Choosing the right alarm company is the first step in purchasing a home security system. Knowing what to ask for and knowing what to expect can save you a lot of time and money.
1. Should you choose a national alarm company like ADT or Brinks with several million customers or should you select a local long island alarm company?
You can’t rate an alarm company by the number of customers they have. Some people prefer a national franchise, while others prefer the smaller Long Island alarm company. All alarm companies try their best to do a good job and keep their customers happy but the bigger the company is the harder it is to find qualified technicians to service their customers.
With a small local alarm company you deal with the owner of the company for the sale, installation and repair of the security system. If you have any questions or concerns you call the owner directly.
The bigger alarm companies will send a sales person to sell the job, another person to install it and any one of their service men to service and repair it.
Also keep in mind that the bigger the alarm company is the more overhead they have.
The price you pay for the installation and future service calls will be much higher, sometimes double or triple than the local alarm company.
Only hire a company you feel good about. Know who you will be dealing with now and in the future when you need service. An alarm company is only as good as the technicians who do the work in your home.
2. What if your not happy with your alarm company’s services, can you cancel your monitoring service or are you locked in a long monitoring contract?
This is a very important thing to consider when purchasing a security system. If you are signing up to have a free alarm system installed in your home then you can expect to be locked in a five year monitoring agreement. It costs the alarm company several hundred dollars to give away free alarm systems. We incur the initial costs upfront and make some profit over a five year period. If you are purchasing an Alarm System without any discounts than you should not lock yourself in a monitoring agreement of more than one year.
3. Can another Alarm Company take over the Alarm System or is the system You paid for a proprietary system that only that alarm company can monitor and service?
Some alarm companies use alarm equipment that only they can service and monitor. If you have one of these systems in your home you will have to change the entire Alarm System to be able to switch to another Alarm Company. This could get very expensive and I wouldn't expect any sales person to give you a honest answer to this question. we only install alarm systems manufactured by Honeywell. These systems can be serviced and monitored by any alarm company.
4. How technical is the sales person? Has He or She ever installed or repaired an alarm system?
Most sales people are very honest and try to answer the customer’s questions to the best of their abilities, but as an installer I have showed up to a customer’s home to do the installation and ended up adding hundreds of dollars of work that the sales rep thought would be unnecessary. This would be the case if the customer was upgrading an older alarm system and was told by the sales rep that it was Ok to use the existing connections that were almost 20 years old. Some times a customer was told that the existing alarm system had to be replaced when all they had to do was change those old connections that were causing false alarms. Many times customers were sold entire upgrades when all they had to do was to change a $10 battery in the control panel.
It is very important for sales people to have technical knowledge of security systems. Finding an experienced salesperson in this industry is very difficult. Most security system sales people have absolutely no experience in the alarm industry. The best sales people are ones with experience in installation and repairs, but most successful sales people end up starting their own alarm companies.
I have fourteen years experience in installation and repairs and I do all of the sales calls for my company. Since I’m, responsible for all my customers I have to make sure that I do a good job.
5. All alarm systems are not the same. What do you get for your money?
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Most alarm companies like to use what’s called a self contained alarm system. The Lynx system in the picture to the right is an example of a self contained alarm system. In this type of system the control panel, keypad, dialer, siren,and wireless receiver are all built into one device. This is very popular with free alarm systems offered by ADT and Brinks dealers because it is very easy to install and requires very little skill, The idea is to get the installer in and out as quickly as possible. The security system is mounted on the wall near the entrance door and the problem with this system is if someone breaks in and pulls this device off the wall your entire “security system” is gone. This kind of system is ridiculous but you would be amazed how many companies are using them. When you sit down with the sales person make sure this is not the system you are getting.
The control panel is the brains of the system and should be installed somewhere safe.
Who do you deal with once the sale is made and the system is installed?
If your dealing with one of the bigger alarm companies you can expect to see a different service technician every time you need service. The problem with this is that he might not know what the technician before him did and he wont know the entire service history for your system.
When you're dealing with a small alarm company you get the same technician every time. He will know the entire service history of your system since he is the only one servicing your alarm system year after year.
Who has access to your personal information, your user codes and your passwords?
It is very important to know who has access to your personal information. One of the many benefits of dealing with a small local alarm company is that only the owner of the company has access to this information. The bigger the company gets the more employees that have access to your personal information
Who are the people coming into your home? have they had a background check and drug tests?
Make sure that the alarm company you hire to install your home security system performs background checks and drug testing for all their installers and service technicians. These people have access to all of your personal information including your name and address, user codes, and passwords.
Free Alarm Systems what’s the catch?
I don’t know who came up with the idea of the free alarm system but I can tell you that he is probably a very rich man. Years ago an average security system would run about two to three thousand dollars and that is still some what true to this day.
One day somebody came up with the idea of offering a very basic alarm system for free and charging a lot more for the monitoring than they would normally charge. The idea was to get thousands of new account very quickly.
In my fourteen years in the alarm business I have personally installed thousands of free alarm systems and I have to be honest with you and tell you that a free basic alarm system is not for everyone. It is a starting point to build a good system and you do get a lot of equipment for free so let me explain.
If you are someone who only wants to arm their alarm system when they leave the house and doesn’t arm the alarm system at night a free basic alarm system is a very good deal. By arming the front and back doors and installing a motion detector centrally located in the home can offer good intruder protection for an average size home. Some times you might have to add one or two additional motion detectors for better coverage but at a cost of about $89 per motion detector that is really not a big deal. (That’s what I charge some may charge more.)
For home owners like myself who want to arm their security system at night a free basic security system does not provide enough protection because the motion detectors have to be bypassed when arming in night mode. But like I said a free basic security system is a good starting point for building a good security system and you do end up saving about $800. But be careful because all free alarm systems are not the same. Some alarm companies use the all in one type security system which in my opinion is useless.
An all in one alarm system or alarm system in a box as some call it has the control panel, dialer, keypad and siren built in one unit and is installed on the wall near the door where usually enter the house. Well the problem with this is that if someone breaks in to your home pulls this unit off the wall there goes your free alarm system. The control panel is the brains of the security system and it should always be installed some where safe.
What if my phone lines are cut, will my alarm system still work?
Your security system is monitored by the central station through its built in telephone communicator. In most homes the phone lines are very accessible from the outside of the home. The main phone block is mounted somewhere that is easily reached by the telephone company and it can be cut by a burglar. If the phone lines are cut the path for communication to the central station is lost unless the alarm company has installed a backup cellular radio. This backup protection is an additional service provided by most alarm companies and is highly recommended for all installations.