Re: Looking for New Monitoring Company -- Problem with Next Alarm

[tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 27, 6:50=A0pm, Jack <country...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have been a satisfied Nextalarm customer for several years, but just
> recently they have told me that false alarms for panic alerts have to be
> dispatched immediately to the police. This has caused me to have to pay
> over the past two months a total of 328.00 to my local city because of
> false alarms.
>
> The most frequent false alarm I have is when the keyfob is accidentally
> actuated and this creates a panic alert. Up to 6 months ago, they would
> call my house first to confirm it was a false alarm and that would be
> the end of it. No police would be dispatched. However, during the past 6
> months I have had 3 false alarms and the city only gives you two false
> alarms and anything over two will generate a 100.00 charge.
>
> Just this Monday on my way out the door with my two suitcases, I
> accidentally hit my keyfob panic button and got a call within 30 seconds
> from Nextalarm. My wife confirmed that it was a false alarm and that
> there was no need to dispatch the police. Well 5 minutes later the
> police are rolling up to my address and I had to explain that it was a
> false alarm. Two days later I get a letter from the city for another
> 100.00.
>
> I obviously can't continue with this existing setup. My contact sheet
> specifically states to call my house number, my wife's cell and then my
> cell phone number BEFORE any police are dispatched and this setup has
> worked successfully for the past several years. However, Nextalarm says
> their policy has been changed to mandate contacting the police for any
> panic alarms, regardless to whether it was a false alarm.
>
> The guy I've been working with wants to convert my panic alarm signals
> to a burglar type and this may get around the mandate of contacting the
> police. Can someone recommend a monitoring company for the Ademco Lynx-R
> panel that will allow my panic alarms to be triaged (by calling my
> contact list) BEFORE the police department is called? I have a phone
> line directly connected to the panel.

RHC: Sir, it seems to me rather than abandoning your existing dealer,
why don't you work with him further to solve the problem. There is
something basically wrong with a panic pendant design wise that can be
so easily triggered. I don't know the particular Ademco panic device
in question, but some other makes I am familiar with are shielded from
accidental activation, and most devices take a 3 second push of the
button in order to activate - pretty hard to do accidentally.

As I know it, most monitoring companies take pretty much the same
approach to manual panic alarms; these can be life threatening
situations and and are normally handled as such. Why do you wish to
totally abandon this company when the problem is in the panic alarm,
not the response, and perhaps not the alarm company either.

Don't " throw the baby out with the bathwater" so to speak; fix the
problem !!