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Vivint, Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustrySecurity Systems, Fire detection, Home Automation, Photovoltaics
Founded1997
FounderTodd Pedersen, Keith Nelleson
HeadquartersProvo, Utah
Key people
Todd Pedersen, CEO, Alex Dunn, president, David Bywater, COO
Number of employees
7000
Websitewww.vivint.com

Vivint, Inc. (formerly known as APX Alarm Security Solutions Inc.) is a private home security, home automation and energy management services provider in the United States, Canada and New Zealand.[1][2][3] Keith Nelleson and Todd Pedersen co-founded the company in 1999.[4][5] Pedersen is Vivint's CEO.[4][6]

In 2012, The Blackstone Group acquired Vivint.[6][7] As of June 2014, Vivint had approximately 7,000 employees serving 800,000 customers.[8]

Prosecutors in multiple states have sanctioned Vivint for deceptive sales practices. The Better Business Bureau has given Vivint a grade of "F" and issued a special warning about the firm.

History

In 1999, Keith Nelleson and Todd Pedersen co-founded APX Alarm Security Solutions in Provo, Utah.[5][9][10] At the time, the company sold and installed security systems.[9] Vivint began retaining customers in 2006 after it became a home monitoring provider.[9] The company expanded its service to Canada that year after signing a $75 million credit facility agreement with Goldman Sachs.[11] It received the J.D. Power and Associates "Outstanding Customer Service Experience" certification 2008 and 2009. Goldman Sachs and APX Alarm completed another credit facility agreement worth $440 million in 2009.[11] That November, the company acquired a central alarm monitoring station from Criticom Monitoring Services, a subsidiary of Protection One, in St. Paul, Minnesota.[11] APX Alarm opened a new corporate headquarters in Provo, Utah a month later.[12]

APX Alarm Security Solutions rebranded the company to Vivint in February 2011.[9][13] The company completed a $565 million senior debt financing led by Goldman Sachs that month.[14] Vivint also received funding from Peterson Partners and Jupiter Partners.[14] The company launched Vivint Solar, a solar energy company, in 2011.[15] The company partnered with Alarm.com early that year to deploy severe weather alerts to their customer base.[16] Vivint was acquired by The Blackstone Group in September 2012.[17][18][19][20] In December, PC World ranked Vivint 53rd in the "100 Best Products of 2012" list.[21] It ranked first among the home products on the list.[21] That year, the company received a Silver Stevie Award for "Customer Service Department of the Year" in the other industries category.[21]

The Central Station Alarm Association awarded Vivint "Central Station of the Year" that year.[22] In 2013, Forbes ranked the company 46th in its annual ranking of "America's Most Promising Companies."[23] Vivint acquired Smartrove, a wireless mesh networking technology provider, and began wireless broadband that August.[24] In October, Inc. named the company the second most job creating private company in the United States.[25] In 2013, the company created the Vivint Fellows Program, a summer internship program at the Vivint Innovation Center.[26][27][28][29]

Vivint launched Vivint Sky, a cloud-based smart home solution, in June 2014.[30] The system provides a centralized control, remote smartphone applications and learns algorithms that automatically pick up on a user's patterns.[31] In 2014, the Vivint SkyControl panel received a CE Pro BEST Award for "new custom electronic products introduced in 2014."[32] Vivint acquired the cloud storage startup Space Monkey, a company founded by Clint Gordon-Carroll and Alen Peacock that year.[33]

Vivint Solar

In 2011, Vivint Inc. launched a standalone company, Vivint Solar,[6] as a solar electricity provider that designs, installs, and maintains residential photovoltaic systems. Vivint Solar in 2013 is operating in 6 states: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Hawaii, and California.[15][34] The company offers solar panels via a power purchase agreement (PPA).[35] Vivint Solar owns, installs, and maintains solar panels on customers’ homes in exchange for customers agreeing to purchase the solar energy their panels produce. Customers do not pay for installation, but pay for energy that the panel's produce, for the life of the contracts.[36] Vivint Solar is similar to other alternative solar companies like SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity. Its innovation in the field is the use of microinverters for each separate solar panel, allowing maximum production when some of the panels are in the shade.[37][38]

Its President and CEO is Greg Butterfield and its chief technology officer is Dan Rapp. In October 2014, Vivint Solar made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol VSLR.[39]

Vivint Innovation Center

Vivint announced a new innovation center February 2013.[40][41] The Vivint Innovation Center is the research and development arm of Vivint, Inc. It is located in Lehi, Utah in the business park adjacent to Thanksgiving Point and officially launched in October 2014.[42][43] It is staffed by approximately 320 hardware, software and radio engineers, industrial designers and user experience professionals. The Center is led by Matt Eyring, chief strategy and innovation officer; Jeremy Warren, chief technology officer; J.T. Hwang, chief information officer, and Jim Nye, vice president of product development.[44][45][46] Warren joined Vivint from 2GIG Technologies,[47] Eyring joined Vivint from Innosight, the innovation consulting firm co-founded by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, where Eyring served as a managing partner"[48]

Philanthropy

The Vivint Gives Back focuses on helping children with intellectual disabilities through intelligent products and services. Vivint employees and owners contribute time, money, and volunteer hours to perform services for these children.

