One of my last customers, and a major reason I resigned from Bell South, from Protection One, was a prime example of why the paying customers do not trust security companies. I sold the system, after conducting an extensive home survey. They were considered by Bell South Security, to have been a "conversion" sale. I was working from a company provided lead. They currently had a completely up to date system. My first impression was to just quote them the $49.00 conversion/takeover fee, and leave it at that.
The prospects/customers revealed to me that they felt their system was going to be, in the near future, compromised. The technician that had installed the system worked for the same company that the family worked for. They said that there was a very good possibility that this person would not be employed by the company much longer, and feared retaliation by this person. During the survey of their system, it became apparent that they did need a few new sensors, a smoke detector, and cell back up. When I figured the $49.00 would be waived, and if they bought a new system, 3 door/window sensors would be included, it made sense to explain that this way, they would not be throwing the $49.00 away.
They agreed, and also wanted a sensor on a garage door, that was a good
50' away from the main house. My team leader begged his way into the appointment, and although I already had a signed agreement, he persisted in trying to one-up me by talking them into a voice activated module, so they could use any phone to dial in, to set or turn off their alarm remotely. They went for about $190.00 at the time, but the price has dropped about $30.00 since then. He also convinced them that since our Ademco keypads converted a system to being wireless, the garage door sensor they wanted would work from the house without having to put a range extender, or new panel in the garage. We tested this by using a keyfob. I stood outside down by the garage, and he stood back in the house by the existing panel. I had the keyfob, and he had his demo kit, which was wireless. He said he got a signal.The part that really irritates me is that he even saw they had Ademco equipment, and it was fairly new. They had an existing Ademco Vista 20 board (that should tell you something). I sold the new system telling them that we could do one of several things. I told them we could use their existing board, which actually had more capacity than our Vista
10 modified for P-1. The other options I gave them was for us to replace their board with ours, but we could still give them back their Vista 20. They decided, from my advice to leave their existing Vista 20 in their box, and they really didn't care about our board.I (due to not wanting to open a can of worms) did not write their decision on the agreement. It was getting late (8:30'ish PM), and I decided to come back and write this up later. Keep in mind I already had a signed agreement, but my great salesman team leader had sold even more stuff to them, and now I had to re-write the agreement. I went back, and the husband and wife had absolutely no problem signing the agreement. I took it back to the office, and showed it to our imbacile Installation Manager, and explained that this customer did not care or want our panel. I told him they had (and my paperwork back me up) a Vista 20. I also told him no matter what we did, they DID want their old panel.
This retard never bothered telling the installer, and even though the customer told the tech during the installation that they wanted their panel, he took it anyway. I called the customer the next day, and asked how the install went. They relayed to me that they had asked the tech to leave the board, but he took it anyway. I immediately called my IM, and my Mgr., and told them BOTH that this customer wanted their board back. Two weeks later, the board STILL wasn't back in the customers possession. I finally told them I had told everyone several times about it, but I wasn't getting anywhere with them. Finally, I told my Branch Manager. He was walking out of his office, and stopped the IM, and asked him right in front of me if he had any knowledge of being asked to leave the board with the customer? The IM lied, of course, and said no. He tried to tell me that the board had been "locked out". I know that is BS. I asked him after the install if it had been locked out, and he said he didn't know. I told him it would have only taken a few minutes to check it, and asked if the tech had checked it. He waffled, lied, and tried to cover his lying butt. The BM told him to send them their board back. Two days later, the Install Department did leave the board. They left it in pouring rain, by the yard sign. They customer said the board he left wasn't even their board. The customer was irrate to say the least. They were mad and accused the installer of taking their perfectly good board and installing it somewhere else while doing a "side job". I told them that I did not think that was the case, but I would guarantee that they would get a Vista 20 panel. I told my boss I would back this customer in a threatened lawsuit if it came to that. I guess that finally got his attention. I even told the regional idiot Manager from Atlanta, who backed this whole bunch of non-performing idiots. I told him (The Atlanta idiot) that it was no wonder this branch had gone from being #1 in the country in numbers 3 years ago to one of the biggest slumping branches. They don't know their heads from their butts.
The week after I resigned (from this and not getting paid on a timely basis, they still owe me about 2k), my ex-mgr. told me that this customer now had a brand new Vista 20 panel, that he personally had made sure it was delivered.
The lesson I learned? The company you work for could be thieves. They not only might steal from you, the saleman, but customers too. It doesn't do any good to tell that idiot IM anything, because he lied anyways. It's a way of life with this particular branch of Hell South Security from Protection One. Several of the other salesmen have also told me that when they started, it took them a long time to get paid for jobs. They said the installation department had always been light years behind getting things done. The IM doesn't have ANY installation experience whatsoever. He has never even sold for a security company. His background, from what I learned, was solely from Bell South corporate. I guess he was the head butt licker there, or they dumped him on the Coconut Creek branch. I will write more about this branch's problems, or the problems I had, later. Stay tuned.