Need advice on alarm companies.
 

We currently have ADT alarm company as our service provider. Service????? :o Their service, in my opinion stinks. We have an ongoing problem with the system and their technicians cannot come for 7 days (That's SEVEN). Then the waiting window on the scheduled day is 5 hours. (That's FIVE hours). They have been here trying to fix the problem, but it continues. They charge $25 each time they come despite the fact that we have a service warranty. Quite the operation HUH?

Do any of you have any other suggestions for alarm companies? Will the ADT system work with other service providers?

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

Talk Host - how necessary is a home security system? Isn't TV a gated community?

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

NO, the Villages is not a gated community. There are gates, but the streets are public. Anybody can come in at any time. They simply drive up to the guard shack and smile. The guard smiles back and opens the gate. As you can imagine, this is a topic of great discussion here in The Villages.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

Oh, didn't know that. What are the crime statistics in TV?

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

Crime statistics? No statistics that I know of. There are burglaries. I have heard of at least 30 or 40. There was one homicide, that I know of. There are lots of traffic accidents. The Villages newspaper on occasion will print a story about crimes in the Villages, but as you might guess, being owned by the developer, they don't give it much play. There is no local news at all on the Villages radio station, nor is there a talk show of any kind. Talk of The Villages is the only uncensored media for news and comment.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

We just had a presentation on an alarm system that is VERY interesting. It uses technology to provide a barrier which if crossed sounds an alarm that will wake the dead. You turn it on with your phone and if there is a problem the system sends a message to either you or your designee. One drawback is that there is no central monitoring but the system is portable and if sensibly set up will provide excellent protection against burglars. We are seriously considering purchasing it.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

Just wanted to point out the homicide I think Jan was referring to wasn't a random incident, a homeowners daughter invited the perps to the house.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

You are correct. I mentioned it because I want people to understand that this is not the womb. It is a real place, with real people and real incidents.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

jt, Do you have the name of the alarm that you mentioned, and the cost. Info Info Thanks

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

My apologies..somehow I overlooked your post! The security system is from Metro Crime Prevention of Florida and uses an interesting technology. You can contact them at 1-800-771-7477. Their local rep is a guy named Joe Pine.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

We have ADT in our home. There was a bit of confusion in the beginning because we used the internet to order. However it was the wrong system. Now we got the right one. If our phone lines are cut an alarm will go to central control and the police will be notified. We also have panic buttons for ambulance and fire and also has back up battery in case we lose power.

We are very pleased with this product and we get a discount on our home insurance and if our home is every robbed ADT will pay our deductible up to $500

Is there crime in the villages? Break ins and or walk ins while people are at home. They snatch jewelry, handbags and whatever they can carry out. Some purse snatching around the holidays in shopping centers. Haven't heard of any armed robberies but I cannot be sure if there were none.

The question is will there be more coming? I believe so. Thats why the Alarm system.
I have been here over 8 yrs. The Villages advertises how rich its residents are. We look like we are living the life of the "Rich and the Famous" We are very attractive targets.

With this new vote coming up in Jan. on amending the amendment you have to be careful. I am told the counties are currently rolling back millage, how much revenue can they afford to lose? The police departments in Lake, Sumter and I am not sure about Marion are on a hiring freeze. If it goes through as it was previously written their budgets will be short, they will be understaffed. There will be not enough police officers.
Just their presence deters crime.

I understand that a judge sent the bill back to be rewritten because it was written in such a way as to be confusing.

Me, I do not want to lose my 3% cap on property taxes a yr. As it was written I would have voted NO. A lot of times they put one thing in a bill that makes sense and they put in something else no one wants. That bill was trying to be everything to everbody.

I would much rather have a well staffed police dept than having to defend myself. I'm a darn good shot. Only if I can remember where the safety is. Hmmmm. But really I am getting a little too old for that kind of excitement.

Re: Need advice on alarm companies.
 

Just because ait is gated doesn't mean that it is safe.

Don't do it!!!!!!
 

Don't do it, What good is an alarm system that calls your cell phone. Picture this: You set your alarm and go to bed, at 2am a crackhead breaks into your house to steal your stuff, money and possably even your life. All this time your "alarm system" is calling your cell phone (which you can't answer anyway) to tell you there is a crackhead in your house. Come on, $1.00 a day will SAVE YOUR LIFE if there was an issue.

Challenger Security System
 

Apparently you missed the part where he mentioned the alarm that goes off that "would wake the dead." It will do this in addition to calling your cell phone if you happen to be out when the break-in occurs.

The system is the Challenger Security System sold by Suncoast Security. We're thinking about getting a home security system and got "the talk" from these folks today. It seems rather straightforward and looks like something that would deter burglers, home invaders or whatever. The alarm sound IS blood curdling.

Does anyone have this? If so, are there any problems with false alarms or anything? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I have that alarm system and am very happy with it. I don't know anything about a phone being involved. It just plugged in to an electrical outlet and if someone forces a door (or even opens an outside door) or breaks a window it sounds a very loud alarm. I've set it off a few times accidentally without turning the system off taking my dog out the front door. You can also set it's sensitivity. I remember during the tornado we had here it went off about 2 times during the night Basically it's just one piece and ours is sitting on our tv table towards the center of the house. I believe the system cost us around $800 which is the purchase price. No ongoing fees. A very good system.

John

Your missing the point!!!
 

