Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  SEM installed solar panels in my home promised that they would provide service to add more panels to the existing system when I request them. I asked them a few months ago for a quote, and they shared it to me. After that, I tried to contact them for price negotiation, and there has been no proper communication or call back from the salesperson for many months. I have no help from this company, and working with other companies void warranties. I am trying to reach out to them many times and no one has called me back. I need refund for my product as SEM gave false promises at the time of sale

  

  Business response

  10/01/2024

  Mr. ****** reached out to us on April 29, 2024 to add solar panels to an existing solar panels system we installed. The original system however was contracted with, paid for, and installed for the new construction builder who built his home. During the build out of the home, Mr. ****** wanted to add more panels but the builder chose to keep the size of the solar system at its original size. Because we knew Mr. ****** wanted more solar panels but couldnt complete the addition during the build process, we upgraded his inverter size at no cost (a $1,000 free upgrade), so that he could do the addition later and save money by not having to add a new/larger inverter.

  
  After Mr. ****** reached out on Apr 19, 2024, one of our solar designers touched base and a quote for 20 additional panels was sent on Apr 23, 2024. We did not hear back from Mr. ****** until Jul 5, at which time he said In the market, other companies offer much lower price and the difference is at least $3k. Is there a chance to reduce the price by another $3k by applying some discounts? As an existing customer, I feel the pricing should be very competitive compared to others.
  

  This is where our team lost the communication thread and did not respond to this message for a while. We fully admit this was a bad customer communication experience and have addressed this internally with our team. The core issue of that was our receptionist messages not making it to the solar designer, which again, we have addressed and updated procedures.  On Sep 5, our solar designer reached back out to Mr. ******* letting him know that he did not receive his messages until yesterday (Sep 4) and confirming that we cannot do price reductions. At this point, he passed Mr. ****** off to our Director of Sales, in response to Mr. ****** being adamant about a lower price. Our director of sales responded on Sep 6 asking if Mr. ****** wanted to proceed with our quote or move forward with another lower-cost solution. Mr. ****** responded that he had another lower price quote, asked if we would price match, to which our Director confirmed we would not be able to meet that price, with a couple emails back and forth that day regarding the pricing. The last email sent or received was from us to Mr. ****** on Sep 6, to which we have yet to hear back in any form (except a BBB complaint).
  
  While we are certainly at fault for the lack of communication in July-August, we believe that we have been fair and forthcoming with our attempts to do business with Mr. ******* however he made it clear that he found a lower price with another installer that he preferred to work with.  We made no commitment to him at the time of the original installation with his builder that we would provide any specific pricing or discounts in the future. We have given him the go ahead multiple times to choose another solar installer.
  
  In response to his specific request for a refund, we have never done any direct business with Mr. ****** and have no contracts signed with him, since his original system was contracted with, paid for by, and installed for his builder. They then charged Mr. ****** for the cost of the solar system as part of the purchase price of the home.

*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. ↩