Re: Take Over Practices

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

J Barnes wrote:
> They may have tied into the existing devices but I didnt think they would
> have done it for free.  They pulled out the Maxis so they would have had to
> put in all new expanders or another Maxis.
>
> When I talked to my custmer she insisted she was happy with the service we
> have given her over the (10) years but she liked the idea of a system that
> would use a key-fob.  She did say we should have let her know that the
> system she had could have used keyfobs.  I guess we could have retained her
> if we only had kept her more informed on what her system could do.
>
> We send out a newsletter to all of our customers about 6 times a year.  It
> dont look like to many people read them.  Does anyone have a better way of
> keeping their customers informed?
>
>   We charged her 15.00 per month for monitoring so I dont think price was an
> issue.  Im sure she is paying double that for her "free" system.  Thanks for
> all the great responses and I appreciate the objective points of view.
>
> James B


I'd chalk it up to sheer stupidity on your customer's part.  We quoted
on a system recently in which the customer was actually considering
AlarmFarce.  When it came to comparing services though it was pretty
much a "no brainer".  AlarmFarce was protecting one door and providing a
single motion in a house that was 3500 square feet on two levels with a
walk out basement.  When the customer questioned the rep (800 number -
no one actually came out to see them), he said it would be "easy" to
secure the basement with another motion.

"But what about an extra keypad?" they asked.

"Oh," said the rep, "you don't need one.  Your touchtone phones become
your keypad."

"But it doesn't tell me 'status' if there's an alarm at night (in fact
the phone goes dead while the panel communicates *if* they hook it up
properly), and your keypad (with the two way voice feature) is
downstairs.  How are we supposed to get help?  And what about if we want
to go downstairs for a glass of milk?  We'd have to remember to disarm
the system."

"Oh, no," said the rep, "the motions automatically bypass at night".

"But that would only leave only one door contact protecting my whole
house.  What am I supposed to do?  Put up a sign that says 'Attention
Burglars!  Use this door to force entry between 10:00 pm and 8:00 am?'"

Frank Olson
http://www.yoursecuritysource.com