Alarm Company Comparison

Alarm Company

2009-10-25T11:56:00.001-04:00

Phone System

Voxcom

Alarm Force

2009-10-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

Wish Never with AlarmForce

Alarmforce not work

Another Alarm Company

Happy with AlarmForce

AlarmForce Panic Button

AlarmForce Features

AlarmFarce

AlarmForce Crap

Happy with AlarmForce

Alarmforce Nice

Nomore Alarmforce

Alarm Installation

Phone Cut

Alarmforce

Alarm Force

Wish Never with AlarmForce

2009-09-18T08:59:00.004-04:00

I have recently finished with a 3 yr contract and returned all equipment. I have my termination letter and UPS proof of delivery. Alarm Force claims that I did not return everything. I wish I took a photo of the box to prove I did. Now I have a bill for missing equipment for $291.36 and sent me to collections. This is stealing and harrassment. I have filed a complaint with BBB, Market Place and other blogs. Please do not get Alarm Force get a real security company. Also, customer service reps are rude and this usually comes from top down management. After researching this company I wish I never gave them my business and hard earned money.

- Unknown

Alarmforce not work

2009-09-11T17:14:00.001-04:00

Put in a new alarm system and it works great, we've set it off a few times on purpose just to see...ha Our batteries have a 4-5 year life and we can replace all of them ourselves. Great customer service too. Alarmforce is nothing but old equipment that doesn't work half of the time and that you are responsible for testing once a month or so they say. They put our box in the cupboard, we could hardly hear it! The techs installing our new system looked at us like we were nuts when we asked them how often we should be testing..a good alarm system will let you know via keyboard when a sensor battery is low.. Alarm Force never did, just stopped working and one of our door sensors never worked no matter what we did to it. The charge for them to come and look at it was crazy so we just left it and put our 130-pound Rottweiler and his bed there instead. Alarmforce is not very pet-friendly either. In general I am not a tech geek or anything but this alarm system is a bunch of crap and a ripoff. I would not recommend it to anyone! I only remain anonymous 'cause I don't have a google account, I would gladly give my name...

Another Alarm Company

2009-08-13T12:57:00.001-04:00

Alarmforce customer for 7 years now. ADT for 3 years prior, Brinks 2 years before that, and Monotronics 1 year before that. Let me just say that these are some nice fish stories.

The battery in the main box is a backup battery which is used when your power is out. Eventually with power outages, surges or any flickers in your electricity it will drain just like any other backup battery. $100 charge, that's a big fish. Mine cost $20.24 after tax. That was 4 years after having the system. I was told about the batteries in the sensors prior to installation. They recommend changing them once a year. How hard is that. Yes if you can't change your own batteries they are going to charge you. The cost of the batteries is a little higher than retail. That's the point, they can't do it at retail or the poor guy who is doing it isn't getting paid then. Go with ADT and get a wired system. No battery changes, but heaven forbid you need service there. ADT $35 an hour and $20 every 15 mins. after. I would much rather pay a guy $25-$30 to change the batteries that I am just too damn lazy to do myself.

As far as the two way. It's not crystal clear, however I am not making my phone calls from the box. The point is to let who ever is in your home know, we know your there and the police are on the way. It is not a recorded voice, unless the 15 times I have accidentally set mine off in the past 7 years has just happened to be a different recorded voice each time that happened to sound just like the operator I was speaking to. Yeah if the intruder is quiet they won't hear them, but guess what moron, if they don't hear YOU it's obviously not you in the house.

I won't even mention the 4 times I have been broken into. The first I had ADT. They didn't even know anything happened and that was that. The past 3 times over 7 years, yeah that's a lot and apparenlty people want my stuff. Guess what, 1 break in with ADT cost me over $6000 in loss and damages, they were there a while while I was on vacation. Not to mention the over $350 in service charges from ADT to check and fix my system which didn't work. 3 Break ins with Alarm Force have cost me $500 total and that was to fix a broken window on #1 Broken Sliding door on #2 and a door frame on #3. Hmmmm who's the winner.

