Home security/alarm systems ? Advice/Recommendations needed

[Mono~rail]

The twins and I got home late Saturday night from spending the day at my parents. Dh and I got them out of the car, and I grabbed only essentials out. Like a big dummy, I left my purse out in the car. I thought since the car was in the garage and the garage door was down all would be OK.

Yesterday afternoon, I was going to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, and when I got my purse out of the car, it felt way too light. MY WALLET WAS MISSING ALONG WITH KEYS! Dh and I tore the car apart looking for the wallet/keys. He thought I must have left them in a store on accident.

We immediately started calling the bank and credit card companies, and luckily, there hadn't been any unauthorized activity. We shut the cards down. My RN license was also in my wallet along with my driver's license. I keep the keys to our house on a separate key chain and it was in the house.

I called the police dept for the little town I stopped in and no one had turned them in. This morning I went to the DMV to get my license replaced, and the lady working there said "Let me guess. . . you live on ____________ street." Yes, she named my street. She said I was the 10th person from my street to come in this morning to get a replacement license. She said someone had gone on our street Saturday night breaking into cars and stealing wallets. They left everything else and only snatched the wallets.

Long story short, my van was in the garage and the garage door was closed. The thief came in through a back door into the garage and got into my car.

I want to get a home security/alarm system. I just don't feel safe here where we live. I need recommendations for a good security system. Should I go with a local company or one of the nationals like Brinks or ADT?

This whole thing has shaken my dh up enough that he is finally willing to have a system installed.

 

[CheshireVal]

I don't know anything about home security, but I'm curious: do that many people really leave their wallets in their cars?! Ten people had their wallets stolen out of their cars!? I've never heard of that before.

Sorry you had to go through it though. Such a hassle....

 

[Mono~rail]

There were actually more stolen than 10. I was just #10 to get to the DMV. Our next door neighbor had her's stolen but she is going to the DMV this afternoon. Her social security card was in her wallet so she has been on the phone all morning with the credit reporting agencies. She came over when she saw the police car out front taking my report.

ETA: The police officer told me that this is the first weekend it has happened in our neighborhood. He said it has been happening in other parts of town (news to me), but he said they steal the wallet. He said it is suspected that they are after driver's licenses because none of the credit cards or ATM cards get used.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Only use local companies. We have had a security system on our home for 15 years. I love the it will call the fire company too.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I don't know anything about home security, but I'm curious: do that many people really leave their wallets in their cars?! Ten people had their wallets stolen out of their cars!? I've never heard of that before.

Sorry you had to go through it though. Such a hassle....

I never do.

 

[Monte Cristo]

For some reason, I usually leave my wallet in the car....it's big so it's easier just to leave it there than carry it around with me....

I guess I have a man purse! Ohh no!

Sorry this happened to you and good luck getting a system.

 

[azgal81]

Wow that is scary. I'm glad they stopped at the car and didn't break into the house as well.

I agree with getting a local company the police response time is generally quicker at least around here that is what the cops around here tell us. You might want to call the local police department where you live and see which ones they recommend.

 

[kribit]

You poor thing. At least be thankful that the thief didn't enter your home, and only your garage.

We have ADT and have been very satisfied with them. We had our home built and had the wires run beforehand, but our last house we had the wires run after and it was around $600 but that was 8 years ago, so I'm not sure how much it would cost now. I'm pretty sure they are running specials now though, so you would just have to do some web searching for prices. A good friend of mine also has Brinks and she's been happy with her service as well. I think both companies essentially offer the same service.

Thank goodness, we've only had false alarms where the police come out for nothing, but it's definately a security blanket for my family. One time our alarm was going off and we were at a neighbors house. It literally took 3 minutes for the police to show up and they were very thorough searching the house, etc... People joked that the police have nothing better to do in our town, but it was still impressive and they were very nice.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Mono~rail]

thanks for all the security system advice.

ADT has a free system with a $100 installation fee, and I don't know what the monthly service fee is. Phones (landlines and cellular) were out across our whole parish this afternoon so I couldn't call.


We cancelled all the cards, and I put a fraud alert on my identity with all 3 crediting reporting agencies. The state board of nursing is requiring me to fill out a form reporting my license as stolen (understandable), and I have to pay a $15 replacement fee.

Dh has replaced locks because we aren't sure which keys they took.

 

[golfgal]

Most monitoring fees are in the $20-30 range around here if that helps. If you do get one installed, call your insurance company because you will probably get a discount for having that.

As for leaving your purse in the car, I am very guilty of this as well, better since I have moved though but heck, in our old town, people left everything in their car including their KEYS all the time.

 

[daisyduck123]

We've had a BRINKS system for the past 15 years.
I love it.
It's never given us any trouble.

We have the front door, back door, kitchen sliding door to the deck, & door to the garage wired.
We also have every window on the bottom floor wired.

We have glass breakage devices thruout the house.

We have 3 keypads...one by the front door, one by the door to the garage, & one in the master bedroom.

 

[Indianadisneyfan]

I use to work for the local Sheriff's dept. You might ask them about false alarms that go off. I have heard that some police dept's will be charging if they get so many false alarms in a month. We didn't do it, but some times we got 1 to 2 false one's a night (not the same house). You might ask them what they do about fixing them problem. Just food for thought

 

[Mono~rail]

Very helpful advice from everyone. I appreciate it alot! Thanks!