SolarCity Reviews

They originally sold us on a system they knew was under powered. So after a monster true up, they said we could add panels. We had no choice. Over the last few years the system always has communication or something wrong with it. Our true up with 40 panels was $3,750. After going into PG&E I realize the system hasn't been working for some time. When I called their support they said they absolutely wouldn't look at PG&E data. It's night and day better than anything Tesla has. The lady at PG&E said, it looks like the system hasn't been working for a long time. The more I went back, the more I saw that was true. It paints the picture black and white. Marcus, the rep told us the system was working. After a long back and fourth he came back with it was ultimately our fault because they kept text messaging the communication wasn't working. We had called numerous times and rebooted as directed. They had been out a few times and I'm starting to think this deal hasn't been working for a long time. We will probably get legal involved. In no way, shape or form would I ever use Tesla//Solar City. I've heard other horror stories from them as well the more I ask around.

I own 2 homes served by Tesla Solar. The customer service they provide is so completely inept that there isn't enough space/time to provide all the details. Suffice it to say that after replacing their defective panels on my house, I asked for assistance with a roof lead under the panels. After repeated calls (5-6), they removed the panels and told me to replace the roof..After notifying them of the new roof it's taken over 5 months and dozens of calls by me to even schedule a crew to replace the panes. They never return calls or respond to email requests. The paperwork they finally provided to me was for a former owner of the house in 2012. They are just amazingly bad!

I signed (in retrospect very foolishly) a PPA with SolarCity in 2015. Things were going along fine for a couple years until the inverter or communications board inside the inverter stopped working. By this time, we were under Tesla. Tesla took months to come out; setting up appointment times and then cancelling. Finally, a crew of about 4 "rooftop" guys and 1 "panel" guy came out. I don't know why they so many workers, but I was told they were doing a full system inspection. Fast-forward 2 more years (5.5 years into my contract) and I have a leak in my roof. It looks like there are several cracked shingles along the top of my roof, which is about 12 years old (well within it's service life). No one has been on the roof except for the Tesla crew 2 years ago. I can't get them to even come out and look at it. Roofers who came to look all think it looks like mechanical damage and not tree or weather damage. SolarCity/Tesla is the only one who has been on that roof pitch. I clean my gutters from a ladder, and nothing else has been done on the roof. There's a 1 year warranty on the mounting installation, but this is other damage that is apprarently caused by the crew that isn't around the mounts and is after 1 year. So, they have me stuck and won't "do the right thing" and pay for any portion of my roof nor let me out of the contract without buying the system. I'm going to keep calling and pursue arbitration. I admit it was fooling of me to sign the contract. If anyone comes across this site, please think again before using SolarCity, Tesla, or other PPA agreements. It's a risky move.

Their installation of our solar panels caused our roof to leak. They only guarantee their work against leaks for one year. A roof leak will not show up within a year. They are now charging us nearly $500 to remove their panels and "allow" us to pay a roofer to repair the damage they caused by poor workmanship. And this is actually "progress" in dealing with them as I have contacted several "customer service" reps who, while they were polite, did little for me except cause delay upon delay, including giving me an email address with "telsa.com" as the address. Avoid them. They do very poor work and have very poor customer service.

We started leasing our solar panels about 7 years ago. The installation was wonderful and we were very impressed with Solar City. In March 2020 our system quit generating power. We were told the inverter box was bad. It took them 2 months to come to that conclusion. It took them another 3 months to replace it. System still didn’t work. There have been months of emails. There have been many assurances that technicians will be out but it takes weeks for that to happen. Their own employees have told me that we are a low priority. We have not seen the same technician twice, it is always someone different. They have finally determined that our panels need to replaced. We are hopeful that this will happen soon, but are not counting on it. This company is so badly run. The employees must be very demoralized. I have never encountered an organization that is so inept. The worse part is feeling so powerless as we cannot get out of our contract. I wish we could all band together and do something.

If I could give less that 1 star, I would. My Power Purchase Agreement states that Solar City will NOT place a lien on my home or property. They did. They claim that although the PPA states that they would not file a lien, they are permitted to file a UCC-1 (a lien). In fact, my PPA states that I agree that they have the right to file the UCC-1, not they they will. I agree to the fact that they have the "right" to file. But, my PPA states that they will not. If they want to hold me to the PPA, I should be able to likewise hold them to the same standard. Now that I am trying to refinance my home, I have to pay Tesla (formerly Solar City) $150 to temporarily remove the UCC-1 for sixty days. For the record, the UCC-1 is a lien filed against a debtor's home or property. I am not indebted to them. They lease my roof for their panels and in return, I pay for the power they produce. Think twice and do your research before you decide to enter into a twenty year agreement with them. Don't be blinded with their money saving, no risk claims.

I just started using Tesla solar panels because I bought a house with them already in place and took over the contract in December 2019. SolarCity is the Company that sold the system and is the administer of my account who I pay my bills to. As of today 10/05/2020, my True-Up for November 2020, is $2,821.35. This means I've been paying $108 per month for the panels on my house and now in November, I'll owe another $3,000, that I definitely cannot afford. I would be better off with no solar at all. If you would like me to send you all my PG&E energy bills and the True-Up statements, I would be more than happy to. Just look me up, attorney in Bakersfield, Victoria Harp. I will email every single document you need to see how horrible this company is and how the next 15 years I'm in a lease with Tesla, I am going to consistently be entirely screwed over. SolarCity is the company that administers the plan and that I pay my bills to. Don't buy. Don't lease.

I have been a SolarCity customer since 2014. However, ever since Tesla brought them under the Tesla umbrella their customer service has been and still is atrocious. It is impossible to talk to a live person about a specific issue. I have been trying for weeks now to get some specific questions answered so that I can sell my house. After being on hold for well over an hour I finally talked to a real person, who created a case for me and told me that I would be assigned a case manager who would call me the next week. Of course, that hasn't happened. I am extremely frustrated. I wonder that, if I stopped paying my monthly rental bill, would someone call me?

