This whole saga began almost 4 weeks ago. The day we had our system installed, August 16, 2017, we were told before the crew left that one of the meters was not working and they didn't have another with them. They told us they would come back before inspection and replace it, which they did. We were able to turn on our system on Friday, August 25. We were told that we would have to wait a few days to see our solar production, which was fine. Come Wednesday, we still had no information; neither SunRun nor ourselves were able to see the production. When it still wasn't showing two days later, we called our project manager and he spoke with the monitoring department who told him they saw a "red flag" and where going to try and fix it on their end. We would have to wait another 2 days to find out that it still didn't work.
We got a call from Whitney, the scheduler, and she let us know that she had an appointment for a week later midday (which wasn't acceptable because my husband and I both have full time jobs), or that they could book us two weeks out for a morning appointment. As soon as I mentioned making a complaint to Costco, where we found this company, an appointment magically showed up for the following Tuesday.
When speaking with Whitney, I asked her some direct questions. I also asked the same questions of the tech who came out to put in meter #3 (that's right, 3 meters in less than 2 weeks).
1. What is the history of the different meters that your company has used: Whitney stated that they used to use 2G meters, but they are no longer compatible with the cell signal, so they have been using 3G meters and recently 4G meters. When the tech came out, he said that a 2G meter had been installed.
2. What are the next steps?: Whitney said there is a meter called a Locus meter that runs off of a wifi signal, which is why someone would have to be home; the meter wasn't working because there wasn't a cell signal. When the tech came out, he used a cell only signal with that meter, and that he was receiving an AT&T cell signal that they were using.
3. Can the current meter be fixed? Whitney told us that she had talked to the tech who was certain that he knew exactly what was wrong and that he would be able to repair the meter. The tech let us know that he never said that, and would have no way of surmising that until he was on site.
4. How do we know our panels are producing? Whitney told us that since the green light was on, we are producing. The tech said that even though meters number 1 and 2 were not communicating, they were still storing the amount of KWhs generated. According to our utility billing company, our system has not been producing during the peak hours of the day, and when it is producing, it is only generating half of what the system should be. I will be providing this information to Costco and the CSLB since I haven't had reasonable communication with SunRun.
I finally get a hold of a supervisor who tells me that the reason the original model of meter was installed was because "they were out of the meters that they normally use," and that they were "hoping that it would work." My take is, if a company doesn't have parts that they know will work, they shouldn't be messing with people's lives and their livelihoods by just hoping for the best.
I have left several messages for that supervisor regarding some sort of compensation for our time, but haven't heard back. I also asked for their records for our power production, as they have assured us that the system has been "producing as it should." I have not received that information either. Since the company has not provided me with this information, all I can do is go by what the utility company is saying, as they generate the bill.
During our last communication, I was told that it would be 3-5 business days before we see our solar production on their website or the app. We can see what was produced yesterday, but still not everything they told us we could do in the app, including seeing our real time production as well as production for the times since the system was installed.
Going with SunRun was a huge mistake. From the parts that were left on our porch after the install that still has us questioning if they were installed properly to this ongoing saga, we should have gone with another company. Anyone would have been better than what we have been through.
Maybe this will get the company's attention. I don't know what else to try.