Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/06/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Southwest Electric installed solar panels about 2 years ago and I have a leak in my roof where the solar panels were installed . In the contract states any leaks due to the solar are warrantied for 5 years and the company would not respond to my calls or come out to fix the issue mold is now present where the leak is

  Business Response

  Date: 08/19/2024

  This customer reached out to us in March of 2024, stating they had a roof leak. We (Southwest Electric) conducted a roof inspection and determined we would fix the roof leak. The leak was through one penetration and caused very minimal damage. With our license we just make the repairs internally to put our Homeowner in the best position. We informed the customer of this as well as provided a full reroof quote (with intentions of subtracting the area where the leak occurred from the quote) per the customers request. We deducted $3300 from our full reroof quote if the customer wanted to just do a full reroof instead of repairing only the problem area.

  We reached out multiple times in ****** **** and ***** hoping to resolve the roof leak with no response from the homeowner. We even stopped by in person multiple times to knock the door to make contact. We sent an email stating the ticket had been closed due to no response after multiple attempts to resolve the leak. The customer reached out to us again July 29th stating he had a family emergency and was unavailable during the months we had been reaching out and wanted to get a roof quote to fix the roof.

  We have been in contact with the customer and we are working to schedule a day to fix the roof leak. We have every intention of making these repairs however we cannot schedule work when the homeowner is unresponsive. This homeowner has made demands that we replace the entire roof for free which is not reasonable considering the facts as our roof warranty for solar only customers covers the penetrations.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/30/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Nov. 18th 2022 My solar panels stopped working. I wasn't notified. No one called. I was unaware. August 15th 2023, I downloaded the "solar edge" app because I wondered how the solar panels were doing. I saw that nothing was happening and nothing was being produced by the panels. I was concerned so I called southwest electric. They said that they see they are down and will send out a technician. August 22, 2023 the technician arrived and got the panels to work. They didn't tell me what went wrong or how they got them fixed. The app "solar edge" is a monitoring app but does not contain notifications. That is responsibility of Southwest Electric to provide notification. By email, by phone, or by push notifications. They failed to notify me of my system being down. I would expect, with a big company, that they would have a notification system so they can protect their customers with such losses since they are the ones in charge of monitoring. I called Southwest Electric. They said it was Solar Edges fault. I called Solar Edge, they said they just provide the system, and that the monitoring is all done by the installers, Southwest Electric. I called them back and they said, ya, its easy, just turn on notifications in solar edge. solar edge does not have a way to "set up notification" again, that is the responsibility of Southwest to notify me. Do to this major error on their part, I lost a LOT of money in solar production after spending $18,000 cash up front... No loan. I expect a refund of my electric bills for the past year, an apology, and for the love of God set up the notifications. They refuse to. and they wont help me either.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/05/2023

  The homeowners signed contract states that Southwest Electrical Contractors is not responsible for the maintenance of the installed system. We give the homeowner access to the SolarEdge monitoring app which shows the dashboard and daily production as well as a history from the day the system is turned on. 
  ********************** monitoring information was shared with his wife on 1/10/2022. On 1/13/2022 we received an email from ******************** asking to be given access to the monitoring as well, on the same day we added his email address and phone number to the monitoring portal so both owners had access to the monitoring app.
  On 8/15/2023 ******************** notified us that his system was down. 8/22/2023 ************** was on-site to troubleshoot, he rebooted the system and full production was noted by the technician and SolarEdge. We have given ******************** additional access to his monitoring portal as he requested on 8/30/2023. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/05/2023

  The details of the response is correct. How come they didn't tell me that my system was down when I called them? Seems to me they don't care. And I still don't have alerts. My system could go down and I wouldn't know it. I'm supposed to open the app every day to see if it went down or not? Its ridiculous. Imagine if I had to log in to my bank account everyday to make sure every spendature of mine actually processed. no, the bank would send me a letter and an email and a text.We live in a time of AI, push notifications, email notifications and none of that was used. I am appalled that this business will not take ownership or do anything about it. Even when they did make me account owner, it didn't change anything. look at the logs, nothing sent me an email, text, mail, or push notification that my system was down. I am appalled and sickened I went with this company to "monitor my system". I still expect a refund for the production lost over almost a year of time. I wish I could go back in time because solar will never pay for itself. it would have to be free electricity for about 10 years to pay for itself. its only ended costing me more than before having panels. i would have them take the panels back and refund me but we know thats a joke. So set up alerts and pay me for loss production. own up to your thievery. Or refund me ***** and take the panels back. that would be great.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/11/2023

