Re: Installing alarm system on a 'prewired' house

["Crash Gordon" <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've had a couple like that too. Easiest way is to just connect those spare
wires to anything.
I can't tellya how many windows I've gone out and closed because they're too
lazy to go check. Usually they pay, if they don't the next service call just
costs a bit more.


"Robert L Bass" <sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ofdvt11rsm5tjbecpllkfpe7gpfh1tv3ue@xxxxxxxxxx
|> 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
|