On Feb 15, 4:32*pm, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:03:02 -0800, larkim wrote:
On Friday, 15 February 2013 15:13:26 UTC, Jethro_uk *wrote:
On Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:08:11 +0000, Toby Sleigh wrote:

Hope someone can help.....

We have a Friedland SA5 6 zone wireless alarm system that I installed

approx five years ago, and have maintained since. This unit is very

similar to Yale wireless alarms so one or othe is probably a rebadged

version. Anyway we've recently changed house building & contents

insurer. Our new insurer is insisting that there is a maintenance

contract in place. I've been phoning round & consistently failing to

find a company who will take on a diy installed system.

Are there security companies out there who will maintain diy
installed

alarms? or will I have to give up & get an equivalent approved system

installed at vast unnecessary expense. Location is Ealing, West
London.

IME any discount gained by having a burglar alarm is minimal. Best say

you haven't got one. Especially since if you have got one, but had a

break in when it was off (e.g. you were at home) they may not pay up.

I've often wondered whether there was any correlation between having /
not having an alarm and being burgled. *Certainly isn't something I'd
ever bother to have fitted, unless there was a very compelling financial
case which saved me more than enough money on the fitting cost compared
to the discounts on the insurance (which I doubt is an equation which
works in practice).

Simple question: when was the last time *you* did anything about a
burglar alarm ?

The muppets across the road from me managed to forget to turn their alarm
off a couple of years ago, on Saturday evening. They got home, tripped
it, and spent the next 2 hours completely unaware it was sounding. I only
went over because after the 2 hours, when no-one else had done anything,
I looked out the window and saw people moving about, with their car on
the drive and them moving about inside. When they answered the door, they
started by insisting it was their neighbours alarm ....



Much as I'd hate to imagine either arriving home with the possessions
gone, or waking up in the night with an intruder around, I still
consider it sufficiently unlikely to occur that its not worth spending
£500-£1000 on (in addition to insurance!!)

To be honest the loss of stuff would be upsetting, but it's more the
damage that burglars can do that would hurt.

I once heard a policeman giving tips, and a punter was pressing him with
all sorts of increasingly unlikely scenarios. Eventually he just said
"that's what insurance is for."

Best to find a really good hidey hole for valuable stuff.