need home security system advice

[Thor Von Clemson]

A guy has been by our house twice now. He claims to be with a home security system company. I did not catch the name, however he was dressed/groomed well, had an id badge, and on said badge it had a Better Business Bureau logo on it.

The guy's pitch was that they are a new company that are trying to advertise and grow. He said that his company generally deals with nicer, upscale homes and since we live in a nice neighborhood, he said he has been dealing with a lot of people around here.

He said that all we would need to do is let them put a sign in our yard that says "This home is protected by XXXXX". They would then give me all the installation for free. They'd wire up the house for glass break, all the doors, and firealarms. He said it was $1200 worth of free installation that we would be getting. From then on, it would be our responsibility to pay the monitoring fee of $40/month. He did not specify for how long or what happens after that length of time is over.

Personally, my initial thoughts were no way. My wife is all for it but I feel a little weary of the whole situation. He seemed like a nice guy but so do many scammers.

Has anyone tried anything like this? Would I be better off going with a larger, nation wide company that is well known?

[Cleveland Metal]

Maybe you'll find something of use here while waiting for responses...

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71846&highlight=alarm

[thetroy]

A lot of those companies offer free installation and just charge you the monthly fee. It's a pretty standard practice

[Thor Von Clemson]

Thank cleveland. I personally was not thinking about an alarm system.... actually I saw the dude walking up to our house while working on my mid term and thought " I hope he does not come to my house". Apparently he talked to my wife the other night. She told me about it and I figured this was the same guy but he wanted to talk to me this time...

Unless this is a deal that is too good to pass up, I could care less. We have a dog and our neighbors are pretty cool too. We happen to live in the middle of the city of Big Lake; the police station is right around the corner from our house. We secure our house pretty well and take care to let our neighbors know if we are leaving for the weekend.

I will say that being robbed is a terrible feeling to me. Its happened a few times before when I lived with my parents, though the circumstances were a lot different. (they got into our unlocked cars parked in the driveway.. we were asking for it) Still, a security system is the last thing on my mind right now.

[dg]

Lots of good info in that thread. Forget the "free" stuff. He wants that $40 a month, which is pretty high compared to quite a few other companies out there. If you decide to get a system, do your homework & shop around. After I did my homework, I decided against it altogether.

[Cleveland Metal]

After I did my homework, I decided against it altogether.

That seems to happen a lot... Sorta depends where ya live IMO.

Here in Cleve, response time is so terrible (sometimes hours), why bother (except the fire stuff). Better to harden their house than get an alarm.

In a nice suburb, the cops come quick, then you get better use of a system I think...

[rjohnstone]

I went with a system from CSG (Central Security Group). Same hardware as ADT, but about $10 per month cheaper on the monitoring fees. I pay $29 per month.
Lifetime warranty and one free system move if I buy a new house.
The installer does both ADT and CSG. he said the only difference is the sign in the front yard. All the gear is the same.
Install was $250 for everything. All doors and windows, motion sensors, smoke detectors and wireless remotes. Yes, I can chirp my house just like my car.

[horns666]

BILL Z BUB

But I don't come cheap..

[missionguitars1]

Here in Cleve, response time is so terrible (sometimes hours), why bother (except the fire stuff). Better to harden their house than get an alarm.

In a nice suburb, the cops come quick, then you get better use of a system I think...

+1 - unless you're on the road a lot, it's not really worth it. The cops usually take an hour or so, as most responses are false alarms - "boy cried wolf"-syndrome. I have my house wired, but don't pay for the service anymore.

One idea is to get a "This Home Proctected By XYZ" sign for the front (the "armed response" ones are even better!) for the front yard...a lot of businesses in bad parts of town seem to have them in front of their doors - free for the taking! :ROTF:

Or, you might try ebay...http://home.search.ebay.com/signs_Se...0QQsacatZ41969

[chrisolson]

We just had ours done. The "installation" was a little sketchy - I wasn't impressed with that (had to patch some holes on the wall...), but it was free, wireless, and we're gone a fair amount, so it's worth it for peace of mind.

