Random Car / House Alarms going off

sheepshagger

Does anyone else have this problem ?. . . .it seems like theres always alarms going off around my apartment (theres a number of different developments in the block). . .some are loud and some sound like they are far away. . . some only last a few seconds but others can go on for some time. . .whats the use of having an alarm if nobody checks on the house/car once it goes off ???

Is this just part and parcle of living in part of a estate/development?

traceybere

My neighbour recently went away for a long weekend. Her alarm went of Friday night at 11pm and went off until Monday at 5.30 when she returned. We rang the police, the county council, the managmanet company and finally the enviromental department.

there was nothing they could do cause it was the weekend. We have had this problem 3 times now and i have a young daughter

carveone

Oh man, that's appalling. We had that happen a few months ago - boy did people have nasty words for those guys. The people upstairs from them tried to damp it down with newspaper but it didn't help much.

Our apartment block, in common with many now, has a policy of 15 mins max. Your alarm must cut off after that time has elapsed. Makes it bearable, especially for the alarm that goes off every day (notice how it's always the same person?).

Alarms are useless now. Plain and simple. They serve no purpose except to torture people. The mad thing is I see people walk up to their car, press the panic button, alarm goes off, they look puzzled, eventually turn it off. And then they do the same thing the next day!!!! Damn, even dogs are smarter than that (see Pavlov!)

Conor.

penguin00

I agree its like the cry wolf story now you just think its the wind or a false alarm. You get up close the window forget about it and try to sleep! they should have a quit device on them after 15 min or something!:eek:

bugler

Yep, they're the most pointless security device going, in most cases. My neighbour has an alarm (we're on the 3rd story of an apartment block). It started to go off on Saturday afternoon, and was going off until Sunday night at about 9 pm. We had to sleep in the sitting room on Saturday night, and even then you could hear it. It was unbearable in our bedroom.

The money spent on an alarm would have been far better placed on reinforcing the door, which is the only real way of an intruder getting in.

For what it's worth I left them a note under their door while it was going off, outlining the pointlessness of the alarm, and also how the management company required that they have a 20 minute limit on it, and how this was also simple common sense. On their return they managed to set it off again, so I called in and made the same observations in person, only not as politely.

I haven't heard it since. I imagine it's being left disarmed now, making it as useful as it ever was, but without pissing off us neighbours.

loyatemu

People have alarms for 2 reasons

1 you get cheaper insurance if you have an alarm.
2 If you don't have an alarm, and your neighbours do, which house do you think a burglar is going to try first?

nonetheless - there's no excuse for having an alarm that doesn't cut off after 20 mins or so. Sadly barking dogs and alarms are the soundtrack of suburbia.

carveone

bugler wrote:

The money spent on an alarm would have been far better placed on reinforcing the door, which is the only real way of an intruder getting in.

Especially on higher floors. Much to my disbelief, I saw alarms fitting to upper floors on a high(er) rise building near Grand Canal Dock. To break in, you'd have had to go over a high pointy fence, then through security doors, and up 8 floors!

bugler wrote:

I haven't heard it since. I imagine it's being left disarmed now, making it as useful as it ever was, but without pissing off us neighbours.

I think that hits the nail on the head! Put an alarm in, leave it disabled. The big problem is that they're too sensitive - don't know what the story is, but most go off on any vibration at all. Is it too much these days for the modern alarm to figure out that a 1/100th second spike is unlikely to mean a break in took place :rolleyes:

Conor.

tHE vAGGABOND

FYI: There is a promise in the program for government [Now the greens are in] for a 'noise pollution bill' to tackle this exact kind of thing

I dont know what they will do, but getting folks working on a weekend who can sort it out would be a start Im sure everyone can agree