“I returned my fathers lifeline equipment due to his death. There was nobody else we could transfer the contract to.
I enquired about a refund on the contract due to his death occurring 2 months after the renewal of the contract. I was told I was not entitled to a refund because the "Terms and Conditions" stated a refund was only applicable if the contract was cancelled in the first month.
Lifeline is designed for the elderly, who will eventually die and to not offer a refund beyond one month is diabolical
This is very poor customer service at a time of great upset and distress”
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for getting in touch and for providing us with your feedback. I am sorry to hear of any upset or distress caused.
Unfortunately, you have not included enough information with this review for me to locate your account.
Should you wish to discuss this further, please call our friendly Customer Service line on 0800 999 0400 or email info@lifeline24.co.uk. Our helpful advisors will be more than happy to assist you with any queries you may have.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any further queries.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“Absolutely atrocious customer services.
I erroneously bought the standard alarm when I needed the fall detector. I immediately phoned the company to explain and to ask that they stopped the product from being posted to me as I needed the fall detector version of their alarms.
Was told on the phone call that the person I needed to speak to would call me back.
The next day the standard alarm arrived.
I called the company back and explained my situation and that I don’t need the alarm so much as I needed the paperwork to demonstrate that I had purchased the fall detector as I’m in a custody battle for my child and I need to demonstrate that when she is with me (she isn’t right now) that I have an alternative method of gaining rapid intervention from emergency services if I fall over, and that sending me a device wasn’t going to resolve my predicament.
The situation wasn’t resolved, told someone would get back to me. They didn’t
That evening and all of Sunday I tried to buy an Apple Watch. Called Apple only to find I couldn’t afford a new watch so went onto eBay and bought a series 6 watch online for almost double the cost of this company’s fall detector but at least I now had a receipt that I can send to my child’s social worker.
But then today I received a fob from lifeline 24.
So I left a review for the company and emailed them to ask for them to tell me how I can return this for a full refund (my right to do under online trading legislation).
A member of the lifeline 24 team called me up and was unnecessarily brusk and snappy towards me. Telling me that I hadn’t called up to stop delivery and that the staff members both misunderstood and were trying to help me… he was also quite to tell me he had seen my negative review!
Awful experience that’s ended up costing me almost double what I’d spent and has ultimately made me feel bad about myself.
I’m sure that the products are great but don’t complain unless you want to be subjected to verbal abuse.
Be interesting to see if my review is uploaded?”
Dear Miss Lincoln,
Thank you for getting in touch. I am very sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced with your delivery. It is never our intention to upset our customers, especially during stressful times.
Typically, we will call our customers when receiving a complaint to resolve the issue promptly. It is absolutely not our intention to ask our customers to amend or remove their feedback. It is very important for us to receive your feedback so we can ensure this does not happen going forward. Your feedback will be escalated through our complaints process and will be reviewed by our Senior Management team.
Whilst I appreciate that you are now canceling and returning the system - if it would be at all helpful for you to have a receipt from us reflecting your purchase of our falls alarm system I can send this to you immediately.
I am sorry to hear that an error on our end meant that you received the wrong type of pendant. I can see that the Fall Detector was sent to you over the weekend and I would expect you to have the full system that you required. Once this system has been returned to us your refund will be processed.
Again I would like to apologise for any upset or inconvenience caused. If you require any further assistance or have any further feedback, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“I ordered the wrong item and contacted your company to explain what had happened. That I’d ordered the cheaper option and needed to stop that being posted as I needed the more expensive item.
The telephonist told me someone would call me back that day and that they’d stopped my order from being sent out.
They hadn’t and the next day it arrived.
I don’t want this, I never did, I bought it in error and immediately tried to rectify my mistake.
Now I just want to return it to your company and get a refund because nothing should be this much hard work.
Regards
Mel”
Dear My’relle,
Thank you for your feedback.
I am very sorry to hear that due to an error on our end your initial order was not canceled.
A member of our team was in touch to confirm your cancellation and provide you with returns packaging. If needed, a collection can be organised. Upon receipt of your items and refund will be processed.
If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“This company exists to support older people. They take payment in advance for a whole 12 months each time. This is a long time for people at the end of their life. If a customer dies they will make no refund of the fees paid. Fees they make you pay a year in advance. If they truly had the interest of older people in their ethos, they wouldn’t exploit people this way. It is despicable.”
