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The company I work for uses Gray Security in Raleigh. You will pay for the install of the system (a one time thing) but the monitoring (as others have said) is much less expensive.
Having had a break-in the Raleigh Police said that the alarms really don't do much. It will probably scare away kids, but anyone that is going to steal something more than a coin jar or some DVDs knows that the response time to an alarm can be close to 20 minutes. Stickers, proper lighting, and common sense do a lot to prevent crime.
I think back in "the day" it was easier to negotiate with the big alarm companies. I have not met anyone lately that signed with ADT or CPI that did not sign a multiple year contract or get gouged at $30+/month.
It only seems that way because so many allow to be charged more. There are multiple companies that will still only charge $20-$25/month. I just don't understand why somebody would pay more for something when they don't have to. It just reminds me of the news report about a month or so ago when they showed the gas station charging $5.50/gal. People were complaining of the price and how the station was "price gouging" but yet they were still there filling up their tanks meanwhile in the background the gas station right across the street had fuel for $1/gal. less!!
Sorry, had to vent. All this just stems from this "financial crisis" that so many want to put the blame on somebody else but it's so obvious that IT'S OUR OWN FAULT!!
Okay, I'm off my soapbox. Now back on topic.
Buyer Beware!! I was scammed into a 3 year contract by the ADT Salesperson. There is no mention of the contract on the page I was asked to sign. I realized this when I called to cancel and then found that there is a light print about the contract on back of the page. Buyer BEWARE!!
Even cheaper is to just put the signs in the front and back yard, and stickers on the windows. That deters the majority of break-ins. After that, it's the illiterates and drug-fueled psychos you have to worry about.
90% of prevention is the yard sign and window stickers. Casual thieves will see them and move on to a neighbor's house. Any thief that sees the signage and still goes for the house is either incredibly stupid, or professional enough to know how to silence alarms. For this reason, you need a wi-fi alarm if you get anything at all - anything using the standard tele line can easily be compromised.
Alarms are mostly for protecting you while you are in the home, but when people are home, they typically do not have the alarm armed. Locked windows and deadbolted doors will mean anyone breaking in will cause a loud noise, and the only thing that will be of immediate help if someone enters a house with you is a weapon on hand. Police and Fire typically show up too late in those unfortunate situations.
The key is to understand what you want an alarm for. If its for protecting your house while your away, you have homeowners insurance for that. If its for protecting you while you're at home, then there's value.
Using ADT, you might as well hire a blind watchman. A few years ago I had a mobile home in the mountains of PA and I contracted ADT for security. Some time after owning this home I decided to have it moved to DE. I hired the moving contractor and the home was moved which took about a week. Several weeks later I had a bill from ADT forwarded to me from the PA address and I realized I forgot to notify them I was moving the home. I called and they had absolutely no idea my mobile home had been relocated from PA to DE, but they still wanted their money.
If all those blind watchmen are working you might consider and old pit bull with three legs and dentures. Either one would do a better job than ADT.
My parents went with ADT in Oxford when they bought their house, and being my parents, did not realize they were signing a relatively expensive and long contract... I don't know if the sales person took advantage, or if they went willingly, but when I called to inquire about the charges and seek a less expensive alternative, they were unwilling to work with us.... Having said that, when my mother was in the hospital for almost 2 months, the alarm went off and ADT called my number (secondary number, she obviously didn't answer the phone) relatively quickly.... I did have to press them to get the police out there, though, I told them that it was possible that people noticed my parents had been gone for a while... they felt it could just be a false alarm, but I pressed on... Luckily it was a false alarm, or the alarm scared them off!
I had ADT back in Detroit, and they were terrible. They never asked me about a maintenance plan, so of course when my system started crying for batteries about a year into the contract, they tried to gouge me for $100 to get a technician out. During the course of our three years there, we would test the system (this is code for "messing up and setting off the system") and the ADT representative would call back about 50% of the time to check on us... the other 50% of the time they never acknowledged the alarm had gone off, and when we called to find out why, they never got the signal. And yes, there's the three year contract commitment.
So... I'm wary of ADT. I'm sure Detroit ADT and Cary ADT are no different because they all route to a national call center, but perhaps in this area they don't lose signals as frequently (we had a cellular signal from our roof, not the phone line). I would definitely switch to a local provider though. Here we chose Vector because it was easier, and they seem to always respond when we set off the alarm, although if you put your code in right away it seems to put you lower in the queue...which is fine.
Everyone happy about their low monthly rate....you do have a cell phone dialer with back up battery for that price, right? thought so ...........Do you know how easy it is to cut your phone lines? The police tell me they don't even bother cutting the the house line any longer-----they just take out the hub on the street and that way if the pickings were good at your house they will hit all your neighbors too.
Get a dog and gun if you want real security when you are home. Get a REAL alarm system for when you're not.
P.S. I'm way more worried about having my smoke alarms calling the fire dept. than the police. I don't have to move to a motel for a year if someone steals my T.V. They did throw in fire protection for the $14.95, right?
Last edited by 2BZee2Pee; 05-12-2009 at 06:23 AM..
I had an encounter with ADT a few years ago that has bothered me ever since. Maybe this is normal procedure for them, but I wasn't thrilled by their lack of concern ...
I was on a friend's emergency call list for ADT. One afternoon I got a call from ADT, stating that they had an intrusion alarm going off at my friend's house and they couldn't track him, his wife, or any other contacts down. She told me to go to the house, see what was going on, and call ADT back. I asked if the police were already on the way. My friend lived in a not-so-great neighborhood and I wanted to be sure the police would be there first in case there was an intruder.
"No, we won't call the police until you go inside and then call us back and say they are needed," she said. "Most of the time it's a false alarm so we don't call police until we know we need to."
I was floored. I asked her if she was seriously sending me to someone's house, where a burgular might be inside, to see if the police needed to be called. Then I asked what they do if they can't track down anyone on the contact list. She said they keep trying to call people, but if they can't reach anyone, in that case they will call the police.
Luckily I was able to track down my friend's wife through another friend who was able to page her. I don't think I would have had the courage to go to their house alone to see why the alarm was going off.
Is this normal? Do they really wait that long to call the police? I'd love to hear if this is standard procedure.
I have a meeting with an ADT sales person tonight. Obviously I'm going to ask for no long-term contract and a reduced monthly rate of around $21 a month. Also, we don't have a land-line for the phone in our house, so we'll have to see how they handle that. I'll be sure to voice all of the concerns that I read here and see what they have to say. We'll probably get quotes from CPI and some other local and national companies with service in the area.
So how does the hardware work on these systems? Do we pay for the hardware and installation, and then can use any monitoring service/company we want?
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thought so 
...........Do you know how easy it is to cut your phone lines? 
The police tell me they don't even bother cutting the the house line any longer-----they just take out the hub on the street and that way if the pickings were good at your house they will hit all your neighbors too.
