SunPower Reviews

It's been a tale of two cities. Christopher S was our initial contact the first time around and the whole experience was flawless from beginning to end. A year later we wanted to add the PowerWall and a few more panels so naturally we contacted Christopher again. We signed the contract but somewhere in the gap of waiting for scheduling the installation, Christopher left the company, and the communication dropped to zero. Not only did the installation take a whole 6 months to finally get done, our original contract took a total of 2.5 months from beginning to end, but we're still waiting to have our PowerWall fully certified to finally have it operational. We're now at the seven month mark and counting from the time we signed the contract. Sunpower's product speaks for itself, another reason we chose to go with them. However, the customer service, in particular the communication with their customers, dropped off drastically within a year. I find it hard to believe our original experience relied solely on one person but if that is the case, they should've done everything to keep him on staff. I can also understand the company got a huge surge in business since the drastic winter storm in Texas a couple of years ago, but the quality in customer service should've have never been the first to feel the effects.

The actual installation of solar panels was done by New York State Solar Farm. After installation of energy efficient electrical appliances, the panels are producing 108% of my electrical needs. farm

Sales = A Installation = C+ (Scheduling problems and repairs) Project Manager Follow-up = B (He tried his best and did follow-up) Permits = F (Permit unsigned by City - still inquiring for final signed copy) Visa Credit Card = F (never received after two months. Inquired over the next few weeks. Ticky tack process . Don't forget about your incentives that are promised. Installation was very difficult because of SunPower internal scheduling. . Broken Vents on roof and conduit painting for visible areas per HOA took a very long time to repair during rain. Crew changing in the middle of the project. Both crews were very professional and respectiful and worked very hard. Unfortnately, our two separate SunPower systems won't talk to each other which is causing some problems for months. Waiting for techs to show up who don't show up after you take the day off work to meet them. Be wary of the incentive with Visa cards. With all the Spam emails, they are very hidden. These require several steps via email and if you don't follow them, it will not be sent. I have been inquiring about this Visa incentive card for months. Still not resolved because I forgot to review an email that didn't say "SunPower" stating I needed to hit submit to verify the address which SunPower already has. I would be happy to update my review once everything has been cleared up and working properly and if I feel that the long process was worth it for the savings. It will be a year in October so this is just my six month review. For the money I feel it's a great value but it's a process so be prepared.

Did a great job it did take a couple of tries, but eventually everything is working. It is saving money if used properly. But you must factor in the financing costs so the overall average was a breakeven. The real benefit was the tax break investing in my home instead of the IRS.

I’ve had some issues with my reinstall after my roof was replaced in September. At first, 15 of the 16 panels were working and now only 6 panels are working. They are working to “fix” the issue but it is January now and I’m out $$ to help cover the cost of natural gas. Also, the critter guard was never replaced so I’m having to email back and fourth to get that worked out. Lastly, SunPower had a feature on their app that would allow the homeowner view what each panel was producing, but after submitting my complaints that the panels were not working, SunPower removed the feature. As a result, I have no way to tell of my panels are working as they should be.

Hi my name is Richard Ferraina I just purchased Panels from Sun power They came out to install that a fantastic job the workers did a great job putting everything in neat polite and very happy with the panels they’ll finish up tomorrow and I’ll be on the grid thank you sunpower

Patrick was very helpful. I needed to get a copy of the contract I have with SunPower. Patrick was very polite, emailed what I needed and stayed with me to be sure that it arrived. I have never had any problems with SunPower. They have always been very helpful.

Our sales rep Steve C has been wonderful. We spoke with 6 reps from various solar companies, and he was by far the most informed and professional of all. We feel confident that Sun Power will give us the best financial deal and the best products.

We lost internet connection with our SunPower System. Ryan S in technical/customer service, was of great assistance and service. He was patience, knowledgeable and skilled. He answered all of my questions and had the right solution to recover our connection. Ryan is a super technician. Thank you Ryan. Sun Power is the best!

