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

[Leo <leoPhx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:54:46 GMT, "Robert L Bass"
<RobertLBass@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>In that case you have two choices:
>(1) Change central station providers (this
>is the preferred option)
>(2) Stay with your current station but
>ask them to change your account number
>so this doesn't happen again (until the
>next time one of their professional installers
>screws up).

The alarm panel was installed and activated as part of a deal when I
bought the house (new construction) a year ago. In exchange for
signing a 3 year contract with Westminster security, they would
install panel/sensors/detectors for free.

When I called the Central Station I learned that they are a separate
company.  The guys that actually did the physical installation are a
third company. There is a bit of finger pointing at this stage.

As you pointed out, the main issue is: the CS does not crosscheck
incoming alarms with the caller ID, leading to a situation where a
mis-programmed panel in another house is generating an alarm that
SEEMS to originate from my house. I am not sure if this crosscheck is
a ?nice? thing that every CS ?worth its salt? should have, or a
?requirement?.

I received a letter from the Phoenix police department, they are
logging one false alarm against me, and after two ?free? alarms I will
be fined. The police also sent me a list of the obligations of the
alarm company, but the detail of whether or not they should crosscheck
the Caller ID is not in there, so I do not know if I really have any
recourse for A) terminating the contract with the alarm company /
central station (my preferred approach at this point) or at least B)
get them to change my account # with no expense for me.