Complaints

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

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Solar SME has 7 locations, listed below.

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  Solar SME

  2630 Aero Dr Grand Prairie, TX 75052-7612

  
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  Solar SME

  600 17th St Ste 2804M Denver, CO 80202

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  Solar SME

  7310 Turfway Road Suite 550 Florence, KY 41042

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  Solar SME

  8518 Chestnut Ave Bowie, MD 20715-3730

  
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  Solar SME

  7b Corporate Center Court, Suite 55, Greensboro, NC 27408

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:09/24/2022

  Type:Order 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.

  We signed a contract in March for installation of solar panels and battery backup system. We paid a deposit ($17,787 April 4, 2022) and paid for materials ($39,862.60 May 17, 2022) expecting work to begin in early June.
  
  
  Work didn't begin until mid-August. Even then work was extremely slow and the project management was of poor quality. For example, rather than ship all materials at once (which were already paid for three months earlier) they shipped the panels first, only after the panels arrived did they ship the rails, again only after confirmation of the rails having arrived did they ship the batteries.
  
  
  Work was sporadic and we didn't receive any notice of what days workers would be at our residence. One time when we expected them (the electrician said he would be back Monday) they wouldn't show up and the project manager lied and said he was sick (he was not, he confirmed when I asked him if he had COVID when he returned). The engineers couldn't get the battery system working saying a part needed replacement. When that part arrived it didn't fix the problem and they then said they needed to RMA the inverter. That was August 24, 2022.
  
  
  No progress has been made in the last month. When we try and call they say that the part arrived and it is sitting in their warehouse, but they cannot ship it out unless a specific warehouse manager is in. That was two weeks ago.
  
  
  I just want the working solar system with battery back working. Especially since I paid everything but the final $14,412.40 over four months ago. I would like the foot dragging to stop.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/03/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/10/10) */
  Hi *******,
  As you know that solar industry has faced material back log since the start of this year due to new policies introduced by the government. Although you paid us early that helped us secure the material as required by your project except the batteries. Panasonic batteries were not readily available in the market at that time so we couldn't start the install without the batteries & we did upon its availability. Unfortunately, the batteries had issue with the inverters which we only came to know during the commissioning process, so we process the RMA. This process usually takes anywhere between 2 weeks and 1 month. We got one replaced inverter but the second one took some extra time. We could have shipped the first inverter earlier but the installation cannot resume unless both inverters are available.
  We did receive the second inverter last week, so now both inverters have been shipped. These inverters will be at your site in this week. We are already working on scheduling the install in coming week and hopefully your system will be up and running before the end of next week.
  Thank You
  Regards
  Solar SME Inc.
  
  
  Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/10/12) */
  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  We hope that the installation can complete ASAP (on September 27th your company verbally promised that it would be completed by October 7th), however the current issue is one of poor communication and competency regarding project management.
  
  We asked for procedures to submit the dispute notice as per the contract and received no response or feedback. We have no way to call anyone directly, we only have a switchboard number that the vast majority of time shuttles us to some random employee's voicemail box. When we are called after asking for our Project Manager to call us after we pickup the call immediately disconnects, and no attempts are made to try again. We asked to speak to a manager and got nowhere until we reached out to the initial salesman.
  
  When we finally had the conference call on 9/27 your company committed to daily email status updates, promised to have the install team work on the day after the inverters were delivered, and promised that installation would be completed by 10/7.
  
  We had to hound the project manager to see when the second inverter was delivered. We had to hound the PM to let us know when the inverters were shipped. We have constantly asked for updates and they have not been provided. It wasn't until your promised deadline was passed that you provided proof they were shipped the previous day.
  
  Now that the inverters have arrived we are being told that perhaps the installers might be able to show up next week. We were verbally promised by your manager that the installation team would be onsite the next day. We find ourselves again in a situation where we are forced to spend our time ensuring your company lives up to it's obligations.
  
