Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  ********* in business with Neighborhood Solar had representatives offer solar credits on our electric bill as part of a local solar farm refund, as we pay for them with the *** charge on our electric bill. They did not inform of a contract being signed, nor provide any information regarding this until after.

  

  Business response

  08/09/2023

  We have responded to this customer and canceled their account. The customer had not been fully enrolled as their account information had not yet been submitted to her utility provider. We could not enroll this customer as she did not yet pass our quality assurance screening to ensure that the customer understands the program before submitting her enrollment documentation. The customer was also within the 3-day grace period for full cancelation of her agreement without any restrictions or fees. 

  We are currently taking steps to address this enrollment situation with our door-to-door field sales team. We will address this situation with the agent in question and ensure that retraining occurs for our sales representatives. This agent was not an employee of Neighborhood Sun but was from a contracted sales company, and we confirm that this agent will be either reprimanded and retrained or will be let go from representing the Neighborhood Sun sales process. 

  We have also spoken directly with this customer and confirmed that her account has been swiftly removed from our community solar program. We are working with this customer to identify the sales agent in question and to do a quality check of the enrollments submitted by this agent. We sincerely apologize for this situation and are doing everything we can to rectify this issue and improve our customer experience and sales process. 

  Customer response

  08/13/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I received a phone call and email stating that my account would be removed, as it was not completely set up, and that the representative at my door was not directly employed by them, but was clearly misrepresenting the services being offered. I find this answer satisfactory, and wish this complaint be closed.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In September 2020, I subscribed to the *********** Solar Community Project with the promise of a late 2020/early 2021 activation date (when the project was fully subscribed, construction complete, and the grid turned on for me to begin receiving solar credits). It wasn't until 8/21/2021 that I received formal and explicit notice from this company that my solar project that I am a subscriber to had passed all inspections, was connected to the grid and was now generating 100% clean, renewable energy on my behalf. Fast forward to April 2022 (one full year beyond when I was supposed to start having received the services for which I subscribed), and dozens of emails to the company, I still am not receiving my due solar credits. The company, in multiple instances has replied to my emails and said that I should see something "within the week", however, this timeline has come and gone in every instance. There have been multiple emails from the company that have provided a message that says "you should have now seen your credits on your electric bill" or something similar. I still am not received any solar credits that are due to me for my portion of solar farm generated electricity. Presumably, the grid has been generating electricity since 8/21/21 (like the company claimed via email), which means the company has been making money on my share of electricity for 9 months without providing the service to me of which I am owed.

  

  Business response

  07/27/2022

  From: Matty G********** <*******************@neighborhoodsun.solar>
  Date: Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 12:31 PM
  Subject: Responding to your BBB filing
  To: <************************>
  
  Good afternoon ********/******,
  
  I hope your summer is going well and that you are staying hydrated and cool.
  
  I am writing because I was just notified today that you had filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and I wanted to address it with you directly.
  
  I have looked at your account and it is still listed as "pending" even though you have done everything that was required on your end, and we have done everything that we needed to do.
  
  I am contacting ************** to determine what is causing the log jam with your account, as you have noted  - the project is producing electricity and you should be receiving credits.
  
  But I am also very concerned that your BBB complaint makes an accusation that we are taking your credits, and the fact is, we can't do such a thing.  In fact, until you pay for them, they don't belong to you, so we can't steal them from you.  They belong to PotEd until they are assigned to someone.
  

  Specifically, your complaint says " ...which means the company has been making money on my share of electricity for 9 months without providing the service to me of which I am owed."
  
  That is a 100% untrue statement, but fake news becomes permanent the longer it exists in social media, so please take that review down.  I will get to the root of the problem with why you have not received credits yet, but it is 100% not because we are keeping something from you.  
  
  Again, you did not pay for the credits, so what could be stolen?  We are already 100% solar, so how could we apply them to our bills?  PotEd either has them banked in your name, or they had an admin issue that I can help resolve.  But no one stole them.  Certainly not us.  All we want to do is get more solar out there.  it is contrary to our mission to withhold solar from anyone.
  
  Please call me if you want to talk.  And please deal asap.  We are required to respond today.
  
