Re: Installing alarm system on a 'prewired' house

["Bob Worthy" <securinc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Robert L Bass" Wrote:

 > That reminded me of my all-time favorite nutty customer story.
> We pre-wired a house for a wealthy doctor and his family during
> construction and came back when the house was finished to install
> the hardware.  It was always our policy to pull extra cables from
> the garage and the attic to the alarm control panel location
> which was usually in the basement.
>
> A few months after we finished installing the system I got a call
> from the lady of the house.  "My alarm is 'broken'.  Send someone
> over here at once!"
>
> I explained that my tech were already out on calls. Could she
> wait about an hour or so for the next available person?  No, she
> was in a hurry. "Send someone right now!"  :^)
>
> I asked what was wrong.  She said the little green light is
> "broken".  (For the uninitiated, that's the system ready light
> which goes out if something is open.  She had a Moose Z1100e with
> Z1100R keypads.  I asked her to push "2" for zone status, quickly
> determined that one of the living room windows was open and told
> her so.  She insisted the windows were shut and refused to even
> check.  "I want someone here NOW!!"
>
> I grabbed my tool belt, hopped in my van and drove several miles
> to her home on the other side of town.  Before ringing the
> doorbell, I walked over to the side of the front porch in front
> of the living room.  Sure enough, a window was open about 2
> inches.
>
> I went inside, showed her again how to check for an open zone and
> that the problem appeared to be a living room window.  Then I
> walked with her to the living room, drew one curtain aside and
> pointed out the open window.
>
> She said, "Well that should not prevent me from setting the
> system.  Can you fix it?"
>
> I said, "Sure," closed and locked the window and then walked her
> back to the keypad.  She said something like, "I've never seen
> such a stupid system."
>
> I asked for a place to sit for a moment, opened my metal flip
> case and wrote her a bill for the service visit.  She said it was
> under warranty and she was not paying for anything."
>
> I said, "OK" and started to head for the door, making a mental
> note to cancel her contract ass soon as the term was up.
>
> Now comes the best part.  Before I could get out the door, she
> said that she was very disappointed that we hadn't finished the
> installation.  Knowing full well we had, I asked what she meant.
> She had me go to the control panel in the basement.  There she
> pointed out three or four *extra* cables we had pulled which were
> not connected to anything.
>
> I explained that we ran extra cables at no cost to her in order
> to facilitate future upgrades should the need arise.  She was
> incredulous.  "*Nobody EVER* does more work than they're paid
> for.  I want you to finish this job!"
>
> I said I'd talk to the technician (just wanting to leave at that
> point).  Her husband called that night and was very upset about
> the same nonsense.  When their year was up they received a
> cancellation notice.
>
> I figured that was the last we'd see of them.  Wrong!  A few
> years later we bought out another small firm and guess whose
> system was among the contracts.

Nice **story** Robert, but it somehow contadicts all of your recent reasons
for bashing professional alarm companies, professional installation methods,
service response, monitoring contracts, and service fees charged by the
alarm company and the fact that there is value of contacts through
acquisitions. It sounds like you operated the same. Or is your story and
your opinions just like any other bASS when they are flip flopping on the
deck when they get caught.