# Eircom Phonewatch - Messed up



## scallan (4 Jan 2008)

Hi there,

Just looking for advice in relation to Phonewatch. Have been subscribing to monitoring for past 2 years. Last Sat we were broken into & phonewatch failed to contact the Emergency services. I received an apology that they did not contact the guards despite several sensors going off.

I dont see why i should claim through my insurance due to their incompetence.

Any advice?


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## Pee (4 Jan 2008)

What does your T&C state? Talk to your solicitor at least but I'd guess your T&C will exempt Phonewatch.


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## GOBSTOPPER (5 Jan 2008)

I would get onto your local paper,northside / southside people and ask them to cover this story from a consumers point of view ,I'm sure there are alot of people who would be shocked to think that you pay your monitoring fee and set your alarm and still have no cover ! I have eircom phonewatch also and I'm concerned by this ,i live beside a lane so I'm a prime target for burglars . I'm going to request their terms and conditions and reassess things.


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## scallan (5 Jan 2008)

After speaking to my solicitor Im firstly sending them a letter & see what response i get. 
As far as im concerned my contract with Eircom is for them to monitor the premises, meaning they contact the gardai. Even the Engineers that called out to repair the Alarm couldnt believe the gardai werent called.
I did receive 2 Calls from Phonewatch to tell me the Alarm was going off. 
As normal the first call is to a key holder to inform alarm is going off. 3 mins later i received 2nd call. (At this stage it is Eircoms duty to ask if you want the gardai to be called.) I told them i was 30 mins away & to send gardai down. I was told not to worry that it was only vibration sensor & might just be someone knocking on the window! As it turned out the 'knocking' turned out to be a shovel put right through back window.


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## Bobbins (5 Jan 2008)

So, despite actually speaking to you and despite receiving instruction from you to send the Guards to your residence, they still neglected to call them???? What reason have they given for not contacting the Guards after speaking to you? It would seem to me that an apology is way off the mark in terms of rectifying this situation....You've done the right thing contacting your solicitor. I will be interested in how this is resolved.


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## aircobra19 (5 Jan 2008)

Someone I know has Eircom Phonewatch. Alarm went off and they tried the contacts and couldn't get them. And then did nothing. No Guards called. No burglary. The owner said they complained but I don't know the outcome.

Someone else I know has me as an Eircom Phonewatch contact, and again the alarm went off and the only contact they could get was me. I told them it would an hour before I could check the property, and they were very reluctant to contact the Guards, in the end I got someone else nearby to check it. At the time, my main concern was the safety of the occupant, and other contact who couldn't contacted and should have been at the property.

I wouldn't get it for my own house. I'd prefer to a get redialler that rings my own contacts.


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## Squonk (5 Jan 2008)

To defend Phonewatch....I've had two false alarms in the past two years (both my fault), and the Gardai were called when Phonewatch couldn't get through to me or the contacts within a few minutes. The gardai were at my house ~15 minutes after the alarm first went off.


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## BountyHunter (6 Jan 2008)

Well first of all Phonewatch wont contact the guards if its a single sensor activation, they are meant to call them if 2 or more are activated,no question about that.
I have had 2 ocassions where window sensors have gone off (kids hitting window playing football) and have always been contacted. I have PIR's all over the house so if indeed someone breaks a window and enters my house a second sensor will activate and I would hope the Guards would be contacted. At the same time if I recieved a call saying 2 or more sensors were activated I would also call the Guards personally.

Hi OP, sorry to hear about your misfortue. I dont mean to rub salt into a wound but as I've stated above if I recieved a call saying 2 or more sensors were activated I would also call the Guards,did you contact the guards? 
As stated above I'm sure PhoneWatches T&C will have them covered but I would definately talk to a solicitor about the situation. 
I wonder if this would have any bearing on your ability to claim your insurance? The reason I ask this is I get a 10% discount for having a monitored alarm on the house.


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## aircobra19 (6 Jan 2008)

BountyHunter said:


> Well first of all Phonewatch wont contact the guards if its a single sensor activation, they are meant to call them if 2 or more are activated,no question about that....



That would explain my experiences anyway.


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## Pee (6 Jan 2008)

BountyHunter said:


> Well first of all Phonewatch wont contact the guards if its a single sensor activation, they are meant to call them if 2 or more are activated,no question about that.


