WASHINGTON ALARM (Local)

went fine

Daniel was very professional.  He came on time and spent a good hour looking at our system, getting it up and running.  He was helpful and not at all pushy about the services offered at Washinton Alarm.  He did not charge me a penny for all the time he worked on getting the alarm system up to speed.  Later I had some questions about the alarm and he was responsive via phone and email.  I would definitely recommend this company and Daniel Eastvold.

It took about two weeks of conversation between me and WA sales representative to evaluate various options available and to determine system configuration. This was definitely not a standard design, so WA did a good job understanding my requirements, researching the market for the right technical solution and communicating with me. I was concurrently evaluating solution from another provider that was unable to meet all of my requirements, although his cost estimate was on the same scale as that of WA.
It took 3 visits over the course of a month for installers to complete configuration of the system. The effort was worth it, as the result fully met my expectations.
Speaking of central station responses to false alarms that had happened through user error and an interim system configuration, I am very satisfied with expedition and clarity of communication. 
Overall, I would recommend Washington Alarm. This is not the cheapest service, but they are willing to research and implement new types of systems. Monitoring service is competitively priced, while of a very high quality.

unknown

They have always been very responsive and they even had to come out one time for the system when it was not working properly. The system is old but it still works very well. They are good about resetting the alarm if we set it off. We have had them add additional pieces to the system over the years.

Residential service installation in 2008 was pretty good; I wanted wired for the most part and with one exception they did wired. As of this time, all is well with the installation.
I have paid $43/month since almost the beginning for phone and radio communications service. The radio is to ensure that if potential intruders cut the phone line, there is a backup. I also have a battery backup service that lasts many hours; I've had to replace the batteries once in the 5 years I've had the system.
Over the 5 years of service, we've averaged about 1 false alarm per month (accidentally opening the door with the alarm on, too much smoke when lighting the fireplace, etc), and the response has gotten slowly slower over this period. Whereas I used to get quick calls always, even regardless of how quickly I cancel the alarm, now I get voicemails if I don't pick up the phone. Also, I have asked the company many times to always ask for my password (for a simple but added level of protection), but sometimes they don't. The personnel seem more varied these days, which leads me to wonder about how they pay and treat their people -- but that's the way all businesses these days are going these days, I suppose.
Overall a good company. They're local and therefore probably understand local conditions (weather, earthquake, etc) better, so I'll stay with them.

We have been using them for about 10 to 15 years. We haven’t had any problems and the alarm seems to work fine. They show up quickly if there are any issues.

They are wonderful. I have been with them for 41 years and have never had any problems. If we have a false alarm, they come out right away. Any issues with the controls, they come out and fix it right away. They are very reliable.

They have been great and I have been pleased with them. We have been using them since 2011. There were a couple incidents when they sent authorities due to an alarm breach, and they handled everything perfectly. They did some troubleshooting because it was ended up being a false alarm and they were able to figure out the problem.

Their service was fine. They are very responsive to any alarms. Fortunately we haven’t had any real alerts, but they have been great in responding to any false alarms. Their price is competitive.

First contact failed. Left a message with the salesperson who returned my call promptly. He asked me to email details which I did. Then didn't hear back. Called again a week later and he responded promptly, had evidently lost my info and things went smoothly from there. He came out, went through the house with me and provided a verbal estimate. A service contract is required for monitoring and the final installation price is determined by how long a contract you sign. I would prefer to have pricing separate from a service contract. The service contract can't be canceled early, which I don't like, although it can be moved if you move. I assume this is typical of monitoring services but still don't like that type of contract. I liked that Washington Alarm is independent. I did not want to use a big company provider like ADT. Their service center is also independent and local which I like. We signed a contract and installation was scheduled. They were very cooperative and flexible with my schedule. On the installation date the installer called before his scheduled arrival time to tell me he'd be a few minutes late, which was much appreciated. The installer, Rick, was great. We had a few moments of anxiety when he explained the new main keypad needed a plug in outlet and there wasn't one near the old panel, which was to be replaced by the new one. He figured out a way to make it work using the wiring in the old control box. Unfortunately, Rick was the first one to install a new type of main keypad they were using in my house. The poor guy was here for almost 6 hours, on what should have been a 2-3 hour installation. There were still minor problems when he left, although the alarm was useable. He said he would call the next day to schedule a return, which he did. He came back the next day, was here for a short time and resolved all the problems. So, while the installation was a bit rocky, Rick remained professional and polite throughout. Everyone I have talked to has been polite and helpful. I love the new system and am glad I upgraded. The $40/month monitoring fee seems a bit steep compared to others, but I think the service is going to work wel.

I think they are great. They are thoroughly professional and know what they were doing. The people that you talk to on the phone when you call in or when they call you if there is a problem they are really knowledgeable and give you confidence that they know what is going on with your system. I use them at my work as well and I think they are great. They have had to replace a battery couple of times and that is gone very smoothly and the first came out they had to figure out we didn't have a standard system or sort of well known system that have been installed, they had to do some research to figure out what system we had and how to set it up and get connected and they did the great job of troubleshooting that. I think they are very competitive with their pricing. The quality is great. I would use them again.

I had a couple of problems along the way, but they went out of their way to take care of them.

