Re: Danger - Independent Alarm Dealers

["Jim Rojas" <jrojas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ADT at one time had over a hundred monitoring stations throughout the USA &
Canada. Now they only have 6 left. And out of that 6, a high percentage of
all signals get processed through their Colorado facility. Cutting costs
just makes good business sense. With their Mastermind network, they can use
the 6 different central stations to evenly handle service, dispatch, new
installations, etc.

What I have a problem with is that the large nationals bend the rules when
it comes to Fire Alarm monitoring. Many states still require that the
monitoring center be located within the same state of the fire system they
are monitoring. So how does ADT get away with that? Easy. They get a toll
free number billed to their local branch office within said state. The
signals are then forwared to Colorado, or wherever. With toll free lines,
it's easy to bend the rules to suit your needs.

ADT does have a tiny (borderline answering service) central station in
Florida. Though its suppose to be UL and everything, signals do not get
dispatched from there, they don't even get processed there. Unless you
consider forwarding the signal to a large facility thousands of miles out of
state signal processing. Since they use the Mastermind network, there is
usually no way to tell where the signals get processed from, or even if it
went overseas for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised if the siganls get
processed & dispatched from India...sorry, that's a Honeywell tech support
thing... :)

Jim Rojas

"Sonicduck" <jones1019@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1132538524.757486.160890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The topic I created here did specify ADT dealers, BUT, the same
> principles apply to ANY independent dealer.  If I were a prospective
> security alarm customer, the number one issue I would have with ANY
> dealer not from a national company would be monitoring.  FOr instance,
> how does the dealer KNOW FOR SURE that every employee of the company
> usually subcontracted out to perform the monitoring has a FEDERAL
> BACKGROUND CHECK.  One thing independents are known for is getting rid
> of an employee a few weeks BEFORE his company HAS to conduct his
> federal background check, drug screen, or other certification.  THAT is
> how indy's get around the law.  The other major issue is the equipment
> they use. Indy's are more inclined (other than Brinks) to use inferior
> equipment.  They'll put junk in the home and call it a system.  I could
> name the equipment but you know the names.  I wouldn't go out on a limb
> and say GE, or some manufacturing company whose real business is not
> necessarily security stuff.  Personally, I recommend Honeywell, or
> Ademco (same stuff).
>
> If an indy chooses a company that does NOT have a backup facilty with
> redundancy abilities located in two different locales, then a disaster
> of some type could shut that one existing facility down, and the indy
> and his customers would have NO way to backup their customers.
>
> There are, as you are well aware, many companies that do NOTHING but
> monitor for the indy's.  It's a cut rate business, and if one of two
> employees working the night shift calls in sick, or goes to take a
> crap, who's minding the alarms?  Monitoring is like anything else, the
> smaller monitoring companies find all kinds of ways to cut costs, and
> who really knows what kind of company it is?  Many times the central
> station is located a thousand miles away from the independent dealer.
> There are companies that will wholesale their rates for monitoring for
> as low as $5.00 a customer.  Some for $10.00 per month.  You get what
> you pay for.
>