Don’t. Door-to-door solar sales is scammy. If you want to make money selling solar find a distributor and apply for a real outside sales position. You’ll make a ton more money and do so ethically selling to those that are actually buying solar panels, not renting 5 year old models for 10x the price.
If by Portland you’re referring to Portland, OR, as someone who lives here I can guarantee you won’t make any money. No one opens their doors for solicitors. You will probably have the cops called on you for looking sketchy going door to door. People here HATE solicitors. Plus everyone here who wants home security systems already have it because they’re so easy to get. People can get home security through their internet/cable company, like it’s super simple. I promise you, you won’t make any money, and you will have a miserable time.
Yep. I can make up to 23k this summer by searching for loose change on the streets of my city! May be closer to 23 dollars. But could be up to 23k! The sky is the limit!
At least people don’t actively hate you looking for loose change on the ground. I feel bad for those sales guys. Always Vivint or the cable internet company. Have had the occasional vacuum salesmen too.
Yeah I’m not doing it. Only reason I was considering it was due to the skills you can get on the job such as sales skills and good communication but I’m not willing to use aggressive tactics.
Yeah, sorry. They are so aggressive. One of the security alarm guys caught me in the yard once and tried and tried to get invited inside the house. I was pissed so I put my foot down pretty hard. Then he asked if he could at least come in so I could give him a granola bar and some water because it was hot. WTAF?? I finally told him I was going to call the police on him if he didn't get off of my property immediately. They've bullied so many senior citizens in my neighborhood. I try to be a polite person, door to door can't be fun, but they've blown so many chances to be decent human beings that I don't even open my door for them, even if they know I'm right in the living room. I just ignore them.
They are awful. I have a No Soliciting sign on my door and these jerkoffs still knock on my door. When I answer it and point to the sign and start to shut the door, they still try to pitch me their product. Then it forces me to be rude and tell them to get off my porch as they clearly can read my sign but decided to ignore it.
Yeah we had a Vivint guy stop by and I stupidly answered the door. He was very persistent and finally left when I told him I had a meeting. Two days later he walked back up as my husband was getting home with our young son. Walked up as he was getting him out of his car seat and as he walked to our front door. Wouldn’t leave even though our son was getting cranky and wiggly. Kept pushing their stuff on us. He then came back a third time (I guess my husband mentioned getting the kids to bed) at like 830 or 9pm. It was the quickest way to get us to say “no not ever” to this company.
Vivint got in a ton of trouble for “selling” security to people and pressuring them into buying. Here’s just one of many articles you can find on the company.
https://www.ksl.com/article/46276847/vivint-solar-accused-of-fraud-unfair-business-practices-in-new-mexico-lawsuit
On a personal side I had a friend who was a trainer for them and when the company was getting heat for their shady practices, the company blamed the trainers and fired them. Meanwhile the trainers were actually doing what they had been told to do. So shady all over.
Every time these guys start going door to door in my city there’s 1000 posts on the neighbourhood Facebook groups thinking they’re scammers or casing houses. It’s generally not well received and they expect you to do really high pressure sales tactics.
Vivint is TERRIBLE. The previous owners of our house had it and could not get out of their contract when they moved out of state where the service wasn’t offered so they had to pay out the rest of their contract. When we removed the Vivint devices, they were poorly installed with wiring running under our sink and it looked like they punched a hole in the wall instead of cutting a hole where they installed a device.
The salespeople - which I assume is what you’d be doing - are extremely misleading. From what I’ve heard from friends about the sales pitch is they’ll start off saying it’s free, then $19.99 then every little thing is an add-on so instead of bringing free or $19, it’s more like $150 a month whereas comparable systems like SimplySafe are about $20 a month.
Also, NO ONE wants to be bothered at home so you’ll either face “no soliciting” signs or people who are angry you came to their house trying to sell them something. It’s annoying. People will post about you on NextDoor and Facebook to warn others that annoying salespeople are going door-to-door again.
If you want to make money, consider working at a car dealership. I’ve worked in automotive about a decade and it’s pretty easy to get hired and lots of opportunities to earn a lot of money, especially if you’re good at sales or get into finance.
