Vivint Smart Home

Horrible experience! I should have not even bothered knowing they had 1 star reviews and are not part of the BBB. Sales rep sold me a deal and then I received email confirmation and it was not inclusive of all the equipment he promised at the price we agreed to. I called back and was told they could not honor the price and they would have a manager listen to the audio recording and call me back. It’s been over 24 hours with no return phone call and they also charged my credit card already for the install even though I told them not to unless they were going to honor what the sales rep sold me. Then they sent me an install confirmation with them this am. I’m on hold with them now (forever) trying to get credit issued. I’m reporting them to my credit card company, every community FB page I’m on and here on Unilocal.Beware — they are a total bait and switch operation. Don’t go anywhere near them.

****** BEWARE, DO NOT USE VIVINT *******
We signed a Vivint contract almost 1 yr ago. Brady Martinez was the rep who came to our door. He has been with the company for a long time he told us. This is a hard sell type of deal they make with you in the evening hours at your house. As part of our «special» deal we were to receive a doorbell camera, interior plug in style camera and 2 outdoor cameras. When you sign the contract they tell you the installers are in the neighborhood and they can install same day. This is true for the panel, doorbell and interior camera. However we were told the outdoor cameras come later. Weeks went by and we were told the cameras were on back order over and over again. Now they tell me it was never part of my deal. I have the text messages from Brady the rep where we discuss when the outdoor cameras will be installed and when. These are from the day of the contract and then again not even a month later he tells me they are still on back order. WHY WOULD HE TELL ME THIS IF I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO GET THEM? After sharing the texts with Customer Care a few days ago they said I have to pay extra even with the evidence. They won’t even try and work it out, so now it’s time to review my experience. Oh and BTW, our doorbell camera still doesn’t work right and goes off whenever it feels like it and doesn’t go off when someone actually comes to the door. Then just the other day our alarm triggered for the first time. Vivint called us immediately as they should, however they said that the cops will not be going to the house because we didn’t have a permit on file. We never even knew we were supposed to have a permit with the local PD? (which cost $$) It would have been nice to be educated on that matter. I’m trying to get out of the 5 yr contract as we speak. My wife and I have not been pleased. My neighbors who signed up the week they came thru are having the same problems. Will not recommend to anyone. Use another company or don’t commit to the hard sell in your kitchen without the homework. We made a mistake…
REMIND YOU THE FIRST TEXTS MESSAGES I HAVE ARE FROM THE DAY WE SIGNED THE CONTRACT. BRADY COULD NOT HAVE FORGOTTEN THE DEAL WE SHOOK ON.

I would not recommend this company to anyone. I have enjoyed the 2gig alarm system that they sell, and the service that their
portal provide, but the company itself is just ridiculous. As a naïve first time home buyer, it didn’t register in my brain what a 5 year contract really meant. Vivint has very little incentive to provide you will good customer service once you’re locked into that contract.
I just had triplet babies (it was quads, but we lost one), and I realized it was time to replace all my old smoke detectors, so I went and bought a handful of the 2gig SMKT3 smoke detectors on Amazon for $ 50 each. I had installed several devices on my 2gig panel on my own before with no problems, but when I tried to access the area of the installers toolbox to add the smoke detectors, I was locked out. I called customer service and they told me that because these were «life saving devices» that not only would they have to be installed by a certified Vivint technician, they wouldn’t be allowed to use the smoke detectors I’d already bought because they may have been «3^rd party» or «tampered with». Now remember, these are the exact same 2gig smoke detectors Vivint sells, and you can get them anywhere online for between $ 50 and $ 60. How much does Vivint charge for these? $ 120 EACH, in addition to the $ 50 service fee. Keep in mind, these are wireless! It takes maybe 5 minutes to install a wireless smoke detector. You attach the base to the wall with 2 screws, then you program the smoke detector into the panel. Really it takes less than 5 minutes. Vivint thinks that requires a 100% markup of the price.
They have me over a barrel of course. I can’t possibly feel that my newborn triplets are safe without these smoke detectors, which I could install 5 of myself for $ 250 (the cost of the units) and maybe 30 minutes of my time. And I can’t get out of my contract with Vivint for less than $ 1000. So I have to shell out $ 650 to install FIVE smoke detectors.
There are already many companies that provide the same high tech wireless security devices as Vivint. When my contract is up I’ll probably be finding one that doesn’t lock it’s customers into ridiculous contracts and charge exorbitant fees for their services.