“I purchased the Fall Detector for my father on the 28th August 2019. I would like to say that it has been a good investment BUT alas it hasn’t! The detector would ‘go off’ numerous times when my father was absolutely fine to the point that we complained and received a new bracelet. This did not resolve the issue especially when my dad did fall and the detector did not send a response to the alarm base. We complained and received a necklace unit which has been ok. Sadly my father passed away suddenly on the 7th September 2021, I notified Lifeline 24 and sent back the unit at their request. I presumed that a refund would occur especially as a Direct debit of £251.80 for the 2021/2022 period had just been taken from my account (payment taken August 2021) but alas, I was told that my father died just outside of the cancellation period!!! So no refund is due. As you can imagine I am shocked and appalled. I cannot understand why a refund cannot take place especially as any other company whether it be council tax, car insurance or even utilities are able to do so, especially when Lifeline 24 have the unit and necklace to re-use. I wouldn’t normally use this system to complain, but I have emailed Lifeline 24 and even resulted to contacting Telecare Choice who holds the terms and conditions for Lifeline 24 Limited. I just want other families to be aware of this and to make sure you clearly understand the terms should the loved one using the system pass away, also I would strongly advise against agreeing to an annual direct debit, because you have no comeback.”
“We have cancelled the order. The Google advert was misleading as I was searching for the local authority lifeline service and your product was promoted as such.”
“Appalling product - obtained for 90 year old sister living alone - has had two falls - one last Sunday from a height - don't ask - fall alarm not activated on either occasion - hit head and landed under ladder and was too confused by shock and whacking head which was pouring with blood to press alarm. Logic made”
“DO NOT pay in full in advance for your device or you will be ripped off if you have a sudden change of circumstances. We paid on 10/7/21 in full. Nan taken ill 1/8/21, went into a home for 2 weeks respite care, deteriorated, permanent home from 25/8/21. Funnily enough fob was not my main concern at the time! I expected partial refund but was advised can only transfer device to someone else for remainder of contract (how many people would that option be useful for?) My advice is be very careful what you let your elderly relative sign, Nan being old fashioned liked to pay for everything straight away then she didn’t have to worry, BIG MISTAKE. If we had done monthly payments we would be £175 better off now. Outrageous ripping off a 95 year old. SHAME ON YOU LIFELINE 24!!!!”
“I’m sure that the service lifeline offer is great as so many people are more than satisfied.
I have spoken to Lifeline to question the so called set up fee. A set up fee in my opinion is for a person calling to set up the system in your home. Just the same as if you purchase a tv for example, the set up fee is to pay for someone to set up your tv in your home.I’m told it is not when you purchase from Lifeline The fee you pay is a charge made to set up your box at their office. A simple job to do takes no more than a few seconds.
The box of tricks you receive contains all one needs to set up the system yourself . It sounds simple as they say just plug it into a wall socket.It’s far from being that simple. Must be very difficult for a person who may be very frail. All I can say is the charge to set you up has nothing to do with calling to your home to install the system it’s just a very neat way of extracting more money from you. Or as they say in some parts of the country ‘A nice little earner ‘ It’s in a way unfair of me to rate the customer service team to be poor. They are simply following instructions given to them.”
“nothing good to say at this point as lifeline have not helped in setting this up, same lame covid excuses for not offering to send someone out to fit it. my mother is 81 and needs this service but is expected to fit this herself, what a disgusting service, not happy by any means,”
“Beware we paid £199 for my late mother in May for 1 year subscription. She passed away in July and they will not provide a refund. They provide a transfer to someone else, what use is that? They demand the equipment back which I think has more than been paid for over the last 3 years? They must be making so much money out of the elderly who have to go into a home or pass away. Very disappointed with this company”
Dear Anne,
Thank you for your feedback and for bringing this matter to our attention. On behalf of us all at Lifeline24, I am very sorry to hear of your loss and hope you are doing well at this difficult time.
I am sorry to hear that our cancellation policy was not made clearer to you.
In regards to the system, you are more than welcome to hold on to your alarm for the remainder of the term. There is no rush with returning the system. This is why we offer a transfer so that you can make use of your remaining time.
However, as the alarm is provided on a rental basis it does need to be returned to us. You are paying for the rental, monitoring, and upkeep of the alarm and as such you do not pay for the equipment itself.
Unfortunately, as we have had to take out a full year of service in order to provide you with such a discounted price we are unable to provide a refund at this time.
