Question:

Ken,

I have a question for which I believe I already know the answer, but I think it should be discussed.

Almost all dealers have the ability to shutdown operation of a system when a customer has not paid. This is done frequently when the system has not been paid for & also when the monitoring payments are seriously past due. Since many, or most home systems include either supplementary or ?full code? smoke detection, what is the alarm companys liability if a system is shut down completely or the user codes are removed? In the case of a shutdown ? the fire alarm will not operate & if the user codes have been removed -  once the fire alarm zone has been activated (even accidentally), the customer is forever denied the ability to reset the fire alarm & therefore the detection it offers.

I have in the past denied a customer the ability to arm their system when they have not paid for it, or if they have avoided all reasonable requests to pay past due monitoring. I have already incurred charges to install the system or provide the service, even if I never receive payment from them. I will not disarm a system if I connect and find it armed, but I will disable one (typically by removing the codes) when I find it already disarmed. I realize that there may be liabilities in this, but it is a calculated risk that I take. Often, this will get the customers attention & they will contact us. If I then receive payment, I will re-enable the system & or ask them to find another provider. However, this is not always the case. I have disabled systems and never heard from the customer. Needless to say, when this occurs, I start worrying about what might occur if they suffer a burglary or a fire. In my case, we do not lease systems ? they are sold outright & we charge only for monitoring & service once the system is paid. There are multiple variations of this & each dealer does what they think works. This is an extreme measure & could be construed as being purely punitive. That is probably not the goal of most dealers who use these measures, but I would not want to answer to for my actions in any court.

I understand that there are collection & legal actions that can be taken to try to collect any balances. However, most of the independents feel that we have a more direct and immediate answer in using the electronic measures immediately available to us.

Any advice on these actions or discussion amongst dealers as to what they do would be appreciated.

Craig Christopher, President

Stephens Electronics, Inc.  

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ANSWER:

    Disarming the alarm system has its inherent risks.  Although you may be willing to accept these risks I am certain that there are fact patterns that you would run from.  You shut down an alarm system where smoke detectors are part of the system.  House burns down and occupants die in fire.  Think a judge or jury are going to be sympathetic when they find out you were owed $64.00 for three months monitoring?

    The standard contract forms do permit termination of service and remote programming to accomplish that.  You need to read the contract terms to see exactly what you should be doing before taking any self help action.

    You also need to be careful when disarming a system owned by the subscriber.  If you are only monitoring or have a service contract you cannot prevent activating the system, you can only delete communication.  The subscriber should be left with a local alarm.

    Self help can be effective.  I've had clients who thought a rock through a window might get the subscriber to pay the bill.  Another client thought that making the keypad read "Dead beat" or "pay your alarm bill" would facilitate payment.  Collection practices are becoming more and more regulated and you don't want to violate the law and find yourself getting sued.

    I think the better course is commence an action for breach of contract.  If the subscriber is viable its probably a good idea to continue monitoring because you will be able to show the Court that the subscriber continued to use your service.  If you do decide to remote program make sure your contract gives you that right and I would suggest some form of notice even if the contract doesn't require it.