Vivint will pay $10M to settle charges it misled customers into home alarm contracts
Utah Jan 6 2018 Vivint has been lying to make home-alarm sales, it’s competitor claims.
Last year, ADT sued Vivint in federal court claiming Vivint’s sales agents were gaining access to the homes of ADT’s customers by misleading those customers into believing that Vivint is affiliated with ADT.
The ruse was an effort to dupe ADT customers into signing Vivint contracts and installing Vivint alarm systems, the lawsuit alleges.
The case has now been settled with Vivint agreeing to pay ADT $10 million. The terms of the settlement are not a matter of public record. They were provided by ADT.
This is not the first time that ADT has sued another alarm company for deceptive practices. The $10 million ADT will collect from Vivint, however, is the largest settlement they have ever reached with another home alarm company.
ADT Chief Legal Officer P. Gray Finney says ADT will continue to sue companies that “choose to misrepresent themselves to deceive those customers.”
“We hope these lawsuits and ensuing settlements send a strong and clear message that deceptive sales practices must end,” Finney said. “Not only does it harm our customers, it also harms the value of having a trained security professional in the home, which is how most reputable security companies operate their businesses.”
In the complaint, ADT listed more than 40 examples of ADT customers that were allegedly misled by Vivint salespeople. Those examples are all from the years 2013 and 2014, but Vivint has been accused of deception more recently.
In 2017, Vivint settled with three different states for similar complaints of deceptive sales practices. In Texas, Vivint paid $210,000 but denied any wrongdoing. In Pennsylvania, Vivint agreed to pay restitution to certain customers who complained to the state’s consumer protection bureau. In Wyoming, Vivint agreed to pay $100,000 while, again, denying its sales reps did anything deceptive.
