Re: Need to cut through the BS on Alarm monitoring costs

[blueman <NOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxx>]

tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

> On Feb 7, 11:58Â am, blueman <NOS...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>> > On Feb 5, 9:30Â am, Robert Macy <robert.a.m...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >> On Feb 4, 10:05Â pm, blueman <NOS...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >> ...snip...
>> Personally, I would agree that crimp connections are certainly faster
>> and most likely as reliable as solder if done correctly. Solder
>> connections also are harder to do and take more skill. Hence since time
>> is money and the average installer has barely a high school degree and
>> some minimal technical training, it makes sense to use some type of
>> connector.
>
> RHC: Sir, it has nothing to do with anyone's level of education.

I agree it's not about degrees. It's about training - teaching good
soldering skills and maintaining good QC is harder than teaching
crimping. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear.

> You seem to have some sort of chip on your shoulder relative to the
> people in our trade.

I didn't have the slightest chip on my shoulder until I started getting
attacked for asking honest questions about a real situation. If people
are going to lie about me, call me names, slander/disparage all low cost
providers then yeah I will naturally develop a small chip on my shoulder
against such installers that thus reflect poorly on your vaunted industry.

In particular, I have something against the people on here who
(a) Accused me of lying about having the RemoteLink program
(b) Accused me of being a 'troll' for asking an innocent and relevant
    question regarding the pros/cons and pricing of local vs. national
    monitoring services
(c) Assumed I couldn't possibly be capable of the basic vocational
    school level of electrical wiring and panel programming, let alone
    be able to reverse engineer and emulate the DMP protocols
(d))Cast apsersions on national monitoring companies based on 'scare'
    stories and anecdotes
(e) Took a general condescending attitude towards anybody not in the
    brotherhood of alarm installers
(f) Made wildly ridiculous and provably false claims about the number of
    posts I have made (hey what's more than 4 orders of magnitue between
    friends)

I have no issue with
(a) People like you who have been balanced and helpful (other than your
    ridiculous claim about the number of posts)

(b) Companies that charge however much they want to charge provided they
    don't make false claims disparaging low costproviders and are honest
    that they are charging up to 400-500% more than monitoring companies
    primarily because they can get away with it since the average
    customer either lacks the skills to take care of his system or is
    too lazy to price compare. Hey, I support capitalism.  average
    person without technical skills may have no other choice. Several
    responders were exactly so honest and I respect them for their
    ability to extract premium pricing for what is basically a commodity
    service.

> It is a simple matter of the fact that approved B crimp
> connectors are widely in use in the industry and 100% reliable as long
> as the wires are never nicked in the process.

I never disagreed with that. Why are you finding arguments where none
exist?


> I don't know anything about this company you speak of;

The company's name is American Alarm. Look it up. Give them a call. They
are the largest and most premium provider in Massachusetts.

> however, if in fact they are soldering every connection, they are
> widely wasting their time for little or no benefit. Plus in some of
> the areas where we typically have to work, a hot soldering iron would
> be a fire hazard in the extreme. Why would any company risk setting a
> fire for no real gain.  It sounds to me as if the management of this
> company are stuck somewhere in the 1960's....

I don't disagree. I was just citing their justification for
soldering. And by soldering the 'wrapped' connections I was merely
bringing it up to "their" quoted standards.

>
> PS: Speaking for myself, I hold two university degrees.
Good for you. I have far more degrees than that, though I would be the
first to admit that degrees don't necessarily mean anything :P

> installers I know are not necessarily college educated, but I submit
> to you, this has no bearing on their attitude to work, or much of
> anything else for that matter. Success in business has more to do with
> basic, old world attitudes towards honest and hard work than to any
> specific level of education. I have at one time, run a business worth
> over $600 million a year, but this does not make me a good installer,
> or for that matter, a good independant businessman either.

I couldn't agree more and congratulations on running such a large
business.

> I suggest, if you wish to be taken seriously here, a change in basic
> attitude might help.....

Pot-kettle.  Look back on the thread. See who started the name calling
and disparaging comments first. My original thread simply laid out the
facts and the near-verbatum arguments I heard from both my current
company and a national monitoring company. I was careful not even to
mention company names.

Indeed, I have been far more polite than your so-called "professional"
colleagues in this newsgroup.

The sad thing is that you seemed to be one of the "good guys" until you
started piling on to the "troll" slander.