Tully Omw
map-marker Sarasota, Florida

Vivint - Mrs. Jean Onasch

Updated by user Jul 09, 2013

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a refund of $53.49 from Vivint around 7/5/13, as I had rather assumed this "processing a refund" was another of their runarounds. I would like to believe that the reimbursement means they have turned over a new leaf, but I still could not in good conscience encourage anyone to use their services.

Original review Jun 08, 2013

In June 2008, I was a fool and got hoodwinked into a five-year contract with APX Alarm, now Vivint , and have been paying for my mistake montly ever since. As I had signed this five-year contract, I did the honorable thing and held up my end of the contract despite being lied to before I signed it. More fool me…

In order to cancel the contract correctly at the end of its term, I e-mailed Vivint in January 2013 to find out the cancellation procedure, as I have read that Vivint is very crafty about avoiding cancellations. A young man named Chad responded that I was to send Vivint a cancellation letter, which I did in January 2013 (enclosed) and call thirty (30) days before June 13, 2013, the date of expiration of my contract, to finalize cancellation. I had him pinpoint the date I should call, May 15, to insure that we agreed on what date was thirty days before the end of my contract (copy of emails enclosed).

Just to make sure that I had my bases covered, I called on May 14 and got a young lady named Tracy who said I would get my last bill in June. I explained that I have been paying for upcoming service and had already paid for the last month and therefore through the end of the contract. She “checked” and agreed with me and entered the information confirming the cancellation on June 13.

Still covering my bases, I called again on May 15 and talked to Josiah, who said yes, he would put in my verification for the cancellation of my contract. I thought I had dotted my i’s and crossed my t’s so that I could relax.

At about 9:40 p.m. on that very day, May 15, however, my security alarm starting beeping in a strange fashion. When I turned it off, I saw a “103” code on it which I could not find it in my manual. I called Vivint and got a technician named Schuyler. He informed me that he could not help me, as I no longer had service with them. THEY HAD SHUT OFF MY PAID-FOR SERVICE A MONTH EARLY.

Then he told me he COULD help me “re-set” my system anyway. So he had me unplug a couple of things and plug them back in. Five minutes after we hung up, the system went down completely—it HAD been usable until Schuyler had me “re-set” it. (And I had been told by one of the people I cancelled with—Josiah, I think-- that it would still go off after my contract expired; they just wouldn’t call me to check in and report it to the police. I was delighted—a great big noise would be wonderful for scaring off would-be intruders!)

I called Vivint to get my last month re-instated on May 16, and a young lady named Hannah told me that of course it was cancelled, as I had called and cancelled it. I explained to her that my contract AND their representative in January made it clear that I was to call thirty days before the end of my contract to verify cancellation in thirty days. After we went around in circles for several minutes, she went to talk to a supervisor.

She returned to inform me that their policy had changed in March, that the moment I call to be cancelled, I’m cancelled. (Odd, isn’t it, that neither Tracy on Tuesday nor Josiah on Wednesday mentioned this change in policy to me?) I explained that I HAD paid for service through June 13th, and asked that she re-instate me until then. She said she would and was sending an email immediately to the gentlemen who would do it. This was at about 11:30 a.m.

[Thinking back, it is perfectly obvious that she never re-installed me at all because had I BEEN re-installed, the moment they went back to monitoring, someone would have called me about my non-operative system. I had a low battery warning two or three times during the five years of my contract, and they ALWAYS called to discuss it to me. ]

By 2:00 p.m., it had occurred to me that I’d been lied to so many times by this company that I could not rely on their actually honoring my cancellation on June 13th, so I called Vivint back. I asked a young man named Josh if I had been re-instated as a customer, and he checked the file. I had not, so I told him NOT to bother re-instating me, that I absolutely wanted to be canceled and done with Vivint, that they could keep my month’s payment if they would just get out of my life. I asked him to send me an email confirming my cancellation, and he did. (enclosed)

It then occurred to me that since Vivint was agreeable to cancellation before the end of my contract, thanks to their supposed change in policy in March, they should be agreeable to returning my final month’s fee of $53.49, as they had cancelled the service exactly 30 days before the end of the contract and thus abrogated the contract themselves. Therefore, if they were released from the contract stipulations, so was I; ergo, no payment required. Accordingly, on May 16, I replied to Josh’s email, requesting that he look into a return of the last month’s fee. (enclosed)

I did not hear from him, so a week later, on May 23, I emailed him again, suggesting that he pass my request on to a supervisor who actually was in a high enough position to make decisions like this. (enclosed)

Not surprisingly, I have not heard a word from Vivint one way or the other. I would appreciate your compelling Vivint to return my $53.49. It’s little enough to ask after they sucked five years’ worth of payments that I couldn’t afford out of my fixed income.

Vivint Reply:
We appreciate this customer's feedback and were honored to protect their home and family from 2008 to 2013. Vivint has had the opportunity to review this situation to better understand the steps taken during the cancellation of their account.

Jean's Notice of Cancellation was received on the 16th of January, Vivint requires the Notice of Cancellation remain on file for 30-days prior to the agreement's end date but only requests a call to complete the disconnection of monitoring service. After reviewing the account, the agent Jean spoke with on May 15th informed her that the service would be cancelled, effective that day by stating that he was "finalizing the account today." With no objection from the customer the cancellation was processed. At this time, it appeared that both parties were under the impression this was the appropriate course of action.

We apologize about the issues this customer experienced with the disconnection and reconnection of their monitoring service, and as such are processing a refund in the amount of $53.49, for the customer's final month of service.
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Loss:
$53