Editor's Rating | |
---|---|
Overall | |
Monitoring Services | |
Alert Equipment | |
Pricing | |
Customer Service |
Positives
- Short-term contracts
- Variety of systems
- Transparent pricing
- Easy to cancel
- Great extras
Negatives
- Equipment fees
- Fall detection costs extra
- Limited designs
Bay Alarm Medical offers a wide range of systems, from classic landline-based units to sleek smartwatches, ensuring there’s something for everyone. Regardless of the subscription, seniors get 24/7 monitoring with certified operators who can help in 180 languages.
As well as providing location tracking, fall detection, mobile apps, and water-resistant devices, the company offers extras like a lockbox. You can start monitoring for as low as $24.95 per month. In addition to our special discount for Best Reviews readers, Bay Alarm Medical provides a 30-day money-back guarantee to serve up a genuinely risk-free experience. For further information you can call 855-557-6706
Monitoring Services
With origins dating back to the 1940s, California-based Bay Alarm Medical is one of the most experienced players in the medical alert system industry.
The company’s TMA Five Diamond-certified monitoring centers are in Utah and Idaho. These UL-certified centers are staffed 24/7 by expert response agents who can use a translation service to provide help in 180 languages, including Spanish, Mandarin, Navajo, and Yiddish. All customers get assistance within 45 seconds of pressing the help button or when a fall is detected.
Fall detection can be added to any package and provides instant help in situations where users can’t call for assistance themselves. If these sensors detect a downward movement followed by immobility, they automatically prompt a distress alert. However, even in the case of a fall, it’s recommended that users press the help button if able to.
Bay Alarm Medical provides an online control panel and dedicated app where customers or caregivers can set up an emergency plan, which includes whether to dispatch 911 before or after contacting family, relatives, or caregivers. As soon as operators can’t communicate with the user, they treat the situation as an emergency.
Mobile App
The Bay Alarm Medical app is available for Android and iOS and comes with all plans. It provides customers with an easy way to manage subscriptions, access purchase history, update information, and make payments.
Despite this, its highlight is its tracking for caregivers. It’s available with the SOS mobile and SOS All-in-One subscriptions and provides real-time updates on a loved one’s location. It includes an address with a GPS marker and the latitude and longitude.
Additionally, the app lets you remotely ring its associated SOS devices, making them emit a loud noise that makes them easier to find if misplaced.
Monitoring Equipment
SOS Home
Bay Alarm Medical provides a great variety of monitoring equipment. The most basic system, SOS Home, works with both cellular networks and traditional landlines, providing customers in remote areas access to a medical alert system.
It features a base unit with a large help button and includes a wearable black or white SOS button that can be inserted into a lanyard or wristband. The button’s battery lasts five years, and the unit’s backup battery lasts 32 hours in case of a power shortage. The base unit covers an area of 1,000 square feet, meaning your loved one can go for a walk nearby while remaining protected.
SOS Mobile
All other systems use LTE connectivity, which provides better connection speeds. With SOS Mobile customers get a lightweight and pocket-friendly device that lasts six days without recharging. It features GPS location tracking, a two-way speaker, and an SOS button, plus extra wearables can be added for a small cost.
SOS Smartwatch
Those who prefer a contemporary design can opt for Bay Alarm Medical’s sleek SOS Smartwatch, which stays charged for one day. It features a dedicated SOS button, a two-way speaker, a built-in step tracker, and GPS, and can be bundled with wearables and a base unit. It’s possible to choose between a standard or large wristband, and surprisingly, it doesn’t require pairing with a smartphone to work.
SOS All-In-One
Lastly, the SOS All-In-One includes a pocket-sized device with a battery life of up to 72 hours. It comes with a wearable button and all the same features as SOS Mobile.
The fall detection add-on can be added to each package, although some provide the option as a separate pendant, and others include it in the main device itself, like the smartwatch.
While Bay Alarm Medical may not offer additional monitoring services like smoke, fire, or carbon dioxide alarms or pill dispensers, it does provide wall buttons. These handy and easy-to-reach buttons are great additional safety devices for areas where falling is common, such as the bathroom. They are water-resistant and arrive already paired with Bay Alarm Medical’s SOS base units.
Acessories
When keeping your loved ones safe, Bay Alarm Medical goes above and beyond by offering valuable accessories.
- Lockbox: This is essential in providing emergency services with a secure locker that contains a key, allowing them to enter the customer’s house without damaging doors or windows.
- Vial of Life: In situations where your loved one can’t speak, this plastic sleeve contains all their medical information, such as allergies and current medications.
- Belt clip: This SOS device holder allows the user to be active, facilitating exercising and gardening while still being monitored.