Hello once again Vivint her we go again I literally do not like your company ok so once again you all do not stand behind your word so I was promise a credit and was not suppose to pay until March so this company double charges me in March check this out one payment came in March 2 and the second payment came in March 14 which was the payment that should been charge to my account for $ 75. But no they charge me $ 63.10 at the beginning of the month and then charge me my monthly fee on my payment date. Here we go again just when thing start going better here it goes again not to mention that I never had to ever change batteries on any of my alarm equipment prior to moving to them. We constantly changing the batteries because we constantly get a low battery notification. I’m so mad right now because they double charge me and I called the company to try and clear this up and I spoke to a manager by the name of (Ryan Bessey) and he tells me that they were only promise to pay until February please look in my review and look at Vivint response. They said they would honor the credit here we go again. At this point once my husband gets back in town we are going to figure something out. I will let all my neighbors know about this too and my HOA this company is not good company and I’m contacting BBB. This is crazy… double charging scammer.

This is a very unethical company. They obtain your credit card number at the beginning of the call, ostensibly just to have it on file. When I decided against signing up due to rep’s highly aggressive and confused selling techniques, she charged my card anyways!
Calling back to get a refund is much more complex, as you can imagine. Don’t use vivint! Too many ethical businesses out there, I’d rather give them my money instead!

Don’t waste your time! System SUCKS! Always a problem… you ALWAYS have to be available between this hour and that hour for repairs. service techs are not knowledgeable. They have you commit to a 3 year contract and you stay on the phone every month calling them because the system has malfunctioned AGAIN! It takes more than a week to get a tech out to your house meanwhile… whose monitoring my house while its not working???

Wish I could of done my homework before committing to this. Shoot me now! Everyone’s reviews about this is right spot on. I been re scheduled and missing work just for this BS idk how many times. Too many people apologizing but not doing anything about it. I’m over this company.

Worse alarm company ever! Customer takes forever to answer and 16 days for a technician to come out. Want out of this contract

CAUTION!!! DON’T CALL THEM
I wish I had thought to look at the Unilocal reviews for this company prior to the hassle that I got from failed attempts at installs to now being turned over to collection agency. Wow, all I can say to anyone who even lets them in your home, take names, first and last of your installer, take names and contact information and notes on every call you will have to make after the equipment is installed, as you will have to make many and remember that three day period on your contract because as I did, I needed to use it. None of the equipment worked from the start. Once all the wholes were drilled in my door casing, and let me say there are 7 for one sensor, and the whole cut into my wall for he keypad, nothing communicated with the key pad. Issues from the start and in the middle of the night on the first night the alarm went off for no reason, scaring the 6 and 7 year old and of course a pregnant mom and dad to death. The central office called first to find out if all ok, but no one could get the alarm to turn off, not us, not central office, what a stinking mess. Had to take the unit off the wall and remove the batteries. Wow, how easy for a burglar to do. Now I am feeling real safe. You get a wonderful app on your phone that records all data from your unit… DO NOT DELETE that data that comes to you as I had to print out all that data and send it in with my notice of cancellation to prove their unit did not work. Every 5 minutes I had messages on my app telling me window sensors not working, glass break sensor not working, front door sensor not working. Holy God it was a nightmare for two days until they finally came and got it all out of my house. OH, and let me tell you they do not fix the holes they leave in your walls. Upon placement of the door sensor, the installer did not go in straight and came out the side of my wall. I had to fix that. He knocked it back in with his fist, but lets face it guys, that is not how you fix sheetrock. So instead of using that hole, he drilled another, and another and so on until he finally found a spot to make the sensor work (or he thought). It has been a year since I had that system placed, a year since I cancelled my contract within the given 3 days and I did it overnight mail at a rate of 17.95 for postage, a year since I received the notice of cancellation and removal of all equipment and a year of them still billing me and not reporting me to collection agency for failure to pay. And let me tell you I have made at least 5 phone calls to their billing department who all show that the contract was cancelled… now why continue to bill??? Why turn me over to collections (which I disputed and they were faxed all my information and swear they will never bother this Irish Redhead again). I have reported them to the BBB and have a lawyer in mind that I will contact next if I get one more bill or threatening phone call from them. But I do have to so that their collection agency has to be the nicest part of the whole process, they actually sat and listened to my issues with this company and stated that they will not bother to call again as they considered this file in dispute and they cannot collect on disputing cases. Thanks Abu for taking the time to listen to my story for a change and not being your normal collection agency that threatens you and yells. Sad that the collection agency is nicer than the company you purchased as stupid alarm system with. Just a night mare I wish I had never began. All to have a bit of security for my children.
Please save yourself the trouble and do not call these people. Read everyone’s review… they all seem to have the same problem and Vivint does not reply back to these complaints except for three posts, and then they are simple «sorry your system did not work out for you». As if it was the customers fault.

