Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Kasselman Solar, LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Kasselman Solar, LLC

  279 Broadway Ste 2 Menands, NY 12204-2755

  
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  Kasselman Solar, LLC

  3 Neptune Rd Ste A25 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-5569

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:08/02/2022

  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.

  I contract with Kasselman to install solar in January 2019. The contract was for a 14,970 kWh system, which the estimate stated was 121% of our annual electric needs. After contacting our energy provider--NYSEG--and finding out that our annual energy consumption was 58,000 kWh annually, I emailed the Lead PV Design Engineer/Sales Consultant on 1/18/19. He responded, "A house of your size even with electric heat I would find nearly impossible to be using 58,000 kWh/yr." Despite the assurance that the solar we installed would cover 121% of our needs, it covers only about 50%. In 2021, we installed a battery, which in an email on 3/19/20 the Sales Consultant said would cost $8,750.00, ended up costing $15,540. The battery, which I was told would act as a generator, does not work as a generator because it is not large enough to cover our electric needs in the case of power outage. From the beginning of my experience with Kasselman, I have been misled on what the system would do and have been let down with the response from the company. The costumer service is appalling..my emails and texts are ignored. When the engineers come out, they tell me time and time again that he has never seen the problems I'm experiencing. Our latest issue was with an inverter that went bad in 2022 after only three years. We did not produce or store up credit with NYSEG for three months...three months during which I sent messages to Kasselman saying something was wrong. They took three months to get back to me. Three months of lost credit that will not get us through the winter and will now cost of thousands of dollars in heating bills that should have been covered with this system. It was a mistake to buy this system from Kasselman. I was misled when it was sold to me, and I have been misled since it was installed. In addition, I was told they would monitor the system. The last technician who came to the house disputed that, saying they couldn't possibly monitor all the systems they install!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/16/2022

  Hi Andrew, 
  
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Customer service is something that we take extremely seriously, so we regret that we failed in this regard. 
  
  If you call our general line, you should be able to reach a team member immediately. Our voicemail and email accounts are also closely monitored so every inquiry gets responded to within 24-48 hours. With that being said, sometimes things slip through the cracks, but that is not an excuse for the lack of response. We are sorry that it happened continuously. We use negative feedback to improve our processes and ensure mistakes like this do not happen again.  
  
  Regarding your concerns with the usage/battery, our initial estimate of 121% was based on your usage pattern and house size, as we were not provided with an electric bill to base our estimate most accurately. Numbers can also get thrown off sometimes after installation if the energy usage of the household increases, which may also be a reason the solar panels are not covering 121% of the original estimate. For your battery expansion, we originally recommended a 16kW generator in 2019 for $8,750. The following year, we then recommended a 16kWh battery with a net cost of $15,000. As referenced in the 8/10/2021 email to you provided by your sales representative, the price difference is due to nearly doubling your storage capacity with a kWh battery as opposed to a kW generator, which are also different items. If we still did not communicate clearly enough, we take full responsibility for that as well and apologize for the trouble.
  
  Please let us know if there is anything else we can do to resolve these issues. Our relationship with you is something we want to make sure is a positive one. Your case is at the top of our list and will remain open until we come to a complete resolution that satisfies any and all outstanding issues. We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Kasselman Solar. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/18/2022

  The company did not deliver on the contract. The contracted stated the system would cover 121% of my electric and it does not. Further, I signed a statement allowing them to contact my electric company to perform due diligence on my electric use. They did not do this. Thus, I have a system that does not meet my electric needs as promised.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/04/2022

  As stated in the email provided from the PV Design Engineer in the example uploaded to the BBB extranet, the 121% offset figure was an estimate derived from the usage pattern and the house size that was provided to him.  While we strive to have estimates that are completely accurate, it is impossible for us to guarantee what the coverage of solar panel systems would be without an actual electric bill, which is why one was requested prior to providing an estimate. We ask our customers to provide us with their electric bills to ensure highly accurate predictions, so their systems work as expected and they get their money’s worth. Our proposals have the estimated production in kWh’s and estimated offset based off usage from the electric bill provided, but when we don’t get an electric bill, we do the best we can with the information provided to us by the customer.  Additionally, the estimated kWh production is more within our control while we design the system, versus the customer's offset (usage) which can change drastically over time. 
  
  Regarding the home’s battery, the battery we installed is not equivalent to a generator. There’s only so much backup capabilities that a battery can supply an entire home with. The spec sheet with the battery’s abilities and limitations are issued with proposals that are generated and sent for full transparency with the customer. Essentially, the battery's capabilities depend on how many circuits are being powered by the battery and how much energy the battery is trying to back up when the battery turns on. The battery can connect to your main electric panel so it can back up your whole home, but due to its capabilities, not the whole home all at once.  Even though it is connected to your electric panel, it does not have an unlimited source of power and backup capabilities.  
  
  We regret that you are not 100% satisfied, as customer satisfaction is our top priority. If you are looking to add more capacity to your solar system, we are happy to consider a reasonable deal with you.  If you are looking to isolate specific circuits to backup with the battery because manually adjusting your electric loads during an outage is too much, we are also happy to consider a reasonable deal with you.   Regardless, we hope this information helps clear up any confusion. Please let us know if you have any questions.