SolarCity

I don’t think I have ever dealt with a more incompetent company. They came out, did their presentation (training a new rep also). Everything sounded and looked good. Signed the contract. When we received our copy of the contract, the monthly price was $ 100 more then what we signed. Asked them how they could change the prices after the contract was signed? Isn’t that fraud? Their payment schedule had my monthly payment 3x what my current electrical bill is. How is this cheaper? From there everything went downhill. Couldn’t get a correct contract, problem with software we were told. After we told them we were done with them, they continued to call to schedule installation. We decided to go with Petersen Dean. Monthly prices were cheaper, monthly payment would NOT increase 3−5% each year. We will own our system, we got the tax rebates and had ¹⁄₃ of the panels installed that Solar City wanted to put on. Solar City was going to use us as a solar buy back and we didn’t get any thing from it. My payment is half is what we were paying. When we sell our house, the solar will be an asset, not a lien on the property that new owner will have to assume. Nobody I talked to who has Solar City is happy with their system or service.

Two thumbs down. If you don’t know much about solar power and just want someone to throw a system in for you, then these are the people for you. However, if you are looking for comparable vendors and want to get a few bids and see proposals, then don’t use Solar City.
I’ve been soliciting bids for a solar system. I did my homework, got familiar with solar power using the internet (its easy) and then called the top 5 solar vendors on Unilocal.They were very considerate and respected the fact that I had some knowledge about the product. I received proposals, prices, specifications, offset, manufacturer info etc. — all the things you use when you solicit bids for anything.
I had a Solar City employee knock on my door with the usual sales tactics but this time I said «Sure, Im looking for bids right now» Originally, I didn’t contact them because of such negative reviews on Unilocal,but what the heck. Well, they lived up to their negative reviews. the initial phone call was fine and I sent usage data to them over the internet. I asked for the items mentioned above… price, system, manufacturer etc. in a proposal form that I could analyze. I could not ever get it. All I got was photos of the product and links to satisfied customer testimonies.
After a few more specific emails asking for this information I was finally sent a link to a location where the proposal was supposed to be located. The link sent me to a site that was the beginning of a contract authorization. I was fed up with this and backed out. I emailed the tech and told them to don’t bother. I told them that at that point, I wasn’t even interested in the price anymore (it was never given). I also told them that I don’t like doing business like this, Im looking for proposals.
If I buy a system, its going to be like buying a computer. I want to know whats inside the box. Solar City doesn’t disclose this info to you for some reason. Truthfully, I don’t think the tech that I talked to really knew much about their systems because all she said was, «yes yes, I’ll send that all to you». Like I say, If you aren’t really familiar with solar power, and don’t really care, then use Solar City. But remember, its important to know about the components because some are better, some are old school, and some are cheaply made. It makes a difference because solar technology has changed so much in the last few years and they old stuff out there that people are buying unknowingly. Use the best rated vendors on Unilocal and you’ll be OK, I’ve found that the testimonies are pretty accurate in this field.

I’m glad I had switched my energy to Solar City. I feel I have done the right thing for my family and the environment. I researched about solar for several years but thought it was not feasible financially. The PPA program makes a lot of sense to me and the switch is simple. Solar City handled the whole process efficiently and professionally. The program was like a gift to me. After a year of installation, I can tell for sure that the savings are real. I’m paying less every month for cleaner energy, and stop contributing to global warming.

Here is my final response in my BBB complaint to solar city.
PS: my complaint is not specific to any location, rather a general billing issue.
My chief issue is two fold
1. They charge a 7.50 FEE for not enrolling in automatic payment from your checking account (auto withdrawal from checking could result in overdraft charges if there are insufficient funds, whereas I don’t have that problem from my credit card).
2. They deceitfully call the avoidance of that fee a savings. There is no real savings, it’s just avoiding a fee.
Here’s how they word it followed by my concluding comments:
For the time being, non-​ACH enrollment will render the $ 7.50/mo discount inapplicable. Please call 888−765−2489 with further questions.
My response: I hope the options come up soon. Until then I will have to do my part as a customer and consumer to alert people to, what I consider, deceitful wording tactics in calling a fee a discount. Your company has insulted the intelligence of its customers with such wording and has not lived up to customer expectations by charging its customer a fee for non-​ach enrollment.
In fairness, besides these two issues, no other problems yet. I am only a two month old customer though.

