the point of house alarms

IM0

apart from annoying the crap out of anyone in the same housing estate and actually make it more easy to burgle a place [you could start a farkin band session in them and no one would notice with the noise being made already]

seriously scumbags start breaking into houses with alarms going off :pac: no one will ever know!

and also apart from the point of reducing insurance costs for your house, they are the 21st centuries chocoltate fire guard :mad:

Bob the Builder

They are the most pointless things I have ever seen.

Even the Gardaí must get sick of all the false alarms there are.

They are useless.

Where I work, there is one and there are nine people on the list of contacts if ther alarm goes off throughout the night, and usually not one of the people answers the phone when the alarm activates.

javaboy

The idea is simply to make it more appealing to burgle your alarmless neighbour than it is to burgle you. That's why the boxes are usually prominently displayed.

Bob the Builder

javaboy wrote: »

The idea is simply to make it more appealing to burgle your alarmless neighbour than it is to burgle you. That's why the boxes are usually prominently displayed.

You mean to say that my only neighbour is paying €400 to hope that my house gets burgled first?

The cúnt.

IM0

javaboy wrote: »

The idea is simply to make it more appealing to burgle your alarmless neighbour than it is to burgle you. That's why the boxes are usually prominently displayed.

Is that what the rep told you. If everyone has one [and everyone does now] it becomes pointless, like a pyramid scheme.

KerranJast

If you get a proper alarm system with a UPS and GSM dialer then they are of value.

Splendour

Don't get alarms either. There was one in my house when I bought it and I've never used it. When doing any electrical work and need to turn off the main supply, the alarm goes off and drives me crazy... (And my neighbours too I imagine :rolleyes: )

javaboy

me@ucd wrote: »

Is that what the rep told you. If everyone has one [and everyone does now] it becomes pointless, like a pyramid scheme.

No it's not what a rep told me. :rolleyes: It's just me da always taught me to skip the houses with the alarm boxes. That advice has served me well over the years.

IM0

javaboy wrote: »

No it's not what a rep told me. :rolleyes: It's just me da always taught me to skip the houses with the alarm boxes. That advice has served me well over the years.

ba dum tis..

yoyo

I heard there are tools readily available online that disable all kinds of alarm (not joking, even phonewatch can be disabled!), burglars will also only rob so much in each burglary apparently as if they only rob a certain amount they can be released on bail (maybe not the right term, dont know much about those legal terms, but they can get away with it!) :rolleyes:, the scumbags have it all worked out

Nick

Abelloid

My neighbours had one go off repeatedly one Christmas while they were away. I was tempted to break in and smear my own faeces across their bedroom walls, and leave a note saying the alarm not only drove me to do it but also provided the cover, as everybody else on the road was working hard to ignore it.

Luap

me@ucd wrote: »

apart from annoying the crap out of anyone in the same housing estate and actually make it more easy to burgle a place [you could start a farkin band session in them and no one would notice with the noise being made already]

seriously scumbags start breaking into houses with alarms going off :pac: no one will ever know!

and also apart from the point of reducing insurance costs for your house, they are the 21st centuries chocolate fire guard :mad:

Mmmmm. Chocolate

bryaner

javaboy wrote: »

The idea is simply to make it more appealing to burgle your alarmless neighbour than it is to burgle you. That's why the boxes are usually prominently displayed.

Correct!

Indubitable

I don't have an alarm and have never been robbed nor anyone in the immediate vicinity of my abode.

bryaner

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

I don't have an alarm and have never been robbed nor anyone in the immediate vicinity of my abode.

I have an alarm and two people on the same street without alarms got burgled..

Indubitable

bryaner wrote: »

I have an alarm and two people on the same street without alarms got burgled..

Perhaps it is where I live? Where my parents and brother live, in the last 2 years 5 houses in their estate had their cars robbed by breaking into the house and grabbing the keys.

Erica<3

There's a house across the road from me and they leave their house on full alarm everyday, and they must have a cat or something, because it goes everyday for hours, until one of the owners comes home.

