Re: The Bling gang

[tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 11, 9:07=A0pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Apr 10, 11:23 pm, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Apr 10, 7:25 pm, mleuck <m.le...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > On Apr 9, 10:55 pm, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > > I just finished watching a story on Dateline about a series of
> > > > burglaries committed in Hollywood against a number of Hollywood sta=
rs.
> > > > A gang of teens had stolen millions of dollars worth of goods from =
the
> > > > homes of stars they idolized simply to have in their possession
> > > > objects that the stars actually owned. This young group of
> > > > overprivileged moral misfits had somehow broken into these million
> > > > dollar mansions that presumably were equipped with high end alarms,=
 or
> > > > at least with high end video systems, since the video published fro=
m
> > > > these cameras ultimately led to their capture. Nowhere in the show =
did
> > > > it discuss how these amateurs had somehow defeated high end electro=
nic
> > > > security systems, other than one mention that Paris Hilton (who had
> > > > been robbed of millions during three hits) left her door key under =
the
> > > > front mat...
>
> > > All I care about is did they steal any Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson
> > > or Lindsay Lohan sex tapes and when they plan on releasing them to th=
e
> > > public?
>
> > > And I suspect Paris Hilton was asking to be robbed, it's the only
> > > publicity the skank gets these days.
>
> > RHC: Ok, I guess I'm not going to get any serious answers or comments
> > to this question....:)) Had people seen the show, maybe the responses
> > might have been more serious, or at least in keeping with a security
> > newsgroup....oh well...-
>
> Sorry Robert, I haven't been paying too much attention. Been busy.
>
> In my experience, you can just chalk it up to ..... they don't arm
> their systems. =A0I'm guessing, but, I guess it's just because they DO
> have so much money that they can always replace what is taken. I have
> clients who have minimal or don't even have theft on their homeowners
> insurance. When mentioning that they can get a discount on their
> homeowners insurance, I've been told that they're "self insured" what
> ever that means. If they ever DO use their systems it's when they're
> out of town. I'll =A0usually get the phone call the day that they're
> leaving when they discovered on the way out the door, that they
> couldn't arm the system. I'll be given instructions on who to contact
> while they're away to "repair" the system. That usually turns out to
> be something like replacing a magnet on a basment door that was
> probably knocked off 3 months ago by some maintenence worker or
> something. Or, ,maybe they had a power failure and the keypad was
> telling them that as they walked out the door but they just didn't
> know enough to press the reset button. A hundred dollar service call
> is acceptable to them. After all, they have the system for years and I
> only have to come every once in a while when they're going out of
> town. That's resonable as far as they're concerned. Only a few of my
> clinents have "extra" security. They mostly have their doors and
> windows and some PIR's or glass breaks. Nothing over the top.
>
> I had a client a number of years ago, Doctor, lived in a 8000 square
> foot house. Just a basic alarm system. Lady of the house never put her
> jewlery away. Always laying on her dresser. She leaves the house while
> the landscapers are working. Doesn't lock the doors. Leaves the
> sliding glass door open in the master bedroom. Later on that evening
> she discovers $ 60,000.00 dollars worth of jewlery is missing.
> Couldn't prove who did it ..... so it went to insurance and she got
> most of the money returned because it had been appraised and listed
> with the insurance company. Go figure.
>
> The alarm is just something that they put in, "like a vac system"
> while the house is being built and of course "it would be foolish not
> to have one" ( even if they don't use it)
>
> =A0If anyone does vac systems for wealthy people, how many times do you
> think the problem with them is ...... THEY DIDN'T EMPTY THE F......
> ING BAG!!!! =A0The owner never uses the damn thing. The cleaning lady
> just vacuums. She doesn't even know where the hell the vacuum is. All
> she knows is that the dirt gets sucked into this hole in the wall.
> Empty a bag? =A0 Hell no! They just think that these people have so much
> money that the dirt just blows out of the house, straight to the city
> dump. If it doesn't work it's probably because they didn't pay the
> vacuum bill.

RHC: You know, in thinking about it Jim, I believe you may be right on
the money. And these "stars" were so busy with everything else in
their lives that matters so much more to them, they likely thought
even less about their home security than the Doctor's wife you
mentioned in your post.

I did a takeover this morning of a system that I had originally
installed several years ago, that the original owner had sold when he
and his wife split up. So this morning I go there thinking I just have
a bit of paperwork to do, retest the system to the station and retrain
the new homeowners. This is in a $1.5 million home of about 6000
square feet, with loads of high end electronics and other "toys" that
could have been stolen. When I get there, I find the system is totally
unusable, due to broken basement window contacts, tamper problems on
some of the motions and smoke detectors, and programming problems with
the entry doors. It appears the panel had suffered an electrical surge
quite some time ago, and scrambled some of its memory settings. The
new owners told me that the original owner had NEVER  used the system
from day one and just let all these problems slide....no calls for
service....nothing.

So yeah, even with a high end system, if the client doesn't use it,
what friggin good is it....and btw, the original owner never put up
even one of my company warning stickers on the home....????  I guess
I'm so conscious of all the systems I put in, making sure that all the
components are the best quality, and all work well to provide the best
quality coverage I can, that I sometimes forget that the weakest link
in the "system" is usually the homeowner.......

Go figure !!!!