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Just read in a trade journal that over 40% of false alarms in monitored systems are caused by user error, not equipment failure.

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4 Comments
max_brown
max_brown2mo agoMost Upvoted
Our old system went off constantly until the company sent a tech out for a free training session. He showed us how to properly arm it with the delay and everything. We went from maybe three false alarms a month to maybe one every six months. That hands on walk through made all the difference.
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sage_moore37
Right, like max_brown said... it's always about the training. People just get handed a keypad and a manual and get told to figure it out. My old apartment had that same issue. The alarm would scream every time someone opened the patio door wrong. The super finally came by and showed us you had to hit "home" and not "away" if people were inside. Simple fix, but nobody ever tells you.
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the_tessa
the_tessa2mo ago
I mean, the actual figure from the NFPA is closer to 80% for user error, not 40.
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aaron_perry
Honestly? "the_tessa" saying "the actual figure from the NFPA is closer to 80% for user error" really made me stop and think. I used to be one of those people who blamed the equipment every time my system went off, figured it was just junk gear or bad sensors. But after reading this thread and that stat, I realized I've been the problem way more often than I'd like to admit. It's wild to think almost all false alarms are just us messing up the settings or forgetting to put it in the right mode. Definitely changes how I look at those annoying late night calls from the monitoring company lol.
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