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Still time to register. today's webinar is on electronic contracts
Our first webinar in our series starts today at noon EST: Title: All You Need To Know About electronic contracts for the alarm industry. Presented by: Michael Marks from SedonaOffice
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6112404321829619713
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WHEN YOU WANT TO DISCONTINUE A SERVICE TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS
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Ken
We do not want to do business with the fire residential anymore . We have a small list of customer, but there is such huge liability with residential and we would like to get out of that.
Can you please write up a little we could send certified mail stating something to the effect that we are no longer doing fire for residential customer and we are not liable for that and they need to find someone else to service those accounts.
Please let me know what the best way to handle this for us legally.
Thank you,
Jennifer
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RESPONSE
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I think best way is for you to reconsider this position. If you do residential work then you're going to be asked to install and monitor smoke detectors; this is fire. If you're suggesting that you're not going to be doing residential work, or not installing monitored alarm systems, then you won't be doing fire monitoring.
If you are already under contract with your subscribers to provide alarm monitoring, and that includes fire signals, then you can't simply unilaterally decide to breach your contracts with impunity. The consequence of your breach is that your subscriber can find someone else to provide the service and charge you with any additional amount they have to pay for that replacement service.
It is true that fire alarm service, including monitoring, does have it's particular risks and exposure, but that's not a good reason to avoid it. Intrusion monitoring can have it's own serious exposure because it's not limited to property loss but can involve personal injury and death. Your need to use the Standard Form Agreements. For residential subscribers it's the Residential All in One. You need that agreement and you need general liability insurance with alarm industry errors and omission insurance. The insurance companies won't be increasing your premium just because you include fire alarm monitoring for your residential subscribers. Check The Alarm Exchange for insurance.
If you really want to discontinue a particular service to your subscribers then you can
- let the contracts expire and notify them you aren't allowing renewal
- notify them [certified mail is waste of your time and money] that you are no longer providing the service
- if you are still under contract to provide the service then I suggest you find another alarm company to take over and provide the service and let the subscribers know you've assigned the contract
If you do decide to dump a line of business you may want to look for a buyer to purchase the accounts.
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COMMERCIAL FIRE SUBSCRIBERS REQUIRING ADDITIONAL INSURED STATUS
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Ken,
I need some advise.
More and more, clients (management firms etc.) are requiring that we sign their contracts. In most cases I am running by my insurance company underwriter, we do some back and forth, agree and they endorse it to my policy. Most times they want to ensure I add in the limitation of liability and have agreed to bring it up to 10K. I have asked the insurance company that although not as a standard, since I have 1M in insurance with 5M umbrella that they should be Ok with me signing a contract without this knowing that I am on the hook for anything above my insurance limits and they said NO you cant. I might just be a little ignorant on the matter, but why would the insurance company say that if I am buying 1M with 5M umbrella in which they will never pay due to the limitation of liability?
Not sure what to tell my client as they are saying if you have 1M in insurance that you should not limit and your insurance will only be paying if you are found negligent. Now, I understand there could be costs involved with defending and they could pay well ove 10K in legal fees just to get out of it and they just as well assume just settle for the 10K cap…I get that. But wanted to see what your take on this was since I am dealing with large building owners and not sure if every single fire alarm company will run into the same issues and it doesn’t matter or I am being to strict and the insurance company has no right to ask for the limitation and that clause would only be to benefit me. Why wouldn’t I just limit the liability to my insurance coverage?
As a follow up, attached is my GL and Umbrella with Arch. I don’t see anything in here that requires that we sign a limitation of liability. Although I know it is better if I do.
If you can, I would appreciate some insight.
RA
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RESPONSE
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This applies to all alarm companies and all the services offered, not just commercial fire, though it's the commercial subscribers that often require their own agreement be signed and demand increases in the limitation of liability and that you name them as additional insured on your policy.
