Re: Law Suit in NJ

["Roland" <roland@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A jewelry store with insurance and no UL system? The ones I installed (none
in recent years) were always the most anal specs, other than a SCIF. Most of
the time they had two separate systems. It was always a good way to wake up
when fixing foil and you forgot the loop current was at 90 volts. Heck even
the ground was supervised on a day zone. And those nasty Ademco 1401
capacitance alarms? Jacking up the safe and all. My back! I am glad I don't
do jewelry stores anymore. Better knock on wood because you never know.

"Jim Rojas" <jrojas@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:we05h.9058$Bl1.8702@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Yeah...I have been there...We had this jewelry store customer move
> locations 3 times in 6 years.
>
> At our first encounter, we took over his antique Ademco 4140XM. He refused
> to upgrade, or add a backup radio, or phone line monitor, so he signed a
> waiver...all was good.
>
> At our 2nd encounter, we removed his 4140XM and installed it in his new
> location. He again refused to upgrade, or add a backup radio,  or phone
> line monitor, so he signed a waiver...all was good.
>
> At our 3rd encounter, we removed his 4140XM and installed it in his next
> new location. He again refused to upgrade. But this time he cracked open
> his wallet, and paid $140 for a AlarmNet A backup radio. He still refused
> to install the phone line monitor, so he signed a waiver...all was good.
>
> At our 4th encounter, we removed his 4140XM & AlarmNet A Radio, and
> installed it in his next new location. He again refused to upgrade. He now
> felt that $65 a month to monitor opening & closings with Radio backup was
> just too much for him to bear. So he had us remove the openings & closings
> to save money. He signed yet another waiver.
>
> One day I get a call from my expartner, the store was broken into...I
> arrive at the scene and find his safes were peeled open, phone line cut,
> and all the alarm equipment was on the floor smashed to pieces.
>
> Several months later, the monitoring station and our company get sued
> because the business owner only received 60 percent of his insurance
> claim...he let his policy expire...what a surprise...so he figured he
> could recover the other 40 percent from the alarm & monitoring company.
>
> His lawyer said we were negligent and went on and on...after I faxed over
> all the waivers, and his service revisions his client signed over the
> years, complete with upgrade recomendations, I never heard from his
> attorney again. I did appear as a key witness for the monitoring station
> lawsuit, soon afterwards the monitoring station was released of any
> liability.
>
> In my opinion, the insurance company was at fault from the very beginning.
> They should have required the store owner to have a UL Listed and
> inspected system installed and maintained at all times. But this is
> expensive on both sides. The business owner can't afford the monthly & UL
> inspection fees, and the insurance company is looking to save costs by
> taking shortcuts as usual.
>
> Jim Rojas
>
>
>
> "Nomen Nescio" <nobody@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:5d8c9a4d487f8e7d5d333218effcc1f6@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Everywhere Man said:
>>
>>>As for the alarm company getting smacked for 4.5 mil..... tough shit.
>>>Next time secure the place better, using proper design, equipment, good
>>>installers, and top shelf monitoring.
>>>If I get sued for a client losing his ass because I provided an
>>>unrealiable system then by all means hang me out to dry.
>>
>> Horseshit!
>>
>> It said this case was a subrogation action, which means that the computer
>> company had burglary insurance, filed a claim, and got paid...and now the
>> greedy goddamn insurance company wants to pass off the loss to the alarm
>> company or its insurance company.  That insurance company made more in
>> premiums in one year for that burglary insurance policy than the alarm
>> company made in five years of providing a real, honest-to-God service --
>> and now they want to make the alarm company pay off when their customer
>> gets robbed??  Fuck them!
>>
>> When you are selling an alarm system for $25 to $50 a month, you can't
>> also
>> afford to provide five million bucks worth of burglary insurance.  In
>> fact,
>> for those prices, you can't even afford to hire a lawyer to argue about
>> whether you're at fault or not.  That's why we have limitations of
>> liability in our contracts:  if one customer gets robbed and sues you,
>> you
>> will eat up many years of monitoring profits defending yourself, even if
>> it
>> eventually turns out you weren't at fault.
>>
>> If you want to assume the risk of having to pay off if your alarm doesn't
>> prevent a loss, then you will need to set your rates according to how
>> much
>> your customer has to lose.  Nobody assumes a risk without getting paid
>> for
>> it.  And you can be damn sure your insurance company will follow that
>> rule,
>> too:  it will want to know how much it might lose if your alarm doesn't
>> work, and set its premiums accordingly.
>>
>> You think this is just a matter of putting in good systems, but it's not
>> that simple.  Many years ago, jewelry store insurance was prohibitively
>> expensive for many people, and some jewelers did without insurance.
>> These
>> cheap bastards also bought cheap safes.  They figured all they needed was
>> an alarm.  When they got robbed anyway, they sued their alarm companies
>> rather than face the consequences of their own poor decisions.  No doubt
>> they also bitched about the high prices the alarm company was charging.
>>
>> Many factors go into whether a customer suffers a loss, and most of them
>> are not within the alarm company's control.  Why should an alarm company
>> assume the risk, when its customer is cutting corners on physical
>> security,
>> insurance, and maybe even his alarm system?  A customer might not even
>> tell
>> you about his million dollar stamp collection, leaving you to think
>> you're
>> just doing an average house job.  Until he gets robbed, of course.  Then,
>> you sold him an inadequate system!
>>
>> - badenov
>>
>
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