Vivint Smart Home

I did some research for the wife and compared Vivint to other house systems like SimpliSafe, Ring, Nest, and Comcast. Of course there are much cheaper options, but I’m more of a person for quality. I’d rather spend a little extra to get something higher quality that will last. I was considering Nest as my go to system until the Vivint Rep showed up, and honestly for the equipment build out, the cost would be close in price for a Nest system and either I’d be stuck installing it, or pay a gross amount of money to have a Nest Pro come install it. The Vivint rep hooked me up with no activation fees and no installation fees and they installed everything that day. The only thing I paid for upfront was the first month of monitoring and equipment (read below for how equipment costs work into the monthly bill).

Working in IT, I already know the vulnerabilities of WiFi based alarm systems like SimpliSafe, so I am not comfortable with those. If your ISP has a service interruption, or your modem goes down, or router goes down, or power goes out, or if you don’t have well configured WiFi security that can be hacked; then those WiFi based systems are extremely vulnerable. That means multiple points of failure. Granted those might be rare occurrences, but you only need it to happen once.

I wanted a system with a cellular chip on its own network with a battery backup, and Vivint is exactly that, but it has a second chip for a second service provider as a secondary service connection backup too, plus they run a fully encrypted system to reduce the risk of getting hacked, which I thoroughly like. So if power goes out, my system won’t go down, or if Verizon cellular services go down, then the cellular chip will switch to AT&T service (or whatever cellular networks the chips connect to), that’s extremely comforting that my house will stay protected longer with less room for error. Another big pro for Vivint is, the company is entirely US based, and they don’t sell your information supposedly, so that’s very nice. They monitor everything here, make equipment here, and provide support from here in the US, no outsourced call centers!

When it comes to equipment quality, I’ve had Ring previously and I feel like the picture quality of the doorbell is lacking, where Vivint is a full 4K quality system and much more clear. Other systems like Ring and Nest only have 3 year warranties on their products, Vivint is a lifetime warranty. So all of this encompassing really sold me on the system.

There’s also another big perk for those who can’t afford expensive systems upfront, you don’t have to pay for all of the equipment upfront! You can pay for it in your monthly bill over the course of 5 years. So for those on a budget, it helps spread out that cost. I figured with 0% interest, you really can’t get a better option, so why not go ahead and do that. Once equipment is paid off, it’s yours and still retains that lifetime warranty, and it’s all still functional even if you disconnect service and don’t want your house monitored, so if you’re moving you can take it all with you! They set you up with autopay too starting day one, so you don’t even have to worry about remembering to pay your bill.

Vivint has really stepped up to the plate and has taken out all of the difficulties involved with setting up a security system and converting your home into a smart home. Honestly, they’ve developed one heck of business model that eliminates all the problems and has a well developed, well rounded, completely guaranteed product that I am extremely impressed with.

Worried about difficulty of use? The Vivint system isn’t too complicated to use. No more difficult than your smart phone honestly. So if you can utilize that well, you can manage the Vivint system. Vivint also connects into existing smart devices in your house, connect your lights with Z Wave switches, it connects with Nest thermostats, connects with echo dots or echo shows, connects to your smart phone and is fully controlled by your smart phone as well as whatever other smart devices you connected! Want a smart door lock? Yep, they have that too.

So far I haven’t had any issues with the system, but then again I’m only on day 2. So you and I both might agree this review is premature. If anything goes wrong though, they do have a 30 day cancellation policy, so you can cut all service and have it all removed if you end up disliking the system. But I’m confident in the product so far. I’m happy with the purchase and think it will serve us well for years to come.

Devin showed great patience allowing me to have time to discuss the purchase with my wife, and giving him a return call. Cordial, and prepared to move forward each time. These 2 young men define salesmanship and customer service. Never pushy, inpatient, or bullying, they have what It takes to make Vivint stand out as a premier home security source! The third man, Mr. Steve ** our installer, was not your typical guy. Steve has a great attitude! With so many technicians, you can tell that they work for someone else, lacking in acceptance of personal responsibility and accountability. They seem as though they are waiting for something to come up so that they can drop the ball for someone else to pick up.