If you have any further feedback, or if we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Lifeline24
Dear Gwilym,
Thank you for getting in touch. I am very sorry to hear that you have not received the Big Button Phone you ordered from us.
I have escalated this to our Senior team. One of my colleagues will be in touch very shortly.
In the meantime, please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Kind Regards,
Lifeline24
“Terrible Company with horrendous Customer Service. Immediate red flags from the beginning. I ordered the alarm and paid in full but didn’t open for a couple of weeks as I was awaiting my mothers discharge from hospital. While awaiting I received an email stating it was due for renewal and requested over €40.
I rang to ask why it was up for renewal after only a couple of weeks and the agent disconnected my call- clear call avoidance. I was eventually told it was an error but the service didn’t fill me with confidence at this stage.
When I rang to set up the alarm the agent again disconnected my call - quite obvious call avoidance AGAIN. I rang back and spoke with an agent Vincent who was the only decent person and was somewhat helpful.
After completing tech test my line was not suitable. I was advised they would send a label to return fill out and I would need to return equipment. I asked would I receive a full refund and was advised yes.
I waited for the label and once received I sent all equipment back via registered post which cost €18.50.
I rang to query refund and was told it would be minus the set up fee of over €100? This is for equipment that was NEVER USED.
Will not be letting this go.”
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for getting in touch today and for providing us with your feedback. I am very sorry to hear about your experience. This certainly is not the level of service we aim to provide and I am sorry to hear that we did not meet your expectations at this time.
I would like to apologise that you were incorrectly contacted about your renewal. This was due to an admin error with our systems but please be reassured no payments were taken or organised. Our team would certainly never disconnect the line intentionally and I am sorry to hear this happened.
Our setup fee is non-refundable as it covers all of the costs of making an alarm ready to be sent out. This including testing, linking, and pre-programming the alarm unit as well as the administration costs of opening an account with the Alarm Response Centre. Although the alarm may not have been used the account was active.
However, due to the circumstances surrounding the cancellation, a full refund has been processed at this time.
From looking into your account, it appears that there was not a fault with the alarm unit. However, the systems do require a working landline - which you did not have.
We do also send all of our customers a Freepost Returns label at the point of cancellation. This means that you do not have to pay to return the alarm.
Following our complaints policy, your complaint will be escalated to our Senior team so that we can review how to improve this service going forward.
If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Lifeline24.
“My mother died less than three weeks after the renewal of the annual contract. When I asked whether there could be a partial refund, I was told that this was not possible. I was very surprised by this, and felt it to be very unfair.”
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for getting in touch and for providing us with your feedback. I am sorry to hear that you have found our cancellation policy to be unfair.
I have investigated your account and I can see it has been just under a year since your initial cancellation. Unfortunately, as your alarm is now due to expire for this year there is no remaining time on your account to refund. We do require the return of the rental equipment in order to close your account.
We have since changed our policies to reflect the feedback that we received similar to your own. There is now a 30 day cooling-off period after each renewal payment - this means that if the alarm is canceled and returned to us 30 days after payment is taken the payee will be provided a full refund.
Thank you again for your feedback and for your use of the Lifeline24 alarm system. I would like to apologise again for any upset or inconvenience caused.
If we can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“So after having to return the items 6 months into an annual contract, we were informed that we would not receive a refund. I left a review on the site as I think as a business that customer base is the most vulnerable of society, that they are just ripping people off by not refunding the service that you have paid for and not telling you this when you purchase the service. I was quickly contacted and offered a refund, and that was obviously to encourage me to take the review down. They as a company have left a very detailed apology to say that they as a good will gesture will refund my elderly vulnerable mother, makes them as a company look good doesn't it. It the policies and processes they need to be looking to change, not just trying to keep someone quiet who has left them a bad review. However as you can probably guess the refund never arrived. This company in my opinion has very poor ethics especially as they are providing a service to our most vulnerable people and also relatives when's they are probably at their most concerned for their family member. My review is not about the refund we work full time so we can make sure our Mum is safe, however I work in social care and see how many vulnerable people are out there in our society that have no family members to advocate for them and there is companies such as this one that is just taking advantage. I would urge you if you need a service like this contact your Local Authority who have a duty to safeguard the most vulnerable and will be able to put you in touch with a company that does not have the intention of ripping you off.”
Dear Jayne,
Thank you for your review. I am sorry to hear that you feel this way as it certainly is not our intention.
