A prominent Charlotte security company and one of its competitors are suing each other in federal court. The Charlotte Ledger business newsletter reports CPI Security and Utah-based Vivint Smart Home are accusing one another of using unethical practices in order to get ahead.
“CPI says that Vivant salespeople will come into CPI customers’ homes, claim to be affiliated with CPI and say, ‘Well, you should just upgrade your home security — sign on with us,’ when, in fact, it’s a separate company selling a separate security service,” the Ledger’s Tony Mecia told WFAE’s Marshall Terry in this week’s BizWorthy. “Vivant says that when they do make the sale that CPI immediately reaches out to its customers and says, ‘Hey, you’re being scammed, and it’s illegal for you to replace your home security system because you have a contract with us.’ Vivant says that’s improper and is casting them in a bad light.”
The dispute is set to go to trial on Feb. 14.
As part of the lawsuits, Vivant has brought up a controversial email sent by CPI’s CEO, Kenneth Gill, in the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. CPI lost sponsorships in the fallout over Gill’s remarks.
“Vivant says in these lawsuits that [the email] should be in front of the jury because that helps explain why CPI is losing revenue,” Mecia said. “But CPI says it’s inflammatory and a red herring and it shouldn’t be allowed to go in front of a jury.”
You can listen to the full BizWorthy conversation above. Here’s a quick look at what else Mecia and Terry covered this week.
- Charlotte Douglas International Airport cut back its free parking in the hourly parking deck to only 15 minutes. The airport says that the 15-minute limit for free parking was increased to one hour in 2015 because of construction in front of the airport. Now that construction is complete, it is returning to the previous limit. After the 15-minute limit, anyone parking will be charged the regular rate of $6 an hour.
- The BayHaven Restaurant Group — run by Charlotte culinary stars Greg and Subrina Collier — is planning to open three new restaurants and a bar at Camp North End. The restaurant group, which owns Leah & Louise, is opening a doughnut shop, a chicken-centric counter service restaurant, a modern fish camp and a modern speakeasy.
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