Re: Contract Central Stations

[Joe Lucia <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We have hear a Lot of horror stories about COPS Monitoring charging the
dealer just because the Customer didn't use the Automated System for one
thing or another.  Or, get this, they will charge the dealer $5.00 to
update the name or address of an account for the dealer over the phone
(misspelled name?  better update it yourself online because if the
Operator has to do it you will get charged.)

I've not personally experienced this, but we've heard the same stories
from many dealers that are leaving COPS because the are getting
nickle-and-dimed for every little thing.  Especially since the dealer
can't control when the customer might call in to the C/S and,
heaven-forbid, need to talk to a live person for anything other then
cancelling an alarm.

COPS recently purchased ACM here in Arizona.  We've been getting a lot
of new dealers because of problems with line moves and bad customer
service (dealers can't get any straight answers from COPS or ACM
regarding the move, many haven't even heard about the move and are
getting fail-to-communicates from multiple systems on a daily basis
now).  Boy have we heard it all.  It's amazing COPS is as big as they
are with such poor technical and customer support for their dealers.
Any, why ACM would sell to someone with such a bad reputation is beyond
me.  They never even Asked Us.  We get dealers moving over on a regular
basis now, they are just fed-up with the problems.  ACM was bad enough
(so they say), but COPS taking on ACM is exponentially worse (so they
say).  We don't advertise or do any sort of marketing, we just let them
come over as they see fit and they wonder why they waited so long.
We've had dealers say how nice it is not having constant calls from the
C/S for one thing or another (undefined signals, incomplete information,
etc.) because we take care of things for them (our supervisors actually
Understand the way things work and can handle most any problem without
bothering the dealer).

I'm not trying to bash or brag, just telling you what I've heard from
the Dealers that have switched over to us during the COPS-ACM "partnership".

Robert L Bass wrote:

>>we don't charge the dealer $5.00 for talking to
>>their customer directly
>>
>>
>
>Wow!  I wasn't aware that there even were central stations that
>charge dealers per call.  Which CS does that?
>
>--
>
>Regards,
>Robert L Bass
>
>Bass Burglar Alarms
>The Online DIY Store
>http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com
>
>--
>
>Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large
>groups.
>
>