Guest bassman Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Hi, Wonder if anyone can give me a bit of advice as an alarm user. About 4 years ago we had a multi-zone monitored alarm fitted to our house by a small independent alarm company and whilst being instructed in its use were given an engineers code, being told that we would need that to reset the alarm in the event of a false sounding. We used the alarm for a couple of years, resetting it as required. We then asked the supplier to come and disable the alarm as we were about to have a large extension built, then a year later had them round to expand the system to cover the now larger house. On completion of this work we were told that we could not have the engineer code, and that in the event of a false alarm we would have to call them out, at £50 a shot. Apparently we should have never had access to the engineer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Engineer codes are NEVER given to clients. If your system was an Audible Only (does not signal) then there really should be no reason why you can't have the system programmed to be reset by your code. Was it monitored at that time? Most company's offer free remote resets for genuine user error false alarms if they can be reset remotely. The company should only really need to be called out if the there was an unexplained false alarm, but nowadays some companies won't charge for call-outs to unexplained faults (if a maintenance agreement is in place). European Standards do not apply to any installation installed before October this year. Your system should be serviced twice yearly, or one live visit and one remote service (if they have it set up so that they can dial in). Do you have police response to your alarm? Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Service Engineer Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 and that in the event of a false alarm we would have to call them out, at £50 a shotI personally find this a little disturbing, i'd find another company that offers FREE re-seting.They did mention that for a further £70 a year I could have a service whereby in the event of a false alarm we could ring a number and they would reset itThe central station will more often than not issue your reset anti-codes free of charge, that £70 will go straight into the managers back pocket..(easy money).I notice that the new European Standard for alarm installation EN50131-1 states that ........................................................ Dave Partridge (Romec Service Engineer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Tampers are caused by numerous things and it's always best that an engineer investigates. The user would not normally know how to cure the fault. 67970[/snapback] Lots of residential tampers are caused by decorators moving detectors! Under current legislation most companies programme the system so that tampers are customer resettable. Some allow customers to reset following an unconfirmed alarm, and only engineer or anti-code following a confirmed alarm. Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norman Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 If you are having false, unexplained alarms you should ALWAYS call the alarm company and get them to check the system. It's all fair and well saving your ££s when you have an unconfirmed alarm but there is a problem if it's false alarming and that's what you pay your maintenance for. Use it and get them out to check the system and give you a full report. I personally believe that even unconfirmed should be on engineer reset. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Lots of residential tampers are caused by decorators moving detectors!Under current legislation most companies programme the system so that tampers are customer resettable. Some allow customers to reset following an unconfirmed alarm, and only engineer or anti-code following a confirmed alarm. 67973[/snapback] I don't think that decorator is the best profession to install the cover back.. They might accidentaly or "accidentaly" touch the pyroelement and cause detector malfunction. Therefore tamper alarm should only be reset by an alarm engineer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 If you are having false, unexplained alarms you should ALWAYS call the alarm company and get them to check the system. It's all fair and well saving your ££s when you have an unconfirmed alarm but there is a problem if it's false alarming and that's what you pay your maintenance for. Use it and get them out to check the system and give you a full report. I personally believe that even unconfirmed should be on engineer reset. 67996[/snapback] I agree. But that wasn't what this post was about. He is being charged £50 for every call out it seems. User error false alarms should be able to be reset remotely either by the installer or the ARC. Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavrick_001 Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 Sound like a bunch of muppets to me. 1stly no company in their right mind hands over engineer codes to customers, if the alarm is monitored then it should be set for engineer or anti code reset..... really unless they come out and it's a user error or you know the cause of the alarm they shouldn't have to come to you.... if they do it's a ripoff!!! If you don't know the cause the idea is to get and engineer out to find the cause, fix it, then reset the system for you so it doesn't go off again for the same thing. Personally I'd find another company who's a little bit more proff about what they do ad how they do it... from the above post I'm not filled with confidence in them CCTV Intruder Access Control Tony Hughes, Proprietor, TRADE MEMBER Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zak Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 I don't think that decorator is the best profession to install the cover back.. They might accidentaly or "accidentaly" touch the pyroelement and cause detector malfunction. Therefore tamper alarm should only be reset by an alarm engineer. 68003[/snapback] Nobody should be touching the devices at all - my point simply was that they do. Do most companies put tampers as engineer only resets? Zak Tankel - Managing Director - Security First (UK) - www.securityfirst.uk.com Disclaimer: Any comments or opinions expressed by me are my own as a member of the public and not of my employer or Company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted September 13, 2005 Share Posted September 13, 2005 The engineer code should not be given to the end user. We as a company give free remote resets for older systems. All newly installed systems do not require resets unless a confirmed intruder has activated. Because your system was installed before the rules changed, your system calls the Police without confirming there is an intruder. The rules are as follows: If the system calls the Police it should only be able to be reset by the instalation company, this is to ensure that the company is always called when your alarm is activated, and that the reason for false activation is solved preventing further false calls to the Police. You could ask the installer to upgrade you,re system to a DD243 compliant system, this will let you reset the alarm yourself unless the activation is confirmed. Of course this would mean that Police would only be called when two seperate detectors have activated. I hope this helps Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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