Security Sales & Integration June 2021 - 10

INDUSTRY PULSE NEWS
Vivint to Pay $20M for Misusing
Consumer Credit Reports
▶ PROVO, Utah - Vivint Smart Home has
agreed to pay $20 million to settle Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) claims that the
company misappropriated credit reports
to help unqualified customers obtain financing
for its security, monitoring and IoT
services. The settlement calls for Vivint to
pay a $15 million civil penalty, plus $5 million
to compensate injured consumers, the
FTC announced.
In a complaint filed by the Department
of Justice on behalf of the FTC, the commission
alleged that Vivint violated the
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by improperly
obtaining credit reports in order
to qualify potential customers for financing
for its smart home monitoring and security
products.
Based on ADT's claims in the court filVivint
uses door-to-door sales representatives
working on a commission-only basis
to sell the company's home security devices
and monitoring services, according to the
FTC complaint. The FTC alleged that some
Vivint sales representatives used a process
known as " white paging, " which involved
finding another consumer with the same or
a similar name on the White Pages app and
using that consumer's credit history to qualify
the prospective unqualified customer.
Vivint sales representatives also sometimes
asked customers to provide the name
of someone they knew who had better
credit, such as a relative, then added that
innocent third-party as a co-signer to the
account without their permission, and used
their credit history to qualify the prospective
customer, according to the complaint.
If customers qualified using these deceptive
tactics later defaulted on their
loans, Vivint referred the innocent third
party to its debt buyer, potentially harming
that consumer's credit and subjecting
them to debt collectors, the FTC alleged.
Many consumers whose credit reports
The FTC alleges Vivint's sales staff stole
people's personal information to approve
others for loans.
ADT Files Trademark Lawsuit
Against Ring
▶ BOCA RATON, Fla. - ADT is suing Amazon's
Ring for allegedly copying its blue,
octagonal ADT lawn signs. According to
the lawsuit, which accuses Ring of trademark
infringement and unfair competition,
in March Ring introduced a new product
that adopts a blue, octagonal design that's
strikingly similar to ADT's own lawn signs.
10
were misused by Vivint sales representatives
complained to the FTC that they were
victims of identity theft after being contacted
by the company's debt collectors. In
addition to the monetary judgment - the
largest to date for an FTC FCRA case - the
settlement requires Vivint to establish a
customer service task force to verify that
accounts belong to the right customer before
referring any account to a debt collector,
among other requirements.
ADT says its blue octagon is iconic in the
security market, as the company uses the
design for lawn signs and stickers at the
homes and businesses of ADT's more than
6.5 million customers across the United
States. Following an attempt to imitate
ADT's lawn signs, Ring went further and
allegedly assimilated ADT's blue octagon
design into its Ring Alarm Outdoor Siren,
according to the complaint.
Security Sales & Integration JUNE 2021
ings, ADT's main issue with Ring adopting
a similar design to its blue octagon is
brand recognition. Right now, ADT believes
people who see a blue octagon outside of
a house know it is protected by ADT security
services, and if another product comes
onto the security market with similar
branding, potential ADT customers may
mistakenly believe it is associated with
their brand when it is not.
The lawsuit also notes that in 2016 Ring
developed another lighted yard sign that
adopted a blue octagon shape. ADT complained
and Ring changed some of the
product's coloring.
ACRE Acquires Ireland-Based TDS
▶ DALLAS - Holding company ACRE has
acquired Dublin, Ireland-based Time Data
Security (TDS) for undisclosed terms. The
purchase is said to enhance ACRE's strategic
expansion plans for strengthening
the product portfolio and geography in the
United Kingdom and Europe and bringing
new Cloud-based visitor management and
access control products to North America.
TDS provides Cloud-based workspace
solutions that will complement the existing
ACRE portfolio including the Vanderbilt,
RS2 and Open Options brands, according
to an announcement.
ACRE CEO Grillo says this transaction
will continue to expand ACRE's competitive
position. " We believe we can assist
the excellent management team at TDS to
leverage our existing reseller channels and
end users to help grow this business globally
under the ACRE umbrella. "
TDS Founder and CEO Hart says, " This
is the beginning of an exciting new chapter
for TDS. We are delighted to join ACRE
with its strong global reach, which will
accelerate our growth plans and support
our ambitions to be the top provider of
smart workplace solutions for enterprise
businesses. TDS's senior board member
Sean Murphy and I are particularly
excited to work with Joe Grillo and the
management team to further strengthen
ACRE's position as the global leader in
the delivery of integrated technologies
and services. "
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Security Sales & Integration June 2021

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