We've had our solar panels from SolarCity in operation for just over a month, and I feel I have enough experience to provide a rating for SolarCity. First, let me say that the installation was outstanding. The crew worked in some pretty crummy weather conditions (wind and rain, then nightfall) to get the job done. They were professional and took the time necessary to finish the job in a day. The panels and supporting equipment look great. They cleaned up every last bit of conduit and wire, and even restored the roofing tiles to new condition- including the ones that were broken prior to the installation. Customer service is good- we have a "concierge" assigned to our account who is easy to reach by phone or by email. Our system has had a few hiccups, including errors that have taken the system down, which required a phone call with instructions on how to reset it. Not sure what causes these and the outages that take the system off-line for an hour or two a couple of times per week. But I can say that my first SMUD bill after the installation was $20. (Granted, not running the AC, running a minimum schedule on the pool equipment, but about a $130 savings for a normal February.) Basically, just the regular minimum charge for the privilege of being a customer and having a SMUD meter on our house. Send me a few more of those, SMUD, and I'll confirm that switching to solar was a smart decision! What didn't work so well with SolarCity: The front line sales force was flaky. If I invite someone in to my home to pitch a plan for me to spend thousands of dollars and make a 20+ year commitment, it had better be a trained professional. And someone I can count on to be consistent with the information presented, and reliable when I have questions after the initial meeting. We had an initial meeting with a rep and signed the paperwork. Then, when I contacted him by email, I received a response from someone else, informing me that he had transitioned out of the position and I had a new rep. She sent me documents that looked NOTHING like the original set, which required a new meeting to go over what changed and why. A week or so after, I contacted her about something, and what do you know, my rep had changed AGAIN. We were initially offered a gift card from Home Depot for signing before the end of 2015, but that information didn't transfer. It took some digging around, and the gift card was delivered, but if I am making a financial commitment of this magnitude, SolarCity should absolutely notify me that I have a new rep and how to contact that person, and provide me with the perks I was promised without my begging for them. In my opinion, this is Customer Service 101. If you have a person transitioning out of a customer-facing position, make the hand-off part of the process, and make sure your customer is informed about it before they go looking for help. The second issue we had was with the financing. The department responsible for invoicing entered our email wrong, and we didn't receive the invoices. Even after I called to confirm that it had been sent, the error went uncorrected. Instead of contacting us to find out why we hadn't made our payments according to the schedule (1/2 upon installation, balance due when inspection was complete), our system sat without activation until I called again and had the invoices sent to an alternate email. Fortunately, SMUD was quick to come out and turn on the meter, but the delay meant money we were spending on electricity that we should not have. Track more closely and follow up, SolarCity, and solve the problems before they become customer service issues. Only time will tell if solar saves us money. We already know that switching to a renewable source of power is the right thing to do. I can recommend SolarCity because they did the job, and that the installation part went smoothly. I hope that sharing my experience will help them with improving their customer service process. My advice to homeowners? Shop around, get a couple of quotes. Read reviews on sites like Yelp so you are aware of any complaints. Talk to people you know who have installed solar systems. read more

Had an appt window today 11AM to 5PM, my husband took the day off for it. Tesla CS sent a text at 4:20PM, after waiting the entire window, to say they won't make it and will come tomorrow, another 6 hour window. THEY SUCK!!!! Horrible Customer Service. No call back number of course. read more

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF TESLA IS LYING, being deceitful, or just feeding you B.S, THEY START MAKING YOU PROMISES AND THEY DESCRIBE HOW GREAT THIER SYSTEM AND SERVICE ARE. Do not believe them, they will sell you a system, install it and whether it works or not will walk away and take your money. I spent 40,000 on a new roof with Tesla and when they were done they just walked away. No instructions, no information except a 5 page pamphlet with maybe 150 words explaining nothing. My roof produces maybe 10% of the power that was promised. The app I was promised is non existent and does not work. The service department is non responsive, they are great before they have your money, but once they get it you are screwed. There is no one to call for help, DO NOT BUY TESLA ENERGY PRODUCTS, they will treat you like a piece of garbage once they have your money. I have been trying to get service for over a month now on a brand new roof and I cannot even get anyone to acknowledge my existence. THIER products look neat AND sleek, BUT THEY DO NOT WORK, AFTER THEY GET YOUR MONEY you ARE ON YOUR OWN, TESLA WILL NOT BE THERE TO SUPPORT THE PRODUCT THEY JUST SOLD TO YOU, I HOPE YOU DON'T BECOME ONE OF THIER SUCKERS. read more