  As noted before, per our contract we do not actively monitor systems. We do provide the monitoring app for customers, which was given to the homeowner and co-owner. We have contacted the equipment manufacturer and have confirmed that the customer now has alerts set up for his app. Per the contract the homeowner is responsible for maintaining the system, which includes the monitoring. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/13/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  *****************************
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On April 27, 2023 a Solar representative from this company came to do a presentation. The only reason we let them in is because our initial contact was with my wifes cousin who was there. Shortly after coming in, my wifes cousin left and we were left with the main sales person. This person sold us on the system. We had hesitations, so he reassured us several times that we could cancel without penalty until the installers showed up to the house. There was very little communication after this point (a couple of texts that i instigated) We discussed with a couple of other people and decided we no longer wanted to have the solar system. Since we had received multiple assurances that there was no fee until installers showed up, we decided to think on it more and wait for them to reach out. Finally, on June 2 they reached out to schedule the installation. We told them at that time that we had decided not to do the installation. Of course they got very upset, the rep finally reached out to me and was quite rude, calling me negligible and careless and taking no responsibility for having misled me in the sales pitch. We then received a cancellation fee of $1500. The management did send the contract back to me pointing out that the fee was called out in the contract. I understand that it is my fault for not having more closely read the contract. However, I would have appreciated the company taking some responsibility for the misleading pitch and lies of the representative. I had tried to negotiate at lower fee with out any concessions from the company. I have paid the $1500 and will never consider using this company in the future.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  Our cost is significantly higher than the $1500.00 cancellation fee. Once a homeowner goes solar with us and the right of rescission ends, the project is already allocated time in the pipeline and materials are already being ordered.. Those materials cannot typically be allocated to other projects as the specifications are rarely an exact match. 
  For example, if your project had 22 ******* 365W panels. These are panels we purchased and have sold out, we can no longer sell this particular panel as we did not order additional ones. If you cancel your project, we now have 22 panels that we own worth approx. $4300. We would have to find a customer that needs exactly 22 panels to sell to.
  
  We have a limited amount of resources and only intake a certain number of projects to ensure that we are able to provide excellent service to each customer. This does mean there is a higher cost than those associated with your project as it took one of the limited spots we have in our workflow. Work begins immediately on our projects, as soon as your contract is signed, which is why they are completed in a timely manner. 
  I hope the above helps you understand why we have a cancellation fee; Even at  $1500.00, we are at a loss. By law, once the right of rescission period ends, the entire contract would legally be due.We understand that circumstances sometimes change, and that is why we allow a customer to cancel past the rescission period.  Our attorney advised a 10% cancellation fee as fair and reasonable based on ******* case law.
  
  We are a reputable and integrity ************ company and install solar the right way. The contract was straightforward and nothing was hidden from sight. You only notified us of the cancel on 6/2/23 when we called with your install date. You had until permit submission to cancel without penalty on 5/11/23. There were multiple touch points in the 5 weeks from signature to notifying you of the installation date.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/28/2023

  There is no acknowledgment of the verbal commitment by the sales person in the response from the business. At a minimum, acknowledgment that the sales person was in the wrong in his misleading information would be appreciated. I understand all the expenses called out, but again, the misleading statements by the sales person did not prompt the need to cancel as soon as the contract stated. I do acknowledge that the contract was clear and I accept that I may get not financial compensation for the lies of the sales person. Please accept responsibility for your sales people. 

  Business Response

  Date: 06/29/2023

  We generated your contract. 
  
