Alarm Force Company
They are not new (since 1988) but their wind is blowing hard. Their president’s image and voice are all over the market. His name is Joel Matlin. I’m contented to see Joel Matlin has his stage in some way.
The only concern is the way how he compares with his competitors. He never forgets his competitors in all his speeches. I suppose he is very stressed. In order to firm his position he tends to devalue his competitors. Everything has two sides. We need to see both sides. It’s called “all-round”. It’s not necessary for him to devalue his competitors by picking what they have, enlarging it and making it sound “only” something customers cannot live without. In this way, what customers see is his one side and they assume he only has one side, too good to be true. Remember, competitors also have A LOT he is not able to build since 1988 and it’s never necessary for competitors to give fuss about. What do his debates bring us? Personally I’m not against Joel Matlin and contrarily I appreciate his courage.
When Alarm Force focuses on their “only” something they eliminated monitored smoke detector since it’s the only way to help them control cost in order to promote their other “only” something at their affordable rate. But if you think twice, you will be easy to understand, actually the cost for all alarm companies is not much different. Price war will only invade profit margin and affect service quality in the long run although they assert life time warranty how are they able to guarantee if their company was only born in 1988? How much profit is supporting them to guarantee? We are all able to say sweet words, however, a listener should be able to think, filter but not be emotionally caught. Protectron is relatively straightforward at this point. They simply shout out “we are the most aggressive”!
I’m still not too negative till Joel Matlin started to devalue his competitors to this extent: “our competitors outsource their services to installers, so you never really know with whom you are dealing” Outsourcing installation or partnering with best suppliers are a more professional way. Some giant enterprises outsource human resources. Because they are much more specialized in and focus on their industries and therefore can ensure world class quality. “All-in-one” is not a small company can do and at the same time be able to guarantee the quality. Compared the best brands of alarm systems – DSC or Honeywell with Alarm Force’s new born “insourced” product which one will you choose to protect your home and family? If Joel Matlin didn’t shout out this point, I wouldn’t have picked it out, since as I said, everything has two sides, you can’t say what you have is definitely the only way and what others have is definitely supposed to be devalued just because of the difference! Customers will find it the most convenient when they are taken good care of individually by installers at initial period. Based on what I know, to run a company like Alarm Force taking all the risks on their own when it’s still small, financially it’s a huge burden and I believe Joel Matlin is trying his best to provide customers with quality services, however, it’s not guaranteed since he is over confident. Sometimes seeing a bit far and thinking about customers a bit more are not always to one’s disadvantage.
Joel Matlin is trying to promote his company based on a niche – they are “only” installing wireless systems. As I mentioned above, cost is obvious. He’s going to be able to import some cheap while quality material to produce equal quality products? Then he focuses on one motion detector to waive contacts. Why not simply tell customers there will be extra cost for extra devices? Why try to smile in front of people when you are so stressed in your dreams? Now it’s Customer’s choice. Customers understand there’s NO basic package that covers ALL. Alarm Force promotes their line-cut tech (cellular backup) at relatively low rate however they can’t cover basic contacts and monitored smoke detector. Which one is more basic, more important and more frequently happening? Once their company is getting more customers are they really able to take care of all customers with their current all-in-one manpower?
Compared choosing alarm company to dating, I would say, Alarm Force is a playmate.
Comments
4 Comments on Alarm Force Company
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Nathan on
Thu, 10th Jul 2008 18:38
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Anonymous on
Fri, 21st Nov 2008 16:14
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TootPype on
Sat, 12th Dec 2009 17:29
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Tim on
Thu, 28th Jan 2010 23:28
I agree with Claude. I love AlarmForce and i am happy that i was patient to read and understand the terms much before i was ready to sign 3 years contract. I am into 2nd year of my contract now and once having accidentally set off the alarm and forgotten the password i had to face the embarrassment of having the police at my door. Nevertheless despite myself i was happy. I would also recommend AlarmCare. I got if for my aged mother who lives independently. She wears a nifty little pendant around her neck and at a press of a button the emergency response system gets activated. I would gladly recommend AlarmForce burglar alarm and home security system
I worked at a store with Alarmforce. My co-worker was attacked by thugs with a baseball bat. He kept pressing the emergency button but nothing happened.
Later on the Alarmforce technician came by and confirmed that the panic button had never been connected to the system by their company.
Astounding! I still cannot understand why they didn’t sue Alarmforce; something about the store still being owned by the prior owners at the time or something. Me, I would have sued til the cows came home.
i`m your permanent reader now
Well it’s been two years since this original post. Obviously things have changed, well at least considering I have an alarmforce monitored smoke detector on all 3 floors of my home. A very well written post, but I’m a little confused because most customers don’t understand that their needs can’t be met with a basic package. They think there should be more more more with no charge for it. Oh and by the way…..outsourcing may be good in some instances, but in most cases the simple fact is it is cheaper and usually less qualified are getting the outsourced jobs. Well written post, but I don’t agree with a large portion of it.
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