SolarMax Renewable Energy Provider, Inc.

We have addressed our customer's complaint as follows:
The Junction Box that was installed was defective and did not have the necessary O-Ring gasket to keep water outWhen water entered into the Junction Box, it leaked down into the DisconnectThis did not damage the InverterWe sent out our
Head Electrician who fixed the problem and returned the Photovoltaic System to full operationSince our customer was still not satisfied with an Inverter that was not damaged, fully functioning, and still under a year warranty, we replaced the inverter for her at our expense
Additionally we reestablished communication links to her monitoring system, so she can monitor her system performance from her computer of smart phone
We have offered to compensate our customer for the cost of electricity that was not produced, and an additional amount that almost doubles the amount of actual damages due to lost productionOur customer is not satisfied with the amount offered and we seem to be stalled in our negotiations to satisfy our customer
While we regret the circumstances that prompted this complaint, and regret that we have not been able to leave our customer satisfied, we appreciate the opportunity to resolve the problem, and hope that we can eventually come to a mutually acceptable conclusionWe take great pride in our products and installation servicesWe have industry leading products, and since this customer entered into her contract, we have launched a Year Production Guaranty that provides compensation at current and future utility rates for systems that do not meet the Guaranteed Production levelsThis commitment to our products and services allows new customer the confidence of knowing that we stand behind our products and will pay them if our systems do not produce as disclosed in writing

I am rejecting this response because:
I still have not heard anything from *** ***. Still awaiting response to the power surge claim. I will contact them on Monday

We have reached out to our customer and have agreed upon an amicable resolution of this matterWe wish to explain that our solar installations include a year warranty that any roofing penetrations from the solar installation will be “water tight” and will not result in leaks for a period of
years from the installationThat warranty does not include portions of the roof that were not penetrated during the installation process, or portions of the roof that were not installed, repaired, modified, and/or replaced by SolarMax

We have not ignored you, as you have claimed, and your call was answered in December. You have also stated that you leased your system from us, however, you have purchased your system and did not sign a lease contract. It is the customer’s responsibility to monitor the production of
their system (via the Monitoring System that was installed) and notify us if there appears to be an issue with the system’s production, any of its parts, or if the monitoring system goes offline or stops reporting. Once we are notified, we will troubleshoot the issue over the phone, or send a technician out to the property to resolve the issue as quickly as possible within the guidelines of the Manufacturer’s Warranty provided for your system. In the past, your inverter had an Arc Fault Error and once you brought this issue to our attention, we promptly scheduled an appointment for a technician to go out to your property and resolve the issue. We also sent a technician out to your property when you changed internet providers to re-connect the monitoring system, at no charge to you. We have verified that your system should be producing approximately 7,kWhs per year. Based on the monitoring data, your system produced 6,kWhs from January to December 2017, which is a difference of 1,kWhs. You have stated that the past few months your system has not produced what it should, however, the past few months have been winter months with lower/less sun exposure. It also appears that a likely cause of the difference in production, during the months that shading occurs, could be due to the increased shading from the growth of the city trees in that area. Trees grow an average of feet per year, and unless trimmed, will continue to grow at that rate and cause more shade. We have recently found information from your city’s website that states the Public Works Department has reduced its services by percent and has eliminated staffing in the “Street, Trees, and Concrete Sections of the Streets and Street Trees Divisions.” Those changes directly affect “how and to what extent the City’s urban forest and concrete network of curbs, gutters and sidewalks are managed.” Also, it’s important to understand that during the months from April to August, our shading analysis shows that solar access for your system is nearly 100%, and the trees you are referencing have little to no affect. However, during the winter months, there is less sun exposure due to the nature of the sun’s location during the earth’s rotation which cause shading from those trees. It’s important to understand that your system will not produce the exact same amount of energy every single month, as this is true for every solar system. Weather, seasons, and the azimuth and tilt of the panels play a large part of the expected production. This is also why the panels on the North side of your home were installed with a reverse tilt. That allows the panels to have access to more of the sun’s exposure throughout the year and will help it to produce more energy than if they had been installed flush with the roof’s natural tilt. With Net Energy Metering (NEM), excess energy will be fed into your electric utility’s grid when your system is producing more than you useWhen your system isn’t producing enough electricity to cover your consumption, you draw the extra energy needed from your utility’s grid. In a perfect scenario, the excess electricity your home produces should cover the times when you aren’t producing enough from your solar system or consuming more than your system can produce. If, in the future, you begin to use/consume more energy than you had prior to your system’s installation, your system will not be able to produce more than it was designed to in order to cover the excess consumption. So, you will have to pull more energy from the utility’s grid, which you will be charged for by your utility company. In order to analyze your consumption versus what your system has been producing, we would need to see your utility bills from the entire previous year so that we can compare your usage to your system’s current production. If you would like to provide your utility bills from 2017, we would be more than happy to analyze the data and discuss our findings with you