We are on our 8th year of a 20 year solar lease, and already our second inverter is going bad. It keeps shutting down and throwing a "GFI fault" error code. It took Tesla over a month to finally send a tech out to look at it, and never once did they tell me anything was wrong. Guy comes out, resets the systems and tells me my inverter is going bad and it would probably happen again. Well he was right, it happens multiple times per day. Every time it happens I have to go outside and reset the system. Fortunately I am working from home right now because of the pandemic, or my output would be even worse. Called customer service and they sent someone out again, confirmed the inverter was bad. Was told it would be 7-10 days and someone would be out to replace it. Not a word for nearly 2 weeks, so I called Tesla and was told the replacement inverter was backordered and they could not give me an estimated date. This will be our third inverter in 8 years. These things are junk. If you are thinking about going with Tesla for rooftop solar DO NOT DO IT.

Now that Tesla owns Solar City customers can expect no service, no cooperation, and no resolutions of any kind. I have been a customer since June 2016 with no problems until Oct 2019. Apparently the converter was destroyed by lighting in Sep 2019 and they did not come to inspect it until Feb 2020 and it was not fixed until mid-March 2020. In February they reported me to credit bureau for not making payments (I did not know I was being billed) on estimated production. There is no estimated production on a broken system. I was forced to make payment on bogus numbers and they refused to remove negative credit report - even after showing them in contract that if outage is of no fault of mine there will be no payments due. Tesla has reduced technical support to 1/4 of staff that Solar City had in place. The "Executive Resolutions" person tells me this is just like a lease on an automobile - I would still have to make payments if the auto was broken. So, apparently Tesla thinks it's okay if they don't fix your car for 6 months? Anyone choosing solar panels - should not choose Solar City/Tesla.

Tesla is the worst solar company to deal with. My panels were leased from SolarCity which was gobbled up by Tesla, in 2016. My panels DO NOT WORK for several days during and after a rain. The cause is "GFI Fault" basically a short circuit. I have written, called and cajoled Tesla but nothing, nothing at all. What they say is if the system is generating the "contracted" amount of energy, too bad. Problem is we bought a Tesla Model 3 thinking solar panels would defray some cost as we charged the car. But when it rains, forget it. We have to use SDGE's power. Tesla Solar is clueless and does not care. As far as I got with them, I was told that their priorities are with customers whose solar systems are totally offline and that I would have to wait. Guess what? I've been waiting 3+ years. We either have to charge the car during less expensive TOU periods (just a few pennies cheaper - a joke), charge when we need the car no matter what TOU charges are or drive to a Supercharger and still pay $8-10 for a charge. My "true up" period is August. I already owe SDGE $1.108.91. Like you, my system generates enough to reduce costs significantly - but not any more. It's criminal

Like the 5 star comments, the installation of the system is not a problem. Solar City was great about updating information. At the information provided however in person, I was advised should I have a problem, Solar City would come out to evaluate and make sure the system was working. I now have a leaking roof and birds under the panels. I need a new roof. Prior to agreeing to Solar City panels, the salesperson stated they would remove the panels and replace for free within a reasonable time frame. I am now being told the following: It will cost an estimated $7500 to remove and replace the panels AND they are scheduling into the middle of the summer to have the work done should I agree. I have a leak in my roof today! This needs to be done now - not 6 months from now! Please do not use this company! Solar City is now with Tesla who does not care about the consumer!

We had a Solar City system installed in 2014. In July of 2019 the system stopped working and it took 2 months to get a tech to come and check it out. They said all the panels have failed and all need to be replaced but may be a few months before that happens. It is now December and no information from Tesla as to when things will happen. We get lip service from the customer support team and no definitive information as to how they intend to fix their system. The system has produced nothing in 6 months and no reimbursement for a system that was paid for, cash up front. I would give them failing grades for customer support and tech support . We have to start looking at legal recourse to get them to respond and honor their contract.

If you are thinking of getting solar panels installed at your house…please don’t do it. I signed up for the FREE solar panels with Solar City (now Telsa). I was told that my rate would be locked in, that the panels would produce most of my utility bill, and that I would receive annual checks for the production that was sold into the grid. Sounds good right. Once they install it onto your roof, you never see a service technician again. If you need any updates to your home, you have to pay them to remove and reinstall the panels. Not only do I have to pay $178/month to lease the panels, but I an still continually paying my utility provider an additional $300/month. I am now averaging over $500/month (together). Did I mention that I’m never at home because I have a full time job. I use a woodstove for heat. In addition, I pay professional tree service every year to trim trees away from the house. The savings you are promised…is NOT what you get…NOT even close.

Tesla installed a solar system on my house in September 2019. This is the worst company to deal with. They never return actual responses to their customer care emails. They refused to demonstrate the system actually works nor applied for the utility interconnection agreement until I paid the full amount of the entire project. Yet their contract says they are responsible for permitting and who pays for something that they do not even know if it will actually work All they had to do was get the interconnection agreement and turn it on for 5 minutes to show it works. Also, their roof mounted system is a perfect haven for pigeons and other birds to nest under the panels creating nest and excrement piles that result in water backup and eventual roof leaks. They do not recognize this design defect nor tell you about it as a problem. After the fact for a big added price, they offer to fix the problem. Why not build the fix into the contract price. If neighbors had not told me of the problem, I would have probably had roof leaks as my first indication of the design defect. I would never recommend dealing with Tesla (was Solar City). I'd give zero stars if possible

I got my panels before the Tesla buyout. After having the panels put I realized I need additional panels as we are going over our usage. I was told at the time of the contract that if we go over we can have Solar City come out and they can install another panel at no charge. This would of course increase my monthly payment but stop the overage. Unfortunately, I didn't move quick enough and the change happened. When I reached out to Tesla they won't add 1 additional panel unless I pay $5000.00 plus additional fees up front. WTH?? I reviewed my contract doesn't say anywhere about an additional charge for additional panels other than what was original agreed to. Now I'm paying my monthly in addition to a huge overage to LADWP. Thanks Elon for ruining what was once a decent company. And yes their website only caters to their stupid exploding overprised cars. I do not recommend any Tesla product to NO ONE. Thumbs down!

