PhoneWatch Price Increase - Alternative Monitoring?

Ernest

I have just had notification of a significant increase in fees for monthly monitoring from PhoneWatch. The system only has alarm/intruder monitoring - not cctv or smoke/carbon dioxide sensors.
My question is this: is it possible to change from PhoneWatch to a different monitoring company without changing all of the existing physical hardware in my house etc for which I paid several hundreds of Euros a few years ago?

pclive

Hi Ernest what was it before the increase and what is the new price

Was thinking of getting a monitored system and phonewatch was one i was going to look into

KoolKid

If you have the older systems before the change of ownership then you can shop around for monitoring.With their new system you are tied to them i'm afraid.

fred funk }{

What most people don't realise is that no other company can take over their newer panels and if the user wants to change to a different company in a few years they will have to buy a new entire system.

kub

Please everyone out there, there are dozens of monitoring companies in this country that any PSA registered intruder alarm installation company can connect your alarm too.
All of these monitoring stations do the exact same thing, mostly though at a more reasonable cost.
The equipment that the vast majority of Intruder Alarm Companies install, can be taken over or serviced by other companies, if for what ever reason there is a fall out, of course moving from one monitoring station to another is also possible.
All systems have to be fitted to a common standard that we all have to abide to this is EN50131.
There is no such thing as the be all and end all in this profession, some like to give that impression though....without naming any names.

Ernest

pclive wrote: »

Hi Ernest what was it before the increase and what is the new price

Was thinking of getting a monitored system and phonewatch was one i was going to look into

The original monitoring price with Eircom Phonewatch was €25 per month then increased to €27.77 a month when Sector Alarm took over PhoneWatch and now to €33.32 per month at a time of near zero inflation.

KoolKid wrote: »

If you have the older systems before the change of ownership then you can shop around for monitoring.With their new system you are tied to them i'm afraid.

KoolKid: what do you mean by "the older systems" ? My system was installed in 2010.

kub

Ernest wrote: »

KoolKid: what do you mean by "the older systems" ? My system was installed in 2010.

If I may, you are lucky, you probably have a Simon panel so that is open protocol with regard to monitoring.
If it was installed within the last 18-24 months then you have no choice.

Ernest

kub wrote: »

If I may, you are lucky, you probably have a Simon panel so that is open protocol with regard to monitoring.
If it was installed within the last 18-24 months then you have no choice.

Yes the control panel says Simon XT.

KoolKid

Shop around. Any licenced company can monitor your alarm.

stuartkee

Most Phone watch Simon and concorde panels have had there engineering/programming code changed so they are trying to stop people from moving to other companies.

If you ring them and request the engineer code they will send you a waiver to sign then they will post you out the code and Any alarm company can monitor the alarm for far cheaper than phone watch but if you tell them you have received a better price they will drop there price straight away they matched a €150 per year offer from me down from €380 in one phone call . They are desperate for connections so will take any price they can get .

amadablam

stuartkee wrote: »

Most Phone watch Simon and concorde panels have had there engineering/programming code changed so they are trying to stop people from moving to other companies.

If you ring them and request the engineer code they will send you a waiver to sign then they will post you out the code and Any alarm company can monitor the alarm for far cheaper than phone watch but if you tell them you have received a better price they will drop there price straight away they matched a €150 per year offer from me down from €380 in one phone call . They are desperate for connections so will take any price they can get .

Has anyone with the newer phonewatch system had any success in getting a price reduction from them?

Im out of contract with them and i have the newer system but find their monitoring price quite high.

KoolKid

I'd say it would be a lot harder for people on their new system to negotiate a discount. They know that you have no option to shop around. Even if you do cancel the monitoring you will still have to go back to them once you have any problems or faults.

stuartkee

Well I have been informed that they are now doing a monthy contract so not even a yearly one . They have been told to match or beat any price they get from a rival company so there have members of the Same family all paying different amounts.

Phone watch are not really that interest in what security they sell you its all about the $$$ .