It's really a rather simple answer. You applied for insurance and your carrier approved you for coverage. You agreed to the premium the carrier quoted. The application for insurance asked you a lot of questions, and one of them surely was whether you use contracts, and the carrier may have even asked to review it. In the alarm industry, fire included, it's no secret that carriers look for and approve the Standard Form Agreements. The reason is that these contracts offer the most contractual protection available to you and your insurance carrier. Alarm insurance is unlike other insurance; your carrier does not expect to pay out the policy limits because it will rely on the "protective provisions", including the limitation of liability. When you change the Standard Form Agreement you change, and increase, your risk and your insurance company's risk. That means you also increase exposure. While you may be willing to take that added risk because you have assessed the potential advantages of that particular deal, your insurance company is not sharing in those advantages; you haven't agreed to an increased premium.
You have to be comfortable explaining to your subscriber that neither you nor your insurance carrier is the subscriber's insurance company. I know you are a commercial fire alarm company; you provide fire alarm services in buildings valued in the many millions of dollars, not to mention the possibility of personal injury, death and loss of contents in a building. Except in cases of municipalities [and some subscribers as stupid as municipalities] subscribers carry insurance to protect in the event of fire. Their insurance carrier is quoting based on the calculated risk. That's not how you decided to price your contract price. Your monitoring charge may be $100 a month, maybe more or less. Trust me, the fire insurance on that building is much more than that, and in any event, the insurance company writing that insurance is spreading its risk among many insured customers because that's its business. You are not in the insurance business and your insurance carrier agreed to insure you, not your customers. While your insurance premium may be close to what that one subscriber pays for fire insurance, you have hundreds of subscribers, and your premium doesn't add up to all those fire insurance policies. Your carrier doesn't want to be exposed in all those buildings.
You may be right that your insurance policy doesn't spell this out, at least not so you'd actually understand what's in the policy fine print. But since you asked the carrier in advance you got their answer, "hell no". If you ignore them you might have coverage but that carrier will seek to drop you or not renew your policy if it finds that you are routinely changing the Standard Fire All in One.
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ELECTRONIC CONTRACT QUESTION
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Ken,
We are trying to streamline and automate our contractual process. For our clients we began using Wufoo and Invoice ASAP for our contracts - we have our list of equipment followed by all your terms and conditions from your Standard All in One Agreement behind it. The customer then signs electronically. For all that I have read from you, this is acceptable. Except, for residential customers, we should have the electronic communications consent form and comply with the 3 day regulations.
1.) My question is, is this acceptable?
2.) in Wufoo The customer types his name, then we get an email document. Are there any case studies on this type of contract?
Thank you,
RR
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RESPONSE
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You need the Disclosure and Consent form before the contract is signed. Also the cancellation form. Even electronic contracts have to comply with font size and placement of provisions. The "execution" process can include typing the name.
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ALARM COMPANY NEEDS TECH HELP - LONG RANGE HID READER MODEL U90 - IF YOU CAN ASSIST PLEASE CALL JOE DIRECTLY (ITS NOT A FORUM ISSUE)
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Ken:
Please post the following request for HELP!!
We are trying to get a job done and need some assistance. The long range HID reader we have purchased is a model U90. The HID credential is a inline tag ultra. Read range is supposed to be 26’ (YES! 26 FEET!).
It appears HID is supposed to produce both devices however when we try to determine why they don’t ‘talk’ to each other the reason given to our technicians is ‘OH THAT IS A DIFFERENT DIVISION’ that makes the
Reader or That is a different division that makes the credential. Seems like the left and right hand are not communicating with each other.
Does anyone have a contact at HID that can help us – we have a customer wanting to get his gate working! HELP!!
Does anyone have a different solution that has worked for them? We are desperate and have wasted a tremendous amount of manpower trying to get the HID solution working.
THANKS!
Joseph Pfefer, President
JADE ALARM CO.
7636 Troost Avenue
Kansas City, MO 64131
(816) 333-5233 Office
jmp@jadealarm.com
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WEBINARS: Sign up for any or all of the webinars that interest you.
