Customer Reviews

InGrid SK804IG Basic Monitoring Kit for 1500 Square Foot Homes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After purchasing this, they then try to get you to sign their service agreement.
I want everyone to be aware of a couple things:
1.) In spite of the fact you pay a premium for the equipment, it completely diactivates should you ever cancel the service, and you are left with a bunch of useless equipment.
2.) There is a 2 year minimum contract
3.) Also, even though there is no finincial risk to InGrid should you cancel early, they slap you with a $175 early termination fee if you should cancel before 2 years.

You might want to be aware of these things before you buy.
I should add that I tried to cancel my service immediatly after becoming aware of these things after reading their SLA, and the lady on the phone was about as insistent I stat as an AOL

rep, and lo and behold they still shipped out the order today and charged my credit card (I canceled 2 hours after placing the order, after hours, and here it is 3pm the next day and they

shipped it anyways, so I'm sure the request to cancel was completely ignored)

UPDATE: After over a year of use, it is still an excellent alarm. Our base station went out and started causing some havoc within the system. I emailed Ingrid and explained the situation expecting that I would have to fight for a new base station or just end up buying one. Well, I was wrong. After my first email, they came back with some troubleshooting tips that I tried and did not work. After that, they determined that it indeed was a bad base unit and told me they would ship one out immediately. Within just a few days, I received the new unit along with an email on how to install it and incorporate into our system. After about 30 minutes, everything was running at top speed again. I was WOWED. My original review is below and as I said in the title, I am VERY IMPRESSED with Ingrid and their customer service.

**Original Review**

I searched high and low for a good alarm system. I called the big boys and the little local shops and was frustrated at the incredibly high cost to install the system in our house. We have 2 sliding doors, 3 entry doors and numerous windows at the ground floor and basement. After looking over all the proposals and seeing that $800.00+ (just for equipment) was my lowest cost (and that STILL didn't cover all the potential break in points), I started looking online for a self install kit. Finding the Ingrid system was almost too good to be true. I was VERY hesitant to order this as I wasn't sure of the quality. But after reading a few reviews, talking to Ingrid and checking out their website, I felt better about my decision.

I ordered the system along with a few more of the door/window sensors and it arrived from Amazon within about a week. I installed the ENTIRE system within about 2 hours total. The sensors are very easy to install and sync with the base/handset and the base unit was a breeze to install on the wall. The tricky part with the panel is what to do with the power cord. I hate dangling lines so I ended up drilling a hole behind the panel and feeding the cord down inside the wall and then popped it back out behind the outlet (located directely below).

I did have a hiccup with my wireless router. I had a Linksys router that didn't play nice with the Ingrid network for some reason. After talking with tech support, they told me that they had heard of these problems with Linksys before. So, I bit the bullet and bought a new router (DLINK). Since then, I haven't had ONE problem with the network.

Functionality of this system is very impressive as well. The web interface (as well as cellular access) is wonderful. You can do almost ANYTHING from there including setting and disabling the alarm. You can assign multiple contact numbers in the event of an alarm and even set it up to text message you.

All of these features cost less than $30.00/month (which was about $10-15/month LESS than the others) for a professionally monitored system.

If you are looking for an affordable and reliable alarm system for your home, but don't want to spend the big bucks for a professional system, look very closely at Ingrids solution.

This kit is a bare bones system but a great starter kit for those with more tailored needs than what is offered in the 2500 sq ft home kit.

Just follow the step by step instructions and you will have the system installed in under an hour. The base you plug into your broadband and an outlet, the handset you plug into an outlet, the console you can mount on the wall or set it on the kitchen counter (connected to an outlet), the window and door sensors come with a 3M sticky tack that doesn't peel off your paint. No drilling necessary (unless you mount the console onto a wall).

I bought my kit from Amazon and got a much better price than what you would get through the Ingrid's website. However my kit did not come with the INGRID window decals and the exterior sign (display materials) which are bundled in the newer kits through the Ingrid site.

