Slomins vs ADT vs Brinks vs any other home security system vendor

[Mr.Double-sided tape]

How many of those 5 central stations are dedicated to either commercial
or military accounts? How many of ADT's accounts are through
acquisitions of companies like Slinky, Alarmguard, Rollins, Holmes,
Edison, Wells Fargo, etc?
How many of those customers purchased any of those non-UL listed
systems ADT offers, or those self-contained "Essentials" that has the
motion built into the "no code needed" keypad? How safe is that, and if
it's not safe then why is it being sold by ADT? What exactly is a
connection fee? Have any ADT installers been arrested for breaking into
customer homes? Any serial killers ever employed by ADT? Why is the CEO
of ADT's parent company (Tyco International) in jail?
How many of those customers were installed by authorized dealers who
have been fined for misleading business practices (Home & Life Security
to name one)? How many of those customers have to wait for weeks on end
to be serviced? How many of the customers that now use VoIP are being
told they have to either sign up for cell backup (which the contract
disclaimer states is not guaranteed to work) at a cost of $300.00 for
the device plus another $12.00 per month for monitoring? What happens
to the customers that can't afford that? What exactly is the false
alarm rate for ADT. How can it be that ADT has "5 million customers"
yet their attrition rate is 30%? ADT is the only company with redundant
central stations?
Just asking for the whole story to be posted. This man is looking to
protect his home. He came here to get straight answers and not the
company line.

 

[Mike]

As usual a very helpful post. ADTquoted me $32.xx monitoring fee and I
believe
I own the equipment. Not sure about owning the equipment. Others have
mentioned
ADT equipment that is not UL rated and ADTusing, I think, 24 gauge wire.
It's reassuring
that you've picked up several ADT accounts. Guess that means their hardware
is at least
transferrable. Others have mentioned the ADT "hair trigger" problem. There
is a large fine imposed
for false security alarms.

At this point, DIY or an independent is starting to look good. However,
fitting in the time to research DIY
might not be a wise use of my time right now.

Mike

 

[Nomen Nescio]

J. Sloud said:

Because of the value associated with
recurring revenue, these small alarm companies are always likely to be
gobbled up by another company looking for growth.

Unlike ADT, which has never changed hands in the last 130 years.

- badenov

 

[Nomen Nescio]

J. Sloud said:

First, some facts: ADT is by far the largest electronic security
company in the industry. Go to sdmmag.com and click on SDM100 for a
look at the industry. ADT is the only company in the industry with a
fully redundant network of customer monitoring stations. These five
monitoring stations are located throughout the United States and are
configured so that is one becomes overloaded or is forced to close,
alarm signals are automatically redistributed to the others. ADT is
the only national company that offers services in all industry market
segments from basic residential to commercial, industrial, and
government customers. ADT has been a GSA Federal Supply Schedule
holder for over 20 years and supplies more electronic security to our
government than any other company. ADT is involved in numerous
homeland security pilot projects to help develop technology used in
the war on terrorism. Google "operation Safe Commerce" for an
example. ADT has several sole source contracts with the federal
government including a contract with the US Marshals Service to
install and maintain security, video, and access control systems in
every Federal Courthouse in the country. If that isn't enough, ADT
also has a national account with Brinks. We install the security
systems on their cash vaults.

I'm really not out to bash ADT. In fact, I'm a fan...of the old ADT, back
when they really were the best in the business. But the things you've
mentioned are both irrelevant and misleading.

ADT is not the only company in the industry with networked redundant
central stations. Do your homework. And I might add that there are
drawbacks to having five mega-central stations monitoring an account: the
customer may never speak to the same operator twice. He's just one out
of five million customers.

Big is not necessarily good. Ask General Motors and Ford. Both probably
sell more cars to the federal government than any other car makers. That
doesn't mean they're good cars: the Japanese are killing them on both
quality and price.

I doubt the average homeowner knows, or cares, that ADT does a lot of
government work. That has nothing to do with whether the homeowner gets a
good residential alarm system or good service after the sale. As you know,
the people who service government accounts don't deal with homeowners. And
doing a wonderful job on a large card access system doesn't relate to doing
good house jobs.

There is a lot to be said for dealing with a smaller, independent company,
a company that recognizes its customers when they call and truly
appreciates their business. ADT recognizes the name "Uncle Sam" when he
calls in. And Uncle gets better service than Joe Homeowner.

I will give you points for the crack about Brinks. I use that line myself.
Of course, that has more to do with UL certificates than anything else, but
it's still fun to beat them over the head with that.

