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

[tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Feb 1, 5:34=A0pm, blueman <NOS...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I am looking for honest, unbiased, unemotional answers to this
> question. (I know it's Usenet, but one can always hope...)
>
> I currently have a fire & burglary monitoring policy with the local
> dominant alarm company. I own the equipment and I am responsible for
> service charges to fix the equipment.
>
> They charge me $36/month for straight Internet monitoring.
>
> National online monitoring companies offer seemingly the same service
> for $8.95/month. Or 1/4 the cost.
>
> My high-priced local company claims:
> - They are big (20,000 customers) - but the national competitor claims
> =A0 40,000 customers
>
> - Their service center is "local" -- but it's really halfway across the
> =A0 state so does that really mean anything in the day of the Internet
>
> - They are a "security company" vs. competitors being "monitoring"
> =A0 companies. Though not sure what that means or why I care
>
> - They have a 5-star UL-listed center - but the national competitor
> =A0 claims to be UL-listed and it's not clear what 5-stars means and who
> =A0 even grants such certification. Sounds like marketing hype.
>
> - They have 30-second average response time -- but competitor claims the
> =A0 same
>
> - They say they have a better BBB track record than big national
> =A0 competitors - but the competitor claims an A+ BBB rating which can't
> =A0 be too bad
>
> The bottom line is that I can't see one compelling reason to pay 4 times
> the competitor rate for what seems to be a commodity service.
>
> - I live in a very safe, low crime neighborhood.
>
> - I primarily pay for the monitoring to get the insurance break.
>
> - I don't stay up nights worrying about fires or burglaries and in any
> =A0 case I still have the in-house alarm to warn me of a fire and scare
> =A0 off amateur burgalers.
>
> - I am technically adept and have no problem servicing and programming
> =A0 my system
>
> Seems like worst case perhaps the response time will be a few seconds
> longer in some rare cases or maybe there is a small chance they will
> make a mistake -- but the point is that there are so many other failure
> points in a security system and we are talking about rare events (fire,
> burglary) anyway.
>
> So, why pay 4 times as much????

RHC; Sir, you pose a valid and excellent question. Bottom line, no
matter what anyone says, monitoring is pretty much the same wherever
you get it, regardless of price. Provided you are capable and willing
to look after your system yourself, there is no reason NOT to use the
most reasonable monitoring station around. Especially so if all you
need is the insurance certificate for home insurance reduction.
However, in fairness, I have rarely ever found any end user competent
enough to really understand the total functionality of his alarm
system, so think that one through carefully.

As a professional dealer for 20 some years, I see the market laid out
in different pricing segments as I will outline below. Firstly, know
that basic professional monitoring is available to dealers everywhere
from $1 to $3 monthly per account. All monies collected above pays for
profit and the legitimate costs of running the dealers business, or
goes into the high cost of running a large national organization.

Price category 1 - Monitoring sold directly to end users for $10 or
less by the monitoring station with no dealer interface. This is the
domain of the "cream skimmers" who provide only monitoring services
but no direct service or warranty service, or sub it out to expensive
subcontractors in various cities.

Price category 2 - Monitoring sold through dealers from $10 to $20 who
throw in (usually) a measure of service and warranty, with or without
a long term contract. This is usually the domain of small independent
alarm companies (who are not usually well advertised in a given area,
but hold about 85% of the North American market share).

Price category 3 - Monitoring sold through medium to larger alarm
companies from $20 to $30 monthly, usually with a measure of service
and warranty (often at additional monthly price), usually with a long
term contract, often with reduced pricing up front..ie: :"free
system", and often with national coverage

Price category 4 - Monitoring sold through the largest companies (such
as ADT, Brinks etc), always with highly restrictive contracts from $30
to $40 monthly, and generally very expensive and sometimes with long
service times.

Where an "end user" customer buys his monitoring services is largely a
measure of how receptive he is to large advertising campaigns and the
hype that goes with them (big national companies spend large amounts
to garner exposure, knowing most consumers don't shop around very
much). No matter how much larger companies and larger monitoring
stations insist they offer "better response" times, there is much more
to it than merely having a multitude of stations around, or even
having them interconnected as does the largest company. Monitoring
here in Canada is strictly ULC qualified, and all companies large and
small must meet stringent standards to keep their insurance listing. I
suspect it is the same in the US. It matters little whether you are a
small independant monitoring station or a large national....by and
large you as an end user can normally expect excellent service under
most conditions of traffic volume. Nor does it matter whether the
station is "local" to you or long distance - it's simply a phone call
at its most basic level.

It is up to YOU, the knowledgeable consumer to make sure that whoever
monitors your system, for whatever price, also follows these
guidelines as a minimum:

1- Your panel must be programmed with an auto test signal to ensure
it's continued functionality.
2- It is strongly recommended you have them activate in your panel (or
in your case do it yourself), "cancel codes" to assist in preventing
false dispatches
3- Get a guarantee the station will call your complete calling list
before dispatching authorities at the end (larger companies only call
one, or at most two numbers before dispatching)

I have found the truly best monitoring comes from some of the larger
independant monitoring stations, but these are usually only provided
to the end user through a legitimate dealer on their station.
Remember, there is a lot of bullsh*t out there permeated by large and
small dealers alike, and it can be pretty hard to know what's real and
what's not. It is definately a "buyer beware" market at all levels,
but more so for the uninformed consumer.

Like everywhere, in every market, for every service, it's up to the
consumer to shop around !! If you wish to read further, my site may
assist....www.homemetal.com.

Good luck !!