The Price family was not present at the conference to accept the award as we were all working hard making sure the switch over to our brand new ULC monitoring station went perfectly. Omer Bubica (Territory Manager - Western Canada for Interlogix) accepted the award on our behalf.

Bob Price, President of Price’s Alarms, said that the award came along with perfect timing. “Our management team has been working very hard for years in developing a brand new ULC monitoring station to replace the one that we’ve been using for more than a decade.” The award was announced to us a few days after cutting over the station and our team was finally able to catch some breath after many months of many people working extremely hard. “So it felt like topping on the cake for us to win this award.”

Announcement of Dealer of the Year Award 2012

We are very excited about the future of our business in British Columbia. Our new ULC monitoring station and head office in Victoria BC have been joined together and we are ready for expansion, growth and new technologies as a part of that future. We are proud to be named Dealer of the Year again and look forward to serving BC customers for many more years to come.

Profiling Price’s Alarms and 10 other businesses in the area, we are proud to have been chosen to appear in the feature.

The complete profile can be viewed as a PDF by clicking on the image below.

So we opened up the bidding and had 10 managers and 2 staff lined up to take a pie in the face. The person who bid the highest got to throw the pie. Our social committee ordered in some pizza for 5:00pm on Friday and we all got together out back of our Glanford Street head office to end our day on a high note. Person after person took a pie in the face until we’d laughed ourselves silly. In the end, we have now raised almost $3000.00 for the Run for the Cure and we still have another 2 weeks of fundraising left.

The staff and management of Price’s Alarms are proud to be a part of the communities in which we serve. Supporting our community not only feels good but ending a day with laughter and camaraderie makes you want to do it over and over again. We had a blast and wanted to share some of the photos with you.

Every year, a group of traveling sales people travel from city to city across North America, knocking on doors and selling alarm services. They are back again.

The Better Business Bureau of Vancouver Island has warned consumers to be on the lookout for companies selling door to door. In fact, the BBB rated this as the #1 scam in 2010. Price’s Alarms is concerned the reputation of the security industry is being tarnished by these organizations and individuals, and we are launching an awareness campaign to help protect your security.

Price’s Alarms warns:

These unscrupulous individuals will outright lie to you and do almost anything to get you to question the security you are receiving, pushing you to sign a contract with them on the spot. Price’s Alarms is a reputable company, with a tradition of providing the best in security solutions to Vancouver Islanders for four generations of the Price family. Our suggestion to you is to close the door if you are approached by these individuals, and to tell them that you are simply not interested in listening to them.

We have seen unscrupulous sales tactics used by these companies:

• They may claim they are from Price’s Alarms
• They may claim they have purchased Price’s Alarms
• They may claim Price’s Alarms has gone out of business
• They may suggest they are there from Price’s Alarms to provide you a free security equipment upgrade
• They may claim your security system is faulty or antiquated
• They may claim to be a BBB Accredited but hide their previous business name
• They may offer to handle the cancellation of your service even though you are under contract
• They may use high pressure sales tactics to get you to sign a contract on the spot
• They may try to get inside your house to look at your system or ask you outside to look at something
• They may claim it isn’t necessary to contact Price’s Alarms prior to having them work on your system

The BBB warns: “Don’t fall victim to high-pressure sales tactics. If you are uncomfortable with a salesperson, ask them to leave your home and call the police if they do not leave immediately. Before signing a contract or making a payment, ask the salesperson for copies of a sample contract, warranty details and their contact information. Tell them you will research their offer and get back to them if you are interested.”

These companies change business names on a regular basis, have a team of installers working right behind them to trap you into their contract, and are often US-based companies that are very difficult to reach. It will be difficult to establish what the truth is when dealing with these door-knockers. They may not have identification or even a business card.