I would like to provide further clarification. The agreement you have taken out with us meant that you received a very significant discount. We were only able to provide this by taking out a full year with our Alarm Response Centre. As you have now received both the significant discount and refund this has resulted in an overall loss for us as a company.
I am sorry to hear that you felt this goodwill gesture was insincere. We would never ask you to remove or amend a review, you are entitled to leave your feedback where ever you see fit. Your feedback is very important to us as we do not want any other customers to feel disappointed or unclear regarding their cancellation policy. Following our complaints process, your feedback was escalated to our management team and steps will be taken to ensure our discounts are made clearer.
We were in touch with you to provide a refund because we did not want you to leave with a poor impression. We care very much about our customer base and ensuring that they are safe. This extends to not wanting family members to be upset about their refund policy, especially if there is a difficult situation surrounding their cancelation. This is why, at this time, a refund was provided as a goodwill gesture. We do our best to provide a service that is cost-effective and therefore accessible to all and as such we do provide discounted plans for taking out longer periods.
We are the leading national Lifeline and as a result, many councils and hospitals will refer their clients directly to us. Some councils do indeed provide their own Lifeline services and we would always recommend researching what else is available in your area.
I am sorry to hear that you have yet to receive your refund - I have contacted our accounts team and this has now been sent to you.
We deeply apologise that you have been left with this impression of our service and of our company. It is certainly disappointing and upsetting for us to hear that you feel this way as it is never our intention to rip off our vulnerable customers and we will always go above and beyond to provide the best service.
Please let us know if you require any further assistance.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“My Mum paid for a yearly subscription, and our circumstances changed 6 months into the contract and we needed to cancel, and this company does not refund your subscription. They tell you it is because the annual subscription is discounted that you are only paying for 9 months, they still will not refund the amount of credit. When your customer base will be mostly elderly and or vulnerable people who may be on low income this is clearly a scam to make money on such people. I would recommend if you need assistive technology to contact your Local Authority who have a duty to safeguard our vulnerable members of society and will certainly not exploit those in need and will refer you to a reputable company that will have gone through a fair tendering process to ensure that their customers receive a service that protects them. For us as a family that all work in full time employment the monetary value of the refund was not important, just ensuring that our Mum is safe and well is paramount, but if you are considering this for yourself or your family member, I would reconsider.”
Good Morning,
Thank you for getting in touch and for providing us with your feedback.
I am very sorry and very disappointed to hear that the terms of your contract were not made clearer to you. We certainly do not want to leave you with the impression that we are trying to scam our customers.
The system we provide can be very important and even life-saving for many of our clients and we do feel a responsibility to be providing the best service possible.
When taking out our Annual subscription we are able to provide a significant discount - unfortunately, we are only able to do this by organising the year in full.
I have called you directly in the hopes of resolving your complaint. We were able to discuss your problems further and I hope I have been able to clarify the policy a bit further. As an apology and a goodwill gesture after learning that your agreement was not made clearer to you, we have been able to process a partial refund.
Should you need any further assistance please call us. You can ask to speak to me directly should you wish to.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
Dear Elaine,
Thank you for getting in touch. I am sorry to hear about the delays you have experienced with your order.
From looking into your account, I can see that you have now received your alarm.
As a goodwill gesture, and to ensure you have not paid for any time you are unable to use. I have added a month of free service to your account.
Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
Dear Colleen,
Thank you for getting in touch.
I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you experienced with the setup of your system - this is certainly not the level of service we aim to provide.
I will forward your complaint to our Senior team for further investigation so we can ensure to improve our service going forward.
In the meantime, should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch on 0800 999 0400 or by email info@lifeline24.co.uk.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
“Did not get the £15.
M&S voucher
Cannot install it because I cannot find the form I need to fill in
Can you help please
I gave up my council run alarm which was exactly the same as yours so now I am without a working alarm”
Dear Violet,
Thank you for getting in touch. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced with the setup of your alarm system.
I have organised for a member of our friendly Customer Service team to call you directly to aid with your complaint.
In the meantime, should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch on 0800 999 0400 or by emailing info@lifeline24.co.uk.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
Dear Jason,
Thank you for getting in touch. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced with the return of your alarm system.
Upon return of the items our Returns team will photograph the items to ensure that no equipment is misplaced.
As all equipment is provided on a rental basis, there is a charge for any equipment not returned to us.
Should you wish to discuss this further, please get in touch on 0800 999 0400 or by emailing info@lifeline24.co.uk.
Kind Regards,
Rebecca
