How fast do you get there?
It depends where the site is and where the unit is when the call comes in, and anybody quoting you a flat number of minutes for every site in the country is guessing. Across Greater Manchester our units are working through the night and attendance is quick. Further out, the honest answer comes at survey stage, when we look at where your site sits relative to how we route the vans, and we will tell you if response is not the right cover for that location.
Do we get charged per callout?
The package is agreed up front so you know where you stand, and because alerts are operator verified before a unit is dispatched, you are not paying for attendances triggered by weather or wildlife. That verification step is what makes response affordable, and it is the reason unverified alarm systems generate bills nobody expects.
Will you meet the police for us?
Yes, and it is one of the more useful parts of the job. Our unit is on site, can brief the officers on what the control room saw, hand over descriptions and direction of travel and give them footage. It is a great deal more useful than the police arriving at a locked gate with nobody there and no idea what they are looking for.
What if something is damaged and cannot be secured?
The unit makes safe what it can on the night, pulls fencing back into place, re-secures gates and closes up cabins, then tells you immediately what cannot be fixed until morning. Nobody discovers a hole in the hoarding at half seven when the first delivery is booked for eight.
Can we have response without CCTV?
Yes, dispatched off your own alarm system or off a call from you. It works, but it works less well, because without a camera nobody can tell whether an activation is a real intrusion or a sheet of ply blowing over. If you are paying for attendances, monitored CCTV pays for itself quickly by making sure they are the right attendances.
Is the service really 24 hours?
Yes, every night of the year including Christmas, and the control room is staffed the whole time. Sites get hit at three in the morning on a bank holiday precisely because everybody assumes nobody is about. That is exactly when the phone gets answered on the second ring here.