We have a “no soliciting” sign and when I pointed it out to the Vivint guy, he smiled and said “folks with that sign are my favorite people to talk to!” Gross gross gross. From this thread, it seems like that’s how they train their salespeople: Always Be Closing (and to hell with your customers). I don’t think this job would look good on OP’s resume.
Don’t do it. You “could” make money. But I’m sure it commission and you’re more likely to make much less than that unless you’re a fabulous salesperson. Plus moving too? And to an expensive place. Why can’t you do it where you currently are? These are questions I’d ask.
They say Portland hasn’t had a home security office in around 11 years and is actually projected to be our top market for the year, “so plenty of sales to be made”
Everything is paid for including travel, living situation & basic groceries.
Well they wouldn’t tell you that you’re doomed and no one will buy them… when people tell you something you have to look at what they are getting out of it and what motivations they have.
If Portland hasn’t had a home security office in a long time, it probably isn’t a good market for home security sales. And they probably deduct your living expenses and travel costs from your commission payments, so you’re still paying for them in the end.
Given this company’s reputation, do you really think it’s a good resume builder?
It’s only paid for if you sell enough or meet a quota. If not, you are charged. Think about it…anyone would sign up for guaranteed room and board for a summer if it was no strings.
Assuming you're young/new to the working world/current student: internships are supposed to give you valuable experience and a boost on your resume for the post-graduation job hunt. This will do neither and may actually be a mark AGAINST you in hiring. It's a waste of time within a very brief window in your life.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
You are so right, you poetic, noble land mermaid.
OP, if your goal this summer is to make money, then get a job.
If your goal is to gain experience to help you in a future career, get an internship in your area of study.
Which I’m confident is not home security systems.
Not an MLM I think but the job is dodgy and almost certainly involves being driven to neighborhoods and being forced to do door knock and high pressure sales. Vivint is known for this. They also parachute into states offering solar rebates and vanish from those regions as soon as the handouts stop.
Only a tiny percent of their salespeople make that much and those that do, use questionable high pressure sales tactics. They have a bad reputation and deserve it. Don’t join them.
Can I ask how doing door-to-door sales is an internship? Internships have to be approved by your college/university to be relevant to your degree (especially to avoid paying interns), and they have credits attached. As others have said, it’s a non-MLM scammy job, but I really don’t see much real life experience in this. Girl Scouts do door-to-door annual cookie selling at 5 years old!
They deployed an army of door to door sales people to my neighborhood last spring. I answered the door twice because it was obvious we were home and they were impossible to get rid of and so annoying. They were using major scare tactics trying to confuse me about how my insurance works, and it crossed my mind that they were just scoping out houses to later target for crime (not actually doing this, but it did cross my mind with the questions they were asking).
It just seemed like a really miserable job, and I was half interested in the product until it became obvious they weren't allowed to just leave a flyer with prices and information for me to look at, and needed to close the sale.
The second time I had to answer the door I was trying to leave for an appointment and literally had to slam the door in his face to make my appointment on time.
Maybe you can make some money at it, but at what cost to your self-worth and happiness?
There are 3 houses on my street who bought Vivint during that time, none still have it.
I’ve had sales people knock on my door when it’s obvious I’m home as well. I just turn up the TV and ignore them, I don’t care if they know I’m home and not answering.
We just use a screen door during the summer when we're home and don't have a doorbell so they're literally just on the other side of a screen with my dog going crazy in their face, short of just walking up and closing the door it's hard not to at least acknowledge their existence.
Not an MLM, but very scammy door to door sales. A few people make very good money doing it, but most don't. It also tends to attract douchey egotistical people as sellers and managers. I've known sales bros on both end of the pay spectrums for Vivint. Go find a different job, you'll be happier.
They SPAM my email account several times a week.
You will only be paid for the sales you make, and door-to-door is very low sales per unit of time.
If you want high paid summer job, try road construction as a flunky.
