Pay less for your Medical Alert system and get free delivery by opting for semiannual or annual billing. If you go for the longer billing cycle, the company also provides a lockbox at zero cost.
Lively is a company established back in 2006 with the purpose of helping elderly age in an active way. They offer numerous technological innovations that help them in their everyday life, like the Jitterbug smartphone, that has an extra large screen with extra large icons. Still, they are most known for their personal emergency services. After Splash, their latest hit in the medical alert word, the company developed a new wonder, called Lively. Alongside its smaller brother, the athletic Lively Wearable, Lively creates an invisible safety net around the elderly. The waterproof and completely mobile button has no base unit, supports fall detection, and most notably: it’s backed up by numerous monitoring services. The device is sold separately at a low-entry price of $49.99 and comes with a monthly monitoring service fee starting from $19.99 for the Basic plan with Lively’s 5Star service.
Lively prides itself on its superb monitoring service called 5Star Urgent Response. It’s the peak of modern eldercare, as they operate a fully U.S. based service, where trained certified response agents are waiting for your incoming call 24/7. 5Star is ready to help in a broad scale of emergencies, which earned them partnerships with a number of respected public safety organizations including the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO).
Upon pressing your button, their staff will contact you as quickly as possible, and assess the situation. They know how to handle serious injuries, stroke victims or even an event where the victim is unconscious. But they are available in non-life threatening situations as well. They have access to the built-in GPS tracker inside the button, so the agents can safely navigate home a lost elderly. Not to mention the staff is skilled in medical symptoms, so when a senior is feeling weak or experiencing heavy pain, they can be called to decide whether further help is needed from 911 or other emergency services. We also wish to compliment 5Star for the fact that they remain on the line while the paramedics arrive, soothing and reassuring the elderly.
Free shipping with Medical Alert
Avoid paying for delivery for your Medical Alert system by choosing the semiannual or annual billing cycle. You'll get lower monthly fees and free shipping.
Lively established fall detection in a rather unique way. Normally none of the presented medical alert devices (Lively or Lively Wearable) are capable of accurately signaling a sudden movement or height change. However, putting either of the two in a special lanyard accessory set – provided only for those who opt for the Ultimate plan – opens up this capability. The lanyard set senses when the wearer falls, and the medical alarm button immediately calls a 5Star certified response agents who confirms the emergency and dispatches help if necessary.
Monitoring equipment
Monitoring equipment
Central units
Wireless/cellular systems
Wrist pendants
Necklaces
Microphone buttons
Waterproof buttons
Lockbox
Automatic testing
Battery lifetime
3 months
Station backup battery
Voice extenders
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The greatest virtue of Lively is that it steps out of the boundaries of old-fashioned medical alert systems by discarding the base unit. Now the mobile unit attends all tasks. It houses a two-way microphone, so after pressing the button, you can speak directly into it, as if it were a mobile phone. It comes with a cradle charger and accessory clips, so you are free to attach it to your belt or just shove it into your pocket. Lively fits in your palm, it’s very light to carry, and highly waterproof.
Still, the added fall detection option is where the device shines. The batteries can last quite a while, but the company recommends users to charge it on a daily basis to prevent unwanted situations where the unit goes dead during an emergency. In case you are interested, additional accessories can be purchased, like a wristband or a protective case.
Lively Wearable
As a sub-version of Lively, Lively Wearablecombines active lifestyles with protection. It’s designed to be worn as a wristband or pendant, and it measures your daily step count, offering mental motivation to stay in shape with regular jogging exercises. Besides the fitness mode, it grants occasional tips and goals, not to mention it knows all the tricks Lively has. It’s waterproof, it can come with fall detection technology, connects to other devices via Bluetooth, and most importantly, functions as a medical alert button. The same 5Star Agents can be contacted with a push of a button. Lively Wearable is far more stylish than Lively, and even though it lacks a vital feature – the two-way microphone – it’s still a great companion for active elderly.
