Beware of Internet Companies Offering Three Quotes
For many organisations getting 3 CCTV Quotes off the internet is a sure-fire way to end up with a system that is:
- Not fit for purpose
- Illegal under the Data Protection Act
3 Reasons why the 3 Quotes System often results in Illegal Systems and pictures that the Police Cannot Use
- The Police state that 80% of systems are not fit for purpose and therefore unlikely to be usable in a court of law. Most systems fail to comply with the Data Protection Act. Click here for more information.
- Internet 3 Quotes Websites often only have one qualification for an installer to receive enquiry… that they will pay the price for the lead. These sites are not specialists in security and are unable to vet installation companies for competence or quality. They simply earn up to £150 when they pass your enquiry over to 3 companies.
- Companies receiving leads know that they are up against 2 to 4 other companies and will often try to produce the cheapest price. This inevitably results in a race to the bottom as far as quality is concerned. Click here for more information
Want 3 Quotes – How We Can Help You
If you would like a free visit from an independent consultant to design or upgrade your CCTV system and ensure that you obtain a competitive price by tendering the installation to three pre- qualified companies please click here.
The CCTV Advisory Service is able, free of charge, to advise your organisation on the purchase, installation and management of your CCTV system. As a member of the Association of Security Consultants we do not sell or install CCTV but offer independent advice to our clients.
Although, as a consultancy, we have a standard fee per hour for the work we undertake, this fee will be waived, or reduced, should you place your order with one of the three companies that we recommend for tender. For 80%-90% clients this results in no charge for our services. However, where the installed system is of a small size (normally six cameras or less), we may not be able to claim our full fees from the installation company. As many of the installers we use pay us out of their sales budget this method should not increase the installation charge to our clients
CCTV installation and purchase can be problematic for many organisations. Issues include identifying reputable companies, achieving an understanding of the requirement, being able to compare offerings based on different solutions and equipment, and understanding how the system should be operated to provide effective security. It is also vitally important to ensure that the system meets current legislative requirements and produces pictures of evidential quality.
Even if CCTV companies have been required to quote for the same system it can be difficult to determine if the quotation with the lowest cost is offering best value or using inferior equipment to gain a price advantage. This is why we do not just design the specification but also state the equipment which is to be installed down to the make and model number.
The three companies to whom we send our tenders come from a select band of about a dozen carefully chosen installers. We seek to monitor these installers on every installation they undertake. Each company is rated on a number of factors at each installation and this information is entered in a computer program that constantly provides a rating on each company for each evaluation area. Companies that fall below a rating of ‘Good’ (we do not believe ‘Average’ or ‘Above Average’ is good enough for our clients) will be contacted and if they do not improve will be removed from our installer list. Over the last 20 years we have removed a number of companies from our list for not meeting our standards of expertise and customer care. Others have voluntarily left because they could not match the very competitive prices offered by the companies we recommend.
As Independent Consultants our goal is to consistently raise the quality of expertise and customer care that our clients receive, while pushing down prices by competitive tendering.
Click here to arrange for someone to visit your location, provide advice and prepare a specification.
Click here to find out why our 3 Quotes service is radically different from others you may see.
