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Comment on is corrosion covered by warranty / Camera Installation near the Ocean
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Ken:
The firm that installed the camera system who is now facing a replacement issue stated that the cameras are working, or were working after the service call. I have a couple of questions which may affect his responsibilities for this situation. If the cameras are functional, why is the client requesting replacement?
Were the coax connectors outdoor rated or rated for harsh environments? How far from the ocean is the installation?
Is it set back from the ocean or a block away with structures in between? These questions affect the rating that should be used on equipment in salt air environments. Outdoor rated equipment is usually provided a NEMA 4 or NEMA 3R rating, while corrosive environments (including salt water) call for NEMA 4X.
It’s my guess that the installer isn’t using rated or sealed enclosures to make the connections or isn’t using proper connections inside that housing. A normal outdoor housing in a salt air environment still requires sealed connections. Salt air is corrosive, as this installer is learning first hand. The ventilation provided in a standard housing allows the salt air to corrode exposed metal, including wiring within the housing. On the other hand, if the cameras are now unstable and have been internally damaged by the salt air, he may need to replace the cameras. Education isn’t always cheap.
He should have also used your disclaimer and/or an alternate proposal to advise the client that he could spend the money on a pressurized or other rated enclosure. If the installer used outdoor cameras they might be sealed and shouldn’t corrode (as fast) as the open connections, lucky for him.
He can now use this opportunity to explain how he used competitive equipment and competitive pricing to keep the client’s costs low.
Mitch Cohen
BRIC SECURITY
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Ken
This sounds little "backwards". 90 days labor and 1 year parts warranty. I don't get it. Is your work so bad that things fall of, or do you expect to get paid for labor replacing "warranted part"? Either way you can expect unhappy customer. On top of that, when you buy part for job with 1 year manufacturer's warranty and the part fails at the end of 1 year, by the time you remove it, it will be day or two past manufacturer's warranty and not returnable. Your warranty should be less than manufacturer's warranty to consider that the part was on distributor's shelf for couple of months before you bought it, and it takes time to get RMA number and ship it to the manufacturer if they honor their warranty to begin with since most items today come from China. Another consideration may be service contract. When does it go into effect? 90 days or a year? You would have to argue about that as well. You created your own headache by making it to complicated just like the government does everything.
Ken said more than once that your contract should be written so clearly that even dumb people understand your terms.
Dusan
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comment on identify what you're monitoring
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Ken
Reading today's discussion's [August 8, 2013] article raised some questions.
1. If a dealer recommends a service or product such as video verification or a motion detector in a particular area and the customer declines the advice should this be documented in the contract?
2. If this information should be documented in the contract, is there a place in your all in one contracts to document this information?
3. Would this information be useful in defending a claim against the alarm company?
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Response
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Yes to all three questions. And this raises an excellent point - what should go into the contract and how do you use the Disclaimer Notice effectively.
If you are recommending a particular service or device then you are most likely doing so based on code requirements, accepted industry standards required or recommended by independent laboratories such as UL, ETL, NFPA, or your experience. Although there is a catch all provision in the Standard Form Contracts that you have offered additional equipment or services which the subscriber has declined to contract for, you should make it a practice to expressly include such recommendation in your contract and in the Disclaimer Notice. In the contract it will be noted in the Schedule of Equipment and Services. This might be your proposal which will include the equipment or service in your proposal and something that the subscriber has requested you exclude. This same exclusion of recommended equipment and services belongs in the Disclaimer Notice.
The Disclaimer Notice has a pre printed list of equipment and services that you can check off as excluded. The list is not exhaustive however, and you should add anything that you have actually recommended, and more importantly you should add anything that is required by code, industry standards, or common sense. By common sense I mean this. Two floor residence and the subscriber tells you not to protect the upstairs windows; don't bother protecting the back door or the door leading in from the unprotected garage.
Same for fire. You might note that subscriber has declined inspection service, or runner service or ECV where required. The use of the Disclaimer Notice and your practice of insisting that your contract terms, in the schedule of equipment and services, identify protection you've suggested and has been declined by the subscriber, should assist you with adding these items to your services, and of course getting paid for these services.
In the event of a claim made against you for a loss, don't be surprised if the subscriber has a memory lapse that certain protection was expressly declined and now is considered the contributing factor for the loss. Producing your contract and the Disclaimer Notice should not only help but put an end to the claim.
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