Every experience I’ve had with Solar City has been 5 star. My Solar City Energy consultant is the best. If you’re thinking about getting Solar, please call her and tell her I sent you. Natasha Kozlowski −916−797−5284. Her customer service is off the charts.

I hired Solar City over the summer of 2015. I recently posted a good review based on their promise to show up today to begin repair work. I rearranged my day not to mention my furniture only to experience a no show! Very disappointed, thought they were better than this:(. Susan G

I cannot seem to stop the barrage of phone calls from Adam at SolarCity, despite the fact that a) I’ve told him he has the wrong name b) I live in an apartment building and have no need or interest in finding alternate energy sources given my current residential situation, and c) I’ve called at least twice asking to be put on the Do Not Call list. I live across the country and have never expressed an interest in SolarCity or solar energy. I don’t know how this man got my phone number. He claimed the business phone number was «1−888-SOLAR-SOLAR» despite that clearly being too many digits. When I asked about that, he said there was no business phone number registered. I asked how to get in touch with the company, and Adam told me to go to the website,
. Uh, what? I asked why the website had a different company name and was hung up on. At the next call, I asked Adam what the business address was, hoping I could send a cease and desist letter, but Adam told me there was no business address. I asked again and was told no «personal information» could be given out. I clarified I wasn’t asking for personal information but the registered address of the business in its state of incorporation, and Adam told me he didn’t know that information. I requested a supervisor and was told I would get a call back, which I immediately rejected and instructed against. Again, I begged to be put on the Do Not Call list, at which point Adam informed me that he was calling via an internet phone setup and could not access or honor any information regarding Do Not Call numbers.
Whyyyyyyyyyyy

I always wanted to get solar so as a new homeowner I didn’t hesitate. Once the whole concept was explained it was a win win for us. No out of pocket cost to install or maintain the system. Installers were very prompt and efficient. The salesman Carlos was very knowledgeable about the whole process and had all the answers I needed
The only delay was thru the city approvals and inspections. total about 9 weeks before system was up and running. I would highly recommend if you like saving money and living green at the same time

stay away from solar city. notice the caps. stay away.
i have had my system for 2 months and i have had to call over 10 times becasue my system keeps breaking. they lie to you. they tell you they will call you back with a solution and never do. multiple times i have been told i would receive a call back in 48 hours. the next time i talk to them is when my system breaks again and i have to call in. they are not even taking blame for installing a bad system.
go with capital city solar if you live in the sacramento area.
by far one of the worst companies i have ever delt with.

I received a call today 1÷16÷15, 5 days after they were a no call/​no show with our Sunday appointment. No apology provided, just a «yeah, we had an appointment scheduled with you last Sunday at 1, but we were unable to find someone to make it out to you, so we’re calling to reschedule». I politely stated «no longer interested». A phone call the day we were waiting around all afternoon sure would have been nice.

