KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Challenge to fire alarm contract – what are we paying for?
December 9, 2020
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Challenge to fire alarm contract – what are we paying for?
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Ken
            We are a fire and burglar alarm installation and monitoring company. We use a third party for the central station monitoring. We have a burglar alarm contract and a fire alarm contract that we got from you that we use for all of our clients. 
            We have a new client who is giving us an issue with the Fire All in One contract. We want to make sure that the wording of the contract is to our advantage in this situation. Please review the back and forth conversation between us and our client:
            The client’s position is: “this agreement says that you take no responsibility. So what are you charging us for? Without any responsibility we need not pay anything.”
            We responded with:
            “We got a notification that you declined the contract that we sent you. This is a standard fire alarm contract that states that we have a third party doing the monitoring that contacts the fire department in case of any signal. We are not responsible for the response of the monitoring company or the fire department. This is very standard wording for a contract. We need you to sign the contract so that we can do the monitoring. We also send a contract for the burglar alarm that must be signed.”
                  We have never had an issue with a client not wanting to sign our contract because of this. We are very concerned about this. We are debating whether or not to just cancel this account. Please advise us on what the best course of action would be for us here.
  Thank you,
Esty
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Response
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            This customer won’t be the last to challenge a provision in the Fire All in One agreement.  It reminds of the lawyer who claims he never lost a case.  Well, either he hasn’t tried any or certainly not many.  Sooner or later you’re going to get some push back from a customer on contract provisions.  If you can anticipate at least one challenge a month then the Concierge Program is for you; you get a half hour contract review consult each month, free, included in the program.  Along with the other benefits it’s great value.  Join today by going on the K&K website and joining or call our Concierge Program Coordinator, Stacy Spector,Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304 or SSpector@Kirschenbaumesq.com or our Contract Administrator Eileen Wagda at 516 747 6700 x 312 or EWagda@Kirschenbaumesq.com
            How can you respond to this customer?  You can assure him that you are responsible for providing the fire alarm inspections [if you are contracted for this service] and the fire alarm monitoring, both of which are required by law in order for the customer to maintain his Certificate of Occupancy and use his premises.  But you are not his insurance company and he isn’t paying you to insure his building.  Your liability is limited by the contract terms.  Increased liability requires increased charges.  Your customer wants what amounts to a guarantee of no fire loss?  No problem, is he willing to pay for fire watch guards spaced 100 feet apart on every level of the building, or a fire casualty insurance policy, separate from the one he undoubtedly already has?  You will find out that he doesn’t want to pay for the fire watch or the extra insurance, and once he grasps that he should acquiesce to the contract terms.  
            We can make some modification to the protective provisions in the contract, even the Fire All in One.  But these changes should be made by me, not you.  There is a reason you use a Kirschenbaum Contracts ™ and you should be cautious reducing or deleting the protection [and benefits] offered by these contracts.  Here’s a selfish consideration.  Let’s say you’re willing to accept the risk and eliminate one or more, or all, of the protective provisions.  You never get sued so you think you’re OK.  Then you go to sell your alarm contracts and find out that your potential buyer will exclude this contract as unacceptable.  Maybe your insurance company finds it or your central station sees it, and they want to toss you out.  Hasn’t happened to you or anyone you know, yet?  My dog hasn’t bitten anyone either, yet.
            Your customer needs to sign the Fire All in One.  While some modification can be made the tenor of the agreement is always going to eliminate or reduce your risk and shift the risk to your subscriber and his insurance company.  If that isn’t the end result I’d recommend passing on the opportunity to service this customer.
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CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY
You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com