If i could give negative stars i would.how can a multi billion company continur to bill and noy replace ypur equipment for 6 months and counting?!?! Im the one doing all the follow ups and they are recently even mis scheduled me for a service call and not an install after i specifically asked for the status of my case. They said it was instock and theyre scheduling me for am install. Guy gets gere and no install and now another month?!?! Stay the efffff away from this place. Also the original contract was so misleading. We were given false info by solarcity (previous company) with one of.their door to door salesman telling us that we coule eventually buy if from a lease which was completely.bogus. not only am i stuck with a long lease of a shitty solar system that hasnt worked in 6 months. Maybe if Elon musk gave a shit about customer service he would do a better job because the operations of their energy side is shit. read more

I used to think Tesla was a great company and I was happy to get solar panels from them. I felt I was helping the environment with a new way of generating electricity. I was so wrong. Tesla is a miserable company. Everything has to be done within their app. No way to get ahold of someone on the phone, so if you have a problem, impossible to get it solved. I have been waiting for them to reinstall panels after putting a new roof on my house. It's been 5 months and when on the rare occasions I can communicate with someone it's just the runaround. I'm fed up. read more

Love the car, hate everything about Tesla Solar. First ordered the system in August of 2020 and after several back/forth emails, the system was "initially" installed in April of 2021. This is a large system which required a large crew to install. While there was one subcontractor that was awesome the others installed with no care of look and functionality. After working with the sub team, the errors were corrected (again after multiple exchanges) and then the waiting began for power on. And we waited and waited and waited. I then had to call multiple supervisors after four months and finally got someone to respond that they needed to investigate. Then I was handed off multiple times (I've heard the working conditions are awful at Tesla Solar and therefore they have HuGE turnover) to different folks "responsible" for my account. Finally I was told one of the power walls could not be installed in the garage and had to be moved. I should note this is after they said they were told they couldn't come on site and asked me to order a heat detector (never heard of it). So it is now November of 2021 and we are still not officially installed for inspection. After back/forth they determine that they do in fact have to move the power wall outside. So this is done. Guess what it failed inspection because of some other switch missed. Again no communication and then get a call last week of Dec as I told them in no uncertain terms to either power on so I could get the rebate or take it off at their cost (make sure you enforce this is if you do go with TESLA). So they arrive to fix the problem and it passes inspection. But wait, the Tesla Quality person comes out and says no. They didn't do some things properly. Mad scramble and it's resolved during the downpour last days of Dec 2021. So we think we are done right??? Wrong. Six weeks later still not powered on but Tesla has graciously taken $50K for the system (with no other rebates etc for their horrible process and countless screw ups that cost me at least 40 hours of time). Today is Feb 12 2022 (almost two years from initial install) and no contact from Tesla to power on or what the schedule is...and based on this experience I have NO idea how the system will work and return on its promises. One final note. The neighbor across the street ordered, installed, powered on a large system purchased with another companySolar in June 2022 and done Nov 2022. Net net stay away from Tesla unless you want a completely miserable, horrible experience. read more

Everything with Tesla was bad. First phone appointment? They never called. portal login not working? Said they sent a reset link 'several times' but they actually never sent it. said they would get back to me with the proposal within 3 days? More like 10 days. Etc. But the biggest issue is that they needed a $500 deposit to move forward with scheduling an on-site visit, and when we decided not to use Tesla, it took a few weeks and threat of an attorney to get them to refund my money. It turns out that the sales person we were working with, who claims she put in for the refund as soon as we canceled? she never actually canceled the job so the refund request was never processed, even though she said she checked on it and that should be hitting our account any day. so basically, everything that came out of their mouths were lies. read more

DO NOT get Tesla. I have never experienced such an Epic failure in customer service in my life. They have dropped the ball every step of the way. There is not one thing they did right the first time. here is a list: 1) They submitted wrong drawings to permit department. 2) They weren't aware the permit had been cancelled till I called 3 times and said I was going to go down to the permit dept myself, then they did the research and found out. 3) They never follow up or communicate next steps 4) During installation the gateway that they installed was defective. they don't keep extras in their work truck so this caused a 2 week delay :( 5) Even though the project was not completed they told the city inspector that it was so the permit could be signed off on and the lender could fund the loan and pay them. (Fraud) 6) The 2 week delay turned into a month and a half delay because one of the installer has a child sent home so they scheduled another appointment close to a month later. 7) They provided no training or recommended settings 8) After they finally fixed the gateway and got the solar to start working they did not communicate this to PG&E and PG&E cancelled the project 9) 5 months later still not complete 10) they did not Caulk the holes they cut in my stucco, just left it open so that insect weather and vermin could get in. Their batteries are the only ones that can power an entire house, but it's not worth the headache. Wait till another company comes out with better batteries. read more

