Home Security 101: Understanding Alarm Company Reviews

• First, you want to know how it works. You want to know what it does, and exactly what you are buying.
• Then you want to know what it costs. This is important with home security, since you are dealing with both the upfront cost for the alarm equipment, and the monthly fee for the monitoring and the interactive services. And remember, cellular monitoring is the only safe way to go!
• Lastly, you really want to know which companies you can trust. Because let’s face it, when the chips are down, and when it’s your family and your home that are on the line, you want the highest level of quality and customer satisfaction.

The Power of Customer Reviews

So today we’ll talk about one of the best ways to tell the good guys from the bad guys – and that is through reading customer reviews while doing your research. Online consumer activity, even for comparison shopping, has gone through the roof in recent years. And what the remarkable statistics don’t tell you (but we know is a fact!) is that buyers are becoming more discriminating – and are turning increasingly to the online reviews, written by actual users of products and services, to help find reputable providers.

Shopping Hard for Home Security

 This trend toward placing your faith in online reviews is especially relevant for important services like wireless home security and home automation, where we’ve seen that nothing beats the power and convenience of on-line customer testimonials. Customer reviews certainly represent the most effective and efficient method for comparing companies to see what actual users have to say about the folks providing these goods and services. So it naturally follows that when protecting your home and family, you definitely want to choose the company with the best reputation and the latest technology, along with the highest service level: all that spells peace of mind, which you deserve.

 What Customers Say Matters

As for the reviews themselves, you’ll find that you can learn a lot about a company - and quickly.  I’ve posted on the growth and importance of alarm company review sites before – and there’s even one widely read post on an alarm company warning issued by the granddaddy of review sites – the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Today you can check online reviews for just about any company - even the ones who knock on your door, offering a deal you cannot refuse: just remember: you really want to do your homework before you sign up with any service company – especially home security.

Specific Sites to Visit

Some of the popular sites (like Yelp.com and epinions.com) have starred rating systems, and users can apply a 1-5 score along with a detailed description of their experience. Angie’s List is a membership review site, where their subscribers can share detailed notes about a wide range of service providers. And when you want to take a general look around, just go to your search engine of choice, and type in the name of a company, followed by the word, “reviews.” You should see plenty to pick from.

Complaint-Specific Sites

You can even visit some sites that are specifically orientated to complaints. A few example are complaints.com, ripoffreport.com, and one of my personal favorites: pissedconsumer.com. While good news may be hard to find at these sites, and they may not necessarily be sufficient to give you the complete picture on a company, these “negative review” sites do offer some instructive cautionary tales.

You may have found your own great review sites: the good news is that almost all review sites are objective, credible, and rarely subject to abuse, which makes them all the more useful. Chalk this up as one more valuable lesson in how to remove the mystery from finding peace of mind, while protecting your home and family. See you next Monday!