S
sueellen
Guest
First a warning about their wirefree system: I’ve had one for 5 years and it’s been nothing but trouble. The batteries in the sensors are constantly running out. In the beginning they blamed this on a batch of faulty batteries that they were supplied with. They wouldn’t replace all the batteries as a precaution, they wanted to wait until each individual battery to run out, which meant me taking a day off work every time it happened. It also means that all the batteries are now at varying levels of power and one of them pops its clogs every 4 months or so
Next a warning about their maintenance contract. I rang them last week to get a technician to replace yet another dead battery, when I was told that my contract only entitled me to one call-out per six month period, and that since I had had a battery replaced four months before, I would either have to wait another 2 months or pay a EUR80 fee for the call out (as well as a charge for a new battery which they charge me for every time). When I pointed out that if it their system was up to scratch I shouldn’t need to have technicians call out so often, I was told that I was “only” paying for a basic monitoring and maintenance service, and that if I didn’t wanted better service I should switch up to the more expensive option.
Thirdly a warning about their monitoring service. My alarm went off a few weeks ago, at 4.30 on a friday. Because of the time, it happened that the three keyholders, plus myself were driving home from work. Phonewatch did manage to get an answer in my mother’s house, but it was only my younger brother who isn’t named as a keyholder. Despite the fact that he wasn’t a keyholder, they considered their duty to be done and didn’t even follow up with another call. Both myself and my mother arrived home 5 minutes after the alarm went off, so a follow up call could have sorted things out quite easily. As it was I spent half an hour on the phone to phonewatch trying to get someone to answer the phone. Nobody on the helpline or the monitoring centre was answering the phone. I understood when I signed up that the Guards would be sent out in the event of an alarm activation, but there was no sign of them
Fourthly a warning about their options. After the above incident I realised I was wasting my money on their monitoring service. I sourced an autodialer on the internet for $200 that will ring up to 9 numbers if the alarm goes off, so I rang phonewatch to get a quote for a maintenance only contract. I was told that they have no maintenance only contract, that if I wanted my alarm maintained I would have to pay for monitoring too (they admitted that the majority of the EUR211 I pay goes towards monitoring) and when I rang ADT to see if they would take over they maintenance, they told me that Eircom have their wireless system made specially for them so I wouldn’t be able to get anyone else to look after it for me.
I’m paying EUR 211 per year for this “service”, on top of the £700 or so that I paid for the system to begin with. As far as I can see the only way to avoid throwing good money after bad is to save up for a new alarm from a more flexible, customer oriented company, and throw the phonewatch decorations adorning my walls into the bin. And try not too get too angry when I hear them waffling on about “peace of mind” in their ads.
Can anybody recommend a good alarm company?
Next a warning about their maintenance contract. I rang them last week to get a technician to replace yet another dead battery, when I was told that my contract only entitled me to one call-out per six month period, and that since I had had a battery replaced four months before, I would either have to wait another 2 months or pay a EUR80 fee for the call out (as well as a charge for a new battery which they charge me for every time). When I pointed out that if it their system was up to scratch I shouldn’t need to have technicians call out so often, I was told that I was “only” paying for a basic monitoring and maintenance service, and that if I didn’t wanted better service I should switch up to the more expensive option.
Thirdly a warning about their monitoring service. My alarm went off a few weeks ago, at 4.30 on a friday. Because of the time, it happened that the three keyholders, plus myself were driving home from work. Phonewatch did manage to get an answer in my mother’s house, but it was only my younger brother who isn’t named as a keyholder. Despite the fact that he wasn’t a keyholder, they considered their duty to be done and didn’t even follow up with another call. Both myself and my mother arrived home 5 minutes after the alarm went off, so a follow up call could have sorted things out quite easily. As it was I spent half an hour on the phone to phonewatch trying to get someone to answer the phone. Nobody on the helpline or the monitoring centre was answering the phone. I understood when I signed up that the Guards would be sent out in the event of an alarm activation, but there was no sign of them
Fourthly a warning about their options. After the above incident I realised I was wasting my money on their monitoring service. I sourced an autodialer on the internet for $200 that will ring up to 9 numbers if the alarm goes off, so I rang phonewatch to get a quote for a maintenance only contract. I was told that they have no maintenance only contract, that if I wanted my alarm maintained I would have to pay for monitoring too (they admitted that the majority of the EUR211 I pay goes towards monitoring) and when I rang ADT to see if they would take over they maintenance, they told me that Eircom have their wireless system made specially for them so I wouldn’t be able to get anyone else to look after it for me.
I’m paying EUR 211 per year for this “service”, on top of the £700 or so that I paid for the system to begin with. As far as I can see the only way to avoid throwing good money after bad is to save up for a new alarm from a more flexible, customer oriented company, and throw the phonewatch decorations adorning my walls into the bin. And try not too get too angry when I hear them waffling on about “peace of mind” in their ads.
Can anybody recommend a good alarm company?