ComplaintsforAlternate Energy, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Alternate Energy *** salesperson ************************* sold us a photovoltaic system that was installed on Sept 23,2023. It was for 8 ********* panels and 1 Tesla Battery to work w our existing 18 ********** solar panels, also purchased from AEI. This project ID ************ closed on Jan. 2,2024.**** said our home would now have electricity during blackouts. Then the electricity went out. We had electricity for upstairs but NO ELECTRICITY for downstairs! What? We were shocked! We just paid over $29,000 for electricity for the entire house, not HALF a house. Every one I asked who has 1 Tesla battery has electricity for the entire house during blackouts. No apology from **** and no return calls from the owner *************************. *** then wanted to charge us $1250 to connect electricity to downstairs. That amount was lowered to $1000.AEI is totally responsible for this huge mistake. We should not pay for anything! We need electricity for the ENTIRE house during blackouts. Thats what we paid for! AEI failed to complete the project as per contract.

  

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  We spoke with ************************* (Sales person) and this is what he said.  "During his presentation, ***** and ****** were not consistently present, each of them took turns leaving the table.  I explained to ***** that a single Powerwall can back up the appliances on the 100 amp breaker.  I showed her a photo of the 100 amp breaker from my phone and showed her the appliances connected to the 100 amp breaker will work in a power outage.  She acknowledged that she understood the information and we continued with the presentation".

  Regarding *****'s claim about her neighbors backing up houses with 1 Powerwall, the Tesla manual does not allow for that in many cases.  In this case we did back up the 100 amp breaker, for most homes that is the whole house.  In this case the ***'s have a separate breaker which requires additional electrical work.  We offered ***** the option to back up some critical loads for $1250 which we then reduces to $1000 as a courtesy, the customer would have paid this on the front half if they asked for the critical load to be covered then.  It's no different, they would have paid for it before or after.  We still want a good relationship with the Mau's but it is extra work which we offered a discounted rate.

   

   

  Customer response

  02/11/2024

  ************************* claimed ***** and ****** were not consistently present during his presentation( sales pitch).  That is absurd(spend $29,000+ and disappear?)! ***** went to get pen and paper and ****** went to the bathroom because of medical issues. (Was **** irritated?)

  *** said this situation has happened before and **** knew it.  We added more pv panels and battery so we would have electricity during blackouts.  Having electricity for only HALF a HOUSE is not acceptable. This is not only a contract issue but a SAFETY issue! **** insisted on charging for something he promised instead of rectifying the mistake.  We received NO EXPLANATION for the problem, NO apology, NO thank you for your business response! (Sell and run?)!  Maybe it was **** who was not consistently present or prepared.

  We have done business with AEI since 2008(devoted customer).  They have always been reliable.  We have also referred 8 families that have used AEI!
  

  As **** didnt attempt to remedy the problem and after several phone calls to AEI, we received 2 phone calls, from ****** and from *** that AEI would back up our electricity at NO CHARGE!

  AEI electricians came to look at the situation.  NO PROBLEM!  WE CAN EASILY FIX IT! ( **** was the problem???)!  No date has been set to compete the connections.

  Even nice guys disappoint!

   

  

  Business response

  04/15/2024

  *** went out on Feb 10, 2024 and completed what ***************** requested.

   

  Customer response

  04/23/2024

   
  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.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** And *******************

• Initial Complaint

  01/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  They came out back in August because they called to say there was a recall on an inverter and they could replace it. I had to pay a $150 service fee for it though. The previous week, we had a flood in the bathroom so there were industrial size fans running for a week 24/7. When viewing our electric bill, it spiked over $300 and thought that was the issue. The next bill came and it was just as high. When we checked the enphase monitoring system we realized our system wasnt producing any power. I immediately called the office and they kept arguing the system was on after we continuously argued it wasnt. The light on the box wasnt on but their system registering back to them said it was. Finally, they agreed to having someone come out but to only charge me another $150 service call! The system is finally up and working but were seeking reimbursement of some kind as I forwarded all of our HECO bills. Our system was working perfectly fine until their technicians came and touched something without confirming it was properly working. I was told 12/5 by ***** her supervisor was looking into the matter and have not received a single reply to my multiple attempts to reach her or her supervisor ****. It appears theyre screening my calls and no one is attempting to get back to us.

  

  Business response

  02/07/2024

  ******************************************,
  First and foremost, we want to apologize for the lack of communication and experience you've had with Alternate Energy.  We have reviewed the details surrounding your concern and Alternate Energy does not monitor systems, therefore we cannot compensate you for your electric bill.  It is the customer's responsibility as noted in your signed terms and conditions. To make things right we will refund you for the (2) service charges of $157.07 each, again we genuinely regret any inconvenience this has caused you.
  
