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<br />SecurityInfoWatch.com Article- Missing Ethics in Door-to-Door Alarm Sales?
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<br />Nonetheless, a report from WMC-TV Channel 5 in Memphis, Tenn., recorded the
<br />case of one Memphis neighborhood that had been canvassed by APX's door-to-door
<br />sales staff. The story reported the instance of Linda Husted, who had been approached by an APX employee. "He didn't give me any 10," Husted told WMC-TV 5.
<br />"He said he didn't have any brochures that I could look at." Husted added that the sales staff came back three times, not accepting her "not Interested" as a
<br />final answer.
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<br />Updated: August 14th, 2006 05:03 PM PDT
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<br />Missing Ethics in Door-to.Door Alarm Sales?
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<br />National companies allege that some competitors are misrepresenting who they are,
<br />Geoff Kohl, editor
<br />Secur/tylnfoWatch. com
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<br />All is not well in the world of residential alarm sales. SecurityInfoWatch.com has
<br />been tracking stories coming out of Arizona, Tennessee, Nevada and the state of
<br />Washington, where alarm competition has created mischievous sales techniques.
<br />Repeatedly at the center of the stories is a company named APX Alarm, which is an
<br />alarm company based out of Provo, Utah, and which the Better Business Bureau
<br />reports is doing business as Apex Alarm, Apex Monitoring, Apex Security and Apx
<br />Alarm Security Solutions.
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<br />The company has been the subject of a number of news reports for suspect sales
<br />techniques from Nevada to Memphis. Consumer news reports from various city
<br />media outlets such as Carson City, Nevada, and Memphis, Tenn., allege that the
<br />company has used dogged techniques like sending out employees who have been
<br />"pushy" and not properly identified themselves as to which alarm company they are
<br />with.
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<br />Jack Inbar, vice president of operations for APX, says his sales staff are "certainly
<br />assertive," however, he says that the media accounts are likely untrue and
<br />"distorted". According to Inbar, his company's employees receive seven months of
<br />training and wear APX shirts and always carry APX identifications and brochures.
<br />"Our employees are door to door. But they are very well trained and very well
<br />disciplined," said Inbar, who noted that those employees who don't follow company
<br />policy are reprimanded and/or let go.
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<br />Asked about the Incident, and why an alarm sales person would be out on the streets approaching homeowners without business cards or brochures in the
<br />evening hours, Inbar said that he didn't know the specifics but that the salesperson "could have just been out of brochures." .
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<br />Misrepresentation at the Door
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<br />In Seattle, local news broadcaster KOMO News reported in July that the wave of door-to-door sales had hit Brink's Home Security, with some residents even
<br />claiming that tricks have been used such that sales agents are representing themselves as companies other than they are with in the hopes of stealing
<br />customers from companies like Brink's.
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<br />According to Dave Simon, the senior manager of industry and public relations for Brink's Home Security, they've heard from around 50 customers who have
<br />been hit by misrepresentation. Simon said the usual methodology is that the competitor will scour neighborhoods for signs from other alarm companies and then
<br />will knock on the doors of those customers under the auspices of upgrading their alarm systems. Then, says Simon, they'll try to change their monitoring
<br />contract.
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<br />HSM's Stern reported seeing similar instances where a door-to-door competitor has told the homeowner that he or shee needed to change out the panel and to
<br />add a back-up communicator. He said that the equipment changes weren't because of a malfunction, but were simply a way to recruit accounts away from their
<br />existing service and monitoring contracts.
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<br />Brink's has responded, says Simon, with messages to its customers advising them of such scams and to be aware of such ploys and to always ask for
<br />identification from sales persons. Brink's, like most national alarm companies, requires Its employees to carry proper credentials identifying them, and many of
<br />the top national companies which have fallen prey to these scams say they do not use the door-to-door techniques themselves.
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<br />Similar tactics have hit HSM customers, reports Dennis Stern, HSM's executive vice president and general counsel. "There are a bunch of guys that sell this way.
<br />There are companies that don't correctly represent who they are and what they're doing," says Stern, who notes that APX is by no means the only company
<br />whose door-to-door sales tactics could tarnish the alarm Industry's image. Stern says that he has heard from others at Guardian Protection, Protection One, ADT
<br />who say they also have been hit by similar sales tactics.
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<br />"They're knocking on doors, and misleading to people that they're from Brir1k'S," explains Brink's Dave Simon. "Then they're getting in the door and
<br />recommending changes to alarm systems that really don't need to be made and then trying to switch the monitoring over to them."
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<br />According to Simon, the tactics don't fall in line with what Brink's has for standards.
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<br />"We don't go door-to-door, and we don't come In with a service technician to say you need to have work done. If a technician needs to be there, then either the
<br />customer has contacted us or we've contacted them and set up an appointment."
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<br />Simon added that while the events have been isolated, they seem to flare up in the summer (Inbar says APX does have a summer program that uses college
<br />students). At Brink's says Simon, the issue of mispresentation has come to a point where the company has contacted APX Alarm and requested they cease the
<br />business practices.
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<br />APX's Inbar, however, denies that his company's sales staff misrepresents itself. "We even make sure that our customers known that while we are a dealer of
<br />Honeywell equipment, we are not part of the Honeywell corporation," says'Inbar.
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<br />Being Proactive
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<br />Simon says that any alarm companies experiencing unethical operations in their markets will need to be proactive. He offered the following tips that his
<br />company has been doing as suggestions for any alarm company being plagued by a competitor that is misrepresenting itself.
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<br />"Make sure that their people, when they perform any type of service visit, identify themselves," says Simon. "They need to call before hand and say what
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<br />http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/printer.j Sp ?id=8931
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<br />6/13/2007
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