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Question
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Ken
Subscriber signs contract in his name only for a residential burglar alarm system. Then gets married. Short term relationship apparently because wife gets a Family Court Order of Protection against husband (Husband tries to kill wife). The Order of Protection requires the husband to vacate the house and gives the wife exclusive possession. Wife calls and wants alarm codes and Notification list changed. She sent us the Order of Protection.
What should we do??? Thanks.
Alan Cooper, President
APS Security Inc
Merrick, NY
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Answer
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This has a slight twist to the scenario where the husband and wife are your subscriber and one then wants to lock the other out. Here the husband is your subscriber. The wife, who will occupy the house pursuant to the Court order, has no contractual status with you.
The first thing I think you should do is put the wife under contract. She will need a Monitoring Contract and a Service Contract. By alarm codes I assume you mean the pass word to arm and disarm the system; she wants to change it. Once she signs a contract you should make the change. I am sure it's not your policy to give the subscriber a code to make that kind of change on her own, and you don't give out codes so that another alarm company can make the change.
If she isn't willing to sign a contract I would not continue to monitor the alarm unless the husband continues making the payments. If payment is in arrears, terminate the account. You don't need to be in the middle. The Order did not direct the husband to do anything regarding the alarm system, and you were not a party to that proceeding so you weren't ordered to do anything. If the wife happened to know who the locksmith was who installed the door locks I don't think she would even consider demanding that the locksmith return and change the locks at no cost, or at all. No reason you are under any duty to her unless she enters into a proper contract for your services.
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comment on lock out codes and programming
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Ken:
Please allow me to wade in on who owns the programming in the panel - an eight zone intrusion panel or a multi-thousand zone fire alarm panel, makes no difference. When the contractor sells a system to a customer the deal contemplates that the customer will be provided with a “working” system.
Without the programming in the panel the collection of electronic devices is not a “working” system. Once a system has been sold to the customer the vendor has no ownership in the programming!
However, I would be the first to state that if any contractor has maintenance and/or service responsibilities to a programmable system they should have the programming under their control! This is done by way of the installer’s or other lock out code. This should be clearly stated in a contract between the contractor and the customer! It should also be a requirement in the contract that at the expiration of the contract the contractor will provide to the owner or his designate a code that will allow access to the programming in the panel. AND the contract should relieve the initial contractor of any and all liability to the owner effective at the instant that the access code is provided.
A proper sales and installation contract will provide for transfer of ownership of the equipment transfers to the customer upon the customer fulfilling his obligations in the contract, one of which is payment for the system being provided. The contract should give the vendor the right to recover any goods, materials, fitting, wire, AND programming in the event of a default by the customer. If the customer doesn’t pay then he may well end up with a non working system.
Keep up the good work!
Dave Currie
Damar Security Systems
Sarnia On. N7T 5W4
www.damarsecurity.com
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Response
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Lots of electronic equipment is sold and installed in residences or businesses and neither the manufacturer or the installer provide software source codes or allow for programming changes other than those possible by using the "remote". I do agree that once sold a subscriber is entitled to be able to use the system. To avoid any confusion on the issue the Standard Form Contracts make it clear that souce codes and programming remains the property of the alarm company. The password is turned over only once the subscriber completes performance of the contract
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