A home owner in Yonkers made me rethink how I explain panel beeps

Last week I swapped out a keypad for a man who kept ignoring the low battery chirp for 6 months. He told me he thought the beep meant the system was working fine, so he tuned it out. That hit different because I realized I always say 'low battery' but never explain what that sounds like or why it matters. Now I walk every customer through the actual noise and what each pattern means before I finish a job. Has anyone else had a customer confuse a warning tone for a normal sound?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadem8919d ago

My buddy Tim installed a smart thermostat for a guy who thought the red blinking light was a decorative feature. Took him three visits to finally read the manual and figure out it was a critical system failure alert.

jamiew5319d ago

Man that story is way too common. People just see a blinking light and assume it's some kind of mood lighting or a status thing. Ive seen folks ignore the little orange triangle on their car dash for weeks thinking its a "check engine" decoration too. Then they wonder why the whole system locks up or the heat stops working in January. The manual is right there in the box but nobody cracks it open until something is already smoking. Its like the blinking light is a secret code only the installer is supposed to know.