I had a feeling my question must sound ridiculous to all of you, but
as someone just investigating my options, I am of course first faced
with the hype.
Thanks for clarifying!
We were about to sign a three-year contract tomorrow with ADT, for $43/
month and $1050 worth of equipment plus $95 municipal construction
fee. And then I decided to dig a little deeper!
Just for fun, I'll tell you what was included in the ADT package:
Service:
- Standard Monthly Service, Burglary
- Safewatch Cellguard
- Extended Limited Warranty/Quality Service Plan
Equipment:
- 2 custom keypads
- 3 door sensors
- 3 motions (2 basement, 1 first floor)
- 4 window sensors
- 1 cell backup parallel
- 1 remote
- 1 telco (?, can't read this, it could be something else that begins
with 'Te')
- 1 sounder-
Here's the story... briefly.....................
This industry is largely made up of small independent alarm companys.
However, it's the large companys who've got the money for advertising
that get all the notice. Unfortunately, because they 're so big, they
cannot compete on a one for one basis with the smaller independents,
especially for the personal service that they can provide. Although
the National companys monitor millions of accounts, the quantity of
accounts that are monitored through independent installation companys,
far outnumbers them. The Nationals, in my opinion, are not in the
security business but in the "paper" business. They make X amount of
dollars per month on every account they install, just like every alarm
installation business, but they've built their business model on the
fact that they can make as much money per month on installing a few
doors an a motion detector or two ( ie as little as possible) as they
can by installing a complete system. By "paper" business, I mean that
with every installation they do, they can take that contract to the
bank, borrow money against it and install three or four more systems.
It's not about security, it's about "recurring revenue". I don't know
where you are located, but in my area (US Northeast) one of their
other "tricks" is to charge more per (additional) opening, or increase
the monthly amount when you show interest in having more than the
basic 2 or 3 doors and a motion detector installed. This because, to
them, to install a "bigger" system, they can't do as many
installations per day and it actually cuts down on their profit.
It's all about the "monthly" They'd rather do 2 "quicky" installations
a day for $43.00 per month than take two days to only get one $43.00
account.
I'm not going to quote a price on the system you outlined because
installations are highly affected by what the going price is in your
particular area. However, the monthly monitoring fee ranges/averages
anywhere from $20.00 to 30.00 per month nationally, from independents.
There are central stations that will monitor your system for
substantially less, but you lose the advantage of having someone who
is familar with you and your system, being available to provide you
with custom service and information, should you require it. You'd have
to service the system yourself and if you did need help, calling in a
dealer who wasn't responsible for your monitoring would like result
in much higher sevice fees. With the Nationals, your going to have one
"crew" install it and for service (which is reputed to be slow, at
best) will be done by whoever is available at the time. You'll likely
never see familiar face again.
Another tidbit of information about the Nationals is that the majority
of the companys doing the installations are simply local companys who
are "franchised" to use the National name and there is no guarantee
that, other than the National name, that your installation will have
any direct contact with the National company. These companys are not
"employees" of the National company but just local "representatives"
who will do the installation and then sell your contract to the
National company and then you are simply another account in the big
machine. In the case of Brinks, you never even own the equipment. They
have been known to not be too explicit about informing people about
that.
Now, of course there's a downside to using an independent also. The
Nationals will tell you that the independents monitor your alarm from
their "basement" and that their central station is a professional
central with all the approvals and cetifications. The reality is, the
overwhelming majority of independents use, what we refer to as "third
party" centrals. These are fully approved and certified centrals that
cater to independents and as a whole, monitor more alarms than all the
Nationals put together. However, as with all trades, you can be the
lucky one who picks a "bad" independent as easily as you can pick any
bad contractor. The motor of the independents success, ...... is word
of mouth referrals. Look around your area, on shop doors and windows,
other lawn signs ( Yes, there are many, if you look) and don't be shy
in asking how they like their alarm company. They'll be more than
happy to tell you. If there is state licensing in your state, there
should be a web site where you can obtain a list of companys and also
look for local or state alarm associations where you will find a list
of companys ..... other than the Nationals. It is important that you
get a number of estimates so that you can compare not only prices but
approaches to your particular security needs. There's more than one
way to "skin the cat" as they say.
Do your homework, as you seem to be doing by coming here and asking
questions.
Among the people who frequent this group, we refer to the Nationals as
the "Lick and Stick" companys .... for good reason. I think of the
Nationals as the alarm installation companys who are there for the
consumers who are not willing to do the research that home or business
security (should) require. If you're considering home securtiy, you've
got a reason. Think about what it is you want to accomplish and
actually WHY you are considering security and if you want to put it
into the hands of someone who thinks of your personal, family and home
security as a "commodity".... or not. I'm sure you'll find that
although cost is a major factor ..... after all .....It's about peace
of mind, once the system is installed.