In 2012, Vivint Gives Back was named the “Corporate Volunteer Program of the Year.” [49] In February 2014, the company donated $2 million to the Utah Valley University to establish a professional sales program,[50] as well as a SMART Lab for marketing research.[51][52]

In August 2014, Vivint employees worked with the Feed My Starving Children organization to donate $47,000 and assemble 200,000 meal kits to feed children in Haiti. In four consecutive years, Vivint donated a total of 800,000 meals, enough to feed more than 2,000 children for an entire year.[53]

In 2015, Vivint became the official safety sponsor for Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism organization.[54]

Vivint employees volunteer time and money to renovate homes for families who have children with intellectual capabilities. Employees install Vivint smart home technology in the homes and sensory rooms with developmental components such as swings, rock-climbing walls, reading nooks and art stations.[55] Since its creation in 2008, Vivint Gives Back has donated $9 million and more than 150,000 service hours.[56]

Vivint's sales practices have resulted in over 3,000 complaints to the Better Business Bureau, and resulted in investigations by at least fifteen states.[57][58] The Better Business Bureau has given Vivint a grade of "F", and issued a special warning about the firm, having received over 3,000 complaints over the past three years. BBB alleges that Vivint has resolved some customer complaints to avoid bad publicity, but has not addressed a "broader problem of false promises by door-to-door salespeople".[59]

Prosecutors in at least eleven different states have sanctioned Vivint for deceptive sales practices including high pressure door-to-door sales tactics and other violations.

On March 15, 2013 the Kansas Attorney General entered into a Settlement Agreement with Vivint, Inc. The company acknowledged using a variety of deceptive practices while going door-to-door offering to install new home security systems or replace existing systems. The Attorney General's Office said the salesman failed to advise the consumers of their rights under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and did not disclose all costs associated with switching alarm system providers.[60] Under the settlement, Vivint paid $55,000 to the state.[61]

On April 26, 2013 the State of Ohio Attorney General's Office entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance Settlement Agreement with Vivint, Inc. The settlement states that consumers filed complaints that the company made representations to consumers that its home security equipment was free, while failing to disclose the existence or amount of installation, activation and monitoring fees associated with the system. Vivint door-to-door sales representatives misrepresented the price of continued monthly monitoring fees, made representations that it was providing an upgrade to the consumer's current home security system; that the consumer's current security system company was no longer in business; or that Vivint was otherwise part of or authorized to continue monitoring the consumer's current home security system. Vivint routinely installed the home security systems on the same day the contracts were executed and within the three-day cancellation period and failed to orally inform consumers of their right to cancel the contract within three days or misrepresented the consumers' right to cancel by informing them they were signing the contract on a "trial basis" or that they had thirty days to cancel.[60] Under the settlement agreement, Vivint agreed to comply with Ohio consumer laws and paid approximately $50,000 in fines.[62]

On June 3, 2013 the State of Nebraska Attorney General's Office entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with Vivint, Inc. According to the terms of the agreement, Vivint promised not to make any misrepresentations while engaging in sales. The company was also required to pay $50,000.[63]

The State of Wisconsin took legal action against the company in September 2012, for deceptive and misleading sales tactics. The judgment ordered Vivint Inc. to refund up to $148,000 and cancel almost $450,000 in consumer debt. The judgment requires Vivint to pay refunds to consumers who were misled about their ability to cancel their alarm service contracts, as well as consumers who were misled about false alarm charges. Vivint also will remove affected consumers from collections and the company will pay forfeitures and attorneys fees to the State as well as improve their disclosures to consumers about their services and charges, making it easier for consumers to cancel their contracts if they so desire.[64][65][66]

Arkansas fined Vivint/APX $40,850 for over 40 violations in 2009.[67] On September 10, 2010 the State of Arkansas Attorney General's Office charged Vivint, Inc. with violating the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Vivint paid $125,000 for the costs of the investigation and prosecution of the complaint.[68][69] In 2008-2009, the company paid to the state of Arkansas $65,850 to settle allegations of improper licensing of employees, including alarm installers.[70]

The states of Washington, Louisiana, South Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee have all fined Vivint/APX for violating state licensing codes.[67][71] In Washington, police cited Vivint/APX seven times in 2008 and 2009 for having unlicensed workers install alarms.[57] Louisiana also fined Vivint for violating a Cease and Desist Order, and engaging in false, misleading, or deceptive practices.[67]

In April 2010, Vivint settled with the state of Oregon for $60,000 over alleged aggressive sales tactics used by its agents, and for "targeting elderly Oregonians with misleading and high-pressure sales tactics".[72] The company also agreed to change some of its sales tactics.[73]

In April 2011, Vivint settled with Contra Costa County, California for $425,000. Under the settlement, Vivint admitted no wrongdoing, but agreed to conform its contracts to California law and refrain from illegal sales practices.[72][74][75]

As of 2014, there were two federal class action lawsuits against Vivint for telemarketing (TCPA) violations.[76][76][77][77] Both lawsuits (Johansen v. Vivint, Inc., and Benzion v. Vivint, Inc) have been certified as Class Actions. In June 2014, Vivint agreed to a proposed settlement in Benzion which included a $6 million settlement fund.[78]

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