Re: Generic Central Station Horror Tales

["Roland More" <NoSpamroland@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 >Alarm dealers don't pay off when their customers get hit and the alarm
doesn't work; central stations sure don't, either.

Would you expect a central station would pay off if they called your
customer's alarm panel and removed the central station phone number, as well
as the account number from the panel, and then the customer suffered a loss
from a failure to dispatch? Do you think it would be more compelling if the
central station was the only entity that could program the panel remotely,
since it was proprietary, and only they knew the installers code for local
programming?
Would it be less difficult to know how to assess liability to see if they
actually did this or not because (1) they said they did it, (2) because it
was there written policy to do it, and (3) they did it on every account?
Once the local dealer had the installer code, the policy was to remove the
phone number to central and the account number from proprietary panels. It
was not the policy to notify the dealer or to stop charging the dealer for
monitoring the affected accounts however. Do you think the liability in that
case was clear enough for the central to cut the check? Apparently someone
did, times two. One for the dealer and one for the end user. Of course there
is a certain someone posting here that claims something like this never
happened anywhere. Curiously he claims not to know anyone that works where
he does that may have actual knowledge of an event like this, besides
himself of course, and he claims he knows nothing. The more I read his
posts, I begin to believe him more and more. He truly knows nothing.

"Nomen Nescio" <nobody@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:35ae8f59e4fedd607ae12644ed0dfba2@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Just Looking said:
>
>>Due to some recent events, I have pondered central station operations a
>>little more than usual. Therefore I am asking myself some questions others
>>here may have asked and answered for him or her self already. How many
>>generic central station horror tales does it take to begin to discredit a
>>central station operation? If a central station pays money to a dealer for
>>a
>>central station screw up, should that be viewed as a positive or a
>>negative
>>for that central station in a dealer's eyes? How much money has to change
>>hands before the event is to be considered a big deal? Are damages in the
>>hundreds of dollars significant or are the thousands of dollars the real
>>starting point where one should start taking notice? Does a one off
>>failure
>>event count more than a policy screw up that results in a loss?
>
> I have always found that public floggings are bad for employee morale.
>
> There's no way to quantify errors like you suggest, because each error is
> different, and has different consequences.  Given that mistakes will
> happen, I think the thing to look for is how management approaches them.
> If their response is limited to attempts to make you feel better, then
> it's
> time to look for alternatives.  If the problem is equipment or software
> related, and they seem unwilling to spend the money required to fix the
> problem, time to start looking.  If it's a training issue, you largely
> have
> to trust your gut on whether they are doing anything about it.
>
> Sometimes, it's the dealer's fault for insisting on oddball procedures and
> special instructions for handling certain accounts.  Sure, some amount of
> customizing is necessary and expected, but the weirder and more
> complicated
> the instructions for a certain account, the more likely some operator is
> going to screw it up.  Dealers need to remember that the instructions they
> provide today have to be simple and clear enough that they make sense to
> the guy who gets hired for third shift two years from now.  It is better
> to
> tell a customer now that you can't do something, than to have him find out
> for himself a year from now.
>
> It goes without saying that it's smart to have your own receiver phone
> lines, so you can change quickly and easily if needed.
>
> I am a bit mystified as to your comments about central stations paying
> money to dealers for their screwups.  I expect a central to pay false
> alarm
> charges if they mishandle a signal, like dispatching to the wrong address.
> Other than that, I can't think of a situation where they would pay a
> dealer
> money, certainly not thousands of dollars.  Alarm dealers don't pay off
> when their customers get hit and the alarm doesn't work; central stations
> sure don't, either.
>
> - badenov
>