Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Renewable Energy Corporation's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Renewable Energy Corporation

  1850 York Rd STE Frnt Timonium, MD 21093-5122

  
• 

  Renewable Energy Corporation

  9 W Aylesbury Rd STE F-G Timonium, MD 21093-4121

  
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  Renewable Energy Corporation

  1850 York Rd Ste L Timonium, MD 21093-5122

  

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:02/13/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising 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.

  Predatory marketing. The salesperson called himself a "Marketing Director", offering us a 30% discount to be "ambassadors" to the neighborhood, but not to tell our neighbors our "special price." THe special price was based on a 70% inflated cost (compared to other estimates), still leaving them the most expensive estimate we received, for a much smaller capacity system then they were offering. THey misrepresented the percentage of energy offset we could expect- claiming 80% offset for a 4KW system, when the federal website predicts 40%. They also erroneously claimed we would need to upgrade our electrical service from 150 - 200 amps, at a cost of 4000, in order to be up to code- which is clearly false. This kind of marketing should not be allowed.

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2023

  We came to your home and offered you the highest quality solar system with the best solar panels on the market, and when someone offered you something less expensive you apparently now are an expert in solar in evaluating the systems as comparable. Considering the fact that you are trying to hurt our company with an online poor review, we will offer you this free advice. With the fact that you have a north/south roof, many obstructions, and a parapet wall between your roof and your neighbors the system we offered utilizes all of the highest production areas of your roof. Any additional panels being added will have far less production due to shading or roof direction.
  So anyone showing a much larger system are not placing the panels based on your best interest, and if they have a significantly larger system and not offsetting as much energy as our system then they plainly are installing inferior product.
  
  As to the need for a service upgrade there is a small chance of a 150 amp panel not being required to be upgraded to 200 amps, but in fact most homes will require this based on code. We include this whenever in question, and then in the permitting and installation process if it is determined the customer won't need a service upgrade we provide the cost back to the customer. Imagine the difference in customer satisfaction from finding out during process that this isn't needed and they get a rebate - versus finding out during the process we didn't include it but it is required and now the contract price increases by thousands.
  
  We are confident that you were offered is the highest quality, best performing solar system, with the right costs already included instead of having additional costs added later. You started by saying you called us due to our excellent reviews and that is further proof that our process and offering is well worth the price and expertise we offer. As the longest operating and family owned solar company in Maryland we have a lot of experience with homeowners that choose someone based on the large and less expensive solar system, and then call us one year or three years later asking if we will service that system because their installer has gone out of business or can't/won't provide service.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/16/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  I do not question that Renewable may do a fine job providing
  and installing solar systems, and that they have many satisfied
  customers.  However, the numerous customer reviews on **** leading to an
  average two star rating include many which complain about the very same
  predatory marketing strategies which form the basis of my complaint
  (**********************************************************).  As you can
  see on the attached proposal from Renewable, the supposed price for the 4kw
  array was 37589, which came down to 27121 with the "case study"
  offer. Also attached is a competitors bid, with the same panels (Q Cell)- 
  a 6.8 kW system with the price of 25284.  Out of at least 8 bids, there
  were none that were anywhere in the 37k range.
  
  Our salesperson (about whom there is a complaint on **** from 2015 or 16 for the same practices) stated that Renewable gets a fair
  amount of business through "canvassing"- that is , cold knock-on-door
  marketing.  I worry that particularly in a new housing development, this
  type of presentation may seem totally reasonable, and customers may sign up as
  a "case study" thinking they are getting a great deal, when they
  could have gotten a better price or a more powerful system for their money.
  
  I have no reason to think that Renewable's workmanship or
  service is problematic.  My only complaint is their predatory
  marketing.  I am trying to protect other consumers.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ****** ****