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COMPLAINTS AGAINST FLORIDA LICENSE BOARD AND ESA - DO THEY NEED TO DO MORE 
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Ken

  • Why is it that the ESA (Electronic Security Association) will not confirm if someone has taken a course or if one of their Certificates is authentic or possibly forged?
  • Why is it that you cannot look up or confirm if an individual salesperson or technician has taken the required FASA/BASA courses (and/or ESA required courses) and is properly “licensed” or qualified in Florida?

    While I am generally in favor of less government interference and/ or regulation, there are times and areas where it is necessary!!! 
    In the Florida Panhandle area, we have at least two real sleaze, conman, scammer, criminals operating “alarm” companies!  They go around conning seniors, active and retired military, anyone, etc. by doing and saying all of the sleazy, unethical and illegal “tricks”…  One of these “sick …$#@%&...” favorite ploys is to go up to someone’s door with an alarm yard sign and say they are there to perform their annual inspection/ service…  They then proceed to get into the panel’s programming and change the program to their monitoring numbers, etc. and when done, go to the customer with their iPad opened to a signature line and say their signature is required to confirm that the inspection was completed… BUT, the iPad just/ only shows a signature line and what the customer is actually signing is a new contract for their company!!!   This same “jerk(s)” has even gone so far as to “copy and paste” his name on another person’s ESA Certificate for the Technician Level I course and distributing it off as having taken the course himself!  When you try to call ESA to verify its authenticity, ESA states that they cannot verify for privacy reasons…  Why is that?  If you cannot verify the individual took the required course, it reflects on the ESA and undermines their credibility!!!
    And, it seems the state licensing agencies aren’t interested in pursuing and verifying whether a certificate is legitimate or not either!  They seem to automatically accept it.  Also, this “sick …$#@%&...”  “copies and pastes” other peoples’ CEU’s credit sheets and sends them in for his licenses where needed for renewal.  AND, he apparently “copies and pastes” whatever he needs to subscriber’s contracts to alter signatures, dates, etc. as well.  The subscribers complain but so far few have done anything because they often say “it isn’t worth the hassle and I’ll just wait until the contract’s up to switch to someone else.”  If we could verify and self-police certificates of completion AND individual licensing we could pressure these derelicts (thru the respective state agencies/ fines as well as the funding companies) to either get “right” or “get out” by confirming when someone isn’t in compliance and to file an official complaint without fear of making a mistake and exposing yourself to retaliatory litigation!  In other words to help promote Professionalism!!!
    These derelict individuals and tactics have helped ruin the local market!  That potential customers have been abused so much that often they are not receptive to anything and have a bad feeling toward any alarm company or individual associated with an alarm company!
    As tough and exacting as Florida generally is, there is no “real” licensing or enforcement of the sales and technician staff!  Yes, the state (and generally all of the states) has a tough and exacting procedure for the qualifier that enables an alarm company to be licensed!  However, in Florida, the state does not license the individual salespersons and/or technicians, they leave it up to the qualifier to maintain that all sales and technical persons take the required FASA/ BASA course, etc.  However, there is no way to verify if someone posing as a salesperson or technician has truly met these minimum requirements!  There is a great tool in the web site of “myfloridalicense.com” to look up and verify if a company is licensed and what company(s) an individual is the registered qualifier of, but nothing for the individuals posing as sales or technicians!!!  The “sick …$#@%&...” mentioned above merely finds disinterested someone to be his company qualifier (who doesn’t participate in his operations or really care to honor their responsibilities as the qualifier) and the “sick …$#@%&...” does not have himself or anyone else take the required FASA/ BASA training!  We know this from his ex-employees coming to us and not even knowing anything about state licensing/ FASA/ BASA, etc.
    Why doesn’t Florida have state issued licenses for ALL the individuals?  And a means to verify that an individual meets the requirements?  Apparently Alabama and Mississippi has a way to verify licenses!  You can just call the Alabama and Mississippi state licensing bureaus and verify an individual’s license, etc. by merely giving the person’s name!!!  As long as the state’s associated individual licensing fees are reasonable, say around $50.00 per two years, it could also generate some additional revenue for the state to help promote Professionalism and to enable the state to chase violators, impose and collect fines for violations, etc..  But more importantly, it would enable anyone to verify if an individual is licensed  for the activity he is representing!  And, help us to clean up our industry!!!
    Anonymous