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Hi Ken;
    I don't know how much liability the alarm company or central station would have if a homeowner stated to the operator that a smoke detector that tripped was a false alarm.  I would think that if the woman gave the operator the passcode and said all was OK, that should absolve everyone but the dumbass homeowner.  As for CO detectors, I took the required training for the CEU's to maintain my license.  I sat patiently through the whole day.  Finally at the end, I asked how many people die a year in the USA from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. The answer was approximately 500.  I did the math, and that came out to something like 0.0002% of the population.  Whereas there are usually somewhere in the area of 40,000 fire related deaths per year in the USA.   I was a police officer for 25 years, and in my time on the PD, I saw four carbon monoxide deaths.  Three of the four were suicides, so if that statistic holds true, then there are really only about 125 accidental CO deaths per year.  Not that we shouldn't protect ourselves and our families,  but I had to ask the question of the instructor.  "Did it ever occur to the people who wrote the codes pertaining to Carbon Monoxide, that maybe, just maybe, some people are just too dumb to live?"  Those are the same people who run out of oil for their furnace and will fill a Hibachi with charcoal, light it out on the deck, but then carry the Hibachi inside.  And then they wonder why the whole family wakes up dead the next day.  Or the bright lights who fill a kerosene heater with gasoline and once they light it, they wonder why it looks like the afterburner on a fighter jet and they can't shut it down.  DUH.  The one very positive thing that I gleaned from the course, was the importance of having more than one CO Detector.  I tell customers all the time, if your CO detector activates and you doubt whether there is a problem, that's one thing.  But if a second detector trips, there is CO in the home and they need to call the Fire Department.  To me, that is as much of a common sense approach to an unseen, unsmelt, untasted danger as you can get.
John from NJ
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Ken
    In response to this homeowner saying it was a false alarm twice, we had a similar occurrence a few years back. Upon receiving the initial alarm, we dispatched then called the residence, which was also a home nursing facility. The owner said it was a false alarm, from his bed!  The FD was disregarded.  The owner called 911 and requested fire dept. a short time later...  3 people injured and hundreds of thousands in damages.  The insurance company wanted to know why we failed to dispatch, and I told them... The customer canceled the contract... I felt "good riddance."
Alan M
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Question re locking out defaulting subscriber from fire panel
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Ken
    My question to you is as follows:
    I have a customer with a commercial fire panel that owes me $150.00 for a service call and is unwilling to pay me.  He told me to either absorb the service charge and I could continue to monitor his building.  If I  chose not to absorb the cost he would find another alarm company.  I told him he was free to find another alarm company and that the alarm panel was locked out and I would not release it until he paid me the $150.00.  To his knowledge I have since terminated the monitoring and notified the fire marshal of such.      Just as an FYI, I did not terminate the monitoring as of yet as I am not sure what my exposure is due to the fact that I am not allowing him to have another alarm company monitor his system.  At this point what is my exposure and what if any rights do i have
    I realize that this seems very petty over $150.00 however there is a back story from a few years ago where he beat me for $1000.00.  I was a lot younger and more naive and allowed it to happen.
Thanks
Dave
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Response
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    Some times its not all about the money.  
    You certainly did the right thing by notifying the AHJ that the fire alarm monitoring was terminated.  But be certain that your subscriber has defaulted on the Monitoring Contract.  Failure to pay a service charge may not constitute a default under the Monitoring Contract.  If your subscriber is not in default of that contract then you will be the one to breach if you terminate monitoring service.
    Your commercial fire alarm subscriber should have signed a Fire All In One.  That would provide for not only the installation, but the inspection, monitoring and service of the fire alarm system.  You would own the Communication Devices.  If you sold the fire alarm system then the subscriber would be entitled to the pass codes for the panel except to change the communication.  
    If your subscriber has defaulted then you are no longer obligated to perform.  That could include all the items that have recurring revenue, and recurring on going services.  In the Fire All in One that would be inspection, monitoring, runner service and service, all of which are provided for with separate RMR charges.  
    If you do terminate any service, especially monitoring, then once you have given the AHJ notice be sure to give the subscriber notice of a date and time certain when the service will terminate.