  

   

  Customer response

  02/14/2024

  I have not received any refund yet

• Initial Complaint

  02/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  First purchased complete PV system in 2008. Cost was about ****** or ****** dollars. Amount was paid off..System worked until I noticed in early *************************************************** October 2022 contacted salesperson *********************** about problem. He checked and found that more than half of my pv panels were not working. System has a 25 year warranty. He related it would be covered by the warranty and the panels would be replaced. He explained that I had ********** panels which were defective. He said he had the same type of panels ****** them replaced under the waaranty. I will be replaced by ********* panels. He said they would contact me shortly. In november i called back because not one had contacted me. I was told I was on the list/I called every month after that and always got the same answer. It is now february and still nothing has been done. Contacted alternate energy again and was told no one was in the office. Took a message but no one has called. Do I have to keep paying high energy bill.

  

  Business response

  02/28/2023

  ********** has been having problems with the 260panels, we advised ************************* that he was on a wait list with ********** and it would take a couple months for them to get back to us. We did leave several voicemail messages and emails to inform him that we are still working with **********.  ********** did approve his warranty and all warranty documents were signed by ******************, we are now waiting for ****************** to receive check from ********** then we can proceed with changing out his panels.

• Initial Complaint

  01/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Alternate Energy **** installed solar water and photovoltaic panels on August 2010. 10 year solar water warranty and 25 years photovoltaic warranty. Now photovoltaic system not working, phoned them and emailed them. They answered one email out of 4. The 1st is they want me to troubleshoot system with my Envoy monitoring box. Told them through email that we called and told them the box was defective 3 years after it was installed and Alternate Energy said to reset box which we did . Nothing happened and system was working. Threw away box 3 years ago. System was still working without box. Emailed them 3 more times asking when they are going to fix it. No response.

  

  Business response

  02/01/2023

  We re-installed a new envoy, system is running but we are still addressing microinverter issues with Enphase which has been approved.  We are waiting for the parts to arrive and will schedule with **********.

  Customer response

  02/01/2023

   
  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.  Alternate Energy has honored the warranty.  They have really nice people working there and are easy to work with.  It is just that they need to respond a little faster with customers concerns. I will still use Alternate Energy and continue to refer them to my friends.  In the past I referred two neighbors and a friend in ******* that all went with Alternate Energy.

  Thank you Better Business Bureau for your help!! 

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ***

• Initial Complaint

  12/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had 48 solar panels installed at a cost of over $51,000 dollars in 2017. Solaredge optimizers (1/panel total 48), and one Solaredge inverter were used. The initial installation was poorly done resulting in water flooding the inverter because of poor conduit/junction box seals. Non-stainless steel screws were used on the boxes which rusted quickly as well. These issues were fixed under the 25yr warranty. The replacement inverter failed and that was replaced as well. Since then I have had 12 optimizer failures which is far above the average. 25% vs less than 1% nationally. Although they have been willing to replace the optimizers under warranty, it has always taken a long time to get the parts. In this day and age thats ridiculous. *** lost a lot of money waiting for parts to be delivered and more money because all these failures were not found on the day they occurred. I have recently gotten fed up with the failures and response time from Alternate Energy. Ive contacted Solaredge to ask why Ive had so many failures and they said to ask Alternate Energy (blame game). Ive asked if there are too many optimizers linked to one inverter and Solaredge said its possible but to check with AE. Ive read 25 *** optimizers per inverter. Ive had no response ******* regarding this. Meanwhile Im waiting for the 2 recently failed optimizers to be replaced. Except for isolated instances, their customer service after the sale/installation is very poor. Im in an area that has a lot of cloud coverage so I depend on the equipment not only working well, but working period! Thank you. ******************************

  

  Business response

  01/10/2023

  ********************,

  
  We have been working with ****** from SolarEdge regarding your issues, we have been waiting for them to advise us with what they are going to do being that it is a manufacture problem.  They advised Alternate Energy today that they will be replacing the remaining 37 optimizers since the other 11 were recently replaced. We are only able to replace products under warranty when the manufactures give us the go ahead.  The time that it takes to get the product is out of our control.  We hope that this will resolve any further issues.

