Re: Locked Out by Vendor

[Frank Olson <use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

scantrell113@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> After many many years of sticking with the monitoring service offered
> by my initial home alarm installer, due to constant compounding price
> increases I decided to get service from another company.  I come to
> find that my trusted provider has locked the new monitoring company
> out the controller.  When they sold me the system, they sat at my
> kitchen table and told me that I was under no obligation to continue
> with their service and that I owned the equipment.

That wasn't "the company" or the "installer".  That was a "salesman".
You more than likely do "own" the equipment, though.  If the
communicator is part of the common control unit, then the only thing
they "own" is the proprietary information the system uses to communicate
with the company's central station.  There has been numerous legal
precedents that have determined this.  If they continue to "insist" on
spewing the "ownership" line, then I would suggest that you:

1.  cancel your contract properly (provide them with the correct notice),
2.  have the company that wants to take over install their own
communicator and connect it to your existing system.  This will allow
you to retain all the functionality of the original system.

If you really want to be a royal "pain" to the original company, change
your home phone number and have your phone company block calls
originating from it.  That way the original alarm company's communicator
will still transmit signals to their central and there's nothing they
can do about it unless they come out and physically disconnect your
system (which you won't allow them to do because they're being "royal
pains" themselves).  They won't be obligated to respond to any emergency
signals though, because you've canceled your contract.

> What they did not
> disclose was on small line in a wordy and lengthy contract that
> stipulates that they own the communicator.  We?ve probably all signed
> documents relying on anticipated fair business practices without
> parsing words (?I did not have sexual relations with that woman?).
> Two questions, is this common practice and is there a hardware reset
> on a Radionics 4112?

You mean you sign a contract without reading and understanding all the
terms??  That's plain "dumb".