Go with another alarm company and see how quickly the awww of the bells and whistles wears off. I was there. The grass is always greener on the other side. You people are all stupid and are the same people who would sue McDonalds when you spill your hot coffee on yourself. Does the cup really need to say HOT.....It's F'in coffee.

- AF Just Kicked Your A%$

Happy with AlarmForce

2008-12-14T23:21:00.005-05:00

I love AlarmForce and i am happy that i was patient to read and understand the terms much before i was ready to sign 3 years contract. I am into 2nd year of my contract now and once having accidentally set off the alarm and forgotten the password i had to face the embarrassment of having the police at my door. Nevertheless despite myself i was happy. I would also recommend AlarmCare. I got if for my aged mother who lives independently. She wears a nifty little pendant around her neck and at a press of a button the emergency response system gets activated. I would gladly recommend Alarm Force burglar alarm and home security system.

- Nathan

AlarmForce Panic Button

2008-12-14T23:15:00.005-05:00

I worked at a store with Alarm Force. My co-worker was attacked by thugs with a baseball bat. He kept pressing the emergency button but nothing happened.

Later on the Alarmforce technician came by and confirmed that the panic button had never been connected to the system by their company.

Astounding! I still cannot understand why they didn't sue Alarmforce; something about the store still being owned by the prior owners at the time or something. Me, I would have sued til the cows came home.

- Anonymous

AlarmForce Features

2008-07-10T20:36:00.006-04:00

From my friend Martin i heard about Alarmforce's home alarm and security system. Hearing it's advanced features i won't hesitate to install it in my home. Now i am very complacent as there is no worry about security threats or intrusion. No other home alarm products have the features as with Alarm Force and i am strongly recommending it to people who are concerned about their home security.

- Unknown

AlarmFarce

2008-07-10T20:14:00.006-04:00

I have worked for an security alarm company for a little over 5 year 3.5 as tech 1.5+ as an inspector. Alarm Force should be called Alarmfarce. The sytem they use is antiquated by design. What i mean is the technoligy is at least 20 years old. Also most of their customers use the phone to arm/disarm system (can you say redail!!!!!) also they do NOT have phone line siezure which means that if the phone is off hook it can NOT call out or if the Bulglar calls in it can NOT call out. Placement of the panel is another story. The kichen counter or behind a couch is good enough?? Next most devices are 2-way taped on?? Also for the first 30 to 90 seconds the "operator" you hear is a recording until a live operator can get to your alarm. Next and most important Joel Matlin advertises his 2-way as a good way to confirm alarms only thing is if the bulglar is queit the it goes the same way as any other alarm unverified. Next if it is a robbery in progress and the operator comes on after you press your panic button i really hope you are wearing a bullet proof jacket>>>>

- Unknown

ADT not Greatest

2008-07-10T20:10:00.002-04:00

ADT Isn't the Greatest Solution either. They are just as bad when it comes to scamming the consumer... They just do it on a larger scale.

As far as Dialer tests go, they are useless unless they are done daily. With how overleaded the receiver lines at ADT are, they generally ignore 1 fail to test, sometimes even 2. In this scenario, you will not find out about a buggered panel for up to 3 months. Yes, some panels will indicate a failure to communicate trouble, however ADT disables that on most of their panels because they do not want extra service calls.
In addition, ADT has a 30 to 45 second Abort Delay STANDARD. What this means is if a crackhead breaks into your home, they have the initial 30 seconds to do whatever. Once the alarm starts to ring, they have up to an additional 40 seconds to find your panel and destroy it. This is not difficult as most ADT Systems are wireless and the whole alarm is on the keypad, or the panel is right next to the siren.... Not hard to find that with the siren ringing and the panel doing squat for 40 seconds.

That is over 1 minute of useless alarm people. Think about it.

- Unknown

AlarmForce Crap

2008-07-10T20:06:00.004-04:00

Whether or not the Alarmforce "panel" was at fault, fact of the matter is, Alarmforce is crap. The Alarmforce system consists of a shoebox sized plastic box with a tiny transistor radio sized speaker mounted right next to the microphone. This box is usually placed on the kitchen counter and plugged into the phone line and power there.