  I should also mention that they are set to receive the solar credits that they are subscribed to in August, and it is too late in July for us to change that.  It is unfortunate, but also just a fact that the utilities move at an incredibly slow pace - not only to start service, but to stop it as well.  That is not a Neighborhood Sun issue, it is the utility.
  --
  Matty G************
  Senior Manager Customer Experience
  
  P  **************
  
  W Neighborhoodsun.solar | Sunengine.io
  
  E  ***********************************************

• Initial Complaint

  02/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  June-July 2021. Two solicitors knocked on my door and claimed I could get money back from electric company from solar power laws in md. I had to give a cc to put the refunds on and that was it. Didnt have valid cc, got nasty emails and vm left to call back. Didnt want service-never completed contract. They have sent me bills (larger than i ever receive) and i never got credit from *****. Fraud?? Idk

  

  Business response

  07/26/2022

  From: *********************** <******************@neighborhoodsun.solar>
  Date: Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 2:21 PM
  Subject: Re: ********************* Complaint (********)
  To: *********************** <***********@mybbb.org>
  
  Hi ******,
  
  To Mr/s **********:
  
  "Good afternoon ********/******,
  
  I hope your summer is going well and that you are staying hydrated and cool.
  
  I am writing because I was just notified today that you had filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and I wanted to address it with you directly.
  
  I have looked at your account and it is still listed as "pending" even though you have done everything that was required on your end, and we have done everything that we needed to do.
  
  I am contacting ************** to determine what is causing the log jam with your account, as you have noted  - the project is producing electricity and you should be receiving credits.
  
  But I am also very concerned that your BBB complaint makes an accusation that we are taking your credits, and the fact is, we can't do such a thing.  In fact, until you pay for them, they don't belong to you, so we can't steal them from you.  They belong to ***** until they are assigned to someone.
  
  Specifically, your complaint says " ...which means the company has been making money on my share of electricity for 9 months without providing the service to me of which I am owed."
  
  That is a 100% untrue statement, but fake news becomes permanent the longer it exists in social media, so please take that review down.  I will get to the root of the problem with why you have not received credits yet, but it is 100% not because we are keeping something from you.  
  
  Again, you did not pay for the credits, so what could be stolen?  We are already 100% solar, so how could we apply them to our bills?  ***** either has them banked in your name, or they had an admin issue that I can help resolve.  But no one stole them.  Certainly not us.  All we want to do is get more solar out there.  it is contrary to our mission to withhold solar from anyone.
  
  Please call me if you want to talk. 
  
  Thanks so much.  Please remember to stay hydrated and out of the sun if you can."
  
  
  To *********************:
  
  Hi ****,
  
  I was notified of your BBB complaint and so I looked into your account with Neighborhood Sun and found that you had signed an agreement on June 17th,2001 and started receiving solar credits as deductions from your ***** bills in August of 2021.

  
  ***** has reported to us that you received deductions, listed as "CNM Credits" on page 2 of your Pepco bills as follows:
  
  August 2021:  $31.43
  Sept 2021:  $41.45
  Oct 2021:  $30.64
  Nov 2021:  $30.98
  Dec 2021:  $20.32
  Jan 2022:  $14.10
  Feb 2022:  $14.63
  Mar 2022:  $13.92
  Apr 2022:  $19.81
  May 2022:  $24.85
  
  Your account was closed on April 21st of 2022, and so you received all of the solar credits that were generated during April, and were billed for them in May - you cannot produce a bill for something that was not generated, so your April solar credits were billed in May, which was your last bill.
  
  If you were misrepresented at your door, I sincerely apologize for that.  Our representatives always leave behind an approved explanation of how you a) receive solar credits, and b) pay for those credits at a discounted rate.
  
  At this point you have received about $200 in deductions and are being asked to pay $187.04 for them.  That is $12 less than the deductions and so you saved money.
  
  If needed, I can ask ***** to provide documentation of the value of your solar credits.  You don't need to take my word for it.  But if you want, please look at any one of your ***** bills from April 2022 or earlier and look at page 2 and look for "CNM Credits" and you will see minus signs, meaning your bill was reduced.
  
  I'm happy to talk if you wish.  Your complaint about the representative is a legitimate complaint...I wasn't there, so I can't contradict your statement.  But our company does save people money, including you.  It may not be as much as you inferred from the salesperson, but you did save money.
  
  Your account is cancelled. 
  Thanks,

  Customer response

  07/26/2022

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  On 10AUG21 I received this email stating if I did not act I would not get credits.  I never forwarded any information, confirmed on calls I was no longer interested/did not want to participate, never observed any 'credits' on any of my bills.  I never complied to the initial requests, I never should have been charged for any activity.

  I have, however, been called and emailed numerous times; some emails very unprofessional and nasty in nature.  I believe harassment is the word.

  I would like to see the day where I don't have to cringe seeing yet another nasty email from these people.  And I hope no other human has to endure the torture of this, "beat 'em down so they pay anything to stop the harassment" mentality of their business.  Truly sucks that businesses like this are able to operate and take advantage of hard-working individuals.

  Regards,
  
  *********************

*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. ↩