hello, we have a Veritas 8c alarm but it has stopped working. the 24hr light and unset light has come on constantly and the alarm can't be set. does anyone know what we could do? Thanks

Bilal, December 2012

I agree its wrong to use as standard.
Some use it as you say as a income generator.
My instance was because suspicions were raised and proven.

There was one taken to court in Birmingham. Found guilty and fined. When questioned about it by journalists afterwards he told them to go forth as he had more systems to fit.
The timers were set one day after a year.
Most now put tampers on eng reset and it is mandatory on some grades. Plus many more are looking at panels you can "lock" the eng code into to prevent easy take overs, which is fair enough. If they want to leave, remove the code and programming for a small fee.

Alarm, December 2012

We don't use the timers, but all our gear including our gal 2s are on engineers reset and remote servicing.

Even back in the early years I've never used the timers but then all I ever used was scantronic and I can't remember any that had maint/service timers in programming???.

Taken over many systems over the years and only a few have this feature but I never activated or used it :).

Alarm I find your timer experiment easy to believe.Put anybody in that situation and the chequebook comes out, the cowboys know this and it's how they make their money, it's short lived though, LTD co, simple name change and their at it again.

B*****ds give the security industry a bad name :(.....

e manno, December 2012

Quite a few panels have service/payment timers.
But I agree the ones used just to generate a call out are wrong.
Used one as a payment timer once as I guessed we would get the run around, after 60 days it locked up.
Funny how we got paid :D

Alarm, December 2012

i agree with all u say mate,some firms do well,but forget who put them there,the customers,i have seen it time and time again over the years,if a customer looses her user manual,give her a new one,and dont charge for it as so many do,the ceo sitting behind his or indeed her desk,think they are the boss,let them neglect their customers,see how long their pants shine their chairs,:-)so e manno,you just keep waffling on,you make good sence

gts, December 2012

well mate,it's no surprise that the veritas is these kind of installation companies panel of choice,and it's for one reason only and that is so they can exploit this feature.

I don't agree with charging anyone x number of pounds for simply punching in their maint/engine code to fund their greedy lifestyles,

Yes systems degrade and need servicing but this practice of extortion is not on mate :(,

Before I returned home (UK) me worked for Aetherica persada in indonesia before they went onto the dsc range,no small cowboy firms over there mate.

security over there is regarded as a must have for all but apartments don't need intruder systems as they have 24 hr guards, but access control is big business and so is CCTV.

All aspects of security fitted by major installation companies, no such thing as small cowboy firms.,

Any sparky can set up his own business, like myself in the UK, but I did it the rite way.Ok my eldest son has the business now but it's still going strong with an annual turnover of 1.8 mill April 20011/20012 so we must be doing something rite.

As you know m8 if you look after your customers and keep your prices reasonable they stay,some cancel their service contracts through money troubles but when they get back on their feet they come back.

Some customers say not have money to pay now it's ok we send you bill, not pay now or agree on settlement date,no worries.

Ok me waffled on now but me only wanted to say these folk are money robbing feckers but this country allows it :(,.

e manno, December 2012

i agree with u mate,they are the lowest of the lowest,desp for money,service timers are a black mail device as far as we are concerned ,and i make no apols to any firm who uses them,

gts, December 2012

Any installer that uses ST3(lockout) as a final measure,in my opinion is bad practice, as the system is rendered useless and now offers no protection whatsoever.

The system now needs the installer with his engineering code to reset the timer for another year,

Most insurance companies stipulate in their contracts that your system be serviced annually, but some don't but a loss adjusters visit could render your insurance void if you can't produce an annual service report.

Your insurer can deem your policy void!!!!!,

So who's the bad one here : your installer for using a get me back and pay for punching in his engineering code?,or your insurance loss adjuster for deeming your policy void if you can't produce the systems annual service paperwork?.

Or have I got this all wrong and you've been ignoring the nuisance timers before final lockout???.

Contact your installer.

e manno, December 2012

Sounds like the service timer, when was it fitted/serviced a year ago?

Alarm, December 2012