Who and how to monitor?

[programmergeek]

Though I had this figured out I was going to use Next Alarm but upon opening a account I see I have to buy a ABN thing and as far as I know they can not monitor the ELK nativity with the elk internet adapter. Also I tried to contact them and there seems to be no phone number or way to contact them. HOW CAN A MONITORING COMPANY WITH LIVE OPERATORS HAVE NO WAY TO CONTACT THEM. I can't tell you how many times I have contacted ADT by phone in the past when I am away or on the road.

Anyhow I am not impressed with next alarm and can't really recommend them to clients if I can't get them on the phone or it takes days to get a response, I need to hook these systems up fast. For my system I was going to put in cellular anyhow. Should I forget about the abn thing and just go with a cellular dialer so I am only buying one thing. I also have vonage so I can hook up thought the vonage and forget about the abn thing and use the regular dialer.

Besides Next Alarm who else can I use for monitoring? I would prefer internet monitoring with cellular back up but also want good customer service, or any customer service for that point. If I can't get this I will have to do something awful and switch clients back to ADT. I didn’t think monitoring would be a issue.

 

[programmergeek]

Next alarm emailed me back with a phone number, finally but I called and got a machine left a message maybe next week someone will call me. Glad this isn't a alarm by the time someone gets back to you my house would of been burned down. Has anyone had good experences with this company?

 

[rfdesq]

I think you are confusing the corporate office (sales) with the central station (monitoring). I have been with NextAlarm for about a year and have been very satisfied. Most of my contact is via the internet and very little with actual humans. When I have called the central station the phone was answered immediately and business was conducted to my satisfaction. The central station that NextAlarm uses in my area is not only used by NextAlarm but by other companies. That is probably the way it works with all but the giants. Dan from NextAlarm used to be here but I think he has gone missing. I get the same for my $11/month as I did before for $30/month.

 

[programmergeek]

That could be the case it just doesn't give me a good feeling when there is no phone number on there site, no way to reach a real person when you need to and I have been trying to reach someone from there for days to get me set up. Trust me I am all for as little communication as possible but I also like efficiency if I can't get in touch with someone as a new customer what the heck will happen if I am paying them and have a real issue, reading through some posts though it may be different if you are paying they may service you faster. I have read several times people not getting answers and service unless they pay. Oh well, will keep on trying or trying to find someone else. I need good monitoring. No sense spending 2 k on an alarm and not having someone monitor it. Should of got my system going first before I sold it to others though this is becoming a issue.

 

[IVB]

Has ADT's corporate office contacted you, or their monitoring station? I've had NA contact me within <30 seconds each of 5 times i've had the alarm go off (2 were smokes). It's shockingly easy to get someone in the monitoring station on the phone, I just dial the # I got when I signed up. I think it's 800) 634-3915 for the monitoring station, 805.640.2929 for corporate.