DO NOT do business with Vivint. I possess an audio recording—captured by Vivint themselves, as they record all customer calls—in which a staff member explicitly acknowledges that the salesperson informed me I could cancel service at any time after paying off the equipment. When I later attempted to cancel—because I only wanted to retain the equipment and never intended to continue the service—I was informed that I had been placed into a five-year contract. This was never disclosed to me and is something I would never have agreed to, particularly given that ongoing service was not my objective. A customer relations representative, Neil, initially attempted to resolve the issue but stated that his manager refused, insisting the company "follow the contract," despite the fact that the contract was obtained through clear misrepresentation. This experience reflects deceptive sales practices and a troubling disregard for informed consent. I strongly caution others to stay away from this company.
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Vivint Reviews Summary
Positive Highlights
- No positive aspects were mentioned in the supplied reviews.
Negative Highlights
- Sales representatives may mislead customers about contract terms and cancellation policies.
- Billing disputes and unauthorized charges are reported by multiple customers.
- Customer service is often unresponsive and difficult to reach, with long wait times.
Most commonly discussed topics
The most helpful reviews behind these summaries
On August 21,2025, Vivint's Loyalty Department (Ref CA-*******, Service S-*******) emailed me confirming six (6) months of complimentary service and stating that my past-due balance of $114.73 would be fully covered—"no payment is required for this balance." Despite this written agreement, Vivint repeatedly called and harassed me for payment and on September 26,2025 withdrew $112.69 from my account without authorization. These calls continued even after I shared the confirmation email, causing significant stress and inconvenience to my family. I have clear documentation of the promise of free service and the unauthorized charge, yet Vivint has not provided a satisfactory explanation or immediate correction. Consumers deserve better. My experience shows a company willing to ignore its own written commitments and engage in aggressive billing tactics. I strongly advise anyone considering Vivint to proceed with extreme caution.
I was with vivint since 2020. They caught me outside my home on their door to door sales calls, but I was in the market for a system and heard them out ended up purchasing and things were fine for awhile. Eventually the cameras started glitching or losing connectivity constantly, then the DVR completely failed, and after I had paid off the equipment and the monthly monitoring services I still paid 60 dollars a month for also completely stopped working. So I called to cancel because I was paying for a non-working service and I was charged an additional two months. I call them again and say hey this was canceled they informed me that I couldn't cancel without paying 123 dollars for the monitoring services they acknowledge they were not providing. That phone call took just over 45 minutes to get to that point where they would even stop trying to sell me on it even after I told them multiple times I had already purchased an entirely different system already.
If I could give zero stars, I would. The customer service is the WORST. I was a longtime customer (10+ years) and hadn't needed any repairs in several years. But over time some of the sensors failed and when I called to trouble shoot and/or get new ones, the nightmare began. Charges for everything so for four failed sensors, it was going to cost a few hundred to replace. Never mind that I had been overpaying for an outdated system for years (not my biggest knock against them since Vivint certainly isn't alone in leaving existing customers paying more while they give tons of deals to attract new customers). Calls would take so long that I'd have to get off (most of us don't have two free hours to trouble shoot) and then when I would call back, I'd have to start all over again. Why bother to enter call notes if they don't get used. Most of the customer service reps were difficult to understand, lots of attempts to upsell me rather than just addressing my issues, and with no authority to make decisions -- the number of times I was put on long holds while they tried to get approval from higher ups was mind boggling. Seven hours between calls and chats over the span of three days. One person was supposed to call me back at an agreed upon time because after nearly two hours, she still hadn't gotten permission to waive fees and equipment costs and then called me several hours after the set time when I wasn't free to pick up the call. Gave them multiple opportunities to try to make things right before finally deciding I was so DONE, and then it took an hour on the phone to cancel. Never again!
I have been a loyal customer of Vivint for over 4 years regularly making my $150 per month payment. Eventually some of my security cameras started to stop working so I tried to schedule a tech to come out and service them. The person on the phone would not schedule a tech until I crawled up in my attic to try and trouble shoot the cameras myself. This aggravated me but still not what my complaint is. They did schedule a tech to come out as it was not anything I could fix, parts needed to be replaced. The tech showed up a couple of weeks later very professional and nice. He had the parts to fix my equipment and get it back up and running. While he was here he sold me on the idea of upgrading my old cameras to the new style that has a better and wider image for $2440. He didn't have the equipment with him but required me to pay for the equipment to have it ordered and we scheduled a date about a month out to have the equipment installed. Long story short the install kept getting rescheduled for reasons that had nothing to do with me to include one time the tech just never showed up. Eventually I was so frustrated I just called back and said I would just keep the cameras I have and cancel the order but I wanted my $2440 refunded. They said no problem give us a couple of weeks and you will have your refund. Now here it is several months later of trying to get my money back and every time I call, they keep saying it's in review and no one on the phone has the ability to say for sure when or if I will ever get my money back. This is the most inappropriate way to run a business and even when threatened with a bad google review, they still have the same response. They obviously don't care about their image or keeping their customers happy. I will never deal with them again and as soon as my original equipment is paid off I will be canceling any services I have with them. Do not use them if you are considering it.
