Archive for October, 2009

Telguard hits milestone with Monitronics dealer

Thought we’d share this good news on our blog—a Monitronics authorized dealer just installed the 500,000th Telguard cellular alarm system. Here’s the press release:

Telular Corporation, a leader in wireless communications technology, announced today that it has reached an industry milestone of half a million households and businesses now using Telguard Digital cellular alarm solutions to protect their families, property, and assets. Telular’s market-leading portfolio of UL-listed solutions enables security dealers to provide primary and backup wireless alarm communication solutions for residential and commercial customers over the nationwide cellular network.

“We are extremely pleased that a Monitronics Authorized dealer installed Telular`s 500,000th cellular system,” said Mitch Clarke, vice president of marketing and business development at Monitronics. “We look forward to continuing to build on our successful relationship with Telular and reach the next half a million installations.”

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Tuesday tips for preventing crime: Halloween

As the ghosts and goblins get ready for this Saturday, we take a quick look at Halloween safety tips for families.

  • Go trick-or-treating in groups with an adult supervising during daylight, if possible. If it’s dark, carry flashlights.
  • Never go into a strange house for your treats—stay outside the door.
  • Set a route and a time limit for trick-or-treating. Stick to well-lit streets, avoid shortcuts, and make sure someone not with your group knows where you are.
  • Watch out for dogs—this is not the night to make friends with a new four-legged creature.
  • Keep the treats until you go home. Take time to spread them out on a table and look for any packaging problems. Do not eat any candy that looks like it has been tampered with.
  • Have fun!

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What is security? Keeping my kids safe

What is security: Keeping my kids safe

North Texas resident Kristine Soto started using Monitronics long before she had children, but their arrival has given new purpose to her monitored alarm system. We asked her to explain what security means to her now. These are her words.

“When we moved into our house, it already had an alarm system in place, and we chose to use Monitronics to monitor it about five years ago, almost six.  We really haven’t had any problem. When I leave a window open they are quick to call!

“But that was before we had children. What is important to me is keeping my family safe from predators and burglars. I have two boys who are four and three and they’re not old enough to say no to somebody if that person comes up with candy or special treats. They don’t really know the whole ‘say no to strangers’ thing. We don’t want anybody walking into our house and the alarm keeps that from happening.

Another big concern is fire. The kids are interested in matches now because they’ve seen me light the candle and seen me put the matches away. I have had to move them from the drawer where I kept them, but what if they found the matches and took them upstairs and were playing with them? This is why it’s so important to us that our smoke detectors are monitored. It just doesn’t take long for kids to figure things out. Our alarm system keeps us safe in a lot of ways.

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Burglars may talk, but your house won’t

Yesterday, we tweeted about a great article called “13 Things a Burglar Won’t Tell You.” It’s a funny take on the burglar mindset, with points like, “Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier” and “Here’s a helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.”

Author Michelle Crouch even has eight more things a burglar won’t tell you on her blog. We love that one of the sources is convicted burglars in North Carolina, Oregon, California, and Kentucky. Jackpot!

The response to our tweet was big and we’ve been thinking about the whole premise of Michelle’s article. We’re a company that offers monitored security systems and the first thing people think of is protecting themselves from break-ins. But only a small percentage of home emergencies are actually burglaries. A monitored security system offers protection against so much more. So we played with Michelle’s original thought and came up with a few things your home knows, but won’t tell you. That is, unless you have a Monitronics monitored alarm system.

10 things your home won’t tell you, but an alarm will

1. Your teenager just got into the liquor cabinet and is mixing crème de menthe and soda with his chemistry lab partner.

2. Your telephone line has just been cut by someone sneaking around the side of your house. We offer wireless monitoring of your system.

3. That cheap space heater in the bedroom is starting to overheat and is producing smoke. But not enough to reach the one detector you put up years ago in the den. (Does that thing even have a battery?)

4. Your mother has not opened her medicine cabinet today and that means she has not taken her medication.

5. The reason you feel so sleepy lately is because there’s a growing amount of carbon monoxide in your bedroom.

6. Your fifth grader just got home from school and is playing inside safely. You don’t have to worry.

7.   Neighborhood kids just hit a home run over your fence and shattered your glass back door.

8.  Your aging father slipped and fell in the bathroom an hour ago and doesn’t have any way to let paramedics know because he’s not wearing a medical pendant.

9. The door to the gun cabinet just was opened, but the only person home is your teenage son.

10. Your babysitter is outside, talking to her boyfriend, while your six year old cuts her brother’s hair. With video monitoring, you could be watching this on your smartphone.

