TMJALARMSNATE

I don't really know where else to go with this inquiry...I thought that perhaps other experienced installers and reps could help me with this issue. I have worked for a company called TMJ ALARMS LLC based out of crystal city missouri for the last 3 years. After about the first year it was made clear to me that these people did not know what they were doing when it came to payroll or any type of regulations whatsoever. I've worked countless hours under the premise that it "is my job as head installer" without pay. Most recently i worked a full month and was paid only $168.00 as the owner changed the company policies regarding payroll while he was cutting the checks. I was on a particular site where the incorrect equipment types were used to save money, and even after advising the owners of this i was told to install anyways. The system failed to meet the clients standards and i was forced to preform countless hours of trouble shooting. 20+ hours actually. The standard pay rate for the installation of a 4 camera system, DVR and 240ft of cable is $100.00 when the installation is completed. There is no mention of additional work, client training and technical support in the company outline as written by the owners (even though i was required to write an entirely new set of guidelines, not paid for it, and eventually they were thrown out because "the employees were making more than the owners") The verbal agreement i had with the owners was $25.00 an hour to be billed to the client unless it is company negligence and not installer error, this verbal agreement was witnessed by multiple parties although i have nothing in writing. Employees and sub contractors in the company are supposed to be paid bi weekly, my check was a full month overdue and after 2 weeks of waiting i refused to work until i got paid (using savings to pay rent, gas, and there is no company vehicles or gas cards), i was using my own transportation and being "reimbursed" for gas, the reimbursment money which i never actually received. I am currently owed $575.00 as per verbal agreement, but the company has stopped returning my calls. I am currently in the process of hiring a labor lawyer but i would also like to contact the dept of labor to shut this shady company down for good. They are a stain to alarm and cctv industry and should not be allowed to do business. And before you ask, I didn't quit the company because i was promised to be made a partner if i just "stuck with it" and would be allowed to "run my dept the way i saw fit" which was all empty promises just so i would continue the work. Anyone have a good number to reach the dept of labor complaints dept or any further advice on my legal rights?

As far as insurance, permits, and all that. I'm in the st. louis mo area. The way i understand it i can install as a sub contractor i just can't sell, is this so?

A verbal agreement can be affirmed by an appropriate amount of witnesses with the correct reputation. I am a soldier in the army reserves with an immaculate record My subs are highly trained and skilled industry professionals with years of relevant work experience and degrees. My employer is an ex crack addict with no industry experience and a history of ripping off clients and an arrest record to boot, the second owner has drug offeses on her record and the investor is scott free but never really managed the business. Who do you think the judge will believe?

Is subject to review, there is nothing illegal with posting it. Actually i believe it to be the ethical thing to do. It's like exposing a food and beverage company name for selling tainted products that could hurt consumers. So i'm a whistle blower...yeah Point in fact is i have already contacted several clients...and they are all on board to bring a mass lawsuit against the company with a monetary value in the 10s of thousands. The company will crumble and the investors will wish they listened to me from the start, the owners will go to prison and that will be that. Justice will be served, the people i hired WILL BE PAID. I am not in the business of ripping people off gentlemen, i have always and will always put client satisfaction above all else, only proceded by the satisfaction of my workers. They will reap what they have sewn

I think we are getting off point here. I asked the questions i asked on this forum because installers and owners of alarm and CCTV companies will understand the laws, regulations, and rights of employees and sub contractors. And yes, also to slander the name of the company so that no other employee ever has to go what i went through...or client for that matter.

The monetary value of this case is $8,575 according to my attourney (being that the deadline for payment has passed the max amount of days they have to actually issue the checks) After 10 days in missouri it's a fine of 60 days at employee hourly rates (which mine were 25 an hour 8 hours a day, 5 days a week) The only evidence i can get will be from the clients i served in the form of sworn statements and from fellow employees (2 others on my team) that he did the same thing to. If the judge rules in favor of us, the company will topple... Not to mention he kited checks to two of my sub contractors and gave me a check that bounced twice. We are with a service provider so my time on site for the security systems will be logged via when i reported on site to the alarm coordinators and for the CCTV i have the clients who have already agreed to sign statements regarding how long i worked...the hourly however is here say, but at the very least i'll get min wage, right? I worked as an employee without ever filling out tax information and when i quit as an employee and worked as a sub i was never required to fill out anything either...not even required to fill out a W9 or attain a sub contractors license, or provide proof of insurance...I was never informed that i needed any of these to work until i did some research today. I think that after i attain the statements from the clients i should be good with at least getting min wage for the hours i worked...and i think that will please my subs and get us the gas and tool money we need to get going again...

