Do you have an alarm system? Thoughts about canceling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No alarm. Ccdc.

What's that?

If I lived in DC no matter where I would have an alarm.

The key to your statement is "IF I LIVED IN DC;" you clearly don't live here and have an out-of-date picture of crime in DC!

OP, we have an alarm system in the house we bought but it has no service. I didn't sign up with a company when we moved in. We have a large dog, which will protect us FAR better than an alarm system any day. I say this as someone who has multiple family members in law enforcement. A dog will deter 98% of criminals. An alarm system, not so much. Another tidbit I learned from law enforcement family members, many criminals have been employed by alarm companies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No alarm. Ccdc.

What's that?

If I lived in DC no matter where I would have an alarm.

I'm in SE DC, no alarm here.

NE. None here either. Alarm services are basically in the business of fleecing the timid.

[Anonymous]

Huge sense of security when we go on vacation; knowing they call if anything happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No alarm. Ccdc.

What's that?

If I lived in DC no matter where I would have an alarm.

The key to your statement is "IF I LIVED IN DC;" you clearly don't live here and have an out-of-date picture of crime in DC!

OP, we have an alarm system in the house we bought but it has no service. I didn't sign up with a company when we moved in. We have a large dog, which will protect us FAR better than an alarm system any day. I say this as someone who has multiple family members in law enforcement. A dog will deter 98% of criminals. An alarm system, not so much. Another tidbit I learned from law enforcement family members, many criminals have been employed by alarm companies!

Oh, please. I'm not the previous poster, but I did live in DC and had an alarm system, and still have one in the 'burbs. Everyone I know who lives on the Hill has had a break-in or attempted break-in. Even in the 'burbs there kid crime. You rainbows and sunshine are super cute, but idiotic. In any urban area.

[Anonymous]

Personally I think it's a waste of money. I have a smoke/CM detector, bars on my basement windows and a security door for the basement door. A privacy fence and anywhere else someone will be able to see you. I live in the Takoma DC neighborhood which is pretty safe.

[Anonymous]

I have the system, but not the monitoring service. So, in essence it's self-monitored. I don't really care about having it linked to a company, I just like knowing I'll be alerted if a door/window is breached.

[Anonymous]

I disagree. Before I had my alarm installed, someone broke into my house. He bashed my roomate's head in with a crowbar, and fled only after I confronted him with a gun. After my alarm was installed, someone tried to break through my back sliding door. The alarm apparently scared him off. Also, while my elderly MIL was visiting, she caused a fire in the kitchen, which set off my alarm's fire detector. The firetruck came promptly and likely saved my house.

I have also previously been the victim of a home invasion with I lived in Tennessee without an alarm. I feel like the crackhead intruder likely would have been scared off if an alarm had gone off when he broke in.

[Anonymous]

Total waste of money. Cancel it.
911 Dispatcher here, I personally on one shift enter approx 10-15 house alarms a day. In 7 years of this job they have all been false. The only real one ive had was a business alarm/burglary.
Very few of the alarm companies make any effort to call a responder before calling the Police. They call us first. Waste of Police time, and depending on where you live you get charged.

[Anonymous]

I have one because: 1) when I arrive home after dark, I like knowing that no one has broken into the house (I would get an alert on my phone if any sensors had been triggered); and 2) I sleep 100% better knowing that all the weird sounds in my old house are not caused by someone breaking in.

My house also has too many entry points - tons of windows and a set of sliding glass doors. If I lived in a condo, I'd feel differently.

You can get a basic monitoring package for less than $20/month through companies other than ADT.

[Anonymous]

It totally depends on where you live and your comfort level. When we lived on Capitol Hill we had one. I wouldn't have felt safe otherwise. There were regular break-ins in the neighborhood and I think having an alarm was well worth the expense.

We moved to upper-NW and had an alarm and hardly ever used it, especially after two false alarms. When our contract expired, we didn't renew. I don't feel unsafe without it. However, if we were to move to a neighborhood with higher crime rates, I'd definitely get an alarm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ADT is horrible, endless price increases, serial billing errors on their part and then referring our account to collection after ADT told me not to pay the bill until we got a revised bill (which took them 2 months to send out)... I fired them.

The home security people I know don't think much of ADT. I would recommend any other company. We switched to Guardian. I have no affiliation other than as a paying customer but we pay 20%+ less per month for a better system (that was able to reuse the existing contacts we had to reduce the installation cost).

I mainly have it for fire alarm protection and calling that in, secondarily for safeguarding valuables when we're away. We rarely turn it on when we are home, baseball bats & other protective measures are in place. ;-o

+1 we also had ADT. they are a rip off. we have Ackerman now and pay half of what ADT wanted tocharge. When we changed homeowner's insurance, in order to get covered at the amoutn we wanted, we had to have an alarm that was moniter. Plus we got a discount on the rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ADT is horrible, endless price increases, serial billing errors on their part and then referring our account to collection after ADT told me not to pay the bill until we got a revised bill (which took them 2 months to send out)... I fired them.

The home security people I know don't think much of ADT. I would recommend any other company. We switched to Guardian. I have no affiliation other than as a paying customer but we pay 20%+ less per month for a better system (that was able to reuse the existing contacts we had to reduce the installation cost).

I mainly have it for fire alarm protection and calling that in, secondarily for safeguarding valuables when we're away. We rarely turn it on when we are home, baseball bats & other protective measures are in place. ;-o

+1 we also had ADT. they are a rip off. we have Ackerman now and pay half of what ADT wanted tocharge. When we changed homeowner's insurance, in order to get covered at the amoutn we wanted, we had to have an alarm that was moniter. Plus we got a discount on the rate.

+2 I looked into ADT a while back. I recall seeing multiple lawsuits filed against them when their alarms failed to work -- the lawsuits were, however, almost always dismissed b/c there is of course extremely broad language in their contracts saying they're not liable if the alarm system fails to work. I decided not to pay their prices for that kind of "protection."

There are a lot of other alarm companies out there -- I would cancel them and go with something else.

[Anonymous]

Lived in Columbia Heights 2003-2008 w/o an alarm and never had a break-in (or attempted, as far as we know).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ADT is horrible, endless price increases, serial billing errors on their part and then referring our account to collection after ADT told me not to pay the bill until we got a revised bill (which took them 2 months to send out)... I fired them.

The home security people I know don't think much of ADT. I would recommend any other company. We switched to Guardian. I have no affiliation other than as a paying customer but we pay 20%+ less per month for a better system (that was able to reuse the existing contacts we had to reduce the installation cost).

I mainly have it for fire alarm protection and calling that in, secondarily for safeguarding valuables when we're away. We rarely turn it on when we are home, baseball bats & other protective measures are in place. ;-o

+1 we also had ADT. they are a rip off. we have Ackerman now and pay half of what ADT wanted tocharge. When we changed homeowner's insurance, in order to get covered at the amoutn we wanted, we had to have an alarm that was moniter. Plus we got a discount on the rate.

+2 I looked into ADT a while back. I recall seeing multiple lawsuits filed against them when their alarms failed to work -- the lawsuits were, however, almost always dismissed b/c there is of course extremely broad language in their contracts saying they're not liable if the alarm system fails to work. I decided not to pay their prices for that kind of "protection."

There are a lot of other alarm companies out there -- I would cancel them and go with something else.

Can anyone recommend an alarm company that allows you to reuse your existing ADT system?

[Anonymous]

Our neighbor had a house alarm installed. The company asked for "a list of contacts". When the house alarm went off in the middle of the night, the alarm company called one of the "contacts" and asked HER to go next door and check on the house. Not kidding ~