Crooked Door to Door Home Alarm Sales
Categories: Bay Area News, Focus on Concord
Written By: Mayor Concord California
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Alarm companies have several ways of marketing for new business. One is obviously the internet and then there are direct mailings and then door to door sales people. I get a person coming to my door about once a month from either Bay Alarm or ADT trying to offer me their latest special. Every time it’s a new person and once I open the door while they hold up their clipboard, they go right into their pitch. Usually it starts off with the fact that they are installing a new alarm down the street and they wanted to go around the neighborhood looking to see if anyone else was interested in talking about home security.
Now I know I can decide not to answer the door but I’m a sucker for a sales pitch and I actually like to listen to them when they go through the motions. The conversation always ends the same way and the person leaves without a deal from me. I’m not a huge fan of door to door sales people especially when it comes to home security and I’ll explain why.
Don’t trust them just because they say you should.
Several years back I had an opportunity to interview some ex-felons that specialized in breaking and entering / burglary. (I wasn’t always the Mayor of Concord.) Part of the class was to get a better understanding of the mind of a crook and how they go about picking their ‘mark’ or next victim. One of the career criminals I had a chance to talk with had been operating for over 10 years until he was caught during the day by chance, by a bright police officer that had a gut feeling about him and decided to circle the block one last time. The policeman saw a man in front of a house that looked like no one was home. Chances were the people were at work. By circling the block, the observant police officer noticed that this man who just didn’t seem to belong in a neighborhood was gone and the officer stopped at the house who the mystery man was in front of and watched him walk out the side yard with a bag full of loot. A career criminal was busted for burglary and grand theft.
This particular criminal would case out neighborhoods weeks in advance and would pose as a home security alarm salesman. He used to be a alarm salesman but the pay sucked so he went into crime instead. He would walk around a neighborhood acting official and try to sell alarm systems to people door to door. He said there were one of three answers he would get.
1) I don’t have an alarm and I’m not interested now.
2) I don’t have an alarm and I would like to hear more about it.
3) I already have an alarm system and I’m happy with it.
He would go to about 75 houses a day and collect all of this information. He was a smart crook, he’d pay attention to the cars in the driveway, anything he could see through a window into the house, he’d even go as far as to make note if there was a dog and how big it was. He collected all of the information that he could about his targets and go home at night and put together a plan on who he would rob. I’ll give you one guess who he targeted.
If you guessed #1 then you were wrong, he targeted #2 99% of the time and this is why. If someone had no alarm and was interested in getting one, it opened the door for him to ask a ton of questions about estimated value of their belongings, how often they were home or away, how many people live in the house and if there were kids, the list went on and on. For someone interested in getting a home security system, all of these questions seemed valid since it all came into play on what type of system you should get and what the real value of an alarm would be to you and your family.
It’s a sad reality that criminals prey on the weak and they will exploit people as much as they can. He was a master at it and would sit back at night with a six pack of cheap beer and go through all of his notes at the end of a hard days work. He wouldn’t rob every house that feel into the #2 group, he would pick one or two from the pile that he had the most information about. As I said, he did this for over 10 years before getting caught.
What to look for when you have a door to door alarm sales person.
Every door to door alarm sales person should have identification saying what company they work for. They should also have forms with the company information all over it. Besides an ID and the correct forms, the sales person should have brochures or some other type of materials they could leave with you.
If the man at your door trying to sell you an alarm system doesn’t have any of these things, you should notify the concord police department to the suspicious behavior and call the company the person says they work with and verify they do work there.
Now, forms, IDs and brochures could be forged and that’s exactly what the criminal I interviewed did. He would seem legit to most people and if you called the local alarm company to verify his employment, they would have told you they never heard of the man but how often do you think people did that? Not once in over 10 years.
Luckily, I do have an alarm that was preinstalled when I got the house I’m in and it was easy as just turning it on but many people do not have home alarms and don’t know what to say when someone comes knocking on their door trying to sell them the $99 special of the month.
What to say to the door to door alarm sales people.
You can say what you want but here’s my advice. Always say “I already have an alarm system and I’m happy with it.” If you really want to know more about getting an alarm system in your house, (which everyone should in my opinion) be the initiator for the discussion. Call your local ADT or Bay Alarm office and schedule a time for them to come by. Then you know that the person coming by your house is legit and works for the company. It might be the same guy who was knocking on your door a few days earlier but he’s not going to care or even probably remember that you gave him a bogus story about already having an alarm.
You will still get the “special” deal and you can be confident that you are dealing with the right people from the right company.
