Which security system?

[Ilovesnacks1991]

Unfortunately Someone down the road from me got burgled a few nights ago. I was informed by a company called verisure. They have excellent systems and monitoring but have an initial fee of £600 for all the equipment and then it is £32 a month. I can't really afford this. Has anyone got any security systems that they would recommend? Ideally I don't want to be paying a monthly fee. Thank you for any help ot advice.

"I was informed by a company called verisure."

Was it by any chance a door-to-door salesman? Or junkmail?

That monthly charge is very high.

That's more than I pay for my monitored commercial system.

Look out for a local installer. Try to avoid anything with a monthly charge (including an internet subscription fee). Texecom seem very popular now.

IMO the two most important features are a visible bellbox on the outside, as a deterrent

And the ability for the system to phone a keyholder in the event of an activation.

I used to like the DIY Yale systems, which are very cheap and can be installed by a person with a screwdriver and a drill.

But the first thing to do is to look at your door and window security. Do you keep your doors locked? What sort of lock, what sort of doors?

@PigletJohn thank you for your reply. I thought it was quite high but I didn't know if that was the norm.
They knocked on the door and told us about the break in and then gave us information about their package.
With the system that calls the owner incase of a break in, does that usually come with a monthly charge?

it's quite common for alarm systems (even the Yale HSA6400) to dial out in an activation. Some attach to a phone line, some have a mobile phone SIM. If you use a SIM, you hve to remember to use it from time to time to keep the number live.

There does not have to be a charge for this, unless you are paying an alarm monitoring station to receive the calls, phone keyholders and (under some circumstances) the police. If you set it up to phone a trusted neighbour and/or your own mobile there need be no cost. But the alarm control panel must be put out of sight, away from point of entry, to prevent an intruder attacking it with a hammer before it can make the call. upstairs in a wardrobe is one option. you will have a keypad near the front door (but preferably out of sight of casual callers) so you can set and unset it when leaving and entering. Inside the coat cupboard is one option.

BTW, some would say you have been approached by a cold-calling door-to-door salesman, trying to scare you into buying an overpriced product.

Make of that what you will.

We had the system PP suggested in our previous house. Very easy to setup and use (few hours work) and can be expanded (we put in extra sensors and keypads).

Current house had an old wired system which we upgraded with a new panel and now it is can txt alerts. Both system cost less than £150 with no ongoing costs.

What panel did you get?

I had a similarly expensive estimate from Banham (although the initial fee was £1,500). In the end, I installed a SimpliSafe system myself, it cost around £200, and they have two professional monitoring plans, £12.99 p/m and £19.99 p/m but there's no contract and no obligation, so if you have a friendly neighbour who can let you know if your alarm goes off you wouldn't need a professional monitoring plan at all. As we're new to the area, we're monitored for the moment.

A texecom premier elite panel in the end. Worked well with all the existing sensors and lots of space for expansion. Programming it was. But if a fiddle, but you only have to do it once. 😀

That's interesting. They seem very popular with alarm folk. I have one, it replaced my previous Galaxy (professional installs).

Do you know to alter the time on the clock?