Setup
Getting things rolling is really easy with Lively, since you don’t need a home base to fiddle with; there’s no playing with the plugs and wires. In case you brought your medical alert button from a retailer (Amazon, Walmart etc.) then you need to activate your unit on the Lively.com website before booting up the device. Otherwise just turn it on and initiate a test call. Lively offers one year of warranty for all of its products, and they’re willing to replace any lost or damaged item during this period. As for the shipping, you can choose between the standard and expedited delivery. The former is free and takes between 3-7 business days, while the other promises delivery in 1-3 business days for $20.
Pricing
Pricing
Activation fee
$49.95
Lifetime price guarantee
Free spouse monitoring
Free shipping
Free repairs & replacements
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Lively established a segmented, but easy to follow pricing tactic. To be simple: you buy your device separately and own it (rather than renting it, which is the case with most other medical alert companies), and then decide which service package you want to use with it. Both Lively and Lively Wearable cost $49.99 each without the added monthly service fee. There are three types of service packages with varying levels of support features. The Basic plan is the most cost effective, charging you $19.99 per month, but in exchange you only receive access to the 5Star Urgent Response system.
Choosing the Preferred plan instead raises the amount billed each month to $24.99, but you also get to enjoy the Urgent Care and Lively Link services. Urgent Care provides 24/7 support by a network of registered nurses and board-certified doctors, meaning that you are able to ask help in non-emergency issues as well. If you feel sick or need advice, you can call the doctors at Urgent Care for recommended medication. Lively Link is known for providing peace of mind for family members and caregivers, rather than the elderly user. This is an app that works in conjunction with Lively, informing authorized caregivers about the well-being and status of the senior user.
Jumping back to the medical alert packages, the last plan is the Ultimate plan. As its name indicates, it grants access to all previously mentioned features for $34.99 per month, while adding fall detection and product replacement guarantees to the mix. In case your Lively unit is lost, the company sends a replacement within a week. Keep in mind that a $15 replacement fee applies to Lively, and only one exchange is allowed per year.
Basic
$19.99/mo
Billed monthly
5Star Service
–
–
–
–
Preferred
$24.99/mo
Billed monthly
5Star Service
Lively Link
Urgent Care
–
–
Ultimate
$34.99/mo
Billed monthly
5Star Service
Lively Link
Urgent Care
Fall Detection
Device Replacement
Lively doesn’t work with annual contracts, meaning that you aren’t forced to commit yourself for longer periods of time. However, this also means that the prices won’t drop with longer subscriptions. You can decide the length of your contract, but the prices remain the same, which is a shame. It’s also noteworthy that even if you choose the Basic plan, you can still upgrade the service by manually picking one of the extra features. For example, Urgent Care can be enjoyed separately for $4 per month. You can opt individually for product replacements as well, which costs $3 or $4 per month depending on your device.
Payment options
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Discover
PayPal
Wire transfer
Check
Cryptocurrency
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Customer service
Customer support
24/7
Live chat
Email
Phone
Community
FAQs
Video tutorials
Remote desktop
Blog
Facebook
Instagram
X
YouTube
Show all
We found Lively’s website a bit lackluster when it comes to informing people. Sure, it’s well designed and they are eager to tell you about the benefits of their products, but other than the marketed positives it’s hard to find relevant information. The main reason for this is the missing FAQ segment, or any noteworthy tutorial material or video. Lively operates a YouTube channel, but they have no videos about the use of Lively. Still, the company can be contacted by shooting the customer department an email or calling them over the phone. The service currently holds an A+ at Better Business Bureau, proving their overall effectiveness.
Bottom line
Lively combines the professionalism of Lively’s 5Star monitoring services with a feature-rich, yet feather weighted alarm button. Mobility is the strength and also the weakness of the service. You don’t need to install a base unit, or restrict your daily routine to stay within its coverage. The button is waterproof, provides fall detection, GPS and above all: it’s capable of two-way communication. However, the strong focus on the independent unit means that there are no environmental units, pill dispensers or wall buttons to be added to the medical alert system, and the button must be charged on a daily basis. The 5Star Ready Response monitoring service is superb, not to mention the additional services like Lively Link and Urgent Care. These extras come at a higher entry price, though you do enjoy the freedom of choosing which ones of these you actually want to have and pay extra for. You have no other choice but to purchase the Lively button at $49.99, after which you pay a monthly fee that is lower than with competing medical alert companies. Lively occasionally holds sales and promotions where they’ll give you a discount between 25-50% on their equipment, resulting in even faster savings on a monthly basis. If you seek to invest in flawless protection with great mobility, Lively delivers it.
