Re: reasonable monthly rate

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Nov 9, 10:41=A0am, "Christopher Glaeser" <c...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> What is a reasonable monthly rate for home security monitoring? =A0How do=
 you
> find a good monitoring service? =A0I live in the CA bay area if that matt=
ers.
>
> Best,
> Christopher

Hello Chris,

There's not a fixed answer to your question. The cost of "monitoring"
is subjective and depends upon what you're getting along with it.
There are places on line that will offer monitoring for $5,6,7.00 a
month, but, of course, they could be companys that are located half
way across the country with no ability to anwser any questions about
the operation of your system or would they offer you repair service.
Also, there are some companys that will monitor your system from afar
and offer you service from a local company. All of this type of
service and even monitoring from a different local company depends
entirely upon the fact that your system has not been "locked out" by
the company who installed your system. You didn't mention what the
model number of your Radionics system was, but my limited knowledge of
them says that it's locked out and that it requires a special
programer to access it. So even if your installer left you with the
installers code, it wont do anyone anygood unless they have the
required programer to change the central station information in the
program.

The term "Monitoring" has become pretty blurred in the last 10 years
or so, compliments of the "Free Alarm" companys who have invaded and
in my opinion changed this trade for the worse. When people who are
dumb enough to think they are getting a "Free" system are told that
the "monitoring fee" is only $30.00 a month, for some reason they
don't see that they're trapped for the next 3,4,5 years and will pay
an exorbitant amount for their system, way beyond what they would have
paid for it if they'd payed for the system up front with a lower
monthly fee and likely for a shorter period of time. Monthly fees are
somewhat determined by the market in the area that you live. In my
area, "true" monitoring fees run about $20.00 to $25.00 per month. In
other areas, if seen rates of up to $30.00. That's without service
calls included. In my opinion, residential alarm service contracts are
typically a rip-off for the consumer. If you're aware of how your
system works and are conscious about it's use and operation, you wont
have many, if any reasons for service calls for a number of years.
Obviously, somtimes s...t happens and you need to call someone. Under
normal conditions it should be no more than $85.00 ( in my area) for a
(no parts) service call. If you add up the service calls over a 10
year period, and compare it to what you'd pay for a service contract,
it just doesn't make sense. By the way, any system that keeps working
longer than 10 years is gravy. The technology changes sufficiently in
that period of time so it's a good idea to consider upgrading after 10
years. But, I've got systems out there that have been working for over
35 years, so, go figure!

Being a small company myself, I'm obviously biased when I say that I
think you're better off with a smaller company rather than larger.
Smaller companies, of course, can drop out of sight, never to be heard
of again, so I should qualify my recommendation by saying a smaller
company that's been around for a greater number of years. I think the
main thing that I get from my customers is that they know that it's
"me" who has responsibility for their systems and not just the next
technician that the larger company happens to have in your area. They
know that I know their systems and them and that I have proved to them
my reliability. Larger companys can't afford to provide that personal,
and specialized knowledge about your system.

Finding a "good" company is usually a word of mouth type of search.
After so many years in the trade, I don't do one bit of advertising.
All of my work comes from word of mouth. Ask around. Ask people that
have alarm systems and find out how long they've been with their alarm
company and make sure they've had some serious interaction with them.
Did they install their system? How do they treat service calls? How
quickly does the central respond to alarm reports? Does the company
charge for every little thing? What do they charge for service and for
the monthly monitoring? And so on.

But..... in spite of all the above information, none of it will do you
any good if the company you chooose, doesn't have the ability to get
into the programming of your system. You stated that your present
company would "erase the chip" but that could mean a couple of things.
If they erase the "chip" competely, you wont have use of your system.
The "should" only erase the central station reporting part of the
program and default the dealer programing code to leave access for the
next dealer. Radionics dealers have the reputation of choosing to use
Radionics products because they can more easily lock their customers
into staying with them due to the difficulty of obtaining access to
the system by other dealers. It's not that the product is bad, just
the exclusivity of it makes it undesireable for (Nice) dealers who
don't want to keep their clients "prisoners" So, even if they leave
your system operational, if you want to keep the Radionics system, it
will narrow your search for a new company down to only dealers that
that the proper programmer. So you may want to consider upgrading your
panels and keypads.

Another thing just occured to me. Radionics had a system that allowed
the system to be expanded using exapansion modules. These modules
could be placed around the home and additional zones wired to them. If
that is the case with your system, upgrading your panel could become a
little costly because these expansion modules are not compatable with
any other systems. Not a lot, but some rewiring would have to be done
to make it compatable with a "normal" system. Another thing you can
thank your Radionics dealer for.