Re: Installing alarm system on a 'prewired' house

[Robert L Bass <sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> For awhile there they were doing that (selling wireless)
> even when they knew the house was prewired.

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.

I think if that woman was a coyote caught in a trap she'd chew
three legs off and still be stuck.  :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com