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March 16th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I had one of them come by my house today. Maybe we live in the same neighborhood. I never was too concerned about them but now, after reading this I will be more careful.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Not all of them are crooked. Some of these people are just bad sales people that took a job going door to door. I mean, they should have an ID or something saying they work for the company but I am no even sure if Brinks, ADT or Bay Alrm give there low level sales people ID.
I must say I have never felt comfortable telling a complete stranger at my door I dont have an alarm. I just tell them to go away.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
It may be paranoia but I have always felt the same way. I don’t mind when some guy wants to knock on my door and sell me lawn care but when someone tries asking me about how my house is secured, I freak out. Good call on this post. I thoght I was the only one.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Bay Alarm is a stand up local, family owned company. I would though probably do the same as you suggest.. say I have an alarm and I’m happy thank you, and then if you really want an alarm, call them direct. I didn’t know these companies went door to door actually… I’m going ask someone I know at Bay Alarm check it out.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
ADT comes by the house more often but Bay Alarm, GE, and Brinks make there rounds too.
Mayor Concord California’s last blog post..Residential Burglary
March 17th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I had one come by on Saturday. All I said (and ever say to door to door salespeople) is I am not interested, and close the door. I think he was asking why I wasn’t interested as the door closed. But I can’t be sure…
March 17th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
If you would like to schedule an Alarm Professional to stop by your home, not an out of work kid……Please let me know. We will be happy to help you.
Matt
Alarmx.com
National Sales Manager
matt-morris (at) ATT dot com
March 25th, 2009 at 9:38 am
most of you all say this because you havent been a victim of a break in. but lets face it with out an alarm system ur chance of a break in is about 1 and 4 with an alarm system its 1 and 60. sometimes door to door sales will push us to look into an alarm system instead of sitting around dreaming about one. as a victim of a break in an alarm system is a MUST!
April 27th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Unfortunately, there are good and bad people connected to every type of business.
I am the installation manager for an alarm company in Houston, Texas. The fact is, the door to door promotions team can give you a better deal on a security system than if you called the corporate office directly. Smaller companies usually offer more affordable systems to stay competitive with the larger overpriced companies. Answering the door for a salesperson may not always be convenient, but he just might have a great offer for you. Just verify his credentials.
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I have found that most large corporate alarm company that are based out of State, do not follow the State of California guide lines on having the appropriate Alarm Company Licenses. Most of these companies hire small independent persons calling themselves “Dealers” without checking the background of the individual for licenses, Liability Insurance and Worker Compensation Insurance. They just want the Contract of a Long Term Contract signed by the homeowner. The fact that the “Dealer” isn’t licensed, isn’t insured, isn’t a felon and can even do a quality installation with quality equipment isn’t important. Most of these Specials are only Gimmicks that is followed with the lots of Hassles.
If you are in need or are shopping for a alarm system, check your local alarm companies in your area followed by calling the Bureau of Security & Investigative Services at (916) 322-4000. The company should be licensed and in good standing.
The individual in question or the Company they represent should have a California Contractors license. You may check on line with the California Contractors State License Board. The department of Consumer Affairs is great and is there for our protection.
All company Employee’s should carry and have a ACE license. If they don’t have it…somethings not right.
August 18th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Get yourself a yard sign and a couple of window stickers. Get a fake camera and point it at the front door. Criminals don’t like there picture taken. They won’t come ask you leading questions if they are going to be recorded by an existing system. Make sure the fake camera has a blinking red light that is visible.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:30 am
I have been selling alarms for 4 years. I have done the door to door for about 3. About 90% of door to door guys are dealers. Dealers are like subcontractors. Most are legit but you do take more risk. Call and ask if that company is a dealer of another company. IF they are RUN. ADT has dealers so call Corp ADT instead. Bay does not have any dealers. Brinks/Broadview has dealers and Corp. Monitronics is 100% dealer. Just be a smart Customer. The company I work for, we like to use Door hangers. That way you can call us back if you are interested. Takes a lot of the presure off of you the customer.
October 3rd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I find this article and most of the commentary very disturbing.
As a rep for a small alarm company, we have to do door-to-door sales to be able to compete with the big guys. We also provide excellent service, and top quality products. Encouraging people to dismiss people like me and my colleagues from my small company in favor of getting ripped off by somebody like ADT or Broadview, or Bay Alarm is in very poor taste. Every home that I’ve been in that has a security system by one of these big companies is lacking coverage and 100% of the customers in these homes have told me they are not happy with their service.
Yes, you should be cautions with anybody, but don’t instantly dismiss somebody just because they aren’t with a name you recognize. You only hurt small business with that kind of attitude.
This article is just irresponsible with it’s ending recommendation.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
You can also look online and find reviews and recommendations about home alarm companies before purchasing.