KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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follow up on emergency calls with no contract / insurance recommendation /  alarm co accused of theft
August 23, 2017
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follow up on emergency calls with no contract from July 20, 2017 article
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Ken
  NO CONTRACT = NO SERVICE, NO INSTALLATION, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING
    I had a potential claim from almost the same set of circumstances.
    Required fire alarm in a nursing home, trouble annunciation device sounding and won't silence, national alarm provider is 4 hours away from arriving at job site.  Nursing home manager calls local alarm company who is sympathetic to the issue and agrees to send a tech. Not only the first tech, but the second tech is not able to help and calls a third tech. 
     By the end of this exercise, the receptionist (who is 8 feet away from the fire control panel) files a workmans comp claim, claiming she was electrocuted (while 8 feet away I remind you). The receptionist, I should add is a prior (expert) workmans comp claimant.  The workmans comp carrier paid this receptionist for 4 months before commencing a subrogation case, not to mention seeing the workmans comp doctor (another expert at gaming the system) every week adding to the claim amount.   
    Needless to say that I did not pay one red cent!
    Carriers other than SARRG, would have paid and the alarm company would have paid in terms of renewal rates for years.
    Back to why I wrote this, besides that the alarm company shouldn't have agreed to go if they did not have a trained person for the job, the alarm company DID NOT present when the first tech showed up a T&M service agreement with the standard industry language.
    NO CONTRACT = NO SERVICE, NO INSTALLATIONS, NO MONITORING, NO REPAIRS.
Bart A. Didden,  Executive Claims Manager
Security America Risk Retention Group - SARRG
Security America Risk Purchasing Group LLC - SARPG
877-872-1266
bdidden@securityamericarrg.com 
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Response
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    I agree.  If you don't have a proper contract - and that would be one of the All in One agreements, don't provide any service.  It's the emergency repair service that's going to get you into trouble.  Are you providing monitoring using only the Monitoring Contract provided by the central station?  That's another common mistake.  You need your own contract - and you need a new central station for giving you such a bum steer and sending you what the central station needs and ignorning what you need.  
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insurance recommendation
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Ken,
    We just signed up with Philadelphia- what is your experience with them, if any? Also is there any other firms besides First Mercury and Harford to definitely stay away from?
Thank you,
Roman 
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Response
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    Philly is a good company; it's claims department is on the ball from what I can see.  I haven't had the pleasure of having to deal with First Mercury or Hartford in some time, so not sure if things have changed there; certainly couldn't be worse.  I think First Mercury is handled by Crum and Foster now, so its guidelines apply.  I'm still not prepared to recommend them.  Sarrg is also a good choice if you qualify for the plan.
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alarm co accused of theft
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Ken, 
    We were accused of theft by a tenant in an account we service. The tenant is a large wireless company whose name rhymes with horizon. We entered the space with the approval of the management company to perform a final inspection with the City, using the key we were given. Upon entering the space, the burglar alarm went off. We waited for the owner to arrive which they did, within about five minutes. At that point the customer accused my guys of stealing several cell phone covers claiming he had just done inventory and knows what was in stock. My techs told the customer that they were at the front door waiting for the police to arrive the entire time and that no one else had entered the space while they were there. They (my techs) asked the customer to please look in the company vehicle that they arrived in. The customer said no. They asked the customer to please call the police if he felt a crime was commited and that they (the police) could search the vehicle. The customer declined. At that point the city arrived, performed the inspection and we all left. 
    I called the management company to explain what had happened and ask her advice on how to proceed. I told her we would be willing to take lie detector tests to prove our innocence. She didn't have any idea what to do. Three days later she called me back and cancelled service. The large tenant had called her with his story.
    Can anything be done here or should I just move on? Dollar value on the accounts was maybe 3k a year plus a tenant buildlout were were just starting. I feel I have been slandered by this company and I would like to do something about it. Just not sure it makes sense or that it isn't opening a can of worms. One of the techs has been with me for 6 years and the other is a relative. Both are very eager to do anything to prove their innocence.
Anon in fla
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Response
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    So the management company, your subscriber, canceled its contract because its tenant called to complain about the theft.  
    You could hold your subscriber to the contract.  Your employees were not arrested and certainly not convicted.  Unless the subscriber's contract permitted cancellation there is no right to cancel.  If you have our Standard Form Agreement updated with the arbitration clause send it over for collection.  Or, forget about it and move on.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com