Burglar Alarm - recommendations

[treehugger]

Our insurance company has told us that we need to have a burglar alarm professionally installed. It has to be monitored and linked so that it calls me if it goes off. Any recommendations?

[Penguin68]

Find another insurance company

Edited to say - not that having a proper alarm isn't a good idea. but having an over-restrictive and proscriptive insurance company is less good - offering discounts if you have a professionally installed alarm is an acceptable carrot, this is a brutal stick.

[dv1]

^ what Penguin says. I went through all is with DirectLine and then discovered loads of others didn't require all this stuff. I went to Churchill who were cheaper as well.

In fact when I called an alarm company for a quote they said they would install one, but that they were a total waste if time and money and they suggested I try another insurance company!

[LondonMix]

dv1- why a total waste of time and money? Is it that even if it notifies you, burglars can be in and out before the police arrive in any case?

[dv1]

Partly but the main reason was because the response times are too slow or not at all

[LondonMix]

Hmm, I wonder if they even work as a deterrent. Anyone know?

[Lowlander]

The insurance premium saving is on average...?5

The cost is ?10 a month to link it to the police (the police don't respond to bell only alarms). Even then the burglars will be in and out within 60 seconds or so. Plus you need to replace components every 5 years or so.

It is a deterrant, but an expensive one.

[Pickle]

I'm surrounded by houses with alarms, both monitored and non monitored. I'd say at least once a day one of the alarms goes off, it's such a common occurrence that I've stopped even looking outside to see whether there's something untoward going on. The monitored ones take twice as long to stop making a noise.

[apbremer]

Burglar alarms are not perfect but well worth having and obviously a deterrent. Apart from the obvious it warns,say, a woman and child, that there is some scumbag who may actually be inside rifling the house on their return.

[Lowlander]

apbremer Wrote:

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> Burglar alarms are not perfect but well worth

> having and obviously a deterrent. Apart from the

> obvious it warns,say, a woman and child, that

> there is some scumbag who may actually be inside

> rifling the house on their return.

Yes...but a hefty price to pay for a miniscule risk...more chance of being killed by a meteorite.

Plus your insurance will be invalidated if the alarm system is not set

[rallfrey]

Burglar alarms are a major nuisance in the area. Please think of your neighbours peace and quiet and not allow any alarm to continue without it being monitored.

[Lollipop]

I spent yesterday evening with the local police and the scene of crime officer, following an attempted break-in to my house. The police were very clear - burglar alarms are a deterrent to opportunistic burglars. I am afraid I am considering getting one though I have resisted for years due to the fact I have dogs. I always assumed that burglars would prefer not to test their friendliness. However, yesterday they waited until I took the dogs out and tried to break in. I do feel slightly nervous now - I am sitting at work wondering whether they have come back again. For peace of mind I may succumb! But you are correct - with most insurance companies it will make little difference to your quote

[Loz]

dv1 Wrote:

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> In fact when I called an alarm company for a quote they said they would install one, but that they

> were a total waste if time and money and they suggested I try another insurance company!

Sorry? The alarm company told you their product was a waste of time and money?

[El Pibe]

Our alarm system (kess fwiw) offers us genuine peace of mind, most particularly at night.

You can set it onm a home mode, so that it'll go off if there are any intrusions detected, but internal sensors won't set it off, which does let us sleep easier, especially given that we had to chase people off the property trying to steal metal the other day, and that rural places are particularly vulnerable to robberies and so on.

So having an alarm that'll contact various people and authorites once set off is a god send for us city types still not sleeping due to a lack of plane noise.

Probably overkill for a flat in London though.

[DirtyBox]

I had one fitted in my last house after a burglary and when they came back for a second go it scared them off with just a handful of my possessions. I think it will deter some but not all the scumbags...the main thing is to make your house less desirable to burgle so they do over someone else instead

[mariababe]

Neighbours had an alarm....no one around them did...guess who got burgled yep the house with the alarm! (sash window was choice of entry)

When they got the alarm they asked if i would be on the call list so i asked what do i have to do if it goes off...yep go inside and have a look...REALLY!!! I said no but one day get a call from alarm company asking me to go and have a look...not a chance I said and hung up...nothing is worth more than my personal safety (especially next doors clothes)

Turns out when they did get burgled they were not even insured Oh the irony

[pchome]

Give PTC security a ring they are in the recommended business forum on here and the phone number is 020 8699 2049 or email [email protected] they will install an alarm system with autodialler so you don't need to pay for monthly monitoring.