APX Alarms - BEWARE OF DOOR TO DOOR SALES

This topic is very close to my heart, as a technician, I have always felt many alarm sales people lacked integrity, honesty and the basic technical knowledge to properly represent a security alarm installation company. Of course, in the eyes of many, sales has more to do with the ability to close a deal than actual knowledge of what you are selling. After all, if the average consumer knew anything about security alarms, they would probably try to install them themselves or, at the very least, they would not fall for these crap sales oriented companies. This is by no means saying all security alarm sales people are douche bags, just enough of them to make the industry look bad.

So who is my target today? In the past, I have exposed several alarm companies including ADT, Alarmforce and other Discount alarm companies for either their crap systems or their marketing misrepresentations. Today the topic is much more urgent and really quite serious. Although several companies, including ADT, have been known for their "Summertime Sales" promotions. This is when a company hires students right out of high school (and often in high school) to do door to door sales of their security alarms. Although door to door sales is often a necessity in many home service type businesses, there needs to be a line drawn in the sand.

If there was in fact a line in the sand, APX Alarms would have long stepped all over it and kicked sand in the eyes of the person drawing the line. I am by no means saying every APX alarm sales person is a douche, but from what I have heard and read many of them are severely lacking in knowledge and scruples. I have been personally told, APX Alarms instructs their sales people that nothing is sacred with respect to closing the deal.

How do I know this, well it is quite an interesting story. About a week ago I heard a knock at my door. When I answered it a very young male dressed quite nicely was at the door with some pamphlets. As I have security alarm stickers on my window, and a keypad right by my door it was obvious I had a security alarm system. His first words were, "Hello, I am from the alarm company and I need to talk to you about your security system." Having heard of APX Alarms and their sales techniques, I withheld my anger and disdain and let the young punk in (fully knowing he was not from my alarm company as I am the owner.) After a few prodding questions and comments about an apparent "Crime spree in the neighbourhood" it became evident he was in fact not from my security alarm company and was in fact from APX. He went on to say how the owner of the company who was taking care of my alarm system was in fact being charged with stealing from his customers (Odd, did I miss something)

Still withholding my anger, I played along for abit. The sales person went on to say the security system I had installed was old and out of date and did not provide sufficient protection. Hmmm, fully automated home with a hardwired security alarm system consisting of glassbreak detectors, motion detectors, contacts on every window, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors on every floor plus a water sensor by the hot water tank, with cellular, landline and IP alarm reporting... ya ok that is out of date and full of holes.

He went on to say APX Alarms was affiliated with Honeywell Security Systems and was therefor able to get better equipment than anyone else in the industry. That is odd, Honeywell is no longer in the alarm installation business.

This APX alarms sales person went on to say he could replace my "out of date security system" with a "High Tech Wireless Honeywell Security System." Now that was funny. With-holding my laughter, I played dumb and asked what was so wrong with the security alarm system I had. Now this is where it gets really funny. Without missing a beat, this teen aged punk continued on to tell me how the APX system was superior because it talked and how my system was garbage and could be bypassed by someone simply cutting the wires. Hmmm, what wires I said (not telling him my system also had voice control and could be accessed and controlled over secure internet.) He quickly responded "The wires going to your doors and windows." Keep in mind, all the wires are hidden in the walls. Furthermore, he said, "criminals now have code scramblers and they are able to disarm your particular alarm system by putting a special black box next to your keypad."

At that point I could not hold back, I informed the little punk APX alarm sales person that he was completely full of crap and requested to see his security alarm sales licence. Of course, he did not have one. When I told him I actually owned the alarm company he was bad mouthing, he quickly switched gears and tried to suck up for a job. This APX alarm sales person said he was simply trying to get into the alarm sales business and responded to APX alarms "No Experience required" advertisement. He told me they taught him everything about how to close a deal and how he would be able to help my company make millions.

Being a little interested in their "techniques" I inquired a little further. He went on to say, the sales trainer at APX alarms told me all I need to do is induce fear because fear is the biggest reason people choose to install security alarm systems. He was gloating about how the area sales manager for APX alarms listens to a police scanner to target certain area's which have been hit by a recent break-in's. He seemed really excited and wanted to go on further but I kicked him out of my house. Unfortunately I forgot to get his name as he needed to be reported.