I pay half with my 1st check of month,and the rest from my 2nd check,and what is fortiva retail credit?As far as cameras,installation, go pretty good so far
BUYER BEWARE! NO PROTECTION HERE.
Firstly, it took the tech arrived the last 15 minutes of the 4-hour window we had waited in an empty home. Then it took another 4 hours to complete the installation as he kept attempting to upsell and chat about nonsense. Holes were drilled all over the place and monitors were placed haphazardly.
When the tech created our account, he spelled my name incorrectly. I've yet to be able to get anyone in the organization to update it, despite best efforts.
Next, the equipment routinely failed by sending false alarms. Eventually, we just stopped turning it on.
The website is useless. It asks for a password reset every time you log in creating nothing but more confusion and headache.
When it was time for us to move, we were charged $150 for a tech to come back to remove the equipment and ANOTHER $150 to have it reinstalled in the new place.
Finally, the contact is bogus! Outside of the one quote that was offered, charges just kept getting tacked on and automatically deducted each month. Now, we're stuck in a contract with a terrible company that provides terrible service.
Save yourself the trouble and find a better company; one that may actually care about your safety.
I would not believe anything this company says. Caleb Phillips promised the earth in order to get my business. He is pushy and deceitful. I recently put an Vivint alarm system in my business premises, It was memorial day weekend and Caleb made it quite clear he would get a bonus commission for installations done that weekend. I was told that Vivint would buy my business contract out with ADT by giving me a gift card for $1000. He then said that if I was to install solar panels at my home address he would give me another $1000 towards my ADT business buy out. Caleb then said that my account at my home address would also receive $1000 buy out gift card and he would give me yet another $1000 out of his "money"
I didn't want to sign anything regarding the Solar at that time, Caleb assured me that my credit would not be affected by this contract.
The technician attended at my business and a second system had to be installed, ok I understood this, but I paid for the equipment up front (not leased) which meant I had to purchase the second system then and there too. Caleb told me that I would receive a $470 refund for the difference. (I didn't). The time came to sign for the solar which he promised would not show on my credit only to find that by signing it put a lien on my house!
Caleb had already bamboozled my young daughter and her boyfriend who had just purchased their very first house into signing for this. Being naive the had no idea, for gods sake she is only 18 yrs old with a 6 month old baby.
Caleb as soon as he came to my house stated that because I had put two systems in my business i would now get a $750 gift card for each account and he would put in another $1000, making it $2500 towards my ADT buy out for my business alone, he then went on to confirm that I would receive $1000 gift card for my home address and another $1000 once the solar was installed.
I was not going to allow a lien on my house, so I cancelled the Solar. Once I did this suddenly I was only entitled to one buy out for my two systems at my business, they even tried to give me my refund saying that was the buyout money, this was my own money!
I fully understand that I am no longer entitled to the $1000 per location from the solar, but this company should stand behind the offer made of $1500 for my business and $1000 for my home address. I now have an invoice from ADT of over $5000 to pay if I stay with Vivint (which I is very unlikely).
So long story short do not believe anything the sales reps working for Vivint tell you, apparently I am now a liar who misunderstood what I was being told, yes I'm blonde but I am definitely not stupid!
I have been offered a $500 credit on both business accounts and nothing at my home address.
I strongly advise look elsewhere for your security system
Poor customer service - always reading from a script and NO follow through! Have constant problems with the panel and all the help you receive is from a script. They verify your phone number in case you're disconnected but never call back and good luck trying to ask for the same person you were speaking with for the last hour.
Terrible customer service. They make it extremely difficult to end services and they use unethical practices that borders criminality to extract more funds.
TLDR: their technicians can see your alarm codes when they access your main panel in your home. Customer service sucks. Equipment fails consistently. They always expect you to DIY the new equipment installation which always requires a follow up call for troubleshooting and they finally send a technician to install. Lots of wasted of time with their support.
I had Vivint installed in my new home in November 2021. It is July 2023. I went with Vivint after looking at my options in Houston TX. ADT was a big contender but they had horrible reviews for their customer service. At the time Vivint had good reviews based on what I found. I was mistaken.
I have outdoor cameras installed at the front and back of my home, a doorbell camera, keypad lock, and DVR (added in 2022).
Countless times I've had to call in for Support because something inevitably goes off-line. Their motto is to ship a new one and DIY install. Each time I do the DIY install I have to call Support because the equipment Hass to be professionally connected. So then I have to go through the next round of phone calls to schedule a technician to come and install the equipment.
