Re: the police was dispatched to ... the wrong house

["Robert L Bass" <RobertLBass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Few companies run their own CS these days.
> Daily test timers are usually only for fire
> accounts or cell back up accounts since there
> is an extra charge for these services (depending
> on CS and number of accounts dealer has at
> that CS)...

I went with central station automation very early on.
Our first system was actually a home-brew but it
wasn't very useful.  After a couple of years I bought
BOLD fropm Bradley.  The system handled daily
tests with operator intervention only on exceptions
(fail to test).  We then made daily tests a standard
feature.  It gave me an edge over the competition.

With virtually all modern CSA packages, daily test
can be done with negligible added labor.  Of course,
CS operators often charge extra anyway.  How
much extra varies more with monitoring company
greed than with cost.

> Monthly test timers on residential accounts is more
> common (standard) since they are typically not
> charged to dealer, although as you know a few older
> panels can't do that or can't do a 30 days interval.

That's true.  The problem is that a 30-day interval is
too long.  An awful lot can happen in a single day,
let alone a month.

> Open and close reports (log only) are common
> (standard) on any commercial account. Open and
> closing supervision is an extra charge of course.

Agreed.  Perhaps I should have been more specific.
Although we did not charge extra for O/C reports, we
did charge for O/C supervision because that did
entail extra operator time and/or my time to remote
arm the system if an employee left a premises
unprotected past the normal closing time.

> Most alarm dealers are aware of the above of course,
> but I thought I'd put it out there to be certain others
> are operating a similar business practice and level of
> service.

This is one of the areas where small, independent central
station alarm companies can excel over the large, national
firms.  None of the large CS operators like Monitronics,
P1, etc., offer daily test or unsupervised open and close
reports without an extra charge.  Almost none are willing
to remote arm if the system doesn't report a closing signal
on time.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=============================>
Bass Home Electronics
941-925-8650
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
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