I've continued to try and resolve this fiasco. Got no where but double talk with their so called customer service I wonder how long they'll be in business with their attitude? read more

We started our process with Tesla Solar in December 2019, and our Solar was installed in the first week of March 2020. I got many quotes from 3 other solar companies but the pricing couldn't even compete with Tesla. We got the 3 batteries for a back up so now we will never have to worry about PG&E turning our power off. There is currently a delay with inspection from the county because of the Covid-19 virus, so we are still waiting for completion of our project. The installation guys were very professional and very knowledgeable. Very happy so far. I will update my review once everything is completed. read more

Tesla Energy - Installation guys. - Solar Installation Near Me - Sacramento, California

Be very cautious with this company. Get everything in writing. Ask lots of questions. We had a lot of installation problems. read more

The worse company to get solar system from 7 months waiting and still nothing has been done , very unresponsive bad communication and bad customer service , go with Sunpower if you want your system install faster ! I made a bad mistake for choosing them ! They need to improve their business service model in a timely manner . It takes them days if not weeks to reply to your voicemail or emails , takes 7 month to just get a permit so just tells you that they don't give a shit about you or the company that they work for . Tesla solar will go Bankrupt if they keep hiring these kind of people to operate the business and service customer . They will go Bankrupt just like Solar city the company that went out of business and Tesla bought it from them . I love their cars and stock prices but if I can give a negative 0 review I would since really poor service . No status updates for months time frame. Also they don't go over details and explain to you from different type of panel and service warranty like Sun power does . I am so glad I cancel them this pass couple of days and went with Sun Power instead . Hope Tesla solar manager reads this yelp review and improved their service or customer that is make a decision on going solar and should they use Tesla as their Solar provider . Thank you for taking the time to read my review . I hardly write bad negative reviews but had to on this one . read more

Way too many phone calls... sales folks knocking on doors up to 830pm after finally demanding to see a proposal BEFORE they measured my house... it came and was $8000 more that competitors for a package. They would not tell me the make and model of the panels and was not micro inverters to monitor each panel for production and efficiency. Think about who pays for the fleet of vans and all the printed stuff not very eco friendly There were lots of emails also... lots of fluff about system but to many before getting a bid for real product. I asked for a call with a manager to discuss cash price cost and discount... it was scheduled and didn't happen and never rescheduled.... Beware... You will be at least twice the system if you lease or PPA and your sign off all rights for any and all tax credits for 20 YEARS... There was a reason they lost interest in me! I was too informed and 17 years to payoff the system was not smart, but 6 years is.. and that is without carbon credits or over production and sell back. Check Your Numbers twice they aren't as good as they sound. That being said TRY Steve at SOLAR UNIVERSE 916 847 2702 He will treat like royalty and does the process as TURN KEY as he takes care of everything Start to Finish no secrets or shockers.... well except what your electric bill will look like !! read more

So I met a team of three guys at the home depot. Of course, they wanted to take a look at my roof, come to my house, and give me an estimate. I was also told to print out all of my bills. I waited at home on our appointment time and day and no one came! No phone call, nothing! Totally unprofessional! If they can't even bother to keep an appointment they JUST SET TWO DAYS AGO , I just think how great they would be if I actually used their service. Solar City, you really left a sour taste in my mouth! Do your homework and also read what the other reviews say. It looks like a significant amount of people got a huge bill at the end of the year! read more

