What's in a Name? Vivint or APX by Any Other Name Would Smell As Shady

(Seen one of these reflective yard signs?  If so, feel pity for the family who's not being valued, or their interests protected for that matter, the way they should be.)

Last week, we became another door-to-door security system sales statistic.

The guys in orange showed up, gave us the sounds-too-good-to-be-true pitch, and we took the bait.  Me - because there have been several recent thefts & break-ins in our area (we had a couple axles & some tires stolen), and we live so far out that emergency response times on the fast end are about 15 minutes...by then its too late.  Mr LKP - because he wanted me to be happy & feel safe.

After a few days, it started to dawn on me that what we'd gotten suckered into was not practical for us.  It was more of an inconvenience than anything.  I could pour into the PIA details, but I'll save you some time & me some emotional re-stirring.  We decided we didn't want the system after all and, since we were still within our 3 business day parameters for cancellation, we called to cancel the service.

It was a RIDICULOUS process that shouldn't have been so difficult.

Let it be known that we do not recommend Vivint, especially after this experience I'm about to relay (if that offends you, sorry - however it is the truth according to how we were dealt with).  If you ever do decide to go with Vivint for your security system, we hope that you are happy with it, as the process to exercise your right to cancel within 3 business days is excruciating - and that is not a part of the journey we recommend either.

WEDNESDAY: Called to let Vivint know we were cancelling and that we would mail in the Notice of 3-day Cancellation that night, so it would be postmarked the same day.  The guy in the Resolutions department said it would be best if we were to scan that signed slip and instead email it in so it would not get lost in the mail.  Made sense.  He then proceeded to question why we didn't want the service, and no matter what my answer was he tried to shove more equipment at me to answer each apprehension I had.  I finally had to reiterate that the service was NOT PRACTICAL FOR US AND WE DID NOT WANT IT.  Only after I got ticked and stated I was immovable did he let off.  While on the phone with him I did as he said, and emailed the cancellation slip to support@vivint.com.

Later in the evening, I wanted to confirm that the email had been received, so I called the ROR or 3-Day Department directly to make that confirmation.  Once my call was finally answered in that department, the guy there did no checking to confirm if the email had come through or not to the address I'd sent it (lazy!), instead he asked me to forward it to him at his email address there, assuring me that he'd take care of everything.  Again I was grilled about why I didn't want the service.  This time I wasn't about to mess around, so I calmly but firmly stated that it wasn't practical for us and we didn't want it.  He pressed a bit more, wanting to know what else he could give us to keep us.  I again stated we did not want it.  He said he would proceed with the other items of protocol while we waited for the forward to come through in his inbox.  At that point I needed to leave for Mutual, and he stated he needed to finish the call anyhow with Mr LKP, since he was the main account holder.  I passed the phone off to Mr LKP, who was up to his eyeballs working on sprinklers and other yard stuff - hence he was a little irritated that he had to get involved with the process at that point in his day.

What's appalling is the fact that the Vivint guy then practically started from the beginning as far as the call was concerned, INCLUDING the grilling & badgering about getting Mr LKP to keep the service.  No matter what the guy said, Mr LKP stated he did not want the service.  Again the guy would shift another direction, until finally our mostly-mild-mannered Mr LKP had to raise his voice & use some offensive trucker words to get it through to that guy that the service agreement was officially over.  The Vivint rep recoiled in shock, then stated he would take care of everything from there.

Late that night I received the forward back as a "failed email."  Needless to say, the process was not complete, however I expected our account to be noted extensively.  Since it was passed their business hours at that point, I went to bed.

THURSDAY:  Called in the morning to confirm that our account had been notated, that the original email to support@vivint.com had been received even though the forward to the other rep had come back failed.  That call I spoke to NO ONE.  Instead I sat on hold in the phone system for over 35 minutes, at which point I had to leave a voice mail.  The voice mail was extensive in detail, including rep names & the length of my wait in the phone system, so whoever called back would be on the same page and understand my frustrations.

No returned call came that afternoon.

I called again in the evening, and was patched into the customer service department, where the young lady started in on the questioning of why I didn't want the system.  I told her I was tired of being badgered about the question & that we just didn't want it.  She stated she would directly connect me with the ROR or 3-Day department and that "it should only be a 10 minute wait."  I waited in the phone system this time for over 50 minutes!  Again I left a voice mail with all the necessary details, including the now two lengthy times that I sat on hold in their phone system, and I stated that if I had to call back regarding this, I would be contacting the BBB and a lawyer.

FRIDAY:  No returned call that morning.

Furious, I called again and this time only waited about 15 minutes before I was connected with Andrew Y.  Andrew was fantastic!  He didn't try to sell me a thing, nor badger the crap outta me for wanting out.  He sat, he listened, he went immediately to work in the trenches to do the job others had not been willing to do.  He asked I forward the email to him so he could see the time stamp on the original email to support.  Within moments he had it pulled up in front of him, stated that we had actually had until 9/6 to cancel since the system had been installed on a non-business day (which was interesting since everyone else had said we only had until 9/5) and from there Andrew took care of EVERYTHING. 

At the conversation's end, only thing left to coordinate was the uninstall appointment.  Andrew emailed that department for them to contact us, and then Andrew stated that he had thoroughly noted our account - if any further issue came up, we are to ask for him specifically.

SATURDAY:  First thing in the morning there was a survey request from Vivint in my inbox, about the experience with Andrew.  So I let it ALL out!  Andrew got highest marks, Vivint did not. 

Like many choices in life, it's just easier to learn from others' examples than to take the hard road yourself.

Know that the camera they offer is crap if you need to video outside (like our pump house which is easily 200-300 feet from our house, and where our stuff was stolen from), it's wireless and strictly indoor only.  Not built for the outdoor elements or the sun.  You have a monthly upload quota, that if your settings are too sensitive (which is what you'd want since it's a security system, right??) then the quota will be gone before even a weekend is over, let alone a month has passed.  If your panel is not near your most frequented door then 60 seconds to evacuate is true, since after 20-30 seconds the door automatically locks on ya.  If you then unlock the door to get out the system disarms.  When you step out & re-lock it, the system does not automatically re-arm itself.  Stupid.  They will try and throw a bunch of key fobs at you to solve this, but a) aren't all of our key rings these days already too bulky, and b) why?!  Why not fix the issue rather than just slap a band-aid on?

There it is.  No facade fixes underlying problems.  Fixing the underlying problems leads to no need of a fancy facade.  Trust is key, especially in the business of security.

(Here's the survey.  It's sorta lengthy, but my responses I feel are pretty direct.  If you're considering Vivint still, reading this survey might just be helpful.)