New House Alarm - Am I locked out?

Alright. I called the monitoring company. I'd call them out by name, but since the news is not good I think it might be wise to keep it to myself at this point. According to them, the previous owner purchased and owns outright the entire system, including wiring, panels, keypads, and sensors. They supposedly never rent or lease equipment, only sell it. The company does, however, claim to own the programming of the unit itself and will under no circumstances allow the unit to function locally. Not even if I pay for a tech to come out and make the necessary changes to the unit. Nor will they provide the installer code to allow me to reset the unit to default values (which I checked and am locked out of). How they are allowed to disable a functional alarm system that they do not own is beyond me. If they want to wipe the programming since they claim they own it fine, but they won't even allow me to reprogram my own unit. I got a supervisor involved, but they wouldn't budge.

It sounds like my options are limited at this point. I don't think I should have to buy a new panel, but it looks like I may have to.

As far as the smoke detectors go, it appears they are wired in through the 110V system (I looked at this previously), but I can't be sure. They are First Alert detectors, and the system itself has fire monitoring capabilities, but I have no idea if the detectors are wired through the security system because the system does not work at all. The wires appear to go back towards the security system's mounting box, but there's insulation behind foil there and I can't trace their route. Is there a way for me to find out for sure if they'll function without the alarm system enabled?

The "ng" .... ( I ) wouldn't have said a thing, unless you started with your no contract ..... ummmm ..... "stuff". ;->>>>>>

That's a bunch of crap. If they own the programming, and you own the panel they should set the panel back to -default- upon request (for the cost of a service call). That would erase their data, and allow you to use the panel.

However, a service call would cost $50-$100 to do so, and you can replace the board for $30. Hell, I have a few old Vista-10's laying around, and you can have one- but it will cost ya $10 probably to ship.

Report it to the BBB. It sounds like they are dishonest.

You're clearly dealing with an alarm company from hell. These are the kind of lowlifes who ruin the industry. Their claim that they own the software and will never release it amounts to theft of your hardware. It's called conversion in law and that's a form of "taking." Sadly, you're not likely to get much help from the police as they consider it a civil matter even though you're being robbed.

If you want to replace the panel with a compatible Honeywell (was Ademco) model let me know. I carry the full line.

Jason...

The dealer is jerking you around/ The alarm community, not to mention other consumers, need to know who they are.

What is the name and city of the dealer?

Before you take them to court, only small claims if they are lucky, maybe they are known to the ASA community and will respond favorably to a friendly phone call from someone here.

Or perhaps someone from Honeywell, makers of the First Alert Professional product, will call them.

Nick

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Oh, don't worry, I won't miss a chance if it comes. It'll give you another chance to spew more industry propaganda (and likely lay down some more vitriol to show us once again what you're really made of....)

RHC

1 The BBB is a sham. They don't mean shit. 2 Send the board to Jim Rojas, or just replace it. (I vote for Rojas, cuz, well, I like him a lot.) 3 Tell all your friends, family, and anyone else who will listen including us who the alarmco is and what they did. 4 No 4. 5 Get on with your life. js

Maybe not, but some consumers still value their opinion.

I vote for Bass selling him one, so we can talk about the BBB again. I like Rojas too, but hey - entertainment first!

I totally agree. The OP should let it be known right HERE who the offender is. I'll bet the company once exposed, will change their tune.

Okay - what is up with that? Markie, Mike, and you seem to have some private circle-jerk with that.

No, I live vicariously through my machine. I have never even seen one of those "security alarms" that are talked about here. :-))

Some people bought Edsels.

:-)

Probably not, but the point was to cause them financial loss. Tell as many people as possible, and remove as many potential victims as possible.

You need PUK74 or ROT13 to understand.

That was directed at the OP, as in don't sweat it. Going to court over something like this would be stupid. js

They rejected his application. Something about his contract wasn't, well, up to par. js

crap.

My main problem with naming the service is that they're a large company that operates in at least 17 states that I can tell. While I have not said anything untruthful, I do not have the means to defend against a libel suit should they take offense to my discussion of their overall crappiness. Although I suppose I did give the panel model number. It is a branded panel sold by only this company as far as I can tell, so it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out who it was. It looks like there's a couple posts in the archives here about users with this same panel being locked out by this company.

I've found a couple cheap used and working (and reset to defaults) Vista10s in the $10-$30 range, but the alpha keypads to do the programming run $100ish. I don't know if I could justify spending that much on an old system. I suppose I could buy the alpha keypad, program the system, and then sell it again, but there were some posts that First Alert keypads don't always work with Ademco boards. I guess I have some decisions to make.

Thanks for the helpful offers. I just need to decide what I want to do, now.

And the BBB's heard 'em all, too...

Don't be such a freaking cheapskate. Replace the board and buy the goddamned keypad. Shesh. js

Jason... First Alert Professional has about 200 dealers nationwide. I cannot believe that the rest of the FAP dealers condone this type of treatment of a customer. Who are they? Nick

BTW, you'll need to replace both the KP and C> My main problem with naming the service is that they're a large

It wouldn't be such a problem if I didn't already own a board and keypad that should be work> Jason...

I decided that somebody may be able to lean on these guys. The monitoring company is Guardian Protection Services, and it looks like they're PA based. I might try them again tomorrow to see if I can get a different answer out of them. Maybe I just got some crabby reps.

You really think he'd have a case? Sheesh, we're talking about a 100 buck circuit board and "maybe" a 50 buck keypad.

As shoddy as his treatment by may seem ...he'd have no case against them. They didn't sell him anything, he inherited it with the house, they have no obligation to the new owner.

| > It sounds like my options are limited at this point. I don't think I | > should have to buy a new panel, but it looks like I may have to. | >

| > As far as the smoke detectors go, it appears they are wired in through | > the 110V system (I looked at this previously), but I can't be sure. | > They are First Alert detectors, and the system itself has fire | > monitoring capabilities, but I have no idea if the detectors are wired | > through the security system because the system does not work at all. | > The wires appear to go back towards the security system's mounting | > box, but there's insulation behind foil there and I can't trace their | > route. Is there a way for me to find out for sure if they'll function | > without the alarm system enabled? | >