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Vivint Smart Home offers comprehensive home security and home automation solutions for more than one million customers across the United States. Vivint provides wireless home security systems with 24/7 professional monitoring and a lifetime equipment warranty. Its systems are professionally installed and supported by 24/7 customer service teams. In this Vivint home security review, we'll provide an inside look at the company's security systems, such as Vivint security alarms and system monitoring, as well as insight into the customer experience with the company.
The company has been in business for 20 years and has received various industry awards, including the PCMag Editors’ Choice Award, U.S. News & World Report's Best Home Security System of 2019, Business Intelligence Group Excellence in Customer Service Award, and more.
Continue reading for The Good, The Bad, and The Bottom Line about Vivint Smart Home, and check out customer reviews of its home security and home automation.
Vivint offers a comprehensive smart home solution, including a control panel hub, security cameras, home automation devices, a connected car device, and security and safety sensors. Customers can also finance their products to get a complete smart home at the start without paying for everything upfront. Here's a detailed list of Vivint's offered products:
The home security company offers security systems that are professionally installed by a Vivint smart home pro. This means that your sales rep will schedule a smart home pro to come to your home, consult with you on what your home might need, and help you determine where all the products should go. The technician connects your entire system for you and then shows you how to use it before leaving.
Vivint includes 24/7 professional monitoring by security certified agents. If homeowners want peace of mind that their houses will be protected at all times, monitoring is an important part of proper home security.
24/7 monitoring means that your alarm will send a signal to a professional monitoring center when a sensor detects a break-in, smoke, or carbon monoxide. The monitoring center will then contact you through the system's cellular two-way communication to verify whether the alarm is an actual emergency or a false alarm.
All Vivint equipment is under a lifetime warranty, while installation comes with a 120-day warranty. After 120 days, service calls are $49.
A useful offering from Vivint is its compatibility with the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which allows homeowners access to voice-controlled control features. Vivint is also compatible with other popular technology, including the Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E, Philips Hue lightbulbs, and Z-Wave Alliance certified products.
Compatibility with these smart home products is especially helpful for improving energy efficiency in your home.
Customers have the option of a zero-percent interest loan for 42 or 60 months, so they can get a complete Vivint security system without having to pay for everything upfront (as with DIY systems). The accompanying service contract matches the term of the loan so that customers have service while they are paying off the products. Once a customer pays off their equipment loan, they have the ability to go to a month-to-month service subscription.
The Vivint Smart Home app is available in the app stores for both iPhone and Android devices, and you can use it to manage and control your Vivint system from anywhere. Customers can also use the Vivint app to set up rules for certain events to happen automatically when triggered by other products or at specific times during the day. For example, you can have your doors automatically lock every night at 10:00 PM or have your indoor camera record a clip whenever the front door is opened.
Vivint has an outdoor camera called the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. The camera includes two-way talk, hybrid wired Wi-Fi connection, a customizable surveillance zone, a 4K sensor with 1080p quality with HD zoom, a wide-angle lens with a 140-degree view, and night vision. The camera even includes what Vivint calls Smart Sentry™, which is an LED ring light on the camera that lights up and plays an alert sound to let intruders know they've been spotted.
When the camera detects motion and a person is in the camera's view for too long, that's when Smart Sentry™ is triggered. You can customize notifications so that the camera will notify you when any person approaches. If you want notifications to be more specific, you can set the alert to only notify you when someone may be loitering. The camera also automatically records 20-second auto recordings whenever something triggers the camera's motion detectors.
By using the Vivint Smart Home app, you can also access live feed of your camera at any time as well as past footage that is stored in your Vivint Smart Drive. The drive saves continuous footage for up to 30 days.
If you don't want to install the camera(s) yourself, the alarm company offers professional installation and will synch your Wi-Fi, your outdoor camera(s), and your Vivint Smart Home products together, so all of your devices are connected.
Vivint charges customers a $99 move fee if you transfer services to a new residence within the first year of a signed contract. Many home security companies offer moving services completely free of charge.
Vivint requires 42- or 60-month contracts for its security services if you choose to finance your products. Although contracts are common within the home security industry, typically they only last up to 36 months.
The upside to a long contract is Vivint gives you the choice of a zero-percent interest loan for the length of the contract, which may make the long-term contract worth it for some customers.
Customers can get a Vivint alarm system starting at $29.99 per month for monitoring, with no activation fee or equipment fee. This basic monitoring also requires the purchase of a Starter Kit, which includes one touchscreen hub, two door/window sensors, one motion sensor, and $100 in sensors.
Although this is a relatively low monthly monitoring fee, expanding to home automation products and adding cameras will increase this monthly service cost and require you to either pay upfront for or finance the product cost. Like some other security providers, Vivint does not list its specific pricing for its home security system on its website, so you will need to call Vivint's customer service reps to gather all pricing information.
In May 2021, The Department of Justice, in coordination with the Federal Trade Commission, announced a $20 million settlement for Vivint's violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The civil complaint alleges the home security company unlawfully obtained the private credit information of unsuspecting consumers to apply for loans for customers who did not pass a required hard credit check. When Vivint customers defaulted on those loans, the company then sold this false debt to third-party debt collectors, an act that essentially constitutes identity theft.
This breach of consumer trust, though largely enacted by the company's door-to-door sales representatives, was made possible by Vivint's failure to implement an Identity Theft Prevention Program, a measure the company is now required to adopt as part of the settlement.
Vivint home security systems feature a comprehensive selection of home automation smart home products, video surveillance with security cameras, and energy management features with professional installation and 24/7 professional monitoring. The company's most unique offering is its Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, which automatically detects and deters crime.
In addition to Vivint's robust product offerings, the company has its own mobile app that allows customers to manage their home security system and smart home products from anywhere at any time.
Vivint products are ala carte, meaning every system is completely customizable to the homeowner's needs. The home security provider's equipment is also compatible with most smart home devices, including the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Nest Thermostat, and more. You can find the complete list in "The Good" section above.
A downside to Vivint is the company has a long-term contract that lasts 42 or 60 months if you choose to finance your products rather than pay for them upfront. This is longer than most home security companies out there. However, the fact that Vivint offers product financing for the length of the contract may be a benefit.
You can find Vivint reviews located below if you want to learn more about the customer experience.
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