Everything Solar Forum

NPR did a story about how homeowners need to protect themselves from high pressure rooftop solar salespeople. This wasn't my experience, and some of the stuff in the article was rather shocking.

"Across the country, prosecutors are investigating high-pressure sales tactics and misleading financing arrangements. Some customers say they were victims of fraud and forgery. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently warned solar customers about hidden fees and deceptive statements about the financial benefits of solar."

You can read the article at Thinking about rooftop solar? 4 things to consider and how to protect yourself.

The article also mentions a website called Solar Reviews for vetting installers. I checked out the site and didn't find my installer mentioned at all, which surprised me. Is this a legitimate review site, or just a mutual advertising site?

Hi Michael,

We partner with Solar Reviews and they're a great nonbiased review platform! I really like how they have both a customer rating and their own expert rating as well. Are you comfortable sharing who your installer was? I'm surprised that they don't mention it on their website!

Thanks so much,

Ella

------------------------------
Ella Nielsen
Membership & Engagement Director
American Solar Energy Society
Boulder CO
------------------------------

Our installer here in West Virginia was Solar Holler. They were great to work with, and they had already installed on roofs of two other relatives' houses when we decided to sign up.

Thanks, Steve for your post.

On your mention of EnergySage, I agree. With them, they specifically say that they will not give out your email address to installers without your permission, and you can see rough costs early on their website. With Solar Reviews, they do not mention the privacy issue with providing your email and they also require your phone number before costs can be seen. Solar United Neighbors reportedly has a very good review process as well and they are a non-profit that often partners with ASES.

Hopefully, the upcoming SOLAR 2025 will have presenters on these and related topics. That will be open for abstract presentations in the fall, but meanwhile, it is insightful when people share their stories on this forum. Thanks!

I think Tiffani Krieg of Mesa, Ariz., sounds like a bit of a wimpy push over. The car and the back seat "thing" would not have even got off the ground with me. And her potential for a sale would have ended with that behavior. 

Anything expensive is always buyer beware.

If you are a push over, there will always be those out there willing to oblige....

Blaming the victim doesn't mean there isn't a problem with the saleperson. Or the industry.

Anytime sales is involved there are low pressure and high pressure salespeople. You want a classic, take the used car market. They even make commercials about it in humorous ways. 

All industries have problems. The world is full of them, if you have not noticed it. We literally have a person running for president that committed treason in broad daylight, and beyond! Now there is a problem with so many vectors, you can barely count them all. 

I am not suggesting that people should not endeavor to make any business process as truthful, straight forward and pleasant as possible. That is always an uphill challenge. But there are tons of people out there who just don't know how to say no, for fear of offending for one. Not a problem I have. Scammers are everywhere. Look at Joe and his porch leach during an open house ASES event. 

The phrase, "Buyer beware", did not come into existence without reason.

And as a last thought, sales people and con artists have allot in common.

------------------------------
william fitch
Owner
www.WeAreSolar.com
------------------------------