Jacqui Hames Monthly Blog - May

Date: 10/05/18

ERA Blog -  May

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Confessions of an ‘Expert’

The trouble with being involved in something practically your whole life - or even a large chunk of it - is that you’re not allowed to make mistakes. In our heads our homes are invincible to even the most determined and expert burglar, when we step out of the house every move is carefully planned and monitored. Our cars are fitted with all the latest anti-theft and tracking devices, our journeys are meticulously planned and executed with army style logistics. Every person we meet or do business with has been checked out meticulously as honest and reliable, we buy and sell online with safety, are able to bank, date, find friends and avoid those pesky Nigerian Princes wanting to make us a fortune - all with the ease and certainty that we know enough and have done enough not to get caught out by thieves, mountebanks and ne’er do wells.

Of course not! It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re involved in we are all only human and we make mistakes, bad judgements or even just get unlucky. Tiredness or just “too busy” come into play, and we end up leaving ourselves vulnerable.

As the sun made a welcome entrance recently and exposed how dirty my windows were, I decided to start a spring clean by opening them all up to get some fabulous fresh air into the house. Annoyingly it turned out that at least 2 of them which I thought had been locked over the winter, had in fact been left unlocked. I decided to have a check round as I was doing my spring clean and found the handle on window in my spare room was very lose and in fact after a quick wiggle it fell off in my hand. It wasn’t very long after that that my daughter admitted the front door lock  was ‘on the blink’ whatever that meant - it worked for me - and she hadn’t been double locking it recently.

One of the lovely ERA ladies admitted to me that she too had flung open all her windows to enjoy some Spring air and then gone out and left one of them still open, thankfully with no adverse consequences. With the warmer weather arriving this is a particular problem, who wants to come home to a hot stuffy house.

We also look forward to spending more time in our gardens if we’re lucky enough to have one, and leave all the doors and windows open whilst we concentrate on weeding this years tomato’s or planting the window boxes. Not to mention the start of barbecue season. I lost count of the number of times I reported burglaries at houses where everyone was in the garden incinerating chicken and steak (or is that just me) and downing gallons of beer and Pimms (definitely me), whilst wandering in off the street with impunity was the local opportunistic burglar to grab what they could and disappear just as quickly.

So what can I say, I delved into the ERA website and the good news is they’ve plenty of modern options for spring cleaning our home security, thankfully taking away the risk that life will get in the way out of our daily decisions - or lack of them - using modern technology.

Soon to come is the ‘ERA Touch Key’ the one-touch keyless smart lock - which I’m hoping will be the answer to my slightly temperamental current door lock and even more temperamental daughter! This brand new innovative idea is launching soon, however you can register interest in finding out the very latest news on the website and be one of the first to take advantage of this brilliant product. More to come in another blog I think. Watch this space.

They also have recently launched DoorCam which is a brilliant video doorbell that allows you to see and speak to the caller via your front door. It means you don’t even have to leave that barbecue to talk to a door caller and there is no need to leave the door ‘on the latch’ either so you don’t miss a late guest arriving.

If you are planning to buy a new front door this spring – always something to consider after a long winter - then asking for it to come fitted with the ERA Invincible door lock is also a brilliant option. The product shows through extensive testing, it can stand up to 15 minutes of vigorous attack - your average burglar would have had it on their toes long before then, mainly for fear of attracting attention. If by some extraordinary chance someone really does make it through (which is more than the testers have!) and you have a full package of Era hardware on your windows and doors, ERA will replace your door free of charge AND give you compensation.

If you really want a proper spring clean of your security to see if it’s still fit for purpose or just to review the new products on the market, a free ERA Home Security Survey is on offer thanks to ERA’s partnership with the Master Locksmith Association - let’s face it not much is free these days why not go for it. 

It is very easy for any of us to get complacent about our home security, and that is exactly what the opportunist burglar is waiting for, that momentary lapse. Probably the majority of the time you’ll get away with leaving a window open or insecure, but I’m not sure I want to take the risk - do you?

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