ADT Alarm 'dial'emma

dmosmith

Hi All

We moved into a house a couple of years ago where there is an ADT alarm. It was previously monitored and on a contract with ADT which the previous owners cancelled when they left. It has since come to light that what they did not do was have ADT come out to disconnect the alarm from the telephone line. The upshot being that for the last 2 years it has been making a nightly 'hello' call to ADT via an 0870 number and consequently costing us money, approx £15 per month.

I have spoken with ADT and they are more than happy to come out and put an end to this, they can reprogramme the alarm so that it no longer contacts them, the only issue is the cost, approx £120 minimum with the possibility of another £55 on top of that.

Ultimately this will just be a case of pressing some buttons in the right sequence but I guess you have to know how to do that and I guess you also need an admin code or something similar.

I spoke with another alarm installer today who said much the same, he could come and take a look for a lot less money but he could not guarantee that he could get the codes to allow him to do the reprogramming, worst case, he comes out, I pay him and then have to go to ADT.

So the simple (but expensive) solution would appear to be a call to ADT but I wondered if anyone else had come across this issue and whether anyone could offer a solution.

I have already unplugged it from the phone line but the devious machine does not like that, in response it waits until 4am (when it likes to make it's call) and then starts beeping waking everyone up.

Any assistance or suggestions would be gratefully received.

Damian

vikingaero

We bought one of these alarms over a decade ago when we first moved in. The headline was the £99 price for an alarm with a 3 year contract. Buried in the small print was the alarm dialling the 0870 number each night and on each activation/deactivation - so if you set the alarm and left, forgot something and went back in and deactivated the alarm, then set the alarm, you were looking at the best part of a quid!

It depends what you want to do. Do you want to keep the alarm working? In which case ring around local alarm companies to see who has dealt with ADT alarms - I bet a fair few have.

If you don't want the alarm in a working condition then get a pair of earplugs and pull the power fuse, open the alarm and disconnect the battery and open the battery backup siren and remove it.

muckybutt

For that price I would be tempted to ditch their panel and fit a new panel - re using their detectors and wiring.

societys_child

You could open the box up and work out which wires connect to the telecoms and disconnect them but this doesn't get round not knowing the engineers code which is probably burnt permanently onto the chip now, ADT will know it . . .

or

what muckybutt said^ see if you can find the same board on ebay or amazon which will be supplied with everything you need to know re. codes etc.

tlh858

Get a local alarm company to fit a new panel.

Little or no chance of getting the ADT one working without going to ADT.

Most of their stuff was/is standard panels, but with certain modifications, most of which are not documented outside of ADT. The idea being that you have to call up ADT to do anything, and they sell you an expensive monitoring contract, which is where they make all of their money.

dmosmith

Thanks for all the responses, ideally I'd like to be in a position where I can continue to use the existing alarm. I get the impression that for a similar amount to what ADT are asking (£130) I could have a new panel installed but on balance it seems logical (but hughely frustrating) to pay ADT to reprogramme. All the alarm installers I have spoken with have been very helpfull but they all admit that ultimately the ADT codes are essential to any effort to reprogramme and none of them know what those codes are.

societys_child

You already have all the sensors etc in place which can be re-used.

Any good at diy?

For £18 (plus2.99 postage) you could get this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-MELCOM-ST5000-ALARM-PANELS-/160888835276?pt=UK_Burglar_Alarms&hash=item2575b8cccc

A completely new alarm including the installation and user manuals. No more ADT code problems.

dmosmith

Thanks again for all your responses.

I am no good at DIY and would not fancy my chances of installing a new panel, especially when I see how many wires are connected to this system.

ADT are due to come out tomorrow and although I am not happy about the cost I will be glad to put an end to these 0870 calls.

timjim

Surely the alarm is connected to a telephone point to make the call, can't you just unplug the phone cable?

southcoastrgi

timjim wrote: »

Surely the alarm is connected to a telephone point to make the call, can't you just unplug the phone cable?

ho hum, you may want to actually read the last paragraph on the OP 1st post

dmosmith

Hello All

For completeness I thought I would provide an update and close this thread down.

ADT have attended this morning, the engineer used his codes to re-programme the system and to prevent it from making phone calls. He has provided me with a new manager code and a user manual which means I can programme the system myself but has also left it set it up in such a way that I can use it as a stand alone system.

Ultimately although it has cost a lot of money for what was a very simple task I am satisfied that (for me) this was the best option.

I could have powered the system down and left it out of service or had another (non ADT) engineer fit a new panel, I could have even attempted to fit a panel myself but there are pros and cons to each of those options.

I suspect that any installation work, new panels etc, would have cost broadly the same as what ADT have charged so whilst I would have got more for my money, I would have been no better off.

Thanks to all who provided advice, the lesson for me is that I should have just sorted this out 18 months ago when I first spotted the phone calls on my bill, had I done that I would have broken even by now.

Anyway, it's sorted and I can relax, at least until the invoice arrives.

As an aside the ADT engineer was really helpful and sympathised with my position but as we all know it would be more than his job's worth to do anything outside of ADTs guidelines.