We had an old system that was originally installed by a local company that, as far as I know, no longer exists. Our service had been taken over by a company based on the East Coast. We were looking for a local company to update our system and handle monitoring and billing. I was familiar with Washington Alarm from my workplace, and their Better Business Bureau rating was excellent, so we contacted them for an estimate. Our technician, Steve Brooks, did a great job in spite of some problems he ran into with our old system. He trained us on the changes and patiently answered all of our questions. We appreciate Washington Alarm’s attention to detail, like the child-safe, breakaway posts on their yard signs.

You get what you pay for.  Price is a little higher, but quality justifies.

They are a great company.

unknown

It was a rough start. It took them several times to get it right. However, they worked with us the entire time. They made sure someone was here to fix any issues with the alarm. We still plan on using them.

They have been really great work with.

We have no complaints about the company at all.

I am very happy with them. They are very good folks and they've been in business forever. Whenever there is an issue with the alarm going off they call right away.

While everyone we came into contact was very nice and well-intentioned, our experience with Washington Alarm amounted to being locked into a two-year contract for monitoring on a system that we were afraid to activate.
The initial service call to install the system went poorly as there was some sort of scheduling snafu at WA. This was a problem because we were leaving on an extended trip and were hoping to have the system installed before we left. It took another two service visits to get the system fully installed.
It should be noted that Washington Alarm charges for the hardware and the installation when their competitors don't. With the bigger companies, the cost of the "free" system is usually amortized through a monitoring contract, but rarely are you asked to pay for the system and commit to a contract as Washington Alarm required from us. We went with it anyway for the sole reason that we really believe in supporting local companies, even though the offer was not competitive. This now feels like a mistake.
As soon as the system was installed we continued to have problems. Key fob remotes would drain expensive batteries in a few weeks. It turns out there was a recall on the main panel that we purchased and paid for, but no one from Washington Alarm bothered to inform us of this. There were billing issues and unexpected charges that had to be resolved with several phone calls. Then, there were the false alarms.
The monthly monitoring bill we received had "False Alarms" with a circle/slash through it on the front of it. However, our experience was the opposite of "no false alarms". One event involved my then 3 year old being so traumatized by the loud sirens, the neighbors running up to the house, and my poor mother in law struggling to figure out how to turn the system off with the remote we gave here that wasn't working correctly that he would beg us not to use the system for an entire year afterward. He would ask me before he went to sleep each night to make sure the alarm system was not on.
The key fob remotes were so flaky, that one day two SPD officers arrived at my doorstep with hands on holsters, sweating and ready to engage with who knows what, because the panic button had somehow been triggered while the remote was hanging on the key hook. My son and I were home watching TV. Thank god he was downstairs and didn't witness this. I'm also glad I wasn't mistaken for a criminal.
All of this experience resulted in us rarely turning the system on out of fear, but still being locked into a monitoring contract. Continuing to have to pay for something you're not using is a really bad feeling. When the contract ran out earlier this year, we had to send a physical letter to the company to discontinue the service. Two weeks later we recieved a letter stating that we needed to manually reprogram our system ourselves (or pay them to do it remotely from the home office) or possibly face futher charges because the system was still communicating to the monitoring office. Tired of paying more money for this system we never use, I spent hours combing the internet to find the technical manual for reprogramming the system myself, only to find that Washington Alarm had placed a "lockout code" on my system that made it impossible for the homeowner to reprogram it themselves. It took two more phone calls to get this lifted but I haven't yet had the time to go back and try to reprogram it again because it's quite complicated and frankly I'm a bit terrified of the thing going off randomly as it has in the past. I need to do it when my family isn't home.
In summary Washington Alarm seems like a good group of people with very little understanding or awareness for the residential customer's needs. I think they do a very good commercial business and simply don't understand that the residential customer has different needs. At a time when their competitors are offering iPhone apps and high tech wireless systems for free, they charged us for technologically antiquated hardware that still doesn't work properly, and resulted in false alarm fines with the city and a strong hesitancy toward using the system at all for fear of it going off on it's own.
I religiously patronize local businesses, often at an additional expense, because I believe in keeping things local. But I feel that in this case it was a huge miss, resulting in a long monitoring commitment and a system we hardly ever used.
It should be noted that the monitoring staff were tenacious and would even call when a battery was running low. Had our system not been plagued with so many issues I think it would have been comforting and not annoying to have them be so diligent. However, because our system was so screwed up, we were getting daily calls from them serving as reminders of how broken this thing was. It's also important to mention that while I had quite a bit of correspondence with the staff due to all of our issues, everyone was generally professional and made an effort to make things right when it came down to it, but it took substantial time out of my day many times to get issues resolved.
I simply wish Washington Alarm had been more responsive and proactive about helping us get into a situation that worked better for us, since we were committed to a 2 year monitoring contract. Instead were were forced to settle for a situation where we had to pay for two years of monitoring on flawed/recalled hardware (that we paid for!), that we had become hesitant to use because of traumatic false alarms, fees from the city, and expensive service calls. For a family that just wants a turn-key security system that's easy to use, Washington Alarm is absolutely not capable of providing this service by my estimation.

It was excellent. The sales person was responsive. I asked for some extras; he also gave us some credit on our bill. They exceeded every one of my expectations.

We’ve used them for years. I think they are very reliable. They’re modestly priced. The jobs they do seem to be quite good. We don’t have any missteps from them.

They do a good job. They are there when we need them.