I’m often leery when I see lists of top rated home alarm security companies in Austin. After managing security companies for over twenty years, I know how easy it is to have these lists manipulated.
Many of these “top rated lists” are pay-to-play lists. That means those companies who are on the list are those that have paid to be there.
That’s right…the so called “recommendation” was sold to the highest bidders.
Here’s another scam about top rated Austin home alarm companies that’s pulled over on consumers.
There are online lead generation firms that get commissions from alarm companies for sending them sales leads or website traffic. So, these lead generation firms make lists of top rated security companies in Austin, lists that only contain the names of alarm companies willing to pay for sales leads.
Again, it has nothing to do with quality and lots to do with money.
During the time that I ran a security company in the mid-west, a local newspaper offered our company a top ten position on their review list if we were willing to pay. The more advertising we bought, the higher on the list we would appear.
I am rarely shocked to see what lengths unethical people will go to seal the deal. There’s an old saying about “buyer beware.” That saying sure applies to reading lists of top rated security companies.
Thankfully there is a much better way to find a top-rated home alarm security company in Austin. Here are some tips that I suggest you consider.
- Ask your friends and family that already have home alarm systems. They should be more than willing to tell you about their experiences.
- For companies you are considering, be sure to scrutinize their website. Be sure you can find an address and a telephone number. Offline locations are an indicator of a legitimate company. Domain names are super cheap and easy to obtain. If a company doesn’t supply any offline information, I would consider that suspicious and untrustworthy.
- Look for the registration data of the company website. You can find out when the website was first built. If a website was built years ago, that is a good sign of an established Austin security company. If on the other hand the website was built in the last month, then that could signal a scam.
- Look at online reviews of the companies you are considering. Don’t trust the opinion of any one single website or review. Try to build a consensus using multiple sites.
- Turn to your local Better Business Bureau website. There you can review the records of the company you are interested in to see if they have any complaints or sanctions.
- I would only consider companies that use Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL) approved equipment and monitor home alarm systems at a UL approved alarm monitoring center. UL ensures that a monitoring center achieves a certain level of performance. UL certification is an indicator of a company committed to doing things right.
You can get a top-rated security company for your Austin home. Follow these tips to find the right company for you.