Not so with Mr. **! He worked as if he was the owner of Vivint and knew that the impression that he made meant everything. Again, possessing superior product knowledge, Steve was able to further help my family by making sure our system fit our needs and not trying to sell additional items that would simply increase the cost. Steve actually made some adjustments and saved us money with a slightly lower payment than originally quoted. Not grudgingly, but rather genuinely happy to help. His expertise made set up a time saving breeze.

In conclusion, my family thanks Brady, Devin, and Steve for being part of the solution. We'd also like to thank Mr. Todd Pedersen for being a leader that instills quality in his team by setting the example first. What a blessing it is to know even as CEO, Mr Pedersen values customers and team members needs first. Even when presented with the opportunity to sell the company and walk away rich and carefree, he insisted on staying on as CEO to insure Vivint's values weren't diminished. Thank you Eddie, I mean Mr. Pedersen. May God richly bless each of these for their unselfish service to others.

The young fellow from Vivint that came and did the install was great. He was really careful with everything and he was very good at explaining to me what he was doing while he was doing it. Everything in the service has been great. I noticed that a lot of people in my neighborhood have been upgrading to security cameras, but I haven't really felt the need. I like the Vivint doorbell feature and that's been great. All in all, once the system is on, I set it and I can turn it off. I certainly don't think about it anymore.

We get a lot of summer storms in Alberta and we had no power for 30 hours one time. Vivint called me on my cellphone and said, "You know, your battery, you need to plug your system in." I said, "Oh, can't, sorry." And they were like, "Oh, it's been that long?" And I said, "Yeah, there's nothing I can do about it. I've got no alternate power source." So, we got to a point where I had no security anymore simply because of power. I don't know if there's something they should think about. I'm sure there's lots of places that these things happen, where there's extended power outages, so maybe a bigger battery life would be better, just like what everybody wants in their cellphones. Other than that, I have recommended Vivint to people.

I've spoken with credible technicians that are both on the sales side, customer service and the actual installation technician. There was one girl that did the majority of the installation who was far from professional. She drilled holes in the wrong places of my doorframe. She said those were just little holes and that they were not a big deal. But it was my house and that was a big deal. And whenever she ran the wires in the attic to one of my cameras, she didn’t bother to wrap them along with the rafters and formers up there. She just threw the bundle up over like boxes of Christmas ornaments. We didn’t find that out until a few days later when I went up there to get stuff. With the front door, she didn’t chisel everything out properly and we were having problems with it or cracks with the door from her work.

We had a lot of various serious problems. I finally got ahold of the regional manager. I told that this could be fixed today or tomorrow. Their people can come and leave all of their equipment in my house and put it back later. I also told the regional manager about the girl who did the installation and he told me not to worry. It would be taken care of and that he would send out his best technician. The stuff that was messed up was corrected and I appreciated that. The customer service in getting it fixed was immediate.

I also have the garage door monitor which sometimes randomly stops working and that isn't very helpful. But I like being able to look at and check out my house. We live down in Florida so whenever a hurricane comes here and we evacuate, we can check on our house. Overall, we're happy with the system. It's good. They are still some hiccups but I know that it's still a relatively new technology. I have recommended Vivint to friends. I told them that if they are looking at alarms and cameras, they shouldn't push Vivint out. They should at least look and see what they have once. It's a technology that other companies don’t have.

The rep. was not as helpful. When I called to ask about the system and get a quote, I was not told that cameras can not be installed to a detached garage. The rep. even pulled up the satellite view of the layout of my home. The tech informed me if this detail, whiched changed the original order request and the number of cameras that were installed and how they were positioned.

Also, had an issue with the original appointment time. Was sent the confirmation for the wrong appointment time even though the rep. was told that I couldn't be home before a certain time that day. Contacted him to let him know. I was advised that it would be changed, but came to find out that it was not corrected. He just put a note in the system.

The tech that was scheduled that day, texted me letting me know they were on their way. I contacted him and we had to change the appointment to a later date due to the error made by the rep. Another, thing promised that was not fulfilled. Like I said, overall the experience was good. It was very easy to get a quote and customize a package according to my needs. The tech that did the work was very knowledgeable and showed how to use the system and equipment.

My only issue was the rep. I worked with. I feel he was too excited in making the sale, that he didn't advise properly and made promises that the tech was not able to follow through with. It could also be a bit of lack of experience or training. Not really sure which. I think if Hogan had a little more training or a refresher course, it would benefit him and any new customers that call in.