Re: Lying Competition

["E DAWSON" <edawson@xxxxxxxx>]

"tourman" <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f50ccbbe-5e41-4fba-82b0-0a01533fed1f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Monday, March 25, 2013 10:22:21 PM UTC-4, Chris wrote:
> Anyone here ever have issues with other alarm companies - door knockers or
> real companies - trying to steal your clients by telling them you're out
> of business, etc.
>
>
>
> Anything that should or shouldn't be done about them?
>
>
>
> - Chris

You are quite right ! Sometimes it seems as if some of the alarm companies
are worse than the low life we are trying to protect our customers against.
Thank goodness they are in the minority; however there are enough of them
that they can do quite some damage.

Up here in Ottawa, I like many companies, do our fair share of takeovers.
One of the larger firms up here in Ottawa (Kodiak Alarms for one)with about
10,000 customers, seems to be getting away with disreputable practices. ALL
their alarm boards are locked regardless of who owns them; ALL of their
boards don't have any kind of auto test programmed in, so they never know or
care whether their client's systems are working or not.With so many
customers going VoIP today, this is an invitation to disaster !! I know this
through multiple takeovers,as well as talking directly to their installers.

There are so many others that I have comprised a list of installer codes for
local companies that lock their boards, and I willingly give it out to
anyone who asks. I figure that's the only ways to beat these lowlife
companies at their own game. If they don't lock boards, they're not on my
list !!

Then we have companies like DSC that deliberately encrypt their newest line
of boards so they can't be unlocked...!!

Door knockers and others of their ilk will always be with us. For many,
money is always put before ethics in the way they operate. As long as
customers are stupid enough to believe you can get something for nothing in
this business, these guys will continue to flourish. It's been the same for
the 20 or so years I've been in the business. I doubt anything will change
any time soon...

Hi,

I hear and understand what your frustration is in regards to disreputable
companies. I do think differently in regards to locked boards though. The
fact that a company locks the boards while they are monitoring them, does
not translate into being a disreputable company. We do lock boards when they
can be locked, while we are monitoring them, to protect ourselves from
"disreputable companies" trying to take over any monitored system under a
monitoring agreement, as well as 'disreputable customers' who are trying to
leave un-ashamedly prematurely.

One interesting story of note, I will mention now. About a year ago, we were
monitoring a very large alcoholic beverage retail establishment. There was
an Ademco 128FB board that had a fire system, burglary, and some access
control tied into it. Now when we take over a system, we have to go
line-by-line over all the programming and every little device or screw
connection is checked out thoroughly. Yes, it is very time consuming, but we
assume that the last tech wasn't so swift. Most of the time, it proves to be
true. When we certify a system, we know that we have done everything
possible to make it work right, and we should not have any surprises down
the line.

After having monitored this system about 2 years, I was called for a service
call to address a problem with the wireless door contact on one of the main
doors. The 5816 needed replacing in this case. When I tried to get into
programming with the installer code for this system, I found that I could
not get in. Puzzled, I resorted to the power down mode, since this system
could not be locked out. When I got back into programming, I first checked
the installer code section, and behold, I found that it had been changed to
none other than "ADT's" installer code. Wow, I thought, that's a switch. I
checked other parts of the programming and they had perverted that too.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, I enlisted the services of a real
police officer in the employ of the store, to personally witness the changes
in the programming. I got his name, badge number, and cell number; and he
agreed to help me any way he could. After taking up a conversation with the
manager of the store whom I was on good terms with, I was apprised of the
fact that there had been 2 technicians for over half a day, that had gone
thru that system some time ago. It appears that they were taking over the
system until the time that they informed the owner that he would have to
spend $800 on a compatible ADT cellular backup for his system. The owner
nixed the take-over when he realized all that was involved. Problem was,
those technimorphians had gone thru most of the programming already. By the
way, I don't consider an Uplink cellular backup incompatible with any
central station.

The company sent the owner a registered certified-receipt letter the next
day, informing him how he had put our company at liability for his reckless
behavior. He was given 5 business days to contact us so that I could go back
out there and reprogram the entire system at his cost this time. A copy was
sent to the Fire Marshall of this large city that he was in, as well as the
insurance company of record that he was insured with. There was a clause
that if the company did not hear from him, that they would assume that he
went to another company... and he did. Good riddance!

If this system could have been locked out, this would never have happened.
The ability to lock a board is to protect the system while you are
monitoring it, not to prevent an authorized take-over. Also, if you did lock
your boards, it sure would make it a little harder for the company that you
mentioned from taking over your panels. By the way, we do send an auto-test
on a regular basis. You should have a strong clause in your monitoring
agreement that thoroughly puts the responsibility of overseeing the phone
line upon the customer's shoulders also; that makes them liable if they
change to VoIP and their system won't communicate anymore because the phone
line is now back-fed to the mainboard.

Since you say that you do have a list of installer codes from the companies
that lock their boards, it reasons that you have found a way to get into
them. It is noble that you are willing to share the information to reputable
companies that do reputable take-overs. Just make sure that the info does
not get out to any 'bad' company. I do find that using 'ONE' installer code
company-wide, is a recipe for disaster. Do notice that in the paragraphs
above I did say "with the installer code for this system" had been changed.
If you can find a system to assign, randomly generate, or pull-out-of-a-hat,
an installer code for each system that you monitor; you will more concisely
protect your customers' systems from these disreputable companies at large.

As far as DSC is concerned, the boards can be gotten for about $40 or so,
depending upon your particular supplier. That is not that great a cost to be
overcome. Keep them around until you eventually find out the code that some
tech put into an un-lockable system by the same company. And then again, you
can send them to Florida, to get unlocked by Tech-man.com. Or better yet,
you could even turn it into a deductible 'business trip' during the 'warm'
months of February/March in Ottawa and bask in the sunlight and beaches of
the west coast of Florida. Tell him to take about a week when you drop them
off personally, no rush, take your time!