Meanwhile…
ME: *contacts solar company* I would like a quote, please.
COMPANY: If you send us your electric bill, we can discuss what solar can do for you!
ME: I have lived here less than a month. I am telling you I want solar.
COMPANY: But solar is amazing! Watch this video about it!
ME: …
ME: *contacts solar company* I would like a quote, please.
COMPANY: If you send us your electric bill, we can discuss what solar can do for you!
ME: I have lived here less than a month. I am telling you I want solar.
COMPANY: But solar is amazing! Watch this video about it!
ME: …
Comments
Could also be inexperienced person not explaining that a roof area estimate is required before quote possible
Tf has my electric bill gotta do with my choice to install solar 🤦🏻♀️
This is to protect your financial interests and my reputation.
We can definitely install solar for ethical reasons, but we need to understand and communicate financial information to customers.
All quotes require an electricity bill universally.
Solar companies: financing scams.
They trained the heck out of them for that hard sell and damn if you get to get out of it
COMPANY: We checked, that is something we can do
...
(2 weeks after "inspection" by newbie sales guy)
...
COMPANY: There is absolutely no way we can install on your roof
Bought the house with this roof, it seems ridiculous to replace it given that it’s still in great shape
More relevant is how much *can* they fit up there
often times they do a yearly report
It is annoying that they limit it like that.
I think all of the companies were looking at Google photos of our house pre-roof repair when they said "can't put panels on the roof."
But then we moved in and put load on furnace and that promptly needed doing for years so nevermind solar.
ME: Let’s try this again.
ME: I want solar for ethical reasons. I want to give someone money to make solar happen. That someone could be you.
COMPANY: …
ME: …
COMPANY: We’ll send a guy out Tuesday.
To see what they recommend as well.
They gave me the runaround and eventually ghosted me.
They're now bankrupt.
“I’ve done my research, I’m ready to make this happen.”
“WOULD YOU LIKE AN EXPERT CONSULTANT TO COME BY YOUR HOUSE?????”
“…Whatever ends in me signing a contract, sure.”
It just did not compute
Many regions have implemented "maximum wattage" limits based on your previous annual peak usage as a nefarious workaround to avoiding 'banning' it. >_<
And new house sale might well have you at 'theoretical zero' ATM. :S
“People are just gonna get as much solar as their roofs can fit and make money at the electric company’s expense!”
And I’m like… Okay?
It's generally an end-run around banning solar (to avoid lawsuits nullifying the laws) by framing it as preventing commercial-scale installs on residential, but generally it acts to make solar impossible to appreciably reduce your electric bill in those areas if you play it straight.
But if you want to keep access to grid power? Makes sure you stay profitable for them.
Company: Okay, let's see how difficult we can make this. First, sign up an account on our website...
Straight to jail.
Why is this so hard
...I just realized the irony of that statement. Carry on.
ME: No thanks
COMPANY: please fill out our customer survey and rate our product
Me : der.. if I wasn't happy, I'd send it back
We went to the next town over and eventually bought TWO cars from them. And made a point of telling them who they'd pinched the sales from.
I even had to do the silent treatment on the Maintenance package on my last car.
The dealership in mid-cities told us they'd heard weird stories before about that dealership. Sometimes the heirs...aren't.
Yes, thank you. I am autistic. I am painfully aware sensory issues are a thing. Can we please get to the advice part?
Maybe a different company is more in tune?
Hope you can beat the tariffs.
I wonder how often they get people who just outright want solar and don't have to be jollied into it?
That happened to herself. Went into one Nissan dealership, left after half an hour when no-one had approached her
Went into a different one, salesguy came up, she went "I want one of those, with these specs". Instant sale
"I am calling about the lost shipment which you refunded."
"Yes, that shipment was lost in transit, so we refunded your money."
"But I actually received the shipment."
".. and we refunded your money."
"..."
"Is there anything else we can help you with?"
kinda figured they couldn't cause amazon wouldn't ship it to me.
got refund.
also got things.
now i have to email them back and say uh, i got the stuff. you should charge me.
It did have the right slip cover, though.
"You sent me the wrong book." *offers proof*
"Oh no! We'll send you the right book right away!"
"Do you want this book back?"
"..... nah, keep it."
And then they refunded me anyway.
The script they follow.
Unfortunately it will be the basis for Artificial Intelligence in customer care.
Kafka would recognise the algorithm that drives it all.
Schrödinger would recognise the presence of absence in inhuman responses we will enjoy.
Blade running & future shock.
“We shall fight on the beaches…”
“No, a quote on solar power.”
“The glorious Sun stays in his course and plays the alchemist…”
Hope you have better luck.
Some states require that the solar get set up so that it only feeds power it generates back into the grid
If your solar runs off of any kind of app, it’s likely proprietary to the company, and if the company goes away, you can’t do shit about your solar
Some of them seem to follow the "convince me" script even if you've made perfectly clear it's not required.
Guessing that people who research and decide before taking any action towards a purchase are rare?
I specifically avoided national brokers where the salespeople aren't involved in the install at all.
https://www.devilcorp.org/faq
Sadly, they didn’t provide any advice on how to navigate it.
But yeah, if they show up at your house uninvited or start off by pushing their financing, that’s a big hint to look somewhere else.
For example, every major US airline made more money last year off of credit cards than flying people around the sky.
The irony being now we look like the sort of people that could and we can’t anymore.
*follow*
Glad to see you on Bluesky!
This is part a result of govt tax and incentive policies which were written by lobbyists
Second call is a sales person.
"Now, hold on one gosh darn minute. I'm not so sure. Are you telling me..."
This may be why they want to know the specs, so they can choose which customers will be the most lucrative for them.
Any company i ever ran into that went that heavy on the marketing was a fraud that would charge $50,000 for a $10,000 job.
Do not engage. Run.
Produces most energy of all systems in my immediate area per analysis.
I suggest getting 40 panel system.
2 inverters each handles 20 panels
Obtain 1 battery station.
1 generator in event of extra power need plug in place of need
Past 6 years have had no power outages so far.
Each panel generates about $20 monthly of energy
If your bill is about $100 you need 5 panel
If your bill is $500 then you need 25+ panels
My bill reached $650 at one point. Obtained solar
Not since gone over $100
Lease system $238 month.
Hilarity ensued!