[Rsmacker]

Get a dog. Unless you are away a lot like the poster above, it's the best way to avoid being burgled.
NOTHING will stop anyone who has decided they are going to take something from your house, but most burglaries (don't you Yanks call them something like "burglarizations"? ) are done by opportunists, they walk by and strike. The trick is to make them look at your house, think "Hmmm, nah, too much trouble" and go next door. A barking dog, of any size, has been shown to be the most effective way of putting these scum off.
If you are skint and can't lay out on an alarm system for peace of mind, just make sure your house doesn't look attractive to scrotes, good window locks and no foliage obscuring access points etc.


*Edit* Just read that link Cleveland Metal put up, that said it all!

[rjohnstone]

I don't live in a shitty area... not a super nice one either.
The cops have about a 20 minute response time (I've called them on more than one occasion).
My reason for the alarm was two fold. The crack heads that seem to wander the park down the street and the simple fact that we go out of town a lot.

[iced_earth]

$40 a month is very very high. That's probably for monitoring only. Do they own their own monitoring center or do they outsource? You could get a free alarm system any day of the week if you're willing to sign up for a contract on the monitoring. Anyways, here's a summary of the advice I got from the JCF (more trustworthy) combined with what I found on the net (As much as you can trust random people's "advice").

-The big guys like ADT and Brinks will practically give you a free alarm system if you sign up for their monitoring. They basically outsource all of the local installation and are very hit or miss in terms of install quality. Customer service gets low reviews, ADT seems to have a worse reputation than Brinks. Also, ADT should have local outsourcers that will give you a better deal than what you see on the ADT website. I get mailers all the time offering DVD players, IPods, XBox 360s, and vacations if I sign up for their alarm service.

-NEVER EVER sign up for alarm monitoring that automatically deducts from your checking. It's a huge scam and you will get burned.

-If you get your own alarm system wired and installed, you can find someone to do the monitoring for about $10 a month. I have no idea how reputable any of those companies are, but all they do is accept a signal from your alarm and either call you or the police. If this salesman does not have his own monitoring, he is paying less than $10 a month and earning a profit on the difference.

-The main question for me choosing an alarm was between getting a free alarm from ADT or working with a local company. I paid a bit more and went local. Their call center is about 10 minutes from my house and they offer patrol services if I want. I paid more for the install, but at least I knew exactly what I was getting. Their monitoring is a little cheaper than ADT/Brinks, but more expensive than the $10.

-I did get a discount signing up for a monitoring contract and when the contract is up I can change to whoever I want. One thing that I read is that Police respond differently to different monitoring centers. Supposedly local alarm companies/monitoring take a little higher priority as long as it's a quality company, install good systems, and therefore have less false alarms. Cheaper monitoring services are usually linked to cheaper alarm installs and have a higher false alarm rate and therefore less priority for police followup. I could have gotten monitoring for $10 a month from Ontario, Canada (I'm in Southern California). I'm going local to start and might change later.

-The main reason to get an alarm is travel and peace of mind. If you are in a good neighborhood and have a dog, it might not be necessary. Again, a lot of this is stuff I read from the internet.

Well, that's enough of an essay...

-Mike

[Argos]

woof!

[rjohnstone]

-NEVER EVER sign up for alarm monitoring that automatically deducts from your checking. It's a huge scam and you will get burned.

How so?
My contract with CSG gives me the "option" of automatic payments, which I chose out of convenience. It was not a requirement.
I did my homework on the monitoring company. They have been around for 30+ years and have a great industry reputation.
Did the same homework on the sub that did the install.
Excellent BBB rating. This sub also does ADT systems.
The hardware is not company specific.

I've only had to call them once for service. A magnet popped off one of the windows at 3AM. It was one that couldn't be hard wired because of its location. They epoxied a wireless unit to the glass.
Nice way to find out your alarm is working properly.
They called me within 10 seconds of the siren (LOUD FUCKER) sounding and even had a tech out later that day to fix the magnet.
Been with them for over a year now with no issues.

All I can say is do your homework.
Remember... you do get what you pay for.
Free is not always free and cheap equipment is just that... cheap equipment.
I didn't buy top of the line hardware, but I wouldn't touch the "free" systems with a 10 foot pole.