ADT sues Vision—again—over alleged deceptive sales practices

BOCA RATON, Fla.—Just months after settling one lawsuit with Utah-based Vision Security over what The ADT Corp. characterized as Vision's deceptive sales pitches, ADT announced today that it has filed a second lawsuit accusing Vision of similar practices.

That latest filing seeks to prohibit sales representatives of Vision, a door-knocking company based in Orem, Utah, from using deceptive sales techniques, and to obtain further damages and attorney fees.

The new lawsuit comes shortly after Vision and Security Networks, of which Vision is an affiliate, “settled with ADT for $2.2 million and agreed to a permanent injunction [from] engaging in similar practices,” according to an ADT news release.

But Vision, in a statement to Security Systems News, said, it "vigorously denies the allegations" and questions ADT's motives in the filing.

It further said that the company "intends to fight these allegations regarding direct sales representative conduct prior to a settlement agreement between ADT and Vision. Vision has provided detailed and extensive training to comply with its internal Code of Conduct as well as the ADT settlement agreement. Vision questions the motivation of the new lawsuit considering the settlement agreement releases Vision from all 'known and unknown … asserted or unasserted claims … prior to the date of settlement.' In addition, since the settlement date in August 2013, Vision has only received one allegation of misconduct that was expeditiously dealt with requiring no further action or court intervention."

ADT did not respond to SSN's request for further comment, but that company contends it its release that Vision previously stated that “it did not tolerate deceptive sales practices, and customer complaints likely came from isolated 'rogue' sales agents. However, following the August settlement, former Vision Security managers provided ADT with copies of audio and video recordings of Vision sales agent training sessions. As alleged in the lawsuit, those recordings show Vision has been training its sales force to sell alarm systems by posing as GE technicians, making service calls to upgrade customers' alarm panels at no cost at the direction of local police and fire departments.”

Hannah Lim, chief litigation officer at ADT, said in a prepared statement: “The new revelation in our lawsuit alleges that Vision trained more than one hundred sales agents to use false sales pitches and urged them to record and share these pitches with others. We will continue to litigate aggressively against companies that misrepresent ADT to consumers.”

David Bleisch, chief legal officer at ADT, also said in a statement, “We abide by responsible sales practice guidelines established by leading industry organizations, and we encourage all home security companies to follow best practices to reinforce positive perceptions about the electronic security industry.”

ADT, based here, has more than 6 million customers and employs approximately 17,000 people at more than 200 locations.

Vision recently filed suit against Ripoff Report, charging that the online website wouldn't remove false and defamatory statements about Vision, even after the author of the posting has since said they weren't true.