As for the "$100" battery, this is a tiny $5 battery (at most). Alarmforce is NOT a service company. Their whole purpose is to obtain as many monitoring contracts as possible. With that much emphasis on sales and "alarm systems" which require little or no installation skill it is no wonder Alarm Force customers have problems getting service.

- HomeSecurityAlarmInfo

Phone System

2008-07-10T20:00:00.004-04:00

I do not have an alarm service yet and was doing some research to see if there were any issues/complaints about the alarm company. I want to add, that I worked for a security company for 14 years as a service technician. The way an alarm system works is a sensor connected to the main control panel triggers an alarm event when armed. This in turn, activates the dialer inside the control panel. The dialer does a couple of things then. 1 - The dailer relay which is a dry contact NO VOLTAGE what so ever, changes position/toggles to check for dial tone. When the control panel senses the dial tone, it then dials - hence the name - a preprogrammed number, just like a redial on your phone. The monitoring center is then called, again just like your phone at your house. Data is normally exchanged between the Control Panel and the Monitoring Center and then the Control Panel hangs up. The more likely cause is that the phone line probably took a surge that back fed the Control Panel, fused the relay shut and continued to the next device, the modem. This guy probably doesn't realize this but the alarm probably took the brunt of the surge and slowed it down. He is lucky that all his phones in the house were not damaged. You see in order for the alarm to have priority over other phones in your house, it is usually the first in line if installed properly. In 14 years, I have seen my share of cooked phone lines and equipment. NEVER was it the cause of the alarm system. IT IS A LOW VOLTAGE SYSTEM! It operates in most cases at 12 volts DC and pulls realitively no noticeable current unless the siren is sounding during an alarm. The a/c transformer is usually 12-18VAC. The same as a cordless phone. Come on you Thomas Edison want to be - Don't talk about things you don't understand.

- Unknown

Window Coverings

2007-06-20T14:03:00.002-04:00

Moving to a new house, you will want to decorate your home the way you dreamed about. Let's do it one by one. First you will need to choose the window coverings.

Interior designers choose GUARANTEEDblinds.com based in U.S. more than any other Internet window covering products retailer because they have larger selection, highest quality products and services, the most competitive prices and fast, hassle-free delivery. As professionals say, whatever your style, you'll find the perfect window covering at GUARANTEEDblinds.com.

Their window covering products are made with the finest quality materials and custom-crafted by skilled professionals to meet their strict quality control standards. Therefore you will enjoy their beautiful window coverings for years and they offer a limited lifetime warranty on all products!

They can ship the free samples the very next business day for you to verify your color before you place your order. What is more, if the product you want to order is out of stock, at your option, they will send you temporary shades at no cost (up to $200 value) as long as you will place an order with them within the next 60 days.

GUARANTEEDblinds.com provides you with a NBI's Locator Service online. It helps you contact a local pre-screened technician. The technician will measure and/or install your window coverings. The online locator is free; you just pay the technician for any measuring or installation work you ask them to do. Incorrectly measured blinds that do not fit are repaired or replaced free of charge and installation workmanship is guaranteed for 12 months.

Just read what one of the many testimonials says,"...The best part of the whole experience was the professional installer that I located through your website. He was fast, courteous, professional and very affordable..."

Can't wait to choose your window coverings? No hurry. The thoughtful GUARANTEEDblinds.com even provides you with information on how to choose the perfect coverings for your windows in varied rooms, either the romantic Bella Roman Shades, or the private Cellular Shades Blackout that lets NO light through!

About

2007-06-05T16:49:00.001-04:00

alarmcompany.blogspot.com is a blog about security, safety and home improvement related topics. It's intended to help home owner make un informed decision before purchase. The topics cover alarm company comparison among major alarm companies such as Alarm Force, ADT and Voxcom, and other topics about selling and buying a house etc.
For home security, the blog compared pros and cons of major alarm companies in detail and included the comments of the true experiences from customers regardless of compliment or complaint. In this way, a prospective customer is able to choose a right service company.
The blog also has tips for house selling and buying, compares privately selling a house with doing so through a real estate broker. The blog's discussion is quite tied to real life.

