As with many consumer goods, among legitimate businesses there are unscrupulous sellers and manufacturers, ready to capitalize on seniors’ most basic fears for personal security. Several states have taken action against PERS manufacturers and sellers for high-pressure sales techniques, misrepresentations regarding the product, faulty equipment, and over-pricing. Private actions have also been brought against these businesses.

Cases brought against the sellers and manufacturers of PERS include common charges regarding deceptive sales practices. Some of the misrepresentations and deceptive claims made by unscrupulous salespeople have included the following:

• Consumers are told that the equipment will be maintained, serviced or repaired in a timely and efficient manner, when in fact, requests for service or repairs are not responded to in a timely fashion, and purchasers are treated with rudeness, hostility, and contempt when they attempt to report operational problems;
• Consumers are assured they may discontinue the service at any time but are not told they are liable for the entire amount of the contract if they do;
• Consumers have been misled as to the total cost of the system they are purchasing;
• Consumers are quoted monthly installment prices and then are billed at a much higher rate;
• Consumers are told that the PERS bypasses the 911 emergency system and is much more responsive than those systems and that the product enjoys a special arrangement with local law enforcement that insures that their calls receive special attention;
• Some unscrupulous companies don’t set fixed prices for their equipment; salespeople are instructed to set a price at a percentage of the value of the consumer’s house or the consumer’s yearly income.

Other objectionable sales tactics have included salespeople arriving at the consumers house immediately upon their return home from the hospital, to pressure them to purchase a PERS; some salespeople have stayed as long as four hours and have told consumers that they cannot or will not leave until the contract is signed; sales people have used "price drops," where the consumer is initially quoted an inflated price which is later dramatically reduced; and that sales staff were instructed to "wear down" the consumer, by spending as long as six hours in the consumer’s home, inventing "horror stories" about what could happen if the PERS is not purchased.

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source: Neighborhoodlaw.org