December 3, 2010
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Question:
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Hi Ken,
If a customer tells me he is "too busy" or "too important" to sign a contract in person, is it OK for them to have the contract signed by someone who has power of attorney for the owner? Or to have him sign the contract in some other state and have his signature notarized?
Bob Cohn
Programmable Systems, Inc.
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Answer:
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Sounds like a customer who may be too busy to pay you. There is nothing wrong with a contract being signed by an agent for the principal. The problem is who is in fact an agent and what authority does the agent have to bind the principal to a contract.
Spouses can probably sign for each other. Corporate officers can sign for corporations; so can managers. A managing member can sign for a Limited Liability Company. Any partner can sign for a partnership. One holding a power of attorney can sign for the principal.
Don't think that just because the subscriber pays your invoices that you are out of the woods on the issue of the proper execution of the contract. Some subscribers will claim that they knew an alarm was installed, and that they got invoices which they paid, but never saw or agreed to the contract, which they contend was signed by someone without authority.
It's not that complicated. Make sure you know who your subscriber is. If a corporation or other entity then get the correct and full name; ask for a certificate of incorporation or look for some license or tax authorization for. A sales tax certificate will have the right name on it, as will a liquor license. Ask for a business card. Hopefully it will have the person's name and title.
Your invoice should refer to the contract. Not all billing programs will permit that information, but if it does, put it on the invoices.
For other articles discussing this issue see articles posted at http://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/emailarticles.htm
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Comments re disarming system upon subscriber default
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Ken
Please tell John Elmore that Brinks owns their systems. They always have done that and it’s in their contract. There’s also a sticker on the panel that states it is the personal property of Brinks. They aren’t “disarming it” per se. They wipe the system when the customer cancels so that the system can’t be used at all.
David Myers
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Hi Ken,
In response to your question "Who owns the Brinks system", I have your answer. For better or worse, I was a Brinks dealer for five years. They lease all of their systems to their customers. There's even a sticker on the panel door that says "This system is the personal property of Brinks Home Security".
Furthermore, when a customer cancels monitoring service, whether they've fulfilled their agreement or not, they remotely program the system to "local fire only". This means that, if the customer has smoke or heat detectors, they will still be operational, but nothing else on the system will work at all. Hope this helps.
Grant B
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Thanks for your reply. The customer stated to me he had completed his contract and didn't want monintoring anymore. Don't know if that makes any difference or not, but I believe that Brinks has in their contract something about retaining ownership. Haven't seen one so maybe your posting my question will draw some additional answer.
Thanks again for your great forum.
John Elmore
Security By Elmore Inc