- badenov

 

[Mr.Double-sided tape]

Does the $32 per month include the warranty? Does it include medical,
fire, etc?
If it does then you're shopping an ADT dealer and not ADT.
A nice thing about ADT's website is that you can price your system
online so you get to see the actual price without having a sales rep
come out.
Brinks has a demo keypad on their website.
You might want to call Rapid Response, which is a central station, and
ask them for dealers in your area. They (RR) have a pretty decent track
record too.

 

[Mike]

J. Sloud said:
I will give you points for the crack about Brinks. I use that line
myself.
Of course, that has more to do with UL certificates than anything else,
but
it's still fun to beat them over the head with that.

- badenov

What's the dig about Brinks - not using UL rated equipment?

Mike

 

[Mike]

Does the $32 per month include the warranty? Does it include medical,
fire, etc?
If it does then you're shopping an ADT dealer and not ADT.
A nice thing about ADT's website is that you can price your system
online so you get to see the actual price without having a sales rep
come out.
Brinks has a demo keypad on their website.
You might want to call Rapid Response, which is a central station, and
ask them for dealers in your area. They (RR) have a pretty decent track
record too.

Don 't remember if the monthly fee includes a warranty. I'll check. I called
the 800 # for ADT

.Does it include medical, fire, etc? If it does then you're shopping an
ADT dealer and not ADT.

medical and fire monitoring is in addition to the $32 monthly fee?

Mike

 

[Mike]

That depends. Independant dealers vary from good to terrible, and ADT
service quality seems to vary from region to region. So bear in mind, my
comments relate ONLY to my particular area. I happen to be a third party
dealer on their station (they monitor about 8 of my total 850 clients),
and I find their monitoring to be far too "hair trigger" for my tastes.
They call one number, dispatch authorities, then follow through with the
balance of the calling list. In our area, false alarm dispatches cost $75
each, and clients demand more built in "protection" against that (full
calling list, cancel codes etc). I am told that local authorities feel
that when they get a call from ADT, it is more likely to be a false alarm,
although that is one of those suppositions that is hard to prove.

Does it matter that my land line is DSL?

Mike

 

[R.H.Campbell]

I assume what you mean is you have DSL service over a conventional land line
(as opposed to "dry DSL"). And the answer is "it depends". Most alarm panel
makes do require a special DSL filter on the line in order to communicate
properly along with the DSL "hash". A good one is made by Excelsius (sp?).
There are a few panel makes that most often absolutely need a filter (DSC
for one) and a few that don't need one (Paradox almost never). You'll know
when the panel is tested to the station; it won't get through, so will
require the filter immediately. I have found in a couple of instances where
with the aging of the components of the board (I'm assuming here), the panel
will suddenly need the filter to work properly. So if in doubt, install it
!! (note, the conventional DSL filters given you for the phone will NOT work
for the alarm panel....)

The plus side to installing a DSL filter even when you strictly don't need
it for alarm transmission purposes, is that it allows the actual DSL signal
through even when the alarm panel has seized the phone line (and cut off the
telephones). So if you're doing a multi megabyte download at exactly the
time of the early morning when the panel decides to call the station to
check in with its test signal, with a filter, your download is not
interupted. Without a filter, your download is toast !!

RHC

Does it matter that my land line is DSL?

Mike

I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Mike]

I assume what you mean is you have DSL service over a conventional land
line (as opposed to "dry DSL"). And the answer is "it depends". Most alarm
panel makes do require a special DSL filter on the line in order to
communicate properly along with the DSL "hash". A good one is made by
Excelsius (sp?). There are a few panel makes that most often absolutely
need a filter (DSC for one) and a few that don't need one (Paradox almost
never). You'll know when the panel is tested to the station; it won't get
through, so will require the filter immediately. I have found in a couple
of instances where with the aging of the components of the board (I'm
assuming here), the panel will suddenly need the filter to work properly.
So if in doubt, install it !! (note, the conventional DSL filters given you
for the phone will NOT work for the alarm panel....)

DSL service on POTS.

Mie

 

[petem]

First, some facts: ADT is by far the largest electronic security
company in the industry.
true



ADT is the only company in the industry with a
fully redundant network of customer monitoring stations.

False

Protectron in Canada have central station that are all linked together ,and
if one get overloaded or even closed down by what ever situation the other
central will get the calls and signal from the customer,and will respond to
it..(this proved to be crucial during the large black out of most of the
east coast and central Canada a few years ago..) Ottawa was down,but
Montréal,Quebec,Vancouver were all online and processing the alarms...

 

[Robert L Bass]

Is bigger better? Not necessarily. There are many great local alarm

companies. However, they are like any small business. There are a
lot of bad ones out there too. Because of the value associated with
recurring revenue, these small alarm companies are always likely to be
gobbled up by another company looking for growth.