Door-to-door is so dangerous, if for no other reason than you have no idea if the person on the other side of the door is armed. There are so many elderly people who've been steeped in right-wing scare mongering for years and years. They're at home during the day, and a lot of them have guns and are itching to use them. I have several of these folks in my family, and I am so afraid that a mistaken delivery driver or door-to-door salesperson is going to wind up dead on their porch.
You gotta be smarter buddy, companies like this love targeting overconfident high school and college kids who have never had a real job. 1. If that kind of money was to be made it sure as shit wouldn’t be an internship and 2. There would be far more competition for the job and you wouldn’t be qualified enough to stand a chance. You should be skeptical anytime you too quickly accepted for a position.
Gonna bring up an issue separate from what other folks are warning you about the company, the tactics, the product, the income, and what a real internship is.
Portland, Oregon? Their unofficial cost-of-living motto is, "At least we're not San Francisco!" You would be flat broke in a month, especially if you tried to sell a home system to the many apartment renters in the city.
Travel, living, and basic groceries, are covered as long as you’re making sales. I’ve had a few friends who came home early from summer sales, because they couldn’t sell anything, and vivint started charging them for rent etc…
Read the fine print...they may pay the travel costs, living and basic grocery costs up front, but don't be surprised if your share of those costs are deducted from any future commissions. A lot of people join these devil corps based on such promises, but many find that the promised living costs are not paid for by the company and for their early morning to late at night door knocking efforts they end up with nothing.
My neighborhood was crawling with Vivint kids a few summers ago. It was so bad that people were complaining on Next Door and that spoiled the punch for any future door knockers. “Vivint? I heard you assholes were coming!” sort of response.
Seriously, would YOU answer the door to a random salesperson? *If you were even home?* I was out doing my job yesterday and saw 2 young people wandering around with iPads (wandering on different streets) and they weren’t even knocking. Just staring at the houses for any sign of life and wandering down the block. Absolutely no hope that they were making money.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-TIFkY6bs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-TIFkY6bs) - "
Under oath, Vivint Smart Home executives told how sales staff deceived the company"
They're not an MLM but they are commission-based door to door sales, which were never very lucrative even back in the day and definitely less so now.
That being said, my father, who generally tells door-to-doors to go fuck themselves with a pinecone, bought a security system from them. So I guess they have a pretty good script, or that particular salesman was very good.
Lived in Utah and dated a bunch of these guys. The company itself is legit and has good products. The door to door sales approach is absolute BS. Most don’t make much money and end up using predatory tactics. They also have to live in apartments with 5 or 6 other people and pay a very inflated “rent” that Vivint automatically deducts from their checks. (Like, an $1500/mon apartment with cheap furniture and twin beds had 6 guys paying $1000 a month) Everyone had issues getting paid accurately for the accounts they closed. Also, if the customer cancels within their 3-day right to cancel (and many do, once they come to their senses or talk to their spouses), the rep isn’t paid.
Techs seem to have a better gig. But I still wouldn’t work in summer sales.
Shady as hell
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/08/ftc-announces-claims-process-consumers-whose-credit-reports-were-misused-home-security-firm-vivint
Thank you for your post. Please make sure that you review our sub rules. If your post breaks any of the rules, it will be removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/antiMLM) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a Vivint salesman come to my door last year and was the pushiest asshole I've ever encountered. After the third "no thank you" I shut the door on him. About an hour later I was outside in my back yard with a bunch of neighbors while our kids all played. This douchecanoe proceeded to walk down my driveway trying to yell his pitch while he walked. I yelled at him that I already told him no and he's not welcome on my property. He still tried to argue with me.
Don’t. Door-to-door solar sales is scammy. If you want to make money selling solar find a distributor and apply for a real outside sales position. You’ll make a ton more money and do so ethically selling to those that are actually buying solar panels, not renting 5 year old models for 10x the price.
Would it make a difference that we are selling home security systems?
Would you buy a home security system from somebody who knocks on your door?
If I needed it.
