10 Things Home-Security Firms Won’t Tell You
Jonathan Dahl, SmartMoney.com May 12th, 2010
1. “A little home security goes a long way.”
It’s official: We live in a society increasingly obsessed with the technology of safety. According to Security Sales & Integration magazine, Americans spent $28.2 billion on electronic security systems in 2009, up from $25.9 billion in 2006. Yet crime in general, and burglaries in particular, have been steadily decreasing. As comforting as it may be to have an elaborate alarm system – the average home-security package costs about $1,400 for installation and equipment, and about $23 a month to monitor – the reality is that you can deter most break-ins much more cheaply.
There are lots of proactive – and inexpensive – ways you can protect our home from a break-in, says Frank Santamorena, founder of Security Experts, a security services company in New York. Lighting works wonders. Merely keeping the boundaries of your house (“perimeters” in security lingo) well lit- perhaps with motion-sensor lights, which cost less than $100-will discourage most burglars. But since the majority of home break-ins occur during the day, when people are away at work, experts suggest a few additional precautions. Keep hedges trimmed low to minimize hiding space around the house, and make sure there’s a good, strong lock installed on every door. And many homeowners make the mistake of putting their name on their mailbox. A burglar can get your phone number and find out if you’re not home immediately, “without even having to knock on the door,” says Santamorena.
2. “The cops can’t hear your alarm.”
Think your alarm will ring right in your local police station? Forget about it. The majority of today’s home security alarms ring in a so-called central station, where monitors will phone your house, ask for a code word, and notify the police if you don’t respond. That central station can be anything from a boiler room downtown to a concrete bunker in another state, and it may or may not be manned by your security company, but rather a third-party subcontractor.
Not thrilled with the idea of having your alarm ringing 1,000 miles away at a company you’ve never heard of? You should be. For one thing, a feel for local conditions might come in handy when your life is at stake. “You’re better off being with a local alarm company with a central station than you are with a national company,” says Santamorena. And more than that, he says, you want a “UL-listed” system. That means the product is certified by Underwriters Laboratories and is mandated to meet certain standards that, for instance, ensure there’s backup power in case of a power failure, he says.
3. “This system is more trouble than it’s worth.”
Sales of systems might be up, but once they’re installed, not all folks actually use them. It could be that they’re worried about false alarms or that they only set the alarm when they’re away for an extended period. “It could be that the way the system is laid out and designed doesn’t work well with their particular lifestyle,” says Scott Goldfine, editor of Security Sales & Integration. They might have small children or cleaning staff who tend to set it off, or house guests who don’t the code.
“Any system that you have installed, it’s important you get the proper training on how to use it. And you want to use it every day,” says Michael Miller, president of the Electronic Security Association (ESA), an industry group.
4. “The local police hate us.”
If you have an alarm system installed in your home, one thing is almost certain: You will trigger false alarms. This is, of course, a nuisance in itself. But the real problem is that police departments know it. Nationwide, the majority of alarm calls are false, rendering alarms’ overall reliability quite thin. In some locales, the police have responded by fining homeowners for repeat false alarms.
Phoenix, for one, allows residents three – after the third, it’s $75 a pop. A third false alarm in Santa Monica, Calif., costs homeowners $136.70; after that you’ll get hit with a $180 fine. In Montgomery County, Md., officers may not respond at all to homes that have had multiple previous false alarms. “If it’s the fourth one today and there’s nothing unusual about the alarm, or the alarm company advises it’s a malfunction or error, the supervisor has discretionary authority to cancel the call,” says Corporal Dan Friz, a spokesman for the department.
But there’s a concerted effort by the security-alarm industry and local authorities to reduce false alarms. Working with the Security Industry Alarm Coalition, an umbrella trade group, several states have implemented ordinances that require homeowners to register their alarm systems with the local police. The regulation also mandates new equipment standards and two-call verification, so an alarm monitoring station will attempt to confirm an alarm by contacting the homeowner at two different phone numbers before requesting a response.
5. “We’ll try to sell you expensive gadgets you don’t really need.”
Security experts and police generally agree that an effective home-security system contains both perimeter and interior sensing devices. Each system can each include some impressive-sounding gear. Perimeter alarms might have magnetic or plunger contacts; foiling, vibration, or shock detectors; and window screens that hold concealed alarm wire for perimeter alarms. And interior alarms might involve pressure mats, photoelectric beams that cast infrared light, heat sensors, and motion detectors. But just because all these gizmos are available doesn’t mean you need every one to have a sound security system.
Before making any purchases, homeowners should do an assessment of their home to determine what exactly they’re trying to protect. Not all alarms and gadgets are right for all homes, and this mostly depends on the individual characteristics of your property. Consider how large your home is and how many potentially vulnerable entrances there are.
