Re: ARE YOU REALLY BEING MONITORED? READ THIS

[<thesatguy1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been doing this for over 40 years and I can say that I never heard of
anybody operating like that.

Every communicator sends a test signal every night and the central station
software tracks these signals and you know within one hour if the signal did
not occur.  At that point I will attempt to dial up the missing panel and
see what sort of response I get - many times the customers phone is out of
service.  Many times the panel will answer and you will discover the panels'
clock has lost the correct time so it doesn't transmit test signals at the
prescribed time.

All the cell packs are 'bumped' by the panels at closing time to make sure
they are working and they all report in during the night also - usually
between 3am-5am.

Most everyone I know has their panels send a test signal every night too.

I do know of companies that dial up their panels once a month to download
the event logs.
I do know of companies that only test their radios or cell units once a
month

In the case of ADT most of their stuff in recent years has been done by
trunkslammers and varies in quality from poor or very poor to not working at
all depending upon who the truckslammer was that performed the last service
or non-service as the case may be.  Many times it seems that sales people
are doing service and they don't have a clue what they are doing.  Many time
customers know stuff is wrong or not working but it costs $70. for the
serviceman to come out so they don't report it.

Many times the serviceman don't have a clue either; a really bizarre case
comes to mind where a dress shop was broekn into seven times in two years
and ADT didn't get any signals all seven times and all seven times a
serviceman came out and checked the system.  The service record in the
control set showd that they each checked the system after entry and found
nothing wrong.
Here I come as serviceman #8 and it took me exactly two minutes to discover
there was no working phone line.  I said to the sub the phone line is dead
and she says you can use my cell phone if you need to make a call.  I said
no I need to find out why the phone line connected to the alarm panel is
dead.  She says the cell phone is all they have - they did have a phone line
installed when the store first opened so the alarm could be hooked up but
then they had that disconnected and the number switched to the cell phone.
Then she says ADT used to call her every night and tell her the alarm wasn't
set but when she came to the store and checked it everything was okay and
she told them to stop calling her.

So, a lot of times the customers DO know that theres a problem.

"Sonicduck" <jones1019@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1132272672.113574.41260@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> One of the most interesting, yet disturbing things about monitored
> security systems is their ability to tell whether your system is
> actually online or not.  The method most companies do this, and most
> security consultants do not bother to tell their prospects, is by an
> "electronic bullet".  The electronic signal is sent from the monotoring
> center and "dials into" each customer home, and waits for a signal
> telling it that everything is working ok.
>
> This activity cannot be done all the time.  Realistically, it can only
> be done efficiently once a month.  First, the companies performing this
> "service" have to pay for all the long distance phone charges, the
> postage for letters notifying those failing, that their system needs
> service, and the humans performing these tasks, usually get paid by the
> hour.  I knew the receptionist in our branch (ADT) was charged with
> this task.  She used to tell me it was an impossible task.
>
> While working at ADT, I discovered through conversations with
> installers and managers that they NO LONGER send this test signal.  I
> had access to ADT's at home VPN, or remote access to their website and
> database, through the internet.  I was shown an area on Mastermind, the
> software used by most, if not all major security companies to track
> everything from billing to service, to account, and alarm status
> history.  The area I was shown detailed any service related issues.
> One night, while learning the system, and using my town code, I
> discovered about 14 of my recently installed customers were NOT being
> monitored.  They had "error codes", when tested from the initial
> install.  When I confronted my manager, and asked him why, he said,"ask
> the install/service manager."  I asked him, and he just sighed, and
> never really gave me an answer or promise to correct these issues.  I
> feel like I must have opened a can of worms.  What this means to me, is
> that many, many customers are out there, that are paying for moitoring,
> but are not even online to the monitoring center.  They won't know
> unless their alarm goes off, and no one calls.
>
> In Bell South from Protection One's defense, and Brinks, to the best of
> my knowledge, both companies are still sending the bullets monthly.
> ADT is not.  It was simply too expensive for a company with 5 million
> customers to do it once each month.  Is this ILLEGAL?  To NOT send a
> signal and still charge you?  The short answer is no.  They covered
> their butts by their agreements, or contracts.  In that little, small
> type that every sales rep. tries to "blow by you", they state that "IT
> IS THE CUSTOMERS RESPONSIBILITY TO CALL THE MONITORING CENTER WEEKLY"
> to make sure they are active.  Most rep.'s will tell you to do whatever
> is comfortable, whether a weekly call, or a monthly call.  Any SALES
> REP worth his or her salt, if he/she REALLY cares about your safety,
> WILL tell you to make those calls.  It is the ONLY way you will know
> for sure.
>
> If you don't do this simple task, and remind yourself to do it, you
> risk having a serious emergency event, with no response, at your
> residence.  Almost as bad, in the long run, short of having a non
> responsive emergency event, you will be paying for a service you are
> NOT receiving.
>
> Don't be misled.  Be safe!  If you have any questions, please do not
> hesitate to e-mail me.
>