So they are NOT an alarm company there a monitoring company . They are getting hammered by the contractors they let go who are taking back the customer and monitoring them else where.

amadablam

KoolKid wrote: »

I'd say it would be a lot harder for people on their new system to negotiate a discount. They know that you have no option to shop around. Even if you do cancel the monitoring you will still have to go back to them once you have any problems or faults.

I have the alarm over a year and while it does the job, Im kind of regretting not looking around a bit more, hindsight It is a reasonable system but I would have liked to have more zones programmed in and I do think there are features missing that might be preferable.

are these alarms completely locked down to PW? Completely useless if I want to move elsewhere?

Im loathe to say it but I might put in a new system although its a shame to have all the PW hardware and having to get rid of it

KoolKid

These systems can only be monitored and maintained by PW. I this that's where the real money is going to be for them in the future.

vincent coffey

Hi Guys
I'm hoping you can answer a (i hope) simple question.
We had the Simon XT installed 4 years ago with GSM monitoring
At the end of the contract we moved monitoring to a different sompanyand added some extra zones etc to the panel

Today, Sector rang me and offered to "replace" the existing panel with their new one, match all covered zone sensors, give us monitored smoke and CO alarms and give us an option to move to a monthly rolling contract all for no charge

Too good to be true?

From reading the above (correct me if I am wrong) if I go to this new system I will be tied to them in perpetuity? i.e. once their new system is in place I will not be able to move to another monitoring company should I wish to do so in future?

thanks in advance

amadablam

you have it in a nut shell.

Once you accept the 'olive branch' or 'poison chalice' offer of an 'upgrade' you will not be able to move your monitoring to another company as the system is completely locked down. See my other thread for my experience with them on the new system.

Not telling you your business but I would be very slow to even consider the new system unless you are happy to have zero flexibility with the system and you are happy to remain with PW as your monitoring service until you decide to replace the complete system and go else where.

vincent coffey

ha ha thanks fro the information

I knew there had to be a catch, i asked him three times what it was but he swore blind that they were only interested in getting the monitoring.

TBH im quite happy with what we have. no point in messing around, spending a day with an install and then finding im tied into their price hikes for ever

amadablam

vincent coffey wrote: »

ha ha thanks fro the information

I knew there had to be a catch, i asked him three times what it was but he swore blind that they were only interested in getting the monitoring.

TBH im quite happy with what we have. no point in messing around, spending a day with an install and then finding im tied into their price hikes for ever

From my experience they don't do anything that will give the customer flexibility, especially if it enables the customer to go elsewhere.

The new system was developed for them and is completely locked down to them. Guys here have said it and their own engineer told me this.

Interestingly enough, their sales team will not tell you this. Sales are their priority, customers wishes, unless they mirror their own, areare not really a priority.

vincent coffey

Jesus, I just read through your other thread.

What a nightmare, you just helped me make up my mind.

Another thing that struck during the conversation was this "camera" in the PIR.

This is something I am definitely happy to put in my home with them having control. How am I to be sure its only activated in an emergency

The more I look this the worse the deal appears to be.

KoolKid

If only more people took your route & looked for the advice first.
With the system you have you are free to shop around for both monitoring & service with any licenced company.

BlazingSaddler

We had been with (Eircom) Phonewatch for over 10 years and had home secure cold call a few months back, I was looking to cut a few bills so their timing was good, he got the bill down from approx 35 to 25 so we went with it. PW called and said they'd match so I was then tempted to stay to save the hassle. Home secure then retaliated and knocked another 5 off! This was a few months back, unbelievably this week PW have been on offering us a brand new system for free, whilst still being monitored by home secure but we'd have to move back to them at the end of the contract paying the same monthly rate. Can't quite get my head around what PW are at with this!, sounds like desperation and too good to be true!! I haven't got back to them yet but they keep calling.

_John C

Yes it is too good to be true, and this is why; If you go with their new alarm system then your stuck with them for good and wont be able to have another company do the monitoring any more. Thats the reason why there offering you a new system for free. Once they have it installed they have you for good and no option to use another company for monitoring.

kub

The word is they are 'desperate' for connections.

stuartkee

So here is the story Phone watch are looking to go after and put Home Secure out of business by any means possible .they are actively seeking out home secure customers and making them an offer they cant refuse. It's a mad policy but they have the money to throw about .

