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EAGLE
vs ADT – CONTRAST & COMPARISON
Red letters
indicate a negative attribute, while
Blue letters
indicate a positive attribute.
All the following points are made on the basis
of the best and latest information available to me.
If you have additional, or contradictory, information
regarding the comparison, I would appreciate hearing from you.
1-
**Does Alarm Company have its Own Local Central Station?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle has maintained its own, local central station in the Grand Rapids
area for twenty years. ADT’s nearest central station is located
in the Detroit area – they closed their Grand Rapids Central
Station a number of years ago.
However, on any given night, ADT’s Michigan accounts
could be monitored at any of a number of out-of-state monitoring
stations.)
2-
**Does Alarm Company Sell You the Equipment?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle sells its equipment to you. To the best of my knowledge, ADT sometimes leases its
equipment to the end user. In
the event that a customer wishes to purchase the equipment, and
arrangements are made for a purchase, the equipment always remains
under the control of ADT,
due to the fact that the equipment is largely proprietary (ie., it
is manufactured in such a way so as to be impossible for any other
alarm company to re-program. Thus, ADT remains in control in a de facto manner.)
3-
**Does Alarm Company Sell You Proprietary Equipment?
Eagle:
No
ADT:
Yes
(See above.)
4-
**Does Alarm Company have a one-year warranty?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle sells its equipment to you with a one-year “new
system” warranty, which covers both parts and labor in the event
that equipment is faulty.
To the best of my knowledge, ADT, like most other alarm
contractors, typically
offers a 90-day warranty. ADT
does offer an extended service warranty, at a cost to the
customer.)
5-
**Does Alarm Company sell ADEMCO VISTA
SERIES equipment?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle sells ADEMCO VISTA SERIES systems.
That represents Ademco’s top-of-the-line products.
To the best of my knowledge, ADT does not.
They may boast that they offer an ADEMCO product, but just
ask them to substitute their product for an ADEMCO VISTA, and see
what they say.)
6-
**Is Alarm Company American owned?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle is a privately-owned Michigan Corporation.
ADT is British-based.)
7-
**Does Alarm Company provide customized engineering?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Over the past 20 years Eagle has designed several thousand customized
security systems in the Grand Rapids area.
Each of its systems was designed to satisfy the needs of a
particular installation.
To the best of my knowledge, ADT often fashions its systems
around “Package Deals,” which
include a certain number of protection devices, for a particular
price. Sort of
a “One Size Fits All” approach.
Eagle does not do that.)
8-
**Does Alarm Company monitor for $18 per month?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(Eagle has made a concerted effort to hold to a minimum the on-going
costs of maintaining an alarm system.
Presently, Eagle’s monitoring rates are the fairest in
the area. Eagle
charges $18 per month. To
the best of my knowledge, ADT typically charges around $24.95.
Most people own their homes for an average of ten years.
That means that Eagle’s lower rates will save the average
home owner a minimum of $840 over that period.
At least $840! We
say “at least” because historically we have raised our rates
in a more conservative fashion than do other alarm companies.
That means, on average, if ADT paid you $500
to take their system, you would still save money with Eagle!)
9-
**Has Alarm Company serviced the area for over 20 years?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
Yes/No
(Eagle was formed in Grand Rapids, MI, in 1979.
ADT, while maintaining a sales and installation force in
the Grand Rapids area, closed their Grand Rapids central station a
number of years ago. Presently,
ADT does not operate a central station in Grand Rapids.)
10-**Does
Alarm Company monitor from out-of-state locations?
Eagle:
No
ADT:
Yes
(Eagle was formed in Grand Rapids, MI, in 1979.
During the entire life of the company it has monitored only
in Grand Rapids. ADT,
while maintaining a sales and installation force in the Grand
Rapids area, closed their Grand Rapids central station a number of
years ago. To the
best of my knowledge, ADT uses several out-of-state central
stations to monitor Michigan alarms.)
11- **Does
Alarm Company allow Ameritech to charge you extra?
Eagle:
No
ADT:
Yes
(Eagle makes all final telephone connections themselves, which means the
quoted price includes the charges for telephone line hook
ups. To the
best of my knowledge, ADT states in their contract that final hook
up of telephone line may be done by the telephone utility, at a
possible extra charge to the customer.
Eagle covers that hook up work, so Ameritech does not bill
you extra.)
12- **Does
Alarm Company pay installers by “piece work”?
Eagle:
No
ADT:
Yes
(Eagle maintains its own installers.
We do not subcontract any residential installation.
Our installers are paid by the hour.
It if takes 5 hours to do your home right, they get paid
for 5 hours. If
it takes 20 hours to do your home right, we pay them for 20 hours.
The operative term here is “right.”
We insist that the installation is as close to perfect as
possible. It is our
understanding that under some circumstances ADT pays installers on
the basis of “units hung” on your walls.
Under such an arrangement, if it takes an installer 1 hour
to “hang” a motion detector, he makes money.
If it takes him two hours to “hang” that unit, he will
not make very much money for that day.
I like our way better!
So should you)
13- **Does
Alarm Company save you money over the years?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
No
(See point # 8.)
14- **Does
Alarm Company lock you in to long-term contracts?
Eagle:
No
ADT:
Yes
(Eagle provides options in this area.
You can sign up for as short a term as one year, or as long
as five years – it is your choice.
To the best of my knowledge, it is ADT’s practice to
offer an agreement of no less than three years.
Add to this the fact that their monitoring fees are so much
greater than ours, you save an enormous amount with Eagle.
See point # 8 again.)
15-
**Does Alarm Company have a good track record?
Eagle:
Yes
ADT:
?
(Eagle
has provided security services for over 20 years. During the course of that time, Eagle has never set foot in a
court of law. That is
almost unheard of in this industry.
It is a little like a plastic surgeon never having been
sued for malpractice. Eagle
takes pride in prompt, professional attention to all alarms.
While we do not pretend to be perfect, we have been
successful. I have no basis upon which to compare ourselves to ADT.
There have been, however, recent instances in
which ADT accounts have come over to Eagle on the basis of
numerous false alarms. |