  Your reviewed and signed the contract,  and the contract specified in the additional items section:
  Terms & Agreement
  - Customer must approve design before permits are sent off to the county
  - Customer may opt cancel the transaction before permits are submitted for no penalty
  
  We have been doing business with our partner ************* and specifically this Representative for quite some time and have never had an accusation about a verbal disagreement from what is on the written contract.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/05/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed contract with this company July 28th and was told that by October everything should be up and running. I got solar panels with then and was told that because of the age of my home I would need a new roof and a new electric panel which I was happy to upgrade as my electric panel was the original that came with the house when it was made in 1999. Ever since the electric panel got changed our lights are constantly going out. The light bulbs give out. This company has came to "inspect it" and found nothing wrong. I live with my 3 small children and at this point this is a safety concern. There is nothing normal about my lights giving out or flashing constantly or the light bulbs giving out within a day or two or sometimes right at instalation. We have been here for 4 and a half years in this property and this has never happened. This company seems to be taking their lack of proper installation very lightly on something that could potentially become dangerous.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/07/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In Feb 2022 I had Solar Panels installed by Southwest Electric. On 10/4 the panels came unattached. On 10/5 I reached out to Southwest Electric and left multiple messages which I got no call back. I called again on 10/6, and 10/7. At 2:30 on 10/7 I got a call from an ****, who said "hey man" I'm about to go watch some football this weekend, what did you need?" I asked what his role there was, and he shared ********************* I asked to speak with his manager, he is not available till Tuesday. I have had NO ONE show any interest in resolving these panels after installation. Is this a 1 trick pony? Where is the 5 star rating? When you call this company you get individuals who sound like there 20 and with no customer service. I have a problem, my panels are not connected, no one is coming out to look at the damage, no one can tell me what will be done about the damage, and "I'm not watching football." What kind of business is this? I would like for the large amount of money I leased these panels for to have some customer service. No response to my emails either.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/26/2022

  On October 4th the customer reached out and left a voicemail for our company. On October 5th one of our customer service staff members reached out and left a voicemail for the customer. On October 6th, our customer service representative spoke out to the customer and was told to reach out to their insurance. The customer requested a call back and spoke to one of our business development staff on October 7th.  Southwest Electric then scheduled a site visit to get the scope of work for October 11th. On October 13th, a supervisor reached out to the customer letting him know ********************** would cover the cost to put the panel back. The customer then received a call letting them know we had service scheduled for October 21st to land those panels. The work has been completed and the customer was sent a follow up email including pictures and our supervisor followed up via phone. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/30/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  - Installed Feb 11 2022 for $37,732.73 - Activated per SRP on March 03 2022 - Solar Installation with Warranty for an **** KW Photovoltaic system with (23) ****** 360W Mono (1) 7600H SolarEdge HD Wave Inverter, Installed Nature of Dispute - As of August 8 2022 the SolarEdge Inverter became defective. I attempted to contact ********* on August 24 2022 and left 3 Voice Mails during regular business hours, Called again on August 25, 2022 during regular business hours, and again on August 26, 2022 during regular business hours. I received a call by SouthWest Electric at 4:01PM on Aug 26, 2022 with a VoiceMail stating that they had an update regarding my RMA Request. I called back and spoke to *******, and was told that I would have to pay a $190+ fee for a "Call Out". The Call Out is a service fee to show up to my property in order to conduct the warranty service. ******* stated that ********* no longer pays for warranty service and that I would have to pay for the service call. I found this unreasonable considering the unit installed by SouthWest Electric from SolarEdge only worked for 5 months before dying. I asked ******* to speak to Management and resolve the fee issues, as it's unacceptable to spend $37k on a Solar System which only works for 5 months. ******* stated he would get back to me. Today is August 30 2022, and another phone call has been left with SouthWest Electric during regular business hours, asking for the follow-up to the conversation with ***************Currently the SolarEdge replacement unit is headed to SouthWest Electric for the Manufacturer Defect Replacement. CASE#******* The expectation is that Southwest Electric will conduct the Warranty Repair without a service fee, and select more reliable Power Inverters for future customers who convert to ************

  Business Response

  Date: 10/26/2022

  The customer called into ********************** on August 24th. One of our customer service staff members called them back and let the customer know we are waiting for a call back from the manufacturer and we would let them know when we had an update! On August 26th the manufacturer approved the replacement of the inverter and the next step was waiting for the manufacturer to send the new inverter to the Southwest Electric contract. There is a service charge after 60 days of the install, however there is a manufacturer warranty which covers the price of the new inverter ($2500). The new inverter arrived in Southwest Electrics warehouse on September 12th. The customer paid the invoice on September 13th and Southwest Electric paid scheduled the service call for September 22nd (the next available service date). This inverter has been replaced and there are no other open tickets on this account.