Customer wanted a motion sensor in the bathroom. Talked him out of it.

Had a guy last month who insisted on putting a motion sensor in his master bathroom. Kept saying he wanted "full coverage" even after I explained it picks up the shower curtain moving. Homeowner was a real know-it-all type, been reading forums and thought he knew better. I flat out told him I wouldn't install it there because it'd false alarm every morning. He argued for 15 minutes straight. Finally I said look, I'll put a door contact on the bathroom door instead and a glass break for the window. Reluctantly he agreed. 3 weeks later he called me to say the door contact caught someone trying to sneak in through the bathroom window at 2am. Said I saved him from having a useless motion sensor. Anyone else deal with customers who think they know the trade better than you? I got a few more stories like this.

3 comments

3 Comments

susan_adams15d agoMost Upvoted

Full coverage" - yeah, I'm still finding dust bunnies my motion sensor thought were burglars.

leo_black7614d ago

I saw this article the other day about how something like 60% of false alarm calls to police are from motion sensors picking up regular household stuff. It's insane lol. My buddy's cat set off his whole system three times in one week and he almost got a fine for it. Dust bunnies are nothing compared to what pets can do though. I swear half the people I know with home security might as well just leave a note on the door saying "the cat did it" and save everyone the trouble.

the_parker15d ago

Man that's the kind of story that makes me smile. The guy probably thought he was smarter than you the whole time and then reality hit him right in the face at 2am. Maybe it's just me but some customers treat this like a videogame where they can max out security stats without actually knowing how stuff works in real houses. Idk I feel like a motion sensor in a bathroom is just asking for trouble anyway with steam and towels and stuff moving around. At least he ended up with something that actually works and probably feels pretty dumb now about arguing for 15 minutes.