“You don’t need an alarm on every window, but motion detectors need to be placed in key points,” says Jim McGuffey, a security consultant in Philadelphia. Once the doors have been protected and motion sensors installed in key areas like staircases and hallways leading to bedrooms, a house should be pretty well set.
6. “Our rent-a-cops are very low-rent.”
Many home-security firms offer some kind of guard service along with alarm monitoring. Some drive company-owned “patrol” cars, and some even carry weapons. Yet in spite of the high level of responsibility for these jobs, the standards for training are uneven. While most states require that security guards be licensed, California– which does run background checks – you need only be 18 years old, have $102 for the application fee and submit to 40 hours of training.
McGuffey recommends homeowners who hire private guards to ask if the company conducts criminal background checks on their personnel. “I would also ask: What kind of training do you give your guard force,” he says.
The security-system industry is actually pushing Congress to mandate criminal background checks for employees of companies that install burglar alarm, fire alarm and other types of security systems. Now, individual states decide whether background checks are required. These companies send installers and technicians into homes, business and schools, and “we want to make sure they don’t have criminal backgrounds, especially if an employee is coming from another state,” says ESA’s Miller.
7. “Getting past our alarms is tough-unless you have a pair of scissors.”
Last year, nearly a dozen homes in Lewisville, outside Dallas, were burglarized. In an attempt to disable the alarm systems, the criminals cut power and telephone lines before forcing their way inside the homes, according to a local news report. In one case, the burglars got away with a flat-screen TV, a Wii game system and a digital camera.
The standard home alarm is transmitted over a telephone line, and getting around it requires little more than the ability to figure out where the line is and the skill to handle a good pair of wire cutters. Most alarm companies now offer some sort of backup protection, which typically consists of a radio or cellular device that notifies the central station your line has been cut. But these backup systems can cost a lot more-around several hundred dollars extra in addition to monthly charges.
There are ways around this if that expense is out of your budget. If your home’s cables come from the ground up, Santamorena suggests paying someone to dig a foot or so down, through foundation of the house, and snake the wire through there, so they’re hidden from sight. “The key is to make sure the phone lines aren’t coming up on the side of the house,” he says.
8. “We may use unethical sales tactics.”
These days, homeowners need to beware of salespeople who come knocking. The Better Business Bureau received nearly 3,000 complaints about burglar-alarm companies in 2009, up from 2,087 in 2008. Many complainants allege that the salesperson used high-pressure tactics and made claims that were not included in the final contract, according to the BBB.
Last month, the Electronic Security Association announced a new code of ethics for door-to-door sales in an effort to cut down on deceptive pitches. “Rogue salespeople,” as the ESA called them in a statement, have been making headlines with lawsuits filed by major security-alarm companies against door-to-door salespeople for misleading customers. Just last month, ADT Security Services filed a suit against three employees of another company, alleging that during a sales call one salesperson coerced a 95-year-old Tennessee woman into switching out her ADT system and signing a contract with another firm.
For now, the ESA is relying on companies to self-enforce its new ethics code, which requires sales representatives to carry photo ID and bars them from making false statements about competing organizations. The BBB advises consumers to deal only with reputable firms and to check out the offer and compare bids from several installers.
9. “You’re stuck with us.”
One common complaint from alarm system customers is that their alarm contracts renew automatically. Unless there is a specific request that you want to cancel your service, your contract will be renewed – anywhere from one to five years, depending on the company. Many homeowners don’t mark their calendars with their home-security system contract’s expiration date. If you’re in a three-year contract, and don’t make a point of sending a letter of cancellation before it expires, you could be hooked into another three-year term.
Ken Kirschenbaum, an attorney who represents home security companies, says auto renewal is not unique to the alarm industry, and provides an important service for the consumer. “Without an auto renewal provision, those services would terminate at the end of a contract,” he says, leaving the subscriber without this “essential protection.”
Some states, such as Utah, require written notice to the consumer before a contract can automatically renew (for consumer contracts in general, not just security firms). Either way, homeowners should read their contracts – including the fine print – carefully for “automatic renewal” language. Contracts should indicate a time frame in which customers can give written notice that they want to disconnect the service.
10. “If you have a pet, we might be less effective.”
Some alarms say they are “pet-immune,” allowing your furry friends to move freely around the house. Others say they can reliably distinguish between human bodies and pets weighing up to 80 pounds. But as recently as 2009, 27% of false alarms were attributed to pets, according to Security Sales & Integration. One potential culprit: the feline of the house. “Cats can get anywhere and they move in crazy ways,” says Goldfine.
It also matters how furniture is situated. If the pattern of detection includes, say, a book case, a cat can potentially climb up on that and get in the alarm’s line of detection. “If you’re getting them installed in your house and you have pets, I would have that discussion with the installing company to find out how well they really work,” says Goldfine.
Updated and adapted from the book “1,001 Things They Won’t Tell You: An Insider’s Guide to Spending, Saving, and Living Wisely,” by Jonathan Dahl and the editors of SmartMoney.
