We found that there are a number of good medical alarm, or medical alert companies.

In our comparison, we also found numbers of companies that used good equipment; however, their practices, monitoring centers, or personel did not meet our standards.

As I have said before, your best defense is your gut impression. Are you being pushed, do they sound evasive, do they talk badly about other companies?

Be careful. If you have questions...call the American Senior Safety Agency at (888) 473-2800...we will do our best to answer your questions.

I will start posting, the variety of questions we answer everyday about how these first alert medical alarm life saving systems do and don't work.

My lawyers have tied me up tighter than Harry Houdini in a straight jacket underwater.

The question is: How can I tell you what we learned without legal retribution? My lawyers prefer that I name no companies and speak in generalizations. I think I can still help you understand the industry...just call me Harry :-)

First: What generalizations can I pass on?

Companies that tell you there are just 2 good companies are phoney

• There are at least 4 companies we found that were good
• We found that the very large companies were less personal
• One company's 3 year agreement precluded our trying them
• One large company never showed up twice to install their system
• We found the medical alarms advertised on TV to be very expensive

Second: Most companies used 1 of 4 equipment manufacturers.

• TV advertised companies used this same equipment for more money
• All medical alert equipment we tried were good

Third: How can you determine who is the best company

• Those companies who speak badly of other companies are not good
• Those companies afraid to stand on their own merits were not good
• Those companies who couldn't tell you their cancellation policy were not good

Order everyone's brochure. Call everyone and see how they sound and treat you. Are they sales oriented? Are they relaying scary scenarios?

If you don't feel comfortable with the sales pressure or negative tones of the company...BEWARE. Your personal feelings are your best guide.

Mostly all brochures arrived within 3 to 5 days, depending on where the medical alarm company was located.

The following exceptions occurred:

• One brochure took 8 days to arrive
• One brochure took 2 requests and 23 days
• One brochure took 7 days
• One brochure took 10 days
• One brochure took 2 trys, never came
• One brochure took 6 days

One arrived with 2 mispellings, last name, and state abbreviation.

One...mispelled last name

One great disappointment was our own American Senior Safety Agency...our brochure arrived in 5 days...but was addressed to the wrong state...and we mispelled the last name. Luckily, we got the zip code correct.

I have spoken to my people...they've gotten the message.