Phonewatch - monthly fee

M

MikeDub

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I am paying €30 per month for a Phonewatch monitored alarm system - 3 PIR, 1 smoke alarm, and 12 contact sensors.
Anyone managed to get a better monthly quote than that?
 
Hello,

I'm paying a similar amount, albeit for a lesser service.

In honesty, I think I could probably do a bit better, but when all is said and done, I've an old system that works fine and I'm generally satisfied with their service.
 
They've designed their equipment to restrict your choice. Unlike every other alarm kit on the market, they are the only ones who can offer monitoring on their gear, so they know that you can't simply shop around.
 
Phonewatch are a pain. They swore blind my smoke alarm was functioning perfectly even though it was sitting on the window sill with the battery removed while I was talking to them.... and I had already told them that.... They price walk with annual price increases which are really irritating but also mean people who don't ring up to complain are paying double what I was at the beginning of the year. They also refused to offer any discount (including the new customer discount) on upgrading their system, even after taking 10 years of monitoring fees on my house.

So I switched to Network Security who offered a more modern system, a lower monthly fee, and fixed prices for 3 years. And with their new customer discount and the lower fees the cost of switching is basically zero over the three years.

Network Security's app also works properly, unlike PhoneWatch's app which is pretty useless.

For reference I have 4x contact sensors, 5x shock sensors, 1x PIR, and 2x smoke alarms. The old PhoneWatch system was 2x contact, 3x PIR, 2x smoke.
 
S class said:
I am not familiar with Phonewatch panels, but I would assume that they have siren connections and could be self monitored.
Click to expand...
Ah, Phonewatch are 1 step ahead of you, without an active subscription in place the system doesn't operate at all.
 
I bought a house that previously had a Phone Watch alarm. I had the code from the previous owner to set/unset.
I made contact with Phone Watch to get the Engineers code to add/remove zones as I saw fit.
After a number of months and letters, they tried a number of codes with me over the phone, none of which worked.
They left me with the option of a €200 callout from one of their engineers, with no guarantee he would be able to reset the Engineers Code, so I didn't take up their offer. They also tried to sell me on joining their paid service for a year, after which I would get the Engineers code for a new alarm, I passed on that.
 
We are paying Phonewatch €52 per month. €31 is “monthly maintenance service” (I think they last replaced a battery about two years ago) and €14 is “monitoring”, plus VAT.

So, €600+ per year. A lot of money.

Any point in trying to haggle or threaten to walk away?

Thanks.

D.
 
That's far too much !

They only seem willing to negotiate, on the annual renewal, but you should do your research in advance of that date and be ready to leave them, if you can.
 
They offered me €42 p/m. That's will full servicing and monitoring. Still seems a lot. I'm out of contract next month. Been with them since 2007.

D.
 
I’ve often thought that Phonewatch is poor value relative to what it provides. I can see the comfort it might have offered years ago but with the advancement of technology, there are better and cheaper alternatives in my opinion.

An elderly neighbour of mine has had it for years and has given my number as a contact. As far as I can make out, he’s paying for the following.

Alarm goes off when he’s away. It rings for about 20 minutes before the company rings me to ask me to go check on it. By that time, if I’m around, I have already checked his house and reset the alarm. If I’m not around, the Gardai will be informed and may do a driveby a good while later to observe that, yes, the alarm’s going off alright.

I don’t think that’s worth €30 a month.

My own stand-alone alarm used to go off a couple of times and one of the neighbours would let me know and reset it etc.

More recently, I’ve upgraded the system to include an App, provided by HKC, that alerts me when the alarm has been triggered and allows me to disarm and reset it remotely. This costs €10 a month.

I also have a couple of internal cameras that allow me to monitor whether there’s been any intrusion and, when satisfied, I reset the alarm.

All things considered, I think this offers much better protection and peace of mind than the considerably more expensive phonewatch alternative.
 
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Salvadore said:
Alarm goes off when he’s away. It rings for about 20 minutes
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That's the case for many or most alarm systems in my experience. By the time that anybody does anything it's probably too late. In the rare case of it not being a false alarm anyway.
 
I monitor my home alarm myself, costs me 10 euro per year, i get a text message if alarm goes off, i can arm / disarm remotely via text message.
i use a prepay sim that i top up every 6 months.
I have two seperate cctv systems so i can check remotely what is going on. i also get a push notification to my phone if the alarm sound is detected.
 
Is it possible to switch a Phonewatch system to a cheaper monitoring company?

If not, if I was to switch to a new company, would they uninstall the Phonewatch system?

Thanks.

D.
 
Dinarius said:
Is it possible to switch a Phonewatch system to a cheaper monitoring company?
Click to expand...
No, they are the only provider who uses equipment that is locked down so only they can monitor. Any of the other providers will be able to remove their kit but note Phonewatch have been known to insist on its return.
 
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