Danger - Independent Alarm Dealers

You obviously think that there are some ADT authorized dealers here. I don't know of any- These guys are independents.

At the very least, if you're going to rail against ADT Dealers, say so, instead of just saying "Danger- Independent Alarm Dealers". Be more specific, otherwise you're unnecessarily offending the 99% of us who have no affilitation with an ADT "Authorized" Dealer.

Stanley,

Did you care if you offended me? In the beginning? Hell no. I, on the other hand...do not intend to offend honest, hard working, legal, bonded, certified, independent dealers, unless they want to continue to throw barbs my way. I can assure you of one thing. I may not care enough about proof reading my spelling, but I can defend myself in writing, and make you look like a first class idiot...if I really want to...so I'd be careful about chastising me. If I am wrong, I'll be first to admit it. I do not need 6 parrots in a cage to tell me if I am wrong. My ego isn't so huge that I can't admit a honest mistake now and then. So far though, you and several others have been very condescending. Correct me if I am wrong, but this group isn't named "alt.security.alarms.for.techs.only. It is for EVERYBODY and that includes me. Like it or not.

The topic I created here did specify ADT dealers, BUT, the same principles apply to ANY independent dealer. If I were a prospective security alarm customer, the number one issue I would have with ANY dealer not from a national company would be monitoring. FOr instance, how does the dealer KNOW FOR SURE that every employee of the company usually subcontracted out to perform the monitoring has a FEDERAL BACKGROUND CHECK. One thing independents are known for is getting rid of an employee a few weeks BEFORE his company HAS to conduct his federal background check, drug screen, or other certification. THAT is how indy's get around the law. The other major issue is the equipment they use. Indy's are more inclined (other than Brinks) to use inferior equipment. They'll put junk in the home and call it a system. I could name the equipment but you know the names. I wouldn't go out on a limb and say GE, or some manufacturing company whose real business is not necessarily security stuff. Personally, I recommend Honeywell, or Ademco (same stuff).

If an indy chooses a company that does NOT have a backup facilty with redundancy abilities located in two different locales, then a disaster of some type could shut that one existing facility down, and the indy and his customers would have NO way to backup their customers.

There are, as you are well aware, many companies that do NOTHING but monitor for the indy's. It's a cut rate business, and if one of two employees working the night shift calls in sick, or goes to take a crap, who's minding the alarms? Monitoring is like anything else, the smaller monitoring companies find all kinds of ways to cut costs, and who really knows what kind of company it is? Many times the central station is located a thousand miles away from the independent dealer. There are companies that will wholesale their rates for monitoring for as low as $5.00 a customer. Some for $10.00 per month. You get what you pay for.

ADT at one time had over a hundred monitoring stations throughout the USA & Canada. Now they only have 6 left. And out of that 6, a high percentage of all signals get processed through their Colorado facility. Cutting costs just makes good business sense. With their Mastermind network, they can use the 6 different central stations to evenly handle service, dispatch, new installations, etc.

What I have a problem with is that the large nationals bend the rules when it comes to Fire Alarm monitoring. Many states still require that the monitoring center be located within the same state of the fire system they are monitoring. So how does ADT get away with that? Easy. They get a toll free number billed to their local branch office within said state. The signals are then forwared to Colorado, or wherever. With toll free lines, it's easy to bend the rules to suit your needs.

ADT does have a tiny (borderline answering service) central station in Florida. Though its suppose to be UL and everything, signals do not get dispatched from there, they don't even get processed there. Unless you consider forwarding the signal to a large facility thousands of miles out of state signal processing. Since they use the Mastermind network, there is usually no way to tell where the signals get processed from, or even if it went overseas for that matter. I wouldn't be surprised if the siganls get processed & dispatched from India...sorry, that's a Honeywell tech support thing... :)

Jim Rojas

No, too many times people don't get what they pay for. Price doesn't necessarily mean good, better, best. It may simply mean someone has paid too little or too much.

Bob

So you are saying small independent companies do this and not ADT or that ADT's small dealers do this or ADT dealers and small independent dealers do this? Did your company do this? if so why did you not turn them in?

Exactly how is GE equipment different or as you appear to say substandard compared to Honeywell or whoever? Which models or are you referring to the entire GE line?

How do you come about the "opinion" that GE isn't into security?

The duck quacked:

First of all, you apparently don't know that Honeywell is no longer in the retail alarm monitoring business. They sold out. We'll file this right next to those bullets you claim ADT sends out. If you were talking about the equipment manufacturing side of the business, keep in mind that both GE and Honeywell are major corporations, whose alarm products divisions are just a tiny part of their total business. Same with companies like Bosch

-- no doubt you think they make junk, too?

Second, if you like Ademco, has it occurred to you that any small alarm dealer can buy Ademco panels from ADI? So tell us again what junk small dealers install? You wouldn't recognize junk if it bit you in the ass.

Third, we all realize what you're doing here: you're intentionally baiting the people in this group, attempting to piss them off so they'll waste time and energy responding to you. No doubt you're laughing your ass off at how easy it is to "get" them. Personally, I'm done with you, Sonic-fuckoff!

When I left ADT (Core Commercial Rep) in April, (leaving ADT for the second time, as it is now a Tyco sinking ship ;) they had 4 networked CS's left, as I recall, not including Indianapolis, where all of the National Accounts went (a non-redundant CS, not backed up by the others). Indy probably won't be needed too much longer anyway, since the National Accts. have been dropping like flies for a couple of years now. They are trying to consolidate even further, and as I recall Kansas City and Denver will be the remaining 2 CS's. I don't know if Elmhurst will still handle service dispatch. I'm not sure anyone there really knows the plan except a few at the top of the food chain, since Tyco is constantly wringing them out like an old dishrag and chasing away the best people, with their focus on maximum profit at the expense of customer service. Such a shame- the first and once the finest Commercial Alarm Company has been reduced to fighting over low-rent resi and SB accounts, and constantly chasing non-pays. They once had over 90% of Fortune 500 companies, and still have a good share, (70% or so, methinks) but it has been dropping drastically since Tyco came into the picture in 96 and started the push toward the cookie cutter crap.

