I house-sat for a neighbour with a burglar alarm linked to a dedicated monitoring centre (ADT). One day I screwed up the disable code in the seconds after opening the door and the alarm sent a message to the centre.
I couldn't find the number the neighbours had left for the centre, so I ran home, looked them up on the web, and managed to navigate to the right person. I frantically told them what had happened and that they should cancel their notifications to the police or their own security people. The woman at the centre all but yawned and said that nothing would have happened yet, and I wasn't even convinced she had registered anything on her system.
My neighbours' £25 per month didn't seem to be well spent, but they like the peace of mind they get after they were burgled. I prefer having lots of locks and having the discipline to use them every time I go out. |