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Order Lively Mobile + with fall detection, along with a phone on 11/16 directly from Lively. Initial delivery date was 11/22, then it was chanced to 11/25 then it was changed to 11/27. During this I was following up with UPS and Lively to determine what was going on. From a 11/25 call with Lively, the customer service rep informed me to purchase the monitor from Walgreen ( I gave up on the phone), which I did and after 90 minutes of trying the activate it, it finally worked. On 11/27 the order was delivered to Lively not me. I called Lively to inform them I never received the package and no longer wanted the phone. I was told I would get credited for the order. On 11/28 I receive a bill for the originally ordered service (monitor and phone). I was told they start billing once an order is placed and not when the order is received and service is actually activated and I couldn't received a credit until they processed the "returned" equipment, which I never received in the first place. I had several calls with UPS and Lively and really got nowhere with either of them when trying to determine what was going on with the delivery. One Lively rep suggested I contact UPS (which I did) and didn't even bother trying to look at anything from their end. When inquired, they wouldn't do anything for my trouble. I can not recommend using Lively. What a nightmare. We'll see how well the product / service actually works, before dropping it
Hello Ed. B, and thank you for your comment.
We’re sorry to hear about your experience with Lively. We understand your frustration and sincerely hope that your matter has been solved by now. In case you’re still facing a challenge to resolve this matter, we suggest you file a complaint with Better Business Bureau, so the organization can help you resolve your dispute with Lively.
We wish you the best of luck that your situation is resolved quickly. Have a nice day!
my phone is not even activated yet.I was assured by the salesman that this was so easy..
Have spoken to 4 different customer service persons, getting different instructions from each. The phone may end up being wonderful, but this “easy” experience is awful. Would not recommend
Hello, Linda Cowan, and thank you for your comment!
We’re sorry to hear about your experience with Lively. On this page, the company provides online activation. After selecting your device, the website walks you through the activation steps. If you need any help during the process, Lively advises you to call the number displayed on the next page.
We hope you’re able to solve your issue soon. Have a nice day!
Do not use this phone service, I canceled my phone service over a month ago, because I lost my phone, they sent me two bills today, when I canceled I asked if I owed anything else, I was assured I didn’t. I called they said l canceled two days after I paid the bill and I owed another month, will never use this company again. Now won’t let me leave a review
Hi Edie Carte, and thanks for your comment.
We’re sorry to hear about your experience with Lively. Since the company confirmed that no additional payments are due, we suggest reaching out to the customer support team to clarify the issue and request the cancellation of the most recent bill. If that doesn’t work, we recommend speaking with your credit card company to dispute the billing statement.
We hope that this resolves your issue.
Have a nice day!
They Sales team lied from the get go, The flip phone from great call is a piece of junk, but they lied and sold it to me anyway. Don’t bother with great call as they and their jitterbug flip are a piece of junk.
If you like being lied to and cheated, then deal with great call. rating -0-
great cal sucks
Thank you,
EkB
After receiving a bill in September, I mistakenly read it wrong and over paid Great Call $379.00 over. I am a senior citizen, issues with sight. sent the over payment to Great call via Western Union. Once I realize my mistake, I called Great call a week later to ask for my refund, they played telephone games with me, saying they sent refund back to Western Union., I then checked with WU, they told me they never received it. Of course you know the Money order was address to Great Call, with me as the payee, why would they send to it back to them. As of now there has been the blame game between Great Call and Western Union. I have never received any refund. Western Union sent me a copy of the Money order showed on the back Great Call deposited in their account at Wells Fargo Bank. If you have or know a senior dealing with GC, watch that person’s bill. My phone has been disconnected, never refunded me its been since August 2019. Don’t trust GREAT CALL< INC
I am an X owner of the greatcall scam. Pleas don’t make the mistake of using their services, I did not get the so called alerts, as I am a VA patient and they supply the same features at NO COST. The system they use is not compatible. I would get a switch over with VERSION.Many calls would not go thru due to this so called feature. I cancelled all services, and sent my phone back to Amazon. They continue sending me a bill for services after I cancelled all services. It is a system they want to try and get an extra payment from their customers. I should have been aware that there own system was not a normal network.I wasted my time and money, of which I don’t have much of. I tried to post on the BBB website but was unable to do so. PLEASE BE WARNED!!!
