Re: Problem with ADT Security Company

["R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Doug, I will certainly answer your comments because I know they are not said
in the same tone as Jim's.

I think there may be some misconception here. People feel that I am against
long term contract business in general. That just is simply not the
case.That is the industry business model. If I come across as indicating
that, and even if it is in a "tiring" way, then perhaps it's for me to
clearly state once again my objections. I think the long term contract
option is often misused when the client has finished paying for his system
and there remains no valid consumer oriented reason to repeat the contract.
Same goes for takeovers ! I tend to look at things more from the customer
viewpoint rather than the industry viewpoint. Plus the lockout code is in
the same league, and in spite of what some on the ng may say are valid
reasons for using it (and there are some), if they saw the tremendous number
of locked boards that come my way, and the stories people tell me about the
abuse, they might be more aware of how much this feature is actually misused
in real life. When I object to something, I try to clearly explain EXACTLY
what that is; however, more often than not, it is misread and misinterpreted
to mean more in a general way than I mean (so what else is new....)

Charging for service and warranty is simply a business decision that either
is or is not part of your business model. If you don't charge for service
and warranty work, you better have that firmly built in to your business
plan, and know upfront how much this costs you, or you will be in trouble.
In my case, I did the costing exercise using an expensive modelling software
program that was used within the telco I worked for, and so far, it has
worked out almost to the dollar. In fact, I'm ahead of the game...

So if I come across in a strident manner, well...it's because of my
particular experience in this business. But nothing I say or do will make
much difference in the grand scheme of our industry. However, that is the
purpose of a ng - to exchange differing views, to assist with technical
questions etc. Comments made, or viewpoints exchanged either stand on their
merit or don't ! So, I'll try to envision more how MY comments will be taken
at the receiving end; however, I won't stop expressing my viewpoint on
industry matters that I think are both good and bad. Those who object can
say so (hopefully with solid reasoning and not with stupid and hateful
comments) and the reader can make his own judgments.....

That's just the way a ng works !!

RHC


"Doug L" <vssdoug@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:gN6dnSqoM-BoQsHeRVn-rQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> RHC has found a business model that suits his needs, and thats all well
> and good, but for him to suggest that everyone who runs their business
> differently by using term contracts or charging a different price for
> their services is somehow ripping off the consumer gets a little tiring,
> but the reality is that nothing anyone says or does in this group has any
> effect on my business and probably has no effect on anyone elses business
> either.
> To answer your question, no, I don't lock out customers from their own
> equipment (other than while they are being monitored), I don't hold them
> to residential monitoring only contracts and I don't know personally of
> anyone who does. In a business environment most of my contracts are for
> leased systems and  if the dollar amount is high enough and there is a
> realistic chance of recovering money owed to me I will persue it, although
> so far I have judgements but no money.
>
> Doug L
>
>
> "Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1130122297.314994.73250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> Nomen Nescio wrote:
>>> Jim said:
>>>
>>> >Is there anyone here who has maliciously persued a client who was in
>>> >good
>>> >standing and
>>> >forced them to complete a contract, simply because you could?
>>>
>>> I'm not sure what you mean.  If the client is in good standing, then
>>> he's
>>> making payments as agreed, and there's no need to force him to complete
>>> the
>>> contract.  If you mean, suppose the client wants to cancel before the
>>> end
>>> of his contract because he's moving to a building that already has an
>>> alarm
>>> in it, or because someone else will give him a lower price, then yes, I
>>> know companies that sue people as a matter of course.  Personally, I
>>> don't,
>>> unless I stand to lose a lot of money, but one company I know  files
>>> quite
>>> a few small claims court cases on people who don't fulfill their
>>> contracts,
>>> including the automatic renewal periods.
>>>
>>> - badenov
>>
>> I'm asking if anyone "here" does what Robbie claims is so rampant in
>> this business? If someone owes  money, sure, depending on how much, I
>> might go through the legality of persuing someone. But, in all these
>> years, I've never deemed it important enough to do. My guess is that
>> this small gathering of people in this newsgroup is of the same mind
>> and that there's not ONE person here who does what he IMPLIES that
>> EVERYONE does. Are there some in the industry who do it? Sure, there
>> are nasty people in every business. Is it the norm, as Bobby boy
>> continuously paints his picture of the industry? Nah. Just like SFB,
>> Robbie likes to promote his own agenda and justify his inane business
>> practices by telling every end user, who comes here, that any contract
>> over one month is of no value. It's of no value to him, and that's
>> fine. But to constantly advise end users that term contracts are a
>> ripoff, is summarily and purposely taking business away from some other
>> company, who's business plan, actually INCLUDES the economys and equity
>> of offering contracts for a year or more. So WHAT, that Bobby doesn't
>> want to earn equity in his company. And SO WHAT, he want's to give away
>> free service. And SO WHAT, that he gives his monitoring service away
>> cheaper than his compitition.  That's CERTAINLY   ***HIS*** business.
>> But to suggest that EVERY company who doesn't do that is ripping off
>> their clients it stupid. And then, in ADDITION to enticeing end users
>> into not accepting term contracts, he berates companies who UNDERSELL
>> their compitition, and yet HE'S as gulity of doing that as anybody! At
>> least the others are underselling by making a long term investment by
>> financing the upfront costs. HE does it by sacraficing the equity of
>> his company and has the NERVE to suggest that THAT's the way to run a
>> company. And the NERVE to continuously tell endusers that his way is
>> the right thing to support. He's doing the very same thing to end users
>> as FAT ASS does. Not directly, but he berates the industry and
>> installation companies who have a much better and more accepted
>> business plan than he does.
>>
>> Someone can have a plan. Someone can run their business the way they
>> choose, but to constantly stand on a soap box at every opportunity,
>> suggesting that what everyone else does is wrong, then someone is gonna
>> knock you off that box. Apparently no one else is willing to do it. I
>> am.
>>
>
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