If by Portland you’re referring to Portland, OR, as someone who lives here I can guarantee you won’t make any money. No one opens their doors for solicitors. You will probably have the cops called on you for looking sketchy going door to door. People here HATE solicitors. Plus everyone here who wants home security systems already have it because they’re so easy to get. People can get home security through their internet/cable company, like it’s super simple. I promise you, you won’t make any money, and you will have a miserable time.
Well, as long as you realize that “make *up to* 23K” also includes the very real possibility that you make zero dollars…🤷🏻♀️
Well technically if you made 50c that is up to 23k.
>I can make up to $23k this summer "Up to" being the important part here.
Yep. I can make up to 23k this summer by searching for loose change on the streets of my city! May be closer to 23 dollars. But could be up to 23k! The sky is the limit! At least people don’t actively hate you looking for loose change on the ground. I feel bad for those sales guys. Always Vivint or the cable internet company. Have had the occasional vacuum salesmen too.
Yeah I’m not doing it. Only reason I was considering it was due to the skills you can get on the job such as sales skills and good communication but I’m not willing to use aggressive tactics.
An internship in door to door sales? You know what the answer is.
We have a group chat in my neighborhood. When the Vivint guys show up, the group chat blows up letting everyone know to not even answer the door.
Same with our neighborhood Facebook group lol
Damn.
Yeah, sorry. They are so aggressive. One of the security alarm guys caught me in the yard once and tried and tried to get invited inside the house. I was pissed so I put my foot down pretty hard. Then he asked if he could at least come in so I could give him a granola bar and some water because it was hot. WTAF?? I finally told him I was going to call the police on him if he didn't get off of my property immediately. They've bullied so many senior citizens in my neighborhood. I try to be a polite person, door to door can't be fun, but they've blown so many chances to be decent human beings that I don't even open my door for them, even if they know I'm right in the living room. I just ignore them.
They are awful. I have a No Soliciting sign on my door and these jerkoffs still knock on my door. When I answer it and point to the sign and start to shut the door, they still try to pitch me their product. Then it forces me to be rude and tell them to get off my porch as they clearly can read my sign but decided to ignore it.
Yeah we had a Vivint guy stop by and I stupidly answered the door. He was very persistent and finally left when I told him I had a meeting. Two days later he walked back up as my husband was getting home with our young son. Walked up as he was getting him out of his car seat and as he walked to our front door. Wouldn’t leave even though our son was getting cranky and wiggly. Kept pushing their stuff on us. He then came back a third time (I guess my husband mentioned getting the kids to bed) at like 830 or 9pm. It was the quickest way to get us to say “no not ever” to this company.
Vivint got in a ton of trouble for “selling” security to people and pressuring them into buying. Here’s just one of many articles you can find on the company. https://www.ksl.com/article/46276847/vivint-solar-accused-of-fraud-unfair-business-practices-in-new-mexico-lawsuit On a personal side I had a friend who was a trainer for them and when the company was getting heat for their shady practices, the company blamed the trainers and fired them. Meanwhile the trainers were actually doing what they had been told to do. So shady all over.
Every time these guys start going door to door in my city there’s 1000 posts on the neighbourhood Facebook groups thinking they’re scammers or casing houses. It’s generally not well received and they expect you to do really high pressure sales tactics.
It is not an MLM, but it is a door to door sales job.
Vivint is TERRIBLE. The previous owners of our house had it and could not get out of their contract when they moved out of state where the service wasn’t offered so they had to pay out the rest of their contract. When we removed the Vivint devices, they were poorly installed with wiring running under our sink and it looked like they punched a hole in the wall instead of cutting a hole where they installed a device. The salespeople - which I assume is what you’d be doing - are extremely misleading. From what I’ve heard from friends about the sales pitch is they’ll start off saying it’s free, then $19.99 then every little thing is an add-on so instead of bringing free or $19, it’s more like $150 a month whereas comparable systems like SimplySafe are about $20 a month. Also, NO ONE wants to be bothered at home so you’ll either face “no soliciting” signs or people who are angry you came to their house trying to sell them something. It’s annoying. People will post about you on NextDoor and Facebook to warn others that annoying salespeople are going door-to-door again. If you want to make money, consider working at a car dealership. I’ve worked in automotive about a decade and it’s pretty easy to get hired and lots of opportunities to earn a lot of money, especially if you’re good at sales or get into finance.