• Initial Complaint

  09/21/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been patiently waiting close to three months to have my PV system to operate properly. I have paid their service fees, made over 20 phone calls and each time the companys rep (first ******* and now ****) say they will call me back and they never do. They always tell me they are working to resolve the issue but nobody calls with updates or keeps me in the loop about what is going on.I have endured multiple technicians coming out, part of my system being down for months and now a total loss of my monitoring system. I have tried for months to resolve this but now that they continue to break promises of a resolution and not calling me back, I am kindly requesting the assistance of BBB.Thank you for your assistance regarding this matter

  

  Business response

  10/03/2022

  Unfortunate timing the customer was in process to get the *** installed and had already left this complaint.  He changed his rating to 4 stars but he was unable to retract his BBB complaint.  This matter has been resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  06/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We have used AE for 2 PV installs and 2 *** installs on our homes. They were reputable until our recent *** install on 5/2021. Upon inquiring with AE why our electric **** had a sudden spike in usage/ cost, they came to check our PV system which was okay. It was upon further research, that the *** AE installed was not placed in the optimal location on our roof forcing our water heater to be on 24/7 as it never reached its peak performance. This resulted in our electric **** skyrocketing more than $500/mo. for more than 3 months. AE sent a tech to assess our *** panels and upon their tech's review, the panels were facing the wrong way. AE came and relocated the panels but has not apologized, nor acknowledged their negligence, or offered any compensation for the unnecessary electric costs that I assumed. After many emails (to *******************) and phone calls trying to get this issue resolved, I have yet to hear from anyone at AE.Furthermore, this city permit for the *** is still open (job completed 4/2021) along with another permit they opened back in 11/2017 for a *** that never was installed, this permit remains open as well.

  

  Business response

  06/29/2022

  Please see attached letter and document.

  Customer response

  07/03/2022

   
  Complaint: 17446353
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Krisal Ilae

• Initial Complaint

  06/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Installed 20 ********** panels for $25,000.00 in Sept. of 2013. Electricity bill still high. Called them to check it 3 weeks ago. Receptionist checked and said the inverter wasn't communicating with box. Spoke to rep name Ginger. There would be a service charge of $150. Service guy came out today, 6/29/21 and said we were missing a box that's connected to a box outside. Didn't know what he was talking about. He had one for $68.00 and could put it in. Told son in law to tell him, we would pay that but not the service charge since we're under warranty. Ginger said that the service charge has nothing to do with warranty. AEI Assured Warranty I have on file reads: 10 year guarantee. AEI warrants parts and labor against defects in material or workmanship for 10 yrs. from date of orignal purchase and agrees to repair or, at the company's option replace a defective product without charge for either replacement parts or labor during such time. ********** Elec. warrants the power 25 yr

  

  Business response

  07/13/2021

   When you called in for service Ginger quoted you a trip fee/ service fee of $157.07.  This fee has nothing to do with the warranty, it covers the charge for the technician's travel time and related costs to keep our fleet of vehicles on the road (purchases, fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc.). You agreed to that charge and Ginger also sent it to you in writing which you viewed.

  
  When our technicians arrived at your home your son-in-law came out to talk to us because you were not home.  After troubleshooting your system we found that you changed your internet provider and the tp-link was not connected.  Your son-in-law could not find the tp-link for us to pair it and get your system online.  When checking your router we found no spare port, we asked if we could plug a tp-link in and he said no.  We quoted your son-in-law $68.06 for a new tp-link who was going to check with Vicky.  We then left without installing the tp-link because we had no approval from the homeowner.

  
  The $157.07 that was billed to you was for the above-mentioned, trip fee/service fee,  we will not charge you another trip fee when we come back out to complete the trouble call, however, we ask that the homeowner be home so we can complete the call.

  Customer response

  07/14/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I did not agree to the service charge.  Yes, you did send me the contract regarding that, but I did not sign it and I told my son in law not to sign it either when your tech came out the next day with that.  I said I was willing to pay the $68.06 for that part your tech said he had in his truck, but as he reported to you, we didn't have enough ports to make the connection.  He mentioned a wireless device and would find out the price and get back to me, but that didn't happen.  Instead, I got a bill for the $68.06 with no explanation.  I replied back asking what it was for when the tech did not install anything.  No reply, but I did get a reminder the bill was due.  Again, I asked what was it for.  No reply. I also want to note that your tech mentioned one of our panels is not working.  What will be done about the non working panel? Also, where in your installation record does it show the location of the port because both my son in law and your tech was not able to find it.  Is it possible the port was never installed?  Also, I don't see why changing internet carriers would make a difference because the modem was never moved.

  No where in my contract did it mention a service fee for any tech to check on my system.  From your office to my home is less than 10 miles round trip.  The amount you're charging for the maintenance on your fleet is outrages!  It would take less than 5 gallons to make that round trip.  Cost of 5 gallons would cost about $20.  The additional $137.00 charge is excessive. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** ******* 

*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. ↩