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

[Matt Ion <soundy106@xxxxxxxxx>]

hotister@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hi dear all:
>
> We recently got involved with a dispute with a burglar alarm company
> (in San Francisco Bay Area), and I hope this is the right place to
> post this question.
>
> On our AT&T phone bill last month we noticed that we have a long list
> of "automated" long distance phone calls dialing to a area code (408)
> phone number. These phone calls happened on daily basis and always
> start from 1:43pm and would continue to dial until 2:39pm (for about
> one hour, and call every one minute). At first we didn't think of it's
> a problem from our burglar alarm company, so we called AT&T and they
> put these calls on dispute for us. The next month, we noticed the same
> thing again, so we called AT&T again and they told us that it seems
> the phone number is a fax/computer type of phone number, they also
> asked whether we have some kind of alarm system, so we started to talk
> to our alarm company. The alarm company did some investigation, then
> got back to us saying that these phone calls were made by the alarm
> system for automated testing, as all these calls were never actually
> went through, so the modem kept on trying to make those automated
> testing calls. However, they did mention that they have another 4-5
> customers who also had this problem before and the problem seems to be
> related to really old modem (on the residence side, not the modems on
> their company side), so they suggested that we should upgrade the
> modem in our house (the current one was provided and installed by
> them), and they also switched the 408 long distance number to a 1-800
> number. They continue to say that we should dispute these phone calls
> with AT&T and they are NOT willing to pay for these phone bills
> (currently there are about $390 due to
>
> Some questions:
>
> 1. From the technical side, who should be really responsible for these
> phone calls? I know that we shouldn't, but we also don't know from the
> technical side whether AT&T or the alarm company should be responsible
> for this $390. Could someone please give us some "technical details"
> about how this type of automated dialing system works (for burglar
> alarm systems)? If, according to the alarm company, that these
> automated dialing (from our home modem) never went through, why would
> AT&T has a record on their computer and still charge us?
>
> 2. Is there any regulate agency for burglar alarm companies? If this
> is the alarm company's fault and they should be responsible for the
> $390 bill, other than the BBB (better business bureau), is there any
> other places that we could file a complain against this alarm company?

I'm neither an alarm "expert" nor do I know anything about alarm
business requirements in your area, but one thing I can say with a fair
certainty is that if the call showed up on your bill, it did connect to
SOMETHING or SOMEONE, be it another modem, a fax, or someone's voice
line.  If that wasn't your alarm company, there's probably someone out
there who's pretty f'n annoyed at having their phone ring every minute
for an hour and find nobody there when they answer.  Have you tried
making a regular call yourself to that number to at least explain and/or
apologize (not that it's your place to do so, but it would be a "nice"
thing to do)?

Now that said... at a rough guess I'd say the alarm company may have
changed their contact number and missed switching over a few panels,
since others seem to have had the same problem.  I don't see what the
age of the modem would have to do with anything; the only possible issue
I could see is if the system is dialing a 7-digit number when the
monitoring station has changed area codes, but from the sound of it, it
IS dialing a different area code than you're in, and still, the number
should be controlled by the panel, not the modem.

If it IS dialing the proper number, it's possible there's something
wrong with the modem and it's just not able to connect.  Whether that's
your responsibility or the alarm company's would depend on the service
contract.  Frankly though, the fact that they've now switched it to use
a 1-800 number is, to my mind, a point in your favor, because that would
be something they should have done long before in expectation of exactly
this sort of problem.

Anyway, just my fairly generic two cents... I'm sure someone more
familiar with your local laws and regulations will have something more
useful for you.