Summus opened its doors in Brandon, Manitoba on July 4th, 2000.
For 6 years we operated just like alarm dealerships all across Canada. We installed alarms and sold the monitoring contracts to a large national company that serviced those panels when they needed repair.
Over that period we learned a lot about security equipment and even more about how customer service should work.
It was painful to speak to a customer who had a small problem that we could easily remedy but have to tell them that we couldn’t resolve the problem until they navigated the maze of customer service from our national partner in order to generate a work order for us to attend.
Ted and Jay Hard At It Circa 2002
In 2006 we made a choice to do business differently. We decided to be the alarm company that we would like to do business with.
We chose to make a few simple promises and keep them:
- Have a live person answer the phone every time it rings.
- No gimmicks, tricks or fine print.
- No surprise bills.
- No long term contracts.
- No forcing our customers to remain our customers if they are dissatisfied.
Summus Headquarters – Douglas, MB
1. Summus is Latin for Highest. Summus is a palindrome, spelled the same way backwards as frontwards. It’s nice to know no matter how you read it, the meaning doesn’t change.
2. Our thistles. A long time symbol of protection and tenacity. We had a multinational corporation once tell us that local companies like us are just “weeds in their garden.” We liked that metaphor so much we added the thistle to our logo.
3. The adult bear is keeping watch over what it values most. It’s relaxed, non aggressive and calm but on watch and prepared. The bear cub is safe, protected and never alone. We are all reminded it’s best not to come between a bear and it’s cub.
4. Latin Motto of the thistle, translated to “no one provokes me with impunity.” To us this means any attempts to hurt or take from the people on this property will generate an immediate response.
5. Answered by a live person 24 hours a day, every day.