BEWARE! Bait and Switch!! I contacted SolarCity in July 2012 to look into 0-down financing for our home, We spent months in weekly contact with their sales person Joaquin, and repeated over and over that the only way we could afford to go solar was if the cost of the loan to purchase the solar equipment was equal to or less than our average SMUD utility bill. We said this to Joaquin EVERY TIME WE MET with him and before we signed our contracts. He cheerfully told us he'd found a way to do this. We purchased the equipment through a federal CHF grant (the monthly loan amount was equal to our average SMUD bill, as requested), did the mandatory 10% energy upgrade projects to improve our home in various other ways, and arranged to have the solar panels installed. Installation was choppy - they laid panels in a different configuration than expected but told me their designers had come up with a better arrangment for the best output. At the time I had no doubt they knew a lot of technical stuff that I didn't / couldn't. As a lay person, I trusted them to do their stuff. Our system was turned on February 2012. We were stoked to see $0-$10 SMUD bills the rest of 2012. BUT - that all changed when we got a bill the first week of January 2013 for over $1,000!!! I thought SMUD made a mistake and called them. They explained that SolarCity should have prepared us for this bill. They said the solar system we bought only would offset 1/2 the energy our home uses, and that this bill represented the remaining portion of each month's bill that they (SMUD) is allowed to charge. This 'bucket' is the remainder due. I called SolarCity and here's where things went from bad to worse. They took 3-4 weeks to review my complaint. They agreed that the contract I signed and the system we purchased only provided half the energy we needed. They agreed that I would not be expert enough to discern what size kilowatt solar system would be required to offset 100% of our utilities - the very thing my husband and I requested from the very start. They added that their sales person (Joaquin) is gone now, and said the best they could do is offer to let us buy ANOTHER solar system to gain 100% offset, adding they know it would boost our monthly costs 2 times the amount we were paying before. As a single income family with two small boys, this was unacceptable! They offered to take our 'case' to a group of administrators at SolarCity who meet once a week and could review our circumstances. Then they wrote me an email. The letter simply stated they feel the benefits of the system are worth the extra cost we have to absorb - that we signed a contract and that's that. That was it! No compensation, no solution, or even an offer to cover the cost of this unexpected $1K SMUD bill!! So I write you all to say BEWARE. Hire an expert to interpret your contracts with SolarCity. Hire an outside solar expert to review their plans and vett their design so you (the customer) aren't taken for a ride. Like we were. Unless you KNOW what you want, unless YOU KNOW what size system you need for your home and can be in the driver's seat, you might just end up like us. read more

For all of you loving your Solar City within the first year...beware! You are loving those $15 monthly SMUD bills now, but wait until your first anniversary. As Amy in a previous post got hit with a $1,000 SMUD bill on her first Anniversary, I just got mine for $729! They are scammers of the highest order and will paint a wonderful picture to you of how it will cost you nothing up front and how you'll save thousands! Don't believe a word of it. You'll get locked into a ridiculous contract, they'll do sweet F A to help you, their customer service is horrid and they have the most antiquated billing system imaginable. All in all, Solar is a fantastic thing, just please please please do NOT go with Solar City. If you chose to not heed my message then please have a lawyer, a technical expert or someone very savvy in the Solar industry look over your contract before you sign anything. I honestly doubt SolarCity will do anything to help with my case (Amy was snubbed in exactly the same way), but we'll let this be a true test of their Customer Service and business integrity. I'll keep you posted. read more

Save yourself some pain and chose another company. We did finally get out solar panels installed after 1 year from giving our deposit. It took another few months until we actually exported any power. They are such a mess than everything takes much longer than it should. Another family member who started the process the same time with another company was done in 3 months. Other things that sucked...because they took so long we missed out of being grandfathered into SCE's better TOU rate structure costing us ~$500 a year....also because THEY took so long we didn't get the referral credit we were promised due to the program ending mid fiasco... read more

Two thumbs down. If you don't know much about solar power and just want someone to throw a system in for you, then these are the people for you. However, if you are looking for comparable vendors and want to get a few bids and see proposals, then don't use Solar City. I've been soliciting bids for a solar system. I did my homework, got familiar with solar power using the internet (its easy) and then called the top 5 solar vendors on yelp. They were very considerate and respected the fact that I had some knowledge about the product. I received proposals, prices, specifications, offset, manufacturer info etc. - all the things you use when you solicit bids for anything. I had a Solar City employee knock on my door with the usual sales tactics but this time I said "Sure, Im looking for bids right now" Originally, I didn't contact them because of such negative reviews on Yelp, but what the heck. Well, they lived up to their negative reviews. the initial phone call was fine and I sent usage data to them over the internet. I asked for the items mentioned above....price, system, manufacturer etc. in a proposal form that I could analyze. I could not ever get it. All I got was photos of the product and links to satisfied customer testimonies. After a few more specific emails asking for this information I was finally sent a link to a location where the proposal was supposed to be located. The link sent me to a site that was the beginning of a contract authorization. I was fed up with this and backed out. I emailed the tech and told them to don't bother. I told them that at that point, I wasn't even interested in the price anymore (it was never given). I also told them that I don't like doing business like this, Im looking for proposals. If I buy a system, its going to be like buying a computer. I want to know whats inside the box. Solar City doesn't disclose this info to you for some reason. Truthfully, I don't think the tech that I talked to really knew much about their systems because all she said was, "yes yes, I'll send that all to you". Like I say, If you aren't really familiar with solar power, and don't really care, then use Solar City. But remember, its important to know about the components because some are better, some are old school, and some are cheaply made. It makes a difference because solar technology has changed so much in the last few years and they old stuff out there that people are buying unknowingly. Use the best rated vendors on Yelp and you'll be OK, I've found that the testimonies are pretty accurate in this field. read more