The service and system are great although a little higher than ADT. They substituted indoor cameras for outdoor ones because they were on back order. What a mistake. They’re worthless. When I called them on it they pretty much told me to f**k off and if I wanted the outdoor cameras that it’s cost 250 per camera for the install. So much for their free installation of all your equipment advertisement. Now I’m in a contract with them and they pretty much don’t care about anything as long as there is a contract. When my contract is finished I’m switching back to ADT. At least with them I knew the service wasn’t that good but they didn’t pretend that it was anything more than mediocre anyway.
As for Vivint — catchy cool marketing, shitty customer service — but if that’s your thing, then this is your company!

Vivint’s level of service has taken a nosedive in recent years. I use to happily refer friends and family to them. Now, there is no way I would send them any business. Service calls is over a month out. Then, they either don’t show up or arrive outside of the appointment window with no notice. My last customer service interaction was months ago and it was just as bad. I will most likely switch to a new provider once my contract is up. This is the same experience my brother as well as my parents are having with their Vivint service. The change is very unfortunate, they use to be such a great provider.

Huge mistake going with this company. HUGE. The control panel is nice, but that’s it. Their customer service is terrible. Everything about this company is terrible. They say they’re bringing equipment that they don’t even have in stock. They charge for installation of outdoor cameras (AT&T does not!). The installation was sloppy with no thought given to aesthetics. The installer was a moron. Their app is so slow that the cameras are useless. Whatever triggers the motion sensor on the cameras is long gone (or potentially already inside your house) by the time the app even opens. If I could give less one star, I would. Now we’re stuck with this junk for 3 ½ more years.

Don’t Use this company they are a rip off you will end up paying more for your System. horrible customer service

If I could have given 0 stars I would have.
Terrible customer service.
Terrible equipment.
Waited on hold for 53 minutes to have my call connected.
Stay away… far away from this service.

Can I give less than one star!!!
WARNING!!! STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!
All I have to say is these people are LIARS!!! Do not let them come into your home. They are scam artists and LIARS!!!
We were currently in a contract and he said that the cancellation fee was only about 75% of the remaining contract. That wouldn’t be too bad. When I questioned him more about it he «searched» on his phone for what he said was their cancellation policy and said that my alarm company showed they would only charge 75% to break contract. I should have asked him to show me. When I went to cancel with my alarm company I was told it was the full amount for the remainder of my contract!!! WARNING#1

