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COMMENTS ON CONTRACTS
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PRINTING THE CONTRACTS
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Ken,
In response to Mark’s question [from February 10, 2016 article] about the printing of the residential contract….We have the form printed on two legal-sized pages of NCR paper. On the front of the first page (page 1) are items 1-5, on the back of page 1 (page 2) are items 6-15, on the front of the second page (page 4) are the equipment to be installed, credit/debit & ACH authorizations, notice of cancellation, notification of the four page contract and signature lines, on the back of the second page (page 3) are items 16-30. This arrangement provides both parties the necessary (in my mind) copy of the complete contract, including signatures.
When I get the proof from the printer, I go over it with a fine-toothed comb….not glancing at paragraphs or even lines but WORD BY WORD. I know it is terribly time consuming but the contract is a binding legal document that has been carefully crafted…every…single…word…is important!
Thanks so much for this valuable forum and your, more often than not, free advice!
Tena Edwards
A.I.D. Security, Inc.
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Ken
Eileen did a yeoman's job, (Not sure WHAT that means, I was ARMY.....) getting contracts to all the purchasers that took advantage of your New Years sale. I received mine and I have to lock myself in a room to digest and set them up.
Thank you for all you do for the industry, (and the SARRG premium discount is great too.....)
Joel Kent
FBN
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ELECTRONIC CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT
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Ken,
We have been using electronic contracts (yours). Do these hold up in court? I have gotten mixed answers?
Thanks
Lucas Ingala
Owner
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RESPONSE
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Yes of course they should be enforced in court, but whether a contract will be enforced in a particular case depends on more than just the wording of the agreement. The judge will consider:
- the wording of the agreement
- bargaining power of the parties
- how the agreement was executed
- whether all consumer laws complied with
- whether a party failed to perform its part of the agreement
- other issues that may influence the judge, including personal bias.
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TERM OF A CONTRACT THAT HAS NO RECURRING CHARGE
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Ken,
Here is a question that other readers might have as well....
What is the term of a contract that has no recurring charge?
For instance, if you install a camera system and do not have a recurring maintenance charge, how long is the contract valid regarding limitation of liability, indemnity, exculpatory clause, etc?
What if a person is shot in the parking lot 8 months after the system is installed and the system failed to record the event due to hard drive failure, camera limitations or bad design?
Thanks for all your advice as always.
Greg from Florida
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Response
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The All in One Agreements have a sale and installation part, and what I call RMR part. The RMR, recurring monthly revenue, part is the on going services, such as monitoring, repair service, inspection, and access to interactive or remote features.
The sale and installation part is the first issue to be addressed in the All in One Agreement. The sale is complete when the installation is completed. However, the contract provisions survive the installation. For example, the Limited Warranty is one year. The subscriber's right to bring a cause of action against the alarm company varies state to state, but generally the statute of limitations for negligence is 3 years, breach of warranty 4 years, breach of contract 6 years and fraud 6 years or 2 years after the fraud is discovered [these are NY laws]. The "protective provisions" of the contract will survive to protect the alarm company for the duration of the statute of limitations. By the way, the All in One Agreement also reduces the statute of limitations by including a contractual limitation of action provision which is for one year.
Turning to your scenario, the All in One Agreement will protect you 8 months after the installation when there is hard drive or other equipment failure or problems caused by bad design.
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