Section 1 of this bill imposes certain requirements upon an “alarm company,” which section 1 defines to mean a person who engages in the sale, installation, service, maintenance, repair or replacement of an alarm system or the provision of monitoring services. Section 1 defines “monitoring services” to mean, in general, receiving signals indicating that an alarm system has been activated and notifying a public safety agency of that information.
Section 1 requires an alarm company that, pursuant to a contract with a customer of the alarm company, has installed an alarm system at the home or business of the customer and charges the customer a monthly fee to perform monitoring services, not later than 5 business days after receiving notice from the customer that the alarm system is defective or inoperative, to: (1) repair or replace the defective or inoperative alarm system or any component thereof; or (2) cancel the remainder of the contract and refund any unearned money paid by the customer. If the alarm company cancels the contract, section 1 prohibits the alarm company from charging the customer a penalty, fee, forfeiture of deposit or any additional cost because of the cancellation.
Existing law defines activities that constitute deceptive trade practices and provides for the imposition of civil and criminal penalties against persons who engage in deceptive trade practices. (Chapter 598 of NRS) Section 1 provides that a violation of the provisions of section 1 constitutes a deceptive trade practice.