In an emergency, seconds count. It doesn't matter how loud it is. What matters is that the authorities are notified in the event on an emergency. What happens if you have a medical emergency? You set of your alarm that will wake the dead, it calls your cell phone , and you are laying on the bathroom floor having a heart attack. What good is it now? $800.00 would pay the monitoring for almost 3 years on a real alarm system, not to mention the homeowners insurance discounts. Trust me, I'm in the life safety business. I see the worst all the time. These systems that your looking at DO NOT SAVE LIVES!!!!

Great System
 

I have this system and love it. Regardless of what system you go with, DO NOT put up decals advertising that you have alarm protection. That only alerts and invites the bad guys to cut your wires. The element of surprise is what you want. When the alarm goes off, they don't know if someone (law enforcement, etc.) will show up in 3 minutes, 10 minutes, or not at all, and they are not going to wait around to find out. You don't want to get them out of your house....you don't want them in there in the first place.

This system also allows you to have a chime mode during the times when you are at home, but maybe in another room out of sight of the doors. This is great because you know when a door is opened and can check to see who is coming in without having the ear-splitting alarm go off.

You have got to be kidding me!!! Keep the bad guy in the house? What are you crazy? Don't Put up window stickers? Stickers are your 1st line of defense. If a bad guy saw stickers on your house and none on your neighbors house, he would go to the neighbors. As far as the phone wires being cut, If you had a real alarm system from a real alarm company, you would have a cellular radio to transmit signals and no phone wires to cut. So, if I understand, you have a "wake the dead noise maker" and don't want the bad guy to know you have it so you don't put window stickers up? Or is it that you know that your system is below par and you don't want the bad guy to know you have it because it is NOT MONITORED and if he picked your house no one would come to help?
Life safety is what it is all about. DON'T keep the bad guy in, DO put up window stickers, DO have a monitored security system.

Did anybody see a post advocating keeping the "bad guy in the house?" I must have missed it...

So, if EVERYBODY in TV would just put on a sticker (system or none) than TV would be crime free and nobody would actually need any alarm systems.

If some punk manages to pry a door open and an ear piercing alarm goes off it's not likely he'll stick around long enough to even consider if it's monitored or not.

"You don't want to get them out of your house....you don't want them in there in the first place."

This is a lone from Dillywho's post.

I'm not an idiot. I know what I read,

Apparently you do not read (or maybe comprehend) as good as you thought.

Hey, its your life not mine. I only speak from experience and true statistics.
I could'nt tell you how many people call us after the fact. Many times after a catostrophic event.

Is that LONE as in RANGER ??????....:girlneener:

What about life safety ? Fire and medical emergencies . As far as your comment on window stickers, the university of California did an experiment. They put a winding sticker on every home in a subdivision , guess what happened ? Burglary went down 85%.
The facts are the facts.

I never will understand why people, such as SecurityGuy, have to be so snotty and contentious with other posters.

If people are not as informed as professionals, wouldn't you think professionals would be a little more genteel with them?

If SecurityGuy turned up at my house to sell me a system, and talked like that face to face with me, he would be out on the street.

I suggest you either tone down calling people idiots, or do it someplace else. I left SecurityGuy's post here so all could see what he would be like to deal with.

Tony,

I agree with you that Security Guy is agitated easily and is probably not the best salesman. Just wanted to point out that he didn't call anyone an idiot. What he said was "Do you think I am an idiot?".

Respectfully -- and thanks for watching out for our wonderful forum . . .

Excuse Me?
 

I don't really know what your point is, but mine was that you want to keep them from entering in the first place. Once they are in, it is too late.

As for not advertising that you have a system, that statement was from a former law enforcement person so you do not lose the element of surprise whether you have a monitored system or not. The whole idea is that once the alarm goes off, they won't stick around to find out which kind.

The "alarm" is not intended for fire, medical emergencies, etc. I do have a separate system for that right now which is monitored. They ask you what your emergency is so I don't think that would really work for burglary. I don't think they would tell them that they were just there to steal. SunCoast does have a dial-up that will work for that and I plan to get it when they come out with the new one.

Talk Host is right.....there is no need for you to be so hateful. I am truly sorry that I offended you. Perhaps you are not the only one who has answers, though. Many on this site also have security experience.

As someone who has owned 9 homes with two of them alarmed I think it best to take some of the money that you would spend on an alarm system with monitoring and buy better home owners' insurance. Alarms break after time. Police response time is slow. Neighbors rarely will take any action. They go off by accident or due to a sensor problem.

The first time we bought the alarm. It went off a few times for various reasons. Police showed uo 15-20 minutes later when they were called by the monitoring company. Got two warnings and next time we would be fined so we stopped using the alarm.

Second time the alarm came with the house and after a year it started going off on it's own. Also a pain when we vacationed and had to train others how to arm/ disarm the system. Most asked us to leave it off. After two failed attempts to fix some problems I the wires to the sin unit out of the walll in frustration. There were other issues too with a lousy monitoring company.

We got a pair of killer Yorkies and they proved to be the best security we ever had plus the love they give us is priceless. Should any burglar survive the ankle biting of my two fierce guardians (assuming they survive the laughing fit after hearing two small dogs growling), my Smith & Wesson ( it is really a Glock ) security system is instantly put into action. When we are away I do not worry. Thry are only possessions. I do not get attached to possessions. For a fraction of whist it costs me for alarms I just added a rider on my home Owners' policy to pay me full replacement value for the more expensive items. I also now buy homes that are difficult to get to. Dead end streets in locations that do not provide easy access for quick getaways. Lights, both inside and outside, on timers that allow both static and random times are a great investment for those times when you are away from home.

The main deterrent is the alarm company sign in front of the house and the stickers on the windows. Why break into an alarmed house when the one next door is a softer target?

Why respond to a 4 year old thread ?