Re: ADT Contract Language help.

[canyonblue@xxxxxxxxx]

In all honesty my background was this... I had a town home for 5 years,
protected by a very simple ADT system (3 doors, 1 motion, 1 smoke, 2
keypads) which of course was woefully inadequate. The install of that
small system was done well and I never had any issues with ADT other
than, yes they did increase monitoring a small amount over the years.

Because I tend to carefully research bigger investments and I knew I
wanted a comprehensive alarm install for my new construction home the
process began many months ago. I intended to prewire the home but the
only option was a $2000 prewire option from the builder which would
only prewire the doors and stick you with their alarm company which was
a no-name brand with old equipment. I read the complaints about ADT
(resellers posing as the corporate company, high monitoring costs,
leased systems, poor installs etc.) Because of those complaints I
resolved to purchase an alarm system from a well regarded independent.

This was problem #1. How do you find a good independent? In the
Chicagoland area there were dozens and dozens. I posted that question
long ago to various forums as well as getting some publications
(similar to a local Consumer Reports) that gave various ratings to
companies based on customer satisfaction, price etc. I picked the 3
highest rated independents and also planned on giving ADT & Brinks the
right to come look at the house and give their suggestions on how to
secure it. Brinks was *awful* via customer service on the phone alone,
simply horrible so I ruled them out before I even had them come out.
ADT was *excellent* on the phone and I made and appointment with them
and the 3 independents. 1 of the independents sales folks in my home
was condescending and clearly out to lowball my equipment (despite my
insistences i was willing to pay for more equipment to create full
permiter protection) because he knew that was the only way he could get
close in price to others. I ruled that independent out. The other 2
independents and ADT's salesfolks were excellent and had very, very
similar suggestions. 1 independent used Elk products the other used
Ademco/Honeywell products identical to ADT's rebranded Ademco products.

When the bids came in from the 2 "good" independents and ADT the
differences were shocking. $3300 from ADT (including my relocation
discounts etc.) and $4300 and $4900 from the independents. This was
more than I expected and more than frankly I could stomach despite
having resolved to pay more for an independent. ADT in their price had
several pieces of equipment I didn't want or need so for the same price
they went back and added several more window contacts and a door
contact to protect one room upstairs, my small daughter's room... so
that increased the price margin even farther because that wasn't speced
out in the independent's quotes. Mointoring for ADT was going to be $61
a month (bug/fire/CO2/water/cellbackup/serviceplan with batteries) and
for the independents it would be $53 (mid priced independent) and $81
(high priced independent.)

I called ADT and stated I was impressed by their installation cost by
concerned about several issues. First I stated I wanted to go with an
independent since I would own the system and could move mointoring
after the service period. Further I said I was concerned by the
mointoring costs being higher than others and claims of inferior
installation service. Managers and salesmen from ADT called me
repeatedly and addressed all of these issues without pressure tactics.

1st... ADT agreed to sell me the system outright (the box on my
contract says "System is a LEASE unless the Customer Owned System box
is checked" and it is.)

2nd... ADT agreed to not put any master or installer codes in the
Safewatch 3000 box (basically a Vista 20P from Ademco) to prevent other
mointoring companies from using it after my 3 year contract term is up.
I have a rider that states "ADT will NOT program a lockout code of any
kind which would in any way prohbit the customer from changing service
providers at the end of the initial service period. No installer
lockout code etc. Customer owns system outright and completely."

3rd... ADT lowered monitoring to $53 to match the lowest monitoring
cost. This again includes free battery changes and is marked as such in
a rider for the life of the contract. They can raise fees after 1 year
but I have the right to complain and either have them keep it at $53 or
cancel my contract with no early penalties at which point I could take
my wholy owned system and go elsewhere. This to me implies I can get
them to keep it at $53 for at least the first 3 years as obviously they
likely won't want to lose the buisness when they don't have the "we'll
lock/takeback the system from you" to hold over your head.

4th... The sales folks again and again admitted that their are certain
installers they have who could not do an adequate job on this task.
They admitted only 3 or 4 ADT installers in the area were really
qualified and so repeatedly told me to be patient as they would
schedule the install directly with those folks (and perhaps a slightly
longer wait for the actual install date) as opposed to the normal
system where they call a central system to schedule the install and get
random folks assigned. This to me inspired confidence that hopefully it
won't be a total lick'em and stick'em job.

End numbers? $3400 for 5 doors, 20 windows, 3 upgraded keypads, a
Ademco Vista 20P panel, extra power supply, 2 motions, celluar backup,
3 barrier bars, shock sensor, outside strobe, indoor sounder, 3 smokes,
1 heat sensor, 2 CO2, 1 flood, 2 free months mointoring, $53 monthly
monitoring fee including service plan w/ battery replacement, fully
customer owned system with no installer lockout and a 3 year contract
with reasonable opt-out fixed fees for each year.

We'll see... perhaps I will be back here shortly with a horror story
and you can all say "I told you so" but I appreciate all those who
kindly answered my questions to ensure what I was hearing from ALL of
these companies was no some line but rather a truthful and
knowledgeable answer.

Thanks again for those who didn't attack me and perhaps I be one of the
lucky ones who has a good local ADT Corporate office.