Yes, local alarms are "telebranched" from the local ADT SSO to the monitoring center. Not a bad thing, IMHO, since in the digital age it really doesn't matter much where the CS is, as long as it's UL and redundant to another CS. Down the street or across the country is irrelevant, as long as the signal is received.

Put it this way...two of the majors I worked for would NOT reprogram or even attempt to reprogram a GE panel. It is not of the same quality as is Ademco, or Napco, or FBI, or a multitude of other brands. It just isn't.

If you use it, it is because it is one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest out there. You'd be better off buying a Radio Shack system, or one from the rack at a Walgreens, or Wal-Mart.

Stanley,

My goodness. I am impressed. We agree on something. Thanks for the information regarding the ADT/TYCCO downsizing.

What's amazing is the local salesmen usually don;t know anything about any of what you just said. It's all one big corporate secret.

We may agree that ADT treats their customers like shit, but we don't agree that the majority of independents suck. There are some in every market who operate like clasic trunk-slammers, usually selling their accounts as an "authorized dealer" for one of the Nationals. I won't name names, but ADT ain't the only one... On the other hand, the true independents, the ones who operate independently of the larger companies, by-and-large are caring professionals who place quality and their customers first. They are easy to spot- the ones who do the background checks, proper licensing, don't have numerous BBB complaints, generally serve a serve a slightly "higher income" clientele, and have been around for a while, growing slowly with hard work and word-of-mouth advertising.

You also generally won't find them trashing the competition- they instead show why their product is better, not why the other guy's product is worse.

Really? Which specific GE panels are we talking about? And how exactly are they not the same quality? My guess is the "majors" you talk about don't have much of a clue about programming anything if they can't do a GE panel.

They aren't the cheapest out there in fact I suspect some of the low end Napco panels might be.

I worked for 2 independant dealers in the ADT program one did an excellent job on his installs and treated his subs great. He did not meet the quotion every month for installs so ADT dropped him of all the installs he did 70% did not sign back up as the buisneses failed people moved or were completely disatisfied how ADT treated them. The other dealer worked for did not give a damm about his installs how they went in and was still a dealer last i heard of the systems i put in for him again better than 90% of the systems i put in for him did not renew becuse people moved , did not pay for there service ,went out of buisness or were completely disatisfied with ADT Compared to myself which I loose 2% a year due to resident selling there home and new owner using there own company they like or person has passed away or they do not want a burglar alarm which is whati suspect in many cases they pu the alarm in the house for the insurance discount and never use it. . Personelly I will be glad when I have no more residential left.But i stay dedicated to them till they move or or pass on. I have lost 5% of all comercail installs I have done over 25 years.buisness has failed or moved and new person moing in has own company or does not want an alarm.

Yes at one time I did respect ADT as I once worked for Holmes but both companys went to shit over greed. I saw the Pittsburgh Holmes branch which at one time in the early 70's had most of the burg market in Pitsburgh loose 25% of its customers due to poor service the 6 months I was there and eventualy they sold to Vector What was left which was maybe 1000 accounts And after I had dealings with ADT trying to get them to set 16 apartmet buildings in Monroeville in 1986 on to there Mcullogh Loop to meet Monroevilles tough fire codes at the time and watched one tech after another come out and look and be totally bewildered and do nothing and then try to charge us is when i lost all faith with ADT in 1987 they did eventualy get the panels working on the loop after they damaged all 16 fire panels and had to replace them when they hooked high voltage into them . They also got charged by Bell Of Pa. now Verison for stealing phone lines with out paying for them in the complex and the matter was settled out of court. Yes ADT has wronged alot of people but i can tell you just as many horror stories about independants who jammed it to customers too.

It all comesdown to who is doing the install how the equiptment is installed how much the customer is willing to spend.vs how much the dealer makes on an install . even cheap equiptment works when installed and maintained properly.But i try to stay away from lower priced panels and equiptment as I do all commecail industrial at this point .

so you're saying that it all comes down to the INSTALLERS? whether an company sucks or not? sonicdick take note

More likely they didn't have anyone that could do it. GE (Caddx) panels are solid.

Every time you write something, the entire ASA newsgroup c**ks it's head and marvels at your ignorance. js

Here's a little fact sheet I put together regarding your posts:

S> Here is a fact sheet put together by my ex-mgr. while at ADT. He and I

Au come on Tom, cut me some slack, wontcha ? I'm really trying to do better you know....:)))

RHC

See? You busted me. Here I was banking on the Plonk being in effect so I could take a RHC post length jab :-)

Who is this duck goof? It is clowns like him who add to the false alarm/poor service problem because they have no knowledge on equipment design, or functions, yet they are knocking doors with their pitch book selling "protective services" Shame on the companies that hired this Duck fruitcup.

The kid should be making pineapple upside down cakes in a "surgical stainless steel" frying pan at some Ladies Auxillary fundraiser. He reminds me of those Brits from the old "Amazing Discoveries" infomercials.

R.H.Campbell wrote:

I've been reading his posts mostly in disbelief ! Frankly, I've never seen anyone with more incorrect information in their posts, almost to the point where I think he could indeed just be a troll, trying to bust our chops !!

And sometimes I thought I was being too hard on ADT !!!!!!

RHC