Tesla took over Solar City in Arizona. Since February of this year 2019, I have been without solar power. According to Tesla, they do not have any of the panels or converters in their warehouse to replace my system. It is now October. I have a leak in my roof and I have asked them, since I need to get a new roof installed, could they please take off the solar panels now, and apply the new panels when they get them in the warehouse. You would think that since they are going to do it anyway, they could send a crew out and just take these ones off so I can redo my roof. They stated that they would charge me approximately $5000 to do this. I argued with them that they have to change out the panels anyway. I asked them to please take off the panels and reinstall the new ones when they get them in the warehouse. I'm still waiting almost 9 months later. I also informed them that I am currently still paying the company every month directly out of my checking account and not receiving anything in return. They cited company policy. I'm sick of big companies ripping people off and not helping out someone who is loyal to them, ( pay direct deposit)...In my opinion nobody should EVER do business with a company like this. They have the means to take off the current panels and will do it anyway. I Absolutely hate this company and how they do business and treat their clients. Do NOT get solar from this company. You will be sorry. Twelve more years on this contract. Do not get Tesla solar.

Solar Pest Solutions LLC Phyllis Bretholtz Posting publicly. Learn more 5 ***** for Dan L who has been fabulous to work with. He did a beautiful job of installing screening to keep squirrels or any other creatures out of my panels. In addition, he called back very quickly in response to a message that I could not reach anyone at Tesla. He said he would follow up and I totally trust him. HOWEVER...... At this point in time, I am giving TESLA customer service a 0. I have tried 3X to reach customer service through the phone number listed and have always been directed to a website. I want to talk to a service representative and without that option, I am totally frustrated and dissatisfied. And now to add to my frustration, the button below this blue line that lists "Post" is not accessible, so I cannot figure out how to post this review. All of which adds to my frustration and dissatisfaction with TESLA. Add photos

Was sold on the savings of the electrical bill and no up front costs. ( since my local power company kept advertising how their cost of power sold was at a 20 year low but my bills kept going going up as their "basic service charges" had increased 3 fold in that same 20 year time) I signed on and everything was as promised. I was equally sold on their statement that only a small system was needed as my installation would be optimum as my roof faced south. My average monthly charge was $56. (as evidenced by the charges when the system was in storage while being transferred to my new residence) When my site survey was performed before installation at my new residence. I was in formed that the system would no longer be as efficient as in my old location as my roof was steeper and that the system was now going to be split in order to fit my new roof. The system would now be facing Northwest and Southwest. Bills are now $98 and no one will explain why. They just keep billing me. I have pro-actively tried to get an explanation to no avail. I believe that my system was originally "dialed down" to meet the "selling pitch". But when the system was moved all bets were off. The system generates way more power than I can ever use causing 2 years worth of power credit with my local power company that I can never collect on. Meanwhile Solar City/Tesla keeps charging me for about 25% more than what it would cost to purchase power from the local power company. Where is there a class action suit that I can participate in?

I have been extremely disappointed with my Tesla (Solar City) solar system. My contract stated the the first year of production should be ~20,744kwh however on my first year anniversary of the startup of my system, it has only produced 17,765kwh. When I call Tesla support they informed me that they show my system is performing with in parameters. Matter of fact, they sent me a different contract the I had which now adjusted the contract and falsified the performance numbers to mitigate correcting my concern. Also, when I first install my system, I was able to use the Solar City app to track the performance of my system but in Aug they shut down the Solar City app and transfer over to the Tesla app which appear to cater their vehicles because the solar monitoring section is extremely lacking. I would not recommend Tesla solar system product to anyone.

I am extremely disappointment about Solar City or Tesla product quality as well as customer services. I have 20-year prepaid program with Solar City. In just 3-4 year, the solar panel fail. Every time rain, the system will fail for few days. It was so difficult to connect to human, at least one hour. Finally, Tesla agreed the defect of the panel for replacement. Then I was put in the waiting list. Originally, Tesla promised to replace my panel in one to two months. However, nothing happen. It is more than 9 months now. When I finally connected to a human in Tesla, he told me I am not in priority. I need to wait for few more month. I have a friend in the same area. As a new customer, they called Tesla after I filed the complain, but Tesla already install their solar panel few month ago. That is why I am not in priority. When I check Tesla's review, I was not surprise why there are so many people give Tesla 1-star rating.

I have had problems with Solar City right from the start, but my latest issue really takes the cake. My system was not giving me 100% of it's capabilities. Even though they claim they monitor each system, I had to call them and tell them that there was an issue. The solution to my problem, which should have taken 3 -4 weeks maximum, took well over four months. It took numerous calls, numerous appointments, missed appointments (by them), rescheduled appointments, etc. Now, every person I talked to is nice and understanding. But, they are only responsible for a very small piece of a very large company and it took a lot of my time and effort to get everyone at their company on the same page. With all of the other solar companies out there, do your homework....get multiple quotes....check sites like this one on the customer satisfaction scores.