Your Enphase Microinverters come with a year warranty from the manufacturerWhen we determined that the Microinverters required replacement, we filed a warranty claim with EnphaseEnphase technicians determined that the problem was created by a lightning strike or grid voltage spike on July 3,
between 10:AM and 10:AMThe possibility of a lightning strike was eliminated due to the weather on 7/3/That leaves a voltage spike as the source of the damageThe Enphase warranty specifically does not cover input voltage that creates operating conditions beyond the maximum or minimum limits listed in the products specifications, including high input voltage from generators or lightning strikesDue to these reasons, we recommend the homeowner file a claim with their homeowners insurance provider, and inquire with the electric utility company regarding events that could or may have created a voltage spike in the power grid

Please find our response below to the customer’s response of complaint number *** (complaint attached for reference) We will await your response with the information obtained from the utility company in regards to this matter

I am rejecting this response because: Their response is totally nonsense. On 3/28/2016, I contacted SolarMax to inform them the system was not operating properly and requested generation energy report, then on 4/13/2016, they sent a technician to check the monitor , we never knew the storyof the monitoring device lost. Then no reply about what was going on . On 8/24/, I sent a fax to request generation energy report, still no response. I called them many times, finally, their technician came at the property on 9/16/2016 and found the inverterbroken, they said need about one week to replace the inverterAfter that no more messages, I called many times, despairing , frustrating, how would this company can treat their customer in this way. I decided to return their service, I sent a fax on 10/16/to the customerservice manager of SolarMax requested to return services.For the *** *** **San ***, I had insurance company and roof technicians evaluated the roof leakThey all determined that the leak was the faulty workmanship during the installation of the solar panels SolarMax is obligated to repair leak and take responsible for any cause disease due to the fungus.Regards*** ***

Solarmax installed our system which in turn created a new problem. After installation of the panels I immediately noticed an increase of pigeons on our roof. I immediately contacted our sales rep who said it's a known problem but we were never informed of this in the beginning. Subsequent contact with Solarmax have gone nowhere. All they do is apologize and claim staff will be trained to inform future customers but for me this isn't enough. My most recent complaint against Solarmax with the BBB also just resulted in some employee offering the most ridiculous analogies instead of taking responsibility for their companies actions. My message to Solarmax is I do not plan on going away. My goal is to inform all potential solar customers to avoid Solarmax like the plague. Stick to more reliable solar providers.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/23) */
Mrs.[redacted] I apologize for the frustration you have experienced regarding this issue. I reviewed your contract and searched through your customer file looking for anything relating to an I Pad. I was not able to find anything listing an I Pad as...

part of your installation. However, in light of this SolarMax has decided to issue you an I Pad as a courtesy as we value your business and feel that it is the right thing to do. feel free to contact me directly at [redacted]@solarmaxtech.com to make arrangements.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I frankly don't trust nor have any faith in them delivering what was promised. I know I only have till the 3rd to respond and without receiving exactly what was promised in my hand, I don't think my complaint was resolved.
I've reached out to Guillermo to provide him with my ship to address. He did indicate that he will ship me the ipad. I've requested an ETA from him. It took him 2 days to provide me with the ETA which is 1 1/2 weeks. I also requested a receipt to go with the ipad min and confirmation on the type of iPad. I've informed him that a receipt was promised and that I was promised the iPad mini3 128G. Again, it took him another 2 days to reply. He replied indicating that it's a ipad mini 16G...not the iPad mini 3 128G that was promised to me. Again, he was not planning to deliver what was promised to me. I honestly think that he just wants to give me something so I'll go away. (If he was even going to send it.) Promising you one thing and giving you something else is still fraud.
I frankly don't trust them.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/09/16) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I'm very disappointed. I was assured that I will receive the specific model of Ipad that was promised to me by 09/08. Today is 09/16 and I have yet to receive it. I don't want to be skeptical but are they just trying to stall so I can close the complaint and have no intention to deliver. The iPads are readily available therefore I really don't understand the extended delay.
Very disappointing...
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/09/17) */
The specific model Mrs. [redacted] claimed she was promised by the sales consultant is not the normal Ipad model we offer to customers as a gift. We had to special order from the manufacturer. Customer was very specific that the IPad had to be the IPad MINI 3 with the 128G memory.The shipment we received on the 8th did not include that model, this was communicated to the customer via email on 09/08/2015. I even offered to give her 2 I Pads Mini 2,16BG of the current stock or wait for the IPad Mini 3's to arrive to which I received no response.
However, today we received the specific IPads in question from Apple and the Ipad will be shipped to the customers preferred mailing address tomorrow 09/18/2015.

