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Ken


    I'll take this opportunity to respond to two problems recently discussed in your daily E-mail.


    1) ....... Whether you are a new or established alarm company the landscape of doing business has been changing for a long time.
If you wish to operate a company with a poor contract or none at all, your next course of business should be to have yourself checked into a mental health facility.
Regardless of the quality of your installations or your intent to be the best in the business, there is someone out there waiting to sue you for something even if not your fault.
Not if someone will, just when.
 
    2) ........ The security industry and those within, as with any other business needs to make a profit however; each company must decide ...... chance of profit against the liability associated with a bad customer.

    For some reason companies will for the sake of what seems to be profit tolerate........ intolerable customers.  Several years ago I was approached to purchase another alarm company. The customer base I was proudly told, was in excess of 5,000.  The system brands ranged all over the place. Whatever was on sale was the product of the month.  Upon investigation I found the office had two people on staff that did nothing but chase about 1,000 customers for overdue invoices.  That's 20 percent of the customer base that doesn't pay their bills on time, won't pay interest and after 90 days still debate the amount charged. This alone drained any semblance of profit.
    By industry standards their charges were on the low side because the customers dictated what they wanted to pay for both the system and monitoring service.  Two employees occupied office space, were paid more than minimum wage, add payroll taxes, benefits, computer, phone, and whatever else was thrown in to collect money already owed.  They adjusted billing amounts and terms (in violation of whatever they had for an agreement) to keep a cash flow going.  Add to the above almost all customers didn't feel a need for any type of regular inspection. I'll call you when I think I need service syndrome.  
    Needless to say the number of false alarms generated due to the lack of service, made his company the poster child for several police departments, further adding to his growing list of problems.  His customer base complained about the number of false alarms and this affected his referrals leading to one, but not the only, reason for wanting to sell.
    When I asked why he simply didn't clean house and adjust the manner in which he was running the business....... his answer was he didn't want to lose any customers that would affect his multiples.
     I never did pursue the purchase of his company, which was eventually bought by one of the big three at a junk yard price. They were only interested in numbers.
    Moral of the story ....... Customer perception of their systems worth is determined by your companies professionalism. This will in turn determine what they will pay, when they will pay, and how well they will maintain it.
John Yusza Jr
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MORE ON GARAGE DOOR INTEGRATION FROM JUNE 30, 2015 ARTICLE
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Ken,
    In response to Julie Jacobson's responding to comment by Howard Sharp on Overhead Door devices.
    There is no doubt that a long distance remote control device is a modification to an overhead door installation. However, I direct Julie to Chamberlin's or Liftmaster's MY Q remote door opener. This device is advertised and can be used with a multitude of their products and other manufacturers as well. The unit has an audible and visible warning light with a delay, before the door begins to close. I'd guess that it would be accurate to think that a multi-million dollar, world wide company as large as Chamberlin, would certainly have looked into the liability of such a device and designed it appropriately before advertising it as such. I'm sure that they would be very concerned about putting their installing dealers in jeopardy of a law suit.  I am surprised that Julie didn't do the research she is known for, before making her comments.
Gene
Reliable Alarm
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RESPONSE
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    I think Julie's comments are accurate and you have misread them.  All she points out is that remote control of the garage doors need to comply with UL regs to avoid liability, and those regs require audible and visual warning, which, as you point out, is included in the Liftmaster's design.  **************************