FALSE CONTRACTS I signed a three-page contract ended up with a supposed docuserve 25 page contract I never signed they charged me for what I produce every month and not what I use my bill went from an average of $89 a month to $700 to $900 per month. I get harassing calls every week and a lot of legal documentation threatening me to turn off power and call a 20 year contract due and payable at that moment with a monthly average of $750 and solar fees to be assessed. I'm a widow with four children I got solar to bring down my expenses... It's the biggest expense I have now besides my house payment. I've been dealing with this since 2015.

I had Solar City panels installed in 2015. The sales and installation team were very accessible and emphasized active and responsive customer support with the lease agreement. At the time of the installation, I had an older roof and they assured me the roof was in good enough shape for installation AND that, when I needed to replace my roof, I could call and arrange for Solar City to remove (and then reinstall) the panels in a timely manner. The charge for this is nominal ($499). It is now August 2019 and I need a new roof (due to a leak) and the best Solar City can do is put me on a wait list with an estimated time frame of "maybe late October/beginning of November 2019". If I need to act sooner, then I can choose to pay an outside contractor to remover the panels (at a significantly higher cost) and I can pray they are not damaged in the process, as I will be liable for the condition of the panels. Among other things, I was told by a supervisor at Solar City/Tesla customer support that they do not consider a leaky roof an "emergency" unless the leak is caused by Solar city's equipment. Their customer support is not helpful and I look forward to when I can end my lease agreement and move to another company.

I was scammed lied to and deceived from day one when the salesman approached me. I had no computer or printer at the time and when I asked for a hard copy he told me everything was done online. He told me he wasn't selling anything they only wanted me as a host for the panels. He said it would not cost me anything, the panels were paid for by a Government subsidy and Solar City would pay me for any extra energy the panels produced. All that was lies and just the beginning of the nightmare since it started in 2016. There is so much to it I cannot write it all right here. I will skip to the present day though. Tesla bought Solar City since then. I checked my credit report the other day and Tesla reported I owed them $37,000.00 in 2016 @ $135. 00 per month. My current balance to them is over $33,000.00!! I knew nothing of this and never agreed to any of this! Tried calling to talk to someone and it is like pulling teeth to talk to a real person! What a scam!! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM SOLAR PANEL COMPANIES!!! THEY ARE RIP OFFS!!! Janetta S.

Our solar panels have stopped producing since 12/25/18. They said you will get and email in 3 weeks. Nothing I had to follow up. Again I was told 3 week and again I had to follow up. This kept happening and I was told different information. The panels were bad not sealed right and had to be replaced. Then it was a recall. Never got any information about a recall and they don’t have enough techs. I finally reported them to the Arizona Attorney General’s off. Fast forward to April 12 I get a text they schedule service on April 15th. Same day I got a response from the Attorney General office asking if Tesla has taken care of the issue. So now my panels are replaced but they system still is not working. I get my service text on April 17th that a tech will be out on May 2nd. He comes out I need a new inverter. The system appears to be working. Then 2 days later I have a notice that it’s not producing again. I get a tech that on May 10th that a tech is coming out on 5/20. They come out it’s a bad inverter again. He said two weeks well two weeks pass and I haven’t heard from anyone. I get a text on 7/3 they will be out on 7/23. I have been talking to Dean G he has been a little helpful but in the begging he never called me back. I have also left a couple Message for Cassandra C I never heard from her. So I am now on to 6 months and my system has only produced for 1 day. In my lease I know I get money back when it doesn’t produce. But I don’t think it will cover all the extra money I am paying to APS. Plus I am still paying my monthly lease fee on a system that doesn’t work money money out of our packets. The company is a joke. We have a Tesla 3 and the car side of service is also a joke. Do no go with Tesla for solar or car. They should have never bought it from Solar City. We should have been given an option to have it removed or sign new contracts with Tesla. Anyone know how to get out of the contract let me know.

DO NOT USE SOLAR CITY. PERIOD. Once you sign the contract, Solar City places a lien on your home. Solar City does not call it a lean, but in Texas, all lending institutions will tell you it is. Myself and neighbor learned of this when applying for a home equity loan. The lease is 20 years, non-cancellable. Yes, I didn't read all the fine print, my error and I will pay for it. If you sell your home, the new buyer must assume the contract or pay the remainder of the lease OR you can move it to your new residence or you pay off the lease. total cost of the life of the lease $58K. I wish we had recorded the sales person speech, my neighbor and I both remember them telling us that at any time we are not satisfied they will remove at no cost. Obviously reading through the contract - that option does not exist. Our system has never covered our usage nor have we ever generated credits. We received a refund for the past 12 months due to underperforming system. Each year they raise the lease payments the max of 2.9%, you need to figure that in when determining total cost. Tesla is a failing company designed solely around Government subsidies for solar power. They receive all state and federal credits for the solar work, you receive zero. They lock you in to a 20 year revenue stream for them. Wouldn't you love to have a guaranteed cash flow over 20 years?

