Sometimes It Just Doesn't Pay To Be Conscientious

Had a call a few weeks ago. Another company was trying to monitor a panel I installed five years ago. A P9600. They claimed it could not be monitored without my coming out to unlock the panel. Anybody see any glaring problems right off the bat with that? Yeah, me too. No I didn't remove it. I leave those in place, especially on unmonitored panels.

Of course the tech disconnected the phone line while he was waiting to waste my time. But it shouldn't be needed anyway for me.

After pulling their original client file I sent a letter to the client explaining that for any installer familiar with Napco panels from a competent legitimate company they should have everything they need to program and monitor the system without any help or further information from me. I got a call today basically calling me a liar. I went out to the site, and yep its still there and it works to put it in program mode just like I said.

The customer still said I was full of shit, and the only reason I was able to put it in program was because I installed it.

Sigh!

Of course that same customer tried to get out of paying for a battery a couple months ago by saying I had replaced the battery a few months earlier. I tried to pass over that then by saying I would check the my records and see if they had been charged for one in the last year. If they hadn't I would send them a bill. They got insistently belligerent at that point.

Sigh!

Some people just aren't intelligent enough to own an alarm panel.

I hope they are happy with their new under qualified and/or incompetent alarm company. I sure don't want them calling me back.

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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RHC: You were far too kind to them Bob. I have gotten a few of these calls from installation companies taking over my old systems for clients moving into their new homes. I have had installers call me insisting I unlock the board for them, when they are NEVER locked. It's just that the installer is too incompetent to even know how to default the board, or too lazy to do so. I tell them all the same thing - that if they don't understand the system well enough to know how to do a simple default it, they have no business taking on the customers panel - period ! That's as far I will go !!

On several occasions, I have even had contact with the new owners, and asked as politely as I can, why they didn't simply give me a call (all pricing is posted on the can). In both cases, they were forced to either buy out their previous contract or allow their old company to hook them up under a new contract (while contractually legal, that's pretty close to extortion.....).

As you experienced, a lot of customers are poisoned by the new company coming in, and will then call and expect you to do all sorts of things that you have no obligation to do. At this point, anything you say is suspect at best, and an outright lie at worst.

Sometimes, it's simply a "lose, lose" situation no matter what you do....

Reply to
tourman

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