When the technician comes to your home, they access your main panel with their generic pin code. When they access your panel THEY CAN SEE ALL OF YOUR ALARM CODES. I've had technicians in my home that have asked some "interesting" questions where I was concerned about my own safety. That is when I realize they could see all of my codes and I had to change them all. Now I plan for it and update all of the codes before technicians arrive and then go back and change them.
When the technician initially installed my DVR, they had difficulties with the equipment and I thought they replaced it at installation but maybe not. A few weeks ago I noticed my playback was off-line. I did the troubleshooting. I called into support to Troubleshooting. They said that they would send an email escalate it and get back to me within 5 to 10 days. I had to call back and ask them for the status. Supposedly they sent it to their escalations team to see if there was a soft wear issue which they came back and said there wasn't. So in order for me to go to the next step, I had to provide them to serial number, which of course I wasn't home when I was doing a follow up on an existing ticket because I went through all the troubleshooting steps already I didn't anticipate having to do it again. So I called back again today and spent 40 minutes on the phone with them going through the troubleshooting steps yet again and they finally said the equipment is defective and they would send me a new one, but I had to pay for shipping costs. Granted the amount wasn't a lot but that's not the point. I said I wasn't paying for the shipping cost to escalate this. They need a technician to install it because the DIY never works. I asked him to tell me when Device went off-line on 5/31. I called in on 6/24 when I first noticed it was off-line. Yeah, you don't get an alert when it goes off-line. It is 7/8.
They run your credit and only use the Equifax score and it has to be over 600. They kept running a "soft pull" but one should not have to purchase their equipment, it should be a rental. They charged me $4,000.00 to be financed over 10 years!
They do respond to BBB but it's their "legal department" and who can hire an attorney sue them? The sales rep speak as if they are used car salesmen with NO PROFESSIONALISM.
They should be shut down for abusing customers.
RUN, Run...
Thanks for the reviews. I was suspicious when he gave me a quote then started adding discounts. This is 149.00 my boss will get mad if I give the prices in red then said I'm a dare devil I'll do the 99.99 then boss called his phone acting like he called for a ride. And said offer this other discount. I said to myself this is some bull crap. Then asked if I heard of Snoop Dog then showed me a video with him endorsing the company. I honestly wasn't impressed. They paid him. He said a month to month contract. After reading the reviews that was clearly a BIG FAT LIE. Now this is where I went hmmm my contract with ADT ends Nov 30. Oh we will buy you out. Me how his boss said we will send you a gift card.now yeah right he started showing me great reviews
I googled it myself oh my God horrible reviews Iam so glad I did it oin front of him. He said every company get bad reviews but 249 1 star, 2 stars about 3,5 stars I think about 4. He said 145.00 3 cameras, 2 windows, he was shocked I didn't want the spot light, temperature control, and keyless entry, you don't want the spot light a lot of customers get those. Me nope at this point I was done he kept trying to lower the price I see why he was trying to get me in that bull crap contract that wasn't month to month. With only 75.00 dollars I had to pay today. Lol I had to finally tell him let me tell you like I tell my kids IT'S A HARD NO. He left and didn't, close my door rode off on his scooter.
Thanks for the reviews they really help consumers. Rule of thumb if they start going down on the prices (well he said because I like you) yeah like me sooo much you're about to put me through hell take my money, put me in a contract I can't cancel l, hang up after waiting to speak to someone, not showings up for appointments, equipment not working, charging excessive fees, duplicate payments, not able to reach someone to get your money, not getting someone knowable on the phone, spending countless hours trying to get help. YOU REALLY LIKED ME HUH. LOL
THANKS FOR REVIEWS. THIS WILL HELP SOMEONE WHO'S REALLY JUST LOOKING TO KEEP THEIR FAMILIES SAFE. THIS AINT IT. BE BLESSED
Their equipment works fine I guess but god forbid you want to cancel your monitoring service. They will make it as painful as possible. I've spoken to five different departments in three different countries and am still on hold after paying the equipment buyout and the contract buyout. It should be illegal.
I asked for some pricing information. When they said I would need to give them my social security number before any info was given to me I refused to provide the info. Then asked to be taken off of the contact list. I have received many calls and forms of contact since from Robert, Nate, Mike, and Monica. It total I have been asked to be taken off of their list 6 times and I'm still being contacted.
If there is a problem with your cameras and system they will charge you a fee each time a technician is sent to your house of $99.99. But don't worry, for a low price of $9.99 a month you can get a protection plan and they come out to fix any issues without a fee.*eyeroll* (that is the fee, and I'll be paying more in a long run) they should've said that in the beginning. I would not have bought this security system.
Trash
Trash
Trash
They are the worst better get a self install alarm system than using these people.
