Attend alarm summit - an offer you can't refuse - all expenses paid by sponsor -Oct 16-18.  Eden Roc, Miami Beach

    Here's an alarm get together that you won't want to miss.  This first time event is an all expense paid event.   I'll be presenting at the summit and look forward to networking with you while there.  Here's the official invitation:

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    The 2013 Electronic Security & Technology Summit will be a collaboration of decision makers from a select group of residential and light commercial security companies throughout the nation. For 3 days, these thought leaders will join together to discuss the industry’s most pressing issues, and to develop their growth strategies and education to position themselves for success.

    The success of our attendees, as well as the overall success of the program, can be traced back directly to our attendees and their interests. It is with their guidance that we create the agenda, ensuring that all content is relevant to their interests. This is achieved through a compatibility match system called our eMarketMatch. This tool arranges topics relevant to interests of our attendees for them to rate in order of importance to their company, and provides a platform for us to accurately assess the interests of the group as a whole. By working with the attendees to understand their specific interests and challenges, we create a custom itinerary for each attendee that will always keep them engaged with information of interest, and not waste their time with non-relevant topics. 

    This meeting will be taking place October 16th-18th at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, FL, and accommodations, airfare, food, and beverage will be covered for each of our attendees. The support we have received from the industry as a breath of fresh air has been reinvested into this program, and will show itself this fall in a new and outstanding forum.

    Please visit www.electronicsecuritysummit.com for more details, or contact David Pagano at Advisory Summit Providers. 

David Pagano

SVP of Business Development

(585) 225-1010

david.pagano@aspsummits.com

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Question on filling out contracts and modifications

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Ken,

    I purchased your “all-in-one” Residential and "all in one" Commercial contracts and I have three questions:

1) If a paragraph for services that we will not be providing such as “guard response” , do we leave it blank, write in the blank N/A, or strike it out with a line thru the paragraph on a diagonal?

2) If a customer has a problem with a certain part of the contract such as that they do not want to carry one million dollars of insurance and name us as insured, should we or should we not strike that or similar out?

3) If we go to a customer with a contract and they want to have a few days to “look it over” should we leave it with them or make them sign first? They have said to me that they need more time than 3 business days to make an appointment with their attorney to review before signing.

    Thank you

Bill

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Answer

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    The All in One contracts are designed to offer most if not all of the alarm - security services most alarm companies provide.  Each service is separately described and the contract breaks down each service and provides for separate charges for those services.  Guard response is one of the identified services.  If you don't provide that service, or if the subscriber does not want to pay for that service, you can either put a line through it, write "omit" over or next to it, or simply N/A next to the provision.  Any method that clearly shows your intent to omit that service is sufficient.

    Most of the provisions fit within two categories, legal and business.  The business provisions can be modified as you wish.  For example, although the Standard Form Contracts provide that service is provided Monday though Friday, 9 to 5, you can change it to 24/7 if you wish.  You can extend a warranty period on a sale, and you can cross out service exclusions, such as batteries.  

    Some provisions cross the line between legal and business, and you have hit on one of them, the insurance procurement clause.  It's a business decision you make if you decide that your subscriber need not obtain particular levels of insurance or name you as an additional insured.  But it's also a legal provision - one of the "protective" provisions, since your insured's failure to name you as an additional insured, or failure to carry the required insurance, may limit or bar your liability for losses claimed by the subscriber to be your fault. Changing these provisions should be done with caution.

    Legal provisions should not be changed without consulting counsel [and I suggest you check with me or the attorneys in my office familiar with alarm law and contracts].  The protective provisions can be modified, but any modification dilutes the provisions effectiveness.  After a few challenges to the same provisions you may be comfortable making the changes that you see I agree to or make routinely.  You should appreciate that the Standard Form Contracts have been developed over time and with the input of many alarm owners.  Try and work with them and resist your natural inclination to make changes for change sake.

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