I will recommend SunPower most likely to my friends but I have had a mixed experience on the customer service side. When the solar system was originally sold to us, the sales guy seemed decently knowledgeable. However, I did ask him about "Planet of the Humans" documentary released in 2019. This movie makes a case that renewable energy is not nearly as sustainable as it is portrayed. I asked the sales guy about this and he had not seen the movie. This surprised me a bit. I asked for more information on the sustainability of solar panels in general. He said that “no one has asked this before.” I was very surprised by this. He referred us to the main page on SunPower’s website which shows all the awards that SunPower has received. While this is impressive, I could not find a clear definition of specifically what SunPower does to be more sustainable than other companies. He did promise to provide more information but never got back to us with the information. He did follow up about the sale, however. We decided to go forward with buying the system anyway. By the way, we paid almost twice the average cost of a system sized within California or about 182% of normal. I am OK paying this much because I am happy to support a company that will reinvest the profits into improving their solar technology. I have been looking forward to investing in solar energy for my home for a very long time. Still, it is a little hard to see every estimate for other solar installer coming back far lower than I paid. https://www.energysage.com/local-data/solar-panel-cost/ca/#:~:text=As%20of%20October%202020%2C%20the,California%20coming%20in%20at%20%2414%2C950. The installation process was much longer than the longest estimate they provided. We started talking to the sales guy in May and I finished signing the last of my paperwork on June 1 to kick off the process. I was not able to turn on power until September 23. Throughout the process, I did not receive much transparency as to why things were taking so long until I followed up with the individuals supporting my case. There were various reasons including the city permits getting rejected 3 times and taking time to be resubmitted and reviewed. The utility took a very long time to respond as well. Still, I would have appreciated a lot more transparency on how things were going. Also the crew working on the project management for my installation sounded very burned out and disheartened when I was able to get them on the phone. I am not sure, but it sounds like the company is struggling a bit internally and that is coming through on how the employees sound. For example, the program manager was surprised that I cared about the environment at all when talking about the panels. She did not sound sure that they are better for the environment than just sticking with the utility. Being that she worked for a solar company, I am very sorry that she sounds so down. She should have no doubt that what she is doing is making a difference and very important for this world. If she is not feeling that way, her company is not taking good enough care of here and probably not clearly imparting a company mission statement that she can believe in. My system is now installed and seems to be working. Despite the fact that the power and energy graphs on my app seem to improperly log the data periodically and show 0 production customer service is assuring me that everything is working as expected. I have a lot of hope for the solar industry. I hope that things get better for SunPower and its employees. We need more solar power in this world to bring our global CO2 emissions down. There are few pursuits more important today.

a Sub contractor installed my panels , Did a terrible job contacted SunPower They immediately sent a reprehensive out and corrected the problem and did a prefect job I would Highly recommend SunPower but not a Sub contractor

The overseas call center masquerading as "customer service" is a joke. Once you get somebody here in the US, they are a surprisingly efficient and knowledgeable company. Getting that far may take months though, so only 4 stars from me. I would definitely recommend SunPower to friends and family and have in the past. Unfortunately the incompetent "customer service" forces me to take a star away. Get rid of this and they are a 5+ star company.

BlueSel Home Solar is a master dealer/contractor for SunPower they were exceptional on explaining all about solar , themselves,and the products Sunpower makes! We chose them for are solar install which will take place sometime in mid April 2020.As panels are concerned SunPower is the best out there on all i have researched!

Good visit from salesman and site surveyor. But, we have asked Danian P twice (9/27 and 10/2) for three homeowner references within 10 mile of us (Byron. IL). No response yet. During the sales call, somehow we were led to believe that we could store energy for use during a Com Ed power outage, and now we know that that is not possible without purchasing other equipment elsewhere. Since the quoted contract would only save us about $30/mo, we are are still reviewing our decision.

Sunpower is the best choice that I have made. I am running my air-conditioning in 3 rooms and I am only paying less than $100.00 per month thanks to Sunpower. In fact they are only covering 75% of my home due to my neighbor trees partially blocked.

We have been promised a status update from you since 8/15/2019. You left me a message on Friday to call you get a status update and to understand my concerns. You ask for a call back time and phone number which I gave you in a returned call. The information I left went to your voice mail because you didn't accept the call. I followed up later in the day and was told you left for the day. I was assured you would call on Monday. It is now 1:30 PM and no call. Sunpower has known for over a month that our system was not performing to specifications based on the monitoring you do daily. I called you immediately upon receiving last months production report. The response I got was boiler plate response - shading of the panels and dirty panels. Neither would cause NO PRODUCTION ( that's 0 production) for days at a time. We expect you to be as concerned about the lack of production as I am. Obviously that is an erroneous assumption. Please give me your plan and schedule for bringing our system to within specified production levels. Don

