About MasterGuard Fire Protection
Master Guard fire protection has been around sine 1971. They put on free seminars teaching about fire safety and the dangers of a home fire. The information they share is great and I would highly recommend attending one of there seminars. Perhaps one of there best tactics is offering free dinner at a nice restaurant. They will tell you "leave your wallet at home" all you have to do is listen to a presentation on fire safety.Its a great deal. Part of there presentation talks about smoke detectors and fire alarms. They use some very real stories and examples of the tragedy of home fires. Point blank, they will not say this, but they will instill fear in you and later try to use that fear to sell you there system. They will rant and rave about there smoke detectors and how superior they are. They will talk about how most smoke detectors are "made in china" and are cheap. Would you want cheap "made in China" smoke detectors protecting your family? At one of these seminars they will not try to sell you anything, absolutely no pressure. They will not even discuss even prices, even if you ask. They will however try to visit you in the next day or so to go over your families need and set you up with a custom fire protection system for your home. The main reason for the quick visit is they want to use that fear from the not before to sell you a system. They now it will fade after a few days.
MasterGuard Comes to Your Home
So its been a day or two since you attended a MasterGuard seminar. A sales rep. usually not the presenter from the night before, but it may be will come to your home. They will discuss the previous night, ask you what you thought , what you learned. They may bring up a story or two about a family that saw death as the result of a fire and not being prepared. The sales rep will ask to walk around your home to see what your family needs for a "full protection system". This usually consists of a smoke detector in each bedroom, in your main living rooms and halls, as well as heat detectors in each bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and attic. They have information on why each room needs to have an alarm. Next comes the cost. They will remind you this is for "full protection" and you can go with a lower system. By full protection they simply mean how many alarms, not quality of alarms. The alarms work out to be the same cost for the smoke detectors and heat alarms. Prices may vary slightly and I will discuss that in the next section. If you are blown away with the price, they will quickly offer you a "partial protection package" typically this will be eliminating the heat alarms in the bathroom, and perhaps consolidating some of the smoke detectors. Usually they offer a free alarm if you buy at least 4. If you try to talk them down to only a few alarms, they probably wont sell to you. They will tell you how they have not lost a life yet with a home that had there system installed. If they were to sell you less then what you needed and you had a fire and a life was lost there track record would be ruined. These guys have a quick answer for any question.
Price and Why so Much?
Here is what you really want to know, how much do these amazing devices cost? Well I'm sure the price varies by $20 plus or minus, but our cost worked out to be about $350.00 per alarm. Yes that's right, over $300.00 per alarm. So why so much? Its simple. Do you think that free dinner for all those people was really free, or that the presenter was putting on this seminar just to share free information on fire safety. They are running a business and need to cover there huge overhead. So is there price to high? If your looking at it as simply buying a smoke detector then yes, but for a profitable business I'm sure there numbers are in line. I for one didn't want to pay that much. So I did some research. That's what I'm sharing here.
Who is Gentex?
Gentex has been making fire alarms for commercial and residential use for many years. And guess what, Gentex makes the MasterGuard alarms for MasterGuard under the Master Guard label. You can buy these alarms for a fraction of the price under the Gentex label. I will post a few links below with sites where you can purchase these alarms. There is a catch. All Gentex label alarms are hard wired and need to be hooked up to your electricity. The MasterGuard alarm made by Gentex that is battery operated is only made under the MasterGuaard label and must be purchased through MasterGuard. So at a fraction of the cost you can buy the Gentex alarms and pay a electrician to install them and still save money. You can guess which I did. The cost of the Gentex hard wire fire alarms is about $50.00 per alarm. Here are a few links to sites that sell the alarms. Good luck with your system.
http://www.protectiontech.com/
http://www.myfiremonitor.com/Gentex-c1316-pg4268.htm
wow, all bullshit! Nicely written to fool people. You should be held accountable in court for your lies and manipulation. First you left our many truths about the masterguard alarm, and the "Market Place" sets the cost of these alarms. I've seen many lie like yourself for some unknown reason, you are the one people need to look out for. Grind your axe somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI know this is 8 years late but Jeremy, your reponse is all bullshit. We were "suckered" into this deal 10 years ago. We ended up spending $850 for two detectors, an 'alarm' for the garage, a couple of fire extinguishers and a Carbon Monoxide detector. About two weeks later we came to our senses and realized we overpaid a LOT for this stuff. Never again.
