SPOKANE, Wash. — A Spokane man who lost his home in the Old Trails Fire is facing an unexpected financial burden from his security company after attempting to cancel his home alarm service.
Nearly all of the homes on Holyoke Avenue near Nine Mile Road were destroyed by the Old Trails Fire. Jeremy Fagan used to live there with his family.
After the fire tore through his neighborhood, Fagan noticed he was still being charged a monthly fee by his security company, Safe Haven, which he had used for an alarm system. Now that he no longer had a home to secure, he called to cancel the service.
Instead, he was told a natural disaster does not void the contract he signed.
“You have to buy out the end of the contract, which is going to be a little over $1,000. At which point, I decided to take it up the chain, maybe someone at this company has a heart or some human compassion,” Fagan said.
Fagan shared an email from Safe Haven that says the company still plans to charge him a cancellation fee even though he lost his home. The company compared the situation to a car with a loan being lost in a house fire—with the loan balance still needing to be paid even if the car is lost.
In the email, the company suggested Fagan contact his insurance company, which could potentially pay the rest of his security contract. However, after dealing with everything else that comes with losing his home, Fagan expects to pay the cancellation fee out of his own pocket.
Fagan believes this case is different because his security contract is a subscription service, not a loan on a physical asset.
Safe Haven’s contract language classifies natural disasters as events that do not trigger contract nullification. This interpretation means Fagan would be responsible for paying the remaining balance on his security service agreement despite no longer having a home to protect.
Fagan worries that cancellation fees like this affect more than just his situation. He is concerned about other fire victims who may be in more dire financial situations trying to get out of their security contracts.
“I’ve gotten more scam calls since this happened than I’ve gotten in years. I’ve had people to reach out to me that are definitely scams. There are just as many predatory things out there that people need to be made aware of and need to watch out for,” Fagan said.
4 News Now reached out to Safe Haven twice in the past week but has not heard back.
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