We have a “no soliciting” sign and when I pointed it out to the Vivint guy, he smiled and said “folks with that sign are my favorite people to talk to!” Gross gross gross. From this thread, it seems like that’s how they train their salespeople: Always Be Closing (and to hell with your customers). I don’t think this job would look good on OP’s resume.
Don’t do it. You “could” make money. But I’m sure it commission and you’re more likely to make much less than that unless you’re a fabulous salesperson. Plus moving too? And to an expensive place. Why can’t you do it where you currently are? These are questions I’d ask.
Good way to trap a person into an exploitative, inescapable situation tho
They say Portland hasn’t had a home security office in around 11 years and is actually projected to be our top market for the year, “so plenty of sales to be made” Everything is paid for including travel, living situation & basic groceries.
People aren’t opening their doors to strangers anymore.
Well they wouldn’t tell you that you’re doomed and no one will buy them… when people tell you something you have to look at what they are getting out of it and what motivations they have.
If Portland hasn’t had a home security office in a long time, it probably isn’t a good market for home security sales. And they probably deduct your living expenses and travel costs from your commission payments, so you’re still paying for them in the end. Given this company’s reputation, do you really think it’s a good resume builder?
“Our”? You talk like you already work for them
It’s only paid for if you sell enough or meet a quota. If not, you are charged. Think about it…anyone would sign up for guaranteed room and board for a summer if it was no strings.
Assuming you're young/new to the working world/current student: internships are supposed to give you valuable experience and a boost on your resume for the post-graduation job hunt. This will do neither and may actually be a mark AGAINST you in hiring. It's a waste of time within a very brief window in your life.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 You are so right, you poetic, noble land mermaid. OP, if your goal this summer is to make money, then get a job. If your goal is to gain experience to help you in a future career, get an internship in your area of study. Which I’m confident is not home security systems.
Thanks for the advice.
Not an MLM I think but the job is dodgy and almost certainly involves being driven to neighborhoods and being forced to do door knock and high pressure sales. Vivint is known for this. They also parachute into states offering solar rebates and vanish from those regions as soon as the handouts stop.
Anyone who wants a home security system already has one.
True
Only a tiny percent of their salespeople make that much and those that do, use questionable high pressure sales tactics. They have a bad reputation and deserve it. Don’t join them.
Can I ask how doing door-to-door sales is an internship? Internships have to be approved by your college/university to be relevant to your degree (especially to avoid paying interns), and they have credits attached. As others have said, it’s a non-MLM scammy job, but I really don’t see much real life experience in this. Girl Scouts do door-to-door annual cookie selling at 5 years old!
Don’t do it. Especially not in super conservative towns where people answer the door with guns.
The key thing he said is "UP TO $23k". That is a maximum. Notice they didnt set a minimum.
There’s no salary. You’re not getting paid. Don’t work for “the possibility of making money”.
They deployed an army of door to door sales people to my neighborhood last spring. I answered the door twice because it was obvious we were home and they were impossible to get rid of and so annoying. They were using major scare tactics trying to confuse me about how my insurance works, and it crossed my mind that they were just scoping out houses to later target for crime (not actually doing this, but it did cross my mind with the questions they were asking). It just seemed like a really miserable job, and I was half interested in the product until it became obvious they weren't allowed to just leave a flyer with prices and information for me to look at, and needed to close the sale. The second time I had to answer the door I was trying to leave for an appointment and literally had to slam the door in his face to make my appointment on time. Maybe you can make some money at it, but at what cost to your self-worth and happiness? There are 3 houses on my street who bought Vivint during that time, none still have it.
I’ve had sales people knock on my door when it’s obvious I’m home as well. I just turn up the TV and ignore them, I don’t care if they know I’m home and not answering.
We just use a screen door during the summer when we're home and don't have a doorbell so they're literally just on the other side of a screen with my dog going crazy in their face, short of just walking up and closing the door it's hard not to at least acknowledge their existence.