SolarCity installed my leased system in August 2016. This system has never produced what the sales agent told me that I could expect. At the end of my install cycle each year, I owe SoCal Edison over $1200 for energy that was Edison supplied. When my lease payment each month is added to the amount overage that Edison charges for what energy they supplied, I am now paying MORE for electricity with both SolarCity + Edison than when I only had Edison (before the SolarCity installation and turnon). Had I not installed SolarCity, and had I just kept Edison only, my electrical bills would be almost $100 per month less! Today I called SolarCity customer service and requested that someone come and inspect my installation for possible defects and to tell me why it is not producing energy like I was promised by the sales agent. The rep refused. This ensued in a very bad argument with her and she still refused to send anyone out for a system check. I asked to speak to her supervisor, and of course, that too was refused. SolarCity refuses to do anything to remedy my situation, or even to make certain that the system is producing as it should. The customer service rep said that the computer says that my system is working and that there are no computer reported problems, therefore nobody can come for the inspection. BUT HOW WELL IS THIS SYSTEM WORKING? The solar system obviously is producing some energy, but it falls way short in the amount of energy promised by the sales agent, and falls far less than other systems produce. This system is probably producing about 50% efficency, maybe less. When I insisted that I wanted an inspection, and stated that was their responsibility, she told me that I would have to pay $200 ahead of time to get an inspection. I refused. Of course the answer was nothing was going to be done. I explained that today the temperature reached 97° for the first time this year, and I turned on the air conditioner for the first time. Checking my Edison smart meter it is clear to see that the solar system does not supply enough energy to even run the air conditioner, the arrows on the meter are moving toward Edison as supplying the energy to run the air conditioning. This condition is totally wrong. Obviously, my solar system IS NOT producing, and it at least deserves an inspection. Secondly, the computer communication from the inverter to the small box that connects into my computer system is not working and has not worked for over a year. I cannot monitor what is happening with the solar installation. Like the other issue, the computer service woman refused any remedy here too. I am contemplating legal recourse now, as that appears to be my only recourse. PLEASE, IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING SOLARCITY AS AN INSTALLATION, DO NOT EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. Choose SunRun instead, the ratings are much higher and the satisfaction and the panels that SunRun installs are better. I wish now that I could have my SolarCity system totally removed and go with SunRun instead. What a horrible mistake to use SolarCity. Know, also, that If you do have SolarCity, and have an issue with the SolarCity system, you will get no assistance, only total refusal. They do not care about you or the system that they installed. All they care about is their monthly money from you. You will be totally forgotten and TOTALLY REFUSED ANY ASSISTANCE OR REMEDY FOR A FAULTY SYSTEM. Just NEVER use them. If you do, YOU WILL BE SORRY! And you will have no recourse if your SolarCity system does not work correctly or fails.

I purchased a solar system from Tesla Solar in August of 2018 (6 months ago). I specifically asked my salesman, the designers and the installers if my roof was OK prior to installation. I was assured the roof was fine. Now the roof is leaking badly and a licensed roofer has advised me I need a new roof. The under layment (paper or felt) has failed. I am fine replacing/paying for the roof, but Tesla is charging me $4,555 for them to remove the solar panels and replace them, and I am not fine with that cost. I feel Tesla bears some responsibility since I specifically asked them about the condition of my roof. At no time did they recommend I consult a roofer prior to solar installation. Now they are saying that according to the terms of my contract, they are not responsible for roof leaks not caused by them and they only certified that my roof was strong enough to hold the weight of the panels. That was not the case. They are not willing to help me at all and suggested I could call another solar company to remove and replace the panels. I should have called another solar company in the first place. My salesman has gone to bat for me, but to no avail. Beware if dealing with Tesla Solar.

All went well my instillation ~2 years ago. I was very happy with the process but 2 years on things have changed: #1: my estimated production was 14,000 kilowatts but the actual production has been 11,000 Kilowatts which is significantly worse than estimated. #2: I just found out that my local town never issued a CO once the project was completed. I had the building inspector come by. There were 3 issues that needed to be resolved special stickers need to be placed on a conduit and electric meter and they need a certificate of inspection. I then called Tesla/Solarcity and the customer service person said the operations team would need to handle it and would email them. It has been a week and I have not herd from the them. In addition, they did not know what an instillation certificate was. When I asked them to contact the building department they said they "do not call the city to ensure completion." I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that it would take 24 to 72 hours to get a call back. When I asked how was my problem going to be resolved the representative said that she would have to wait for the operations department to get back to me but she did not know when that would be. She said to try back tomorrow. They were very good on the install but on the follow up terrible. Do not use. They are not the only solar company in town.

it's too bad I can't give them less than one star. In a nutshell here is how it's gone. Sales guy come out and gives us his speech, I point out that the concrete shingles I have on my roof were not made to walk on; he says "no problem" they do these all the time. Month later the install crew shows up. On the first day they break 600 tiles. I'm told "no problem". Second and third day they break almost 2000 more. Finally agree to send a roofing crew (of their choice) out to re-roof my house as they install the panels. I'm told "no problem". All seems OK until it rains, then the nail holes they left, and the skylights they flashed incorrectly start to leak. I'm told "no problem". They will send a crew out to identify the location and fix the leak. The guy they send up in to the attic is working his first day on the job. He doesn't have a camera but does have his cell phone which is also his flashlight. Three minutes in to his attic excursion he puts his foot through the ceiling in the kitchen. I'm told "no problem". This was January of 2019. I am assigned an "Executive Resolution Specialist" who's name was Jade T. Back and forth we go with documents, bids, pictures etc. The first week of March I stop hearing from her, I leave voice messages, send emails, call her number,,, nothing. Find out 5 weeks later she is "no longer with the company" (I guess she had a problem). It's April 9th and I'm still waiting for a check from these clowns because the "approval hasn't been obtained yet and "it's a problem". I can only say one thing... DO NOT, under any circumstances do business with this company. If their lips are moving they are lying and they will say ANYHTING to get you to do business with them.

I have been with SolarCity for over a year now, and have had a very hard time getting quality service. Its been 3 months now and my inverter is still malfunctioning and has still not been fixed yet. Although I have been patiently waiting, I can't afford to pay my regular electric bill and SolarCity's contractual monthly fees at the same time -- what's the point of having solar? My customer service experience has not been very good, many times I've had to wait a long time to get assistance and then I still have to end up calling every other two weeks to get an update on my inverter to get fixed. Recently my autopay was removed in their system so I had to call and get "extra" charges removed and reset my autopay. MySolarCity.com online account does not allow you to see your account payment setups, statements, billing history, etc. --- so what's the point of an online account? Its been reported over a year ago and still not fixed. These things such as good customer service, a fully-functioning online account (where you can make payments), and reliable service are very crucial to a long-term contract (20 years!) relationship. So think about these things before you sign the contract, are you up to this kind of frustration? I would not even rate 1 star but this site doesn't allow that, so 1 star is the least I could choose.

