KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and white list ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ************************************ More on police response / Should you accept money for nothing / sign up for webinars now April 27, 2020 ******************** Title:Do-It-Together is better than Do-It-Yourself When: April 28, 2020 at 12 PM ET Description: Postponed or canceled installs? Learn how to leverage technology to provide technician-assisted, self-installed systems; products that make it possible, how marketing strategy to bring in leads, and how your techs can provide remote support from the safety of their homes Presented by: Jake Voll, President, SS&SI Dealer Network. www.ssandsi.com jake@ssandsi.com 866-364-0030 Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq. Who should attend: Owners, general managers, sales and service managers, sales personnel and tech support Register Here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/470346191906645773 ******************* Title: Is NICET certification for me? When: April 29, 2020 12 PM ET Description: Is NICET certification right for your company? We will explore the accreditations, what states and agencies require them; how to apply for and take the exam, finalize the application and maintain your certification. Presented by: Peter Goldring, Principal consultant of Peter M. Goldring Consulting LLC. GoldringProtection.com pmgoldring.com 516-640-1410. Peter holds NICET IV Fire Alarm accreditation and has 36 years of experience with engineered fire alarms. He holds FDNY Smoke Detector Maintenance, Service and Inspection, Auxiliary Radio Communication Systems and Expeditor Certificates of Fitness and is a volunteer firefighter in Monmouth County, NJ Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Who should attend: Owners, managers, senior techs and those interested in NICET credentials Register Here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/662194478345225228 ********************* More on police response from the April 23, 2020 article ********************* Ken This is in response to the question of police response in the April 23, 2020 article. Las Vegas and Clark County, NV have had a code in place since the 1970’s. Traditionally we started out as a Private investigations Firm and grew into the alarm business starting in the 1950’s. We have always had alarm verification by our own in house guards, so when the City and county put non response in place in the 1970’s we were already prepared for the lack of response. What having your own response team in place affords a company is to offset revenues by offering Guard services such as Standing and Roving Patrols. Now you have grown your company by increasing revenue and having the ability to respond faster when an alarm triggers, the patrol guards can break away from a patrol to respond quicker and verify when there is an incident, This usually afford a faster response from the police department when there is an actual break-in. Video surveillance is an option but verification can be sticky when the Central Station operator cannot identify the person onsite and the police will still keep it on the low priority list. I hope my input helps. Please post this Anonymously ******************** Response ******************** Guard response and runner service, when offered, can add significantly to the subscriber’s charges for service. It also doesn’t offer remote viewing for the subscriber in non-alarm situations. That said, I agree that nothing beats an actual on-site person to verify the alarm. It is surprising to me that so many alarm dealers question the Guard Response and Runner Service provisions in the All in One agreements. When they tell me that don’t offer it my response is usually “If the customer wants to pay for it can you arrange it?” Generally they agree they could and would; the provision is retained. Yes, some alarm dealers do not want to be bothered by guard or runner service and they do take it out of the agreement. I think that the more services you offer the better, as long as the customer will pay for the services. More alarm dealers should connect with guard companies. Don’t worry, they won’t steal your business and they will be more concerned that you will steal their business. ********************* Should you accept money for nothing ********************* Ken My customer needs central station monitoring due to the homeowners policy. It’s a large residence. In my opinion money is not any problem, its stubbornness. They need service and called me about it; the system won’t communicate. It’s an Alarmnet Radio transmitter failure. To stop the system from beeping the homeowner has disconnected all power and disconnected all the batteries; system is totally dead at this point. The system is totally incapable of transmitting anything at this point. I quoted a price for the repair. The customer thought the price fair but said they were looking to sell the house and didn’t want to spend money to fix the system now. They also said they would continue paying the monthly monitoring charge. Should I continue to accept the money or refuse it? Both parties know that there is no monitoring going on. My gut feeling is to refuse it and terminate everything. After thinking about this scenario collecting and knowing not supplying service I am going to terminate this account today. I feel the exposure is too great. God forbid a fire, loss of life and dealing with the homeowners insurance and who knows how many lawyers. I feel much better than the few hundred dollars yearly I would be receiving. I am guessing you will recommend collecting the monitoring money, but I respectively disagree with that suggestion. George. ******************** Response ******************** Good guess. I say keep the money. Your customer is under contract for monitoring and the All in One requires the customer to keep the system operational, not you. While this customer doesn’t have a Repair Service Plan, and certainly not a “lifetime warranty” and does not have to use you to make the repair, the customer is under contract to continue making the payment for monitoring. You should be concerned with liability, but you address that by notifying the customer that the system is not functioning, needs repair, and that the customer has an obligation to continue making payment for monitoring. You can terminate the monitoring with the central station if you want until the system is repaired. That mitigation in damages is why you can recover only 80% of the balance of the All in One contract term if the subscriber decides to breach. Incidentally, the subscriber is already in breach because the subscriber has the obligation to keep the system operational so it can be monitored. If it’s been a long time customer or the contract term is over and you’re in renewal then I would not continue to invoice the subscriber for monitoring that you know is not being performed. Your scenario did not make clear if there was a contract term in place. ****************** Reaching K&K during the lockdown ********************** During this crisis the most efficient way to reach our attorneys is via email. You can also call and if not picked up, leave a message and your call will be returned promptly. Here are a few departments to contact directly: alarm / security / pers / fire department: Ken - Ken@Kirschenbaumesq.com or call and leave a message with return number at 516 747 6700 x 301 health care professionals: Jennifer Kirschenbaum,Esq 516 747 6700 x 302; jennifer@kirschenbaumesq.com Alarm contracts: Eileen Wagda 516 747 6700 x 312 Alarm licensing: Alison Gallup,Esq 516 747 6700 x 317 AGallup@Kirschenbaumesq.com; or Eileen Wagda, Licensing Administrator, 516 747 6700 x 312 EWagda@Kirschenbaumesq.com Employment issues: Kieran Bastible 516 747 6700 x 315 kbastible@kirschenbaumesq.com; or Jennifer Kirschenbaum,Esq Concierge Alarm Clients have full access through our Concierge Program Coordinator, Stacy Spector, Esq 516 747 6700 x 304 or SSpector@Kirschenbaumesq.com Collections: [courts are shut down at this time, so don't expect much progress. We will however continue to prepare papers on our end so that we will be ready when the courts normalize] Kathleen Lampert 516 747 6700 x 319 KLampert@Kirschenbaumesq.com Pending litigation: Caroline Wallet,Esq CWallett@Kirschenbaumesq.com 516 747 6700 x 305 and Maureen Biel,Esq 516 747 6700 x 303 MBeil@Kirschenbaumesq,com Bankruptcy and debt collection issues: Steve Sheinwald,Esq 516 747 6700 x 309 SSheinwald@Kirschenbaumesq.com or Scott Dillon,Esq 516 747 6700 x 318 **************** To order up to date Standard Form Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements, click here:www.alarmcontracts.com ************************* CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** NOTICE: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles *********************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE
This area is reserved for alarm classifieds, alarm company announcements, solicitations, offers, etc. There is no charge to post a listing here.Include your contact information, phone, email and web site. If you would like to submit a post, please send an email to ken@kirschenbaumesq.com. To create a reciprocal link to our website, click here. ************************************************ Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** 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 www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
