Customer Service is KEY when investing thousands of dollars.
The solar industry has gained a ton of popularity in recent years. People love the idea of helping the environment while also saving money on their monthly expenses. But there is still a lingering problem: the lack of common knowledge and that the educational process is being provided by a sales person whose interests will not be the same as yours.
Not only is there a financial interest involved in the educational process, but also an absence of experience and knowledge from the people providing the information. In most cases this is a sales people that yesterday was selling cars, today is selling solar panels and tomorrow will be selling something else.
This misinformation hurts past and present solar consumers. The concept of installing a solar system is simple, but the specifics are not: NEM (Net Energy Metering), TOU (Time Of Use rates), how solar works, the real use of batteries, equipment differences (SolarEdge vs Enphase), warranties, etc. These are all things that consumers should be more educated about but unfortunately are not because the people that provide the education are sales people looking to make a sale. We are sure there are decent people who will try to give as much information as possible. But our experience tells us that this is a tiny percentage.
Let’s also highlight that most solar companies have an 800 number for their customer service. Which means that once the sales person makes his/her commission they move on to the next customer or maybe even to another company. Many of the sales people in the solar industry are hired as 1099 contractors who have a high turn over rate. Therefore, these two factors will make it challenging for you to communicate with the person who has known your installation from day one in the event issues arise in the future. And we all know what an 800 numbers means – repeating the issue multiple times to multiple people and waiting for extended periods of time to speak with someone who can help you with your problem.
One of the larger issues that we see consistently is how often salespeople mislead customers by exaggerating how much energy the solar system will produce. They do this because they do not guarantee the amount of energy that will be produced in writing anywhere. This is precisely why GreeMpower has revolutionized the solar experience by offering the Premium Protection Plan. This plan guarantees the energy production of your solar system for the next 25 years by reimbursing you or adding additional panels if the system under performs. We also assign a project manager who will be there for you before, during and anytime after your installation is complete.