Security Firm to Pay $350,000 in Fine, Reimbursement

A nationwide security service accused of unfair business practices has agreed to pay $350,000 in penalties and reimbursement for Orange County investigative costs.

Without formally admitting any wrongdoing, National Guardian Corp. of Stamford, Conn., promised to refrain from future violations and agreed to one of the largest fines ever sought by Orange County prosecutors.

The firm has several thousand business and residential customers in Orange County, according to Lessing E. Gold, lawyer for National Guardian.

“We’re not acknowledging any past wrongdoing, but we certainly recognize there were some problems,” Gold said.

“In all honesty, they (National Guardian officials) recognized some of the problems long before the district attorney got into it and started cleaning things up before then,” Gold said.

The firm was accused of failure to have sufficient equipment and trained employees to properly monitor customers’ alarms, ignoring cancellations of service by some customers and failing to give advance notice of price increases.

The accusations were contained in a consent decree filed Monday as part of a lawsuit by the consumer protection division of the county district attorney’s office.

The firm will pay $25,000 into an account that will be used to pay claims made by customers within 90 days, according to Wendy Brough, a deputy district attorney.

Any claims should be mailed to National Guardian, attention Steven Rae, 3201 S. Shannon St., Santa Ana, 91704.

The firm will pay another $275,000 to the county as a fine and another $50,000 to reimburse the county for investigative costs.

“The real problem with this company was that they not only failed to provide the services consumers contracted for, but at the same time they had a very active collection effort,” Brough said. “Consumers would cancel their contract, and the company would ignore it and continue to try to get payments.”

Brough said National was “very cooperative” in negotiations leading to the settlement.

The settlement was entered into by the parent firm and two subsidiaries, National Guardian Security Services Corp. and National Guardian Alarm Services.