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COMPETITION FROM MUNICIPALITY AND AHJ SOLICITATION
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Ken,
    I had a fire chief solicit my customer while doing a system test. He asked my customer if they wanted to switch the monitoring over to their new dispatch center, and named my central station by name and said they were slow. He said they are putting all the town properties into the center (understandable) and then will be "going after" the commercial properties. How can a municipality compete with private business? Is it legal for the inspector to go after the customer telling them it will save them money? Can he badmouth a central station by name to customers if they meet all the code requirements for dispatch time? It would seem to me that if it's not a requirement for it to be in their dispatch, he should do the inspection and pass or fail it and nothing more.
Pissed at AHJ
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RESPONSE
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    Well the can he do it is easily answered because he did it.  But he shouldn't have.  It was entirely inappropriate for the Fire Chief, while acting as inspector on your job, to solicit the account for the municipality, which in this case appears to be your direct competitor.  In fact if you lose the account to the municipality I recommend that you file a claim against the municipality for tortious interference of your contract with the customer.  You probably only have 90 days to file a notice of claim, so consult a local attorney.  If you don't lose the account then you might want to complain to the Fire Chief's superior.  You may want to start by having a chat with the Fire Chief and let the chief know he acted inappropriately.  He may agree.  
    He may also not agree and then give you a hard time on all your jobs.  
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WILL YOUR CS NAME YOU AS ADDITIONAL INSURED

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Ken
    My insurance company asked me for a certificate from my monitoring company that i am an additional insured on their policy.   In general does the monitoring company insure their dealers/installers? 
KM
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RESPONSE
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    I think the first thing you need to do is find another "insurance company", though I think you mean your insurance broker, because I doubt you were talking directly to the insurance company.  You can find an insurance broker that is expert in the alarm industry in The Alarm Exchange under the category Insurance brokers / insurance companies for alarm industry.  
    Any broker in the alarm industry will know that it is very uncommon for a central station to name its dealer as an additional insured on its policy.  In fact, the opposite is almost universally common - the dealer is required to name the central station as an additional insured on the dealer's policy. 
    Most dealers don't realize that their agreement with their central station requires that:

  • the dealer indemnify the central station if the dealer's subscriber sues the central station
  • the dealer is required to name the central station as additional insured on its policy
  • the central station depends on the dealer to have a proper alarm contract with the subscriber that contains all the protective provisions needed to protect both the dealer and the central station if a claim is made

    This is what you need to do right now:

  • Find a new broker on The Alarm Exchange [if your broker is on The Alarm Exchange then let me know how he or she is so I can verify what you report above, because if this is what a broker on The Alarm Exchange asked you then it's time I kicked him or her off The Alarm Exchange].
  • Read your contract with your central station and see if you have to indemnify it
  • Read your contract with your central station and see if you have to name it as additional insured on your policy
  • Be sure to name the central station as additional insured on your policy even if you're not required to
  • Update your contracts and be sure to use proper alarm contracts.  Get them at www.alarmcontracts.com