ADT - Are they ripping me off?

[Aulus]

At work we have an old TS800 alarm system. A few months back it was set incorrectly and need a remote reset. I called ADT, & they sent an engineer, who was here for about 1 minute. This cost £140.00

I queried this as in the past they were able to give response codes & got it all sorted. The service manager frankly confused me with talk of incorrect settings, tamper codes & the like, & said they can no longer do this.

 

[joe-90]

Get a local guy to replace it with one that is user resettable.

 

[oasistechnical]

yep they are ripping you off!

thats the way they are as big as they are, by selling a system to you, tying you up to a three year contract, charging you each and every month, then when it all goes pete tong, you have to pay em!!

are you not on a maintenance agreement ?

is your system monitored ?

if not, call a local firm and chat to them, see what they can do for you.

 

[Aulus]

Thanks guys, pretty much what I thought.

Any ideas what I might be looking at costwise?

Current setup is monitored alarm, 1 door sensor, 3 PIR, 3 panic buttons

 

[oasistechnical]

it really does depend on who you use to do the install,

also you will have to give ADT 90 days notice, and yes if you dont they will charge you!!!!

also find out whether you or ADT own the kit, as most of the installs they do they own it, (the control pane, external siren, if you have one and not just a yellow box a nd backplate, and the keypad)

if you do own it, you should be able to find a local company to take over they system for you, i am not sure on London costing but down here in Hampshire we can charge between £250 to £400 to take over a system.
(depending on whats on it and how long an engineer needs to be on site for)

that does include a new external siren and battery with very basic digicom monitoring.

so go to SSAIB.org and have a look around at a local approved company, as if they aint approved they cant get you a URN (unique Reference Number) to enable the ARC (alarm Receiving Centre) to call the local constabulary.

or you could just have it calling you on your mobile if you want,

its up to you and your insurance company.

John

 

[Aulus]

Thanks John, will investigate