You do not have to sign up for Ingrid service to use the system. When the sensors are triggered you will hear a door chime on the handset and the console. That is about all the system can do in its unactivated state. It has no alarm until you sign up for service. When you sign up for the service, the system will have an audible alarm as well as other features like weather updates, alerts, number of calls, messages received, caller ID etc etc.

The system can be accessed online and you can get a very detailed status of you house in a very user-friendly format. It creates a log of everyone who has entered and exited your house. This is done by individually assigned four digit codes. You can arm and disarm as well as change preferences through the online dashboard along with setting notification preferences. Another great benefit to the system is that you can monitor your house even when you are on vacation.

I have already added 2 keychain remotes, a glassbreak detector, another set of window/door sensors, and I bought the exterior sign and window decals through the Ingrid website (shipping is a little expensive, but with all the money I saved its well worth it.

You do need to activate the system for the keychains to work because it needs to undergo a software update. There are other compatible devices that will work with it including motion sensors (Ingrid doesn't really believe in the use of motion sensors-too many false alarms), siren detectors (for smoke and carbon monoxide), heat and water detector (for floods in the basement), and web cameras. Check the wesite for more products. You can also add more consoles and handsets to the system.

Customer service over the Ingrid live chat was very easy and they were very polite and helpful. I have nothing but high accolades for this product and this company. They will have my buisness for a long time.

I haven't had the horrors others describe here. Customer service was very helpful, sending free replacement hardware and talking me through updating it.

Two aspects are annoying, though not deal-breakers: the system can't pick up internet connections when lost, and, whenever a battery dies, or a connection is lost, the system emits a persistent irritating loud beep. Sure, it's important to know -- but imagine your battery dying in the middle of the night.

Other than that, it's worked pretty well for me.

this is a awesome buy.. i bought the home system for a larger house. I wanted to get another keypad and another phone and 2 sensors so i could get text alerts from the alcohol cab and gun safe... this basic kit was perfect i added the console, phone, and sesors to my current system and saved lots of money.. if i bought seperatly i would be spending $99 for the console 89 for the phone and 24.99 x 2 for the sensors and i picked all them up in this bundle for just over 100... great buy and i love the system i would never go with anyone else

At first I thought this product was great. Setup was easy enough and after a few hiccups and resets of equipment, it was all working together with the website, no problem. I even had a false alarm once and, as advertised, the police came and left a note that they'd been there and warned about false alarms. Then things took a turn.

The main connection to the internet was failing. After an hour or more on the phone we still couldn't get it to work, so they sent me out a replacement unit, along with instructions. That didn't work, either (I work on wired and wireless networking for a living, and have a Master's in Electrical Engineering), so I put it aside for another day. A few more months passed and I still hadn't tried again, and I was notified that my credit card on file had expired and I needed to give them updated information. I figured I had spent long enough with them on the phone before, so that this would be a way to stop the $30/month payments for which I was getting no value in return. (I had also discontinued my land phone line as the security system was the only thing that needed it.)

Fast forward 6 months and what do I see on my credit card bill but 6 $30 charges. I figured I would call LifeShield and ask them to credit the charges as I hadn't actually been using the system for a few months before they stopped billing me, and after informing them that they were charging an invalid card (they expiration date they have on file is not valid). I told them that they could verify that the system was not in use because it was not connected to either the phone line (if the internet link is down, it will call in the middle of the night to exchange information with their servers), or to the internet.

Well, they claimed that the charges were valid because I never called to explicitly cancel my subscription. So now I'm forced to dispute the charges with American Express. I guess I should have called to cancel, but I assumed as much had happened since I stopped being billed. Apparently not.

In short, I think that this company is more interested in taking (stealing?) their customers' money than providing a good customer experience.

This alarm is only as good as your broadband connection. In many areas, (especialy apartments and condos), it only takes a moment to kill your connection,then the alarm becomes local. Your expensive monitoring system is worth nothing. You might be better with some other system unless your broadband connection is totally protected from the outside of the building.