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Tortious Interference - Cease And Desist Letter
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Ken
    I was with a client this week who gave me some information and I want share.  Our client was a takeover from a company who "sales person A" was the owner of.  "Sales person A" disappeared and is now back and working for or a partner of a large alarm company.  Even the owner of the company has called  my client.   
    They have already given a quote to the client to update the system. He also told my client that my business is on the way out and people are leaving me left and right....  I explained it wasn't true and the client understood what was going on. I even have a copy of the quote for $16,000.00.   
    Is there any repercussions here?  Torturous interference?  Are we able to send a cease and desist letter?
LL
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RESPONSE
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    Let me get the facts straight first.  Your subscriber is a "take over" from another company.  The former owner of that company now works for another larger alarm company and the former owner and the company owner are reaching out to your "take  over" subscriber.  
    Since you didn't buy the subscriber you won't have a contractual restriction to rely on.  The former owner is free to solicit the subscriber, however may not disparage you or your company when doing so.  The disparagement could amount to tortious interference, assuming you have a contract with the subscriber.  
    My advice is wait to see if there is pattern and if more of your subscribers are targeted then we may have to commence legal action.  A "cease and desist" letter isn't going to be worth the stamp.  It will be ignored because there is no contract to enforce.  I am reminded by the scene in the Good Bad and Ugly when Eli Wallach was in the bath tub and the guy comes in to shoot him.  The guy kept talking until Wallach shot him, telling him "if you're going to shoot, shoot, don't talk".  If you have a lawsuit to bring, bring it.  
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CA AUTO-RENEWAL NOTICE
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Ken
    We are an alarm company in CA, and we would like to modify the CA cancellation form to meet the new CA law.
Please let me know what we need to do.
 Thank you,
 Julie 
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RESPONSE
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    California's new auto-renewal law goes into effect January 1, 2017.  The law is pretty clear:
    Section 7599.54 of the Business and Professions Code
     (9) For agreements entered into on or after January 1, 2017, that include an automatic renewal provision renewing the agreement for a period of more than one month, a clear and distinct disclosure shall be included separate from the terms and conditions of the agreement advising the consumer that the agreement he or she is entering into contains an automatic renewal provision. The disclosure shall include the length of time of the renewal term and specify that failure to provide notification of to the licensee, as required in the agreement, will result in the automatic renewal of the agreement. The consumer shall acknowledge being advised of the automatic renewal provision by signing or initialing the disclosure. The disclosure may be included on the same document as the three-day right to cancel form required by Section 1689.7 of the Civil Code. The automatic renewal provision shall be void and invalid without a separate acknowledgment of the disclosure by the consumer.
    You can include the notice in the cancellation form, though I have suggested that you get a separate acknowledgment.  When we send you the cancellation form we do provide for the subscriber to initial receipt, but that is not a requirement of the cancellation form by law.  Seems if you include the auto-renewal language you will need a signature or at least initial from the subscriber.
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MORE ON HONEYWELL ON HOLD
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Ken
    In response to Tom's comment below, well Tom, You arec ertainly the exception and most likely work for honey well.  Again 15-20 minutes is the norm for honey well. While dsc does have long hold times 6-12 minutes; honey well still takes the boobie prize.  Once on the phone with the tech's...no problem, they are great.  It's the hold times that suck.  Normally when we call in (not often) we usually end up with a second or third line tech since we know how to change the clocks.  Why should I join a dealer program...just to get the service I expect?  You must have a different phone number to call into.
Mike
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 We are not on hold with Honeywell more than one or two minutes.  When we installed DSC, there’s was consistently 30+ minutes on hold, and then you’d get a stoned-or-stupid “technician” who was usually clueless.  This was a big reason we switched, and a big reason we signed up with Honeywell’s Preferred Dealer Program.  We get excellent tech support, we get national-level pricing (same as ADT does for example) and training in our office if we don’t want to fight the crowds at ADI.  My point here is that these big manufacturers are providing support for thousands upon thousands of alarm technicians, many of who don’t bother to RTFM (read the f*** manual).  I have personally witnessed a tech calling to ask how to set a clock on a panel; he does not work for me anymore.  Everyone demands cheaper products and wants better service and complains about cheaper companies and won’t join a dealer program WTH do you expect??
Tom