UPDATE Jan 18, 2016
Just to say that it looks like Solar City has pulled out of Nevada because of changes in the rates that the PUC recently made in Nevada. SS has left hundreds of people hanging out to dry. Even before that, they have HUNDREDS of law suits against them for all sorts of issues and misleading information.
As it turns out, I found a FABULOUS company to install our system for 30% less money (after taxes, etc) and very high quality equipment just like I wanted. The cheaper price is mainly because competitors don’t take your federal tax and utility tax credits like SS wants to do. To us, that was over $ 6,000 back in our pocket !!! Also, competitors don’t have the high markup that SS does.
Best to stay away from that company. Glad I didn’t use them.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Not for us. Too many issues.
I thought I’d give SS a shot at reviewing our home for possible installation of a solar PV system since I owned their public stock and somewhat familiar with the company. Yesterday I sold the stock when it shot up in price, but the sale was based on my concern for the company after my experience during their proposal process.
I signed up online and did a preliminary layout. The web site was pretty good in that regard, but the information never got to SS, so they never called me. Thus I called them a week later to schedule a site survey.
To me, their processes are completely backwards from other companies. Example. They wasted time and money to have a guy come crawl around the roof taking measurements for a couple hours without first ever talking to me to see what I want to do about solar.
After the survey, they sent me email and called with a system proposal. Again, without ever discussing anything with me. From the very beginning I tried to determine from their web site and conversations with the representative about what types of inverters and modules they use. I could never get an answer except «It depends on your home layout and whatever is available at the time.» Gee, I want to know what are the options. I don’t want cheaply made Chinese modules on my roof. Even after the proposal, the sales person told me the system would be designed AFTER an agreement is entered. Again, this is an opposite approach to competitors.
I told them, this is not my way of doing things. Competitors talked to me in advance, did a design, discussed and tweaked the system to my desires, and gave a price. That’s the way to do it, not the way you do it. I said, no, goodbye.
A few days later, a pushy «customer retainment» person calls on the phone to continue to try and get the business. I said IF I can see what the design, final cost, and contract is like, then I may proceed. That never happened. He wanted to go over a ridiculous 35 page contract with me on the phone and only sent the contract by email WHILE I was on the phone. I asked for it to review in advance. They didn’t want to do that. They want to casually get people to sign it while on the phone with the salesman like it is no big deal. That is a huge red flag to me. Their excuse was they want to answer all our questions with us. Nice try SS, but we saw through the deception. FYI, our attorney freaked out about that contract !
Again, I said no, I need to know the specific design. I explained I am an expert in this area. I am an engineer who has designed solar software for the largest inverter company in the world and I know the electronics in great detail. Yet, no specific info was to be done until after a contract is entered. That seems crazy especially when their contract is about 7 times longer than most competitors and is heavily biased in their favor.
Bottom line is that I had planned to pay for the system in cash and not interested in their leasing because of the poor return on investment. Such a lease might be good ONLY if you have no money to buy the system. A better alternative is to get a home equity line of credit to buy the system so YOU can get all the rebates (many thousands of dollars), and have it guaranteed as tax deductible.

This is the Solar Company that cares for the employees and its clients! I’ve never dealt with a solar company that have seen so much happiness out of the whole group and on top of that they have the best contracts when it comes to protecting your investment

They quoted me at 14.7 cents a Kw/​h when Peterson Dean quoted me for 7 cents…

This review should serve as a note of caution for those considering Solar City:
Bit of backstory: My father was referred to Solar City by one of his friends (if you’re a customer they have an «ambassador program» which generates you $ 250 per referral) who scheduled a time to come out to his home and speak with him. English isn’t my father’s first language so I insist on reviewing all of his major contracts (this will be relevant later on).
The agent that came to my father’s home was actually a very nice guy. He was young, enthusiastic, and eternally optimistic that switching over to Solar City would save our family nearly $ 100K over the next 20 – 30 years. Furthermore, under their PPA program there are no upfront costs; your transition is supposed to be seamless and totally hassle free. It all sounded too good to be true. Alas, as with most things in life: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
When speaking to the representative, we had two main areas we wanted addressed: 1) what if we move or otherwise wish to cancel Solar City and 2) what happens if the system is damaged. In response to the former question, the representative told us that worst case scenario (i.e., the people that buy our house don’t want Solar City and we are unable to transfer the system to a new location) we would simply pay a fee of $ 499. In response to the latter question, the rep told us that Solar City was the only company that had a «no questions asked» policy when it came to repairs. He used the very specific example of «if a ball hits your unit, you just call us up and we come fix it free of charge.»
The rep had us e-​sign the contract right then and there so we could begin the process. State law gives you a 3 day window to cancel the contract (I think Solar City might even extend that a bit but I’m not positive), so we signed knowing I’d be able to review the contract in detail after he left.
It became immediately apparent how dishonest our rep was with us and how consumer unfriendly the contract was.
1) the rep misinformed us regarding the move/​cancel policy. First off, there is no provision in the contract for early termination save for the event of selling your home. If you sell your home there are three options: 1) new homebuyers take over (but with tech advancing/​more companies popping up I don’t think any informed consumer would just take this for a guarantee); 2) You transfer your system; 3) You pay the rest of the expected payments… this is drastically different than a $ 499 fee. Under the actual contract you’d pay the remaining expected payments (he quoted us at 1600 kwH/​month @ 15 cents per Kwh… so for a 20 year term this would be around $ 57,000…big leap from a $ 499 fee, buddy).
2) The whole «ball strike» example he told us about is contrary to the contract. The contract specifically disclaims covering damages for ball strikes. Not that big of a deal, but honesty is important to us.
3) You sign away your right to trial/​class actions in favor of arbitration. Tons, if not most, of your consumer contracts do this and it’s generally not that big of a deal. However when your installing a giant system on the roof of your home, the potential for harm skyrockets when compared to, for example, a faulty toaster. You should carefully read the contract to determine whether this provision is a deal breaker for you.
4) other little minor provisions that just made us uneasy but weren’t, alone, enough to back out.
In conclusion: we immediately cancelled the agreement. The rep misinformed us about all our major concerns and the lack of an exit was just too high a risk. Suppose we get terrible customer service and decide solar energy isn’t worth dealing the headache? Suppose another company comes along and can offer us a lower rate? Suppose technology advances and there is a more cost efficient way to utilize solar energy? What if we move and the new owners don’t want Solar City? 20 years is a long time and a lot can happen. I’m not saying Solar City isn’t right for you, but I would encourage you all to read the contract very carefully and weight the pros and cons.

