August 30, 2011
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Question
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Ken,
Thank you for all your help and support. We just ran into a new situation I wanted to get your thoughts on since I can see it becoming more popular. The local AHJ has passed a more aggressive ordinance and are watching/regulating our customers more closely. We just received a "notice of pending suspension" for one of our clients. In talking with the AHJ representative we learned very little due to privacy laws. Apparently a letter has been sent out to the customer, some action must be taken, if it is not taken then that customer will be suspended from receiving responses by the authorities.
We as the alarm company will receive the actual suspension when this occurs, but the time line is vague since we cannot get the actual notice. So a few questions.
Do we just stay out of this and let the customer and AHJ deal with it? Do we need to notify the customer, in anyway, that we will not be dispatching the authorities if a suspension occurs? Should we send a letter informing them that the contract is still in force and what our new procedures would be? (.ie., no police, but notification to account contact list). Does it cause any legal issues if we do not know why the suspension is going into affect and exactly when?
Hope that is not too much to cover.
Thanks
Leo
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Answer
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Sounds like a communication problem with the AHJ. Your local alarm association should try and rectify this situation. According to your scenario, only the subscriber is getting a notice threatening suspension of municipal response services [you don't specify whether this is police, fire or EMT] unless some corrective action is taken. That action may involve an electronic alarm system or could involve something else, like failure to pay a fee and obtain a permit. Perhaps the alarm company is not getting any notice of the impending suspension because the AHJ doesn't know who the alarm company is or what responsibility the alarm company has for an alarm system once installed. The problem may not relate to the installation.
If the alarm company has a continuing relationship with the subscriber after the installation [which it should have to maximize the value of that account - i.e., relationship could include lease of equipment, service and monitoring] then the subscriber should notify the alarm company of the AHJ notice. The contractual relationship between alarm company and subscriber will then dictate what responsibility the alarm company has and what action the alarm company should take, if any.
There may be issues raised by the AHJ that should involve the alarm company, though in most of these situations the AHJ should know who the alarm company is and notice should have been provided to the alarm company. A good example would be a commercial fire installation. The alarm company filed plans and obtained a permit; it's on record with the AHJ and there is no reason that any issue involving the installation should not be directed or at least copied to the alarm company.
Where an alarm system is installed and later after inspection the AHJ decides that the system needs to comply with a new law that mandates smoke or CO devices, then it's not the alarm company's responsibility. That equipment was not included in the initial installation.
Same with a new law that requires annual inspections. If the subscriber has not contracted for that service then the alarm company has no responsibility to provide the inspection service. If the inspection requirement comes about after the installation then the alarm company would not have any obligation at all, even if it is monitoring the system [of course for better customer relations and business opportunity the alarm company would normally notify the customer that additional services are now required and the alarm company is willing to provide those services].
The suspension notice you mention involves municipal response. It's hard to believe that the fire department or EMT would ignore a call. In any event, the Standard Form Contracts clearly address this issue and provide that the alarm company is not responsible for municipal response or suspension of response, and subscriber is still responsible to pay for on going monitoring charges or lease payments. Despite the contract provision, however, if the suspension of municipal services is directly related to something the alarm company was under contract or law to provide or perform, the "come hell or high water" payment provision will not hold up; the subscriber will be able to terminate payment and perhaps the contract if the alarm company has failed to perform a contractual or legal duty. An example would be failure to obtain a permit [contract should provide that the alarm company will procure any required permit, at the subscriber's expense].