Safety Gear

2007-06-04T17:52:00.001-04:00

If you are a construction company or an individual who look for industrial or personal safety equipment for workshop, home or car, DiscountSafetyGear.com is an online store where you can find a wide range of top brand name safety products of all types, including hard hats to protect your head, safety goggles to protect your eyes, and first aid kits including personal kits for your home or car and many more. Buy safety gear at discount price from DiscountSafetyGear.com!

The store makes full use of the power of the Internet to supply large volumes of products very efficiently. They constantly lower their prices as they drive down their costs from their suppliers, and their own marketing and distribution costs. They provide you with free shipping for order over $100!

The store manufactures and distributes many of the products it sells! They have a large warehouse full of merchandise, so they stock almost everything they sell and ship most orders the same day!

They have a new stylish American classic cowboy hard hat! This novel and modern design will encourage your workers to wear their hard hats even when they don't need to! This model is available in a variety of colors and made in the USA!

Sell Your House

2007-06-04T17:23:00.000-04:00

To sell your house, there are two ways. One is called private sale. 25% people go this way. No agent, no commission. You can either make more money, or lower price. The other one is regular sale through real estate broker. Broker will pay buyer agent commission from own pocket.

There are pros and cons. To private sell, you spend money on advertising. A real estate broker gets discount on advertisement due to the volume while you don't; the broker skillfully advertises and markets your premise then visitors come immediately while you spend more time on contacting different media; the broker has network, especially the more experienced and known broker, the more networks while you haven't; in order to compete, you must lower price, therefore, the brokerage commission doesn't 100% go to your pocket.

25% vs. 75%, more advertisement cost, time spent on advertising result in more time on selling your house on your own than hiring a broker and the small portion of more revenue you might make by spending more time is just to cover the time you spend. Without a buyer agent who shows premises to clients, clients are less likely to visit your house; another concern is the safety to host all strangers in your house.

What kind of broker should you hire? To hire new broker, he / she is humble, however, he / she is not able to bring more visitors than you can do and he / she is not able to close at a good price for you. To hire a well known broker, you get all the advantages of more showings, more potential buyers, more competitive offers, closing at a good price for you. While such broker is busy.

To sell a house is different than to sell something else. In this business, the buyer agent's sales skill doesn't play an essential role as the sales reps in other field. A skillful buyer agent only tricks buyer to participate in some so-called "offer bidding" games.

To sell a house is just like to wait for a buyer to fall in love with your house, exactly; the buyer can be someone you never thought who would be. When your neighbor sold the house, the statistics might help, nevertheless, it doesn't really help tell you 5W to sell your house. Be patient. Wait for the right person to arrive.

He / she might appear at your worst time even when you are not in a mood tidying the house. You can never tell. The person who will fall in love with your house won't really care about some tiny detail you might worry about. He / She won't even really want to bargain too much with you. Nonetheless, the bargain is necessary and sweet, in that, both parties will be satisfied with the would-be benefit they seemingly gain and will cherish the opportunity more. Well, one round only, please.

Marketing Tool

2007-04-22T10:32:00.002-04:00

I recently read an article called "27+1 Tips for Building and Maintaining a Blog Audience" posted by SponsoredReviews and find it really helpful; there are also advertising tips on their blogs.

If you are an enterpriser or manager of advertising / marketing department, I would like to introduce you this new and effective marketing tool.

Millions of people read blogs every day. The blogs are updated more frequently than conventional Websites and search engines are notified immediately. The blogs keep the information market fresh. Paying for reviews on a blog that is related to your industry and has loyal and considerable readership puts the spotlight on your company and will create tons of targeted traffic.

Getting reviews by bloggers will provide you with honest, constructive feedback that you can use to better understand your audience and customers.

Every review has links back to your site. Getting links from quality blogs will increase your link popularity and will help your site rank better in the search engines. Moreover, links embeded in content are hot because surfers now tend to neglect conventional ads.

The content of the reviews is not duplicate but unique. Every review is written by the blogger from scratch and not copied. Thus, every review you purchase is going to have great link value.