Deletewell, I would first ask you to look at the back of your smoke alarm...you'll notice it Doesn't say it is a life saving device. Now, Masterguard not only claims it is, but has proven it. Stats do not lie, the ONLY system proven safer is a total sprinkler system for your house, and that will set you back over ten grand. I do not work for them, but they truly saved my families life. The Masterguard in the den (downstairs) went off, followed by the other two alarms (Masterguard) in the open ares of the house. The two that were not masterguard never sounded. By the time we were all outside, you could hear the heat detectors throughout the house going off. The house was destroyed, and had I trusted the two smoke alarms that were also in the house that were no Masterguard, I doubt I would be writing this reply. Do research, discover the facts for yourself. Trust someone that doesn't even have a name behind an article like this and you're a sucker for believing whatever B.S. you read online. By the way, you'll also note, I have a real name behind my posts.
DeleteHi Mr Unknown that you use as your real name. The author of the article did not say Masterguard was not top notch, her merely pointed out that you can get the Gentex much cheaper and it is the exact same thing. I know this because I did the same thing by buying the MG alarms and then discovering the Gentex ones. BTW, my Gentex are powered with AC, but have battery backup, so don't say "what if the power is off". Also they are daisy chained so if a fire breaks out on the other end of the house, it triggers all alarms at the same time, therefore they are better than MG.
DeleteFirst, I want to say thank you for writing this post confirming my independent research. We had a MasterGuard rep come over yesterday and I purchased a system knowing I would have 3 days to cancel if my research proved it not to be everything they said it was. The facts in this post can easily be verified by visiting both the Gentex (www.gentex.com) and MasterGuard (www.masterguard.com) websites and comparing the specs of their products. They are identical! The only difference, as was stated here is that MasterGuard sells a battery-operated version. You can also look up US patent number 5170150 and see that Gentex owns the patent for the technology that is in the MasterGuard alarms. The MasterGuard alarms are indeed great products but they are not worth the almost $400 that they sell them for. I for one will also be looking at installing an interconnected wired system with Gentex alarms that are identical to the MasterGuard alarms and have the added benefit of being interconnected.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing; jeremy is obviously a MasterGuard rep trying to guard his sales commission for selling an outrageously overpriced product. Beware of folks like him who post no actual facts and cite no sources.
I attended one of these free dinners the other night, they really try to guilt you into needing their product. After politely declining their followup meeting I went home and did the research and pretty much came up with exactly what you did. I can't quit thinking about all the people at the dinner that probably got duped out of several thousand dollars
ReplyDeleteThis company is a great company, I wish people could keep thier opinions to themselves. Everytime you post something negative about Masterguard on a blog, you may have cost someone valuable time the night of thier fire. Two people just died in a house fire in a very nice neighborhood in Vincennes, Indiana. It was a new home that had hardwired smoke alarms in it. The problem was they were cheap ionization alarms which are highly ineffective at detecting smoldering fires and have a tendency to melt due to the high heat in a flaming fire. Masterguard not only protects people with heat & optical smoke protection, but they give everyone who attends thier program a free education on fire safety in the home. This company is saving a lot of lives. Please stop with the opinions that have no facts to back them. AT THE MASTERGUARD PROGRAMS THEY ARE BACKING WHAT THEY ARE SAYING WITH FACTS!!!!
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, shouldn't we be celebrating that there we actually have a choice in a Fire Protection System. As long as both do their jobs and even if only one life is saved, isn't it worth it?
