So I just got a call from the alarm system company and the motion sensor in my house went off. I'm in Charlotte right now spending Xmas with my family but my house is 3 states away. I told the alarm system folks that I haven't been home for a few days and to please send the police to check things out. The police reported no evidence of shenanigans but because the gate to my back yard was locked they didn't check the back doors/windows. I'm kind of freaking out here now because I'm super worried that someone broken in through a back window or something.

I guess my question is have any of you guys had anything similar happen? Do any of you have any motion sensors in your house that randomly went off when out of town or something? All my pets are being boarded so I can't think of anything that would set off the motion sensor. I guess I could just use some peace of mind or whatever from similar stories that ended up being nothing to worry about.

12/24/2010 9:21:07 PM

Tis the season man,


My brother got woken up by crooks in the house just yesterday. These two clowns just screwdrivered the front door and strolled right in. Ran off when they saw he was home, but it could have turned out a lot worse. We spent the afternoon today putting deadbolts on all the exterior doors.

12/24/2010 9:35:36 PM

Give me the address and I'll go check it out

12/24/2010 9:40:41 PM

Do you have any friends nearby who stayed in town for the holidays who might go check things out for you?

12/24/2010 9:41:15 PM

Call a neighbor you know and ask them, in the spirit of Christmas, to please check your back yard for any signs of shenanigans

I have had some false motion sensor alarms over the years in various buildings, usually either a faulty motion sensor, or what I later gathered might've been a big roach/spider crawling over it (since usually they are designed to ignore small things like insects who happen to just fly past the sensor)

12/24/2010 9:41:35 PM

Luckily one of my friends is still in town. He's gonna go over to my house and jump the back fence to check things out. I'm pretty annoyed that the police can't do that themselves considering that a burglar could have just kept quiet for a few mins while the police were checking the front. I guess if the police were allowed to do that some stupid homeowners would try and sue them for trespassing though. All I can really do now is wait until I hear from my friend. This sucks

12/24/2010 9:46:32 PM

Just talked to my friend. He checked the back and front and found no evidence of shenanigans so I guess it was just a false alarm. I'll have to have ADT double check the motion sensor when I get back to see if there is any malfunction.

In the past two hours of paranoid Googling I discovered that 95% of all home alarm reports are false. Still, I guess it's better safe than sorry.

12/24/2010 11:06:46 PM

I had an alarm in my old apartment in a skyscraper that went off two times over christmas break last year. They turned it off after the second time because it was pissing the front desk off. It was likely somebody slamming their door too hard which jarred mine. Of course it could also have been something as weak as the AC turning on with how that building was built, lol.

12/25/2010 1:28:42 AM

fuck it, if you have insurance. its sure gonna suck but if you were smart about it then youll know that youre gonna get shit back if it is broken/gone. have fun.

12/25/2010 3:10:12 AM

^Yeah of course I have homeowner's insurance but it would probably take a few weeks to get a check from my insurance company and even then I'd have to pay a deductible. I guess I'd at least get new stuff though.

12/25/2010 12:34:54 PM

I got scared on the way to my mom's that somebody would break in while I was gone. I didn't leave any lights on or anything so it wouldn't be hard to notice nobody was home.

My buddy's place was broken into a few years ago. We walked in on christmas eve and his tv, playstation and the presents under the tree were all gone.

12/25/2010 4:10:06 PM

^that sucks

My friend's motion sensor went off twice in the last two months. First time he figured it was the cats, even though the company said that pets are too small to set it off. Second time cats were locked in the laundry room. Never figured out what caused it but nothing was moved when he got home. Sent the cops out both times.

12/25/2010 7:55:32 PM

Ours goes off randomly when the batteries are getting low.

12/25/2010 10:37:26 PM

Got home yesterday. Nothing had moved. The only thing I could think that set it off was a spider or something crawling over it (although I haven't seen any spiderwebs near it).

12/27/2010 10:04:27 AM

maybe it was something bigger like a mouse or rat?

12/27/2010 10:14:53 AM

glad to hear it ended well

12/27/2010 10:14:54 AM

I guess it could have been a rodent. I have a very aggressive cat though, she often brings me dead chipmunks and birds from outside so I can't imagine a mouse or rat would last that long in my house. I suppose it could have gotten in sometime after I left... if that's the case it's life will probably end quite soon.

12/27/2010 3:40:12 PM

Maybe it was Santa Claus

12/27/2010 3:50:38 PM

renter's insurance and auto timers with randomization on several lights in the house for vacation/travel

1/2/2011 9:15:00 PM

Someone tried to break into our townhouse while our roommate was home. And they broke the screen off of our front window. Fuckers

1/2/2011 11:42:32 PM