By: Scott Elkind, Chief of Litigation Strategy
Many customers have been misled during solar sales presentations. These presentations customarily include glowing promises of lowered or eliminated electricity bills, energy independence, long-term savings, ease of installation/use, increased home valuation, generous tax incentives, green energy production, etc.
Many of these solar sales presentation promises do not come to fruition.
There are many reasons why this happens:
- Misleading Sales Presentations which are guilty of the following practices, representing that:
- Solar panels being installed will eliminate or drastically reduce electricity needs from your local utility and then end up paying both a solar and electricity bill costing the consumer more than ever
- Qualifying for substantial tax incentives which prove to be inaccurate and then basing the solar contract on incentives which are never/not fully received
- Promise excellent service which is not forthcoming
- Bait and switch contracting – Although elimination of electric bills are promised, this language never shows up in the signed contract
- Inadequate, Grossly Excessive, or Defective/Poorly Performing Solar Panels
- Sales representatives work on commission and want to close a deal even if a customer cannot afford the necessary number of solar panels required to eliminate their electric bill. The solar sales person will deliberately undersell the number of solar panels and then try to sell an unsuspecting consumer more panels to make up for the initial and deliberate sale of insufficient panels
- For more affluent customers, solar representatives (especially in electricity buy back states) will oversell the number of panels a customer needs with promises of electricity buy back profits or credit offsets, neither of which will materialize
- Many solar panels, inverters, and monitors are produced with defects and will never function properly
- Many solar panels are produced shoddily and will stop producing promised power after some time and won’t come near to the expected power output promised for duration of the contract
Substandard Solar Panel Installation Resulting in:
- Broken roof tiles
- Roof leaks causing water penetration and interior home damage
- Damage to the existing home electrical system
- Dysfunctional/Non-functioning solar systems
- Inspection failure
Contract Provision Issues – many solar customers learn later that they were duped into contracts including loan terms, fees, monthly payment obligations, UCC liens on their homes, or other terms which had not been discussed or agreed upon
The failure of any of these listed factors may constitute a breach of contract, consumer protection act provisions, or deceptive trade practices by the solar company, any and all of which are actionable.
So, when should you speak to an attorney:
- Any time you have tried to cancel your solar agreement at the outset and the company refused to honor your request
- The solar company fails to install your solar panels completely
- The solar panels produce less power than promised
- Discovery finance terms which were not discussed
- Not realizing promised tax credits
- Damage to your roof or electrical system during the panel installation
- When the solar company refuses to undertake requested warranty work
An experienced solar attorney can seek relief from your problematic solar circumstances in several ways, including:
- Reduction of the solar panel cost
- Reduction of monthly payments
- Recission of the solar contract in its entirety
This relief is dependent upon many factors which are individual to each case.