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Question - camera placement - another bathroom question
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Ken,
love your stuff, you are the man for legal stuff, you do a great job for our industry. Do you have any thoughts for this question. We have a customer who is getting hammered by lawsuits of customers claiming to have slipped and injured themselves in the rest rooms. We have explained the rules as far as no cameras where there is the expectation of privacy. But he is getting hit so hard, he is asking can we send video so a “secure” server/video recorder that can only be viewed upon a court order, etc. Do you have any way to give this poor business man a fighting chance?
Thanks for your help!
Dave Whittington, CPP, SET
Blue Ridge Security Systems, Inc
Anderson, SC
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Answer
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I don't believe I've seen an exception for a "secured" DVR. Cameras in bathrooms are typically prohibited. Whether you can position the camera to hit an area where there might be less expectation of privacy - a sink, an exit door - I don't think I"d take the chance, even with conspicuous signage and repeated voice announcement notification. Tell your subscriber to keep the floor dry.
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Question - which contracts to use
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Hi Ken,
I would just like to say that I find your emails very useful and insightful. Thank you for helping everyone in our industry. I have recently formed a small start-up business with 2 partners. We currently offer services for the following:
Install and repair home theater systems. (We also install systems that the customer purchased themselves.)
Install and repair CCTV systems (residential and commercial)
Install and repair Telephone systems. (mostly commercial)
Home telephone install and repair (mostly wiring and jacks)
Running cables for networking and telephones (mostly commercial)
Installing routers and wireless access points (residential and commercial)
Starting to install and maintain burglar alarm systems. (residential and commercial) Also looking to install smoke and CO detectors with residential installs. For some commercial installations, we will be doing the install and the customer has there own monitoring service that we are not involved with.
My question is, what contracts does my company need to be properly protected for the services that we currently offer? Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,
Chris
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Answer
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Our Audio / Video contract is for home entertainment systems.
Our telephone sale and telephone service are self explanatory.
For residential subscribers - the All in One covers all security equipment and services, including residential fire, cctv, burg, remote access and you can use it for integrated systems as well. It can be used for stringing wire, or you can use the Sales Contract.
You can use the residential contracts [All in One or the separate sales, service and monitoring] with commercial subscribers. You can leave the 3 day cancellation notice on the contract or remove it for commercial use. I would suggest you use the Commercial lease for commercial systems if you can. For fire the best choice is the Fire All in One.
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Another contract question - and on my honor I did not make this up
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Ken
I'm new to the alarm business. Since I don't have a lot of money I am
thinking of copying some other company's contract. I was thinking of ADT
or maybe some expensive alarm lawyer since they certainly must have the
kinks worked out. If I need to rewrite each paragraph into my own words
and mix them up I could do that too. I was wondering what your thoughts
about this are? Please spare me the lesson about ethics or how someones
kids need to eat this week.
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Answer
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My first thought was, you must be an idiot. But I didn't see any typos so who knows. I'd say you'd have about as much chance of coming out with a proper contract as I would installing and programming a control panel. None.
Your time is better spent selling alarm systems. Find your contracts at www.alarmcontracts.com
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Question - who is your subscriber
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Hello Ken,
Good job on the daily emails!!
We installed a fire alarm system in a renovated apartment building as a subcontractor under the general contractor. Before we drew up the monitoring/service contract, we asked the contact at the property management office who the building owner was. We were told by him that he owned the building so the contract was made drawn up with his name and contact info. He has not signed it yet and now we found out, from him, that he represents the owner. Should we be drawing up a new contract so that it is with the actual owner or is it OK to contract with the property management firm that represents the owner? We are located in California if that makes a difference.
Thank you,
Michael
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Answer
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Ideally the contract should name the owner. It could read Joe Smith as agent for xyz owner, inc. If an agent signs the contract on behalf of a principal it's best to have something from the principal that evinces the agents authority to enter into the contract. Remember, an agent cannot establish his own agency; you need the owner to do that in some way, either expresses [the best way] or implicitly [which leads to litigation sometimes].
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comment on automatic renewal
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Ken-
you are definitely right (again), a short initial term, especially month to month does devalue the value of the company's most significant asset, the customer contract; buyers of accounts, whether its a purchase of a block of accounts or the entire operation look for contracts that at least have an initial term of three years; banks and other senior lenders generally make it a requirement that the contracts they will include in the borrowing base have initial terms of at least 3 years; the thought is that once a customer has been with a company for a 3 or 5 year initial term, they are less likely to cancel for service reasons.
Regards
Dennis Stern, Esq
516 747 6700 x 323
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