| Ive seen a few articles about this topic. I’m a new homeowner and have been looking forward to getting rooftop solar within the next year (recently swapped to a heat pump instead of gas furnace). The local (PDX, OR) companies seem a bit sketchy but I do have at least one solid recommendation from a friend. My mother however wasn’t so lucky and experienced something similar to the article where the salesmen claimed it would all be free and pay for itself but the. She ended up with a $16k loan. When she called to clarify they offered to double the number of panels on the roof and install for free, which she agreed to. Any one else here with experience getting rooftop solar? |
I went with a local company. The owner was an electrician and knew what he was talking about. He didn't try to upsell me. He didn't claim to be the cheapest but the price was competitive and the workers were in-house, not subcontracted. It seemed like just what I wanted.
The installation day came and they arrived early in the morning, and spent hours installing brackets. The solar panels were supposed to arrive by 9am. By noon they were still waiting. Finally they gave up and went home, no answer on the panels. The next day they came back to keep working, still with no panels. I sent them home and called the owner, demanding an answer. Eventually I learned that the panels were damaged in transit and it'd be weeks before they could procure new ones. They couldn't guarantee a date.
They had already charged my credit card for the full amount of the install. I told them this was unacceptable, the law says they can only charge a deposit, with the balance due when the work was actually complete.
They stopped returning my calls, so I initiated a chargeback with my credit card company. That got their attention. They begged me to cancel the chargeback, which I only reluctantly agreed to after they hand-delivered a refund check to me in person.
It took me dozens of calls before I found another company willing to work with the half-completed install. Most companies didn't want to touch it.
In the end, I got the system I wanted and it worked great.
One thing I learned through this process is that there are a lot of companies who want to install solar, but none who want to service your existing solar installation, which is seen as a money-losing business. Lots of homeowners buy a system that supposedly includes an excellent warranty, but then their solar company goes out of business, and suddenly they have nobody to call when something goes wrong.
I don't really know the solution to that problem. It makes me think that if I had to do it again, maybe I should go with a larger national company.