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    Central Station Telephone Policies                Bulletin 3040 10/09/01  
    Copyright (C) 1993, Coastal Security Systems, Inc.  All rights reserved.  
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    The central station telephone system consists of a Lucent Difinity G3 with
automatic call distribution, system message detail reporting, and a dictaphone
digital logger.

    Incoming calls are handled by the automatic call distribution (ACD) system
as follows:

1.  If one or more operators are available, the call is routed to the operator
    who has been available the longest.
2.  If all operators are on their phone, the call is answered before the second
    ring with a recording which says, "You have reached the central station,
    please hold for the next available operator."  The caller will then hear
    music until an operator becomes available.  Our average answer time is
    less than thirty seconds.
3.  If more than one call is holding the telephone system will put calls
    through in the order in which they were received.
4.  If a caller is on hold for one minute (this is very rare), a second
    recording will play which says, "You have been holding for one minute.
    Please continue to hold and the next available operator will assist you
    as soon as possible."

    Monitoring performance on the telephones alone is not enough to maintain
efficiency and professionalism.  The following policies have been established
and are strictly enforced:

1.  Central station operators are to remain on the phone with each caller
    until all keyboarding is completed.  When taking a sales lead for a dealer,
    the operator must keep the caller on the phone until all blanks on the
    sales lead message are filled in.  When putting an account on test for
    a subscriber, the operator stays on the phone until the computer input is
    complete and the system has accepted the subscriber's code.

2.  Central station operators are not permitted to argue with dealers or
    subscribers.  Calls of this nature must be turned over to a supervisor.
    If a subscriber makes a negative or derogatory remark about the central
    station operator or service, the operator is not permitted to respond and
    must attempt to conclude the call as if the remark was not made.  For
    example, if a subscriber on a verify call says, "It took you long enough to
    call me", the operator would ignore the statement and continue to ask for
    the cancel code, etc.  If the same subscriber demands an explanation, the
    operator must turn the call over to a supervisor.

3.  Certain central station operators may be assigned exclusively to answer
    incoming telephone calls and to verify alarms.  These operators are not
    permitted to dispatch alarms or to make call out notifications.  The
    designation of these operators helps to assure that verify calls will be
    made and incoming telephone calls will be answered promptly.  Refer also
    to bulletin number 2050 for the special procedures which apply during
    storms.

4.  Central station operators will give a subscriber information about his own
    account if proper identification is received.  This includes up to ten days
    worth of alarm history information and items such as the call out list.
    All requests for additional information are referred to the DEALER.  It is
    important for dealers not to refer these calls back to the central station.
    The dealer must call the central station to authorize the release of any
    other information to the subscriber.

Handling Subscriber Complaints:

    Occasionally we receive a complaint from a subscriber who does not
understand that the central station does not handle any emergency telephone
calls.  The subscriber will say something like, "I got a recording when I
called.  What if it was an emergency?"

    As to the emergency, the central station does not receive emergency calls
through the telephone system.  If there is an emergency at a subscriber's
premises they will either activate an alarm or call 911.  Subscriber's never
call the central station by telephone to report an emergency.          =====

    As to the recording, a caller will hear the recording whenever all of
the operators are already on the phone.  The average time a caller waits to
be connected to an operator is less than thirty seconds!  The only difference
is that the caller hears a recording and music instead of ringing.  If the
subscriber hangs up and calls again, he or she will lose position in the ACD
queue and it will take longer to get an operator.

    Another common complaint occurs when the digital communicator at a premises
is reporting a restore at the same time our operator's are making a verify call
and the subscriber has call waiting service.  Our operator hears a ring, the
subscriber thinks we did not call, and sometimes the call waiting beeps will
interfere with the reception of the restore signal.

    This problem defies a comprehensive solution.  It can be eliminated by
not transmitting a restore signal but the restore signal may be useful or
necessary.  It can be eliminated by programming *70 to cancel call waiting but
if the subscriber cancels the service the alarm will no longer send signals
at all.  It is very helpful to allow the central station to automatically
cancel alarms when the restore is received (see bulletin number 2030).