We are sorry to learn of our customer's negative experience and hope to find a resolution that works for everyone. We are attempting to contact our customer to address each of the complaints mentioned in her complaint. Since our customer does not speak English and is Chinese speaking, we are having...

a Chinese speaking associate here reach out to her to obtain additional information. We will respond once we obtain more information.

I apologize for the delayed response.  Please find our response to our customer’s most recent response below:   Our Customer has two properties that are referenced in his complaint.  For the property in [redacted] Park, we scheduled an appointment with our Customer on 4/13/2016 to address a claim, and our Customer was not home when we arrived.  We rescheduled for a later date when our Customer was available and could be present, which meant dispatching our technician an additional time.  When our technician arrived for the rescheduled appointment, we discovered that a tenant of the residence had taken some of the communication equipment necessary for monitoring that system’s production.  We replaced that equipment at our expense, which would normally be billed to the customer.                   We scheduled a technician to visit that property again to troubleshoot an inverter, and we determined that it needed to be replaced under the manufacturer’s warranty.  The manufacturer had a long delay in delivering the replacement, which was at no fault of our own.  Solarmax is not responsible for the manufacturer warranty that is provided by the manufacturer for the customer.  We agree to provide installation services under the applicable manufacturer warranties that are provided to our customers.  While waiting for the replacement inverter to arrive, our Customer emailed us demanding that we cancel his contract.  That is not part of the agreement that our Customer and Solarmax agreed upon when the contract was signed.  We are holding up our obligations under the contract.  We do not try to renegotiate, change the terms or conditions of the contract, or make any other alterations after the contract has been signed and agreed upon by both us and our customers.  We expect our Customer to do the same.  A Home Improvement Contract is not a returnable service, and our Customer’s demand that we cancel the contract is not reasonable.                   Our customer’s other property, in San [redacted], appeared to have a roof leak proximate to the solar panels.  We warranty our roofing penetrations against leaks for 10 years.  We evaluated the leak, and determined that the roof leak at this property is not from the penetrations.  The roofing contractor that the customer hired to evaluate the leak did not determine the leak is due to “faulty workmanship during the installation of the solar panels” as our Customer states.  Our Customer’s roofing contractor states “there appears to be something wrong under the tile, probably where the solar panels are located.”  Without taking any steps to investigate and determine the actual source of the leak, the roofing contractor speculates that “the solar company probably cut or tore the felt or did not do the subflashing properly.”  The roofing contractor further speculates that “to repair the leak, probably have to remove the solar panels to determine what is wrong and repair it properly.”  That means that they have not been able to determine the source or cause of the leak, as our Customer incorrectly states.   In order to fairly resolve this matter, we recommend the following:  We will remove the solar panels and underlying tiles, so both Solarmax and the roofing contractor that speculated the roof leaks were due to the solar installation can inspect the roofing.   Depending on the conclusions from the evaluation, the following presents a fair and reasonable resolution of the roofing issues: A.            If, after removing the panels and tiles, both Solarmax and the roofing contractor agree that the leaks are due to the solar installation work performed by Solarmax, we will repair the roof and reinstall and reconnect the panels at our expense.  B.            If, after removing the panels and tiles, both Solarmax and the roofing contractor agree that the leaks are not related to the solar installation, our Customer and/or the roofing contractor will be responsible for our charges of performing the removal of the panels and tiles as well as any charges for subsequent reinstallation work to repair the roof and reinstall and reconnect the panels.  C.            If, both Solarmax and the roofing contractor cannot agree if the leak was due to the solar installation work performed by Solarmax, our Customer and Solarmax agree to neutral arbitration of this matter under the Arbitration provisions of the existing Home Improvement Contract.   We will provide pricing and scope of work quotes prior to any work being done for our Customer to review, approve, and sign-off on.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/28) */
Mr [redacted],
I apologize for the inconvenience caused by the pigeons choosing to make a home underneath your solar panels, I can understand how you are upset by this.SolarMax is dedicated to helping it's customers however we can and within...

