BRINKS HOME SECURITY MAY HAVE DIRECT TIES WITH MADOFF

noauth · 2009-06-30T11:45:15+00:00

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Not quite rich enough and not quite smart enough, acertain investing class has for years paid through the nose for what was thoughtto be world-class money management by investing in funds that promise access tothe best hedge funds.The Bernard Madoff scandal now calls into question the value of the so-calledfund-of-fund industry.A fund-of-funds manager puts clients' money to work in a portfolio of hedgefunds or other non-traditional investment vehicles.The client gets access to accounts he wouldn't normally have access to but theexpenses are exorbitant: often a 1% management fee and between 5% and 15% of anygains.That might feel okay when the fund is turning in stellar performance, but not somuch when they're losing money, or worse, investing in a fraud."The fund-of-funds community has a problem because they're a step removed fromthe actual investment of money," says Michael Lewitt, president of hedge fundHarch Capital Management. "To convince people they add value they sellthemselves as offering diversification, due diligence and access to exclusivehedge funds. The Madoff scandal hits at the heart of this model, and could bedevastating for the industry."Indeed, some advisors seemed to do little more than turn over most or all oftheir clients' money to Madoff -- money that may now be gone."The fact that very well respected fund-of-fund names like Fairfield Greenwichand Maxam Capital Management were funding a ponzi scheme for a period of decadesblows up the raison d'etre for a fund-of-funds," said Lewitt.Before the Madoff scandal broke, the average fund-of-funds had been strugglingwith the same negative trends slamming the average hedge fund -- investorspulling money out, poor performance and lots of volatility.And the average fund-of-funds is down about 19% this year, underperforming hedgefunds by about 2 percentage points."Even before these numbers came out, investors were beginning to realize thatthese two layers of fees made their chances of...

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mleuck 17 years ago

I give them both print and digital manuals

CP01 is your friend, you just don't know it yet

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Crash Gordon 17 years ago

clients hate it...every client I enabled it on asked for me to disable the countdown beeps...then WHY didn't anyone call me when my alarm went off yesterday (disarmed before transmit)...then choosing Cancel or Verify is a major decision they can't make either. Forget it, so far I'm not convinced it's worth it at all.

Hey...saw the "new" Brinks commercial last night...Broadway or whatever they're calling themselves now.

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Bob Worthy 17 years ago

Was it "the next generation of Brinks Security"? I wonder how long they will be able to fall back on the Brinks name. They better hope it is a long time or otherwise they are just another new kid on the block.

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mleuck 17 years ago

We have no choice in Texas, we have to use it

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

Has it made any real difference in the false alarm rate?

Jim Rojas

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Robert L Bass 17 years ago

So much for that Texas independent spirit.

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alarman 17 years ago

Yeah, the one where she closes the door, bad guy kicks it in, alarm sounds, C/S calls all within 10 seconds. That one?

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

Yeah...those sleezy TV commercials basically violates the intention of CP-01, but Brinks/Broadview/Whatever exist in their own little world where rules don't apply to them.

Jim Rojas

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tourman 17 years ago

RHC: Hey, the truth routinely gets stretched in pretty much all advertising; this one just strikes closer to home. Ethics always takes a back seat to profits !!

Wait until you guys see the Alarmforce ads (when this s*it comes to your area). They make Brinks and ADT look like saints !!

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

Record it and upload to YouTube. I can always use a good laugh.

Jim Rojas

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tourman 17 years ago

RHC: More like it will make you puke !!!

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mleuck 17 years ago

Too early to tell, I imagine it can only help

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

I have been using cancel codes and dialer delays since it was first introduced. I always instructed customers that the system will not dial until a certain time has elapsed.

Jim Rojas

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mleuck 17 years ago

What exactly would you have them do? It's a freaking TV commercial with limited available time. Should it be...

Girl on treadmill Bad guy breaks in through front door Entry tone sounds....30 seconds later an alarm

1 minute later they get a call

Yea that will sell a lot of systems

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alarman 17 years ago

Exactly.

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Robert L Bass 17 years ago

I think in the ad it's more like 3 seconds.

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Robert L Bass 17 years ago

It's deliberate, misleading advertising. Try to explain it away as you may, the facts don't change.

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

Brinks should have let Billy Mays do their commercials...now it's too late. R.I.P. Billy :)

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mleuck 17 years ago

Hogwash, the only reason everyone is down on these commercials is because they are from big bad Brinks. Anybody else doing the same type of advertising wouldn't have been commented on at all or be complimented on for the great production values.

The fact is they show the mechanics of an alarm and dispatch, it is neither sleezy or deceptive.

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Jim Rojas 17 years ago

In all my years in this business. I have never resorted to using scare tactics of any kind to get a customer to sign up. Any company that uses these tactics are usually unethical and immoral IMHO.

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