What to Watch For

Most consumers don’t realize it, but there are two types of companies when it comes to home security.

Full Service Security Companies:

As a full service security company, Alliance Security is concerned with properly protecting your home and matching the right system to your needs. We are not a salesforce, but trained professionals whose business it is to ensure that you are safe and well-protected. We focus on perimeter systems, followed by interior detection devices, a full service, 24-hour call centre and locally-based system monitoring backed up by sister stations in Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, and Vancouver.

We only use the best products available, which guarantees fewer false alarms. What’s more, because most of our customers own their systems outright (we do have some leasing arrangements), monitoring costs are lower. As part of the cost, we watch over you and your family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Alarm Companies:

Primarily focused on getting customers to sign an ongoing monitoring contract, alarm companies use basic, ‘no frills’ system for little or no money down. By leasing a ‘free’ system, consumers are actually entering into an arrangement whereby the company they signed with sells the monitoring arrangement to a third party, often in another city. As a result, monitoring costs are higher, the systems are more prone to expensive false alarms and the monitoring company doesn’t do daily confidence checks.

Consumers are also urged to look at a company’s ownership history and Better Business Bureau history before signing up. In many cases, an alarm company working on this ‘quick buck’ approach will close after a few years, only to reopen under another name.

In fact, there are a lot of companies in the security industry that offer security as an add-on to the main business, so it’s a good idea to avoid part time contractors or those who take a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ approach. As a general rule, ask for proof that they’ve got the right kind of experience as security specialists with at least 10 years in the industry.