It's gotten to the point where I have driven over and put a note through the letterbox, telling them about the alarm, how annoying it is, and would they please mind putting it on part-arm so that it won't go off at the slightest little thing.

Have they taken heed?

Have they fcuk.

smallerthanyou

I've lived in about 6 or 7 different houses between college and work and everything. Never had a house alarm and never been robbed. Some of my friends have house alarm and have been robbed. Conclusions house alarms attract robbers!

lionela

Wait untill you become a victim....you will do anything to deter burglars..mark my words.
In my area ..there has been a spate of break/ins..and it's no pleasure.

Get yourself a good wired system.
By the way the phone text thinngy is optional and you pay extra for that .. It's an additional panel added to your system and you can have one or several phone alerts via text it's up to each user.

It's handy if you left your house and forgot to close an inner door or such..and your alarm goes off and you get a text message. Easy peasy ..return home and put things right.

Also I might add ..present day alarms stop ringing after 20 minutes. Regulations when fitting new systems.

Cheers . He's behind you.

RATM

JustinOval wrote: »

My neighbours had one go off repeatedly one Christmas while they were away. I was tempted to break in and smear my own faeces across their bedroom walls, and leave a note saying the alarm not only drove me to do it but also provided the cover, as everybody else on the road was working hard to ignore it.

Reminds me of a mate of mine who was having his head wrecked for over 3 months by an alarm across the road going off more or less every day at around 3pm when the owners were out and he was trying to sleep after a night shift. He lived in quite a rough area of Dublin and didn't fancy approaching them at all, some in the house had a rep in the area is the best way to put it.

So he went down to an internet cafe and printed a sheet stating

Your alarm has been going off at 3pm every day for the last 12 weeks. If it goes off tomorrow or the day after I'm going to chuck a brick through your window. You've been warned. Sort it out.

It duly got sorted by the next day. I asked him why didn't he just approach them and ask nicely to which he replied 'Chances are I'd get told to F. Off. When you're dealing with scumbags the best way to go about it is to act like a scumbag yourself. It's the only language they know'

starbelgrade

When I was shopping for house insurance, I noticed that if you have an alarm, it reduces the yearly cost by over €30, so I got one in Homebase for €50 in a sale, installed it & never used it, but it's saved me €90 over three years already in premiums.

So, I'm up €40 already. That's the point of house alarms to me!

Abelloid

Erica<3 wrote: »

There's a house across the road from me and they leave their house on full alarm everyday, and they must have a cat or something, because it goes everyday for hours, until one of the owners comes home.

It's gotten to the point where I have driven over and put a note through the letterbox, telling them about the alarm, how annoying it is, and would they please mind putting it on part-arm so that it won't go off at the slightest little thing.

Have they taken heed?

Have they fcuk.

How wide is your road?

adamski8

dogs>alarms

Alias G

starbelgrade wrote: »

When I was shopping for house insurance, I noticed that if you have an alarm, it reduces the yearly cost by over €30, so I got one in Homebase for €50 in a sale, installed it & never used it, but it's saved me €90 over three years already in premiums.

So, I'm up €40 already. That's the point of house alarms to me!

But couldn't your insurance company technically refuse a payout on the basis that your alarm wasn't turned on when the burglary occurred.

Son Of A Vidic

My German Shepherds don't require an alarm, burglars wouldn't make it to the house anyway.

starbelgrade

Alias G wrote: »

But couldn't your insurance company technically refuse a payout on the basis that your alarm wasn't turned on when the burglary occurred.

If I get broken into, I'll just rip out the control panel & say it was thw burglars. Problem solved.

Or I could actually read the manual & program the thing, but it seems like an awful lot of hassle!

