Why does alarm monitoring vary in cost?
WHY DO SOME COMPANIES OFFER MONITORING FOR LESS MONEY?
We just got a call from one of our customers that had switched their account over to a different company. The new company had switched the old Bosch/Radionics and installed a new DMP brand system. DMP is a good brand, the company is smaller than Bosch and has a different dealer set. .
The short answer is money, they want to get the accounts to have the RMR or recurring monthly revenue. Many times they will drop the price for the first year and then each year after that add a little bit so eventually they may end up paying more than they were with the first company and normally they charge more for labor and parts to make up the difference. In this case they under bid our company by $5 dollars per month or $60 less per year.
Their new company was too busy to go out and service the system so we went out on an Emergency call for them. We still did not have any of the codes nor could we put the system in test without the manger so when you switch to a new company make sure you understand what the consequences of switching are.
The new company is licensed, insured and is a good company although their company has a longer wait for service calls. They gave the customer a lower monthly rate on the monitoring although the service is a bit different and they changed out all the equipment for new equipment and had them sign a contract. Now the employees of that store also have to re-learn how to use the new system since it is a bit different as well in operation.
The $60 dollar savings per year may or may not be worth it to them. Already they are a bit discouraged because we used to go out and do service many times the same day or the next day and now they are put on a waiting list for a week. When you have an issue with one of your alarms it is difficult to wait a week so is it really worth the $60 per year savings? That is up to you.