Re: What's New?

["Crash Gordon" <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yep, I downsized a few years ago. Then sorta semi-retired in a sense...sold
my building, trucks, let almost everyone go...then decided to just be a
small family business again. Now it's fun again!

Just got rid of an annoying client though. Pissy little moaning boy-man
client I've had for 17 years. He had me put in a 7845GSM Saturday at a price
HE SET and at a monthly HE SET...fine with me it was reasonable. Saturday my
brother and I got it up and working fine and it still is. BEFORE we
installed it I told him his 4285 phone module (on VISTA 20P) would not work
nor would any phone features work now that he is HAVING HIS PHONE LINE
DISCONNECTED and will only report on the GSM. Fine he says. I had told him
this before as well, but wanted to have a witness that I told him again.
Fine, thats ok...I would just like you to reprogram my keyfobs for ARM -STAY
(right now they're ARM -AWAY and DISARM. I told him it was easier to program
that remotely and I would do it Monday.

On Monday he starts calling when am I going out there again to program the
keyfobs ARM - STAY - INSTANT? ....INSTANT???
So I ask him how many keyfobs do you really have....4....hmmmm; that would
be 12 zones eaten up by just the keyfobs plus the 7 points. UH OH!....it's
only a 16 zone receiver. So I give him a price to install a 32 zone reciever
(cheap) and he says...STAY-INSTANT....UH OH...can't do that from a keyfob!
Sorry. So maybe you want to just re-think this or not do it ?

Long story short...he wants me to go out and remove the 7845GSM + reinstall
the 4285 and give him his money back because it doesnt work...whoa wait
thats a totally DIFFERENT radio has nothing to do with not being able to do
what it the panel cant do. So he says just get it done...get it done? You
want me to re-engineer the alarm panel for your needs? If the manufacturer
says it can be done then it can't. I told him to have his new alarm company
remove my equipment; my new rev 5.2 chip, 7845GSM, transformer and pack it
up nice and return it to me  and then I'll give him his 4285, old rev 2 chip
and 400 clams back.

All documented in emails...cause he thinks hes gonna sue me. Sue me? You
named the price, I installed the GSM, it works, and he paid me (I can prove
it since it sends daily sigs) all the other junk is moot since we didn't
contract to install or collect any money.

Oh yeah...this man-boy is an non practicing attorney!...yah one of those
guys whose parents made him go to law school, but he's never practiced.
Idiot boy...I know more about contract law then he ever will.

So he fires me...gotta love it. I feel like a free man after a 17 year bad
marriage.

</rant>


"Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1172608737.179205.63410@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| On Feb 27, 9:45?am, "Crash Gordon" <webmas...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| wrote:
| > Most of my jobs are nice. I'm pretty selective on what I take on...if it
| > aint gonna be fun/challenging and be profitable I leave it for the other
| > guys.
| >
| > Starting on a 6000 sqft livable with a 1200 sqft mother in law house and
a
| > 2000 sqft RV garage (all one job on same piece of property), this
weekend.
| > That one will go about 6K just on the alarm - the "other" guys proposed
3
| > systems at a total of 2500$...of course for starters their way would
cost my
| > client 75$ per month for monitoring, my way only 25.00...not to mention
what
| > they left out of a proper system - you really can do a house with 35
opening
| > windows, 9 doors, + other stuff on a system with only 8 zones (well
maybe
| > they can/will, not me).
| >
| > We do custom sound, structured wiring, central vac...all that other
junk.
| > But, I love doing the alarm stuff most of all.
| >
| Sounds like we're about at the same phase of our careers. I do the
| nice stuff now. I'm into my third generation of customers and the work
| is always there and I can choose not to do it if I don't think it's
| going to be fun or challanging.
| I do 98% residential now, including LAN and structured wiring,
| telephone, CATV, home automation, ie, X10 lighting and thermostats,
| home theater / surround sound setup and/or installation, whole house
| audio.
|
| Don't do vacuum, access control, intercom's ( except video) for
| various ligitimate reasons.  Vacuum (aftermarket) is a two man job.
| Intercoms just plain suck and I don't want the headache. And access
| control requires the use of locksmiths or others for lock
| installation. I don't like depending on undependable people. I say
| what I'll do. And I do what I say. Unfortuntely, you can't depend on
| others to follow the same rules.
|
| Just finishing up a 50 thousand sq ft office and warehouse building
| for one of my long time clients. I wouldn't go out now and look for
| commercial this large. But this guy's business has grown through the
| years and he wants me to stay with him. Nice system. Burg only.
| ( they've got sprikler and someone else who does that) Three
| partitions. Glass break detectors in most offices, ceiling mount PIR's
| in halls. Huge glass lobby entrance, rounded out to a half circle of
| glass wall up 18 feet high. Terazza floors. I thought it was too hard
| an area to put glass break detection and there was no way to mount a
| motion detector so that it wasn't looking at glass. The regular
| ceiling mount units had too big a circle of protected area when
| mounted that high, so .... I did a few calculations and mounted a
| regular dual tech unit on the ceiling looking down at the floor. The
| entry door has contacts and a curtain of protection from the motion
| detector, just wide enough, starting where the glass ends. I wasn't
| sure it was going to work, but it does great. You can't make it from
| the entry door to any of the office doors off the lobby without
| activing it.
|
| Three partitions total, with the main lobby common to two of the
| partitions. Seven keypads, 12 Glass breaks, 12 motion detectors. 10
| doors. 2 overhead doors.
|
| The job was in progress for about a year as they just gradually moved
| in from their old location and improved the building as needed. Took a
| bit of planning and allowing for contingencies, since they didn't have
| a clear idea of how the layout of office and shop was eventually going
| to end up. A fun job and a challange for one person to accomplish with
| out any help. But the great part,  is when you turn it on, and it does
| exactly what you planned it to do, that's a great reward. And I have
| to say, that if I were working with help, that it probably wouldn't
| have happend that way.
|