Mayo Exile

One of these under each window should do the job nicely.......... Put them away before the kids wake though. .

http://www.eightpointsnineseconds.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/bear-trap.jpg

taytothief

Whats the point in having an alarm if all it does is annoy people enough to ring the cops? Gardai can enter a house and turn off an alarm afaik (breach of peace/noise pollution/something) but they don't, cos they're cnutfishes and there is far too much paperwork involved in something like that I'd reckon. Set-up booby traps.

lorebringer

Don't see the point of alarms if they are not monitored - they just go off, reset and go off again for hours on end with nothing happening except angry neighbours! We have ours monitored so that if it goes off we get contacted and the Guards get called. Our neighbours have the same system and they have had the Guardi out a few times due to drunken mistakes so it works! We also have dogs and the barking is nearly lounder than the alarm when it goes off We have a few neighbours whos alarms have gone off for nealy the entire day, probably until they come home from work, and it is so annoying. - but do they give s sh!t?!?! No, because they don't have to listen to it all bloody day.

ronan0

I hate alarms. They always go off on me when I'm trying to switch them off, and there's nothing worse than a neighbours triggering for no reason when they're away and no one there to turn them off.

I always thought alarms nurtured a kind of chicken and egg scenario in terms of how secure people feel in society if you know what I mean.

skywalker_208

Ive been burgled twice (not where I live now)
Both places had no alarm. 2nd time was a row of houses and we were the only 1 with no alarm - and we were the only one that got burgled

I have an alarm now, and GSM dialler and a prominently displayed box with nice flashy lights

They are designed to work as a deterent.

dvpower

Alias G wrote: »

But couldn't your insurance company technically refuse a payout on the basis that your alarm wasn't turned on when the burglary occurred.

I've heard anecdotely of cases where the insurance company refused to pay out where an alarm wasn't switched on. I couldn't be bothered with the daily routine of setting the alarm - a daily reminder that there are people out there that want to rob my stuff.

I have an alarm box but no alarm - seems like a good cheap alternative.

Cheap Thrills!

I stupidly wasted €400 on an alarm which I never use.

Why don't I ever use it?

Why would I?

I live in a new estate and I can tell you that notion that they stop after 20 minutes is a pipe dream. I dont know how many weekends have been ruined by alarms going off for 20 minutes, stopping for 20 then going off for 20 for sometimes 48 hours or more.

The selfish pr!cks who have thoughtlessly set them go off about their business not having left a phone number to contact them with neighbours or a key with someone who can be contacted to turn it off.

They are antisocial and a menace and I can't WAIT until they are outlawed.

Your average alarm user goes off out sets the alarm with absolutely NO THOUGHT as to what will happen when the alarm goes off. They fail to leave contact details with anyone. The Guards aren't going to respond to an anonymous alarm ringing when there are no signs of forced entry to the home.

So what do all these cabbages setting alarms imagine is going to happen if the alarm goes off?

All that happens is no-one comes and the neighbours are enraged.

As for them being a deterrant, a house alarm going off for 24 hours.....burglars dream! You might as well be screaming through a megaphone: "Hey burglars come on Enter and browse at your leisure!"

As for the windy days when every alarm in the neighbourhood is screaming into the void...don't get me started!

And finally, power cuts. Gone are the days when power cuts meant silent black houses with candles lighting, now you have to lock up the gaff and leave and sleep at a friends such is the cacophony of electronic noise you have to endure. Those good old battery back ups never fail.

weiland79

My parents house was broken into last Wednesday night. They were asleep upstairs. The Fcukers got the back door open alarm went off and scared them away, so thankfully it worked on this occasion. But i would generally agree if i hear a neighbours alarm going off i would totally ignore it.

The Big Red Button

javaboy wrote: »

The idea is simply to make it more appealing to burgle your alarmless neighbour than it is to burgle you. That's why the boxes are usually prominently displayed.

See, if I was picking out a house to rob, I'd go for the one with an alarm because my logic would be that they're probably richer and have more stuff worth robbing! :pac:

animaal

adamski8 wrote: »

dogs>alarms

I have a dog, but I prefer the alarm. The alarm doesn't piss on the carpet or chew my shoe.

Mister men

Well i got one around 7 years ago now and no body on our road (around 40 odd houses) with an alarm has been broken into. Several houses without alarms on the road have been broken into this last year alone and each and everyone now has an alarm installed.