The bigget issue is again that if you go for the NEW system it's doesn't take an outside bell box and no one else can ever maintain or monitor it and like many others having PIR cameras as cover means you are allowing someone to break in before can detect them and if you walk down to the kitchen in your underwear and trip the pir your half naked image is then on a screen in monitoring which I feel is a major invasion of privacy. Also €35 a month is double what most smaller companies will monitor an alarm for.

_John C

How does the part set work on these new phonewatch systems or is there any if they are just using pirs for detection?

stuartkee

That's the point it doesn't you can't partset the alarm early evening and walk around so when you are going to bed you set the downstairs also the prox tags you get have to be held up at the panel which means you still have to get out of bed go down to the panel to stop the alarm unlike keyfobs which you can use from your bed

_John C wrote: »

How does the part set work on these new phonewatch systems or is there any if they are just using pirs for detection?

amadablam

stuartkee wrote: »

That's the point it doesn't you can't partset the alarm early evening and walk around so when you are going to bed you set the downstairs also the prox tags you get have to be held up at the panel which means you still have to get out of bed go down to the panel to stop the alarm unlike keyfobs which you can use from your bed

Part set on the new system is pretty basic.

You can arm downstairs when you are in bed and you can do that or disarm it from upstairs with the remote or phone app.

Very basic unfortunately but the system seems to be capable of handling very basic operations, full set or part set.

Apparently I was being awkward asking for an isolated zone or extra control other than this. I'm out of contract so ill be getting a different system when I can. One that has the flexibility I need.

MATTB, I would get it in writing if they are telling you that you can have the new system monitored by a different company because companies other than phonewatch will tell you they can't monitor their system.

It's a joke, but I haven't seen any customer laughing. My own experience with them has been a farce that you wouldwould not make up.

Customer satisfaction to this crowd is achieved if the customer is happy to accept the service they give you, not the service you may want.

KoolKid

Did you ever write to them asking why their engineer had access to your system without you granting access?
A clear breach of EN50131 based on my understanding.

amadablam

KoolKid wrote: »

Did you ever write to them asking why their engineer had access to your system without you granting access?
A clear breach of EN50131 based on my understanding.

Not yet. I won't until I am ready to put in a new system as I cant imagine that I will get much luck getting an answer from them considering the difficulty I had getting them to facilitate a simple request in relation to the system they currently monitor.

I can't see them giving anything but a wash off answer anyway.

Only way they will ever answer questions like that is if they are put to them by an authority or through the media.

KoolKid

If it were me I would be forwarding it all to the NSAI who ,I believe, are their certification body.

Stoner

I understand that a customer would need to clear this up. Advice has been offered on this thread about who to contact about it. It's a long list as it is and possibly a little early for some of the suggestions.

Remember again many users here are direct competitors of phonewatch and we can't give legal advice here.

I agree this is a potential issue, but that is all it is at the moment. There might be an explanation. I can think of some already but won't be drawn into speculation, and we can't validate every post.


Thank you.

amadablam

stuartkee wrote: »

Also €35 a month is double what most smaller companies will monitor an alarm for.

Looked at my direct debit debits online and it looks like it's gone up to €38 per month.
:eek:

Time to save more for that new system.

KoolKid

Did you get prior notification of the increase?

amadablam

KoolKid wrote: »

Did you get prior notification of the increase?

Nope, I only noticed it when I checked my banking. I have only received one letter from them and that was after the recent engineer call out.

KoolKid

I could be wrong here, but I thought any changes to fixed charges taken by direct debit had to be notified in writing.

altor

amadablam wrote: »

Nope, I only noticed it when I checked my banking. I have only received one letter from them and that was after the recent engineer call out.

I though it had to be notified in advance so you can cancel if the price does not suit you. If you ring them they will more than likely revert to the old price.