As if that wasn't enough, I heard my brother and a family friend in another city have also had similar experiences. When I first got into the security alarm industry 25 some-odd years ago, I found it hard to believe a company would be running the risk of bold faced lying to get a sale. Unfortunately this is still a practice used by many security alarm sales people in the industry. APX alarms is not the first and I'm sure they will not be the last. What is truly scary is that this appears to be a practice used on a national basis. Normally I try to stay away from slamming a company as hard as I just did and I try to skirt around the issues. This time I felt it was important to out-right explain my experience in detail. Fear should NEVER be used to sell anything. This is a very cruel thing to do to a person and I am beyond angry that APX Alarms is doing this.

I am located in Eastern Canada, I do not know how far APX has gone with their Summer Promotion, however their website indicated they are targeting most of Canada and pretty much all of the United States. They do not appear to have service departments set-up and utilise contractors on piece work. What this means is, if something goes wrong with your alarm system or you have a simple question which requires a technician to visit. Your service will be taken care of by the lowest bidder in their pool of sub-contractors. I don't know what APX Alarms' service policy is however you will most likely be billed well over $150 per hour for any technician visit. A battery change could end up costing you as much as $500.

If you feel comfortable with the APX alarms sales person who visited your home and you decide to go with them, please read the contract in detail. Make sure you understand what you are getting into and ask clear and concise questions. If possible, get any promises in writing signed by someone within management of APX Alarms. This also applies to any consumer purchase, especially ones which involve door to door sales.

Good Luck, and I hope I answered all of your questions. FYI, the alarm system APX Alarms is offering for "FREE" is on promo at the wholesalers this month for $97 CAD. This is quite easily covered by the first few months of monitoring fee's. Remember, nothing in life is free.

Discount alarm monitoring services - So what's the big dif?

As with any other volume based scam, the commercials seem to be everywhere. Deals from $ 9.99, $ 14.99, $ 19.99 and pretty much everything in between.

So with all the different prices out there, what is the difference and what is the best way to go when it comes to monitoring your home or business security alarm system.

The first thing you should know is the industry standard rate for monitoring is right around $25.00 per month. Some companies may charge you a few dollars more of you are leasing the equipment. Some will charge you a little extra for a service contract. The thing is this $25 is pretty much what the service is worth. If you see a price for anything less than that you should be suspicious as to why the price is lower.

One needs only to call a credit card company or computer technical support to realize many companies outsource their call center work to foreign countries (Often India.) In theory, this should not be too big of a problem; in fact I have received some fairly good technical support from India. Personally, when dealing with the dispatch of police to my home during a break-in, I do not want my safety to be the victim of a breakdown in communication.

Further to that, foreign alarm monitoring stations are not subject to the same laws as domestic. In other words, your personal and private information may be exposed to the less reputable in society. Be careful who you give your banking information to. One need only look at what is happening with all those nigerian internet scams. For the most part, this sould not be a concern as there is usually some sort of local representation. The thing is to be careful and aware of the possibilities.

Even if the monitoring station is not in a foreign country, long distance carriers use a technology referred to as “Least cost routing” Basically, this means long distance calls are often routed through several switches, all with the sole purpose of saving money. With voice calls, this could result in a slight echo, or maybe a little bit of static or a change in voice frequency. These issues are not a big deal when it comes to voice. The problem arises with frequency based data transmissions such as alarm signals. A slight deviation in bandwidth could have serious side effects on the ability for the signal coming from your security alarm system to be understood.

So what does this mean in the real world? Failure to communicate is a security alarm term referring to the security alarm panel not being able to communicate an event to the alarm central monitoring station aka Monitoring Center. In other words, neither the police, fire department nor the ambulance will know about your alarm going off. Burglars will have their way in your home, your home could burn down, or worse, an elderly family member calling for help may pass.

On a lighter note, when choosing a security alarm monitoring station or security alarm Installation Company, one should also look at the service policy and labor rates. In the case of a discount monitoring center, there usually is NO service. This is not saying they will not come out, what I am simply stating is if they do have a service technician in your area, you will be charged beyond normal industry rates for any kind of service calls. This includes simple instructions, entry delay changes or even code changes. Some of these companies even have the balls to charge an activation or connection fee.

In conclusion, be careful who you choose to trust your home or business security to. Maybe you are on a tight budget and you cannot afford quality alarm monitoring services. In that case, maybe the cheap guys are for you. What ever you decide, do yourself a favor and look at all the details. Choosing the cheapest monthly rate may result in you paying more in the long run.