New House Alarm - Am I locked out?

Jason,

This alarm company is a black eye on the industry. They really shouldn't be in the trade at all.

I'm not sure which current Honeywell panel is equivalent to your First Alert unit but if you'd like to swap it out let me know. I'll have Honeywell send you a new panel at cost.

The "SE" series panels are discontinued. The current panels have a "P" designation. Following are dealer prices on the panels: You'll need a 6160 keypad to program the system. They cost more than some panels.

Vista-10P .. $86.00 Vista-15P .. $91.19 Vista-20P .. $100.39

There are kits that include panel, keypad and a siren or battery. They cost less than just a panel and keypad.

If you ever want to have it monitored in the future there are a couple of companies that charge between $8 and $12 a month. IIRC, their contracts are for one year. I don't offer monitoring.

That solution is way to simple. It boggles the mind...

Yes, and it was also one of the first things I did. This company always locks out the alarms when their monitoring contracts are terminated. As I've mentioned in at least a few posts, the company itself says neither I nor the previous owner has any further obligation towards them as the system was purchased outright.

They have taken what is not lawfully theirs and altered it so that the only way its rightful owner (you) can use it is by paying them. In other words, they're thieves.

Disgusting!

Would that be anything like you lying to end users who come here about you being in the installation trade? By leading people to believe that you have up to date knowledge about the products they you hawk here?

Oh .... how disgusting!

True...but for under a hundred bucks Robert can sell you a new board, you can program it yourself and you're done. Probably be cheaper than a service call too.

| > That solution is way to simple. It boggles the mind... | | Yes, and it was also one of the first things I did. This company | always locks out the alarms when their monitoring contracts are | terminated. As I've mentioned in at least a few posts, the company | itself says neither I nor the previous owner has any further | obligation towards them as the system was purchased outright. |

Correct. In this case, considering the way he has been abused by the alarm company, I'd do it for my cost. No one should have to accept that kind of treatment from any company, especially not one that is entrusted with his security.

wrong, he's not trusting this company with his security. if he was there would be no problem. he is trusting himself with his security and wants them to do it for him without signing their contract. they won't do that. that'd be like buying parts from you and not authorizing your credit card payment page. you wouldn't do it either without that "contract" , would you?

messagenews:l-GdnWJPGs3DhqfbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

Wait, so you're equating them shutting off equipment that was paid for and owned in full to Robert not wanting to give away free equipment? The system was paid for and fully functional... then they shut it down. I, the new owner, have no commitment to them beyond the fact that I now own the equipment they installed and then subsequently disabled. My offer of paying them to come out and correct the issue was a gesture of good faith, nothing more. Since I own the equipment and the system should have never been disabled in the first place, I offered to pay the tech to come out and permanently resolve the situation, which they refused. This was the part where they claimed it is only illegal to lock you out of the system if the smoke detectors are hooked into it. The fact is I shouldn't have to pay them to come out because they shouldn't have disabled it in the first place. I do not want them responsible for my security, given the poor state of their customer service. I think I can do better on my own with the help of the kindly people of this group, and there must certainly be a better monitoring company I can go with when I choose to do so.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@q75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

I agree with your views on most all counts, HOWEVER, i have to ask. Is it worth the fight? A service call from a local provider and a new control board is going to be easier on your nerves and possibly your wallet. Call someone local. if you are going to have it monitored they may swap the board for free.

"You know who" has already shown their heavy handed tactics to get you to sign a contract. Do you really think a service call from them would be any different?

Take this experience as a lesson on who not to deal with, and be sure to pass the info to all who will listen. They are in the marketing business, not the security business.

obviously they don't sell parts. they sell a SERVICE. either you take the service or you don't. Just because you happened to find an old obandonded system of theirs doesn't mean you get a gold star or rights to their SERVICE. if you want parts go to Bass.

Uh, where did you read that the system belonged to the alarmco? I thought the OP stated that he bought the house, and that the previous homeowner had PURCHASED the equipment. Did I miss something?

js

readthecontract

Where was that posted? I just read the thread. js

no the service belongs to the company. and besides you call that a system. comeon thats closer to junk than it is to a system.

no he purchased the SERVICE. the junk left over is minor part of the SERVICE that may or may not be used if the OP wanted the SERVICE.

it's not in yours? I thought it was in all contracts. the part that holds the proprietal informationremains the property of the COMPANY

Most contracts say the dialer belongs to the alarmco.. Which means the board. Maybe that is what Pickle-Shiner was referring to.

PS:

To Pickle-Shiner- get another name, your's is gross.

And they have the right to take that proprietary information out upon termination of the contract. Locking the panel so that no one else can use it is a completely separate issue. js

If you believe that I need you to interpret the meaning of a boorish post here, you are seriously misguided.

Says Fat Tony.

js

in a perfect world. Is that what it's like in sunny California? But in this world they own that part and they may do with it as they like. Was I really boorish?