ADT Essential Wireless Package

The slickest was Slomin's (sp) Shield I gave him the door after 15 minutes and still got numerous phone calls from him

the sales guy was discussing, in his opinion, that ADT monitoring was still in effect. don't know if that's true.

I wonder if any company guarantees their equipment will work w/ other monitoring centers?

CAn the code by reset such as BIOS in a computer?

"J. @netscape.net>" In a free market economy, supply and demand dictate pricing. From the

The sales guy told me service was included in my contract some of the other alarmcos charged very high service fees.

"J. @netscape.net>"

How is the ADT three year contract different from other alarmco contracts. He told me I has a six month period to cancel the deal.

Can you spell p-s-y-c-h-o-t-i-c?

I don't know if he's a dealer as his business card just readfs TYCO & ADT

It isn't that much different, generally speaking if its not in the contract or a rider attached to the contract then it won't happen. I didn't see anything in ADTs contract about a six month cancellation option, but according to the links below ADT's contracts no longer auto renew for a year at a time, it looks like at the end of the initial term they convert to a month to month contract.

Doug

Hmmm, in California Homeowners only have three business days to cancel a contract... I'd read the fine print.......

I've never been asked, but I wouldn't hesitate to do so.

Most small to medium sized alarm companies buy off-the-shelf control panels, either from wholesale distributors or direct from manufacturers. That means systems can often be reprogrammed by other alarm companies. Now, there are some limitations:

1. Alarm companies frequently lock the panel electronically during the term of their monitoring contract, to prevent unauthorized changes to the programming. Reputable companies will unlock the panel when their monitoring agreement ends, if the customer owns the equipment.

1. Not all alarm companies work on all brands of equipment. So, changing companies may mean there is a limited selection of companies that are willing and/or able to work on the system. This can be a problem with some factory-direct control panels, since the number of dealers in a given area may be limited by the manufacturer.

Some big companies use proprietary equipment, not because it's any better than off-the-shelf equipment, but just to make it difficult for other companies to take over their systems without spending money. The special ADT versions of Ademco panels are an example. Brink's is another.

Shop wisely.

One other thing about ADT is their warranty: all of 90 days. ADT used to give a one year warranty, which still is pretty much the industry standard. I think they figured out that a shorter warranty period made it more likely that people would buy the extended warranty, thereby paying extra for something they should have received anyway.

Ask around, and see how much you would pay for monitoring an existing, customer-owned system. Then compare that figure to what ADT wants to charge for just monitoring, and then for their monitoring plus extended warranty package. A properly installed residential system requires little service. Like most extended warranty plans, you will end up paying through the nose for a little peace of mind.

- badenov

I'd want to see that in writing, signed by someone higher up than the salesman. I haven't heard of this six month cancellation deal, but even if it's for real, "void the contract" may not mean what you think it means. The devil is in the details.

From ADT's contract:

"YOU AGREE THAT YOU AND WE ARE NOT BOUND BY ANY REPRESENTATION, PROMISE, CONDITION, INDUCEMENT OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, THAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN WRITING IN THIS CONTRACT. "

In other words, the salesman's promises are worthless unless they're in writing.

- badenov

It can't be aborted, DSC, GE/ITI is already doing it and so soon will Honeywell/Ademco

Mandatory exit alarms and recent closings, cancels etc...

Why should they have to?

You were fine up until the last part, contrary to popular believe that ISN'T the reason. Given that a typical control panel circuit board cost less than $100 then takeover prevention is absurd. If ADT wanted to lock out everyone from takeovers they could easily download the panels and prevent ANY keypad programming which they almost never do. Even a totally proprietary panel like the one Brinks uses is set the way they want and makes it easy for their customer service and technical staff to troubleshoot.

The REAL reason is for installation quality control, when you have literally thousands of dealers each with dozens of installers it is impossible to get everyone to program the control panels the way you want so you get the manufacturers to make you a special panel with your defaults. If you don't you get panels with thousands of installer codes not set for downloading that you have to set for service if any minor programming changes are needed (and they will be needed)