I reserve 5 stars for only the best -- and in this case, it is INCREDIBLY deserved. I have read some of the other reviews and can say it seems to be the sales person involved. Josh Davis is literally incredible. I am an IBM Engineer, and believe in hard numbers. Josh, unlike other companies and their sales reps, gave detailed, and highly accurate numbers, details, and installation. It has been now 10 months, and I have more utility credits than I ever forecasted, you can see my YouTube Video which shows the panels, and my actual bill -- Phoenix Solar City Andrew Greenfield. I expect a great deal, and Josh Davis, completely delivered. From the start to the end of my solar project, he made the entire process incredibly easy, and simple. Unlike any of the other solar vendors, Josh went the extra mile and made sure the entire process was very smoothly handled. Outstanding job, before, during, and afterwards. Furthermore, it looks like all those extra credits will be going to power my Surf Pool, in my backyard, which I am completing now. read more

I found working with Tesla to be a waste of time! I first started working with the Tesla sales representative in January of 2018. I have endured many issues with Tesla. The overall process has taken nine months, and still, I do not have solar. First, there were delays with the Tesla design team which took from January to May. During this time Tesla did not advise me of my sales my representative was terminated. The rep informed me himself when I called his cell phone for an update. In May my roof and house was approved by the Tesla engineer. The installation was postponed for five months after I signed the contract and was not scheduled to be installed until September. On the day the system was to be installed the installation team canceled my installation today due to the poor quality of my roof. How does an engineer approve the roof, but an install rep determine the roof is in poor shape! Within an hour of the install rep canceling my install Tesla sent me email advising I needed a new roof, and it would cost an additional $8,000! Tesla never called me to discuss the roof just increased my proposal! After multiple email responses complaining a Tesla finally called me but could do nothing for me! Overall we have based our decision to terminate the proposal on inconsistent customer service, extensive delays due to Tesla's design engineering, Tesla's engineering department's poor quality review and costs exceeding industry averages. Unbelievable! Tesla just called and want to install a power wall! I canceled my contract with them months ago per my previous review! What a pathetic company they didn't even know that they didn't install solar! Ridiculous! read more

Did the online request for a quote. After filling out the online request, Solar City called me within 5-minutes..wow. I went through a 30-minute conversation; they looked up my house via something like Google Earth, determined that my house was a prime candidate based on orientation and roof configuration, contacted Southern California Edison to get my historical usage, and did a credit check. They then told me they would work up the various plan options and get back with me the next day. I haven't heard a peep from them and it has been over a week. Their silence speaks volumes about this company. read more

HORRID!!! Our meeting was arranged with Bill Hernandez for 01/29/13 @ 6:00 pm. We received a confirmation email, and confirmation call. Day of the appointment we waited until 6:30 pm. NO call NO show. Called the number given for Bill and he answered. Explained as late as he was it was NOT a good first impression. He then blamed US for not returning his call from yesterday! NO where in the call did he request a call back. Bill then went on to state there was a mix up in the address/date/and time and he was at an appointment at another address he was suppose to have seen on the 20th. When we asked him why he didn't call to explain this knowing he would be late.. he once again shifted the blame on us for not returning his confirmation call. Again no where in the email or the call did he ask for us to return his call. Very NON PROFESSIONAL. We will not be using this service. read more

We're currently waiting for our system to be installed... after 8 months. Originally we signed on with Paramount Solar in May 2013. Things seemed to be moving along fine, then communications ceased and a couple months later I was informed that Paramount had been gobbled up by Solar City and would I please resign the contract so it has Solar City's name on it. That was my mistake - I should not have signed it. Since then I have barely received any communications from them, and most of that is after I contact them asking what is going on with the project. At least twice I was told that the system would be installed within 30 days, and a month later I had to contact them again to see what was going on. Then this week somebody shows up at my door saying he's going to be doing the install next week. Really? Nobody told me we had advanced to installation, or tried to schedule the install with me. Is it that difficult to send me an email with an update? We don't even want to do business with them anymore and we don't want the system, but apparently our only option, after 8 months of waiting, is to pay them something like $3,000 to cancel the contract. I don't recommend doing business with this company. read more

