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:11/11/2022

  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.

  It has nearly been a year since we identified problems with our solar system which was installed almost 3 years ago! Almost brand new and a year and a half or so into Solar one charge controller of 3 and the main interface pad have died! ******************* has been aware since the beginning and has still not repaired or replaced the faulty parts, In spite of promising to get it done over and over! I have asked and asked and asked, called and called and called and still nothing! To add insult to Injury I helped turn a neighbor to add more Solar with Southern Energy View last Summer and figured when ***** or his guys were installing that 8kW and a 10kWh Battery(I believe) and driving right past my house they would stop in for an hour or less and make the repair! Of course I was calling and texting ***** about just that to make sure he didnt forget! Well he did and still here are are almost 5 months later still waiting for what must be a simple repair! I decided to write this and add one to the ****** too to get his attention and get it fixed! Our solar production looks to have dropped in half or more from ******* EMCs bills! Who will repay is for that lost Solar I wonder?

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/05/2022

  Dear ************,

  I am terribly sorry that you feel that your experience with SVE has been challenging. We would love to be able to assist you in your problem. However, please know that we are no longer service repair technicians for the product that you have. We feel that we have honored our contract with you and provided you with service for your system all the way through the end of our 2 year warranty period. Unfortunately, the technicians that we had trained in your product are no longer with our company and we do not install this product any more. I have provided you with numbers and names of other companies including the ones that installed your system as means to get your system repaired. I would love to be able to service your system. However, we sub-contract out ourselves to other companies for those customers that are within warranty to maintain our service agreements. As much as I would love to assist you with this situation, I feel we would be doing you an injustice by trying to solve the problem ourselves when our staff lacks the current training necessary to service your product. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/05/2022

   
  Complaint: 18394194
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  finally after much and many delays and hollow promises last Friday, a SVE Electrician, ******, visited and confirmed the belief that one charge controller and the main solar system interface were dead and needed replacement! ****** stated they would order the parts from Outback Solar, not some forgotten ancient long ago out of business.Business! ***** had his lead Electrician ****** install that system just 3 years ago or so, then ****** and his Compadres left and struck out on their own, as I suppose SVE wasnt paying enough or didnt have good enough benefits like a week of paid sick leave! Note they went out on their own with a Caucasian American who designed for SVE but left with ****** and started Sun Harvestars, still alive and well! They didnt go work for a bigger ************** Hmmm who lost their most valuable assetsemployees due to not paying enough? 

  ****** and his Compadres are not far far away either and out of reach, they are rather close by in North Georgia and could very well assist! In fact I recommended SVE hire ****** if they are so tight on scheduling time, and that was several months ago! SVE gets Solar Installs from Alternate Energy SE in Athens as AES books more Solar Installs than they can handle! So if you at SVE are so backed up, then hire ******! This also omits the fact that last May the same electrician himself who came on Friday and whatever crew he had drove right past my house at least twice when they installed more Solar and a *********** Wall on my neighbor and I most definitely called and texted ***** in that week and leading up to it so they wouldnt forget us!  When they are *************************************************** and check out the problems! Scheduling be Damned! 

  The system was installed by SVE in July 2019! The system has been misbehaving and brought to SVEs attention in February 2021! So 2 years is July 2021! The silly claim that it is out of 2 year SVE Warranty is nothing but ridiculous and holds no water! This saga is becoming sad to utterly ridiculous! 

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/04/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Greetings Most Good and Honorable Maam,
   
   
  ****, this is who my Xwife called a week or so ago in reference to Complaint # ******** on Southern Energy View! 
   
   
  I dont see a way to add to the complaint on your website so this may be it! After the complaint posted and his then my response, ******************* and some of his guys did come out and get the system repaired within about a month of the BBB complaint!  They ordered the parts and in about 6 weeks from then finally responding it was repaired and still works fine today!
   
   
   So Id say it is very effective to do what I did!  Everything else I tried in the year leading up to the BBB complaint resulted in nothing happening, as I wrote in my complaint! Everything I wrote was true and I can back it up on email and other ways! ***** seemed to handle the repair and replacement himself with some of his guys too so all that nonsense about having no one who knew or comprehended the Outback Solar and Storage System was hogwash! Like most if not all of the counter to my complaint! 
   
   
  Most Recently in late September the system had another immediate drastic setback! Suddenly later one night a couple of weeks ago the Battery Back Up Portion of the System died which means the entire Kitchen with the lights and outlets in or near the kitchen as well as water heater and water pump(no city water that far out)! Obviously that is quite an emergency! ******************* came out the very next day and diagnosed the problem! The water heater had malfunctioned and with it taken down the whole battery back up! Within a day or so we replaced the water heater and everything was fine! ***** was still very concerned about the BBB complaint I made a year ago and still is! I explained I am not sure how to modify it but that I was telling the absolute truth all the time and yes I will put my hand on a Bible or whatever and swear as I dont make stuff up! Life is too short to lie about anything like this! 
   
   
  Can I add this as a response and to let anyone who reads it eventually he did honor his original promise! It is sad that it took that long and many attempts to get him to act, but that is what it took! 
   
  Sustainably Yours, 
   
  *********************