I have a customer that has a 16 zone hardwired system and wants to upgrade.
That is not the problem. In his upgrade he want a system that is "Web Based" so he can control on line.
"Web Based" is his term. His primary goal is to have the ability to arm and disarm the system and secondary to bypass, change codes, basically all the things you can from the keypad.
I have just started my investigation so I was wondering what input I can pick up from here.
Thanks much for all the input I am about to receive.
Someone gave me a few Simon 3's with an alarm.com GSM radio in them. When I removed the GSM module, the panel will not restart, even if i plug the GSM back in. Any idea why this is?
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but the industry has enough False Alarms caused by people onsite in front of their keypads, not to mention all of these "Gadget People" that want to fart around with their alarms over the internet... Sounds like more crap that's going to cause more problems... I lock my house up and turn the alarm on before I leave the Freaking house... I guess I'm just too old and set in my ways for my own good...........
I can agree with that, but some people do like their toys. I have at least one customer that had a system installed just so that they can say they have one. I doubt that they have armed their system in years. As for the false alarms, it is what it is.
So I checked out Alarm.com yesterday. So far I am not impressed with their customer service.
I called their 877 number. Went thru the auto-attendant stuff and selected "New Dealer Information". The phone rang for about 8 rings the a recording saying leave a message and we will get back to you with no other choices, I hung up. I called back in about 10 minutes and did it again same results. So I thought, I wonder if they respond any different if I chose the New Customer choice. This time I get on hold with a reminder that I can leave a message and get a call back. I stayed on hold for 5 minutes. Hung up.
So I am thinking that these people are not interested in "new" business, or they are just VERY BUSY. I call back an went into the Tech Support for General questions and since I did not have a Dealer number to enter I got into an endless loop that could not be escaped from unless I hung up.
Called back again and this time pressed ZERO. Got the operator, made my request and ended up in the same thing again.
Called back and pressed Zero again and asked some questions of the operator who said that I should leave a message and I will get a call back 7pm or first thing in the morning. Well it is now 10am and I am still waiting.
So is this normal for Alarm.com?? And does it get better once you become a dealer??
Just think of how they'll treat you once you've got their product already installed and have made a commitment to your customer.
After the third call ....... my mind has done all the inquiring it's going to do.
Except that maybe I'd try to get in touch with management for the sole purpose of telling them that incompetence has it's rewards. And additionally I'd do exactly what you did here. From your report, you can bet that I certainly wont be calling them and I'll be sure to tell anyone else the same thing.
You see how that "incompetence vs. rewards" thingy works?
By the way, I've mentioned it here before but .... I ran into the same thing years ago with Panasonic telephones. All I wanted to do was find out some minor technical info before placing an order for 10 telephones for an office. I was on hold and shuffled around for about an hour. So I used another mfg and will never use Panasonic telephones ..... ever. I even called management and told them about the "shuffle" and was told, "Oh ..... that's normal" ......... And after checking with installers .... I found out that it actually WAS normal for them. Yeh sure. Not for me, it's not.
Just think of how they'll treat you once you've got their product already installed and have made a commitment to your customer.
After the third call ....... my mind has done all the inquiring it's going to do.
Except that maybe I'd try to get in touch with management for the sole purpose of telling them that incompetence has it's rewards. And additionally I'd do exactly what you did here. From your report, you can bet that I certainly wont be calling them and I'll be sure to tell anyone else the same thing.
You see how that "incompetence vs. rewards" thingy works?
By the way, I've mentioned it here before but .... I ran into the same thing years ago with Panasonic telephones. All I wanted to do was find out some minor technical info before placing an order for 10 telephones for an office. I was on hold and shuffled around for about an hour. So I used another mfg and will never use Panasonic telephones ..... ever. I even called management and told them about the "shuffle" and was told, "Oh ..... that's normal" ......... And after checking with installers .... I found out that it actually WAS normal for them. Yeh sure. Not for me, it's not.
Well after I typed my "report" this morning I also decided to fill out their form on line to get info on what it takes to become a dealer. I also placed my cell# requesting a call. I received a email about 5 hours later and still no phone call. So far it seems that they (Alarm.com) want to hide behind a computer screen. Most frustrating.
From what info I received it seems that they want you to have 5 accounts within 180 days or they charge you $50 a month till you do.
So the question now is are they (Alarm.com) the only game in town when it comes to controlling a security panel via the web?? Or are there any alternatives.
Look A Xanboo.com. They are a third party equipment that will hook into several MFG's panels. I have them at home as a demo with a pan/tilt camera and alarm system control. I have been in contact with the owners and the tech support several times and have alays gotten to talk to them with out the run around.
Which kinda sucks since their little KXTA824 is about the most feature filled flexible small system on the market. I use Samsung for my bigger systems, and my experience is all telephone equipment manufacturers treat their dealers like supplicants. So do most telco distributors.
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