I have had my solar turned on for 4 months now and am SO grateful that I made the decision to do it, now I just with I would have done the other side of my duplex as well! My rep was Isaiah Newkirk who was extremely thorough in taking me through the process from design to installation. I was hesitate at first, do I lease or buy? Isaiah took the time to run the numbers, went over my past year of electric bills and we decided leasing was the best option for me. I love the fact that unless your numbers make sense, they won't install unless they see a savings. I know many companies would take your money no matter what. A tech came out, again, thoroughly explained the whole process, went on my roof, did his measurements and advised me of any steps I might need to take. This whole process was so easy for me and everyone I have dealt with there from Isaiah down, was professional, things were handled on a timely matter just as they said, installers showed up on time as well. When they came to install, I wasn't sure how big the invertor was and when they came to install, it was larger than I wanted to put on the outside of my home. I asked if they could install it in the garage instead...no problem! They were fast, efficient and did a fantastic job. Here we are in the heat of summer and my electric bill has been steady at around $14 p/month. I am very pleased with the service and product and highly recommend Isaiah to help you get started. He will keep in contact with you to the end and he even followed up after I got my first bill. Give him a call at 916-749-7883.You will be very happy with the incredible service he provides. Even if you have 200 questions he will make sure he addresses them all until you are clear. He is patient and very helpful. Solar City rocks and they are the best choice! read more

Our system has been turned on for approximately two months. In that time our energy bills have dropped to virtually nothing. I do understand, however, that at the end of the year we have a reconciliation and I may owe money at that time. I am very happy with the energy production from the solar cells. read more

For legal reasons from Solar City's first install I can't comment on our first solar install. However, with the second install approx 7 years after the original where we had to completely repair the roof for reasons I can't discuss - we have had a complete mess up on the reinstallation on our new roof! Tesla's 3rd party contractor missed the beams and penetrate our Ceiling with nails. Furthermore the wrong glue/roof sealant was used etc etc. So to clarify, yes we got a new roof and when the solar panels were being put back on - we got more installation issues. I can't properly document how incompetent Tesla solar are. This saga has dragged for months/years and dealing with a big company is everything you probably feared it could be. Part of the issue is Tesla's use of third party subcontractors that don't care. Go elsewhere, go to a smaller company that takes pride in their install. Elon Musk would turn in his proverbial grave if he knew what was going on here. PS I love what Tesla has done in the Auto Industry and admire the hell out of Elon Musk. I love how he is moving forward so many things. Just wish he could see how his use of 3rd party contractors result in such a poor customer experience - Basic constriction mistakes like string a line to find out where a beam is. Then getting anything fixed with Tesla and their third party is a faith worse than hell. Todays email from "tesla's 3rd party even though we have already had 2 visits" "Work to be performed on revisit: *Add 1 conduit support within 3' of LB at stub up. *Fix existing conduit supports. *Take photos of damage on ceiling inside of home. -Lift mods and repair stanchions. *Caulk around rubber booty at stub up. Material needed: *Caulking gun. *1 tube of M1. *Tesla comp conduit support. *Self tapping screw. *3/4" 1 hole strap. Once again I apologize for the late response. Hopefully these notes from Tesla can give you the clarity you need. Thank you and Best Regards," read more

To be honest, I don't know if my leasing will be beneficial, cost wise, until I can compare a year's worth of bills; I think purchasing a system is a better choice but we don't intend to stay in our current residence for many more years. Overall, as you can see by my rating, I'm not satisfied. I've never met my salesman, they initially gave me a quote then when all was almost said and done tried to get me to agree to a higher amount (larger system) a bait-and-switch type of thing, at least that's what it felt like. The installation crew was great! However, an hour into the time they were supposed to be there my salesman calls me to see how the install was going and I advised him it wasn't. Not until 30 minutes past "their" time did someone call me reschedule. I took half a day off from work to fit into "their schedule" and they were a no-show. And how did they make that up to me? First, I was told they would compensate me and then they decided a restaurant gift card would suffice. However, it wasn't a restaurant gift card it was restaurant.com card which is almost useless because you can find discounts just as cheep on-line. My half-day off, which only would have been two hours for my other appointment that day, cost me about $150.00 in vacation time. The system appears to be working as advertised but we'll see. I don't like the idea that they plug into my internet to "monitor the system" but what can you do. Other companies had lower reviews when I did my research. I wonder. read more

