Monitored home alarm system

Agrajag

My parents have just called me to ask about a monitored home alarm system.

They have had a guy come round selling a system - supposedly integrates with their existing alarm and calls a central service when the alarm goes off (or a panic button is called). they then call the house to check the alarm, and send police/other round if needed.

The company appears to be called ITS Security systems. I have searched but found little or no independant info about them

They quote around £250 setup, plus £50 per month monitoring (3 year contract). Of course they offer 'today only' a total of £2499.

My parents are keen on some kind of system (house is on its own away from others), but this seems overpriced. ITS own website appears to offer a similar deal for £25 a month...

Anyone have any experience of this company, or monitored home security in general?

Neal

gavinp

If they have broadband then maybe this would be a better supplement to their existing alarm ?

http://www.alertme.com/products/home-monitoring

They are offering energy monitoring and heating control modules as well which look interesting...

Thanks

Gavin

Errata

they then call the house to check the alarm, and send police/other round if needed.

Fat chance. Sorry.

diable

How old are your parents have they ever been burgled, its a rip off, buy them a large dog.

dkmax_2

Agrajag wrote: »

They quote around £250 setup, plus £50 per month monitoring (3 year contract). Of course they offer 'today only' a total of £2499.

£2499 isn't much of an upfront deal when 36 * £50 = £1800 plus £250 setup equals £2050.

If they want that type of notification, I would go down the GSM alarm route, i.e. a box that sends an SMS text message to a bunch of pre-programmed mobile numbers. Can either replace or augment existing systems. Just needs a cheap PAYG SIM. Shouldn't be more than a few hundred in total.

Their money may be better directed towards improving physical security (doors, windows, locks, safe etc.) and good insurance.

Agrajag

Thanks for replies so far

I think they are more worried about being in the house at night and someone breaking in. They are getting older, and more paranoid.
Dog is not feasible.

They like the idea of 'someone' knowing there is a problem...

muckybutt

Hate to say but ADT are a helluva lot cheaper
http://www.adt.co.uk/tv

As others have said it'll be a lot cheaper getting an independant NACOSS installer to fit an alarm and have them fit an auto dialler. Auto diallers will call upto 3 numbers be them mobile or landline and keep calling them untill they get a reply.

Id never go for a cold call sale !

ormus

a complete waste of money.
the police may arrive in 2 hrs or even 2 days.

John_V85

There was a well known scam about companies calling up and offering to install these sort of things. Did it originate from a cold call? If so, stay well clear. If worried about security make your own appointments with reputable security firms.

Grumps

Dean. Let me give you a little bit of an insight 'from the inside' so to speak.

Whilst I'm some 15-20 years out of the 'loop', there is/was a H.O. policy document on alarms. I used to know the contents by heart and, whilst it may have been superseded, little will have changed.

Calls to the Police (unless other circumstances apply) are only responded to when passed by authorized monitoring companies. These companies are only permitted to inform of actuations when the scene has been attended and the installation inspected, and approved. And here I'm speaking generally as different Forces may apply slightly different criteria, but I am quoting from the H.O. guidance.

In reality, most Forces operate a 'three strikes and your out' policy. Which, in essence means that having responded to three false activations, attendance is suspended for....say 6 months.

The result of this was that monitoring companies, following the introduction of the mobile phone, would offer the opportunity to first contact the client, before passing the 'activation' to the relevant Force. I only became aware of this out of curiosity as, in a Comms role, I was receiving calls from monitoring companies, and began to ask, "What time was it actuated?" Normally it was within one or two minutes, but on other occasions, it was 8-10 minutes. And then the penny began to drop.



The companies were calling the client before reporting the actuation. Now, whilst that might seem logical, they were, in fact, putting the safety of Officers, and the public, at risk, responding, at speed, to what was essentially was an historic event.


And then there were the other calls. "My house/factory/unit is being broken into!" Err "How do you know that?" The reply, "Because the alarm has gone off".


And there then follows a discussion as to the contents of the H.O. guidance on alarms, followed by, "But the salesman said........" The reply to which is, "But did you contact your local Station to confirm what he was saying was correct?" Guess the answer?


In essence, if you want advice on alarms/home protection for, whoever, then speak to your local Crime Prevention Officer. And, from the cutbacks I'm hearing about, do it sooner rather than later, as they are soon likely to be a thing of the past.