When a blogger writes a post many other bloggers get notified via RSS. It is very common for blogs to comment about other bloggers posts. When other bloggers link to your review, the search engines place more value on that page.

The last but not the least, the reviews are permanent! The post will remain on the archives of the blog and it will possibly generate clicks even months after the purchase. Compared with purchasing direct sales leads, investing on flyers, and purchasing website's advertising spaces monthly, yearly or always, sponsored reviews are the most cost effective marketing tool.

This blog has an amazing click though rate and some days it reaches 100%! Although the blog is still young and therefore is not yet well known, it is indeed a high quality one that targets at potential customers. If your product and service is related to this blog's content you will find this is the most cost effective blog you will want to purchase reviews from.

This blog is interested in Review Exchange.

Happy with AlarmForce

2007-03-15T16:56:00.003-04:00

I have an AlarmForce system and am incredibly happy with it. The radio ads and the tv commercials got me to call in (plus the fact that a few of my friends also had AlarmForce and told me they were happy with their systems). I like the fact Joel Matlin does his commercials. It puts a face with the company. I'm very happy with my choice of going with Alarm Force.

- Unknown

False Alarms

2007-03-01T22:28:00.001-05:00

False activation of sensors can include

electrical items which can quickly change temperature

open, unlocked or loose fitting doors and windows

drafts that move plants, chandeliers and curtains

wandering pets, stay animals or large insects

helium-filled balloons and party decorations

Prevent false alarms

Make sure everyone who uses your security system, such as children, babysitters, cleaning people, neighbours or real estate agents, is familiar with the User's Manual and understands how their system works. Anyone who has a key to your home should know how to operate your system and cancellation of false alarms. Make special arrangements for guest, repair technicians or other individuals who may have access to your premises.

Notify your alarm company if you think your system isn't working properly.

Before activating your system

Lock all protected doors and windows

Keep pets, balloons, electric fans and heaters away from motion sensor areas

Be sure to refer to your User's Manual if you plan to

Test your system

Sell your home

Get a pet or watchdog

Need assistance training

Fumigate your premises

Change your telephone system

Install anything near any system device

Remodel or renovate your home, including

- Replacing doors or windows
- Installing siding, skylights or ceiling fans
- Moving and/or removing wallpaper
- Sanding floors
- Installing air conditioning or insulation
- Painting or plastering
- Installing intercoms
- Installing and/or moving mirrors/painting/pictures

What if alarm goes off accidentally?

Don't panic.

Determine if there really is a fire or an intruder.

If the alarm activation was accidental, turn off your system in less than one minute. Carefully press each number of your user code.

Expensive Voxcom

2007-02-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

I have had similar experience with Voxcom and would not recommend them to anyone. They have a 3 year contract which they roll over automatically without notifying you that this will happen. They also claim to service your alarm free but in reality have a $35 call out fee for each visit. They also charge for additional hardware e.g. if you need an extra sensor. Their customer service is very poor and their attitude can be summed up in their comment to me "well, you signed the contract". Buyer beware I guess. Getting a Voxcom alarm has proved to be a very expensive mistake....

- Unknown

Alarm Job

2007-02-11T22:48:00.001-05:00

You are looking for a job. You may be a new comer just immigrate to North America and you must make a living, raising a family. You don't have time and money to further your education in North America although you are already well educated even with a strong technical background in your home country. You can't obtain a job in North America titled the same in your home country. North America education and experience are a must. You can't obtain a non-technical job in that you are well over qualified. You don't speak fluent English as a high school student does. They can find a summer job more easily than you do. What's your way-out? Alarm installer?

As an alarm installer, you install alarm systems for residential houses or commercial offices, buildings. If you don't know what it is, please do a search in Google. The only real something what this job requires is being hardworking, not lazy. If you do believe that you are hardworking but not lazy then read further. Every field has successful people and being hardworking is a must. Therefore, if you become a runaway from a job related to your technical background, then you are probably not successful in any other field.

