"My alarm is making a noise"

[chasbo@xxxxxxxxx]

It never fails!  3:00AM is when the customer decides to call because
they can not sleep due to an intermittent loud high frequency beep
allegedly from the alarm system.

And its "in my bedroom.  And it must be the smoke detector."

Awakened by the CO operator I shuffle down my bedroom hall in the dark
to my home office, bring up the account on my desktop computer, and
dial her number.

After patiently walking her through a variety of tests to zoom in on
the exact location of the sound (unfortunately this woman is elderly
and hard of hearing), and pumping her with a lot of questions about
all of the known devices she could have purchased and brought into the
bedroom, etc., including tape recorders, battery operated smoke
detectors and CO detectors, clock radios -- as well as asking her to
describe the frequency with which the sound repeats and whether it is
in unison with the flashing of the red led of the smoke detector.

Fortunately she is very cooperative, pleasant, and appreciative.  We
have a very good relationship.

After ten of more minutes of detective work I told her I will call her
again about 8:00AM, and if the beeps are still present I will come to
the house.  She told me to call at 9:00AM.

I called.  Good news!  It was her cell phone on her night table.

And wouldn't you know it, the cell phone was the one device I forgot
to mention at 3:00AM.

Here then is the beginning of a checklist that we should all keep as a
reminder of the devices we should have the customer check before
sending a serviceman:

Things that make noises that customers think are caused by the Alarm
System:

	1.  Cell phones.
	2.  Battery operated smoke detectors.
	3.  Battery operated tape recorders whose tape is at end of
line and motor still running.
	4.  Stuck doorbells.
	5.  Battery operated/plug-in carbon monoxide detectors.
	6.  Alarm clock radios.
	7.  Kitchen stoves, refrigerators, microwave ovens.
	8.  Recently purchased smoke detectors or smoke detectors
recently removed from service, and placed in closets, bags, etc. ?
with batteries still inside the units.
	9.  Computer standby power supplies warning of low battery.

Anything else?