Price’s Alarms is BC’s leading security company dealing with all the major suppliers of the best equipment in the industry. So whether you are looking 2-way voice, touchscreen keypads, cellular communication, wireless devices, interactive services or integrated home automation products; Price’s Alarms is the right name to trust

All of Price’s Alarms Security Representatives will carry a BC government-issued Security Workers License as well as a Price’s Alarms identity badge and a BC driver’s license. When you deal with Price’s Alarms you know who you are dealing with, and we are always here to serve you. If you have any questions or concerns as to whether someone is truly a representative for Price’s Alarms, please call us toll-free from anywhere at 1 866 384-4104.

“This is an exciting day” said Bob Price, President of Price’s Alarms, “we have always worked hard to serve our customer with the best solutions from the most respected names in security, but as Security Pro of the Year, this award really goes out to all of our employees who have made this company what it is. Great people and great products from a locally owned company is what established the trusted brand that is Price’s Alarms.”

Price’s Alarms has been a Security Pro dealer for many years and are proud to feature a variety of solutions for our customers. As a Security Pro dealer, we are part of an elite network of trained and certified dealers comprised of locally owned companies, specifically selected for our expertise in security and lifestyle management system design and installation. Security Pros are among the most highly trained security professionals in North America. Our long-standing commitment to understanding and implementing the most current technologies means this expertise is at work for you – from planning through installation and regular checkups to ensure long-term needs are met.

Interlogix is part of UTC Fire & Security, a company that provides fire safety and security solutions to more than one million customers worldwide. Interlogix represents leading security and life safety solutions for both residential and commercial applications covering intrusion, video, transmission, fire and access. Offering some of the most-trusted product names in the industry and backed by ongoing partner services and support, Interlogix helps customers secure and protect what matters most.

http://www.pricesalarms.ca/

http://www.securitypro.com/

http://www.interlogix.com/

The article talks about the Victoria SPCA having gone out of its way to prevent break-ins. The installation of 28 cameras inside and outside of the SPCA building are used as highly visible deterrents as well as covert surveilance to catch burglars in the act.

While high quality camera systems are not inexpensive, the investment in security equipment far outweighs the property damage and theft of valuables after a break-in.

At Price’s Alarms, our security advisors are here to talk to you about your security and help protect your business and property from theft in as many ways as reasonably possible within your budget. Our Systems Division provides camera systems and electronic access control to expand beyond the traditional security levels with professional equipment installed to meet the needs and expectations.

When you need us we’ll always be here, after all, our family has been here serving the security needs of businesses since 1895. Deterring crime is the key to protecting your business. Theives will always think twice and look to an easier target when they see our big red and white decals on your windows along with our Systems Division cameras looking down upon them.

• Protect yourself against crime by not being an easy target.
• Make sure you have an monitored alarm system – trust Price’s Alarms.
• All businesses should give heavy consideration to security system cellular backup against line-cut protection.
• Consider the investment towards surveillance systems and access control.
• Invest in the lighting outside your business; thieves like the dark shadows.
• Trim the bushes and shrubs that surround your business so passers by can see what is going on.
• Remove valuables from sight or add extra protection to glass. Take a note from the jewelry stores as you’ll never see jewelry on display after hours. Diamonds are always kept safe inside the safe behind the security system. What will thieves see as your diamonds?
• Make your security deterrents highly visible.

The company in question has reportedly been repeatedly harassing the lady by calling as early as 7:00am and demanding that she continue to pay for the service or pay $1,000.00 to get out of the contract she signed. The company has explained that they will cancel the account if the lady is admitted to a care facility but the son has no plans to admit his Mother to a care facility to avoid a bill.

The lady’s son wanted to warn people to be wary of who they deal with and what they sign. Price’s Alarms agrees and actually spent more than $20,000 last year warning the communities we serve to be on the lookout for door-knockers with unscrupulous sales tactics.

Several US security companies operate in Canada (under Canadian holding companies) who employee travelling teams of salespeople (who often sleep more than 8 people to a hotel room) as they travel from neighbourhood to neighbourhood selling good equipment to people which is unfortunately  improperly or inappropriately installed and therefore delivers a poor level of protection. We refer to these people as door-knockers and many reliable security companies throughout Canada have lost hundreds of customers to these companies because they will say and do anything to get your business. They have proved to us they will outright lie to you to gain your business. Once the contract is signed, an inexperienced installer shows up and slaps in a wireless security system that is completely unlikely to meet your needs. After the installation, during the next 3 to 5 years when you need service or wanted to make adjustments of any kind, your salesperson and alarm technician are nowhere to be found – off working in another province hoping to use their slick sales skills to put more commissions in their pocket.

