I recently engaged J&J Security Systems for an installation, attracted by their high 5-star reviews. However, my experience was mixed, and I’d rate the service closer to 3 stars based on several issues encountered.
The initial interaction started poorly when their after-hours answering service failed to return my call. A simple overlook, but after a follow-up call, a salesperson came out to evaluate and assured us that they could “do whatever we needed.” However, the PDFs attached to the invoice of the models to be installed did not match what was actually installed, the promised mobile app was not set up, and the functionality, while it worked, did not live up to expectations.
The installer, while fairly knowledgeable, knew “just enough to be dangerous.” He set the device with a static IP without understanding our network setup, which could lead to potential conflicts and loss of access to the device later on. He also seemed unfamiliar with the specific product during the post-installation walkthrough, which would have been acceptable if the company offered tech support. Unfortunately, their invoice states that return trips for commercial customers, including re-training, is billed at $125/hr.
The installation of the push-to-exit button was particularly frustrating. Initially, it was installed off-center on the door post, and the team left with a “that’s the best we could do” mentality. I had to withhold the final payment for the owner, Johnny, to return a week later and correct the installation. Even now, the push-to-exit button is not back-lit as you'd expect and does not work as expected; clients need to “press and hold” to exit rather than simply push to exit. I did however let him know that I'd accept this, as it seemed to be even more of a hassle to order in the correct part and delay this project even further.
During the setup of the mobile app, I was called by the third-party tech company who informed me of what I needed to tell the installers for them to set me up - at that point, it seemed like I was working for them.
On the positive side, Johnny was responsive when I withheld the final payment and did make efforts to address and correct the issues. However, the overall experience fell short of their high rating and my initial expectations.
EDIT: Everything said in the response by the owner is 100% accurate, I did not want to continue the back and forth and waiting another week for issues to be resolved. The pictures were provided to show the primary issue was resolved. The initial quote was in-fact outside of our budget, however the model numbers/equipment aforementioned was not provided until the price was agreed on, emails with deposit required were sent with models the "to-be-installed", and the deposit was paid on-time. Don't get me wrong, the system DOES work and is functional, and the attempt to make good was also noted in the initial review, however my overall experience is still an OK 3-star review overall.
