*************************

Question: confusing 3 day notice with a termination notice

************************

Ken

We are a systems integrator. We recently purchased your fire/security Monitoring agreement and notice of cancellation. I have been tasked with renewing the monitoring contracts for both fire and intrusion. Unfortunately, I am now in need of a cancellation notice as the end-user of the fire system we installed does not want to respond to me and pay for a site visit to repair his abnormal fire test report message. The cancellation notice you have sent with our contracts only applies to a 3-day ‘cooling off period’ residential customers if I read it correctly. As we are primarily a commercial systems integrator, is there a cancellation notice template that you could send to us that we may use in this instance?

JO

**************************

Answer

***************************

You are confusing the 3 day notice of cancellation with a termination letter you want to send to a subscriber with whom you want to end your relationship.

Sounds like you bought the wrong contracts or not enough of them, which is leading to your confusion. The Commercial Fire All in One does not come with a 3 day notice of cancellation because it is a commercial contract. Only residential contracts come with the 3 day notice of cancellation. The Commercial All in One also does not come with the 3 day notice of cancellation for the same reason.

The Residential All in One comes with the 3 day notice of cancellation and that notice, required by statute, is to permit the subscriber to cancel within 3 days of signing the contract. It's not a form for you to use to terminate the subscriber for any reason. For that you need a notice of default or notice that you are not renewing the contract. There isn't a form for that presently and it's something that you can easily create on your own.

I know it's tempting to order just a monitoring contract, like you apparently did, but it's not suitable for commercial subscribers and it certainly is not adequate for your needs unless your services are limited to monitoring. You do not limit your services to monitoring, and neither do most alarm companies. You provide sale, installation, inspection, service and monitoring, among other things. The only contract that will cover all those services and protect you when performing those services are the Standard Form All in One forms. These are the most up to date, thorough, comprehensive and recognized alarm industry forms available. It's almost a new year and it's time you upgraded your contracts. Without new contracts you aren't going to be as well protected as you could be and you won't be building the equity in your business that you could be.

***********************

Question: Dealer and CS on way to problem

*************************

Ken,

I'm a dealer with a central station. I have a building monitored for fire by the cs. The owners paid up their monitoring fees through October 31, 2014. They have since sold the building. They asked me if I would honor their monitoring payment for the new owner. I agreed that I would. I therefore had the new owner sign the cs contract with the understanding that if he didn't sign a contract with my company and pay the required quarterly fee starting November 1, 2014, the account would be cancelled effective October 31, 2014.

Am I obligated to send him a certified letter informing him of the cancellation date? Or, was my verbal statement enough? Does a signed cs contract bind me, or does it bind the cs? Thank you for any advice you can give me.

John

***************************

Answer

**************************

You should not have used the contract provided by the cs without first having the subscriber sign your company contract covering monitoring. The cs contracts are not really designed as standalone agreements because they should refer to the agreement the subscriber has with the dealer. In your case there is not dealer - subscriber agreement in place.

Using the cs form is going to get you into unnecessary trouble. You're much better off using only your own agreement and asking the cs to accept your agreement. If you use the Standard Form Agreements most central stations will accept that form and not require that you use the cs form. If your cs doesn't follow that practice then get a new cs. You need to worry about you, not the cs, at least not before considering your interests.

Regarding the predicament you put yourself in, read the cs contract that was signed. It no doubt refers to your agreement. Since you don't have any written agreement you can notify the subscriber that monitoring is not going to be performed. That's something you should do quickly. You don't need certified mail but you should communicate in a way that offers proof of the communication, not just that it was sent but its content. Do not provide monitoring or any other alarm services without a proper contract - you contract not someone elses, even the cs's form.

***********************

                                    Speaking Engagements

 

If you would like to schedule a free live video/webinar presentation for your association meeting or event contact

Eileen Wagda at 516 747 6700 x 312.