat.
Are you building a long-​term relationship with these guys? Eh, no.

When we purchased our house a little over 2 yrs ago — the previous owners had Saber Security so we had them come out and give us their pitch. The initial problem I had was that the security system had been installed for many years (house was 10 yrs old as was the technology of the alarm system), they didn’t install any new equipment and if I wanted to sign up with them — I had to sign a 3yr contract — why? There was no discount with the 3yr contract (if you pay in advance for the whole year it is a 5% discount or provide credit card for annual auto renewal is 10% discount). I was fine with paying quarterly and having a 1yr contract but was told that all new customers had to sign a 3yr contract (then it renews for 1yr at a time). I was told I owned the equipment and that after signing up, it would only be under warranty for 90 days and then if anything failed — I’d have pay for a tech service call & parts (usually ~$ 200). This should’ve been enough red flags but with the new house, selling previous house, moving, etc, etc … we went ahead and signed up.
Now a little over 2yrs in — I find out that they only support ATT or TWC for VOIP phone service. Since I was with ATT, this meant that I had an extra $ 35/​month to keep phone service. I switched to Ooma (only $ 5/​month) and they said their system wouldn’t work with Ooma and that my only option was to buy a $ 200 cellular adapter (I own it, has a 90 warranty plus it adds an extra $ 6/​month to the monitoring bill). The only upside to this cellular adapter was that it will work on battery during a power failure (unlike VOIP). The risk of being robbed during the short window of most power failures is miniscule.
Several other companies offer a wireless internet IP solution that connects to your home network and transmits any status or alarms back to the monitoring station via your internet connection. They offer the IP wireless module for free, it doesn’t have any additional monthly charge and provides remote control of your alarm via PC or smartphone. Unfortunately, Saber doesn’t offer this level of service or didn’t tell me about it because the only option was the $ 200 cellular/​with an extra $ 6/​month.
I’m able to save $ 30/​month by switching from ATT to Ooma for my VOIP phone service but Saber won’t support VOIP unless it is from ATT or TWC (no Vonage, Magic Jack, Ooma, Sudden Link, Grande, etc).
So I want to cancel but you guessed it — that will cost me $ 200 also because of the 3yr contract I signed when we initiated service.
There are better security provider and monitoring solutions available — be sure to compare contract length, age of equipment, features, discounts, pricing and warranty before you sign on the dotted line with Saber. I learned my lesson the hard way (costing me an extra $ 200)!

I was recommended to Saber by a work colleague. Based on his experience, we recently had a home AV system installed across three rooms — media room, master bed room and family room. The Saber team was prompt and very responsive during installation. For follow up items, they answer questions on our schedule (e.g. after dinner) and will walk us through any issues on the phone. In addition they were just out here reprogramming the universal remotes to add some features that we forgot to request. We also have a home security system with Saber. Price was just fine and the installation/​tech support folks have been incredibly responsive!

I’ve been with Saber for 3 + years and have never required their services — fortunately. Recently though, our motion detector went off while we were away, Saber called us, we went home and found that there was no problem. They sent a technician who replaced our motion detector. They then charged us around $ 125 — $ 75 for a visit and around $ 50 for a new motion detector. When we called, essentially were told that it’s our equipment so too bad — the charges stand. If I own the equipment, where is the old motion detector so I can see if the manufacturer will check it out for problems?
We had messages on our console which were not detailed in the manual… good luck getting help from them on the weekend.
I emailed their company, no response. ASAP, I will be changing companies.