Vivint SmartHome promo, legit?
 

Had a guy from Vivint stop by my house today saying they're doing some sort of promo in new areas where they supply the hardware to a few houses for free as a sort of word of mouth advertising thing, and then you just pay the regular monthly service fee for the monitoring. The hardware sounds pretty cool, a full security system with cameras, a smart lock for your door that's interfaced with a programmable thermostat that will change the temp when you come and go, lighting controls, etc all tied into something you can control remotely from your phone. Looking at their site the monthly cost is $42 but it looks like there might be a $200 activation fee.

Has anyone heard of offers like this? Being able to control stuff like my locks over the net sketches me out a bit, but since I was looking at installing an alarm and cameras anyways this might be a good way to go. One thing that worries me is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivint#Legal_issues

Never heard but no way I'd pay $42 a month for some unknown shit like that, especially when it comes to smart home stuff.

Vivint used to be APX.. same company that was in the news several years ago getting caught scamming people up in the interior posing as Honeywell. Couple quick google searches will uncover a lot of negativity surrounding both entities.

Proceed with caution.

i dont buy anything from door to door salesmen.

first thing i tell them is im going to go google them, and half the time they get super pushy to make the deal before i close the door.








... especially those little sloots selling cookies

It was installed at a house I rented

pretty cool. Motion sensitive cameras send clips straight to your smart phone, remote lock/unlock, everything is integrated into little 4 inch screens placed around the house. Worth it for $40/month with free hardware IMO -- if you were to go out and buy all that and try to set it up it'd probably cost a lot more than $40x36months (min contract). Plus, they're forced to ensure everythings always working since you're paying a monthly fee for it

Make sure if the company goes belly up you can still use the system.

Did they own it or lease it for that amount? My guess would be the latter..

Cost isn't something that concerns me much, but I don't like paying for things I don't need to be paying for. I can get my own wifi thermostat and security cameras for less than what I'd be paying these guys for a year.

That's what I told this guy, and he seemed to have no problem with me doing that and him coming back tomorrow (now today) so we'll see what happens. The last person I told to come back later never came back again :lol

They've been around since 1999, but the one thing that crossed my mind is the possibility of someone not actually affiliated with them buying their equipment and then reselling it.

Looks like I'm 2 for 2 on door to door people never coming back when I tell them to come back after I've done some research :lol

I pay $30 a month for my alarm system so for an extra $10 no question I would take that deal

Check out the Costco packages. This one includes interactive services.
http://m.costco.ca/The-Go!Control™-K...ct.287166.html