We had been considering solar power for our home for many years. Until now, it seemed out of our reach. .. being on a fixed income and not wanting to lay out thousands of dollars or going into debt. We contacted solar city and the experience has been wonderful. Yesterday we had the panels installed on our home. The system will not cost us anything and will save us thousands on electric bills. The crew was amazing. They installed or system in one day. They were thoroughly professional and left no trace that they were here. They ran conduit on the outside of my house for their system and even painted it before they left! Our experience with Solar City has been top shelf. But shame on SMUD. They will take up to 2 months to come and turn on the system. I feel I'm being punished for going solar. .. but the last laugh will be mine. .. in the form of lower electric bills. read more

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! This company does not have the best interest of their customers in mind. They completely scammed us! They made everything look good on paper but they knew we were going to get screwed in the long run. We are now paying MORE than had we never gotten solar! I would NEVER refer anyone to this company or do business with them ever again. STAY AWAY! read more

Here is my final response in my BBB complaint to solar city. PS: my complaint is not specific to any location, rather a general billing issue. My chief issue is two fold 1. They charge a 7.50 FEE for not enrolling in automatic payment from your checking account (auto withdrawal from checking could result in overdraft charges if there are insufficient funds, whereas I don't have that problem from my credit card). 2. They deceitfully call the avoidance of that fee a savings. There is no real savings, it's just avoiding a fee. Here's how they word it followed by my concluding comments: For the time being, non-ACH enrollment will render the $7.50/mo discount inapplicable. Please call 888-765-2489 with further questions. My response: I hope the options come up soon. Until then I will have to do my part as a customer and consumer to alert people to, what I consider, deceitful wording tactics in calling a fee a discount. Your company has insulted the intelligence of its customers with such wording and has not lived up to customer expectations by charging its customer a fee for non-ach enrollment. In fairness, besides these two issues, no other problems yet. I am only a two month old customer though. read more

Absolute worst customer service!!! These guys are something else. They simply don't care. I signed up in July of 2015 and it's April of 2016 and nothing. Every time I call or e mail them they keep telling me these things take time. Next day I need a panel upgrade. Next day it's Smuds fault. Next day I been reassigned to another sales person and yada yada. They lure you in w better rates and lower credit score requirement and then ur gonna be ignored. A company ran by bunch of morons who simply don't care and see themselves as TOO big to fail. You WILL REGRET IT if you try them out. That I promise you. read more

It. has been over a year now that I have solar panels in the past days I received a call from Solar City telling me that my panel & ser up is not communicating with their central office, they ask or a call back so I call & they respond that they are making controls in my area and they are not able to follow up on the call, I ask to speak with a supervisor and they are out on trainings ....What kind of customer care are these people providing? To bad I am not able to change company read more

My name is Rob and I have just had Solar City in Sacramento area install a system on my house in Martinez. I worked directly with a rep named Bryan Phares. The attentiveness and attention given to me by Bryan was without comparison. There was no high pressure, no attempts to get me to do something I didn't want to do. He was polite, informative, and answered questions directly. He also contacted me by phone at least once a week to speak with me, inform me of current status on the project, and see if I had any issues or questions regarding the project. After speaking with my financial adviser I decided to go with the lease program. Bryan helped me every step of the way with the process. My home is part of a Homeowners Association (never again). When the association started getting picky about exactly what documents were provided to them, Bryan helped me to sort that out quickly. I was not left alone to work it out with them. The installation was scheduled immediately after the Homeowner's Association gave me the approval to install it. The day the crew came out, they all arrived exactly when they were supposed to. I found every one of the crew to be extremely polite, friendly, and professional. I was home all day with them and they explained each step of the work with me, answered questions politely and completely, and were in general a pleasure to have around the house. They were not able to complete the job the day they first came because they ran out of daylight. They had started the job around 2pm in the afternoon. They told me they would be back first thing in the morning to complete the job and they showed up at around 7:30am just as they had said they would. When I first agreed to the project, I was told that it could sometimes take up to 4 months to complete due to waiting for the homeowners association to respond, waiting for the city permits to be issued, etc. The truth is that my job moved along amazingly quick. Everything was completed including the final inspection by the city for the permits within 2 months. Unfortunately now I am waiting for PG&E to come out and replace the meter and approve the system to be turned on. So I can't yet speak for the actual efficiency of the system. But if customer service and professionalism have anything to do with it, I am quite sure the system will work great and I will save a bunch of money on my utility bills. If you live anywhere near the Sacramento area, I would recommend that you call Bryan directly and work with him. His number is 916-740-4276 and his email is bphares@solarcity.com. You won't be disappointed. read more

