Burglar alarms with monitoring services e.g. BT red care - tell me if your co. is any good and if you can switch without replacing all the sensors etc.

[camembertandcranberry]

I am increasingly pee'd off with our burglar alarm provider.

An example, we had a false alarm this morning where presumably one of the sensors malfunctioned - we were all asleep so no-one set it off. Fine that happens but it was the way it's been handled that is bad imho.

1. When I called the monitoring service, alarm had just gone off, we didn't know if it was a false alarm or there really was an intruder, the lady on the line couldn't wait to get rid of me. She asked what had caused the alarm to go off and I said I didn't know and she wouldn't reset it until I gave her a reason and was really stroppy. When I said my dh had gone down to investigate and asked her to stay on the line in case there was really an intruder she said she couldn't do that as I had already turned the alarm off (my reasoning being that I didn't want to wake the entire neighbourhood)

It was so jobsworth of her and all I wanted was her to stay on the line in case there was a problem - isn't that the whole point.

Anyway to get the alarm reset so we can use it again, I then had to call the service provider, a different company. I left a message at 7am on the answering service saying it was urgent (I don't want to leave the house unalarmed if I can help it and also it was making a beeping noise all the time!) and they haven't called me back.

Long whinge but basically, is this cr*p service or just the way it works?

If you have a decent burglar alarm service provider, which one are they?

And does anyone know if you can change to e.g. BT without having to get all the sensors/ pads changed?

We have ADT alarm with red care as you describe (highly recommend, no problems in 10 years) - if alarm goes off I can see from panel which sensor it is but can't obv tell if it's false alarm or not till investigate so I would theoretically be in same position as you if went off in night (and once turn off, can't see which sensor it was without going through a rigmarole). I agree she should have stayed on line until happy that was false alarm or you needed the police - that is the whole point of red care as you say. In fact the monitoring company ring me if alarm goes off to check if all ok and if no reply (because Billy Burglar had me by the neck or whatever) they call police. I can reset alarm myself from here as like you wouldn't want to leave off till could be reset. That all sounds crap to me. In our case all the sensors are technically property of ADT so if we switched I think we would have to get new sensors etc. Apparently you can get wireless system now where they just stick up sensors with no wiring needed (when we had ours done it was massive job with wires under carpets etc) which should be cheaper/easier but not ideal if you already have system. One thing I have which is good is I have detectors on all doors and windows and none in rooms at all, so detects anyone coming in, but it means I could have alarm on all day if I wanted to (I don't, but if was dark early in winter and dh away and we were in for the night I could just put on when come home from school. Also means cat not set it off etc). Good luck!

Thanks for your reply.
How long does it take for them to call you to get it reset if it goes off? Took three hours for the maintenance guy to reset it. I called the monitoring station this time as I couldn't be bothered waiting for them to call me but they normally take about five minutes to call which is a bit long too!

(To clarify the monitoring service and maintenance man are separate).

If I accidentally set alarm off then I whizz to turn it off immed and the monitoring centre don't call at all, as obv a mistake, but if I leave it going then they call within a minute or so. (so on that logic, best not to turn alarm off if not sure if false alarm as ensures they call and scares off anyone who might be trying to break in).
I can reset it myself - they don't do it at all on the system I have, unless there is actually a fault with it and can't be reset in which case maintenance man comes (as soon as he can - same day).
Yes monitoring and maintenance are totally separate, with dif numbers to call.
I also have 2 panic buttons (seems excessive now but made sense when we had installed as new to area, I knew no one, dh away a lot, live in town centre etc) - once one malfunctioned and wouldn't stop and traffic warden (surprisingly) came charging to the door (sent by police) and when I reassured him I was ok he still insisted on coming in to check round in case I was being held against my will and had been told to fob him off - was hugely impressive. Luckily very few false alarms as don't want to call police out unnecessarily.

Thanks again perma.

It is annoying the way it needs to be reset if it goes off actually, as until that's done I can't use it/ set it again. Given it took the engineer three hours to call me I'd have had to have left the house unalarmed if I'd had to go out e.g. for the whole day or waited in especially.

I asked him why it took so long and he said 'oh I did get your message but I was busy'

Gosh within a minute is much quicker than mine.

We were with ADT at my old house a few years ago and they were good. But I don't want to have to pay for all new sensors and pads as it will cost a lot! Need to look into costs I think.