Skyline Energy Savers, Inc.

Review: I heard their radio ads that said that a person could pay off their solar system in five years. So I called them and made an appointment to have someone come explain it to me.My wife and I had two meetings with Skyline Energys fast talking, high pressure salesman. At the end of the second meeting we were shown a system that we were told would reduce our bills from [redacted]. I said that if I was going to pay for solar, I wanted to not pay anything to [redacted]. We were then shown a system that we were told would not only provide enough energy to not pay [redacted] anything but would create excess energy that [redacted] would credit to our account.(our meter would run backwards). In addition, because we would be generating so much electricity, we were sold a tank-less water heater. We were told that we would have instant hot water at all outlets and we would never run out of hot water. We would save money because the water heater would not have to keep running keeping the water hot.We went ahead with it all. The installers were on time and did a good job of installing the solar panels and the water heater.As we started using the solar system we had to jump thru some hoops with [redacted] getting them to acknowledge that we had a solar system. Then it was a couple of more months before we saw any change in our bills.Imagine our surprise when we started getting [redacted] bills showing true up amounts in the hundreds of dollars. This means that at the end of the year we were going to have to pay a large lump sum to [redacted] for energy we used over and above what our solar system generated.At the end of the 1st year we had a bill of over 800 dollars that we had to pay to [redacted] on top of the cost of the solar system. The previous year our [redacted] bill totaled $1560 for the year. So with a saving of $760 a year there is no way to pay off this system in five years.It would take us almost 20 years to pay this solar system off. Had we known this information we would not have made the investment.Now for the tank-less water heater: We do not get instant hot water at our faucets but have to wait as much time or more than with our old water heater. We can not turn on more than one faucet at the same time or we lose water pressure to the point that one will only be a trickle. In addition, when a faucet is turned on (hot or cold) the water heater makes whistling noises. All of these things did not happen with our old water heater.These issues have been brought to the attention of the owner of Skyline Energy and he has come to the house several times trying to fix these issues. To date they have not been fixed.Skyline did add two more panels to our system for free but it still does not replace our [redacted] bill.The owner told us that the system was not designed to replace the [redacted] bills but just to reduce it by providing enough energy to offset the top tier cost of our [redacted] bill. That is not what our understanding was from the fast talking, high pressure salesman that was at our house. We feel that we were swindled, duped, hoodwinked.Desired Settlement: I would like for them to honor their agreement with us. Install a system that takes us off the grid at no extra cost,that is paid off in five years and fix the hot water heater. Or remove all the equipment installed and return the systems to the original configuration and refund all costs.

Business

Response:

As the owner of the company, I always meet with every customer before we do the job for them, to make sure they understand exactly what their solar system is going to do. I met with both Mr. and Mrs. and explained, in detail, that the system we were installing would not replace all of their electricity, but just the upper tiers of their [redacted] bill. They understood this before we went ahead with the installation. They also contracted with us to get a tankless water heater and had questions about that. I explained exactly how it works, that it's not an instant hot water device that fits under the counter, rather it replaces the water heater in the garage. It provides hot water in the same amount of time as the old one. After the installation, they were disappointed in the performance of the tankless water heater, so we came back 2 or 3 times to improve the problems. Now I find that they are still not happy with the performance. We will solve the problem with the tankless water heater, or I will remove the tankless and give them a conventional water heater.Regarding the solar system, I have already given them 2 extra panels to improve the performance. He was supposed to call me and let me know how they were doing, but he chose to complain instead. I have always done everything I can to help and please our customers. That's why we have always had an A+ rating with the Revdex.com. I will be contacting them in the next few days to see them and help them.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to my concern, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.