ReplyDeleteI attended the dinner last night. Here are my thoughts. If Gentex will only sell me the hardwired alarms, then how do I clean them? The MasterGuard guy showed me that I can easily take down the one they sell (2 screws), remove the battery and then immerse the unit in soapy water, swish it around, then rinse it in clean water and air dry. If I buy the Gentex ones, I don't have that option and then I need to buy new ones every 3 years. Buying MasterGuard ones, I purchase them once and easily move them with me instead of having to pay an electrician to hardwire them in my next property. On the other hand, there may very well be massive technological improvements in fire alarms over the next 25 years, and if I have to replace my alarms every 3 years, I will have the latest technology. Didn't really like the pressure I felt at the end of the meal to give them a time to come to my house.
ReplyDeletei'm still learning, but 15 minutes shows me this:
ReplyDelete9000/9003 Series Gentex has:
120VAC and 220VAC with 9VDC battery back-up
Low or missing battery indicator
9VDC alkaline battery included
Quick-disconnect wiring harness
Think about it: get em hard wired in tandom up to 6 or 12 depending on model....one goes off at one end of home ("while you are sleeping" at the other end) and you're awake and out of the house in time....hard wiring in tandom makes a LOT more sense.
no more concern about cleaning it either. use the quick disconnect. heck, you wanna take it with you when you move? go for it. put the wiring back in the ceiling and cap it. their yours.
keep learning! i'm still deciding: get a "bid" tomorrow.
for the anti sales reps people out there, if you've never been, don't bash it. it's a hard life, and they all need to make a living.
...then don't make a living fear mongering, and presenting your product as the only decent product on the market. We fell victim to this. that was 10 years ago, and now I have to chuck a $$300 CO detector in the trash cause it's outlived its usefulness. I replaced it with a much cheaper model that detects much earlier than the MG unit anyways. Big scam.
DeleteThe MG units won’t go out if you have an electrical fire unlike the gentex ones. And the CO detectors are good to have even if you don’t have gas.
DeleteNeither will the Gentex, they are battery backed up.
DeleteThank you for all this information. I too was duped with the free dinner. I printed the Gentex info. I will be presenting this to the salesman tonight. I know how these people work - no different than a car salesman, if you walk without buying, they don't get their high commission. Next time, check what type of vehicle they drive, what type of watch they are wearing. I had one salesman driving a fully loaded GMC Denalie telling me he was starving. YEAH, RIGHT.
ReplyDeleteI was doing some research on the MasterGuard smoke detectors and came up with the news investigation on abc news.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/is-expensive-smoke-alarm-system-worth-the-money%3F
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ReplyDeleteMy wife and I recently purchased a house in Asheville, North Carolina. The previous owner mentioned to us at closing that the house "has a state-of-the-art smoke alarm system by Masterguard and that it has a lifetime warranty". I thought, great, that's nice (had never heard of the company but this all sounded good. She handed us a folder filled with information about Masterguard (which included cool fire-safety stickers). Anyway, to get on with my story... The following Sunday morning after closing, wife and I are enjoying a cup of coffee in our new home, when suddenly the ENTIRE ALARM SYSTEM GOES OFF FOR NO REASON. These things were LOUD and I could not turn the freaking things off. I pull the batteries and they're still going off. I pull down the units and see that they're all hard wired. Wife is thinking that maybe there is carbon monoxide or something that we can't detect, so she calls the fire department. Two firetrucks show up while half the neighborhood is out on the street asking us if we're okay (which I greatly appreciated). The firefighters were very kind and tried to help us figure out how to turn these alarms off . Finally after about 15 minutes one of the firefighters located the faulty alarm, disengaged it, and then the alarms finally went off. They firefighters checked our home an d said it was a false alarm. The next day I tried to call the name of the Masterguard rep. who installed them. I'm thinking 'lifetime warranty'. No answer, phone just rings and rings. Apparently this Masterguard rep is no longer in business. I'm thinking, 'Okay, I'll call Masterguard directly'. Tried this, left a message and no response'. Finally I locate a 'Masterguard dealer' in the area. I described our experience with the false alarms and inquired how I would go about having the 'lifetime warranty' I was told about. The sales rep told me that "...the lifetime warranty applies only to the original buyer and not to the residence where the Masterguard system was installed". I said that I thought that this was rather odd and asked about having the system checked anyway but that I planned to look into other alarm options. The sales rep was nice enough but started making more comments that I thought were suspicious (e.g., "Yes, we're expensive but we're the Mercedes Benz of alarm systems", "Our company gives to charities", "We will have someone come out and look at your system for free", "We don't need to talk about money"). Just sounded flakey to me. I finally ended up pulling the entire alarm system and tossed it in the garbage. I then spoke with a local firefighter and went with his recommendations for alarm system. He went to Home Depot, purchased what he recommended and placed them in the locations that he recommended.
