ORLANDO, Fla. – Security salesman pitching home alarm systems have been too pushy with some Brevard County residents, Local 6 news partner Florida Today reports.
Tim Taylor was in his open garage when a man walked up the driveway and started into a sales pitch for Vivint Inc. home security alarms. Taylor, 22, cut him off quickly and asked him to leave his mother's property, but the man persisted.
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"I had to get aggressive before he would remotely start walking away," Taylor said, adding: "My hands were shaking I was so angry."
Ultimately, he filed a trespass warning with Palm Bay Police.
Taylor isn't alone. Between June 22 and July 14, Palm Bay Police said they have had numerous complaints about overly aggressive salesmen from Vivint.
"We've had an awful lot," said Mark Foskey, dispatch supervisor. "I would safely say over 60. Could be over 100."
The exact number of complaints was not available because police classified some of the calls into different categories — for example, some complaints about Vivint were filed as "suspicious persons."
Foskey said he has never before seen so many complaints come in about solicitors.
"In 24 years, I've never had businesses solicit in our city that generated the mass amount of complaints that we've had. It was by far 100-fold what a previous solicitor had generated in our city."
Foskey said that the complaints generally focused on salespeople that wouldn't take no for an answer, but other rude behavior was noted. One woman answered the door and the salesperson asked for the man of the house. Other residents were asked about their current home security systems, what time they were home, and whether they left children home alone.
"We were getting so many we couldn't answer a lot of them because we had high priority complaints and we were inundated with these complaints," Foskey said. "Some of our employees have been contacted by them and have the same complaints."
"They're not necessarily doing anything illegal in their door-to-door sales," said Capt. John Resh. "The problem appears to be in the pushiness of the sales people."
A spokesperson from Vivint said that the quantity of complaints filed is unusual.
"We do take every single complaint very seriously," Lisa Davis said.
She said the company traditionally has employed door-to-door salespeople during the summer, but this year marks the first time it has subcontracted the work to a company called Advanced Residential Marketing, to reach about 80 communities throughout the United States and Canada.
"ARM is our authorized dealer that we contract with for our door-to-door sales program," Davis said. "It's very effective."
Davis declined to comment about ARM's recruiting policy. She did say that Vivint monitors the training of that salesforce.
"Even though it is a separate company, they are representing us at the door so we do maintain close ties with the training program," she said. "We make sure that they're being trained up to our standards."
State records indicate that Vivint Inc. has been active in Florida since 2006. In December 2010, The company filed to change its name from APX Alarm Security Solutions Inc. Davis said this was for re-branding the company's new range of services.
In April 2010, APX paid a $60,000 settlement after more than a dozen consumers filed complaints about illegal sales tactics, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Justice. Complaints included falsely stating that a consumer's neighbor had just been robbed or burglarized, refusing to leave consumers' homes for hours, and claiming partnerships with fire or police associations in order to close the sale.
"Targeting elderly Oregonians with misleading and high-pressure sales tactics is unacceptable," Attorney General Kroger said in the release.
Vivint's rating on the Better Business Bureau is a C-minus on a scale of A-plus to F. Government action lowered the rating, while Vivint's response to customer complaints contributed to raising the score.
Melbourne Police have noted similar complaints to those in Palm Bay.
"Toward the end of June, there have been several complaints in reference to aggressive home security salespeople," said Lt. Byron Barnes.
Taylor took matters into his own hands, following the salesman after he left his mother's property to spread his message to neighbors as the salesman approached.
"I didn't want him taking advantage," Taylor said.
He followed the man around the neighborhood and interrupted a sale. Taylor said the salesman called the police. But when the officer arrived, Taylor said the officer's attention was focused on the salesman. The officer helped Taylor fill out a trespass warning form.
Vivint's website lists that the company recently won the highest award for customer service from the American Business Awards in 2011. "Their company's motto is based around customer satisfaction," Taylor said. "I don't think they're living up to that very well."