New Phonewatch Alarm - False Positives

Luckycharms_74

Hi All

Recently upgraded from old phone watch alarm (Siemens) to the new one with Cameras etc.
From the start I have not been impressed with the new system.

* Control panel limited
* Not able to detect which zone went off etc.
* Many false activations.

Anyway last weekend the alarm went off

Fri night @ 3.45am

Sat night @ 5.15am & 6.45am

Last night @ 5.17am

It's a shock to hear ur alarm going off during the night and for it to happen 3 consecutive nights it's not good.

I can put up with alarm going off but not my mother if she is alone in the house.

I called phone watch they say they will do a callback test on the system.

I'm strongly thinking of just pulling it out completely and going with a more trusted HKC system etc.

Any opinions on the new phone watch alarm or advice much appreciated.

KoolKid

Read around the forum here and you will find all you need to know about their new system.
My advice would be cancel your contract at the earliest time possible & get quotes for a decent perimeter system from 3 independent companies who will happily sell you a system & monitoring at reasonable prices.

stuartkee

I know that the build quality of that honeywell alarm that phone watch use is causing problems there are lots of issues but your stuck with it as no one else can take it over . I would encourage you to buy a new alarm with the doors and windows covered and also an alarm with an active ringing outside bell box .

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

Hi All

Recently upgraded from old phone watch alarm (Siemens) to the new one with Cameras etc.
From the start I have not been impressed with the new system.

* Control panel limited
* Not able to detect which zone went off etc.
* Many false activations.

Anyway last weekend the alarm went off

Fri night @ 3.45am

Sat night @ 5.15am & 6.45am

Last night @ 5.17am

It's a shock to hear ur alarm going off during the night and for it to happen 3 consecutive nights it's not good.

I can put up with alarm going off but not my mother if she is alone in the house.

I called phone watch they say they will do a callback test on the system.

I'm strongly thinking of just pulling it out completely and going with a more trusted HKC system etc.

Any opinions on the new phone watch alarm or advice much appreciated.

Luckycharms_74

KoolKid wrote: »

Read around the forum here and you will find all you need to know about their new system.
My advice would be cancel your contract at the earliest time possible & get quotes for a decent perimeter system from 3 independent companies who will happily sell you a system & monitoring at reasonable prices.

Thanks Koolkid.
The engineer arrived when I was away (but told the family it was a nest of flying ants behind the cabinet that is tripping the sensor).
I checked the generic paper work they sent out, saying we are glad you have chosen phone watch , blah blah. The problem is they state that I have entered into a minimum contract and it expires in 2019.

Can I complain and get out of it if the new alarm is not fit for purpose ?

Can you recommend some alarm systems and i can get some independant installers to price it up.

HKC ??

kub

Is there any mention of a cooling off period? You might be as well to post your query here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=633

KoolKid

There is definitely a cooling off period how long is it installed.?
There a a few angles you could take to get out of this.
Were you given a full site survey to establish the grade and level of security required?
Were you given a written system design proposal to approve prior to installation?
Were you given a user code to access the menu to restrict engineer access to the system?
These are all required for the system to conform to en50131 standards.

Shop around, there are plenty of installers and manufacturers to choose from. Read around the forum some more before you jump into something else. If you are going with apps and remote access I'd look at GSD or Siemens Vanderbilt. If you go with HKC for this you will be back to tying yourself to one company to retain this service.

Luckycharms_74

KoolKid wrote: »

There is definitely a cooling off period how long is it installed.?
There a a few angles you could take to get out of this.
Were you given a full site survey to establish the grade and level of security required?
Were you given a written system design proposal to approve prior to installation?
Were you given a user code to access the menu to restrict engineer access to the system?
These are all required for the system to conform to en50131 standards.

Shop around, there are plenty of installers and manufacturers to choose from. Read around the forum some more before you jump into something else. If you are going with apps and remote access I'd look at GSD or Siemens Vanderbilt. If you go with HKC for this you will be back to tying yourself to one company to retain this service.

Hi koolkid it was installed in June 2016. The problems only started happening in August.

After the engineer called out last week it was working ok but started activating "false positive" again this morning

I'm gonna call Phonewatch and tell them I'm not happy with the ststem.

Can I use the points above about site survey etc or it not being fit for purpose to get out of the contract ?

KoolKid

The 2 main points of the system that I see fails to conform to the En50131 standards are...

You did not get a detailed system design proposal in advance of the sale of the system.
The system should be designed based on a risk accesment survey, not the one system fits all that PW use.
More importantly is the user has no menu access to a setting that will restrict engineer access.

The not fit for purpose always gets a company's attention also.

Luckycharms_74

KoolKid wrote: »

The 2 main points of the system that I see fails to conform to the En50131 standards are...

You did not get a detailed system design proposal in advance of the sale of the system.
The system should be designed based on a risk accesment survey, not the one system fits all that PW use.
More importantly is the user has no menu access to a setting that will restrict engineer access.

The not fit for purpose always gets a company's attention also.

I rang them and the came back with the "ants" in the room as the problem.
I said I checked the sensor when it went off no ants near it. I also said how can ants trigger the beam if they were on the floor.

Could they trigger it ???

If pets don't trigger it then how could ants.
Actually not sure if he set up for pet friendly when installed

They are sending out engineer again on Monday but if just prefer to get out of contract and get a new system installed

Regarding the user access to restrict engineer access.
Is that a requirement that I can use to get out of the contract too

Sorry for all the questions

KoolKid

Never heard of ants unless they are inside or on the PiR lens.
If you can not restrict engineer access they you could claim the system does not conform to EN50131 grade 2.
If that's the case you were mis-sold the system.That would be my interpretation of the standards.

PeteK*

What does it mean to restrict engineer codes? I've never done that or heard of it before.
Does that mean the person who installed it can't come in using an engineer code?
What if you forget your normal code?
I don't think I'd use PhoneWatch's alarms with the cameras. You don't even own it even after paying €600 or whatever.
What their alarm monitoring covers is good, I reckon, but they're still quite expensive. €27.76 is the cheapest I know of, but I think €25 is possible if you're on to the right person. Maybe someone out there has even cheaper!

KoolKid

It means the engineer or installation company can not access the system without you entering your user code and granting them access.
It is a fundamental requirement of En50131 as far as I am aware.