Our warning to people is clear – Watch out for door-knockers and know who you are dealing with. BC has many great security companies who you can trust without having a high pressure, unscrupulous, unqualified salesperson who is unlicensed to sell security in British Columbia. Ask to see their BC Security License, ask to see their drivers licence or a business card with their name on it and check with the BBB to see who the company is. In dealing with Price’s Alarms, you can be guaranteed that you are dealing with a BC company with a solid, long standing reputation for taking good care of BC businesses and residential customers. We use quality equipment sold and installed by licenced employees and we’ll always be here to ensure you are well taken care of. Give us a call if you are uncertain about the integrity or honesty of any security company operating in BC.

Our Christmas party has now come and gone but we were left feeling proud of our involvement in the community when we dropped off 9 large bags of brand new unwrapped toys for the Salvation Army Family Services Centre in Victoria. We are a family owned and operated company with more than 140 employees throughout BC and it is the employees who are coming together as a group to support the communities we live in. It feels really good to get together and rally around a cause and our social committee will make certain we are involved in more and more in 2012.

The Salvation Army had a large toy area set up in the basement of the Family Services Centre where parents could come and choose new unwrapped gifts specific for their children which were donated by individuals and organizations within the community. A large line of people were there excited in hopes of giving their family a more memorable Christmas.

During previous weeks, these thieves would arrive after midnight, enter the business and then disable the alarm system as quickly as possible during the 30 second delay on most alarms that allow people to enter their code before setting off the alarm. The thieves were quite successful week after week; cutting phone lines, cable lines, power and even smashing alarm system components to ensure that no noise was made and nobody could be alerted. On August 12, 2011 they finally encountered an advanced security system from Price’s Alarms and the B&E spree has come to an end.

Technology has changed through the years and so has the sophistication of thieves. To counter that, Price’s Alarms offers three different types of advanced communication modules that keep communication lines open even when the systems are quickly disabled, lines are cut or even power is knocked out. These advanced communication systems are not expensive and should be considered a standard component in any commercial security alarm.

After 18 robberies, these thieves finally met their match with an advanced security system from Price’s Alarms. We haven’t put an end to crime in British Columbia but these thieves have been caught and hopefully won’t be back on the job any time soon. If you have a business or are looking to arm a new business, will you opt to save a few dollars per month or will you pay a little bit more to ensure that your business is secure? These advanced security systems are available to both residential and commercial customers and are available as three different products. Call Price’s Alarms and ask about cellular backup systems and how you can provide the best level of protection in your home or business.

Now that the basics of the website have been completed, we can get to work on improving the support section of our website so that it delivers a good portion of the knowledge we’ve gained in this industry throughout the years. This section will grow on a daily basis as we take care of customers calling in to our support team. Our old website hadn’t changed for a long time, so we have lots of catching up to do.

We hope you enjoy the information available through our new website. While it allows you to find out about the products and services we offer, if you need anything, we hope you’ll just pick up the phone and give us a call. All of our support teams are working to serve you weekdays between 8:30 and 5:00.

In the future, we will be adding a video section to our website where we’ll deal with common maintenance issues, our latest products, and steps to increasing your security. A new Price’s Alarms newsletter will also be launched, that will deal with the very latest information regarding security and Price’s Alarms. The newsletter will be available via this website and can be delivered to you automatically by submitting your email address for updates(found on the bottom left side of this website).

If you have a story that you would like to share with us about Price’s Alarms, you can submit it to us here. We hope that our Client Stories section will grow over time with our customers sharing the stories of safety and security provided by Price’s Alarms.

Now that we have launched our new website and are focussed on keeping it up to date with the latest information, if you expected to see something here that isn’t, drop us an email and let us know.