ADT woes

[NM20]

My mother-in-law who is 83 and lives in a semidetached two bedroomed house with one living room and the kitchen has recently had her bill by ADT raised to £290 plus VAT a year.

The alarm is a Veritas 8 and it wasn’t installed by ADT. However, now that my mother-in-law wants to leave her contract, ADT are refusing to give her the engineers code and therefore we are unable to get another company to come and service the alarm at a cheaper amount. Can they do this?

 

I am extremely disappointed by their service, but keep getting fobbed off. Surely the alarm is her property and they should hand over the code?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

[sixwheeledbeast]

You are incorrect on several points, it's standard policy for companies to not disclose the engineering code to end users.

End users should not have access to engineering functions as the maintaining company is liable for the programming and function thereof, covered in the standards.

It's also argued the programming is IP of the company as you would have no system without it, whoever installs/maintains it designs/adjusts every system as required.

You can leave to another maintainer without any codes as long as you are fully paid up and finished any contract terms, you can find someone else competent to work on that system.

 

It does seem expensive for the system you describe, so I wouldn't be surprised if your paying for more than you think, like basic signalling.

What exactly are you unhappy with about the service, apart from the price?

 

[PeterJames]

Most good alarm companies wont need the engineers code. It is a lazy way to take on a system, the new company should be defaulting the system and reprogramming it from scratch and a Veritas is not that big a system so should not take 20 mins to default and re-program.  Defaulting and reprogramming is the only way to ensure that the system they are taking on is programed as it should be, and it is their own interest to do this as if it fails to perform they could be liable

Alternately you can ask ADT to default just the engineers code, but they are entitled to charge for their time

[al-yeti]

46 minutes ago, NM20 said:

My mother-in-law who is 83 and lives in a semidetached two bedroomed house with one living room and the kitchen has recently had her bill by ADT raised to £290 plus VAT a year.

The alarm is a Veritas 8 and it wasn’t installed by ADT. However, now that my mother-in-law wants to leave her contract, ADT are refusing to give her the engineers code and therefore we are unable to get another company to come and service the alarm at a cheaper amount. Can they do this?

 

I am extremely disappointed by their service, but keep getting fobbed off. Surely the alarm is her property and they should hand over the code?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Your missing something

 

Adt normally quote you to come and do that , and you probably don't want to pay that right?

 

You don't have much choice on the matter

[norman]

1 hour ago, NM20 said:

Surely the alarm is her property and they should hand over the code?

To summarise (I'm not sure of the relevance of your mother in laws age) yes most likely it's her property but no accredited company would hand over the code. 

 

You have a throuple of options:

Ask ADT to default the engineer code, you could try and coordinate this with a routine inspection visit foc, otherwise it should only cost a call out fee. 

 

Call and ask for the retention dept and negotiate your anual price. 

 

Engage another company to take over the system, just beware that the engineer codes can be locked on this system. 

 

[james.wilson]

Agreed with the above but I'm sure they would come out and default it completely or offer to do it foc if you tale it to them. 

Also if your not happy with adt why would you want their programming. All systems should be reprogrammed from scratch when the. New support company takes over

[NM20]

This is all very helpful, thank you for the detailed responses.

 

I am shocked by the price, by contrast I live in a 5 bedroom house and pay Chubb £90 a year, so I do think they are overcharging.

 

I was unaware I could cancel and get someone else to basically root the system and start again without the current engineers code. I will take that route, thanks again for the responses - a very impressive forum!!

[al-yeti]

13 minutes ago, NM20 said:

This is all very helpful, thank you for the detailed responses.

 

I am shocked by the price, by contrast I live in a 5 bedroom house and pay Chubb £90 a year, so I do think they are overcharging.

 

I was unaware I could cancel and get someone else to basically root the system and start again without the current engineers code. I will take that route, thanks again for the responses - a very impressive forum!!

Depends what your paying for at £90 a year , ultimately seeing both contracts in the flesh would make things clear? You can remove your details of course ....

Edited September 1, 2023 by al-yeti

[james.wilson]

Also bear in mind you could be comparing an a1 to an a8. Few audi a8 owners would be happy with an a1

[sixwheeledbeast]

Forget the size of the house, what's included in the contract and what components make up the full system?

Full comp, Parts, mid term call out fees, signalling, remote assistance, out of hours etc- included?

The house could be massive but you only have a front door contact...

Every company is different, you need to carefully check what your getting for your money so your not comparing apples to oranges.