Central Coast News KION/KCBANeighbors Raise Questions About Door to Door Sales

Neighbors Raise Questions About Door to Door Sales

DEL REY OAKS, Calif.- Many of you have had to deal with it before. Door to door salesman trying to push a product.

Michael in Del Rey Oaks sent in this KION Question, he said the alarm company Vivint was going door to door trying to give out alarms for free. Michael said he turned them away and looked them up on the internet to find bad news.

"He just wanted to put a sign up and said it would be a protection for us," Pat Vierra got the same sales pitch News Year's Eve as her neighbors on Vierra Verde in Del Rey Oaks.

"He wanted us to put a sign in the front yard, they were a new company just up and running and could we put the sign on the front yard and I said 'No thank you' and he said 'Even if it comes with the whole package?'"

The company: Vivint.  It sells home security systems based in Utah.

When one neighbor rejected the sales pitch like these women, he went a step further and researched Vivint online.

The Better Business Bureau gave the company a "D" rating.  In the last three years it lists 1,374 customer complaints ranging from advertising, to billing, and problems with the product.

You Tube is filled with advertisements but also news reports from various states about bad business practices from sales reps.

Several states have taken some sort of action against the company.  Just this year a judge ruled Vivint's sales reps can't make false or misleading statements to residents in Contra Coast county in the Bay Area.

We reached out to Vivint who said "It is committed to providing excellent products and service. With more than 570,000 customers, Vivint's BBB complaints represents less than 0.27 % of our customer base. Vivint has resolved has 100% of it's bbb complaints."

Neighbors in Del Rey Oaks said the reps shouldn't have been there at all because as with some other cities, in Del Rey Oaks you need a permit from the city in order to sell door to door.

Central Coast News is still checking on whether Vivint had a permit to go door-to-door in Del Rey Oaks, but the company is licensed with the state and said it requries its sales reps to get specific licensing if the city requires it.

In 2005, Vivint became the largest home security dealer in the country.