We began our 20 year Sun Power lease in 2012 and were initially very pleased with it. However, during the last two years we became concerned with the production of the system and contacted the company. We were told that the system was operating well and that the production level fell within the guaranteed ranges, so there was no problem. We saw, however, that there was an erratic pattern of efficiency and we thought that the system should be checked on site. In spite of many requests, both by phone and by email, this was never done. Now, in the midst of one of the hottest summers in recent years (multiple 100+ days,) all the electricity to our house shut down at least five times within two weeks. Initially, we were told by PSEG that the problem was caused by our SunPower system and that if it continued we needed to contact them. My husband contacted SunPower Customer Service and was told that we would have to contact either our local power company or an electrician to check the box and troubleshoot the situation. Then, if the problem was determined to be theirs, they would send someone. When my husband said that the local company had already been here and said that SunPower needed to come, they gave him the number of the local affiliate (Solar Energy World) who had initially installed the system. We called twice and have no idea whether anyone has received the message, although I did indicate that we had almost an emergency situation since there was no electricity at all in the house when a shut down occurs. The number connected us to a voice message requesting simply that we leave a name and phone number. (It is now four days later and we still have received absolutely NO RESPONSE from Solar Energy World.) In searching for that company online in an attempt to find other means of contacting someone, I came across this Best Company site. When I saw that Sun Power was listed as one of the most desirable companies to use for solar energy, I began to go through the reviews which had been written. In doing so, I found two in which a Kari had left her email address and told the person writing the review to contact her. I used that email address and explained the whole situation. Within a half hour, I had a return email from Kari in which she told me that she had forwarded our situation to Sun Power's Austin office. Within about another hour, I had a phone call from Erica from that office. In the meantime, we had contacted an electrician friend to come and take a look at things. He determined that the problem was NOT due to our SunPower system, but that PSEG needed to come back and evaluate it. (The problem was that the circuit breakers in the box were not tightened properly, resulting in damage to the insulation on the wires in the box.) Both Kari and Erica followed up with us via email and Erica also called again to make sure that the problem was being taken care of. As a result of her action and followup and that of Erica, I have modified both the ratings and the review which I originally posted. However, some of my concern still remains. For a major solar energy company like SunPower to refuse to troubleshoot their equipment (the response which my husband received when he called) is not only unsatisfactory and disturbing, but also potentially dangerous. For a local affiliate not to respond at all is also unsatisfactory, disturbing and potentially dangerous. Because I have the contact information for both Kari and Erica, I am hopeful that there will be no future problems should we need customer service assistance from SunPower again. However, I only have that information because I happened to come across it. There is no contact information provided directly by the company which results in real customer service in the event that someone needs it. In order for my rating of SunPower to go any higher, I would need to have a radically different response when I make a phone call regarding efficiency of the panels or a potential problem with the system.

First of all, I don't understand how any this works, but I guess I don't really need to. I do feel, however, that I am paying more money now than before. I've been with SunPower for three years and at the end of each year I still have to pay Edison over $100. I also have to pay a small amount throughout the year so I didn't save any money by going solar. It helps the environment, but it sure doesn't save me any money.

The majority of the team, sales, installation, and project management, are very professional and helpful. The overall process was simple and the team kept me informed all the way. The only reason I gave it 4-star instead of 5 is because of the inspection coordinator's action. He did not make contact with me to schedule/coordinate the inspection date/time in advance. He e-mailed me at 6PM the night before city inspection and expected me to be available the next morning at 8AM.

I like the clean power provides for me clean energy that I get from it the only issue I have is when I tell them to take my payment out on the 5th of the month they insist on trying to take it out at the end of the month and bouncing my checking account I've explained to them three or four times that my check does not get into my account until the 3rd of the month Can they please take the money out on the 5th of the month but it doesn't seem to work other than that I love the way that it works and I really enjoy the clean energy that it provides for me

Installation was easy, professional, nice and neat job. Our account manager was excellent, checked in regularly, no issues on scheduling dates. The panels are producing as forecast and look forward to only having a gas bill this year. I think the mobile app looks good but not impressed with the way the connectivity drops to the master unit and the slow pace of customer service to correct it.

Rob my salesman did a great job of explaining every detail. The installation crew were great answered every one of my questions and checked my roof leaks, fixed the leaks and replaced some missing tiles . Overall great company to work with.

