The Breakdown: Adding up to $8,010.15
A Time For Us Sunday Feature 3/
This week, I show how $8,010.15 is a quantifiable number—and not an arbitrary representation of frustration.
Intro:
The Time for Us Sunday Feature offers a space to reflect, expand, and dive deeper than we can in a thread—providing the context, clarity, and perspective where 280 characters simply can’t capture.
This third entry is an important one. It’s time to explain where the number $8,010.15 came from.
Back on May 21, I posted this:
4/ This had to be the right story to tell.
The company had to act in a way that the consequences were real. And those consequences had to translate—into time, into money, into something a court would take seriously.
That wasn’t just commentary—it was the core idea. For anyone unfamiliar with how our legal system works, here’s the truth: it’s not enough to feel wronged, or to believe you deserve an apology. Courts aren’t moved by sentiment. They look for measurable harm—damages that are real, documentable, and provable.
That’s what makes this story different. In my case, those damages exist. And today, I’m going to walk you through them.
Today’s feature walks through the $8,010.15 in damages as calculated by May 16, 2025. If revisited today, the number may be higher.
The Breakdown: Adding up to $8,010.15
If you've been following along, you know this story started well before a beeping panel. But it wasn’t a story yet. Just a frustration. One I tolerated longer than others might have—because the frustration felt smaller than the stress I expected from trying to fix it. And like a lot of people, I assumed the company would eventually do the right thing. That if it was really broken, someone would fix it. That a few bucks a month—and the occasional $99 fee I don’t remember agreeing to—weren’t worth the fight.
But then it broke. We couldn’t use it. And they didn’t fix it.
The more I looked into what was really happening, the more I realized this wasn’t just a technical problem. At first, it felt like a moral failure—but we’ve established that doesn’t play in court. So I kept going. And as I started putting the pieces together, it became clear: this was a billing failure, a contractual failure, and a series of inexplicable business decisions.
Together, they resulted in systemic failure, gross breach of contract and/or warranty, and coercion—where ADT withheld service unless I agreed to a new contract, even while a warranty was still, and remains, in full effect.
So this is no longer a technical problem for ADT. It’s a legal one.
This week, we slow down and walk through the numbers. Not the story, not the feelings—just the math. Because when you're dealing with a company like ADT, the numbers matter. And every dollar here was measured, not imagined.
Section 1: Actual Damages $2,010.15
Here’s how I arrived at $2,010.15 in actual damages—each category grounded in receipts, billing history, or documented effort.
Panel
The panel that was valued at $950.
Overbilling
This was occurring even with Northstar. Here is a sample. It also includes a rate increase of ~9.5%.
Over time, these charges totaled $89.45.
Services paid while unusable
The panel became unusable on or about March 18. This calculation starts on that date and totals $220.70.
Time
This wasn’t all in one sitting. Between repeated calls, a second technician visit, and assembling the documentation, I easily logged 7.5 hours—beyond what any reasonable customer should ever be forced to invest. This is a highly conservative accounting of time spent.
Here’s how that time breaks down:
With 7.5 hours invested, I valued my time at $100 per hour—a fair rate for the type of work required. That brings the total cost of time to $750.
Total
Adding $950 (panel) + $89.45 (overbilling) + $220.70 (service during outage) + $750 (time) brings the total to $2,010.15. That number is fully documented, defensible, and reflects actual damages as of May 16, 2025.
Since then, I’ve identified additional damages. But this demand stands on its own. I made a clear offer to resolve the issues brought up in the letter—and I will honor it. What happens next depends on whether ADT does the same.
Additional Damages (DTPA Penalty/Treble Damages)
The remainder of the number comes from the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). Under Texas law, when a company acts knowingly or intentionally in its violation, a consumer may additionally seek up to three times their actual damages.
Among many examples, here are two specific events that demonstrate ADT's awareness:
On September 21st, 2023, ADT charged me a $99 trip charge and replaced a defective sensor.
On or about May 14th, 2025, ADT refused to “provide a replacement for any defective part without charge”
The only paperwork I have ever received that mentions the $99 service fee also contains the exact warranty clause stating that the servicer will:
“provide a replacement for any defective part without charge”
To be clear, I paid the $99 trip charge in 2023 with the expectation that ADT would replace the defective part—and they did. I was prepared to pay the same trip charge again in 2025 had they performed the repair. They didn’t. No repair was made, and in fairness, no charge was issued—regardless of the $99, the refusal itself is the breach.
That failure—after executing this clause correctly once before—makes this the clearest example of a knowing violation under the statute.
There are more. The phone calls. The billing history. The letters. Or simply reading Time For Us. If ADT didn’t know before, I’ve certainly made them knowing parties now.
So I did the math:
$2,010.15 in actual damages
Multiplied by 3 = $6,030.45
I rounded the treble damages down to $6,000 for clarity’s sake.
That brings the total to $8,010.15.
What Does $8K Mean to ADT?
$8,010.15 isn’t just a calculation. It’s not an guess. It’s not a bluff.
It’s the cost of being misled, overbilled, and coerced—and the cost of taking the time to prove it.
And I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe every part of that had happened.
But what does this number mean to ADT? If I’m right, then $8,000 is nothing to them. So—will I get it? And if I do, does that mean I was right all along?
Because it’s not just me. How many others have they damaged at a rate of $8,000 per family?
This was never just about the panel. Or just about me.
That’s why this is Time For Us.