Lifestyle Solar, Inc.

Lifestyle solar promised me a system that would meet more than 100% of my electric needsThey now claim they misquoted and I need more panels
In August of 2014, salesman *** *** sent me a proposal for a solar system which was supposed to be large enough to cover all of my electric needsHe stated that we would need a 9.15kw system with panelsI advised him that I would like a couple extra panels to ensure we would never exceed the energy produced by our panelsWe agreed that a panel system at 9.76kw would me more than enough.The cost of the system was $35,The system was installed in December of and up and running by March of After nearly year, in January 2016, I received a bill from Southern California Edison for almost $and risingDuring this year, we used much less total energy than the year that Lifestyle solar used to determine my needsAfter contacting Lifestyle Solar, they checked to make sure all our panels were working correctly

I am rejecting this response because:
The response is incorrect I inquired about the tree on day and was told it would not be an issueNowhere in any contract or document that I was given says that their guarantee was voided due to shading The shading is pretext and was only ever mentioned after I first complained about poor production The consultant, Mr***, said the tree would not be an issue If they thought it was a issue why put the majority of the panels right in the path of the tree? that was their design and recommendation, not my request When the installers came, they did not ask, suggest, or even mention "shading issues" or concerns No "lead installer" talked to me about potential issues. In their responses to this complaint, Lifestyle Solar has contradicted themselves and continue to lie Their initial response was that purchased or cash systems do not have production guarantee, only lease systems When presented with their own website advertisements that say the contrary, they recant and say that its "standard if there is no obstruction blocking the solar system." The proposal given to me includes as a benefit the production guarantee, nowhere in it does it say or even hint to interpret that its based on no shading Its simply false. Their entire "shading" excuse, is nothing but that, an excuse and lie I have presented more evidence to show that they do offer said guarantee, including to purchased systems, that it was understood to me that it was a benefit included with the purchase in my proposal All Lifestyle has presented are lies that they "verbally" told me to trim the tree at the time of purchase, and that "shading" voids a guarantee they claimed did not apply to my system, then later said it would have applied had there been no shade only All convenient, yet zero evidence to prove

When I purchased the solar system I was told by the salesman that the system had a production guarantee, meaning that if it did not produce sufficient to offset my bill, they would pay the difference I called the business to get the production guarantee and I was told that they do not offer that for purchased systems, only leased or pre-paid leases This is not what I was told, additionally, I looked in the website, and it too confirms that they have a "production guarantee" even for purchased systems like mineWhen I informed them of this, they still refuse to reimburse the difference
Additionally, the system is not producing anything nearly close to offset my bill and usage This is caused by shade cast from a tree, when I bought the system was told this would not be a problem I am requesting that they install the additional panels to deliver a system that I purchased which produces enough to offset my usage

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2016/02/26) */
The customer purchased the system about a year ago. We offer customers 3 sizes which are small, medium, and large. Due to the price of energy a small system would provide better return on the money but it would not cover all of the usage it...

would only cover about 60% of the usage. A medium size system is about 80% if the usage which would cover most of the cost it would just not cover the lowest tier of utility. The last system would cover 100% of the usage depending on the customer's usage and could produce 5-10% more than customer needs. The customer called us about the remaining balance of $500 dollars with the local utility. He claimed that he wanted to wipe out his bill completely and that is when we explained that he would have to upgrade from medium to large. Out of courtesy we let him know that we were sorry and that we would try to make them happy. We figured out that an additional $15,680 would be needed in order to fully cover the usage costs. We offered the customer 25% off and the customer was happy with that. He then called back and he demanded to know the price of the panels and that this was the only charge he wanted to pay for. We explained that we cannot have him just pay for the panels and that he would have to also pay for the labor which had to be included in the original quoted price. That is when the customer became upset and filed the complaint.

Since the conversation between us and Mr [redacted] about trim the tree that come over his house from his neighbor tree was verbal, so there is a interpretation Mr [redacted] can say, or we say, that nobody can be right or wrong on that matter.    However, because of the shade, we did not provide the production warranty, due to the tree , even if trim, can growth tall again, cast shade again. It is the obligation of customer to trim the branches that come over his house.    We did , as we always, show customer the location of the solar arrays BEFORE we install. Our lead installer always worked with customers on the first day of installation, point to customer the location of the arrays.    On the contract, we list the system size and the price, and nowhere in that contract that we list the value of kwh that we guarantee for there is and will always be shading issue.    The proposal show the production with no shade, the contract, if production is warranty, will show the kwh that we promise to deliver.    The screen customer took from the website represent the standard if there is no obstruction blocking the solar system. It is not a legal obligation, it is a presentation of what we can do , but due to various circumstances, would not be possible, like tall building next door, tree shades.     That why we have draw out the contract with legal signatures to specify the scope of work and our responsibility. Production , again, is not include in the contract due to shade.     After Mr [redacted] is willing to trim all the branches that come over his house, I will be happy to send my engineer to his house to check and issue production warranty as long as no branches come over his side of the house.     Please let me know if I can be anymore help. Thanks.

Respond to [redacted]:    Customer purchase a system for the home. We design the system with the verbal understand that the neighbor trees that hang over the home will need to trim back to minimize the shad effect. Customer approved the design and we installed, customer signed the...

completion as requested. We did not warranty the production, verbally or in written, what so ever for there is a clear shade issue.    A year latter, customer complained about the low production . Upon visited the house, we saw that the trees had not be trim and again suggest that to customer. Customer did not want to spend any money to trim the trees, so we offered to move half of the area that affected by shade ( the most affected area ) to the back for no charge to help out ( the service we normally charge $2500). Customer was very happy and thanked us.   Last month, customer called and complained again, want us to cover the true up bill ( net electrical charge by SCE for the annual true up charge ). We told customer that we have never in the past, verbal or written, warranty the production because customer had shade due to neighbor trees. As trees grow, it is the customer responsible to trim back the parts that come over the customer's airspace.   About the production warranty, it is only applied to lease, not to cash purchase because the leasing company would own a system and make sure there would be no shade before they allow us to install. And even on the lease, the lease would be clearly state that any shade to the system will void the warranty.    We feel that the customer has been unreasonable( we already, with no obligation, spend $2500 to move partial of the system to the back. All he has to do to solve the problem is trim the trees that hang over his roof. which he still refused. As the trees get bigger, the situation will only get worse due to shade.   His true up is not too bad, he would be able to wipe out his bill had he willing to trims the branches that hang over his roof. Those branches would eventually damage his roof too, but he refused to do anything.   Therefore , there is nothing we can do. The system is operate well, just under produce due to shading issues. Respond to [redacted]:   Lifestyle Solar is a sub-contractor for Grid Alternative, a non-profit organization that provide free solar system to low income resident.  The system we design is according to Grid, we have no contact to customer prior to inform by Grid about the customer usages( we do not know the usage, just take the number provide by Grid, for Grid paid us to install a system , size determine by Grid ).  Every time something goes wrong, Grid would notify us to go to service any of Grid customer and we would conformed.  About Mr [redacted], we went to every service that Grid request, his system is working fine. And if by some reasons he is not happy, it is Grid that he must talks to, for the system is 100% financial support by Grid. Grid would be the one that control, monitor his solar system. Lifestyle Solar does not have that permission to view his system.  It is not true about what Mr [redacted] complained. Grid is aware of Mr [redacted] and advice us not to communicate with Mr [redacted] because he had threaten to sue Grid, he already sued PG&E( he lost ) and we would be the next one in his target.  We do not ow Mr [redacted] anything and feel that his complained is not warranted.