Economic outlook is cautious even with spending up
Outlook for economy is cautious even as consumers spend more and manufacturers produce more
In this April 1, 2010 photo, shoppers enter exit Macy’s in San Francisco. Consumer spending rose in March by the largest amount in five months but the gains were financed out of savings, which fell to the lowest level in 18 months. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez){“s” : “cal,f,mtlqq.pk”,”k” : “a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00″,”o” : “”,”j” : “”}
WASHINGTON (AP) — Factories are churning out more goods. Consumers are spending. Government aid is fueling construction activity. But stagnant pay and weak hiring will likely restrain the economic rebound in coming months.
That cautionary picture emerged from a series of economic reports Monday.
Consumers stepped up their spending in March by the largest amount in five months. Yet the increase was financed out of savings. Incomes rose only slightly.
Unless employers boost pay and ramp up hiring, economists say consumer spending will likely taper off and dampen the recovery.
The construction industry remains a concern, too. Industry spending rose 0.2 percent in March, the first increase in five months, Commerce said. But all the strength came from government activity — much of it related to temporary stimulus money that’s expected to run out soon. By contrast, construction by the private sector fell to the lowest level in a decade.
One sector that’s helping drive the recovery is manufacturing. Factory production in April grew at the fastest pace in nearly six years, according to the Institute for Supply Management, representing purchasing executives. Its manufacturing index rose to 60.4 in April from 59.6 in March — the ninth straight month of growth. A level above 50 indicates expansion.
“We got to see both sides of the economy today. We got a read on the strongest sector, manufacturing, and the weakest, construction,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Companies are rebuilding their inventories as demand for goods rises. New orders, a gauge of future production, jumped to 65.7 from 61.5 in March, according to the report.
The fastest-growing industries were clothing makers and producers of nonmetallic goods such as glass, mineral wool and ceramic products used in construction. Makers of wood products, the petroleum and coal sector, and plastics and rubber manufacturers also reported strong growth.
Consumer spending has propelled more production in retail goods. On Friday, clothing maker VF Corp., whose brands include Wrangler, The North Face and Vans, said its sales rose 1 percent to $1.75 billion in the first quarter.
Carmakers also benefited from the surge in consumer spending. Analysts say about half of March’s increase went to the industry. Buyer traffic slowed down a little in April, although Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler on Monday both said sales last month were up 25 percent from a year earlier; General Motors Co. said its sales climbed 6.4 percent.
The stock market jumped Monday after the improved economic reports, along with news of a merger between United and Continental Airlines, raised expectations about the recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 150 points in late afternoon trading.
Economists caution that the overall picture is clouded by a weak hiring outlook. A report Friday is expected to show no change in the nation’s 9.7 percent unemployment rate.
“Households are spending again but their incomes are not keeping up and that is a worrisome sign,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. “Household spending can only be supported if we get better income growth.”
The government reported last week that the broadest measure of economic activity, the gross domestic product, grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the January-March period. That marked the third quarterly increase since last summer. Most economists believe the recession, which began in December 2007, probably ended in either June or July of last year.
The healthy first quarter GDP gain was driven by a big rebound in consumer spending, which powered ahead at an annual rate of 3.6 percent, the best showing in three years. But economists said spending gains of that size can’t be maintained without greater income and job growth.
“Employment reports including the one this Friday will be key signals of just how robust consumption will be over the rest of 2010,” said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.
Commerce said consumer spending rose 0.6 percent in March, matching economists’ expectations. But personal incomes edged up just 0.3 percent, raising new worries about lackluster income growth. At the same time, the personal savings rate fell to 2.7 percent of after-tax incomes. It’s the lowest level since September 2008.
During the housing boom, the annual savings rate had fallen as low as 1.7 percent in 2007. Consumers felt more wealthy as their home values soared and felt less of a need to save. But once housing sales and prices collapsed, helping lead to the recession, Americans began saving more. The savings rate rose to 4.3 percent in 2009, the highest level in a decade.
High unemployment is likely to continue to keep a lid on income growth. Unless businesses boost hiring, households won’t be able to support a high level of consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. That could weaken the economic rebound.
However, consumers have yet to start spending at a level necessary to bring down the unemployment rate. In a new Associated Press Economy Survey, two-thirds of the 44 economists surveyed said they believed the last recession had created a “new frugality” among consumers that will outlive the recession. A desire to save more could also act as a drag on spending going forward.
An inflation gauge tied to consumer spending showed a slight 0.1 percent rise in March and the same 0.1 percent increase excluding food and energy. Over the past 12 months, prices excluding food and energy are up by just 1.3 percent, well within the Federal Reserve’s comfort zone for keeping short-term rates at record lows.
AP Business Writer Tali Arbel in New York contributed to this report.
