EVERYTHING you need to know about Vivint from a long-time employee. - Field Service Professional Vivint Employee Review

This is a real review of the real issues within Vivint. If you really want to know about this company I've taken a lot of personal time to go into great detail for you. I hope this review can help people make a good choice in whether or not they seek employment with Vivint. Inefficiency says it all! A company who cares about their customers and employees gives the employees the tools necessary to take care of the customers. Vivint makes it so difficult to get things done for the customers. Most issues have to get escalated to a superior who is far too busy to be bothered with such issues. I remember a story of a fellow technician being pushed to install cloud storage services for a 97 year old lady who had no idea what it was or how to use the internet to such a degree. The sales rep offered one package option to the customer which included every service available. They didn't discuss other options or even make the customer aware of the other options available to better suit her needs. All she wanted was a basic security package (nearly $20 less each month). Upon arrival to the install the technician went over the options with the customer. She claimed she only needed a security system with a panic pendent for emergencies. The technician called a manager to get approval to downgrade the package she was sold. The manager told the technician to install what the sales rep had put on the ticket even though the customer didn't want it or have a use for it! The customer wasn't yet committed to the service the sales rep sold. The technician had the ability to change this as the technicians are the ones who fill out the contracts with the customers. In the words of the manager, "the customer cannot learn about the benefits of the services Vivint offers unless she has them." What?!?! So according to management it's okay to deny a customer the option to choose what they want to buy by withholding information? Especially if they're elderly. What happened to taking care of the customers and meeting their needs? Sounds like profit is the primary concern here, not taking care of the customer. Worst of all, she had to sign a 5 year contract for an additional $20/month for services she didn't want in order to get the one service she needed; all thanks to the greedy sales rep. Vivint's sales reps are way overpaid for a sale. This just encourages liars, greed, and pushy sales tactics. This is one of the most frustrating things we have to deal with as technicians. The sales reps know very minimal about the products and are very misleading. Nor do they care since there's absolutely no accountability. Too many times have I spoken with customers who were blatantly deceived in order to close a sale. The customer always comes first. Without customers there is no Vivint! There's absolutely no reason the technicians shouldn't have the tools necessary to make these changes themselves without approval. We're in the customers' home, face to face. We can better understand what the customers want and what the customers need. We express these things to management who listen with deaf ears. The changes constantly implemented by Vivint management are done by people who sit behind a desk all day and never at the advice of those in the field with the customers. So often are these changes laughable in frustration. It makes you wonder if they've ever actually been in the field with the customers. They have no hands-on experience or are so far disconnected that they're clueless!! Their focus is always on the wrong issues. If it creates more profit for the company it becomes the main priority. You can thank the investment firm Blackstone for this. But when it comes to benefiting customers it's always put on the back burner (unless it brings additional profit). The health insurance they offer is ridiculously expensive. Far too high for the low wages they offer hourly employees. According to their employee handbook they supposedly offer a matched 401k after 2-3 years of employment but I never saw Vivint contribute a dime to my 401k after 6 years of loyalty and exhausting hard work. Promotions are given to the best butt-kissers. Too many times did I see the most experienced people lose out to the favorites. Promotions are given to inexperienced people who've worked there less than a year while denied to others with years of real experience and genuine sincerity. Workloads are regularly increased with no additional time to compensate (i.e. administrative tasks, weekly inventory counts and audits {a manager regularly comes into your home to audit your inventory; very intrusive!}, taking several pictures of your on-site work at every install and emailing compliance, the babysitter of the company, no matter your work quality, skill level or electrical certifications. Etc., etc.) (There is no trust in the employees whatsoever.) Constant shortages of equipment resulting in unprepared technicians and irate customers (this has become a daily problem). Very little follow-through with the duties of other departments which ultimately gets pushed onto the technicians. (We can't do 5 people's jobs. Ours is difficult enough.) Working in areas requiring permits without having one causing technicians to get fined by state inspectors. The major problems with this company (deceptive and greedy sales, no accountability!!, billing overcharges, inefficiency, department to department communication, repair times and timely assistance (for both customers and technicians), product knowledge and training, etc. etc.), which are far too many to list, are still problems after 6 years of employment here. Just Google the complaints. Most involve something I've mentioned. There has been no initiative to fix these issues in over 6 years and actions speak louder than words, Mr. Manager. The amount of lawsuits against Vivint is unacceptable and embarrassing. It got so bad they "rebranded" from APX Alarm to Vivint in 2011; an attempt to shed their horrible reputation. You know it's bad when Attorney Generals from various states file charges against the company. Some states have even banned Vivint from doing business in their state. You can find this information on the BBB website which at one point ranked Vivint a F-. Their rating has since gone up and I'm at a loss of words as to how... Bribery? If a couple bad employees abuse company policy and/or trust, Vivint is great at making widespread changes that restrict and/or punish everyone in the company, resulting in an ever increasing hindrance to those who actually care about the customer; the people they're helping. Yes, there are good employees at Vivint. Vivint just doesn't listen to them. And speaking of change; don't get too used to anything here because it will likely change within a year's time. Rate plans have changed four times in four years. Regional zones are "redistricted" on a regular basis, I gave up keeping track of what's what. Turnover is so high that even the supervisors are newbies. The commission structure has changed various times. The company vehicle policy has changed various times (be careful of personal use - just 100 miles will cost you $40.) Department names, extensions, and roles have changed too many times to count. And so on and so on. I could list so many more things but this review is already quite long. I understand that change happens but Vivint is so saturated with constant change that it’s become overwhelming. I'm a strong believer that happy employees result in happy customers. Vivint seems to be oblivious to this. In over 6 years I've seen multiple road blocks placed before us making servicing and meeting the needs of customers more and more difficult. Yet, in that time I've seen literally one tool implemented in which actually helped us; which has since been taken away back in 2014. So many promises and so little follow through. I say, as a recent employee of Vivint who left stressed and frustrated; if they treat their own employees like this, they'll treat you and the customer just as bad. Don't work here if you value your integrity.