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by Lisa George
Why would you want to pay for security maintenance on something if you think it couldn’t possibly go wrong?
“If it does go wrong, I will call someone to sort it out”. This is what people often say when we schedule a visit to check the installed “Security System”. The reality is Maintenance is like Insurance or Car Breakdown Cover if you pay to have it in place you can make use of it when you need it. If you do not have it then you cannot use the benefit retrospectively. Calling out of hours emergency numbers will result in no reply, you are not covered, or we are too busy and will put you on a list to help when we can during normal working hours in order of priority (with Maintained contacted clients first).
You may get lucky and get an emergency service from some service suppliers. But are they accredited? will they be familiar with the system you have installed? Will they be ethical and professional? Will they be security screened to prevent someone with a prison record for burglary or other sensitive offences looking around your home or business? You see many stories on “Fake Britain” or other consumer type programmes which are horrifying.
So before thinking: “This is a waste of money. What do I get to show for it? ” Please think of the above and of those occasions (where you have had a Maintenance support service in place) when you have phoned the service company, they have sent an engineer to interrogate the fault and fixed it or arranged a follow up visit to do so (without you being exposed to possible a cowboy or even worse).
When putting a Maintenance or Service agreement in place ask for a definition of what is included? What is covered by the annual fee? If for any reason it is a chargeable service then ask, how much will I be expected to pay? What is warranty and what does it cover and on what basis?
(It certainly will not mean having 24/7 support or inspection checks (like MOT) on warranty only support).