One of the most gratifying parts of working at Monitronics is the stories of tragedies prevented. This week, we had just such an event that I want to share. Because of our monitored smoke protection, a near-fire was averted in a customer’s home, something that could have destroyed her home and killed her five beloved cats.
On Monday around 2 p.m., a fire alarm came into our Monitoring Station from the Shelly Kitchen residence in Fresno, California. Our second-shift operator Francisco Galicia responded by calling the Kitchen residence, but got no response. He dispatched the Fresno County Fire Department immediately. They arrived and found the dishwasher was the cause; a plastic part had fallen on the the heating element, which was smoldering and would have caught on fire.
Later on Monday, Mrs. Kitchen called our Customer Service department in tears to thank us for saving her home and her cats. She had cancelled her service at one point, but came back to Monitronics to ensure that her pets would be safe when she traveled.
“It’s so important for me to have control over my house and the monitored protection gives that to me,” she said. “I’m so happy with Monitronics. I want to express my gratitude for saving our home and our cats with such fast response Monday.”
Posted in: Home Security
Fitness is now available to Monitronics employees all day, every day.
The exercise room has moved to first floor two doors down from the Ouachita Conference Room and includes a treadmill, elliptical machine, two balance balls, work-out and walking videos, stretch bands, hand weights, and a scale. An air bike and recumbent bike will be delivered by Monday and there’s a new Wii Fit that can be checked out from the loss prevention desk on the first floor of the main tower (you’ll need to sign a waiver of liability before checking it out).
This is part of the commitment by the company to help employees meet fitness goals and stay in shape and is one piece of a wellness initiative called “MI Health.”
“MI Health is a targeted strategy to promote a healthy and dynamic work environment [since] part of our company mission is ‘to provide our Monitronics’ team with a positive and fulfilling work environment,’” said Sherrie O’Keefe, director of human resources. “We believe that MI Health will help create an even stronger work environment than we enjoy today.”
As part of MI Health, O’Keefe is sending out an employee survey next week to obtain information about what employees would like included in the program. There is a whole pallet of possibilities and O’Keefe said she wants to start with those that Monitronics employees most want implemented.
Posted in: Behind Our Doors
‘Tis the season to be a good neighbor and Monitronics is donating $10,000 to eight local charities. Each year, the Monitronics Christmas committee divvies up the funds and these are the recipients this year:
* Dallas VA Medical Center: $2,000
* Farmers Branch Elementary School: $2,000
* Metrocrest Social Services: $700
* North Texas Food Bank: $900
* Little Elm Area Food Bank: $900
* Irving Cares: $2,000
* SoupMobile: $1,000
* The Carrollton Health & Rehabilitation Center: $500 in gifts for the patients.
In addition, human resources donated $1,500 to AMVETS and tech support donated $1,250 in drills to Habitat for Humanity.
Posted in: Behind Our Doors
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.
Posted in: Behind Our Doors
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.
Posted in: Home Security
Our own Monitronics employee Leah Shafer is a Dallas native who never thought much of alarm systems until her house was burglarized. Now a monitored security system is part of her personal sense of safety. These are her words.
A close call made her a believer
“I grew up with parents who locked every door and double checked the windows at night. But that didn’t stop us from getting robbed when I was 14. In addition to big-ticket items, they took all my Wet ‘n’ Wild make-up, a crimping iron, and a pair of my M.C. Hammer pants (hey, it was the 80s). But more than that, they stole my sense of security in my own home.
“So we installed a monitored alarm system. For several years, it was just a fixture on the wall that we didn’t think about too much. But that changed one summer night when we woke up to the beeping of the back door being opened. At 3 a.m.
“We had forgotten to close the garage door and at least two people had been rummaging around in there, moving the lawnmower out into the driveway and trying to use a screwdriver to start the car. Who knows what they were planning on doing once inside the house, but it couldn’t have been good. When they came through the back door and tripped the sensor, that alarm may have saved our lives. They heard it and ran away.
“Thankfully, I’ve never had another instance like that since that hot summer night many years ago, but it instilled in me a belief in the value of arming my system every time I leave the house and at night. Nowadays, I have more valuable things for them to steal than scrunchies: my personal sense of safety has no price tag.”
Posted in: Home Security, What Is Security?
If you’re an account slammer, your day of reckoning may have come. Monitronics is protecting customers against security system scams.
Monitronics and ADT have teamed up to fight corrupt business practices by door-to-door salespeople, filing six separate lawsuits against the salespeople themselves.
“Account slamming” is a security industry term typically referring to the behavior of sales people who pressure consumers with offers of a free home security system or free alarm system upgrade when the consumer has an existing monitored security alarm provider. They often resort to untruths and scams to switch you from your current provider to a new one. The lies they tell can be blatant, often stating your current security provider is out of business or claims that your “analog security system will stop working.”
The person who pays the highest price for slamming is you. You can end up with two bills, two contracts, faulty equipment, broken equipment, and other frustrations that can take months to sort out.
In response, Monitronics, ADT, and many other industry players have teamed up to create a code of conduct for door-to-door sales people. The goal is to have a uniform code of ethics in place by next summer.
“Everyone has been hurt by summer slamming and we want this code to have a real impact on behavior in 2010,” said Monitronics Vice President Bob Sherman. “This will be a voluntary set of guidelines for everyone in the alarm protection industry and it has the potential to make a difference and help all of our customers.”
The lawsuits are a punitive way to deal with the slammers. Monitronics has filed three suits this summer and ADT filed three in September, according to Security Systems News. We’ll be keeping tabs on these as time elapses and keep on writing about them, as well as the progress of the code of ethics.
Posted in: Behind Our Doors, Industry Happenings
Got some tasty treats cooking up in the kitchen? Keep it safe with these fire prevention tips. Your safety and home alarm system needs aren’t limited to anti-theft protection. Statistics show that the No. 1 “home intruder” is fire. In fact, cooking is the number-one cause of all home fires: almost 40% start there and most start during the dinner hours, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The sooner a fire is detected and emergency responders are notified, the greater the chance that your loved ones and possessions will be safe
• Think prevention when you’re cooking. Have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and have monitored smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. According to the U.S. Home Safety Council, 97% of U.S. homes have at least one basic smoke detector – but an off-the-shelf smoke alarm may not be enough to protect your family and property. Monitored smoke detection and fire alarm systems work even when your alarm system isn’t armed – and early detection of smoke or fire is the key to faster response.
• Never leave the kitchen while cooking and avoid cooking when you’re tired.
• Avoid wearing loose clothing around burners or gas flames.
• Move flammables away from stove-tops—paper and plastic catch on fire easily.
• Smother grease fires with a lid, metal tray, or cookie sheet. Don’t spray with an extinguisher. You could spread the fire to the walls.
• Unplug small appliances when you aren’t using them.
Posted in: Home Security