Mister men

skywalker_208 wrote: »

Ive been burgled twice (not where I live now)
Both places had no alarm. 2nd time was a row of houses and we were the only 1 with no alarm - and we were the only one that got burgled

I have an alarm now, and GSM dialler and a prominently displayed box with nice flashy lights

They are designed to work as a deterent.

They do work as a deterent no doubt. RTE had a prime time investigates on a few years back and they had some scum on talking about house break in's. The scum mentioned how it never ceased to amaze them how people with tens of thousands of euro worth of valuables in their houses would'nt spend another meesly 400 quid on an alarm. They said they went out their way to avoid alarmed houses as it draws attention to them on the road and that's the one thing they want to avoid.

skywalker_208

Cheap Thrills! wrote: »

They are antisocial and a menace and I can't WAIT until they are outlawed

Rediculous statement in fairness.

A properly setup, maintained alarm is well worth the money - turns off after 15 mins, does not go off in windy conditions and is setup to either ring/txt the owner or like phonewatch - have some call center contact the owners.

If they do not have these features they I agree - they are useless and a waste of money.

Mister men

skywalker_208 wrote: »

Rediculous statement in fairness.

A properly setup, maintained alarm is well worth the money - turns off after 15 mins, does not go off in windy conditions and is setup to either ring/txt the owner or like phonewatch - have some call center contact the owners.

If they do not have these features they I agree - they are useless and a waste of money.

A waste of money? Even if your house never get's broken into.

Cheap Thrills!

skywalker_208 wrote: »

Rediculous statement in fairness.

A properly setup, maintained alarm is well worth the money - turns off after 15 mins, does not go off in windy conditions and is setup to either ring/txt the owner or like phonewatch - have some call center contact the owners.

If they do not have these features they I agree - they are useless and a waste of money.

Trouble is, from what I can see a large proportion of people do not bother to set them up properly or maintain them responsibly.

The vast majority of people just get them installed and mindlessly set them every day and never think ahead to what will happen when they go off. No keyholder, no contact details, set up so sensitively that a spider could trigger them. Off they go for two weekss never giving the p0xy thing another thought.

Multiply that by whatever number of selfish, thick numptys live in any given estate and that is pretty much your soundtrack for the Summer.

I speak from personal experience having had to listen to these things ringing endlessly for years.

So the statement is not ridiculous at all.

Mike 1972

Does the reduction in insurance premiums offset the annual cost of monitoring ?

And when the police get a report from a monitoring service does the fact that its not from an actual witness mean the police treat the call with less priority ?

Alias G wrote: »

But couldn't your insurance company technically refuse a payout on the basis that your alarm wasn't turned on when the burglary occurred.

There should be a process whereby if there are more than two false alarms from the same address in a twelve month period the police can notify the insurance companies that the address is going on an ignore list.

Shiny

Our place was robbed early this year, a few weeks after we
moved in. I never really cared about having an alarm until
after that event. Only then that did I notice that our place
was the only ground floor apt that didn't have an alarm.

We got an alarm straight away after that and while its not monitored,
I am confident that it will at the very least act as a deterrent.

Tim M-U

starbelgrade wrote: »

When I was shopping for house insurance, I noticed that if you have an alarm, it reduces the yearly cost by over €30, so I got one in Homebase for €50 in a sale, installed it & never used it, but it's saved me €90 over three years already in premiums.

So, I'm up €40 already. That's the point of house alarms to me!

Insurance companys will only discount your insurance if it is maintained by a PSA Licensed installer certified to the EN50131 Standard. Such Yale/Mickromark/GET do not comply to the EN50131 standard, en50131 is required by insurance companys for a discount. Insurance companys will refuse payout if it is not turned on.:cool:

Some systems that comply to the EN50131 standard, like HKC Securewatch/SecureWave .

Also, you should note that all alarms should mute (inside and outside sirens) after 15 minutes, not 20 minutes.