We have been a solar city customer since 2007. We referred many of our neighbors to Solar City. Since our roof is 30 years old we decided to have it replaced before it started to leak and cause damage. Solar City advises us there was a 5 month waiting list and the cost to remove and reinstall will be over 4K. While we had no choice but to agree to this insane charge, the aftermath was even worse! Solar City showed up and removed all of the panel which were stored in my garage. The very next day, it rained for 3 solid days INSIDE MY HOUSE! There were over 50 holes RAINING in my house causing 15K worth of damage! Never did anyone inform us of the exposure, offer to cover or plug the holes, NOTHING. It was absolutely horrible raining inside my house because of the damage caused by Solar City. I wrote to Solar City with copies of every invoice and photo and requested they waive the charge to reinstall to offset the damage we incurred and they refused! Beware of the damage to your roof when they install the panels, hope and pray you never have to remove the panels and any type of reasonable compensation is non existent.

Tesla has the worst customer service. I signed up for the Solar Panels with one sales person and she left the company. After she left, I kept having to call to get someone to follow up with my progress for installation. After installation I had some questions about the app and my first bill. The customer service rep was very rude and told me to call my electric company. But it’s funny how they could breakdown the bill prior to me being a customer. I am still waiting for a supervisor to call me back. The sales rep also lied about how much my electric bill would be. She said I would get about 96% of my energy from the panels, and it’s only about 40%. My electric bill barely reduced and the supervisor won’t even call me to explain everything to me. Worst company, DO NOT USE TESLA. Go with another reputable company.

I have been a Soler city customer for years, I chose to lease the panels because of my low income/ sales pitch shoved down my throat at home depot. Fast forward 3.2 years my wife's car breaks down I'm at the dealership trying to secure a loan, IT gets denied I look at my credit report and low and behold tesla is reporting that I owe them $22000 and that I am behind on the payments. I've called tesla countless times trying to resolve the issue I do not have a balance with them. Also I'm on auto pay. My credit has dropped 100ponts as result. They are the rudest people to deal with I don't understand. It looks like I might have a legal fight With Tesla One of the most argent company's I've ever dealt with I miss Soler Citi

Buyer beware. I met with a rep to consult me for providing a system to keep my home office up and running when there are extended power outages in my area (Florida). They designed a system that provides more than enough power however I was originally told I would only need 1 battery to power the home during an outage. Panels installed and $36,000 later they are now about to install the batter system but NOW INFORM ME that it cannot power your AC and a few other items in your electrical box. NO AC IN FLORIDA?? This seems like pretty important information that was conveniently left out of my original assessment and design plans. Their solution? I will need to get 4 battery systems! So that $36,000 price tag just jumped to $70,000. That is bait and switch after being waist deep. PLus , 4 batteries is complete overkill since the current solar system provides 170% of the power that I need. 1 battery is all that is needed, or I could have gotten far fewer panels and put more money towards batteries.

This is the worst company I have ever had the unfortunate pleasure to do business with in my entire 20 yrs stay in California!!! Contract wasn’t transparent period. What i was made believe wasn’t what was actually delivered, I’m just finding that out after they transferred my contract to Tesla energy. Simply put my energy costs now is $200 more than I was paying while just using the grid without any change in usage. They claim they didn’t put enough panels so I should sign a new agreeement for another 20 yrs to get more panels to meet my needs. Their customers service agents are rude once you finally get hold of one. Please stay away from this company or what it now calls itself Tesla. Emmanuel

Techs came out to do repairs on the panels. apparently there were defective connectors to the panels. I told them that i also had a roof leak which i thought may be from the initial install. They sent a roof repair tech along with the other techs. When they were done they sent a polite message on my phone saying they were done. Then the rain came and with it 3 leaks in my roof. 2 of them were from people walking around up there and popping nails. the other one was by the chimney and unrelated to them. I called to schedule another roof check. i was told someone would call in 24 to 48 hours. then they called back to say someone would call in an hour. That was almost 4 days ago and i haven't heard a word. In the meantime i had gone up there and fixed the roof myself. today it is raining and i have no leaks....Amazing!! i'm not a roofer but apparently i know more than the roof tech who was up there. He had tarred up some spots that had nothing to do with anything. Also while up there i noticed clips, wire and general trash related to the solar job that was left behind. Also i found broken clips, Screws and "solar trash" on my driveway. Hopefully my panels are working at least.

Ever since Solar City merged with, Tesla, their customer service has been nearly non-existent. Trying to talk to them on the phone with a problem or concern about the panels involves an hour or longer wait on the phone to speak to a "live person" thus few, if any, will wait that long. I know I won't. Also, I cannot get them to actually visit my actual installation claiming everything can be monitored remotely. I disagree!! There is an obvious problem with some of the panels but I can't get any "live" person to come out and inspect all the components. I am very dissatisfied!!! Am I stuck with this inferior product for 20 years????

I am not a customer, only trying to be. For purely aesthetic reasons I want the glass shingles over the entire roof so that the house looks good. IMHO the panels are, well just, ugly. I've approached sales engineers / sales consultants or what ever they are called at the mall and request information. At best I'm ignored, at worst they just walk away. I've spent far too many years in field marketing to know when a prospect says, "I want to buy" the world stops turning and the only objective is then to get the customer's John Hancock on the dotted line. I don't understand these sales people at all.

