MADISON, Wis. – Vivint was making automatic withdrawals from Millie O’Neill’s checking account for nearly 10 years for an alarm system she used for only two months.
O’Neill signed a five-year contract for Vivint’s alarm system in June 2007 and informed the company she had disabled the system the following year.
She moved to a new address five years later and on four occasions was still unable to cancel Vivint’s service.
It wasn’t until O’Neill contacted the Wisconsin State Journal’s investigative column SOS to investigate did Vivint decided to issue a refund.
SOS contacted Vivint’s public relations department and received a response from a Vivint spokesperson.
According to the spokesperson, Vivint knew O’Neill wasn’t using its services and wanted to cancel. However, O’Neill hadn’t completed Vivint’s multi-part cancellation process.
“For security purposes, we need a written request from the homeowner, as well as a call to confirm the verbal passcode, to ensure that it’s the actual homeowner making the cancellation,” says the spokesperson.
Vivint didn’t offer a refund until SOS noted that the company continued to charge an elderly customer for a service it knew the customer didn’t want, five years after the expiration of the customer’s contract.
A few hours later, Vivint told SOS that O’Neill would be getting a refund for 58 months worth of service, or $2,447.02.
O’Neill signed up for Vivint’s alarm service when a door-to-door salesman came to her home in 2007. It should be noted Vivint has landed in hot water before over its aggressive door-to-door tactics in Colorado and Missouri among others.
*UPDATE* Click here to read Vivint’s response to the story.
