CabbagePatch Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 normally are I would assume the if a mere bells only system, sitting down with the solicitor costed more than a year under contract? got judgement awarded & warrant out on a client for doing the self same thing, who works with out contracts at a cheap rate........ now if I were the installer & you paid your maintenance promptly in full & on time, you would not be trawling forums looking for a fix would you It must be great being you. The cost of a solicitor depends on how well you know them. In any case it wouldn't be anywhere near the cost of 4 years of a 'maintenance' contract. If you were the installer I 'm guessing that we'd already have had our day in court to see who was right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabbagePatch Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 did you pay full price for the system?http://www.thesecurityinstaller.co.uk/comm...p?showforum=244 Thanks, I'll have a ring around. Any personal recommendations would be appreciated though. Yes, I paid full price, although this was a cheaper quote. I certainly wasn't aware of the practice of tying customers into extended contracts by stealth. Whilst I can see the commercial sense, I would have thought that a bit of honesty about your business practices up front would be the best option. It would prevent you having a whole load of upset customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave the alarm man Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 It must be great being you. not really The cost of a solicitor depends on how well you know them. In any case it wouldn't be anywhere near the cost of 4 years of a 'maintenance' contract. employing men to ensure all system on maintance have access to out of hours corrective maintenance costs money, since it would seem your penny pinching, ensure your insurance cover (contents) does not rely upon having a system of certain type with maintenace by a firm of certain being required If you were the installer I 'm guessing that we'd already have had our day in court to see who was right. yes you would have to pay my legal expenses & incured interest too Thanks, I'll have a ring around. Any personal recommendations would be appreciated though.Yes, I paid full price, although this was a cheaper quote. I certainly wasn't aware of the practice of tying customers into extended contracts by stealth. Whilst I can see the commercial sense, I would have thought that a bit of honesty about your business practices up front would be the best option. It would prevent you having a whole load of upset customers. There is very little money in fitting house alarms for the proper firms, as with most thing in life those that pay the least seem to complain the most, as for the non-contract client spoke to one the other day was somehow under the impression that we are obliged to send a man on 18 mile round trip to power down his alarm for free, well the previous client did have cover on it 7yrs ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morph Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Thanks, I'll have a ring around. Any personal recommendations would be appreciated though.Yes, I paid full price, although this was a cheaper quote. I certainly wasn't aware of the practice of tying customers into extended contracts by stealth. Whilst I can see the commercial sense, I would have thought that a bit of honesty about your business practices up front would be the best option. It would prevent you having a whole load of upset customers. Is it usual for you to sign a contract without reading and fully understanding the terms? In fairness to the company they did provide you with a contract and you signed it, if you couldn't read the terms clearly you could have asked for them in a bigger typeface. Yes, you may not like that the company tied you to a 5 year contract, but the reallity is you signed a document that you hadn't or couldn't read, who's fault was that? As far as new installer is concerned you could look at http://www.ssaib.org/ or http://www.nsi.org.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfur mo Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Is it usual for you to sign a contract without reading and fully understanding the terms?In fairness to the company they did provide you with a contract and you signed it, if you couldn't read the terms clearly you could have asked for them in a bigger typeface. Yes, you may not like that the company tied you to a 5 year contract, but the reallity is you signed a document that you hadn't or couldn't read, who's fault was that? As far as new installer is concerned you could look at http://www.ssaib.org/ or http://www.nsi.org.uk/ in principle to a point your right Colin, but the uninteligable terms some use can lead to the mis reading them. from what the o/p states i thought those sort of hiding the hooks in the detail 'tactics' were stopped long ago, and deemed 'unfair terms of contract', all came about over the pernicious photo copy machines rackets? i'm no lawyer but don't the wording have to be a minimum size too. always seems odd to me for companies try to do such tie-in's, and risk such bad advertising. imo if your good and fair the clients tend to stay with you, i've proved this works, you know i don't run any contracts only agreements, and still have many of the clients who were with me at the start. while not all clients appreciate good service, most take it for granted as this chap has done, big names tend to have that 'laxity' applied by default thinking "a big firm like xyz would never do that" but some do as they can find out to their cost. regs alan If you think education is difficult, try being stupid!