Other Eircom Phonewatch

[Liamos]

I don't know if this is the correct forum. If not please redirect me.

I had two sales people from clearwire in my house last night for an hour trying to make me sign up for Eircom Phonewatch. The deal was €599 plus €25 per month for 3 years. Basically they were saying this was a one off offer and that by going directly to Eircom I would probably be charged €2500.

What I object to is the fact that you must sign up there and then. They were quite pushy and almost couldn't understand our decision to say 'no' we wanted time to think about it. Has anyone else had this experience and also is it not likely I can probably get the same deal off Eircom in my own time? Thanks

 

[AlbacoreA]

Sounds dodgy to me.

 

[jack2009]

I am not 100% on my figues here but I thought eircom phone watch was between 200 and 300 for installation and 29 euro per month.

The installation charges may vary depending on the type of system you currently have.

However, the fact that they were so pushy should have alarm bells ringing as to it not being 100%!

 

[alt1]

The deal was €599 plus €25 per month for 3 years. Basically they were saying this was a one off offer and that by going directly to Eircom I would probably be charged €2500.

You would have to pay more than the €599 for the alarm but all your doors and windows would be alarmed. They are selling a trap pack which includes 3 motion detectors plus 3 contacts. not much of an alarm to be honest. No live outside bell either. Most people who dont know what they are doing will just buy the alarm off them as there sales people sell it well, even if half them dont know much about alarms.

Something they dont tell you is the alarm comes with a dummy external bell box which means if down the road after your 3 years monitoring @ €25 per month you decide to stop having the alarm monitored and your alarm goes off it will only ring in the house, plus they dont say anything about your phone line that will be used to monitor the alarm. On most houses this is easily cut, which means you may as well not have the alarm monitored as a cut phone line will not ring the monitoring station to alert them your house is being broken into.

 

[Claimsman]

You would have to pay more than the €599 for the alarm but all your doors and windows would be alarmed. They are selling a trap pack which includes 3 motion detectors plus 3 contacts. not much of an alarm to be honest. No live outside bell either. Most people who dont know what they are doing will just buy the alarm off them as there sales people sell it well, even if half them dont know much about alarms.

Something they dont tell you is the alarm comes with a dummy external bell box which means if down the road after your 3 years monitoring @ €25 per month you decide to stop having the alarm monitored and your alarm goes off it will only ring in the house, plus they dont say anything about your phone line that will be used to monitor the alarm. On most houses this is easily cut, which means you may as well not have the alarm monitored as a cut phone line will not ring the monitoring station to alert them your house is being broken into.

This system does comply to is199???..In relation to the three years monitoring expiring, is it a case that if you dont renew the monitoring, the alarm can be programmed to call numbers of your choice when it is activated??? In addition, can a real external bell be added to the box with relative ease?? Thanks.

 

[alt1]

This system does comply to is199???..

This standard is long gone, the standard is EN50131:2006.
Comply or not, 3 motion plus 3 contacts is a very basic alarm. Most people are just happy with the price but you have to admit yourself it is not much of an alarm.

In relation to the three years monitoring expiring, is it a case that if you dont renew the monitoring, the alarm can be programmed to call numbers of your choice when it is activated???

If you get the simon panel installed it can be programmed to dial one number and omit a series of tones down the line to let you know the alarm is going off, same with the concord panel they use.
There hard wire system are different, If it is the HKC panel you can program it to text your phone and 16 other peoples to let them know the alarm is going off. You will even get a verified alarm from the beams in the house. They also use the CS250 panel, with this you can fit a voice dialer to ring you or 3 other people if the alarm activates.

In addition, can a real external bell be added to the box with relative ease?? Thanks.

With the wire simon you need a different type of bell box that is not freely available to anyone. The concord uses a HKC bell box but with both panels you need to know what your doing to install a live external bell on these systems plus a cable will need to be run to where you want the live external bell.

There hard wire alarms are simple to fit a live external bell box to, any installer will have knowledge of these systems.

 

[Claimsman]

Thanks alt1....It is a fairly basic alarm. Its a good job i dont have much worth stealing!I guess the main thing with household alarms is that they provide a sufficient deterrent.

 

[alt1]

Thanks alt1....It is a fairly basic alarm. Its a good job i dont have much worth stealing!I guess the main thing with household alarms is that they provide a sufficient deterrent.

Your welcome Claimsman,

Yes that is true, but if your using an alarm to protect your home and family it would be money well spent if you got a few more devices installed.
If it is there simon alarm you have installed you can always add other devices onto the alarm at a later date so all is not lost..