Dear Ken,
I have been reading with interest the thread of comments on trunk slammers and agree that the size of the company is not necessarily a guarantee of quality. There are many small, one-man operations that do professional quality work and many large organizations that leave much to be desired. The same is true in reverse. So how can consumers know which companies to trust?
Fortunately, the industry has the Installation Quality (IQ) Certification Program.
IQ has established a set of best practices and de facto consensus standards on installation as well as a checklist to ensure that the customer knows how to operate their alarm system. Many companies are already following most of these guidelines. IQ Certified companies have told me they were awarded the job based on their certification.
IQ Certified Companies carry a badge of honor to showcase their commitment to installation quality and false alarm control that is certified by an independent third party. IQ companies are using their certification to form better relationships with law enforcement and fire prevention professionals, since they are attempting to ease the burden that false alarms place on the public safety community.
When it comes to the bottom line, being recognized as a quality provider of alarm systems and services can lead to greater revenue streams, positive customer feedback and increased customer referrals – the main ingredients for running a successful business.
There is much more information on the web site (www.iqcertification.org). IQ offers consumers a way to measure and identify premiere alarm companies that are committed to providing high-quality security and life safety systems. IQ is good for alarm dealers and good for the industry. I encourage alarm dealers, small, medium or large to seriously consider becoming IQ Certified.
Yours truly,
Deborah J. Sokol
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Can you prevent other alarm companies from serving your systems?
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Question:
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Ken,
In the past we have had a few monitored fire alarm customers try to use another alarm contractor who charges less to test and inspect their fire alarm system. We of course offer and want our customers to use us provide those services. To try to combat this issue our only recourse was to instruct our third party monitoring center to not place systems on test even if the person new the account number or pass code.
Does your standard monitoring agreement cover the issue of who is allowed to service the customers alarm system? We do want something to be mentioned in the agreement that only we can service the system because we monitor the signals from it and need to know all of what is going on with it.
Would we be allowed to read and or review your agreement prior to purchasing it to use? If not I may have a few more questions.
Thanks for keeping us informed about industry issues by sharing your emails with us.
Mark S
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Answer:
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I don't think telling the central station not to put the system on test is the right approach. What happens next, a false fire alarm report?
You have created your own problem by not using the Standard All In One Fire Alarm Contract. That contract incorporates installation (with AHJ approval), service, monitoring and inspection. Your subscriber would not be permitted to use any other company to provide any of those services.
If you are using the Standard Monitoring Contract then it covers only monitoring and servicing of the communication software or transmitter if separate from the panel, and you supplied it. You could not prevent another alarm company from inspecting or servicing because you are not under contract to provide those services.
Obviously you leave yourself open to liability exposure when another alarm company involves itself in a system you are also providing some service to. Unless the cause of a loss is clearly identifiable everyone involved in the system is going to be sued. While you are not responsible for the work of others it may be difficult to identify what caused the loss and who is responsible for it.
And these additional arguments are unnecessary. Get and use the All in One Fire and avoid this issue !!!!
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