reason.
Last year on 10/14/2014 SolarMax installed pigeon spikes as a courtesy to Mr. [redacted], he was agitated by the noise the pigeons were making. SolarMax customer service management decided they would install spikes in locations where the birds might be entering.The cost for material and labor was not charged to the customer. This was done as a courtesy. Nine months later on 7/18/2015 later Mr. [redacted] called SolarMax again about the pigeons making their way back underneath his panels and nesting again and knocking off clips. Our records show that we made a service call on 07/31/2015 to check for lose wires or missing clips. Our techs removed all the panels and only found a single wire that had a small amount of slack in it, the issue was addressed and corrected. Our techs did not find any missing or loose clips, the entire array was inspected and re-tightened.
Mr. [redacted] is asking us to do something to eradicate the pigeons. I have given Mr.[redacted] the name of a company that installs a "critter Guard" but he did not choose to pursue that option. We will add additional spike the "top " of the array. Currently the rail system underneath the panels prevents the birds from entering from but we will go back and add spike regardless. We have agreed to add additional spikes to the top sections and have already scheduled the date for 09/03/2015.
As a show of goodwill SolarMax agreed to your request to add pigeon spikes around the perimeter of your solar panels at no cost. Again this was done as a courtesy and is not a standard practice.

An electrician was dispatched to the customer’s home on 2/28/2018 to correct the wiring issue.  The electrician confirmed that the necessary repairs were made and the issue has been resolved.

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The responses from Solar Max have been spotty at best. I would be told that I could expect to hear from them, and then would hear nothing. I would follow-up with them, and they would still not have responses or solutions to the issues. The first tech who came out to diagnose the issue stated that the junction box, wiring, and inverter should be replaced. The second tech who came out five days later to attempt to restart the system (who was four hours out of window of when I was told to expect him) stated that the junction box, wiring, and inverter should be replaced; an error code was received and it was after hours for the issue to be resolved. The next day, someone was sent who was unable to answer basic questions regarding the system, and kept repeating "I was told to come out and get the system restarted, nothing more". This was after I had been told that the sysytem would be replaced at the cost of Solar Max based on the recommendations of the first two techs sent out.
I had been told that I would be compensated for my time, trouble and inconvenience. I was offered $300.00; which when one subtracts the cost of the true up at the end of the year with SDG&E, plus the additional months of June and July of payment for electricity costs, the sum offered in settlement for time, trouble, and inconvience is actually $182.16, which seems to be very little considering how much time, trouble and inconvience there has actually been for a system that cost over $16,000.00.
I have asked that I be provided a list of the work that was done, and there were holes, delays, and evasive language around the documentation. When asked again about the documentation, I was told that the "affected wiring has been addressed" but not confirming that it was replaced, as was discussed in conversations.
I have asked for $500.00 in compensation, and considering that I pulled together the paperwork, provided the billing from SDG&E, and have had to repeatedly leave messages and reach out to find the status of the repair of the system which was not installed correctly from the beginning.
I hope that we can come to a conclusion on this without further action.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2016/07/15) */
We have reviewed the customer's complaint and have reached an agreement to settle their issues and concerns.
1. We are adding 4 additional panels
2. We are moving 4 existing panels to improve production.
The above changes were made to...

address the production issues that our customer was experiencing.
3. The check for $488.81 was prepared on 6/15/2016. It was cashed on 6/29/2016, so we believe it must have arrived shortly after our customer's complaint.
We apologize for any delays and dissatisfaction this may have created for our customer. We pride ourselves on providing top quality products and services for our customers. We are sorry that our customer did not have that experience, and will work harder to regain our customer's confidence.