Home Security

WCN87

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar position - We bought our first home in March - New Build Semi detached over 3 floors. Now the master bedroom is on the top floor and our 10 month old daughters room, so being cautious and for peace of mind we want to get home security installed. We had ADT out on Saturday to give us a quote which is 3 sensors on the bottom floor and 2 outdoor alarm boxes one on either side of the property.

The one sensor in the hallway on the middlefloor.

- Wireless Package
-Keyholder Response Package via mobile network

Contract Term: 36Months


The installation and equipment price quotes is £373 and a monthly maintenance cost of £33.

Does this look like a good price? Can you negotiate pricing?

Worth getting other quotes?

Many Thanks

TeamPlum

Just buy a pickaxe handle.

Get other quotes to see how they match up. £33 a month seems a little steep to me, but I'm tight. £400 a year!

Grenage

You can always try and negotiate pricing.

There are DIY wireless systems out there - and I'm guessing this is a wireless system due to the price. I assume this doesn't have police response, and I've never really seen much value in keyholder response (you turn up and it's a false alarm, or you turn up and you've been robbed or get lumped).

How do you feel about dogs?

WCN87

Yeah this is a wireless system and not police response either.

No dogs I'm afraid, already have a cat :j

Grenage

http://www.screwfix.com/p/yale-premium-wireless-alarm-kit/54473?

Save yourself some money! I've not used that product, but I did have a DIY wireless alarm system in a previous house, and it was just fine.

SailorSam

I've fitted a couple of solar powered alarms from these people.
Easy peazy.


http://www.responseelectronics.com/burglar-alarms-c8/wireless-alarms-c23?gclid=CI329rjJjs4CFYoW0wodc28Maw

Jonesya

A relative fitted one of the Yale wireless systems and it's worked well, the telephone dialing is a nice feature and there's no on-going service charge.

Personally if I was paying someone to fit an alarm I'd get a wired one fitted - more disruption to fit it but you don't have to worry about changing batteries in the PIRs and door sensors. Plus once the wiring is in place, in 10-15 years when the system needs replacing you can keep the wires and just replace the parts.

I'd pay £400+ to get a decent wired system fitted but it sounds expensive for a small wireless system, you may as well fit it yourself.

As for £33 a month service charge, sounds very expensive. You can get alarms with autodialers with no monthly charges. For example, on a wired system it needs two batteries changing every 4-5years and they cost less than £20 in total for the parts.

If you're reasonable at DIY you could fit either a wired or wireless system for a fraction of the price, it's not that difficult.

victor2

We had out old wired system replaced with a wireless one some years back. No monitoring, so no monthly cost. It does have the capability to phone a number if the alarm goes off and also has two "remote" keyfob type units to set/disarm it without entering the security code. That was too easy and I never had them enabled. We now have 4 PIRs and 2 door switches, all with their own batteries, plus the bell box has a battery in it. It is recommended that the sensor batteries are changed annually and the bell box battery every two years. It's two years since any batteries were changed and I've figured I'll wait until the panel tells me one of the batteries needs replacing, which it hasn't done yet. I can replace all except the bellbox battery myself. Don't have a long enough ladder or a head for heights to do that. It'll be a £65 call out fee plus the battery cost for that, so I should have a bit of change from £100.

Le_Kirk

What do you get for the £33 per month maintenance? Does someone come round your house each month and do anything?