It's not fully my fault though having plain clothes sales reps going door to door and coming to installs with a ladder strapped to a beat up saturn is not my idea of professionalism. i have always, and will always do whatever is in my power to install a quality system regardless of system limitations. i sometimes go to clients in my free time to fix systems and offer advice at no charge just case i feel bad

...recorded video as evidence for arrest. I just installed a PC based dvr system including 8 330tvl IR (13' night range) and two QLR0440 video capture cards from lorex cctv system specifications (refurbished exec PC) Compaq evo Win XP service pack 2 40GB IDE HDD 128mb GPU (onboard) 512mb RAM (2) QLR0440 capture cards **system specifically dedicated to cctv, no other apps running** The night after i finished installation the guy gets robbed. Something like 4 cases of high dollar liquer. cameras capture the video feed, and an e-mail alert is sent to client cell via motion detect. everything worked perfectly, just as advertised...EXCEPT for the most important thing, video playback quality. It looked like complete crap, you couldn't make out faces at all, and the perps didn't even notice the cameras on break-in. so i decide, "well maybe it's just the camera res" so i bring with me a 420TVL sony IR camera with 150' IR range. Plug it in and it looks great, until i get to recording to re-test the playback, at that point i realise it still looks like crap, just not as much. I've been installing these things for a year or so now and i've been afraid this might happen, but my owner is not willing to adjust price to buy better equipment so he sells em "good enough but not great" this is not only annoying, but is also detrimental to the reputation of our company and to me as an individual installer. i mean we are using unshielded 22ga telephone wire for cable runs and splicing with wire twisting and electrical tape. so yeah, signal loss is a definate consideration with this situation i'm thinking. any advice?

oh and we are a budget camera company we lack the manpower or the presige to become bigger at this time

he won't listen to me, and our account manager is even worse with price cuts...i mean i don't even have wire strippers. what system would you reccomend?

what if those cameras were sony CCD 420TVL? and if we used good cable and a dedicated 4ch DVR? the company would still make over 250% profit and i wouldn't have to feel bad about installing crap

lorex QLR0440 oh ****, i forgot, this includes a dedicated refurbished computer with 40gb HDD 512mb RAM and 128mb GPU but yeah, i think for what they charge they could pay me better, especially since not a single person in the company knows how to do wat i do (even though i have attempted training them on several occasions) they just don't get it for some reason

is 1400USD for 4 cmos 330tvl cameras, caption card, install, and 60ft cable per camera cheap by industry standards? including netword and tech support?

yeah, that does include the wiring, and is supposed to include full tech support (including camera moves) for one year. i'm a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear specialist for the US army with an associates degree in science. i think i might just quit. the company also pays employees only when they recieve payment (ie: they owe me 600 dollars at the moment) that means if something goes awry; doesn't matter if i did my job right or not, i don't get paid until they do... any legal advice?

completely beyond me contact company for help also you can go DMZplus mode (wouldn't reccomend though) if it works when you do this you will know at least that it is a firewall blocking your remote and not something else (ie: port forewarding failure) sometimes manuals give you crap port ranges, this could explain it. also try going to start/programs/run - type in "command" type in ipconfig /all let us know what it says when you do...diagnostics can be attained from that info. lol i think you are putting in the router IP and not the static (or dynamic)...that would explain alot is it 192.168.blah blah? or 192.254.blah blah? if so thats the router, and not what you want unless you are connecting on a local network

that depends on the tyoe of hookup for the pc capture card and also depends on if the cameras recieve power from the monitor or splitter. if they do recieve power from what they are plugged into you can usually split the signal and connect it to a PC based DVR card or just a regular DVR

But you must understand that i have nothing to do with the quality of the product beyond my own installation and advice (although being the head installer i should have full fiscal control over what a client asks for in relation to what they get) and "ronald", what type of wiring hookups do you reccomend? link? and rory, i completely agree, i spend enough time installing the networking on these things, replacing the cameras for better ones and then realizing it's the card makes for a very frustrating install (ie: we are talking i get 100 dollars an install for 4 cameras plus dvr card, no hourly, and that includes my tech support anytime they unplug and scramble the damn things) if it were up to me i would use conduit where conduit was needed, buy only industry standard cable and never use cmos cameras or dvr cards with low res for recording. side note*** i just installed another one of these systems today on a brand new e-machines computer. the frame rate is awful as is the quality of recording. whenever i try remote login the server computer crashes and has to be re-booted. talk about troubleshooting i'm clueless on this one as it's never happened to me before instead of 30fps (per camera) i'm getting like 10 to 15 at max i'm about at my wits end here, i'm telling my boss tomorrow no more cmos cameras, no more of the same dvr card and no more crap cable or i quit. and that would surly be the end of the business as not as single other employee knows how to set up the systems he sells efficiently