Was very skeptical at first, but Dan S. our sales consultant was very thorough in his explanations and worked to find answers when he wasn't sure about something. We did several energy configuration/ panel# forecasts and we included near term and long term usage probabilities. We arrived at an optimum scenario together and never once did my spouse and I feel rushed or pressured. The option to buy or lease was, to us, very flexible. We decided on a lease since the engineering, city permits, installation, panel purchasing, and 20 year worry-free maintenance was included in the cost and was STILL cheaper than NOT going solar! Plus, at the end of the lease we kept everything. Having no upfront costs was a great benefit to us. It's a no-brainer! Dan was great, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how great the inspection guys were and also the installation team. The install team leader, Frankie, was fantastic. Being in a skilled services background myself, I recognize great skill and customer service when I see it. He was able work around my specific needs and always had a positive attitude (as did the whole crew). They were friendly, courteous and very professional. They never left a mess and always respected our home. Now my system is done and I am THRILLED that we are getting electricity from the sun, not from burning Venezuelan or Saudi Arabian oil!!!!!! We will be converting our dryer and water heater to electric and plan for an automobile charging station in the future. If you've EVER thought of going solar... these are the people to go with. BTW - I'm a medical professional and DON'T work for Paramount/ Solar City! read more

PROFESSIONAL AND DELIVERS! I am really surprised to see the number of negative reviews. Our only issue was the length of time it took to get the system installed once we signed the agreement. The installation did go very smoothly and everything has been up and working for 7 months now. At this point we have produced most of our electricity, with a small balance we will owe PG&E in January for the "true-up" period. We are very happy with this company and with this system. We went through the Sacramento office. read more

Very wrost service I had them For 3 and half and the had to change the a part now I'm in a 20 year contract that I can't get out because it been a month already since they been trying to fix it and each time I call 800 number they ain't tell me how long will it be. They also told me they will call me back and I haven't received any answer for the last 4 weeks and they tell me if I break my contract then I have to paid a crazy amount. Is the really bad service read more

Have been pleased with my Solar installation from start to finish. Solar City has been communicative, positive and helpful. The design crew and installation crew were on time and very courteous. I cannot tell you how much that being accountable is worth. I highly recommend that anyone considering a solar installation contact SolarCity to hear about the programs they have to offer and compare them to what others can offer. read more

I could not have been more impressed with my experience with SC so far. Questions were answered in a timely fashion , and all appointments were on time. My 9kw system was installed yesterday and the fact that they sent a crew a six very well trained employees who were able to install 36 panels in 6.5 hours speaks volumes with respect to training, organization and overall teamwork. I have already recommended Adam Ellsworth to three friends and neighbors - and this was not about the rebates, but rather because of his level of service, no broken promises, and overall responsiveness. This also reflects the entire operation, which could not have effected my installation without a lot of training and experience. Good Job! read more

I would give no stars. Twice now their reps have been driving article in the green cars and by two different people. If they're going to allow their employees to drive their cars they should make sure it's done safely. These employees could care less what they do behind them from swiftly changing lanes without notice to the person they are cutting off. This is no parring on the product they sale, just on who they employ is not wise one. read more

Customer Service is Horrendous I have had panels installed for the last 3 years. I saw a stain on my living room ceiling, which was directly under the solar panels. I have never waited less than 30 minutes to speak with customer service, and at least two calls were 65+ minutes to be completed. The people who answer the phone have to put you on hold and try to have another group address the issue. They will not provide call back numbers. It has been over six weeks and I still have the solar panels sitting in my backyard. The hole in my roof was just fixed but only with much aggravation and experiencing the worst customer service person I have ever encountered - Brian C. It has been 8 business days since my last call and I still have not heard from a manager. NOT ONCE, since I reported this issue has Solar City proactively reached out to me to fix the hole, to re-install the panels, or to fix my living room ceiling. In total I have 5 plus hours of phone calls, a majority of which is being on hold. I called again today to see when they would re-install panels and schedule the final repairs, I did speak with an individual who was helpful and professional. He committed to making sure the manager followed up and provided an email so I didn't have to go through the automated phone system. After my horrendous call with Brian C, I had to call my car insurance company on another matter. The two experiences were so different, just reconfirming that Tesla's customer service has a great deal of room to improve. If I could cancel the contract I would immediately! read more