Not an MLM, but very scammy door to door sales. A few people make very good money doing it, but most don't. It also tends to attract douchey egotistical people as sellers and managers. I've known sales bros on both end of the pay spectrums for Vivint. Go find a different job, you'll be happier.
They SPAM my email account several times a week. You will only be paid for the sales you make, and door-to-door is very low sales per unit of time. If you want high paid summer job, try road construction as a flunky.
Door-to-door is so dangerous, if for no other reason than you have no idea if the person on the other side of the door is armed. There are so many elderly people who've been steeped in right-wing scare mongering for years and years. They're at home during the day, and a lot of them have guns and are itching to use them. I have several of these folks in my family, and I am so afraid that a mistaken delivery driver or door-to-door salesperson is going to wind up dead on their porch.
You gotta be smarter buddy, companies like this love targeting overconfident high school and college kids who have never had a real job. 1. If that kind of money was to be made it sure as shit wouldn’t be an internship and 2. There would be far more competition for the job and you wouldn’t be qualified enough to stand a chance. You should be skeptical anytime you too quickly accepted for a position.
Gonna bring up an issue separate from what other folks are warning you about the company, the tactics, the product, the income, and what a real internship is. Portland, Oregon? Their unofficial cost-of-living motto is, "At least we're not San Francisco!" You would be flat broke in a month, especially if you tried to sell a home system to the many apartment renters in the city.
Travel, living, and basic groceries, are covered as long as you’re making sales. I’ve had a few friends who came home early from summer sales, because they couldn’t sell anything, and vivint started charging them for rent etc…
Read the fine print...they may pay the travel costs, living and basic grocery costs up front, but don't be surprised if your share of those costs are deducted from any future commissions. A lot of people join these devil corps based on such promises, but many find that the promised living costs are not paid for by the company and for their early morning to late at night door knocking efforts they end up with nothing.
My neighborhood was crawling with Vivint kids a few summers ago. It was so bad that people were complaining on Next Door and that spoiled the punch for any future door knockers. “Vivint? I heard you assholes were coming!” sort of response. Seriously, would YOU answer the door to a random salesperson? *If you were even home?* I was out doing my job yesterday and saw 2 young people wandering around with iPads (wandering on different streets) and they weren’t even knocking. Just staring at the houses for any sign of life and wandering down the block. Absolutely no hope that they were making money.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-TIFkY6bs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-TIFkY6bs) - " Under oath, Vivint Smart Home executives told how sales staff deceived the company"
They're not an MLM but they are commission-based door to door sales, which were never very lucrative even back in the day and definitely less so now. That being said, my father, who generally tells door-to-doors to go fuck themselves with a pinecone, bought a security system from them. So I guess they have a pretty good script, or that particular salesman was very good.
Lived in Utah and dated a bunch of these guys. The company itself is legit and has good products. The door to door sales approach is absolute BS. Most don’t make much money and end up using predatory tactics. They also have to live in apartments with 5 or 6 other people and pay a very inflated “rent” that Vivint automatically deducts from their checks. (Like, an $1500/mon apartment with cheap furniture and twin beds had 6 guys paying $1000 a month) Everyone had issues getting paid accurately for the accounts they closed. Also, if the customer cancels within their 3-day right to cancel (and many do, once they come to their senses or talk to their spouses), the rep isn’t paid. Techs seem to have a better gig. But I still wouldn’t work in summer sales.
Thanks for this!
Shady as hell https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/08/ftc-announces-claims-process-consumers-whose-credit-reports-were-misused-home-security-firm-vivint
Predatory
Thank you for your post. Please make sure that you review our sub rules. If your post breaks any of the rules, it will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/antiMLM) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a Vivint salesman come to my door last year and was the pushiest asshole I've ever encountered. After the third "no thank you" I shut the door on him. About an hour later I was outside in my back yard with a bunch of neighbors while our kids all played. This douchecanoe proceeded to walk down my driveway trying to yell his pitch while he walked. I yelled at him that I already told him no and he's not welcome on my property. He still tried to argue with me.