Received an email from Tesla - Monday, Sept 24th, 2018 Email informed me of a low production problem & a technician would visit the home. We did not need to be home. No communication from Tesla as to what the technician did at my home 2. Sept. 25th, major leak discovered in master bedroom. 3. Sept 25th @ 10:00 pm, I sent a 1-lined email to Tesla, asking for service for my leaking roof 4. Sept. 26th, received an email from Tesla, asking me to call Customer Care. 5. Sept 27th, received a notice from Tesla in my door which states Tesla-Customer Care will contact me. 6. Oct 1st, I sent an email to Tesla, asking for help & explained my unsuccessful calls to Tesla - Customer Care. Phone calls to Tesla never connected to a live person except for the 1 Spanish speaking operator. I asked for Tesla to call me directly and provided my cell phone number. 7. Oct 2, received an email from Tesla explaining that Tesla may have been calling my home number, not cell. 8. Oct 2 @ 1:36 pm, call from Richard, Tesla Tech, to make an appointment to examine the roof. Appointment made for Oct 3rd @ 8:00 am. 9. Oct 3rd @ ~ 8:00 am, XX (individual's names protected) arrived and began looking at my roof from the ground. We went inside to look at master bedroom where leak had occurred. We then went into the attic to look at the roof sheathing. XX was quite surprised to see a covered hole in my roof. A hole had burned through the roofing, roof sheathing and part of my rafter. NO, I was not aware of any such occurrence or damage. XX said he could see daylight through the patch. Patch done by Tesla. XX's partner, Y, arrived after the fire damage had been discovered. The 2 Techs removed 1 solar panel from the top left corner. They told me that they sealed aluminum over the hole and installed roofing shingles over the aluminum which I can confirm they installed a different style roofing shingle over the damage. XX took photos of repairs which I asked for him to text me and he had agreed yet he did not forward those photos to me. They reinstalled the panel. XX had mentioned that the damage was most likely caused by a bad connector which Tesla is finding to be problematic. I have ~30 panels on 2 roofs of my house which must be loaded with these same connectors. The inverter has been shut off. Where does the power go now? XX explained to me that the original Tech did the following: Was sent to my home due to a 50% drop in production. Replaced the bad connector Did NOT correctly log a thermal event Did NOT shut the system off Did NOT document the roof patch or that he was on my roof XX asked me to call Customer Care to explain to them what was discovered. I told him that is a headache and I’ve experienced long waiting periods without success but I would try. I telephoned Customer Care and got a message that they are “closed.” I immediately told XX and asked for a direct line or the correct prompts to use. He telephoned his superior, Dan (I believe Dan is his name) and had arranged for Customer Care to call my cell phone. I have NOT received any call. 10. The above is just the beginning. Then a month of no contact and no return phone calls. Trust me, I tried to reach Tesla. Now in the 2nd month, Tesla blames insurance. Then Tesla sent a new contract to sign. I'm finishing 2 months without a resolution. Tesla has no integrity. I cannot say enough. STAY AWAY!!!!

Dealing with Solar City (Tesla) not easy ---- and very time consuming! Tesla is a company that has grown too fast. Their staff lacks proper training. Employees are apparently not given the authority to make things right. In a word: inflexible. Months ago we started the process of buying solar panels and a power wall. The Tesla site engineer analyzed where the panels would need to be installed and where the power inverter, DC junction, distribution panel, etc. would be located. The project plans (including drawings) are created at one of their offices, then sent to us. I noticed that the above mentioned equipment was located on the southeast corner of the house (back yard), not the northwest corner of the house (front yard). The street was drawn in the back yard, not on the opposite side of the house. I discussed this error with the sales representative. She told me that they knew what they were doing. It took some convincing for her to finally understand that they had actually made a mistake. After a delay we received the revised plans. However, there was another mistake on them. They had the order of the equipment that was placed on the exterior wall next to the main AC electrical panel shown in two different places on the drawings and they were not consistent. Our HOA’s architectural review committee would have rejected the plans. Again, it took more convincing than necessary for the sales rep to understand that they had made yet another mistake. After this was corrected we submitted our plans to our HOA for approval. Meanwhile, we were sent the contract to electronically sign (via DocuSign). I signed every place that I could and returned the agreement. I received another agreement indicating that the first one wasn’t signed properly. I signed it again and returned it. Again I was told that I’d need to resign the agreement because the first one was not signed properly. Having signed contracts in the past using DocuSign, I knew that I’d signed every place that I could. The problem was that whoever set-up the agreement didn’t do it correctly. Not only should every place where a signature or initial needs to be inserted be highlighted (yellow in my case), but there needs to be a tag on which I could “click” with my cursor to place my signature or initials on the highlighted line. This had not been done correctly. I asked for a paper copy and received it. On the agreement I made two notations: 1) our HOA requirements for solar installations needed to be followed (specifically that all mounting hardware needed to be coordinated with the surface on which it was attached); and 2) the purchase price after the end of the 20 year lease was to be no more than 10% of the lease agreement (which is front-loaded making the purchase price no more than $700+), not the $5000+ mentioned in the agreement. I had previously questioned the sale rep about this. She had checked with people in Tesla and was told the 10% limit was correct. She had sent me an email stating this was factual. My agreement was rejected and another one was sent to me. I told the person responsible for my project that I would not sign the agreement without the two notations on it. A regional manager (Stephen) called me to try to explain why I had to sign the agreement without making any notations on it. I gave him eight days to come up with a plan to make this right. It has been eight days and no one has called me. I believe in solar. I had it for 20 years in Seattle and was happy with the results. I can attest to the fact that at the end of 20 years it was so far behind current solar technology that it would have been nearly worthless if I had tried to sell it. Tesla would have spent more in labor to remove it and properly fill in all the holes in the roof than they could have made in selling it. You would think that after all the mistakes that they made, that they would have stood behind their sales rep and accepted the agreement with my two notations (with emails from Tesla supporting BOTH requirements. I suggest going with someone else and saving yourself the headaches of having to deal with a disorganized company. Don’t waste your time. BTW, we tried a couple years ago to buy solar panels from Solar City, but gave up after discovering numerous mistakes on their part. We should have learned from that experience and pursued solar from someone else. But, we thought that Tesla would have a better trained team. Apparently not.

