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DIFFICULT SUB PAYMENT AND REPAIR ISSUES
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Ken
We've been using your contracts for years, Monitoring, Standard Security Equipment Sales Contract, Additional Equipment, Completion Certificate etc. and love them (need to call for updated ones soon). Anyway, we have a customer that has decided to cancel on us. They signed all the above contract for us in 2010, have one more year. I proceeded to tell customer about the signed contract and that there is one more year, but if you want to cancel you can just pay out the remaining year. Well, I was called a liar several times, I never signed anything etc. Long story (kind of short), the person who signed it decided he wasn't going to listen to me, and I said I'd be happy to send a copy of the contract, but he decided to have his partner call me to work out. I sent copy of the Monitoring Contract and the Disclaimer Notice. I should also include that during my conversation with Niko, customer who signed the contract, after I mentioned that there was still money owed, the story kept changing, the house is for sale, then it went to the alarm doesn't work, then the motions didn't work. etc.
I do have documentation we received two calls over the last two years about the sensors, same question they have two pitbulls 80 lbs each will the motion go off. It will and it did, I verbally quoted them a priced for glass breaks (which they asked for), but they didn't like the price and didn't want to pay for a service call / install fee. So nothing ever came of it, until now.
My question is, the partner Dimitri is questioning paragraph 6 on the Monitoring Contract, stating that we are responsible for repairing / replacing any non-operational items. While I know we are not responsible for that as paragraph starts out no warranties, etc. I'm at a loss on how to nicely tell them they are wrong and interpreting this incorrectly. Can you assist.
Regardless, this customer will not be missed. As being a smaller company I also had to hear how ADT is nationally known, they gave us this and that for free etc.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Kind Regards,
Roberta Spangler, President
Countywide Detective Bureau Inc
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RESPONSE
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With one year left on the contract you should probably bid this subscriber adieu. That's french for adios. Regarding your duty to repair the alarm system the Standard Form Agreements are consistent and clear, whether we are dealing with warranty repair or repair under the Service Contract - your duty begins and ends with "ordinary wear and tear", which certainly doesn't include damage caused by dogs. You are correct taking the time to deal with this issue because you don't want a disgruntle subscriber hiring another alarm company to effectuate repairs and then sue you for the cost of those repairs on the mistaken belief that you should have performed the repairs.
I am not a proponent of looking the other way when subscribers default on the contract - it's a better policy to enforce your contracts so that your competitors and subscribers begin to believe that subscriber breach will be tolerated and forgiven. But you need to be equipped to pursue collection cases, first in house making a few initial attempts via telephone and written communication [I'm OK with email and text - don't waste your money on certified or overnight mail], and then having a lawyer to pursue the cases. My office does collection work in NY and NJ and looks like we may be expanding to CT. We also prefer to enforce our Standard Form Agreements rather than a form agreement drafted by someone else. Pursuing collection cases can be time consuming and costly so you want to make sure you're prepared to participate in the process and understand the expenses that will be incurred, such as service of legal papers and cost filing fees. Attorneys generally handle collection matters on a one third of the recovery bases, so you don't have to worry about the legal fees unless there are counterclaims that need to be defended [something the Standard Form Agreements prohibit unless that provision is not permtted in your jurisdiction].
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