- Bella charms and bands: The company offers different charm designs for SOS neck lanyards and wristbands. Although they resemble jewelry, there are only four designs for each accessory.
Setup
After purchasing a subscription, an easy-to-install system soon arrives at your door and includes a Bay Alarm Medical step-by-step manual with clear instructions. Activating the base station requires plugging the device into a power socket, testing its range, and placing an emergency call. The base must also be connected to the home phone for the landline version.
For all at-home subscriptions, it’s best to have two people set it up so one can be near the station and another in different locations to test its connection. All other devices are equally easy to install, only requiring users to charge them and perform an emergency test call.
The truth is that with the help of Bay Alarm Medical’s guides, setting up the medical alert system is a no-brainer.
Pricing
Unlike some medical alert system services, Bay Alarm Medical doesn’t hold customers to long contracts. Each plan has monthly, quarterly, and annual billing options, and you can easily cancel the subscription at any time with no fees.
The cheapest option is the SOS Home Landline subscription, costing $24.95 per month. With this plan, customers get a base unit with a landline connection, a wristband, and a lanyard for the SOS button. Unfortunately, you need to pay a $30 device fee to add fall detection. This is in addition to the $10 per month that all plans require to add this feature.
SOS Home is the only subscription that doesn’t require an equipment fee since Bay Alarm Medical lends the equipment for free. The remaining subscriptions require users to pay for the the equipment, which is $99 for SOS Mobile, $159 for SOS Smartwatch, and $119 for All-in-One devices.
SOS Home is the only plan that offers free spouse monitoring, which lets you add fall detection buttons for other members in your household for $10 per device per month.
The company also provides extra services, mainly related to warranties. The Premier Protection Plan covers the replacement of batteries and one device per year, plus 50% off all lost or damaged accessories for $2.95 per month.
In addition to its 30-day money-back guarantee, we can take advantage of our special discount that offers a 30% discount and free shipping. For more information, you can reach out to the company by calling the number 855-557-6706.
Customer Service
Bay Alarm Medical’s customer service can be reached via email through a contact form, phone, or live chat, where we got an instant response. Plus, there’s no shortage of FAQs, videos, and in-depth guides providing everything you need to know.
There’s also a regularly updated blog to inform readers of the latest trends and developments in the industry, along with general tips and tricks. While it is present on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, we don’t recommend using these accounts to get help.
Bottom Line
With Bay Alarm Medical, whether you’re homebound or out and about, you have plenty of options. Its devices come in different shapes and sizes, and all include top-notch 24/7 monitoring. Plus, unlike some competitors, the company doesn’t trap customers into long-term contracts that are impossible to cancel.
Unfortunately, some plans include equipment fees and fall detection also increases costs. However, Bay Alarm Medical’s prices are transparent, and its excellent extras, like wall buttons and lockboxes, are worth the investment.
Anyone can benefit from the company’s generous 30-day money-back guarantee to get a feel for the devices before committing. We also recommend taking advantage of our special discount that provides 30% off and free shipping.
Best Alternative Medical Alert Systems
Rank | Company | Info | Visit |
1 |
Editor's Choice 2024 |
|
|
2 |
|
||
3 |
|
Stephanie T says
We bought this service for my grandma 2 years ago and it never once worked when she fell and tried to press the button. We had to buy the equipment twice because “lightning hit it” and it stopped working (this was an extra $300). We called to cancel the service in July 2019 and sent both sets of equipment back that week. We received no further communication and saw that it had been delivered to them, so we assumed it had been cancelled. After received another month’s bill, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a rude member of their customer service team who told me we had only sent one system back and I had to somehow prove what was in the box if I wanted to cancel the service or pay an additional $300. Because the box was a standard priced box from USPS, we had no way to prove this, so we had to pay to avoid continuing to accrue monthly charges for something we didn’t have. I am thankful that it was us receiving the bills and not my grandmother, who could not have afforded this. I feel like this company is scamming the elderly!
Finnerman A. says
My husband is using the GPS mobile alert we got him after he suffered a stroke late last year. It was a befriended nurse who told us we should get one of these. Luckily he hasn’t been using it yet, but it’s the “guardian angel” we needed for him as our main fear is simply that it will happen again while there’s nobody else around.
It won’t be long before I get one of these for myself. No hurt or shame in carrying it around, you can only benefit from it if emergency strikes…
Malika says
Bay Alarm’s medical alert system has been of great help for my mother who passed away two months ago now. My father, mother started using it four years ago and there have been a couple of situations where they were helped by it, including one 911 emergency that led to my father being taken away by an ambulance for a stay in hospital.
Now we’ve concluded our contract with Bay Alarm Medical. I’m happy with how fast things went here, contrary to what insurance companies are making us suffer through with other affairs….