Ever since Tesla acquired SolarCity, the customer service is horrible!! They stopped sending me paper bills without prior notification. They were supposed to email my bill to me but to date, this has not happened. When I contacted customer service, I was on hold for OVER ONE HOUR!!! Today I tried to sign in to my account and my email and password was recognized by the site, so my only option is contact via phone. Currently, I am holding for customer service and was advised by the mechanical voice that the wait time is ONE HOUR. Mr. Tesla, stop sending cars into outer space adding to the junk already up there AND IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR SOLAR CITY!!! I would NEVER recommend your company to anyone considering solar panels.

3 years later and I am still being screwed. In addition to losing 2 inverters, I still pay twice what I did to PGE. You can read my other review for the details but in the end all the reviews are the same. No-one can save money, we were all lied to and any positive review is from a solar city employee. PLEASE listen to everyone, they are the scum of the earth. One only has to listen to Elon Musk lie to wallstereet about being profitable. My only way out is that the bank that they steal my payments from will soon be dry. At that time I will no longer pay for solar and they can come get the panels, but wait, they won't. I know a dozen people who have not paid them for up to 3 years and they still have power. Unlike PGE they don't want their crappy panels back and it's not worth their time to remove them thus free power. Fight back people, there are several ways to screw the pooch. Don't feel bad they screwed you with their slick lies. Those millinial salesman who no longer work there were ran out of your town and mine. and soon enough the whole deal is gonna topple.

SolarCity reps are great at the beginning. They make you feel as if this is their produce and service is the best ever. As soon as we were signed up it was no communication for days and weeks. From the signup date to the date of connection was over a year. After that we heard nothing from them. We were to get a payment schedule within 30 days. Two years later we still had no schedule, did not know how much to pay or when. I called several time and was told they would get right back to me. No one ever did. I talked to several people but never received the schedule. Finally, this year (3 yrs later) we received PAST DUE statements for three months and then nothing again. I have had it with this company, its communication issues and service.

Most horrible business decision I've ever gotten into in my life. Every turn has been a nightmare and they have been completely unhelpful and argumentative threatening and rude. On top of dealing with all of their idiotic ways I still have to pay the electricity bill along with their bill. They lied when filling out the contract. They said I would not have an electricity bill anymore other than the normal $10 fee, but I pay a lot to the electricity company still. They promise to pay the true up bill but as of this last year they have denied it. It cost me more to have it than just to pay the electricity bill. Again, worst decision of my life.

I had the worst experience with Solar City. The sales rep that they sent around never mentioned the word LEASE in his presentation. It was made to sound like the average monthly amount of my electric bill would be $132, but when I was actually able to print the contract out that is when I learned that was the monthly lease amount. The presentation was made on a 10" tablet so you could never see the entire page at one time. There were two other people at the table when the presentation was made and they never heard the work LEASE either. I asked what would happen if I decided to sell my house and move, NO PROBLEM. Ha! Big problem. Either the prospective buyers didn't want them or they wanted to purchase them. But that was not in their (Solar City) game plan. I had a 4 bedroom/3 bath house at almost 2000 sq ft and I have downsized considerably so how is a system for that size house going to fit on one about 1/2 that size. I have been telling everyone that if they are considering solar panels, DO NOT go with Solar City.

We purchased our solar from SolarCity and they were great until Tesla took over. Now their service is the worst imaginable. Our solar stopped working about eight weeks ago. When I called they said they would order the part and it would be about two weeks. Two weeks came and went and I called again and was told that they wanted to install new solar panels which would be more efficient and it should be another couple of weeks. After multiple efforts to contact them and never receiving a return call I finally got through and was told that they had no idea when the panels would arrive. I asked why they couldn't install the part that they did have so my solar would be working and was told that they only like to come out once. I have been paying PG&E top price for my electricity and SolarCity has the audacity to expect me to pay my monthly bill to them also when I am receiving no service whatsoever. I was told that after two years they would review my payments and give me a refund if I had overpaid. I told them that no way would I wait two years and would resume paying my monthly bill when they fixed my solar.

I have had my solar panels for 2 years now. Starting about 8 months ago, I would get emails from Tesla about every 2 weeks that there was a problem with my panels and I had to call from home, while it was light out. Hard to do when you work and it's winter. I would call and they would just have me reset the button. This happened about every 2 weeks for about 2 months. I continuously asked to have someone out but was told it was not necessary. Finally, about 3 months ago they came out and told me everything was fixed. On June 15th I get an email again about a problem. Service tech came out 6/19 and told me there was water in the panel box and it was unsafe so they had to shut down the panels and replace the box-at a future date of course. Makes me wonder how long it was unsafe before they finally realized it. Panels were shut down in height of energy season and service scheduled for July 3 from 12-2. Technician called at 3 to say it was too hot and he would need to reschedule. Next available date is 7/16 which means a month without the panels and no compensation. Would not recommend this company to anyone.

At this point, I am absolutely incensed. The account was transferred four months ago, and I still can’t get into the payment portal to pay my bill. I can’t set up an ACH payment, so I’m being charged $7.50/month at no fault of my own. I’m sitting on hold for long periods of my day, just to pay the bill. My experience with SolarCity from the start has been an abomination. I almost missed my settlement date due to SolarCity’s continued inability to send over the documents that my lender needed. I was on the phone at least once a day for almost two weeks during the lending process. On top of everything, I’m paying SolarCity more per kWh than I pay BGE. This is just the worst run company in the world. If I could change one thing from my entire life, it would be to not sign the lease transfer agreement. What a scam.