Fayetteville homeowner alarmed by faulty security system

Fayetteville's Joseph Smith contacted 5 On Your Side after he says that's what the company told him to do when his brand new home alarm system kept going off all hours of the day and night. Smith got the system last December.

Technicians spent hours installing it. Smith says soon after they left, the false alarms started. "Ear piercing," said Smith of the noise. "It definitely gets your blood pressure going."

His new alarm screamed randomly throughout the day and in the middle of the night, several times a night, for no reason.

"Just as you're starting to fall back asleep, you have to jump up and cut the alarm off," Smith said.

He bought the alarm through Defender Direct, an ADT alarm system dealer. It was installed by a company called Protect Your Home. Smith says he called the company each time there was a false alarm. Smith says it started with the front door, then a window, then the back door.

"Every time we'd leave the house we'd get a false alarm, and the police would be called out," Smith said. "That was getting annoying."

Smith estimates he had at least 20 false alarms in the first two and a half months he had the system. Fayetteville police sent letters threatening fines – as much as $200 for each false alarm.

The last time Smith called for repairs, he says, "they told me it would be two weeks before they could get out here to fix it."

His patience wearing thin, Smith contacted 5 On Your Side, which contacted ADT.

"Once I got in touch with you guys and ya'll let them know that this is going to be looked into, then they got on the ball and done something about it," Smith said.

ADT connected with Protect Your Home, which blamed a "bad piece of equipment," so they replaced every sensor in the Smith's home.

"I was relieved that I finally got some attention, but it shouldn't have to go to that extreme though. That's ridiculous," Smith said.

Smith told Fayetteville police what was going on. Since repair crews had been out a few times to work on the problems, he never had to pay a fine.