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Tuesday tips for preventing crime: Golden rule

If there’s a golden rule of crime prevention, it’s this: Make yourself a difficult target!

It’s not necessary to have the most secure home in the country, just the most secure home on the block.  Criminals who burglarize homes are looking for quick, easy scores, not challenges.

Unlike the sophisticated criminals who are often portrayed in the movies, most home invasions are crimes in which the items taken are small, portable, untraceable items like iPods, video game systems, jewelry, collectibles, and other items that are easily converted into cash.

Fortunately, by following the home security tips listed below, you can make your house unattractive to home burglars and send them looking elsewhere for an easier opportunity. That’s why the home security experts at Monitronics want to remind you of practical, common sense steps you can take to protect your home and your belongings this fall.

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Customer complaints

Every company of every size deals with customer complaints.  When you Google Monitronics, you’ll notice that we’re not immune to unhappy customers expressing their frustrations.  And we don’t want customer’s to be silent, because what makes the difference is how Monitronics helps customers. Responding to customer concerns is important to us.  That’s not “I want your business” lip service either.  Just ask Esther Curiel of Austin, Texas.  She gave a poor review on the Monitronics Facebook fan page.  Here’s part of what she said:

“I wish i could say that i’m a fan of yours, but i can’t….i just want you to fix the alarm system i paid for. I dont want to have to pay all these BS charges you’re tacking on for your mistake. I want my children to be safe. That’s all. Good customer service goes a long way. There are a lot of social networking sites out there. Word of mouth goes a long way too. Do the right thing guys.”

It’s not that Esther posted something on Facebook or Twitter that got our attention. It was Esther’s perception of Monitronics and the fact that her security system needed work. We value our reputation and want our customers to enjoy their Monitronics alarm monitoring service. We understand. We make mistakes. But we also strive to make them right. Here’s what happened with Esther once we made contact with her and asked how we could make the situation right.

“You guys direct messaged me back [on Twitter] and asked what had happened and what you could do to help, so I told you what was wrong with my alarm. You got back to me and went step by step the whole way with me. You sent someone out a couple of days later—he did a great job and was really nice.  You could work on the courtesy of the initial customer service experience, [but] you all did a fantastic job and everything went smoothly.”

Thank you, Esther. This is the heart of Monitronics and is our core values in action. We strive to get it right the first time and when we don’t, we want to hear from you. Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/monitronics or our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/monitronics and let us know how we are doing with your account. We want to know. We want to help make your situation right as best possible.  Outcomes like Esther’s may not always happen, but we’ll do our best.

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Tuesday tip for preventing crime

This time of year, many of us open up our windows to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Nothing wrong with that. But an open window, particularly in an unoccupied house, is an easy target for a burglar. You need to secure them or keep them shut (and turn on your Monitronics monitored alarm system when you’re away or sleeping).

So if you want the window cracked, make sure it is no more than six inches open and use secondary blocking devices, like a wooden dowel or stick for a horizontal sliding windows or a through-the-frame pin or “screw lock”for vertical sliding windows. Make sure that you can’t reach through the open window and remove any of these things.

For the times when the window is shut, place a highly visible alarm company sticker. Monitronics makes some nice ones that are available from customer service at 800-447-9239.

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All that sizzles is not safe in bedroom

It’s national Fire Prevention Week 2009 from October 4-10, a time to pay special attention to risks around our homes. According to the National Fire Protection Association, last year, fires caused more than $15.5 billion in directly property loss, with $8.6 billion of that being residential.

Many of those fires started in the bedroom, a place that’s designed for comfort and relaxation, but is no safe haven when it comes to home fires: Nearly 6,000 people die annually from bedroom fires, says the United States Fire Administration.

Sleep tight with these safety tips for the bedroom:

  • Replace mattresses made before 2007 that don’t meet the new flammability standard.
  • Never smoke in bed.
  • Make sure that electric blankets, bed warmers, and space heaters are lab tested and do not have frayed electric cords.
  • Operate space heaters at least three feet away from flammable objects, like curtains, clothes, bedspreads, sheets, and blankets.
  • Keep matches, lighters and candles out of the reach of children. When children play with these items, they often do so in their bedrooms.  This is especially critical during the holiday season when the number of house fires by children increases to a peak of 60 fires per day during mid-December.
  • Routinely check under beds, in closets, and furniture in children’s rooms for lighters, burnt matches, or other signs that they might be playing with fire.

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