Court decision favors ADT over client, carries implications for security managers

[Curtis Baillie]

Security Director News

PASADENA, Calif.—ADT came out a winner over one of its business clients in a recent court decision here, and the finding carries implications for other security directors who oversee contracts with security providers.


ADT was sued in federal court by a California jewelry store, Manila Fine Jewelers, which lost $821,000 in a burglary. While the trial court found that “ADT failed [to] properly install [the store’s] alarm system and failed to provide notification services when it actually received an alarm signal from the system,” it said ADT only had to pay the jeweler $1,000, which was the amount of the limited damage provision in the contract ADT had with the business.

Read the story....

[CameraMan]

Gotta read them contracts!

[copelandamuffy]

Camerman:
Aren't you semi in the alarm business with your Dad? If that be true, do alarms still bonkers in thunderstorms
I ask that because Thursday afternoon we had one hell of T- Storm, hail, wind
Knocked out power. Is this a problem for you in bad weather???

[Warren14]

Camerman:
Aren't you semi in the alarm business with your Dad? If that be true, do alarms still bonkers in thunderstorms
I ask that because Thursday afternoon we had one hell of T- Storm, hail, wind
Knocked out power. Is this a problem for you in bad weather???

The genius that invents an alarm system that can withstand a thunderstorm will make a fortune.
A T – Storm is an Armed Reaction Control Room’s worst nightmare.
In some cases I had over 200 alarms activating at the same time & it was not easy trying to operate two computers & four telephones at the same time with clients complaining because they aren’t satisfied with your response time

[copelandamuffy]

I ask the question about T-Storms and alarms, because way back in 1976. , living in Houston,
and working in an alarm company control room, I dreaded T-Storms. And Houston has thunderstorms every 10 seconds

In almost 40 years no one has invented the technology so alarms do not go nutty in T-Storms?

[Squid]

Maybe it would be an opportunity for guard company to sell "warm body" services to clients who otherwise depend on alarm systems.

Particularly a client who has "lot to lose", has 'heist-able' items, and where a major loss wouldn't be covered by insurance, or would disrupt biz and THAT wouldn't be covered.


Shouldn't an Alarm company have 'all hands on deck' during thunderstorms to keep response times in line? It isn't like storms aren't more or less predictable with all satellites, etc.

[Warren14]

Particularly a client who has "lot to lose", has 'heist-able' items, and where a major loss wouldn't be covered by insurance, or would disrupt biz and THAT wouldn't be covered.

Shouldn't an Alarm company have 'all hands on deck' during thunderstorms to keep response times in line? It isn't like storms aren't more or less predictable with all satellites, etc.

The last time I worked in an armed reaction control room was in 2007.
For some reason burglars seem to fear storms & I have never heard of a burglary during a rain storm let alone a thunder storm.
As a controller you need to try & attend to as many activations as possible starting with the most serious one & working your way down.
If no-one is at home you need to send a reaction officer out to check the premises.
Here is where you’re planning & coordinating play a major role in you reaction officers' response times.
Your company would need a lot of extra staff & vehicles if they wanted to match the response times under normal conditions.
You could say it is almost impossible.

I found that a lot of the false alarms were due to trees touching the electric fence or plants activating out door passives.

I don't know how to explain it but when ever we had a break in (especially at night) we could feel it.

[Squid]

Here in CA it would be normal to have a guard in their own car going between 'posts' and just paying them for mileage while on the clock.

I figure a company will have +4X number of guards for any 1 shift 24hourX7days/40hr week.....

hopefully more or less with home addresses spread over the service area.

[Curtis Baillie]

Gotta read them contracts!

You're right. The last contract I had with ADT called for all new parts. After the system failed (three days after installation) it was discovered they used parts had been used and the failure was tied directly to their use, we didn't pay the bill. This was a brand new system in a new office building. We ended paying 50% of the bill and ADT sent a new company to totally replace the system. It was simple, you either agree to our terms or you (ADT) can take your systems out of all of our buildings/stores.

[copelandamuffy]

Curtis and others:

So is ADT a-okay?
And if you have cats that roam and jump is that a problem?
No we are not getting rid of our cats. They are part of our familky