  I do not accept that shipping and equipment availability delays are entirely responsible for the pace of actions by Solar SME. We have documented proof that actions have consistently been taken only after continued prompting by us (such as items sitting in your warehouse until we ask you to continue work), late in the process, or in what could be considered a malingering manner. A daily or even weekly update would go a long way to proving that you have not stopped work on our installation as was the case for the August 22nd until September 27th when our project was basically abandoned by your company due to the apparent departure of the first project manager.
  
  
  Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/10/23) */
  Hi,
  We acknowledge that you experienced delays in your project timelines due to non-availability of the material. There also has been communication gap while the project was in transition phase from one project manager to another but there was not a single time that you have not been provided with an update whenever you required one.
  Availability and shipment of Panasonic batteries was the major concern that delayed the job. Firstly, the batteries were short in the market and once after availability it was found that they carry faulty inverters. Then the shipment of replacement inverters had uncertainty of its own. We were not in a position to provide you an update since we ourselves didn't have any confirmed shipment timelines from Panasonic. Moreover, it was informed to you that team will visit the site in a week or so after the inverters were onsite and never ever it was communicated that team will be onsite the next day of delivery. The installation team's schedules are usually planned for 2 weeks cycle so it was not possible to arrange a team within 24hrs as team was on the roll.
  Now that the installation is completed and your system up and running except for some small glitch that will be resolved with the help of Panasonic guy on Monday. Since our relation is not only till the installation of the system but rather, we are committed to provide you services for next 25 years therefore, we assure that you will not face any hassle or delays in the future. Moreover, we thank you for your feedbacks as we take them very seriously. These feedbacks support us to overcome our weaknesses and make us strive towards providing better services to our clients.
  
  Thank You
  Regards,
  Solar SME Inc.
  
  
  Consumer Response /* (3000, 16, 2022/11/01) */
  The system has still not been installed correctly. Despite having the equipment delivered and an engineer arrive onsite, they left with the wiring a mess, unknown grounding wires cut and left on the grass outside, the master inverter in a fault state, and departed with zero handover. That was the week before last. The project manager last Monday said he would try and have someone come out, but hasn't even responded in an entire week.
  
  This contract, like most B2C contracts, is very lopsided in the businesses favor. Despite this they still manage to not perform the basic requirements of the contract of keeping us informed of actions being taken, or likely not being taken, to work on completion of this project. We are still awaiting our fully functioning system with proper handover. We probably need a new inspection because of actions taken by the subcontractor that probably go against the county inspection.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/05/2022

  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 terms of customer support and customer service, this is the worst company to use. After six months of installing my solar system, on 06/02/2022 I reported to Solar SME Inc that their solar panels are falling off my two-story building roof. Luckly, no one was outside at the time when the panel fall off the roof, it could have been a life threatning situation. Due to the damage caused by the fallen solar panels, my system has been operating at 50% capacity. I paid for a 39 370 watts LG panels and SolarEdge system. Now, more than two months after repoerting this issue Solar SME Inc. it is yet to be resolved. Instead, the situation is going from bad to worst. Solar SME Inc always send unqualified technician to come to my property, creating unreasonaly activity on the roof which may result in my roof damage. My life and that of my family are in danger because of their sloppy work. If there's anything like a nagative star rating, I would have given them a minus for endangering my life and that of my family. I've attached by utility bill for the months of June and July 2022, the picture of the fallen panel, and my system production picture as of today 08/04/2022. If you plan to use them, bear in mind that your life could be in potential danger too. I want Solar SME all defective parts with genuine parts, continue to pay my utility bill until they can repair my system and make it functioning as needed, or refund me the cost of the system.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/08/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/08/23) */
  Hi,
  We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you faced in the past. We're anxiously looking forward to schedule our team's visit, once the weather conditions get back to normal, so they could be able to address your concerns in a timely manner.
  Thanks
  Regards,
  Solar SME Inc.
  
  
  Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2022/08/24) */
  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I do not accept their response because appologies does not stop my utility company from charging me high energy bill due to the failure of my solar system. They've been appologising for the last three months and I've been paying for their appologies. I am willing to allow Solar SME Inc as much time as they need to resolve the issue, but I need them to refund me the cost of my utility bill from June 2022 until the issue have been resolved. I'm currently pay twice as much as I used to pay before solar installation.