I too heard that Hundreds of Disabled and Wounded Veterans have been screwed by this B.S. device as being none workable and out of reach of any help. I saw on three Vet’s sites the VA is not telling Veterans NOT TO USE GREAT CALL at all.
To contact the VA and get a free Guardian 911 free, it at least works and saves lives, unlike Great Call kills
I too am a Veteran and 100% Disabled, as of this week the VA no longer will be using any devices from Great Call, they now give us Veterans Guardian 911 FREE, as my Great Call device failed me twice with injures.
Great Call, did NOT tell the truth on the recall nor are they telling the truth now, it is best for all who were injured to get a lawyer and file suits as many are already being done. The firm of Bisnar & Chase, LLP of Newport Beach, CA has a major Class Action Federal Suit pending against them, I will be filing a state suit soon.
GREAT CALL HAS A LONG AND DECEITFUL HISTORY OF MISLEADING, LYING, STEALING AND MISREPRESENTATION TO THE PUBLIC. THE GREAT CALL DEVICES ARE PURE TRASH AND DO NOT WORK AS THEY SAY THEY DO.
COMPLAIN TO FCC, FTC, FDA, FBI CIVIL RIGHTS UNIT, MEDIA AND DO NOT EVER BUY ANY GREAT CALL DEVICE AS THEY INDEED ARE DEFECTIVE AND DO NOT WORK.
The Great Call Mobile Lively medical alert device is a total failure and does not even work when you need it. I received a letter telling me after 2 months of having it that is it now on recall and i need to return it ASAP and i would get a Jitterbug and $50 bucks in a gift card.
They are fooling us all it is all defective and is off the market..
Thank you for posting your information and review of the Great Call Defective Device, we too learned just today that is not only did NOT work when needed but is a shame on everyone who bought one.
Got told to return it to them and they will give us a limited free Jitterbug and a petty Fifty Bucks for our troubles ? Seriously what a bunch of cheats and scam artist. The devices are all defective and Great Call knew and sold them anyway that is a death sentence and Great Call and Best Buy need to be held accountable.
Never trust or do business with either Best Buy or Great Call ever…………………………………..
All this misleading information is Great Call Lively is terrible, the device never did work, the companies have lied to everyone and still lie. What is amazing is the company tried to hide the problems and apparently two people died and the company is recalling them all.
If you cherish your loved ones, then do not buy or use this device as it is a non-working false medical alert device that does not work nor does it do all the things it says it does.
Best Buy and Great Call have committed some serious crimes and should be indicted for false statements as well as John Walsh who is misrepresenting the people.
Terrible customer service. Device does not hold a charge for longer than 5-8 hours and customer service alternately blames customer saying you didn't put it into the charger correctly, blames the charger and says they will send a new one, says they will "fix it" by sending it a reset, etc. Finally they sent the "new, better device" and today I got the recall letter saying this device is recalled so send it back to them! Do not use GREAT CALL LIVELY because it does not work! Save your time and money and get some other device!
We had a Great Call Lively that wouldn't hold it's charge so we replaced it (for a fee) in December. Two months later, the brand new device is not holding a charge for more than 7.5 hours at a time. My Mom is 95 and needs something that won't require constant charging. The agents available on the phone keep trying to reboot it and this doesn't correct the issue, which I suspect is a design flaw. It's a good concept ... cellular signal that is not reliant on a base station. But if it is not practical, it doesn't matter how good an idea it is.