Sales man never told me that you are basically getting a line of credit from citizens bank for your equipment and paying Vivint to monitor. I still haven't received any notification of my contract and online surely doesn't help. I'm upset because that was not explained in dept. i basically added two bills in place of one when I was already with another security company. It sucks. I will continue to pay citizens but I will have my old security company monitor my property. #Cant trust them
Well I guess I should have looked here before giving these con-artists my business! Well I'll add some color to these lames...
1. This company is deceitful. They totally got me in communicating the contract terms. They told me that I could finance the equipment for 60 months, but only have a 36 service contract, with the understanding that if/when I stopped service I would need to pay off the equipment. I agreed to that, but they snuck in that 60 month term and I didn't catch it. Now of course they wont honor it.
2. Their equipment is HORRIBLE! I had to replace my thermostats, yes both, after they died. Of course just after my year warranty expired! Their cameras (yes it is their best) don't work. I can walk to my car, get in and drive away for hours, come back and the camera will show that I never left (yes the settings are right on the cameras). Of course, its going to cost me money for them to come out and fix it.
3. They are dangerous, creating a false sense of security for my family. It's better to have no security at all!
Oh when I call, that's when they stand behind their contract...maybe if they tried standing behind your products and service they would earn a higher rating than 1.06 stars.
Nothing but problems, first they promised cameras and did not deliver, than the sales guy bought them for us and they still trying to charge us for it. They messed up our ac and some other electrical outlets and it took them over 6 months to fix and even longer to reimburse us for all the damages, we can never get back the months spent in the heat without ac and the headache fighting with them for over 1 year now.
Absolutely no customer service. When my system wouldn't work, and I called, I always got folks in the Philippines--nice but not able to help. They WILL NOT send a technician. They visited and asked if I would upgrade to the doorbell, for only a few more dollars a month. I did this. Have moved and trying to cancel for MONTHS! They tell me I took out a loan for the new equipment, and they won't stop charging me until I pay it off--but they will not send me any info on the company I "got a loan from". Crooks and thieves!
They are so pushy and don't take "no" for an answer. I had to get rude with their rep on the phone when I was trying to cancel my service because he just would not stop trying to get me to continue my service. So then I got tons of emails, then texts, then they sent a guy to my door to give me special offers to upgrade a system I just told them I didn't want to pay for anymore. I have/had Vivint installed in 2017. I received along with the home alarm package a "free" doorbell camera and indoor camera that I could access from my phone. I had a 2 year contract that fulfilled the agreement for the "free" camera's. I recently cancelled my alarm system because I felt like I was paying for nothing. They harassed me to pay an additional fees (which they say they so kindly reduced) that I did not feel I owed but wanted them off my back. They are constantly pushing for referrals, even when I was calling to fix an issue. I don't want to be pushed into referrals when my system has an issue that needs to be addressed and fixed-not the time! So after all the harassment that I didn't cave to, they shut off my access to my doorbell and indoor camera's which I understood were a separate issue from the home alarm system that they wanted me to subscribe to. I feel like it was a way to punish me for not continuing to pay the monthly fee or upgrade my alarm system. Now I need to find my original contract to see if indeed I should still have access to those. I feel bullied and harassed. I will never use them again nor will I recommend or refer them. BTW my solar system that was originally Solar City was sold to Vivint so I also have them for that. They have plenty of my money!
Starting from the pushy sales guy at my door they spent a couple hours at my home going over the equipment they are Crooks!
You purchased the equipment for a couple thousand dollars after it's paid off and you want to switch providers to a cheaper monthly security watch payment their equipment does not work if you switch. So they robbed me of a couple thousand dollars. Their cameras only work with their company. Brinks does not operate that way and I will go back to them!
I have had this system for a short time, within that time frame, I have had to contact customer service several times. This system is always going offline. Then I have to go through rebooting the system, rebooting my Wi-Fi and chatting with a rep for what seems like forever. I was told this was a "known" issue. The rep even blamed ATT. He said ATT had blocked their equipment. I have had ATT for quite some time and have never had any issues. Not to mention all other devices in my home were connected to ATT Wi-Fi and working properly. Why aren't these "known" issues explained to consumers before signing a lengthy contract? I was also informed that I couldn't cancel my subscription until my contract was up in 2028. Basically I'm paying full price for a service that only works part time. I don't know of anyone that can work part time and get paid for full time work. Someone really needs to look in to the practice of Vivint! I sincerely believe they trick customers into buying mediocre services. This should not be allowed. Did I mention I was told I would have to pay for a representative to come out? This equipment is not paid for, meaning it's still the property of Vivint, they should be responsible for maintaining their own equipment. Please be informed and know what u are getting yourself in to before making this decision. I wish I had read some of the reviews before making this terrible decision.