To be an alarm installer, the easiest way is to be a sub-contractor of an or a lot of dealers of an alarm company. A sub-contractor makes you a self-employer. You may need to do a search on your local government Website in terms of taxations. Some of your expenses can be counted as working expenses to be deducted. Do a search on your local alarm company and their dealership. They usually provide with on-job training opportunity. Your investment is the training fee a few hundred bucks, tools a few hundred bucks, insurance coverage and a vehicle. With less than a thousand bucks plus a vehicle and a few days training you start to make money. The toughest time is the beginning in that you need to work with your hands when you might have been sitting in the office back in your home country. Most runaways happened during the first month or even just two weeks. As long as you keep on you will get somewhere. Every new month gives you new excitement of progress, from hardship to in love with the job.

If you have technical background, you are a responsible man for your family and also a hardworking person, I believe that it's one of good job opportunities for you when to further education in North America is impossible for you.

This blog will be happy to be a connection between prospective employee and employer.

Marketing

2007-02-06T16:06:00.003-05:00

As far as I am concern the man is smart enough to capture the market and the potential clients by appearing on Radio and TV's and I think it is sad that ADT with 100 years of service do not learn from this guy which I agree. If this guy pump so much cash to his marketing why not ADT or Voxcom. As you guys all know Bell Canada announced recently (last week) that they are getting in to Home Security. Telus did last year in B.C. with their HomeSitter package. They are few other companies that are getting in this market and they are making it better. There is another company that offers full Video solution they call it GBSdvr.com.

- JD

Alarmforce Nice

2007-01-20T00:29:00.002-05:00

Alarm Force was founded over 20 years ago and is the fastest growing alarm company in Canada. I have family that has Alarmforce and have been satisfied customers for over 12 years. The nice aspect is their personal relationship with customers, the man who installed their system 12 years ago is still the man who services them, its nice when you are not another number.

- Unknown

Nomore Voxcom

2007-01-20T00:24:00.000-05:00

Voxcom... very interesting company that does splatter advertisements that they are looking for you... they care, the service they offer.... I had no complaints also until I moved out of the province... for the past 5 months I have phoned, emailed, trying to make arrangements to originally move the equipment to now refusing to pay. They seem to find my phone number to offer promotions etc, but each time I speak with them, they tell me someone has to call me back, it's not their area. Today I received another bill for service that I am not receiving - when I called again... I was told that it is not their problem that someone has not called me back. It is my problem, my responsibility and all bills for service at an address that they are aware I moved from 5 months ago - I still have to pay for. I was also advised that I have to now pay an additional 23 months worth of contract if I cancel. The man that I spoke with told me he spoke with people all day who had stupid problems, and accused me of not dealing with this and that although they had record of speaking to me - it was still my problem that their company does not return phone calls to get my account moved. They have enjoyed taking the money from my account for service they are not providing.
It is interesting that their big plug when they were selling the system was the ease of moving the contract with you.... I guess they have it right - the contract moves with you but the security service you are paying for doesn't....
I would not recommend Voxcom to anyone at all!!

- Unknown

Nomore Alarmforce

2007-01-20T00:17:00.003-05:00

NOT Alarmforce anymore.
We have had Alarm Force for 10 years and now we are going away from it due to their one-man service. "Free"is good until you have a problem. their system shorted the phone line ( relay locked open probably) and cooked the high speed modem ($79.95 plus tax) but the fellow refused to admit any problem, and insulted my friend the phone line fellow. then he said we should have been running a full test of the system every month. then he suggested over the phone a "hard reset" of the system. I wanted another unit; he didn't want to do that and said again that "you can never be too sure with the phone system"
I'm going local with the ADT all in one price, and they have a line check they do every month for problems. AND no extra charges for battery service.
AlarmForce, the main unit, which they own, has to have the battery replaced $100 plus sooner or later, 3 or 4 years max.
If we were broken into would they say the system was not at fault because we didn't test it every month?
There are problems getting calls back within 2 days, and I heard it cost one older lady $200 to have him come and check and replace her batteries throughout the house.
Certainly something similar I know of happened to my folks, $100 plus to check the batteries.
I'm not happy with service, a one man show.
Me? I'm an Electro-mechanical research gadget builder and know a little bit about this over the last 30 years, so to hear it passed off on the phone company again when I was there with the meter in my hand- well that's just crap.

- Unknown