ReplyDeleteI have six of these heat detectors I purchased in 1985. They have survived many geographical moves, home remodels, paint-jobs and shamelessly even a few have spent years hid away in top of closets. Late Christmas Eve 2002 one of these units went into alarm and I was surprised to find that one end my living room was on fire! My wife and I were up and awake just two rooms away and had not heard anything or smelled anything prior to the alarm going off. A candle on the fireplace mantle had set fire to that fake snow stuff draping the mantle and it had set a large oil painting above the mantle on fire. As I came into the living room the painting fell from the wall on to the floor setting the floor rug in front of the fireplace on fire, two feet from a real Christmas tree. By the way, I had a smoke alarm in the same room and it did not activate until after I had picked up the whole burning floor rug, the burning oil painting and threw the whole mess outside a nearby french door. Now, I'm not 100% positive but I could only imagine what would have happened had I been asleep in bed waiting for a smoke alarm to go off. If that Christmas Tree would have caught fire with us asleep in our beds, I believe we might be one of those statistical horror stories they shed light on in the presentations. As a Firefighter I can tell you, early warning is HUGE! It can save your life or the life of a loved one! How much is that worth? FYI, I just pulled all mine down about two weeks ago and tested them for the first time in probably 6 years. All six of the thirty year old units operated as new.
ReplyDeleteI worked for Masterguard as a sales rep and a presenter. I think highly of the product. Yes... you can find cheaper in everything in life. Sometimes it's close sometimes it's better however in this case I did my research on this product and it's the best out there. It's been 15 years since I work for them but I still believe this product is GREAT.
ReplyDeleteI will end with this I love Nunn Bush dress shoes but they rang from $75 to $150 so I use to buy a cheap version that look just like them for $25. First they did not wear as good but I could deal with that Second they would last me about 2 maybe 3 months. So I would spend over $100 a year for cheap shoes. I thought well that's crazy so I bought a pair of Nunn Bush shoe that I have had for 2 years. My point is it may look the same and be cheaper but beware it might cost you more in the long run.
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ReplyDeleteMasterguard's model 380T is in fact a rebrand of Gentex's model 913T battery-only smoke and heat alarm and costs far less than what Masterguard sells them for. I bought mine through the Home Depot online store for less than $30! Just as life saving and also money saving!
ReplyDeleteHow do I make my smoke detector turn off?
ReplyDeletehemlarm utan månadsavgift
Beginning to think this is a big rip off. I have had these for years and now they don't work. I can't get ahold of anyone about problems. Beware before you buy them.
ReplyDeleteI'm really embarrased to even let my friends and family know how badly we were duped in to buying $3,000.00 worth of them! I still can'take believe we fell for that scam. Our house is only 960 sq and we bought 6 of them. My old ones are still up and they go off sooner than the new ones. I am so angry that we fell for this. Please don'the make our mistake.
ReplyDeleteSame here! Way overpriced & sorry we fell for it. Smoke alarms don't cost that much.
ReplyDeleteHow can I figure out which heat detector I have? I bought 3 in 1986. My friend's young daughter pulled the front pop off unit off 1. I need to replace the pop off button but don't know the model that I own. Please help.
ReplyDeleteYou all are complaining about how expensive these are. We purchased 2 heat detectors and one smoke detector, 41 years ago, and they are all still working perfectly... see if you get that from a cheap POS. Best thing we ever did was buy them. The smoke detector has already saved our kitchen from getting destroyed. Thanks for reading. Jenny
ReplyDeleteWho can I call in Omaha Nebraska to hang my Alarms up .we moved
ReplyDelete