We were ready for them to install, they said the next available install was 10pm! Seriously? Can’t we schedule for another day that’s more convenient for us other than when we should be sleeping? They said no because they would need to charge us an installation fee if they came back another day. They were here until after 130am! The sales person called back later apologizing saying he didn’t realize how long it would take. LIAR! He knew exactly how long it would take to install. WARNING#2
There has not been a day pass where we haven’t had any difficulty with the system. The cameras are always offline, the doorbell rings when someone approaches the front door, the notifications are going crazy on our phones, the sensors and cameras are going off simultaneously in all locations… When we called to say this is ridiculous, we were told that we would be given a full refund if they can’t correct the problem. Isn’t it funny now that I can’t find that person any where in the company now? As if he’s disappeared. WARNING#3
I could go on and on. Do not waste your time or money or frustration with these people. BE WARNED! Do not enter a contract with them. They will have you for years.

Just an update on Vivent: for the third time in a week the Vivent system has failed. After talking to their extremely unhelpful customer satisfaction supervisor. They are trying to schedule a third tech to come 6 weeks from now. Have yet to meet a competent tech or customer service person. I feel the whole business model for Vivent is deceptive to the point of being fraudulent. DO NOT CONSIDER doing business with these sneaky crooks.

Zero stars is not an option or I would use it. It was discovered that for 3 years my family was not protected due to a signal issue. A refund was credited to me. I decided to use Smith Thompson after my contract was met and after a two week long game of cat and mouse I was told the refund would not be granted. I would not use this company for free! Buyer beware… this company is a scam. You can spend hours on the telephone and when you talk to the next representative they lie and deny things that were promised to you. I would like to update this after Vivint sent me a message saying they would take care of me. No! I wouldn’t take a lifetime worth of this crooked companies service for free if they paid me $ 200.00 a month. When they go out of business I will bang pots and pans in the street.

$ 70 a month…6 year contract that if you want to break you must pay it in full… mine happened to be $ 3500, do NOT sign up with these guys. Comcast and others offer far more for cheaper price. Customer service is smug and has smart mouth as well.
If I could give zero stars I would.

Overall I like the system and the online format for arming and disarming your home. I think the monitoring is overpriced and I hate the idea of being tied into a contract, but the display panel is cool looking and offers some unique features.
When I placed my order the salesperson on the phone confirmed the equipment I requested so that he could make sure the technician was prepared for the install. We scheduled a time for the technician to do the install a few days later in which he would arrive between the hours of 8am and 12pm.
I get a call around 11:15 am from the technician saying that he is on his way and that he’d be at my house in 20 — 30 minutes. About 20 minutes later he calls me back stating that he doesn’t have the equipment and that he needs to make a stop in Pearland and that doing so would take him about another 30 to 45 minutes which would have put him well outside of the «promised» time window for installation. I had plans so I couldn’t wait for him. I asked that he come back later in the day and he was flexible in meeting that request. When I asked him what equipment he needed he said he had to grab basic sensors. I asked him about the cameras and he said that he didn’t have those and that he would have to order them. From my conversation with the salesperson on the phone, I assumed he would have prepared the technician to know what he needed for the day. I decided to go with the most basic monitoring option (no cameras or automatic door locks). The technician was nice and did what he had to do.
The system has been working okay thus far, but based on some of the other reviews… I’m now super skeptical. I guess that’s why the put us into contracts so we have no way out and less need to focus on customer service and retention.

Would prefer –100 stars! Worst experience with any company I have ever dealt with… Customer service sucks, equipment is crap. I had a 30 day trial and the cameras stopped working correctly after 3 days. I called to get equipment pulled and cancel the account before getting locked into a contract, and instead of being cool about it, they had to pull the door lock leaving my home unsecured. I tried to tell them to take the money out of my refund, but they wanted to charge 3 times the value of the equipment. Needless to say, they have to waste their time coming back here to pick it up, which probably costs more than the used lock they are getting. Will never recommend them to anyone, and I hope this company crumbles to the ground. Needless to say, stay far away from these idiots!