ADT Price Increases

AndyCr15

AndyCr15

AndyCr15

Soldato
Joined
28 Apr 2011
Posts
15,574
Location
Barnet, London
About 6 or 7 years ago, we got broken into. Generally, we live in a good area, of our block of flats, it was commented that we're only the second people to have been broken into in about 20 years. Anyway, after this we went full on security-wise including an ADT alarm. I think when we signed up, it was around £30 a month, but I've just received an email saying the price for monitoring is going up from £38.29 to £43.57 and it's making me think it's probably not worth it.

What are peoples thoughts? What are my options? Can a cheaper company take on the monitoring? What do I really get? They call the police for me? They come and replace batteries when they run flat? (Mind you, I think they talked me through this myself last time)
 
Could you not go with some of the video systems from Ring or Eufy? Where you set them upyourself and it notifies you on your phone when they detect motion, let you see what is happening live and even speak through them to scare off people?
 
R.O.S.S.I said:
Could you not go with some of the video systems from Ring or Eufy?
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Yes, I have a Nest cam... (which spends a lot of time telling me the sun has come out... the room getting brighter is relayed as it seeing someone!) I guess the thing I would not have is the police being called for me. If I'm out cycling, there's a chance I don't see a notification for an hour or so.
BUDFORCE said:
You still in Barnet? Where abouts?
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Are you asking, as in you know the area? Down the bottom of the Meadway sort of area.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Yes, I have a Nest cam... (which spends a lot of time telling me the sun has come out... the room getting brighter is relayed as it seeing someone!) I guess the thing I would not have is the police being called for me. If I'm out cycling, there's a chance I don't see a notification for an hour or so.

Are you asking, as in you know the area? Down the bottom of the Meadway sort of area.
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hes the one breaking in later:)
 
AndyCr15 said:
About 6 or 7 years ago, we got broken into. Generally, we live in a good area, of our block of flats, it was commented that we're only the second people to have been broken into in about 20 years. Anyway, after this we went full on security-wise including an ADT alarm. I think when we signed up, it was around £30 a month, but I've just received an email saying the price for monitoring is going up from £38.29 to £43.57 and it's making me think it's probably not worth it.

What are peoples thoughts? What are my options? Can a cheaper company take on the monitoring? What do I really get? They call the police for me? They come and replace batteries when they run flat? (Mind you, I think they talked me through this myself last time)
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You mention a block of flats. Do you have accessible (ground floor?) windows? How were you broken into before? I would have thought with flats it's typically ground floor burglaries through windows or through the front/main door? Does that not make it easier to defend? Surely a very solid modern front door could be used which would make loads of noise getting through and alert others in flats, and window locks with breakage detectors? Add some cameras into the mix and be done with it? What does ADT even add? An alarm?
 
jaybee said:
What does ADT even add? An alarm?
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Yes. And would call the police for me. It certainly has a value, as with everything in life it's about balancing risk to reward. (Well, replace reward with cost in this case) Are they providing enough value to offset the cost? It certainly feels like it's sliding in the direction of 'no', hence this thread.
jaybee said:
Do you have accessible (ground floor?) windows?
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Yes.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Yes. And would call the police for me. It certainly has a value, as with everything in life it's about balancing risk to reward. (Well, replace reward with cost in this case) Are they providing enough value to offset the cost? It certainly feels like it's sliding in the direction of 'no', hence this thread.

Yes.
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Let's say it didn't call the police for you, do you think that would make a difference to the outcome of an attempted burglary? I can't think of many situations where it makes much difference unless you are on holiday or far from the property.

1: Burglar hears alarm and continues robbing you then leaves. Police turn up very quickly but still the burglar will be gone.
2: Burglar gets scared of alarm and leaves. Police turn up and burglar is gone.

Or you can not have the police called and call them yourself. In either case they are gone and you still get your crime ref number and prints taken etc.

There's also the false positives. I know someone that had an alarm where the police were called too many times on false alarms (cat, owner poor usage) and they got taken off the list in the end.

EDIT: Unless the alarms are configured as silent to allow police to turn up in the act. Not sure if this is something that is done.
 
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Unfortunately anything related to flats or shared accomodation is a licence to print money for the freehold owners and most flats are leasehold you'll be lucky if you get the choice to opt out. I regularly get send "service charges" ground rent running into hundreds of pounds every few months latest is £383 from october to december over the year its getting on for two grand a year
 
AndyCr15 said:
Are you asking, as in you know the area? Down the bottom of the Meadway sort of area.
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Yes sorry I didn't reply earlier actually was somewhat busy at work today.

