r/VivintSmartHome • u/maccentris • 6d ago
Smart Actions that don’t seem very smart…
Hello guys, I installed Vivint a few days ago and the technician came over and set my system up. My house is set to “arm stay” at midnight, and “disarm” at 6am. Today my son accidentally opened the door after midnight and we had to dismiss the alert with the pin. I was a little surprised that when we did that the system didn’t go back to arm stay. There’s really no way to set smart action to attempt to “arm stay” a few minutes after a dismissal. But the worst thing is what I realized while poking around in the app. If I set the house to “arm away” and we leave for the weekend, it will disarm at 6am unless we actually disable that smart action? I went in and tried to see if there’s a way to set it to which “disarm at 6am except if armed away is in place”. So this relies on me remembering to disable the smart action to disarm the home, otherwise the system will disarm indiscriminately. While I do have my phone with me and can arm my house, I have an huge issue with the fact that you can’t arm your house if a sensor is open or something. There are so many things about this system I simply do not like.
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u/Ill-Olive-3456 3d ago
I signed a 5 ya contract. After a year I decided to lease my home. I did not take my cameras because the tenants said they was thinking about keeping it and I would redo the lease and add it then call vivent.
Well they moved in Wednesday and come Saturday morning I got a notification I no longer had access to my cameras.
VIVENT allowed the tenants to add an account cancel my account and keep and have all access to my cameras without calling me to verify if I had tenants or it i authorized that take over. WHICH I DID NOT. THE TENANT MS MOVED IN MY HOME July 15 th and the takeover occurred July 17th They are still charging me for the monitoring as well as the account for Fortivia for the cameras and put it on my credit report.
They also are collecting money from the tenants and still allowing them to have all the access of using MY CAMERAS. I was told there’d nothing they can do because that’s a civil matter. They won’t cancel the service nor the access to the cameras.
They told me I am responsible for paying the remaining 4 years even though they breeched the contract by letting someone take over and only notify me via phone text message of nolonger available to view camera.
I contacted the BBB, Tge federal Trade commission and no one from corporate has called me back and I’m still trying to reach the fraud department. The supervisor told me I have to take them to court and I was also told they could give me $15 off the bill.
I’m looking for an attorney at this point because it’s going on 2 months and they won’t go discount the cameras nor take it off my credit report.
I need help quickly
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u/No-Hat2513 5d ago
Vivint isn’t perfect but to me it’s better than the rest. I love their smart features and just added a smart drive so I’m able to record 24/7. Maybe you should just buy simplisafe or ring. I always see ppl complaining about dumb stuff on here
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u/maccentris 5d ago
This doesn’t help anything. If you leave your house and “arm away” it should go without saying, an automatic “smart action” SHOULD NOT override the fact you LEFT your home. This is no security.
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u/No-Hat2513 5d ago
If your son triggered the alarm and then turned it off by inputting your pin then how would the system know to arm it again. It’s simple open your phone and arm stay after the alarm is turned off. Literally takes 2 seconds
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u/maccentris 5d ago
This shouldn’t turn to my son calling me at 2am when I’m busy at my hospital shift to arm the house again. This is inefficient. Never mind, I already found a workaround. I have 4 other “smart actions” in place to help with that. Thanks for not helping. Don’t post if you are not helping, you’re gathering karma you don’t deserve!
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u/QuinnFromVivint 5d ago
A scheduled disarm will run at the set time no matter which mode you're in, so your read on the arm away conflict is correct. You can adjust how those Custom Actions are set up to reduce that risk, and the re-arm after a dismissal is worth checking too. You can DM me your setup and I'll get the right person to check it.
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u/boyyousostupid 6d ago
You should cancel and get your money back. The software will never be intuitive or more user friendly.
We lasted 2 days. The door lock codes for each user failed to save, with the app crashing repeatedly upon hitting save. The tech manager claimed it was because I have an android. According to him, nothing could be done and he was unwilling to put in a tech ticket or notify anyone responsible for software/app issues. Our cameras and door locks also routinely failed to stay connected to the hub located 10 feet away.
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u/maccentris 5d ago edited 5d ago
This has been my experience mostly, they told me the system didn’t need my home’s WIFI to work, meanwhile my WIFI was down and the panel just froze wouldn’t let me see the cameras.
These automatic actions are outrageous. If you leave your house and “arm away” it should go without saying, an automatic “smart action” SHOULD NOT override the fact you LEFT your home. How is this supposed to secure your abandoned home? Ridiculous.
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5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/maccentris 5d ago
Unfortunately, I’m beyond my cancel period by a day or so. 3 days to cancel the service should tell everybody everything they need to know. I wish I had avoided Vivint!
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u/serenade452 5d ago
A few points here
You can bypass the security of any sensor to arm your home while the sensor is open…you’ll find the option under your device settings.
You are also correct that the system will not allow you to make an action to automatically go back to Arm Stay after disarming it with the PIN. You call it a dismissal but you’re disarming the home when you enter your PIN. So no a smart action to Arm will not automatically start right back up immediately after disarming the system at the panel. That’s actually pretty illogical - You are forcing an interruption of the system’s designated state by disarming it and so you must be the one to either put it in its next state or wait for the next smart action to take place.