ComplaintsforShine Solar, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  03/04/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I purchased a solar system from Shine Solar in March 2023 with a home generator. It took so long for Shine to get system up and running that I actually made 3 payments to our loan company. I was told by Michael that I would be reimbursed. I ahve not been reimbursed after several conversations with Michael. The generator was wired wrong and had to replace wires. Weather caused a power outage and generator did not come on. Called again and service member came out and said wiring is still not correct. Used my extension cord to plug into generator and told me they would be back out to repair it. It has been 3 months and nothing. I wish I could end the relationship and they would just come pick up the whole system. Awful company with awful customer service.

  

  Business response

  03/22/2024

  Looking thru the notes and getting verification. Service is working on getting with Generac to get a tech out for the generator. On the reimbursement, the manager that submitted it is no longer here so I will follow up with accounting to verify it has been done and if not, we will get it submitted.

  Customer response

  03/23/2024

  
  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. As long as they follow through with their promise. Generator is working and it took almost a year to determine it was a loose wire.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Cayle *****

• Initial Complaint

  02/27/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The system is not working correctly I’ve called numerous times they don’t help they give you the run around I wish I had did more homework before going with this company. I’ve emailed, called and texted and still have a messed up ?? system

  

  Business response

  02/28/2024

  I have looked thru the accounts and the last call or text on their shows March of 2023. I want to make sure she is calling a working number; we will have a call to her today. I will also get with Service about the CT reading error, luckily the CT readings do not affect the actual production of the system just the way the system reads it.

• Initial Complaint

  02/21/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We have 2 systems installed by them, and I am having issues with both. They will not contact me for resolution

  

  Business response

  02/21/2024

  I am looking in the accounts and I see there are 2 different systems. The house **** **** ** is an Enphase system. The house on ****** ** is a SolArk system.

  Enphase system has no errors, and all panels are performing as designed. The system is performing at 114% of the estimated production.

  I do see the errors on SolArk and I have sent all the information over to the Customer Relations team and the Service team. I have requested a call to go out to the customer and for them to look into the system.

   

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  They don't answer the phone. I was speaking to a manager there named Mark and he said he would be talking to the engineering team about my solar system but he never got back to me and stopped responding to texts and phone calls. This company told me my bills would be cheaper and my total cost with the monthly solar payment and electric bill would be less than what I was paying before and that the guarantee production amounts and would refund for it not performing as promised. They say now that it is performing as promised but my electric bills are pretty much the same and I now have an additional $200/mo payment on the solar panels. They have showed me nothing on how they can claim that it is performing and they don't respond. Its a pretty terrible way to treat a customer.

  

  Business response

  02/27/2024

  The system is producing at 136% of the production guarantee. That verifies the system is working as promised. We are going to look deeper into the customers concern, we will need to gather more information from Ryan. As I pull the usage the customer provided, it very much does not match the usage he has at this time. His consumption has gone up greatly. Someone will call Ryan to get more information to help answer the questions at hand.

  Just a few examples of the usage differences-Keep in mind we have no control on how much a customer consumes energy in the home.

  Usage 2022 Provided by the customer

  Jan- 217kwh

  Feb-247 kwh

  March-247kwh

  April-285kwh

  Usage 2023 Provided by the monitoring system

  Jan-1800 kwh

  Feb-1300 kwh

  March-1400 kwh

  April-907.6 kwh

  

  Business response

  03/04/2024

  In the previous response we did address that the consumption has went up and in the notes on the account this was addressed a few times. The solar system has exceeded the promised production. If the consumption goes up that is  going to have the utility bill go up as the production that was promised is still the same. We will have a different manager give the customer a call this week.

  Customer response

  03/04/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  consumption did not go up until I got this system.  Nobody is there and nothing it running yet the bills are higher than before.  Claiming the system is performing better than expected is easy but the bills do not prove this.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Ryan *******

• Initial Complaint

  02/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was given the chance to get solar installed on my roof with showing the deed to my house. Our only income is my SSD-I. And my credit would never have passed. It is my fault for signing up, but it's not okay to say we CAN'T CANCEL. They've been doing work measuring but nothing is on the roof. We should owe, but not anymore at this point. Super poor and stressed out!

  

  Business response

  02/27/2024

  Speaking with QA the customer signed the contract on 11/13/23 per the contract that is signed there is a 3 day right to rescind the contract. After this time there is a required 10% fee to cancel the contract as there has been work put into the project. The customer reached out on 1/23/24 to cancel that is 2 months after the project was started and was ready to schedule for install. The QA spoke to them and as he does understand the customer is looking for new employment he had agreed to cover the payments till the end of the year. This would have given the customer a year to get employed and settled and start making payments. The customer has reached out again on 2/6/24 we have offered everything we can to help the customer and the s project is ready to install still at this point so a lot of work has went into he project.

   

  The customer is welcome to call back and speak to the QA Joel.

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  hired this company to install solar panels and 2 Tesla powerwalls on my house. The items have been installed but my solar system still is not up and running. The company does not respond to phone calls, emails or texts in a timely manner. I have received a bill for my first loan payment on this system but like I said, the solar system is not active. Shine said they need to schedule final inspection with utility company before service can be turned on. I have yet to hear back from them as to when this will happen. They have had enough time to make this right. My solar system should be operating by now.

  

  Business response

  02/06/2024

  Please see the notes below from the Shine Solar account for ***** ******.

  INSPECTION NOTE: this customer has missed three different scheduled appointments with the city inspector. She is the biggest hurdle we have right now to getting this job completed.

  INSPECTION NOTE: I recommend, if you have the time, to listen to my most recent call with *****. I conferenced her in with the inspector for him to tell her directly that she has missed all the scheduled appointments and call attempts from the inspector. They scheduled for him to go back out in 20 minutes and she said she would be home

  The inspection is required to move forward to getting the system turned on. 