 
AFAIK, this is a garda issue rather than Phonewatch or any other monitoring company. The gardai don't want to be called out on false alarms (pardon the pun). Some companies are now contacting their customers to ensure thay have internal sensors to ensure a second alarm will be detected in the event of a break-in.

Anyway this is really going off topic - the OP was looking for advise on where he stands or how he should deal with Phonewatch's lack of response to his alarm activation.


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## jnealon (6 Jan 2008)

If it wasn't a confirmed alarm ie 2 sensors activating then phonewatch were under no obligation to call the gardai. The gardai have a policy of only responding to confirmed signals. This can be downloaded from their site.
You did say that several sensors were activated. Can you check this in the user log to prove that it was a confirmed alarm. Even if a confirmed signal was sent the gardai do not always respond as calls are priortised. 
Anyway I'm sure Eircom will have a "save our ass" clause in there somewhere as all alarm manufacturers do


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## scallan (7 Jan 2008)

I am aware that if only one sensor goes off that the guards are not contacted. This is understandable as you will have false alarms due to Kids with footballs etc. I too have received calls on many occassions due to this  & is fine. When Eircom contacted me with the second call i was told it was only one sensor that was activated & not to worry.

When the Engineers were out they went through the Log with me & showed me that 4 different sensors were activated.

My point is if i am paying for Monitoring surely this is what should happen. I am paying for Phonewatch to monitor & contact gardai - This didnt happen. Eircom have admitted they should have contacted the guards & didnt. What is the purpose of paying for monitoring if what your paying for does not happen.


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## BountyHunter (7 Jan 2008)

Hi OP,so in actual fact several sensors were activated but Phonewatch only told you that there was only one activated? So maybe your alarm could be faulty?Did the engineer say if the alarm was functioning correctly and Phonewatch were recieving all the correct signals?
If Phonewatch only got a signal that it was one sensor and even though you told them to call the Gardai its possible the individual thought he/she would follow protocol and not call the Gardai as it was only one sensor?
I agree your paying for the monitoring service so they should have followed your request to call the Gardai. 
I would be very interested in knowing your progress OP.


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## scallan (7 Jan 2008)

well Bountyhunter you are right, several sensors were activated , & this was confirmed by the Engineer when here since. The alarm system worked & was 100% operational, unfortunately the Monitoring centre staff did not work. The manager their told me that a mistake was made (ie more than one sensor was activated)  & i should have been asked if i wanted the gardai called. 

Ive sent letter today so will be intersted to see their response.


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## scallan (9 Apr 2008)

Well just to update you that today i received a settlement from Phonewatch direct which covered all damage loss caused by breakin!


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## NicolaM (9 Apr 2008)

Glad you had a good outcome!


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## mercman (9 Apr 2008)

Yeah and well done for your persistence. Its a pity you had to go through such an ordeal. My Insurance Company refused to insure me if I chose to install an Eircom alarm. This was after we had an armed robbery in our old house whilst present in the house and no alarm triggered. They insisted we  use the same company as previous. Saying this I have a Phonewatch in another house, but after reading this, will be making arrangements to change tomorrow.


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## aircobra19 (10 Apr 2008)

Pee said:


> AFAIK, this is a garda issue rather than Phonewatch or any other monitoring company. The gardai don't want to be called out on false alarms (pardon the pun). Some companies are now contacting their customers to ensure thay have internal sensors to ensure a second alarm will be detected in the event of a break-in.
> 
> Anyway this is really going off topic - the OP was looking for advise on where he stands or how he should deal with Phonewatch's lack of response to his alarm activation.



I think its is relevant. A lot of alarm installers, and also the phone watch survey people I dealt with, seemed very keen on using as few sensors as possible. One example is putting a beam in the hallway and none in the kitchen when its just as likely someone will break into the kitchen and not move beyond it. As happened in a few break ins I know about. Take that into account with the policy of two sensor activations being required...


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## BountyHunter (10 Apr 2008)

scallan said:


> Well just to update you that today i received a settlement from Phonewatch direct which covered all damage loss caused by breakin!


 
This is an excellent outcome Scallan however its something you shouldn't have had to go thru in the first place. I just hope Eircom has learned from this incident,an expensive one, and they have introduced stricter procedures for future alarm activations.

BountyHunter.


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