System looks great! Payment was not fully disclosed, we were told that we would get a check in the mail to give back to solar city from the state of California. This of course was a lie. Not happy with solar city at all!!!

Do Not lease from Solar City. If you sell your home you must pay off the lease or convince the buyer to take on the debt. The company adds the system to your title as a lien. The salesman lied to the homeowner by stating the company would remove the equipment free of charge if they ever sold the home. This company is unethical.
They talk in circles!!!

We had been considering solar power for our home for many years. Until now, it seemed out of our reach.. being on a fixed income and not wanting to lay out thousands of dollars or going into debt. We contacted solar city and the experience has been wonderful.
Yesterday we had the panels installed on our home. The system will not cost us anything and will save us thousands on electric bills. The crew was amazing. They installed or system in one day. They were thoroughly professional and left no trace that they were here. They ran conduit on the outside of my house for their system and even painted it before they left!
Our experience with Solar City has been top shelf. But shame on SMUD. They will take up to 2 months to come and turn on the system. I feel I’m being punished for going solar.. but the last laugh will be mine.. in the form of lower electric bills.

Way too many phone calls… sales folks knocking on doors up to 830pm
after finally demanding to see a proposal BEFORE they measured my house… it came and was $ 8000 more that competitors for a package. They would not tell me the make and model of the panels and was not micro inverters to monitor each panel for production and efficiency.
Think about who pays for the fleet of vans and all the printed stuff not very eco friendly
There were lots of emails also… lots of fluff about system but to many before getting a bid for real product.
I asked for a call with a manager to discuss cash price cost and discount… it was scheduled and didn’t happen and never rescheduled…
Beware… You will be at least twice the system if you lease or PPA and your sign off all rights for any and all tax credits for 20 YEARS…
There was a reason they lost interest in me! I was too informed and 17 years to payoff the system was not smart, but 6 years is. and that is without carbon credits or over production and sell back.
Check Your Numbers twice they aren’t as good as they sound.
That being said TRY Steve at SOLAR UNIVERSE 916 847 2702 He will treat like royalty and does the process as TURN KEY as he takes care of everything Start to Finish no secrets or shockers… well except what your electric bill will look like !!

So I met a team of three guys at the home depot. Of course, they wanted to take a look at my roof, come to my house, and give me an estimate. I was also told to print out all of my bills. I waited at home on our appointment time and day and no one came! No phone call, nothing! Totally unprofessional! If they can’t even bother to keep an appointment they JUST SET TWO DAYS AGO, I just think how great they would be if I actually used their service.
Solar City, you really left a sour taste in my mouth! Do your homework and also read what the other reviews say. It looks like a significant amount of people got a huge bill at the end of the year!

For all of you loving your Solar City within the first year… beware!
You are loving those $ 15 monthly SMUD bills now, but wait until your first anniversary. As Amy in a previous post got hit with a $ 1,000 SMUD bill on her first Anniversary, I just got mine for $ 729!
They are scammers of the highest order and will paint a wonderful picture to you of how it will cost you nothing up front and how you’ll save thousands! Don’t believe a word of it. You’ll get locked into a ridiculous contract, they’ll do sweet F A to help you, their customer service is horrid and they have the most antiquated billing system imaginable.
All in all, Solar is a fantastic thing, just please please please do NOT go with Solar City. If you chose to not heed my message then please have a lawyer, a technical expert or someone very savvy in the Solar industry look over your contract before you sign anything.
I honestly doubt SolarCity will do anything to help with my case (Amy was snubbed in exactly the same way), but we’ll let this be a true test of their Customer Service and business integrity. I’ll keep you posted.