13 minutes ago, norman said:

What was your criteria for choosing them? 

They were recommended by someone who had used them 10 years ago and they were local

I don't know these panels, But why can't you scroll back through the event log to see whats it shows prior to power outage and when the engineer arrives.

There is nothing coincidental about this... The power cut required the panel to be reset with an engineer code (if you had this code you could do it yourself in seconds for free but this is how alarm companies make their income). Additionally you could replace the batteries yourself for around £2 per battery but again the engineer code is required because any change requires an engineer reset. The call out charge by this company is far too cheap but it is clear they offset this by putting a markup on the batteries. By your own admission, you use the alarm whilst at home as well as when away meaning the alarm is in regular use which will deplete the batteries more quickly - typically even a good battery only gives about a year or reliable service. Seems clear to me that the engineer had to come out as the alarm required resetting (which he didn’t charge you for unless they include basic resets within the call out charge) and whilst there advised that batteries needed replacing which is plausible considering they were 21 months old with fairly heavy use. The batteries may all have been ‘low’ rather than dead taking away the ‘coincidence’ surrounding them failing at the same time as the power cut. Either way, the reason you called the engineer was because the alarm needed reset and at the very least I would be expecting the builder to pay the call out charge. The batteries however needed replaced and will need replaced annually to ensure reliability...

13 minutes ago, Rory Risco said:

There is nothing coincidental about this... The power cut required the panel to be reset with an engineer code (if you had this code you could do it yourself in seconds for free but this is how alarm companies make their income). Additionally you could replace the batteries yourself for around £2 per battery but again the engineer code is required because any change requires an engineer reset. The call out charge by this company is far too cheap but it is clear they offset this by putting a markup on the batteries. By your own admission, you use the alarm whilst at home as well as when away meaning the alarm is in regular use which will deplete the batteries more quickly - typically even a good battery only gives about a year or reliable service. Seems clear to me that the engineer had to come out as the alarm required resetting (which he didn’t charge you for unless they include basic resets within the call out charge) and whilst there advised that batteries needed replacing which is plausible considering they were 21 months old with fairly heavy use. The batteries may all have been ‘low’ rather than dead taking away the ‘coincidence’ surrounding them failing at the same time as the power cut. Either way, the reason you called the engineer was because the alarm needed reset and at the very least I would be expecting the builder to pay the call out charge. The batteries however needed replaced and will need replaced annually to ensure reliability...

 

 do you do alarms for living ?

17 minutes ago, Rory Risco said:

There is nothing coincidental about this... The power cut required the panel to be reset with an engineer code (if you had this code you could do it yourself in seconds for free but this is how alarm companies make their income). Additionally you could replace the batteries yourself for around £2 per battery but again the engineer code is required because any change requires an engineer reset. The call out charge by this company is far too cheap but it is clear they offset this by putting a markup on the batteries. By your own admission, you use the alarm whilst at home as well as when away meaning the alarm is in regular use which will deplete the batteries more quickly - typically even a good battery only gives about a year or reliable service. Seems clear to me that the engineer had to come out as the alarm required resetting (which he didn’t charge you for unless they include basic resets within the call out charge) and whilst there advised that batteries needed replacing which is plausible considering they were 21 months old with fairly heavy use. The batteries may all have been ‘low’ rather than dead taking away the ‘coincidence’ surrounding them failing at the same time as the power cut. Either way, the reason you called the engineer was because the alarm needed reset and at the very least I would be expecting the builder to pay the call out charge. The batteries however needed replaced and will need replaced annually to ensure reliability...

Rubbish batteries last 3years average on good systems 

6 minutes ago, MrHappy said:

 

 do you do alarms for living ?

Yes

5 minutes ago, al-yeti said:

Rubbish batteries last 3years average on good systems 

Not in my experience, particularly with Risco equipment. Once batteries register ‘low’ on the control panel the system won’t allow you to set it without first omitting it as a fault... 

Just realised this topic is over 2 years old... Not sure how I stumbled across it. 

6 hours ago, Rory Risco said:

There is nothing coincidental about this... The power cut required the panel to be reset with an engineer code (if you had this code you could do it yourself in seconds for free but this is how alarm companies make their income). Additionally you could replace the batteries yourself for around £2 per battery but again the engineer code is required because any change requires an engineer reset. The call out charge by this company is far too cheap but it is clear they offset this by putting a markup on the batteries. By your own admission, you use the alarm whilst at home as well as when away meaning the alarm is in regular use which will deplete the batteries more quickly - typically even a good battery only gives about a year or reliable service. Seems clear to me that the engineer had to come out as the alarm required resetting (which he didn’t charge you for unless they include basic resets within the call out charge) and whilst there advised that batteries needed replacing which is plausible considering they were 21 months old with fairly heavy use. The batteries may all have been ‘low’ rather than dead taking away the ‘coincidence’ surrounding them failing at the same time as the power cut. Either way, the reason you called the engineer was because the alarm needed reset and at the very least I would be expecting the builder to pay the call out charge. The batteries however needed replaced and will need replaced annually to ensure reliability...

 

Probably eng reset on tamper

A cr123 from risco is going to cost a lot more than £2

Setting & unsetting a one way radio has no effect on sensor battery life

 

The sub wanted to recover the cost of the alarm repair from the electric co. or builder, the documentation from the alarm co. prevents this