APRIL 12, 2018 ORDERED A LIVELY MOBILE, WAS TOLD I WOULD RECEIVE UNIT IN 5 – 7 DAYS. FAST FORWARD TO 04-20-2018 STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED UNIT. TALKED TO GREAT CALL REP 5-6 TIMES DURING THIS TIME AND WAS TOLD IT WOULD BE SHIPPED 04-25-2018 AND WOULD BE SHIPPED OVERNIGHT. AT THIS POINT I HAD BEEN TOLD SEVERAL DIFFERENT STORIES AND SAID THEY WAS HAVING TROUBLE WITH THERE DISTRIBUTION CENTER. AT THIS POINT I HAD BEEN VERY PATIENT AND WAS TREATED NOT VERY GOOD. I TOLD REP I WANTED TO CANCEL ORDER AND WOULD LOOK ELSEWHERE, OFFERED ME A MONTH FREE SERVICE IF I WOULD CONTINUE WITH ORDER. I SAID NO AND I DID NOT WANT GREAT CALL. THEY CHARGED MY CREDIT CARD 101.96 AND TOLD ME WHEN THEY RECEIVED IT BACK THEY WOULD CREDIT MY ACCOUNT BUT IT WOULD TAKE UP TO THIRTY DAYS. AT THIS POINT ALL I WANTED WAS MY MONEY REFUNDED AND TO CANCEL MY ORDER AND MY ACCOUNT. THIS WAS ON FRIDAY 04-20-2018. GUESS WHAT THE VERY NEXT DAY SATURDAY 04-21-2018 (FOUR DAYS BEFORE THEY SAID IT WOULD BE SHIPPED) MY DOOR BELL RANG AND ANSWERED AND YOU GUESSED IT THEY HAD DROPPED UNIT OFF AT MY FRONT DOOR VIA FED EX AFTER BEING TOLD IT WOULD NOT BE SHIPPED UNTIL 04-25-2018 AND THEY COULDN’T STOP SHIPMENT. I WAS TOLD SO MANY DIFFERENT STORIES I WANTED TO BE DONE WITH GREAT CALL. TOOK PACKAGE BACK TO UPS STORE ON MONDAY 04-30-2018 AND REFUSED PACKAGE AND RETURN TO SENDER. WAS GIVEN RETURN TRACKING NUMBER AND I TRACKED IT DAILY AND IT WAS ACCEPTED BY GREAT CALL ON WEDNESDAY 05-02-2018. NEXT STEP I DISPUTED THERE CHARGE ON MY CREDIT CARD. ON MY CREDIT CARD STATEMENT IT SHOWED CREDIT HAD BEEN APPLIED ON 04-18-2018.
THIS WHOLE THING HAS BEEN A BIG THORN IN MY SIDE.
I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH GREAT CALL. I WILL SAY ONE THING IN THERE FAVOR I DID RECEIVE A CREDIT ON MY ACCOUNT. THANK YOU GREAT CALL.
My daughter purchased a greatcall medical alert for me. When I tried to activate it, it was too old to activate. The company offered to replace it for free, if I returned the other one to them. I did that and then paid to activate it. I was to have a 30 day free trial. I also ordered the plan that would let my children get on line and see what was going on with me. Since they are in Utah and Missouri and I am in Arkansas, I felt it would give them peace of mind. The first problem was they did not have my home address in the system. They had me about 5 miles away. I managed with the google map to pull the indicator to my address. The next morning, there was a posting of my whereabouts. At 5AM they showed that I was on some road about 20 miles from me that I have never been on in my life. I actually was home in my bed. Another problem popped up. My alert was turned off. So I called them. I explained this whole situation to customer service and their agent was too busy telling me "how high tech and accurate this system was. He told me that the reason it was turned off is that it does not work well on a power strip. There was nothing in the manual that addressed that, but when I plugged it into the wall outlet, it worked. I told him to change the plan to the cheaper plan since it was not keeping up for my children. And he said he could do that. The next problem was that it wouldn't hold a charge for more than 4 hours, and didn't signal me when it was low. Then there were billing problems. So, once more I found out what I have heard so many times......if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. So to save your money and not pay for a hard time, you might want to think twice about buying this alert.
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Sander D.
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