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FREE Webinar Series "All You Need To Know About" alarm industry issues.
Register for one or all. Each presentation scheduled for half hour to hour. Not recorded.
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Title: All You Need To Know About electronic contracts for the alarm industry
When: February 2, 2017 at noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about electronic alarm contracts, execution and delivery. Introduction to SedonaOffice's eForms service.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers
Presented by: Michael Marks 440-804-4517 SedonaOffice michael@perennialsoftware.com
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6112404321829619713
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Title: All You Need To Know About Preparing Your Company For A Sale
When: February 7, 2017 at 12 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about preparing your company for sale
Who should attend: Alarm company owners
Presented by: Kelly Bond, Alarm Capital Alliance kelly.bond@alarmcapital.com
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8406180190928568833
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Title: All You Need To Know About PERS - Personal Emergency Response Service
When: February 8, 2017 at noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: the state of the PERS industry, demographics here now and ahead, financial and business models, PERS solutions available, mobile PERS and where this will likely end up in the near future. Introduction to Essence-USA 's Smart Alerting and partnership with Affiliated Central Station.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, sales staff
Presented by: Josh Locke, Director of Sales Essence-USA.com JoshLo@Essence-USA.com 734.667.5958 cell: 734.709.5609
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2770642138855812865
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Title: All You Need To Know About consumer alarm contracts
When: February 9, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: What makes consumer contracts different and compliance issues.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, sales staff
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9083897168057308673
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Title: All You Need To Know About Automatic Renewal Provisions in Alarm Contracts
When: February 15, 2017 at noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: The why, where and how of automatic renewal provisions in alarm contracts
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, sales staff
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3498770624606417921
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Title: All You Need To Know About Video Surveillance
When: February 16, 2017 at noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: Discuss latest in video surveillance equipment and services
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, video technicians
Presented by: Ari Erenthal, training manager for IPVM, the leading resource for independent news, reviews, and testing of cameras, VMS, NVRs, and more. (862) 414-3078 ari@ipvideomarket.info
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6264618512556065793
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Title: All You Need To Know About Selecting the Right Broker to Sell Your Alarm Business
When: February 23, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about finding the right broker to represent you on the sale of your alarm business
Who should attend: Alarm company owners
Presented by: Ron Davis and Steve Rubin from Graybeards rdavis@graybeardsus.com srubin@graybeardsus.com
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8548769256865453057
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Title: All You Need To Know About modern nationwide central station operations and how to select the best central station for your needs
When: February 24, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about what you should expect from your modern nationwide central station and how to select the best central station for your needs
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, sales staff
Presented by: Morgan Hertel from Rapid Response MHertel@rrms.com
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/507826318172222465
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Title: All You Need To Know About Fire Alarm Systems and Taking Over Fire Alarm Systems
When: March 1, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about issues to consider when installing, servicing or inspecting fire alarm and when taking over an existing system
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, technician managers
Presented by: Jeff Zwirn JeffZwirn@alarmexpert.com
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4756737271107996417
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Title: All You Need To Know About Standard Fire Protection All in One Agreement Covering Installation, Inspection, Service of Sprinkler System, Portable Extinguishers, Kitchen Hood, Smoke Detectors, Fire Pump
When: March 2, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about the Standard Fire Protection All in One provisions including scope of work, liability limitations, insurance issues, indemnity issues, how to handle subscribers who won't sign or want you to sign their agreement.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, sales managers, sales staff
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/658147149875346945
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Title: All You Need To Know About Alarm Licensing and Contracts for DIY
When: March 9, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about licensing in the alarm industry for DYI. Different types of licenses, where you need them and how you get them. How and when to use License Holders or Qualifiers for your business and how to become a license holder for a company. Risks involved in not being licensed. Contract you will need for nationwide DIY monitoring agreements.
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general managers, compliance managers and license holders.
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2585168820901654273
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