Check the fine print before buying home security alarms
If you're paying a company to monitor your home alarm system, you might want to double check your contract. You might also check with your police department to see if your alarm system needs to be registered.
The housing industry may be taking a hit from the recession, but the home security industry is bouncing back Industry surveys show sales are up. And most of that money comes from monitoring contracts.
That's why so many companies advertise low-cost or free installation. Once the hardware is installed, you pay up to 30 dollars a month for monitoring, in many cases, for years.
While many companies do a good job, others get poor reviews. Some of the top complaints include:
• "Free" installation promotions that aren't really free. The freebie ends up being limited to fewer zones and entry locations than you need, so you have to pay more to get what your home requires.
• No call from the monitoring service when the alarm goes off.
• No police response.
• Inability to switch monitoring services.
• Difficulty cancelling the monitoring contract, even if your initial contract period has expired, without paying a huge penalty,
If you're considering a home alarm system, do you homework first and you decide which companies to contact for bids. Refuse to deal with high pressure sales people who use scare tactics to convince you to buy from them. Before you sign up with a security company, ask a lot of questions about exactly what you're getting. Take notes, take names and numbers, and take your time. Ask about monitoring. Who will be doing the monitoring? Where are they located? Does the monitoring service use employees who physically monitor your system, or is it all done by computers?
Before you sign a the contract, make sure you understand the monitoring cancellation policy. Then call your police department and ask about false alarm fees.
The fee in Seattle jumped to $115 this year. It used to be $90.
The typical range in other local cities, from $50 to $100, if the alarm isactivated by your system., and from $200 to $230 if some pushes the panic button my mistake.
Also ask your police department if your alarm system is required to be registered with local law enforcement. In some communities, if your system is not registered, officers will not respond to your alarm unless a live witness actually sees attempted entry and calls 911.
In some cases you may have to register the system, for a fee. In other cases registration and fees are the responsibility of your security service.
Local police departments we surveyed say fees have helped reduce the number of costly and time consuming false alarm responses. Still, police say as many as 97 percent of all residential security alarm events turn out to be false alarms.
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