Re: The Worst Customer Service Issue I had In The Business

[Bob La Londe <none@none.com99>]

On 9/26/2022 5:22 PM, Jim Davis wrote:
> On Sunday, September 25, 2022 at 7:58:49 PM UTC-4, Bob La Londe wrote:
>> On 9/25/2022 3:58 PM, ABLE1 wrote:
>>> On 9/25/2022 4:32 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
>
>> A more positive story.
>>
>> Many years ago I had installed a residential alarm for a hardware store
>> manager. At some point I was asked to bid on an alarm system for a
>> large new store and processing plant. I met with them and wrote it up
>> on the spot. It was not a small system (for me) and had some involved
>> stuff to monitor the processing plant, but I had recently used similar
>> equipment on a smaller job. When I handed the contract to the manager
>> he asked how long it would be until they had a quote. He showed visual
>> surprise when I said, "That is the quote. I can do it for that price."
>>
>> Much later he told me that ADT commercial had some out to bid the job,
>> and they had been waiting for months for a quote.
>>
>> I was able to provide all kinds of services for them as they asked over
>> the years primarily due to the constant improvements in service from
>> Arizona Security Controls which was my primary central station for over
>> 20 of the 23 years I was in contracting. (Maybe 22 out of 23.)
>>
>> One day I got a call asking what they needed to do to cancel service
>> with me. One of their VPs played golf with somebody from ShadowScan and
>> they promised to give all their business nationwide to ShadowScan. I
>> was told their monthly rate was more than double what I had been
>> charging (I wasn't cheap for all the services they had), and they didn't
>> seem to know how to provide all the accessibility and services I was
>> providing. Their service with me was still being cancelled, but they
>> needed to stay on service with me on a month to month basis until the
>> changeover. They stayed on service with me on a month to month basis
>> for over a year. I could be mixing up accounts in memory, but I seem to
>> recall I even linked in to reprogram it for them in the end.
>>
>> I remained on good terms with the manager, and more than once or twice
>> he said he wished he was still on service with me. That they still
>> didn't have all the features and services I provided with the help of Az
>> Security.
>>
>> I played golf for a couple years, but I never made a deal on the golf
>> course, well except on my cell phone and obviously I could have been in
>> a pool hall or on a job site just as easily. Maybe I should have taken
>> the game more seriously. LOL.
>> --
>> Bob La Londe
>> CNC Molds N Stuff
>>
>>
>> --
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>> www.avg.com
>
> The worst situation that i can remember was a residential account where I had both the husband and wife had signed the agreement. Guy was a Veterinarian and he had divorced  and married his office manager. Things went smoothly for a few years then I get a call from the wife that she had him arrested for physical abuse and had an order of protection issued and she wanted the codes and passwords changed. Which I did (remotely) but with anticipation of what was to come. At that point they had forgotten that they could change the user codes but not the passwords and I didn't think it was a good time to add to the confusion
> .
> Apparently she wouldn't let him in the house so he could collect some of he belongings and he came to the house when she wasn't home and tried to get in. The locks were changed so he used a hidden key to another door that she hadn't changed and entered the house. The alarm went off and he couldn't shut it down and didn't know the new password.
> so central dispatched. Then I get the call from him to change the code and the password which I was obligated to do.
> .
> This could have been an impossible situation for me but fortunately I explained my dilemma to each of them. I told them that I would respond to each of them and change the codes each time either of the called me so neither of them would never know if they could enter the house without dispatching the police. They agreed to have two sets of codes and passwords and he would call before entering so she wouldn't be home. I considered that she relented was because the house was in his name only.
> .
> .I know that I always could have told them both how to change the codes themselves and given central station permission to accept changes to the password but fortunately they got back together and are still customers to this day

I dealt with a couple going through a divorce once.  It was parallel to
many of the things you experienced except they never got back together.
I would get calls from one or the other.  Worse she got the house, and
he had a hot rod shop garage in the back.  They kept calling me making
demands back and forth over access and judges orders/permissions.

Fortunately it was a decent panel and I had already partitioned the
hotrod garage from the house.  I locked them both out of programming for
the duration.  When the judge said he was allowed to have access to the
garage to get his stuff I set a code for him that only accessed the
garage and one for her that only accessed the house.  I told him to let
me know when he had all his stuff out of the garage and that if he
didn't agree to notify me I'd lock his code whenever she said so.

I think "he" tried to pull a fast one at one point when I caught him
having lunch with the owner of another alarm company.  I called him
later and explained that I was following the orders of the court.  He
could get involved, but it could get nasty if he didn't know everything
going on.

When it was all done I set it up for her, recommended she have the locks
re-keyed again, and suggested to her not to use the company I'd seen
dining at her ex-husbands expense.

**************

Other times I'd get a demand to do something with an alarm for a
deceased person.  I'd always demand proof of death and documentation of
who was the executor or judge if no named executor.  I say that like it
happened all the time.  I had to deal with that only a couple times.

**************

Another one that was weird was a married woman living in a great big
house alone.  Her husband had moved out, still paid all the bills, and
never lived with her again.  She would call me all the time for silly
stuff, wanting me to check stuff, etc.  When she had real problems I
almost didn't believe her, but the bills always got paid.  I only spoke
to him once during the duration and once to cancel service after she
passed or moved (I forget).  I think she called me over all the time
because she was a a little crazy/paranoid and she was lonely.  As long
as she didn't hit on me and the bills got paid I was good with it.  It
was an account I picked up when I bought out Desert Alarm, so I had to
learn the system on the fly.

They did teach me it was possible to put a DMP panel in user program
mode at one keypad and screw it up at another simultaneously.  That was
weird.

--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff