You can get out of an ADT contract without paying the early termination fee in a handful of specific situations: you are still inside the federal three-day cooling-off window after an in-home sale, you are an active-duty servicemember with qualifying orders, your initial term has already ended and you are now on month-to-month, you are moving to an address ADT cannot service, or the buyer of your home agrees to take over the account. Outside those situations, cancellation usually means paying something, but that something is often negotiable well below the contract’s 75% figure.
The Three-Day Cooling-Off Window
If a salesperson signed you up at your door, federal law gives you three business days to cancel for a full refund with no penalty. The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule covers in-home sales of $25 or more and sales at temporary locations of $130 or more.{1Federal Trade Commission. Buyer’s Remorse: The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule May Help} Saturdays count as business days; Sundays and federal holidays do not.
The seller is required to hand you a cancellation form at the time of sale. If they didn’t, the three-day clock may not have started running at all. Pull out your paperwork and check. Missing form, missing disclosures, or misrepresentation at the door can be grounds to void the agreement even after the standard window has closed.
Military Orders and the SCRA
Active-duty servicemembers who receive qualifying orders can cancel an ADT contract with no early termination fee. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act specifically lists home security services as a covered contract.{2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 US Code 3956 – Termination of Certain Consumer Contracts} The right applies when you receive orders to relocate for at least 90 days to a location that doesn’t support the service, or when you receive permanent change of station orders.
To use it, send ADT a written notice of termination together with a copy of your orders, and include the date you want service to end. Any ADT-owned equipment must be returned within 10 days of disconnection. You still owe any unpaid balance for service already delivered, but no early termination fee applies. If you re-subscribe within 90 days of returning, the provider cannot charge a reinstallation fee beyond the usual new-customer equipment cost.{2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 US Code 3956 – Termination of Certain Consumer Contracts}
Your Initial Term May Already Be Over
ADT’s professionally installed monitoring contracts typically run 36 months. Once that initial term ends, the agreement rolls into successive 30-day renewals automatically, with no reminder from ADT.{3ADT Security Services. Monitoring Contract Terms} A lot of long-tenured customers don’t realize they crossed that line years ago.
Check when you signed. If your initial term has ended, you can cancel penalty-free by sending written notice at least 30 days before the end of the current billing period. Miss that window by a day and you’re locked in for another 30-day cycle, but not for the 75% fee.
Moving to a New Address
Moving is one of the most common triggers for wanting out, and how ADT handles it depends on whether the company can serve your new address.
If you’re moving to an area ADT doesn’t serve, call (888) 281-8308 at least 30 days before your move. ADT’s support materials suggest you may be able to avoid early cancellation fees if ADT cannot provide service at the new location, though the outcome depends on your specific contract.{4ADT Home Security Support Center. Moving? Call ADT First!} Get any fee waiver confirmed in writing before you cancel anything.
If you’re selling the home, ADT monitoring contracts are tied to the property, so the account can be transferred to the buyer through ADT’s customer support chat. The buyer would need to agree to take over the remaining obligations.{5ADT Home Security Support Center. How Do I Transfer My ADT Account?} That gets you out of the contract at no cost.
ADT also offers a relocation program that gives you a free security system at your new address, but the trade-off is signing a new 36-month contract (24 months in some states) at rates starting at $34.99 per month for professionally installed systems, and you need at least 12 months of account history to qualify.{6ADT Security Services. Existing ADT Security Customers – Terms and Conditions} You aren’t paying an ETF, but the contract clock resets from zero.
Negotiating the Fee When No Exemption Applies
If none of the exemptions fit, the goal shifts from paying nothing to paying less. ADT’s standard early termination fee is 75% of the monthly charges remaining on your initial term.{7ADT Security Services. Residential Security – Terms and Conditions} On a $34.99 plan with two years left, that lands near $630. The 75% is a ceiling, not an automatic charge.
ADT’s retention department has flexibility. Customers who call to cancel frequently report being offered reduced fees, temporary rate discounts, or upgraded equipment as incentives to stay. If you’re canceling because of service quality problems, document every missed alarm, late response, or equipment malfunction before you call. Concrete complaints give the retention agent a reason to offer real concessions; a vague “I want out” rarely does.
Challenging the Contract Itself
Not every clause survives a legal challenge just because you signed it. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, courts can refuse to enforce contract terms they find unconscionable, meaning terms so one-sided they would shock a reasonable person.{8Legal Information Institute. UCC 2-302 – Unconscionable Contract or Clause} Courts weigh whether you had real bargaining power, whether key terms were buried in fine print, and whether the overall deal is fundamentally unfair.
Federal consumer protection law adds another angle. The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act requires any business that charges consumers through a recurring negative option feature on the internet to clearly disclose all material terms, obtain express informed consent, and offer simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges.{9Congress.gov. Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act} If you signed up online and cancellation is unreasonably harder than signup, that can violate ROSCA. The FTC enforces this statute and can impose financial penalties on companies that fail to comply.{10Federal Register. Rule Concerning the Use of Prenotification Negative Option Plans}
Some states also have their own automatic renewal laws requiring clear disclosure, affirmative consent, and a cancellation method at least as easy as the signup method. Where a company fails those requirements, the renewal clause can be void, which gives you grounds to dispute charges that accrued in the renewal period.
These arguments rarely resolve on the phone. ADT’s contract includes a mandatory arbitration clause with a class action waiver, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld those waivers.{11Congress.gov. The Federal Arbitration Act and Class Action Waivers} Small claims court is often the more practical venue. Most ADT termination fees fall within small claims limits, which range from roughly $2,500 to $25,000 depending on your state. Filing fees are modest, hearings are short, and many arbitration clauses explicitly carve out small claims. Check your contract.
How to Actually Submit the Cancellation
ADT does not accept cancellations by email. The route depends on how you originally signed up:
- If you purchased online, log into myadt.com, go to Account, then Manage Subscriptions, and fill out the cancellation form. For ADT+, the path is plus.adt.com, then Billing, then Cancel Subscription.
- Otherwise, call 1-800-ADT-ASAP (1-800-238-2727). Expect a retention pitch before the representative processes the cancellation.
Those are the only accepted methods.{12ADT Home Security Support Center. How Do I Cancel My ADT Monitoring?} Follow up with a written cancellation letter by certified mail. Your contract likely requires written notice, and certified mail gives you a timestamped record if ADT later claims the cancellation never came through. Include your full name, account number, the date service should end, and a clear statement that you are terminating the agreement.
Do Not Just Stop Paying
Walking away without formally canceling is the worst option. ADT’s contract lets the company terminate for non-payment and pursue the remaining balance, which can include the early termination fee plus any past-due monthly charges. Unpaid amounts get sent to collections, which reports to the credit bureaus. A collections account can drag down your score for years and make it harder to rent an apartment, get a car loan, or pass a background check.
Fighting a collections action later is significantly harder than negotiating the cancellation upfront. If you can’t afford the fee, call and negotiate a reduced amount or a payment plan. Almost any settlement beats a collections record.