   

  

  Business response

  02/08/2024

  Everything is completed and ready for reinspection-if the customer would like to talk to our Chief of Staff she will be happy to call her.

  Customer response

  02/14/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: My solar system is still not operational. And this is due to Shine not getting it right on many occasions. 

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

• Initial Complaint

  01/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In Nov '23, I had 33 solar panels installed after being told that it would cover 85-100% of my energy consumption which would end up costing me $233/month for 25 years. My average bill was about $250-$300/month so it sounded like a good deal. I explained that I had recently gotten married and had 4 more people move in the household. I gave them my electric bills as requested for the past 12 months but explained the extra people were there for the past 4 months only and I needed the consumption based on those months. They said they would adjust for that and had my plans engineered to cover my usage. Now after 1 year, my bills have only decreased by about $50/month. It only covers about 28% of my consumption. And I will be paying for the useless panels for the next 25 years. After multiple unanswered calls, I was told that they could help me get up to the 85-100% originally promised by adding an additional 22 panels for another $35,000. NO THANKS! They told me my salesman was no longer working there and that he was a little "overzealous" and should've told me that Ozark electric does not allow them to adjust for the additional family members and I should've waited until they had lived there a full 12 months to get an accurate assessment of consumption. I now have to pay a huge electric bill and their $233/month for the next 25 years.

  

  Business response

  01/31/2024

  Looking thru the information and the billing that was sent. I have attached a copy with the comparison of 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 you can see there is a difference in the billing since the system has been turned on. 

  The reason billing is used from the prior years, it gives us a better understanding of the customer needs with their usage in the home. Stating that 4 more people will be moving create variables that are unknown. To taking in consideration that the home will use more energy. 

  We guarantee the yearly production as the customer can change the offset to be worse or even better. 

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I had solar put on my house 2 years ago. Last storm my roof leaked badly. Shine came out and plugged the holes. There is damage to my ceiling and I have been unable to get their contractor out to fix it. I’m concerned the ceiling may collapse. Shine took my insulation from 13” up to 24” I fear all that wet insulation is going to come crashing down. Worried about the mold

  

  Business response

  01/02/2024

  I do see we have a service ticket in the system to find a contractor to get the repairs completed.

  

  Business response

  01/31/2024

  The repairs were completed on 1/30/24

  Customer response

  01/31/2024

  
  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Naomi ******

• Initial Complaint

  12/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We were told by our sales representative that we would receive a tax credit of $15,000 on our taxes that we could apply to our loan and therefore keep our lower payments. Imagine our surprise when we were doing our taxes and were told it was a non-refundable credit and we would not be getting that money. Lo and behold, November comes and our loan payment went up. We were also told we were getting a straight heat pump system: this is not the case. We got a mini split heat pump with an air handler. This system 1) isn’t worth what we are paying for it and 2) is not the same thing as a straight heat pump at all. We are also not rid of our electric bill as we were told we would be, so now we are paying an electric bill and a higher solar/HVAC payment and we are seriously unhappy. We’d like all of it removed from our home. We are dissatisfied beyond measure and would like to be done with this issue as soon as possible.

  

  Business response

  01/02/2024

  Our Customer Relations manager spoke to the customer at length, 

  I spoke with ******** earlier today and fielded those concerns with her directly. She was limited on credit availability, and ended up with the smallest solar system we offer, a 10 panel system along with an HVAC system. On top of that, they did not have 1 year of usage of us to build the system around, so we do normally install the smallest system in order to be able to easily add on in the future, if needed. Once we have a year's worth of usage, we can see how many more panels they would need to offset their desired amount. They were told all of this multiple times through the sales process. I have reviewed the calls personally to confirm this. As far as the tax credit, our sales calls now are audited in real time. Had our Energy Consultant not explained the tax credit appropriately, our guys would have been notified immediately. The tax portion of our sales script was written by our attorneys and is the only part of our script that the consultants have to read word for word. No exceptions. At the end of the sales call, the buyer speaks with a Shine Rep for a "Welcome Call". During this portion she has the customer confirm, once again, if the EC explained their Production Guarantee and the details within that appropriately. The ******* answered Yes. She then asked if the EC went over the Tax Credit and how it is STRICTLY based on your tax liability. Again, they both answered yes. As far as the HVAC details, I only know the solar side and would have to defer that clarification to our HVAC Dept. This was all covered with Mrs. ****** on the phone call today. She was obviously not accepting of it. As you can see in the screenshot, her system over the last year, has produced 137% of what she was guaranteed and agreed to. Just this month alone, which should be her worst month for production, she has produced 189% of what we estimated. As far as Shine is concerned, this is a closed case with her. We have exceeded all agreed upon expectations. 

  Customer response

  01/02/2024

  
  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Cherokee ******

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Well to start. Shine Solar advertises a $15 electric bill. I never hot a $15 electric bill and still haven't. My electric bills have remained relatively the same. The $15 I'd the first year of intrest payment to the financial institution. You still get an electric bill anywhere from $90-$250 monthly(in my instance). I have reached out to them numerous times asking what the deal is or if there is a solution. They refer me to the monitoring company who tells me everything is operating properly. I know when we went into this thing they guaranteed me that my solar and electric bill would be cheaper than my stand alone electric bill( on average). It hasn't! Shine Solar is not willing to help resolve the problem nor can I get them to respond! And to make matters worse the finance company has put a lein on my property. That was never verbally discussed!

  

  Business response

  12/08/2023

  We never advertise the bill will be $15, we advertise that your bill can be as low as $15. We do give a yearly production guarantee, looking at the system it has a lifetime production of 104% as of today. I will have the customer relations department run another yearly report for them and call once they have the information completed. 

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