Re: question about burglar alarm dispute (San Francisco Bay Area)

[Frank Olson <use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just Looking wrote:

>
>> Wasn't it you that threw a strop when you claimed a CS
>> stopped signals from one of your accounts?
>
> Not exactly. They called up the panel, removed the central station phone
> number and the account number and that stopped the monitoring altogether.
> They didn't notify anyone and they continued to bill for the account. The
> "strop" came when that account had a break in.

All of our accounts "test" daily.  We have a procedure in place for when
we receive "fail to test" reports from the CS.  Apparently you don't
either have such a procedure or receive fail to test reports (or both).
  I'd suggest looking for another CS that will provide you with better
service (in the latter instance).  If you *are* receiving fail to test
reports, then I'd suggest it's time to amend your service procedures.
This will avoid future embarrassment on your part.

Now...  We just performed a test of a fire alarm system which happened
to be monitored by another alarm company.  They failed to receive *any*
signals.  No troubles, alarms or supervisories.  When I spoke with the
operator I asked if they were receiving a daily or monthly test signal.
  He said "yes, we are receiving a daily test signal".  I asked him
specifically if those test signals were generated by the system or if
someone at the station was manually entering them (some CS software will
allow you to do this).  He sounded quite "miffed" when he responded:
"These are signals generated by the communicator".  I called him back
about ten minutes later to suggest he dispatch a technician to the site.
  Apparently the phone lines had been disconnected and the panel hadn't
been able to communicate since the second week of September, 2007 (I got
that information from a copy of the Telus work order which was left on
the site).  I would love to have been there the day the customer phoned
the monitoring company to complain about being billed for a service they
clearly hadn't been providing for over half a year.