KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Comments on if contract is important for medical alert / on complying with auto renewal notice / on complying with legal process / still time to reserve private meeting at ISC
June 10,  2021
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Comment on if contract is important for medical alert from article on May 28, 2021
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Ken
          Regarding your PERS article on May 29, 2021, we have a few stand-alone medical alert accounts and several others that have a personal medical pendant on their burg panel.
          Is the Residential All-in-One Agreement sufficient for both of these instances? 
          Also, I had a recent incident where a customer pressed his medical button and the CS contacted his list, which included his next door neighbor. The neighbor said to NOT dispatch EMS and the CS stopped all other calls. The customer lay on the floor until someone came by. He was of course very pissed. He stated he never gave us authority to call his neighbor, but we obviously didn't pull the number from nowhere. At the time we signed up his account, and most others, we would take the contact list (and at what point they wanted EMS dispatched) over the phone or at time of sale, but didn't have the customers sign off on the info.  Should I work on getting all customers signed off on their current list?
          Currently, I email all new customers a Welcome Packet that includes a form with site info, verification numbers, call lists, and any special notes.  They are supposed to respond via email to accept the information is correct. Most of them don't respond.  Is this an issue?
          Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Name withheld
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Response
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          The Residential All in One covers PERS, but not Medical Alert service.  K&K offers a Medical Alert contract which also covers other PERS services.   The PERS agreement comes for single state or nationwide use, and it comes in sale or lease format.  The forms are available at www.alarmcontracts.com
          The Call List is important for all alarm systems, and particularly important for medical alert and other PERS services. [We provide a Call List with the Standard Form Agreements at no additional charge, or you can use a Call List form provided by your central station] You need to stress the importance with your subscribers.  Often someone on the call list is going to be in a life or death situation, and the one affected is your subscriber.  You need the Call List in writing.  The default priority is First Responders and subscribers who want to deviate from that need to be documented carefully.
          I want to mention that Medical Alert services is not something you should be offering casually.  If you or your central station is not equipped to provide Medical Alert service then don’t offer it.  It’s as critical as commercial fire or residential fire.  In fact, all alarm service is important and often life – safety services, though some services have the potential for more significant risk and loss; Medical Alert is high on that list of critical services. 
          You should take immediate steps to get all Medical Alarm and PERS subscribers to sign a written Call List.  They should also be party to a proper written contract.  If you use electronic contract forms then the Call List should be considered as critical as the contract and other forms that must be signed electronically before the subscriber’s service is activated.
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Comment on complying with auto renewal notice from May 25, 2021
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Ken
          Comment on complying with auto renewal notice from May 25, 2021
Mailing certified letters at $5-7 each? Sure the postal service is very happy that you are willing to spend hundreds or thousands for letters.
Jason
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Response
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          I am convinced that Certified Mail RRR is actually one of the least effective ways of sending written communication.  Recipients often screen their mail by rejecting Certified Mail, leaving it unclaimed or simply not signing the RRR.  Regular first class mail is presumed to be delivered; that’s the law.  I find email even more reliable.  But, you must comply with a statute or a contract provision that addresses Notice.  It’s a mistake to “improve” the delivery method; failure to comply with the delivery method can be deemed to be no notice.
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Comment on complying with legal process from article on May 29, 2021
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Ken
          Requests for activity on alarm systems are clearly the purview of the Alarm Company as only the Alarm Company has access to these signals.  However, Video clips/recordings are usually only accessible to the Alarm Dealer if the password/access name has been provided by the customer. 
It would be interesting to know how to handle a FORMAL register in this instance.
Name withheld
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Response
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          I am not sure about your statement that only the alarm dealer has access to the signals.  That might be the case if you are accessing the panel for the panel history, but that’s not the only place alarm activity can be found.
          Central stations maintain alarm activity history, detailing the receipt of a signal and how it was handled at the central station.  These reports are the property of the central station, its proprietary records.  The central station activity report is almost always available to the alarm dealer, many of whom get the report automatically monthly, weekly or daily.  The central station activity report may also be available to the subscriber when the subscriber has access to a portal with alarm activity logged. 
          Video and audio data is not different if that data is transmitted to the central station for storage.  The Standard Form Agreements provide that the data is the property of the central station.
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ISC schedule
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          I’ll be at ISC in July and we are now scheduling private meetings and participation in round table discussions, topics and guest speakers TBA.  Time for private meetings are limited so please reach out to Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 987 8428 or SSpector@Kirschenbaumesq.com.  Concierge Clients with appointments are all set. 
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To order up to date Standard Form Alarm /  Security / Fire and related Agreementsclick here:  www.alarmcontracts.com
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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
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com