Do you think $10.00 monitoring will be as good as $25.00 monitoring?
When you need service, will you be able to get an alarm company to service your
system, if they are not monitoring it? Personally, if someone calls for me to
service their alarm system, I always ask who their present alarm company is and
if they have a monitoring/service contract. If they do, I tell them I will not
touch the system. If they do not have an agreement, I'll ask if they are
interested in having me monitor and maintain their system. If the answer is no,
then ...... so is mine. Without any signed agreement, I don't feel it's worth
it (time or risk-wise) to service/maintain an unfamiliar system. If I were to
take over such (or any) system, I would require that I give the system a
complete inspection with the intention of noting if the system was in good
enough condition to warrant my acceptance of taking responsibility for it. If
there were minor things that needed attention, I'd take care of it at no cost.
If there were major items, the owner would have to decide if they wanted them
fixed (at their expense) or not.
In my estimation, monitoring an account is a very important responsibility.
Simply collecting a payment from you every month with out concern for false
alarms and improper protection in not the way I do business. You may find this
a factor in trying to find someone to service your system, if you are being
monitored direct.
Jim
I second all the above. A handful of my customers over the years have
thought my monitoring rate was too high (most were at $19.95) and
instead opted for the $9.95 another notorius company usually offers.
With one or two exceptions, they all came back with their tails
between their legs after they collected a pocketful of false alarm
fines, or when they couldn't get their system serviced, codes changed,
questions answered etc. I charged every one of them a full service
call to come out, default the system, and fully reprogram it. I also
charged for any repairs that needed to be done at the time. While they
were all miffed that they had been taken in by the worthless company
offering the $9.95 rate, few complained when I did the work and
reactivated them at their old rate. Without exception, they wished
they had never tried the cheap route. Lower rates are better, but
their is definitely a point of no return, and in my opinion, $10.00 a
month is definitely around the bend.
You may save a few (very few) dollars per month if you go after cheap
monitoring, but you will most likely end up paying more for your
security over the years than if you contract a professional such as
the one Jim decribes above.
Bossman