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooner31 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 im in oxford cabbage patch i will send you a pm with my details pete ................. Any comments/opinions posted are my own and not that of my employers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabbagePatch Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 in principle to a point your right Colin, but the uninteligable terms some use can lead to the mis reading them.from what the o/p states i thought those sort of hiding the hooks in the detail 'tactics' were stopped long ago, and deemed 'unfair terms of contract', all came about over the pernicious photo copy machines rackets? i'm no lawyer but don't the wording have to be a minimum size too. always seems odd to me for companies try to do such tie-in's, and risk such bad advertising. imo if your good and fair the clients tend to stay with you, i've proved this works, you know i don't run any contracts only agreements, and still have many of the clients who were with me at the start. while not all clients appreciate good service, most take it for granted as this chap has done, big names tend to have that 'laxity' applied by default thinking "a big firm like xyz would never do that" but some do as they can find out to their cost. regs alan Alan You've hit the nail on the head. If the company had been clear up front I wouldn't be looking around for somebody else to do my job. I would have thought that such an integral part of their terms and conditions should be highlighted to the customer. Unless they were trying to hide a 5 year tie in. Now why would they do that? I'm in business myself and would never treat any of my clients in such a way. I'd also like to point out to the guys defending this practice that I am quite happy to pay for someone else to fix my alarm and I'm not some cheapskate after something for nothing. I just refuse to pay any more money to a company that behaves this way. Alarmgard has a point in saying that I should have taken more care in reading all of the T&C's before signing a contract. In response I would ask if he does the same every time he signs up for a credit card, buys a car or any other of the things we all have to do in our busy lives? I would guess that unless he is some sort of legal eagle, or has too much time on his hands, he doesn't. Thanks to the Anguscanplay and Gooner31 for your help. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfur mo Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 AlanYou've hit the nail on the head. If the company had been clear up front I wouldn't be looking around for somebody else to do my job. I would have thought that such an integral part of their terms and conditions should be highlighted to the customer. Unless they were trying to hide a 5 year tie in. Now why would they do that? I'm in business myself and would never treat any of my clients in such a way. I'd also like to point out to the guys defending this practice that I am quite happy to pay for someone else to fix my alarm and I'm not some cheapskate after something for nothing. I just refuse to pay any more money to a company that behaves this way. Alarmgard has a point in saying that I should have taken more care in reading all of the T&C's before signing a contract. In response I would ask if he does the same every time he signs up for a credit card, buys a car or any other of the things we all have to do in our busy lives? I would guess that unless he is some sort of legal eagle, or has too much time on his hands, he doesn't. Thanks to the Anguscanplay and Gooner31 for your help. Richard we all say colin should get out more there are contracts that run over several years but are defined as rental, lease or lease buy, often used for vehicles and office equipment ect. all above board and proper. why some companies are not so open on this i do not know. like you, many people get upset if some smarty pants tries to pull the wool over our eye's especially when you spot it, knowing that reaction and expecting it of others i just don't do small print, and a reason for the name Eye 2 Eye Security, i look the client straight in the eye tell them all the pro's and con's best i can, pull no punches for or against, then the client decides on a level playing field. you said your system had a contract and had maintenance visit 3 months back and is still under contract, so as you have paid so far, why not get them in to fix it? regs alan If you think education is difficult, try being stupid!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabbagePatch Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 we all say colin should get out more there are contracts that run over several years but are defined as rental, lease or lease buy, often used for vehicles and office equipment ect. all above board and proper. why some companies are not so open on this i do not know. like you, many people get upset if some smarty pants tries to pull the wool over our eye's especially when you spot it, knowing that reaction and expecting it of others i just don't do small print, and a reason for the name Eye 2 Eye Security, i look the client straight in the eye tell them all the pro's and con's best i can, pull no punches for or against, then the client decides on a level playing field. you said your system had a contract and had maintenance visit 3 months back and is still under contract, so as you have paid so far, why not get them in to fix it? regs alan By having a maintenance contract I'm entitled to an annual service visit, but for all breakdowns and repairs I get 'priority' service and a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave the alarm man Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 always seems odd to me for companies try to do such tie-in's, odd to you, I assume like BS 4737, DD243, DD245, EN 50131 / PD 6662, anything by NCAP or ACPO oh BS 7671 springs to mind & not forgetting security screened to BS 7858, all things the OP's firm has paid for, no doubt pricing themself's out the market when compared to "I fit the alarms as sideline to a telephone system" I'd also like to point out to the guys defending this practice that..... BTW way what where the yearly costs? & what did you get apart from the visit & access to 24hr cover, parts? fully comp? ect..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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