How To Select
An Alarm Company - by Carla Base
Most people
wait until the last minute to do the laundry, dishes, homework or project. We
make time to do the things we want to with those we love. We know we should be
doing something on our business or school work but we just must have some time
to ourself to relax. Most Americans have a host of things pulling at their
attention all of the time from every direction. There is work, and the spouse,
their work and then both of their homework; be it school and work or just
things you must take home. Then there can be children and their school work and
their extra-curricular activities. Many have soccer, tennis, swimming, dancing,
piano or voice, football and drama club to prepare for and attend after school
days or evenings. Our kids have become busier than some of their parents, due
to our vision that we want them successful and active. We want them to be smart
and experienced, prepared for life. Some of this is really good, some too
stressful for both the parents and the children. But, we must be the ones to
draw those lines.
When it comes
to deciding many things, we are so very busy we tend to take shortcuts. We do
what the majority of people do, or our friends or family. We do what is easiest
or most time efficient. But we know buying a car or house is serious and we
should be sure to not only ask others what they did, but to research it
diligently. We will go onto the internet and find prices for the car we need
and want and when we go to that dealership down the road we heard is fair, we
will be prepared with figures and facts and will have done our homework. But
still, our time is a very limited thing.
When you need
an alarm system you tend to want to go with what you have heard, or know. Maybe
someone has a certain brand, type or well known name. But what are you really
getting? Many people do not know that some of the top national brands are
RIDDLED with litigation. Don't settle for some simple system and regret it
later. You would like to have a working system you have armed before an
attempted robbery, not after. No spring specials will matter then. Don't just
assume anything because you've heard that name. Let's look at the alarm
industry a moment.
First of all,
in every state, there are slightly different regulations. National companies
sprang up several years back and challenged the private alarm industry. Whereas
the local security system owner once dominated the market and could order
wholesale from major manufacturers the types of panels and keypads and
equipment appropriate for the job, cookie cutter national companies decided to
take over the business of security from these companies. Mass producting and
even owning their own manufacturing of panels and other equipment, they
marketed big and installed "free" or had "free equipment."
I think we are all adults here. We work and make a living and we do not ever
work for free. They don't either. Products are never produced free. All costs
are there, just amortized and absorbed into a total cost OBVIOUSLY. One way or
the other, by hook or by crook, the piper must be paid. Period. Talk with a
private alarm company owner: any of them or several. They will tell you the
true story. Talk with huge national chains. The one great thing that huge
companies do is to advertise that you really do need a system, and you do and
the longer you look around, the more you realize it is true. But who should you
really invest any money in and why?
You can look up
about the huge brands on TV and Internet ads and brochures in the mail and
everywhere you look. The same ones keep on cropping up. Big time, big dollar
advertising. Where do they get those dollars? It will be from YOU.
Too good to be
true prices and free equipment and free installation and a dollar for this and
that means what? It will be from YOU.
In the end, in
Kentucky, specifically Louisville, the ordinance against false alarms is
through the Louisville Metro Police Department. They require all techs are
certified and carry a license which means that in order to get it they must be
background checked and have completed a series of exercises. The certification
requires them to know about the equipment so that malfunctions do not occur.
They must program and install it, they must ensure it is UL approved and
several criteria to ensure that cheap equipment that could malfunction and
summon police falsely, causing you penalty charges, will not be used. If it is
their own private business, then they tend to use the top notch equipment. The
huge companies that span the country will tend to use the very cheapest equipment
that is easy to slap up and for any tech of minimum training to install and the
more the merrier. When you see volume like this it is rarely customized and
well thougt out, planned and truly protected. A few components placed in a home
do not constitute a "system" as we see it anyway. Each area of your
home should be truly painstakinging evaluated. Then components should be
chosen, not simply a "kit" that has so many this and that's in it.
That is marketing. Once the home is evaluated honestly, then the amount of
equipment is truly known, planned for and installed custom. Each situation may
have different requirements even with the same identical home. Many
neighborhoods repeat a pattern of a huge front window, two doors, three
bedrooms and a living room and dining area, kitchen, basement for example. But
yet, each could have different considerations entirely. This is why a
professional that sees break-ins on a daily basis and who deals with this
business, not sattelite TV and stereo systems and all the rest rolled into one.
Sure, some of the same technology can have you listening to all these things,
but just think about it. Get a security expert who works closely with police
and who sees the results of break-ins and who knows how to protect against
them. Just knowing how to put up a plastic panel quickly does not constitute a
security professional. Look to the family owned security businesses because if
they do not do a secure and private job for customers, they are not in
business. Look online and see the lawsuits against major players in the secuity
industry and you may really be surprised. You can pay a lot less for a way
better system dealing with local businesses. One more piece of advice: Call the
major brands who are national and pretend you already have their system and
call with a complaint and see what you get. My friend had a problem with hers
and called right after the installation. They seemed to not even know her
anymore. Something had come off the equipment. They told her that they were
finished and that was her problem. You will find you can't do that--not in
Kentucky! We don't put up with it! Our customers always come first. If you have
any trouble with anything at all, call. Sure, sometimes there are labor hours
or a trip charge but sometimes not too. When something is too good to be true,
it is. Check out the local technicians who install for companies that DEPEND on
repeat business. It is nice to know that we, as consumers, do make a difference
and we can have more control with these local business owners and what type of
service and equipment we can get from them. I know you will get some of the
best names in the security business anywhere when you use local companies to
install. Check it out!