I used to live in New Southgate only reason I was asking, I used to work in the Waitrose up there in High Barnet (as I call it) my nan lives about 5 minutes away from you.

And yes as you say I wouldn't consider that a bad area at all really.
 
BUDFORCE said:
Yes sorry I didn't reply earlier actually was somewhat busy at work today.

I used to live in New Southgate only reason I was asking, I used to work in the Waitrose up there in High Barnet (as I call it) my nan lives about 5 minutes away from you.

And yes as you say I wouldn't consider that a bad area at all really.
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I used to go that Waitrose all the time after a swim in Copthall.
 
I just finished working in Waitrose in Whetstone for the last 9 years... a few of our management team came from/went to Barnet at some point... anyway, getting off topic :cry:
jaybee said:
Burglar hears alarm and continues robbing you then leaves.
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I think the alarm itself will make a difference in this area. I believe the time we were robbed they were perhaps disturbed and left in a hurry (they left a lot of stuff behind) but yes, I take your point, it's possible it makes no difference at all and has very low 'value'. Tbf, from your examples, point 2 doesn't happen if the alarm has broken in some way.

And again, this is why I've made this thread. I assume, if I stop my contract with ADT, the alarm is left in place and I can pay someone (not ADT?) to come and repair/service it? Pay As You Go model instead of subscription?
Blackjack Davy said:
Unfortunately anything related to flats or shared accomodation is a licence to print money for the freehold owners and most flats are leasehold you'll be lucky if you get the choice to opt out. I regularly get send "service charges" ground rent running into hundreds of pounds every few months latest is £383 from october to december over the year its getting on for two grand a year
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I'm not quite sure what this has to do with me and my decision to use ADT in my flat? Service charges and other grounds issues are completely separate discussion :p (tbf, ours are good. I'm going to be reviewing ours this week to decide if we need to pay more. We decide how much we pay, we decide what we spend it on)
 
You're paying for the deterrent but these can be had with DIY alarms too.

My O/H has a SimplySafe alarm which is monitored, I'm not sure what she pays but given its her first property it was important to her.

I've used a Yale DIY alarm on/off over the last decade. I used it when I first moved in, stopped using it after a few years but for the last 3-4 years have used it again. I upgraded the control panel to a new wi-fi unit rather than traditional older phoneline one. Perks are I can see an entry and arming log. My siren is around 120db which is enough to attract attention from my neighbours.

I get a text and e-mail instantly detailing which sensor has gone off and can then remotely check my CCTV.

If I had a family or young children I would feel differently but as it's just me, as jaybee says, it's how quickly the police arrive that changes. Once a burglar is in you will still need to claim on insurance, though I appreciate some possessions can't be replaced.
 
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We’ve been with ADT for some time and the prices continue to rise and rise. In retrospect we should have just ripped the whole lot out and put in a smart system like Eufy. I’m not convinced the monitoring by ADT has helped at all, and wouldn’t be helpful even if we were broken into.

If you stop the ADT subscription the physical alarm will still be there, but we run into problems if the phone line is disrupted for maintenance and the alarm stops functioning completely, not just the monitoring. It’s very frustrating and is part of the reason we’ve kept up the service as we’d make do with the existing hardware if it worked without remote monitoring.
 
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30 quid a month or 45 quid a month seems mental for an alarm system. I'd just get them from eufy (no fees) or any other provider like ring etc.

Personally I don't really like how cameras look externally but appreciate if you've been burgled before you would be concerned!
 
If you do leave them , try and make sure they give you the master code, so that you can subsequently fully control/configure the system yourself
 
jpaul said:
make sure they give you the master code, so that you can subsequently fully control/configure the system yourself
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Ahh, this is what I was actually coming back to ask. Have you done this? Are the awkward about it, or hand it over happily? Do you simply ask when you ring to cancel?
Buffman said:
30 quid a month or 45 quid a month seems mental for an alarm system.
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I think to an extent, they benefit on your anxiety having been broken into. I remember for a month or two after, you almost expect it to have happened each time you come home. You pay the money for a little peace of mind. Also, back when it happened to me, I don't think Home tech was as far along either.

The other point to it, I work from home now, there's a lot less time I actually need the alarm... If it's dark, I'm almost certainly home.

**EDIT** Do they actually service alarms? Is it worth trying to get them to come out and service it before cancelling? I'm thinking it's only really a matter of changing batteries every now and then in these systems.
 
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