DIY and Discounted Monitoring - One Alarm Co. Fights Back - May 13, 2014

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Ken,
    I’d like to throw in my 2 cents worth regarding Do It Yourself (DIY) alarm systems, discount monitoring, and self-monitoring by government agencies.  The answer to combating this problem is simple,  but sadly, nearly impossible.
    When someone who I don’t monitor calls me for a service call, for example to replace a system battery, I simply refuse to do the service call.  I explain to them I can’t stay in business by replacing a $40 battery every 5 or 6 years.  If they are monitored by a competitor from out of town they will typically complain that they have a trip charge and that their service call are very expensive.  My reply is that I have no control over how much their current alarm company charges.  I do have control over what I charge and my service fees, and usually monitoring fees are cheaper.
    If they use one of the on line discount monitoring centers they tell me they are only paying $10 a month for monitoring, why are my monitoring fees so much more expensive.  I tell them in order to conduct service calls I have to pay for technicians, vans, tools, insurance and other overhead that your monitoring center doesn’t.  The only way I can afford these expenses is partly from the monitoring fees I collect.  I let them know that I too could charge $10 a month for monitoring but would have to close down my service department to do so.
    In all cases I finish by telling the customer that conducting a service call on a system monitored by a competitor is essentially helping them compete against me and will eventually put me out of business.  Most callers understand and are upset at the other guy.  (That’s why they called me in the first place.)  They realize we are the better deal and…, once we have an all in one contract in place, we’ll do the service call.
    If every reputable alarm company endorsed this policy the DIY systems and discount monitoring would become a thing of the past.  Unfortunately, there usually is a company that will take the call.
    But for us, for every $100 service call we lose, we get 2 or 3 take over accounts.
Regards,
Tony Barlow, Pres./CEO
North Coast Signal Inc.
Fort Bragg, CA
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