In the six months since I’ve last travelled for work, we’ve got a new baby in the house and we had to put our beloved guard dog to sleep. My wife is now a little nervous about being alone in the home with two young kids and no pit bull/boxer mix.
Neither of us wants to get a gun or another dog for security, but we are interested in getting a home security service.
I’ve heard bad things about some services and good things about others over the years. Trouble is, I was never in the market before and didn’t really pay attention to the good and bad. I’ve Googled for some info, but I can never tell if these “info” sites are just sites owned by the companies themselves set up to look like authentic review sites. Color me skeptical. Plus, I just don’t necessarily know who those people are that are writing the reviews. At the SDMB, I sort of “know” youse people.
So I thought I’d ask for your advice on the topic. (I did a search of the past two years, and didn’t come up with anything like I’m looking for).
Do you subscribe to a service now? Which one? What are the pros/cons of the service? Would you recommend it to others?
Did you subscribe to one in the past, but cancel? Why did you cancel? Have you changed companies? How do the two services compare?
What are some things I should be aware of when shopping for a home security company (terminology, equipment, rates, contract language, etc)?
Do you have any nightmare stories to relay (either first-hand experience, or a friend/relative)?
Are there any free, reputable compare/contrast review sites I should check out?
Can’t help you with electronics and monitoring services. Sorry.
Be advised that if you decide to get another dog, even if it’s “just a pet”, check with your homeowner’s insurance company before you get the dog. Many HICs will refuse to cover you, cancel your coverage, or jack up your premiums if you have a breed of dog on its “blacklist”. The breeds on this list can vary from company to company and from state to state. (I’m assuming you’re in the USA.)
Further, before you get another dog (once again, even if it’s meant to be “just a pet”) check with your local animal control agency and your Home Owners Association/Condo Board/landlord (if applicable) to make sure you don’t get a dog on their “banned breeds” list. Neglecting to check before you get the dog could cost you a lot of money in fines and you’ll still be obligated to “get rid of” the dog. It’s not fair, but that’s how things are in many places.
When the house was built the builder offered alarm services through Guardian Protection Services. The system itself was free if we signed a contract for 3 years of monitoring service. One of the concerns we had was how the alarm system would work with the cats–we had four. The sales guy from Guardian assured us that the alarm system was designed to work with cats and we would have no issues.
A few months later we move into the house and set the alarm (as a test) when we went to the grocery store. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot the monitoring center called to tell us the alarm was going off. Yep, the cats set it off. We called tech services and were told that the alarm system had a hard time distinguishing between the movement of cats and an actual intruder. They would send someone out to tweak the system so the cats would not set it off.
After three visits from a tech for this issue I called Guardian’s customer service to cancel the service. The rep told me there would be a $3,000 cancellation fee. I told him I wasn’t going to pay it and that since the system we were sold was not the one the sales guy promised and since the company could not provide that system they should eat the cancellation fee. Here was the rep’s response:
“That’s not going to happen so I guess you’re not going to cancel.”
We got into a discussion over the situation and he ended the call after telling me there was nothing he could do and we would have to deal with it. I tried calling supervisors and wrote letters and was told the same thing every time–tough, you signed a contract, you need to deal with it.
Even trying to cancel the service once the contract expired has been difficult. My ex-wife and I had to write separate letters consenting to the cancellation. Then they told us a copy of the divorce decree had to be sent it. Since the divorce is not final yet we can’t do that. When my ex threatened to stop paying they threatened to take us to collections and also sue us for non-return of certain components of the alarm system. Every single dealing with this company has been a pain in the ass.
Having said that, I know that my ex and I are somewhat to blame for the situation. We should have done more research before signing up for service. But that does not excuse the general rudeness we’ve experienced when dealing with this company.
Where are you located? I’ve got a contract with a local alarm company, so a specific recommendation may not help you.
The big companies like ADT will advertise “system free with contract”, but that generally will only include 2 or 3 door/window sensors, maybe 1 motion sensor, and a single control panel. Before making any calls to price systems, decide how many door & window sensors you think you need, and which doors will need a control panel - you need one by each of your normal exit doors so you can set the alarm when you leave. The company I bought from sent out a rep. to walk through the house and recommend where each sensor would go.
Once you get a system installed, you are generally free to change monitoring companies. We stayed with our installer as a monitor even though they’re a little pricey for a couple of reasons - their response time is fast as hell, the one time we thought there may have been an intruder they were very good with my wife on the phone, and we get free yearly inspection & repairs.
Also find out if there are any regulations in your town for registering your alarm system with the police, and their “false alarm” policy. Where I live, I get 3 free false alarms/year (that is, times the police get sent to the house to find that there’s no intruder) and after that I’d get charged around $100 per response.
We’ll never use ADT because of their scummy marketing practices.
Scenario: spring 1994. We’re living in a townhouse neighborhood. A woman a couple buildings down from us was nabbed as she arrived home about 11 PM - in the short distance between her car and her front door. Dragged into a secluded spot, and raped :(.
As soon as this hit the police report, we started getting ADT flyers stuffed into our front doors. Every. Other. Day.
Now, if the woman had ADT services, would they have helped her? No - there was no home invasion. It was as silly as if someone got mugged on the subway and ADT claimed that having their home security system would have helped from 10 miles away.
So they were preying on fears, and offering a “service” that WOULD NOT HAVE HELPED.
For what it’s worth, we have Vector security. We don’t actually ever arm the damn thing, because I know we’d forget to turn it off in time when we came home; if we’re away, neighbors come in to feed the pets, and that’s another problem spot.
However, we keep it because of the fire alarm tie-in. If my kids (now 17 and 14, but they were 12 and 9 when we activated it) are home, and the house catches fire, I don’t want to have to rely on them to remember to get out and call 911. In fact in the initial paperwork, we had to put comments for the police notification, and we specified “autistic child, might hide if alarm sounds”.