"orangetrader" wrote in message ...
Thanks.

It is a wired alarm. There is a metal box in my garage, the battery (about
1/4 the size of a car battery) sits inside this box. There are three
sensors (one on the front entrance, and two in the two rear entrances),
there is a motion sensor in the living room (wired) and it is working (it
lit up as I walked by it).

I will change the battery first and see.

I don't remember signing anything. I remember back in 2000 the deal was if
I did not fulfil the two year period, I will have to pay back the cost of
the equipment and installation (which was waived). I did not see anything
about a auto-renewal deal. Also the original company I signed this with was
later acquired by a company who was also later acquired. I wonder if I was
somehow rowed into this program.

O

"Someone" wrote in message
...
"orangetrader" wrote in message
...

However, it appears the trouble light is related to the phone line.

Your alarm uses a line cutout jack (RJ-31) to insure it can dial into
the station when it gets tripped. So your inability to get a dialtone
when it's tripped is normal. It sounds like the storm damaged either
a sensor or a wire to a sensor.

Since you don't say what kind of alarm (wired/wireless) you have, I'd
start by replacing the dead battery in the control unit, check the
batteries
in any wireless sensors you have, and see if that clears it up.

As for the self-renewing contract, read it and see if it has such a
clause.
Didn't you read it before signing it? Since you opted out of the warranty
when you signed up, you can't really blame them for not giving you
warranty service you didn't want to pay for.

If you can't fix the system yourself, go ahead and let them fix it and
send the bill to homeowner's insurance company.





The battery in your alarm is a rechargable one, it should recharge
itself when power is restored, unless it's gone bad. You can tell if
it's bad by how long the alarm remained on without power. If it died
quickly, it's bad.

The alarm cuts off all the upstream phones when it makes a call. The
curious thing here is that you say the alarm company says its not
receiving calls. While it shouldn't matter, I'd wait a day for the
battery to recharge, then call the company and tell them you want to
test the system. Trip the alarm and see if they get a call. If the
don't then it sounds like the modem in the alarm may be shot. Was
there lightning? I'd also try disconnecting the battery and removing
all power from the unit for a few minutes to completely reset it. I
wouldn't waste time fooling around with any sensors, as regardless of
what goes on there, the unit should be making calls, so sensors,
zones, etc aren't your main problem

I'd also get a copy of your contract with the company. It's normal
for monitoring to be seperate from maintenance. However, I wouldn't
put up with a 2yr self renewing contract. Worst case, when the 2yrs
is up, tell them month to month or you'll toss them and watch how fast
they cave.