Advance Electronic Solutions-2 AES-2

ok. this is fair warning. I read these reviews and did not listen, so here is your chance. If you are a prospective customer or new home builder considering this company, you should without question, look elsewhere. Their customer service, equipment and people are a nightmare to work with. If you don’t believe me, try calling sometime and see how long it takes for alive person to call you back… yes call you back since they never answer their phones! There is a good reason they have only 1.5 stars (can they go any lower really?)…it is an old saying that says «a thousand flies can’t be wrong!»

Shea Homes was the builder who told us we had to use AES2 for our wiring and security system. We did but have never liked their customer service or should I say they don’t have any customer service. When we recently cancelled our land line, we found out our security system was attached to it. No one had ever told us that. No big deal, AES2 would upgrade our system to wireless (for a mere $ 1250). The service guy was here from 9:30 to 4:15 (I was told he would only be here 4 hours)! Now here it is just one week later and the alarm keeps going off indicating a system failure! I called customer service but they were closed (it was 3:40). I called back and tried to talk with someone in their central station operator division. They quickly realized that they did not have any communication with my system. So if there was a burglary or the house caught fire, they would not receive the message. What am I paying them for? They told me that I had to talk with a tech person. So what do they do. They put me through to customer service which has been closed since at least 3:40! DO NOT go with this company!

Our homebuilder selected AES. We have experienced horrible customer service. It took months to get our service up and running and just the other day, they «terminated» our app service without letting us know and without giving us any notice of renewal. I tried contacting AES to renew and they don’t bother to answer their phones and I know from past experiences they won’t call us back. Unless she is owner/​relative, I can’t believe that 2 years later Alicia still has a job. We will be working with a different company moving forward.

You get what you pay for! Fool me once but NEVER again! This company gets 1 star because there was no opportunity to give them a negative –1 star. Customer service is the worst!
Another customer on Unilocal posted, «Also, for their alarm system contracts, they sign you up for a year at a time. However, you cannot cancel without giving them 30 days notice. Keep track of when your year is up, lest you too will get hosed and insulted by their Director of Customer Relations…»
That customer is absolutely correct, I had to pay an additional $ 150 just to end my contract with this loser company and even after receiving payment, they took an additional 2 weeks to close my account. This is what you get when you deal with individuals with no professional skills or education!

We have been customers of this company for almost 10 years and their customer service is the worst of any security company I have experienced. Even today, as I was trying to contact them at 4:30pm their offices are closed eventhough their hours posted are until 5pm. I have left messages and get answers after several business days and the list goes on… Do not recommend them, rather pay more and get decent customer service.

As with all the other posts on here – move on and select a different company for alarm services! Besides Tim and Heather– this company has the worst customer relations and we are reporting them to Better Business Bureau.
We signed up 4 months ago and we still don’t have a yard sign. It is a very simple but important request.
When you call no one answers, when you leave messages no one cares or returns phone calls. When you talk to customer service they say take it up with Billing — then billing transfers you back to customer service.
We don’t get a yard sign because they are «at the printer» it doesn’t take 4 months to print signs — what a joke.
If you can’t manage to return phone calls or print a sign, how do you expect to run a security monitoring company. That is scary!

Unfortunately, my homebuilder chose AES as the low-​voltage installer.
Their work with the pre-​wiring was exceptional. This 2-​star review is the result of their absolutely atrocious customer service.
It took dozens of emails and phone calls to schedule the technician to perform the install of the pre-​paid speakers and alarm system. And each of 2 separate warranty issues took multiple nonreturned phone calls. Eventually I had to leverage the builder to put pressure to them to actually call back.
A word of advice — if you need assistance, call the Irvine office, as the El Cajon office is 100% unresponsive.

What ever you do, don’t go with AES2. They are the worst company to deal with. We had to with them because of our builder. We have had speakers and menu panels constantly go out and they always charge us to repair them. They do not stand behind their work or their products. It takes them forever to return phone calls and set up appointments!

AES in El Cajon is the worst sort of company to do business with. They have some friendly people on the front lines that can be helpful at times, but when there’s a customer complaint, they are basically snakes in the grass. Right up to the President and Director of Customer Service (or some BS title unbefitingly given to her).
They were our builder’s choice for alarm, home theater, etc. That didn’t last long, as they switched away from them as soon as people began to complain about the shoddy construction. In my neighbor’s home, they pre-​wired for home theater. She had to hire someone else to come in after they left because most of the wires were incorrectly placed.
In our place, they covered up where the wires were «supposed» to be. Not very professional in my opinion.
I give them one star because they did install our alarm ok. Many of the overpriced offerings at their showroom were not available for our development — thankfully.
Also, for their alarm system contracts, they sign you up for a year at a time. However, you cannot cancel without giving them 30 days notice. Keep track of when your year is up, lest you too will get hosed and insulted by their Director of Customer Relations…
Poor company to work with and as it turns out, all the other vendors in town just grin and nod when I say i want to have work completed that AES started. Their reputation isn’t worth much in this town.
Ask around, check the BBB for complaints and ask them for references. But don’t be fooled, they suck.

Our home builder used AES as well and from the start their representative seemed way too busy to provide the kind of personal service we would expect. They definitely don’t follow up with you in a timely manner if at all. We were going to give them additional work to install a speaker system outside of our pre-​wiring upgrade we chose through the home builder but definitely not now. You get the impression that they’re TOO BUSY working with high-​end installations than give you the same attention. I would NOT recommend going with these guys for their customer service alone!

AES (2) was the company selected by our homebuilder to prewire our new home.
For the PreWire experience the company gets a solid 4. Everything was wired correctly though some wires were not labeled at the distribution panel. Otherwise, the staff at the office seemed pleasant to deal with and resolved all of our concerns.
As a «bonus» for purchasing a house earlier this year we «won» a flat screen TV package (basically a gift certificate for $ 4500). With the certificate we chose to purchase two LCD TVs. The installation of the main 52″ TV in the living room had no hitches and was quick and professional. The installation of the 40″ LCD in the bedroom was another story.
Due to the design of the bedroom the only place to put the TV was on a mount off the wall. This was made clear to the office staff before their technician was sent to our house. Apparently the office staff never bothered to clarify what mount we would need and just sent a standard wall mount. In our case we needed an articulating wall mount which meant we had to wait 2 – 3 more hours for the tech to drive from San Diego back to El Cajon to the warehouse to make sure we had the necessary mount. During that time, of course, the tech dismissed his buddy to help him install the TV because he «could handle it himself when he returned.»
To give credit to the tech he did return when promised with the new mount. However, his attitude seemed to be that now, all of a sudden, he did need help. I could either help him or we could kill another hour waiting for his buddy to come back. By now I was sick of all the problems and the delays and just offered to help the tech. Together we both mounted the TV and he was done an hour later.
I can understand how estimating mistakes are made but shouldn’t the company be responsible for providing the necessary technicians to make sure that the TV can be mounted without the customer’s help?
A solid 2 for that experience.
Overall not too bad, other than the relatively high prices for items that comes with the territory of «electronics installers.» The TVs seemed to be at full retail but were covered by the GC’s but the mounting arm for the bedroom was a full $ 450. The same mount is probably $ 300 at Costco.
Not horrible but not «white glove» service either. They did offer to take the packaging away for us but we decided to keep it in case we have to move the TVs in the future.