Beware of Door to Door Alarm Sales
| Spokane City Police News Release from July 14th 2010 |
| Citizens living in the City of Spokane need to be aware of door to door alarm sales. For the past few years, several out-of-state companies have brought a college-aged sales force into our local community to perform aggressive door to door sales of their residential alarm systems.
Spokane Police Department is suggesting that prior to signing any paperwork with an alarm company, they should ask about the Spokane City False Alarm Reduction Program. Every reputable alarm company will know that you must register your alarm system with the City of Spokane to be eligible for police response. Beware of sales tactics that misrepresent themselves from the homeowner’s current alarm company. They may claim there is a problem with your current system and they are there to fix it. Police suggest a citizen contact their current alarm company before changing the current system. Some salespersons may require the homeowner to sign a new monitoring contract; charging higher fees made payable to a different company than your current one. Police encourage consumers to always double check with the Better Business Bureau if you have questions BEFORE agreeing to purchase an alarm system or sign a monitoring contract. This has been a nationwide phenomenon and there have been thousands of consumer fraud complaints. Remember – a legitimate alarm company will come to your home only after making an appointment and will seldom ever show up at the door without your knowledge. If in doubt, call the current alarm company to confirm the identity of someone representing them. You have the right to ask a person to leave your home or premises and if they continue with their sales efforts after you have asked them to leave, notify the police. Police recommend conducting a google search of “summer alarm sales complaints” or similar wording to find names of problem companies. |