Anyone use them?

I’ve been with them 15+ years. Was one who signed up for 5 years to get the initial equipment. Overall service has been stellar.

My current equipment is pretty outdated now, considering an upgrade and staying with them. I think things have changed though, you need to purchase the cameras/etc outright. No more extended contacts rolling the equipment into the monthly fees.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ronin1069,

Don't have them but after speaking with a buddy over the holidays who is in the solar business he did tell me that they're now cross selling Vivent home security systems with the solar systems.


Don't know why they won't put your new equipment on a monthly plan. It's all the rage these days to get people to buy more stuff for a "slightly higher payment."

We have them at casa de Mike. Initial install was four years ago, one inside camera, one outside camera, windows and door alarms…house was already wired. We can turn it on or off via app on the phone and we can watch the cameras or video same way.About a year ago the camera or control device shit the bed. The guy just replaced the inside camera, and controller iPad thingy…didn’t help. So they gave us a separate device to store the data for the cameras and it’s worked fine since then

I have no clue how much we pay…that’s in Mrs. Mike’s lane.

I have them, for about 18 months now. Prior to that ADT for 10 years. We moved and based on neighbor’s recommendation we switched to Vivint.
Have issues with some of the wireless window switches consuming batteries. Only 2 of them, the others have lasted since install. Other hardware (cameras, doorbell cam, base station) have been trouble free. Have also had billing/invoice problems that were difficult to sort out.
I have 2 big issues with them. Was going to add 2 more cameras and they wanted to increase my bill by $10 a month. This was if a paid for the cameras up front. I’m paying for the cameras. Don’t mind paying an installation charge. But why would they increase my monthly charges?
Second, you better hope that you don’t have issues because their customer service is awful. It is overseas based. The reps are barely able to communicate in English, can’t solve most issues and seem to not really care. They also have equipment malfunctions often. Being cut off and buffering during the call, delays and echos are common.
I’m considering paying off the contract just to not have to deal with them anymore.
I would not recommend based on my experience.
Edit to Add: Ronin, you are somewhat correct. You pay for the equipment. Either up front or installment. BUT, they also now want you to sign a 60 month contract! So no free equipment…and the only way to exit the contract is to pay it off in total.

Yes, we’ve been with Vivent for 4 or 5 years now. We don’t have cameras in our system, although I’ve contemplated adding at least one. We’ve been satisfied with the company.

I was considering them.
We have been with Brinks/ADT for too many years.
So I called them to see what they could do.
They wanted to set an appointment for someone to come out, I said "OK".
They insisted on a Credit Card to come out.
It was clear from the start I only wanted them to come out and look over what I needed and it was not an order for service.
They still insisted.
Never ever had to pay for a sales call.
I refused and told them to pound sand.

I will tell you that all those big companies will fail you eventually. Either poor service be it billing, technical service or monitoring. You are a number to them and a source of RMR and that is it. Go with a local small company, you will get better service because they will actually care. They may not be the cheapest, but you can bet they will care when you have a problem.
Oh and Vivent before they sold were notorious for high pressure sales tactics with their summer sales drives. They would get a hold of an older person and demand they buy things going so far as you coerce the home owner. They were at one time barred from selling in several states and had to change their name 2 or 3 times. They used to be APX. Do some searching and decide.

quote:

Vivint has settled multiple cases due to deceptive marketing practices.[79][80] From 2009 through 2014 the company settled with the states of Arkansas, Oregon, Ohio, and Nebraska.[81][82][83][84][85] In 2014, Vivint settled two federal class-action lawsuits for alleged violations of the TCPA.[86][87] Many people stand by the belief that Vivint scams their customers with their three day refund policy (the legal limit for a security system). In 2018 Vivint agreed to a $10 million settlement in a lawsuit on the issue with ADT Inc. on claims that Vivint agents would gain access to homes and install new Vivint equipment under the guise of an upgrade, then sign ADT’s customers to new contracts with Vivint. According to ADT they received nearly 1,000 complaints by its customers over the practice.[88]

In 2021 Vivint was fined $20 million for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act under Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. According to regulators Vivint failed to implement an identity theft prevention program which then allowed its sales representatives to obtain credit reports of unsuspecting consumers without the consumers’ knowledge or consent, and lead them to unfairly sell false debt to buyers or debt collectors, which was violation of the FTC's Red Flags Rule.[89][90]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivint

Based on people telling me about their experiences with home security companies, I decided to do it myself.

I've got Reolink cameras covering virtually all of my house and some of the outside.

They're all infrared as well as standard and can see a long way in the dark, at least 30 or 40 feet and they're all motion detectors. They're all WiFi and the outside cameras are on solar panels.

I've got an app for them on my iphone and if somebody or something trips the motion detectors, I get a notification within 2 or 3 seconds based on my testing. They're also recording when they detect motion.

So when I get the notification, even if I'm thousands of miles away, I can look at what the cameras are looking at and decide whether or not to call the cops.

No contract, no fees, nothing

Vivint got me about 8 months ago. Door to door guy caught me while I was thinking about getting cameras so right place right time. He quoted me 1800 dollars for the system and it ended up being 3500.

-Pros: My house is further protected by automatically recording cameras and front/back door alerts and a window break sensor. I actually only got the system for the cameras, and I don't use the alarm system at all.

It's nice to have cameras that I can check from anywhere at any time except...

-Cons: The app to connect to the system and cameras is the only app I've ever given 1 star to. It sometimes takes up to 2 min to connect and if my home was being broken in to I'd be fuckin dead by that time. It's absolutely atrocious.

Their app ONLY works on android or IOS devices. You CANNOT install it on Windows without a third party program, and you cannot set up, say, an extra laptop to be constantly monitoring the cameras at all times.

Obviously the price. I got got. But that was my own fault and I'm the one to blame.

____

Overall I'm begrudgingly satisfied with the system, because it's another layer on top of the layers of security already present. If you've been using them 15 years already then you'll probably already know if you like them or not. If I could get a refund and get them to get their stuff back and put in my own stuff, I would. For the price, I expect the damn app to link up in a timely manner EVERY time.

Next time, I'm going to do the self install solar cameras like Arlo or Reolink.

Jester814:

You pretty much just answered the one question I’ve had that has been holding me back. The app to check the camera’s is terrible with this old system. It appears things have not improved much.

Thanks for that…