What Happens When An Alarm Grid Account Holder Leaves?

If you have an Alarm Grid system at your home or business, you probably use it daily and know it well. However, if you’re not the account holder and that person is no longer involved with the system for whatever reason, you’ll need to contact Alarm Grid to transfer the service to a new name.

This can be an unpleasant topic. The most common reasons an account holder becomes disassociated from a system are death and divorce. Neither of these are enjoyable to contemplate. But, if you find yourself with a system that you will continue to use in spite of the account holder's absence, you'll need to take certain steps to move the account into your name. The steps involved may vary based on the situation, so we'll address them separately.

Dissolution of Business Partnership, or Purchase of a Business

If you've been a partner in a business and you have purchased your partner's share, or if you simply bought a business that has an Alarm Grid system installed, you'll need to take certain steps to continue the service. Hopefully, the original account holder notifies Alarm Grid that a change is about to take place.

In that case, they may say they want to cancel their service on a particular date. Presumably, the date they hand the keys over to you. We will cancel the service as requested. In the meantime, you should go to our site, sign up for service, and choose an activation appointment on, or before, that date. We'll activate the system with you, keeping all the system settings that shouldn't change, and helping you to change your security system codes and passwords.

Best Practices:

1. Notify us of the change. The current account holder should contact Alarm Grid to cancel their account. They should provide a date for the cancellation and let us know who the new owner is. This last part is not necessary, but by providing a name, contact number, and email address we can reach out to the new owner. This will also help us find/verify the new owner if they reach out to us. Our contact number is 888-818-7728, our email is support@alarmgrid.com. We're here Monday - Friday from 9:00 am - 8:00 pm EST/EDT.
2. Sign up for service. As the new account holder, you need to sign up for service. Go to alarmgrid.com and sign up for a monitoring plan. When you sign up for full central station monitoring, you'll be taken through several steps where you provide information for the central station. Namely, your false alarm password. This is very important as it is how you cancel dispatch on an alarm when the monitoring station contacts you. Give your password some thought, and be sure to choose something you can remember. A very high percentage of nuisance police dispatches on burglar alarms occur because the contacted user provides the wrong password.
3. Activate your service. On the date and at the time you select when you sign up for service, we'll contact you to activate your service. Because we monitored the system before, we'll already have much of the information we need, such as the zone list with descriptions. We'll go through the information you provided at sign up, verify your false alarm password and discuss what you can expect when an alarm occurs. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Divorce

In the event of a divorce, the party remaining in the protected home will want to retain control of the alarm system. This can become a sticky situation as the party remaining in the home may not be the account holder of record in our system. The period between a divorce being filed and ultimately settled can be a sort of limbo for many aspects of a life that was previously shared. If you are an Alarm Grid customer involved in a divorce and you need to retain control of the alarm system, do the following.

1. Contact Alarm Grid. Call us as soon as possible, the sooner the better. Particularly, in cases where domestic violence may be an issue. Our support number is 888-818-7728 and we are here Monday - Friday from 9:00 am - 8:00 pm EST/EDT. If it is after hours, you can send us an email at support@alarmgrid.com. If you haven't heard from us soon after the start of the next business day, then call us, but let us know that you also emailed.
2. Provide false alarm password. Explain the situation and provide the false alarm password. If you do not know the false alarm password, we will ask you for the last four (4) digits of the credit or debit card we have on file for billing. Providing either of these pieces of information will allow you to make changes to the account. If you don't have either of these pieces of information, we can't make changes to the account unless ordered to do so by a judge.
3. Make necessary changes. Once we've verified your information, we can assist you with making changes to the account, false alarm password, central station call list, and system user codes. You will also want to make changes to your Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com account to prevent unwanted access.

Death or Disability

This is probably the most difficult situation to cover. In many cases, the deceased party may have lived alone. In that case, there may not be anyone who knows the false alarm password or the billing information. For that reason, it's a good idea to make plans for a designee to make changes to the account in the event of your unexpected disability or death.

1. Make preparations. It is best to prepare in advance. If you have an Alarm Grid account and you live alone, designate someone to handle your account in the event of your death or disability. As a security monitoring company, we must request verification before making any changes to an account. Be sure your designee has the following:
   • Our contact information: 888-818-7728 or support@alarmgrid.com.
   • Your name and address. The email address we have on file is helpful as well, for looking up your account.
   • Either your false alarm password, or the last four (4) digits of the card we have on file for billing.
   With the above pieces of information we will be able to verify that they should have access to your account and to make changes, including cancellation.
2. Leave instructions. If the person you designate to handle your affairs is not a regular user of the alarm system, be sure to leave the necessary information listed in Step 1 for them in a safe and secure location.
3. In the event of an unexpected death. In the event that an account holder dies or becomes suddenly and unexpectedly disabled, the suggested preparations above may not have been made. If you are managing the affairs of an Alarm Grid customer in such a situation, we recommend reviewing their credit or debit card records. Find a charge for Alarm Grid and note the last four digits of the card associated with the account. With this information, you can contact us to obtain account details and, if necessary, edit or cancel the account.