I would be grateful for any help/advice please.
We have a Accenta 8 Mini alarm with PIRs, bell box, internal siren, pa and remote key pad.
This was originally installed by Malgor who got taken over by ADT. We have a maintenance contract with ADT (Approx £140 pa which seems extortionate) and what we get for that is an annual vistit by someone who has never seen the system before but walks around the house checking that the alarm goes off as they go into each room ( I could do that). A few times we have called them out when there are problems which are normally identified as an flat battery. ( why this never gets picked up during the annual check? dunno).
Anyway to cut to the chase.
A few months ago the tamper light on the keypad was showing but everything continued to work ok until last week when external bell , internal siren ,strobe etc) went off in the middle of the night. The alarm wasn't set, as we normally only set it when we are out. Typing the code in silenced the alarm but since then the keypad is completely dead, no beeps , but the lights are on (tamper, day and power).
So we called ADT , an engineer came round took the key pad apart put it back together, it beeped for about 8 key presses then died again. The tamper light remains on. So he says we need a new keypad , would order one and bring it next week. Brilliant may be that money wasn't so extortionate after all.
But wait...now we have a letter from ADT telling us they can't fix the equipment as it is obsolete and they want £350 (+vat) to replace it. WHAT. They took our money to ensure it worked, if they can't fix it ... is that fraud? BTW I've found the same keypad for sale on the internet for £30.
So the options are.
1) pay ADT£400
2) find a local engineer who can fix it at a sensible price
3) Buy some new bits and try to fix it myself
4) Scrap it and buy a simple diy wireless system from B&Q (or other)
5) Scrap it
Option 1 - not keen. ADT are too expensive and have peed me off
Option 2 - Any friendly alarm engineers in Chelmsford area out there? Where can I get a list of reputable engineers ?
Option 3 - I'm reasonably competent with wiring things up so would anyone reccomend this as a possibility. would a new panel and keypad fix it or could the issue be with the wiring somewhere(which is all hidden away under floor boards and such. A few posts on here suggest similar prob may be with the bell box?
Option 4 - Simple - and won't mess up the wall paper too much BUT not everything is in the kit and the extras soon mount up to a tidy sum
Option 5 - No
Sorry to have rambled on a bit but..
Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
also
Is this common practice from ADT to take money for a maintenance contract on systems they cannot maintain? Anyone else had this?
Thanks
Squiddy
We have a Accenta 8 Mini alarm with PIRs, bell box, internal siren, pa and remote key pad.
This was originally installed by Malgor who got taken over by ADT. We have a maintenance contract with ADT (Approx £140 pa which seems extortionate) and what we get for that is an annual vistit by someone who has never seen the system before but walks around the house checking that the alarm goes off as they go into each room ( I could do that). A few times we have called them out when there are problems which are normally identified as an flat battery. ( why this never gets picked up during the annual check? dunno).
Anyway to cut to the chase.
A few months ago the tamper light on the keypad was showing but everything continued to work ok until last week when external bell , internal siren ,strobe etc) went off in the middle of the night. The alarm wasn't set, as we normally only set it when we are out. Typing the code in silenced the alarm but since then the keypad is completely dead, no beeps , but the lights are on (tamper, day and power).
So we called ADT , an engineer came round took the key pad apart put it back together, it beeped for about 8 key presses then died again. The tamper light remains on. So he says we need a new keypad , would order one and bring it next week. Brilliant may be that money wasn't so extortionate after all.
But wait...now we have a letter from ADT telling us they can't fix the equipment as it is obsolete and they want £350 (+vat) to replace it. WHAT. They took our money to ensure it worked, if they can't fix it ... is that fraud? BTW I've found the same keypad for sale on the internet for £30.
So the options are.
1) pay ADT£400
2) find a local engineer who can fix it at a sensible price
3) Buy some new bits and try to fix it myself
4) Scrap it and buy a simple diy wireless system from B&Q (or other)
5) Scrap it
Option 1 - not keen. ADT are too expensive and have peed me off
Option 2 - Any friendly alarm engineers in Chelmsford area out there? Where can I get a list of reputable engineers ?
Option 3 - I'm reasonably competent with wiring things up so would anyone reccomend this as a possibility. would a new panel and keypad fix it or could the issue be with the wiring somewhere(which is all hidden away under floor boards and such. A few posts on here suggest similar prob may be with the bell box?
Option 4 - Simple - and won't mess up the wall paper too much BUT not everything is in the kit and the extras soon mount up to a tidy sum
Option 5 - No
Sorry to have rambled on a bit but..
Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
also
Is this common practice from ADT to take money for a maintenance contract on systems they cannot maintain? Anyone else had this?
Thanks
Squiddy