Mr. Sloud is correct. ADT is indeed the biggest by far. All of
the complaints (and they are numerous) that I've heard regarding
ADT involved their "authorized dealers". I've been in the trade
for 29 years and ADT is the only national alarm company that I
would consider working with if I were the consumer.

Anyone who has followed this newsgroup for a while knows I'm no
fan of the corporate giants. If you want to deal with a national
firm, use ADT corporate. I've heard too many horror stories
regarding Monitronix dealers, P1 dealers, Sonitrash and the rest
to even consider recommending any of them.

It bears repeating that whatever you do, make sure you read and
fully understand the entire contract.
--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[Frank Olson]

I've been in the trade for 29 years...

What "trade" would that be???

 

[Frank Olson]

DSL service on POTS.

You may require a filter. If you've gone the "home install" route on
the DSL, I'd suggest contacting your Telco provider and have them
install the filter at the PROT. This will allow for much easier hookup
of the alarm system's communicator without interrupting communications
to your modem.

 

[Robert L Bass]

How would you rate ADT when compared to the

other companies eg, S, B and M?

I've expressed my opinion about that in an earlier post to this
thread.

What would you change about ADT on the customer level?

That one's easy. If I had the power to do so I'd cancel the
"authorized dealer" program in a heartbeat. I'd offer every
customer from the program the option of switching to deal
directly with corporate or canceling with no penalty.

The ADT Authorized Dealer program has done major harm to the
industry since its inception. It has also done major damage to
ADT's reputation since most consumers don't realize there's a
difference between the dealers and ADT corporate.

The slovenly workmanship, misleading advertising, miserable
customer service and downright crookedness of too many of these
"authorized dealers" is a huge black eye for the industry.

Hmm. In an earlier post I said "rant mode = OFF"... :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[Frank Olson]

The slovenly workmanship, misleading advertising, miserable
customer service and downright crookedness of too many of these
"authorized dealers" is a huge black eye for the industry.

Hmmmmm.... Speaking of "slovenly"... miserable customer service and
downright crookedness...

http://www.clearwater.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=41001663

 

[Robert L Bass]

I'm really not out to bash ADT. In fact, I'm a fan...of the old ADT, back

when they really were the best in the business. But the things you've
mentioned are both irrelevant and misleading.

That is patently untrue. Mr. Sloud (who posts under his own name
rather than hide behind a pseudonym like "Nomen") rightly pointed
out that ADT is a very stable firm, unlikely to be sold to some
unknown entity. While that is not the only consideration, it is
one thing a prospective customer will want to consider.

... the customer may never speak to the same operator
twice. He's just one out of five million customers.

That doesn't really affect job performance. There are good and
bad employees in every organization, including ADT and whoever it
is the above poster works for.

I doubt the average homeowner knows, or cares, that ADT
does a lot of government work...

That's an interesting subject to me. I primarily cater to DIY
and small dealers but I get a significant portion of my orders
from government and military buyers. I do agree that it's not a
major interest to the consumer other than as an indication that
the company is well-established which is kind of a given when the
company is ADT.

There is a lot to be said for dealing with a smaller, independent
company, a company that recognizes its customers when they
call and truly appreciates their business...

In cases where the small, in dependant company does care, we
agree. Unfortunately the homeowner has almost no way to know if
the company he's about to sign with is such a firm or if it's one
of those fly-by-nights like Milford.

ADT recognizes the name "Uncle Sam" when he calls in.

And you don't?

And Uncle gets better service than Joe Homeowner.

Not necessarily. Saying so without proof is misleading and
unfair.

I will give you points for the crack about Brinks.

My only major beef with Brinks is their routine habit of talking
to prospective customers about "investing in" security and
"buying" protection while not mentioning that the contract is a
lease -- not a sale. The other major problem is the Brinks
system is proprietary -- it cannot be monitored or serviced by
anyone but Brinks. Based on discussions with unhappy ex-Brinks
customers, they apparently almost never mention that in the sales
pitch either.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

Bass Burglar Alarms
The Online DIY Store
http://www.BassBurglarAlarms.com

 

[Mark Leuck]

What "trade" would that be???

It keeps changing doesn't it?

 

[Mark Leuck]

False

Protectron in Canada have central station that are all linked together ,and
if one get overloaded or even closed down by what ever situation the other
central will get the calls and signal from the customer,and will respond to
it..(this proved to be crucial during the large black out of most of the
east coast and central Canada a few years ago..) Ottawa was down,but
Montréal,Quebec,Vancouver were all online and processing the alarms...

I think Mr Sloud is referring to the US not Canada

 

[Frank Olson]

It keeps changing doesn't it?