The salesman was very knowledgeable and sold me only what I needed. The product is superior to anything on the market. There are other houses in my neighborhood that are the same size with solar panels and they have twice as many.

These solar panels are producing more than enough power for keeping our home comfortable during the 90 to 100 degree days here in the central valley of California. We are extremely pleased with the experience of purchasing Sunpower solar panels. No more $300 to$400 a month electric Bill's in the summer.

We had solar panels activated by Bruce G today. Giving him 5 stars for his service. He was quick and answered all our questions. He called us if we wanted him to come in earlier than our appointment since he was already available. Appreciated him doing that so that we didn't have to lose time waiting for him. Also very nice and friendly.

We’re pleased with our experience with Sun Power so far. Great communication, everything done right on schedule and everyone we’ve dealt with has been great. Keith M was especially helpful, guiding us through the process.

First class company from start to finish. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Every ran smooth I was kept informed as to what and when things were being done. Project Mgr Brian the best... Thanks sun power.... Definitely recommending to my kids and friends

Michael was very helpful and got everything done quickly. He made it easy for me to understand and gave me useful information about the website and app my husband and I can use to track our usage! He was super friendly and took care of what he needed to and I really appreciated he taking the time to explain exactly how our solar panels work.

Wonderful experience! They did a great job, worked hard to get our solar up and running. All employees that we worked with were polite and answered our questions with knowledge and kindness. Would definitely recommend SunPower to as the best.

Very professional in all areas, i.e., salesperson, installers of solar, electricians. Kept totally informed throughout the entire process of what was to happen, when, where, how, etc. Work very neat hardly noticeable , different than some we have seen. Only recently activated so we'll see if all else continues as expected.

Overall experience exceeded expectations, from sales discussions through installation. All of the SunPower reps were professional, responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable. The installation was quick and clean - less than a day including city inspection.

NOTE THE ADDENDUM at the bottom of this review. First Review: After I completed an on-line form, I was pleased that a Sun Power representative called me within a few minutes. After verifying my address, he asked if we had trees over our roof. I told him that we had some, but that the west-facing roof is clear of trees, as is part of the east-facing roof. He told me that an image he was looking at on-line showed that the roof has too much tree-shade for us to be eligible for solar power. I asked what the source was of his image, and he didn't specify. I explained that we have less tree-shade that we used to have, and that the west-facing roof is fully clear. He persisted in saying the house is not a candidate for solar panels. Despite my suggesting that the image he was looking at on-line is outdated and that we have shade-free roofing, he repeated his claim. I explained again that I believed he was basing his evaluation on inaccurate information, and that by not offering to evaluate the house in person, he'd just lost a potential customer. May 28: ADDENDUM to the above review: I was contacted by SunPower and have now been offered an explanation about their services. If only the person I'd initially talked with had fully explained this, I wouldn't have gotten so frustrated. Based on the new information, I've changed my rating of the company. Having not yet taken full advantage of their services, I can't give a complete review.

The solar activation team ( Elizabeth C-scheduling...Bruce G- technician) were professional, timely, well informed. Specifically, Elizabeth helped me reschedule my time at the last minute. Bruce did my activation effectively and efficiently I n a timely manner. He also answered all my questions in a courteous ,friendly and professional.

From the time I let Jason into our house to turning on the system it has been a very professional and seamless transition. Excellent workmanship, neat and clean. The whole crew couldn’t have been better. All my questions were answered quickly and honestly. Totally awesome experience!

Just getting started in the process but so far has gone easily and the people are great, especially Mark. He met with us twice at our home before we signed up. He is knowledgeable and professional. Everything is going quickly and their contact and follow up has been very good so far. Can't wait to have it installed.

This is my second home with SunPower Panels. The panels themselves are working well. This system has micro inverters which have given me trouble. The first year the Inverters started failing one by one. Finally they replaced the Inverters on each pane. Now about a year later it's happening again. Though the communications is good the service takes a lot of time. So far one month after the first call I finally saw the service techs. They were unable to repair and the person they were talking to on the phone said they will monitor the system and send someone back in April! Why they already know that at least two inverters are not working! RHJ Stockton, CA

Desmond provided exceptional customer service when I inquired about the products being offered! Very satisfied with the help I received. Far exceeded my expectations! Very evident this company cares and values their business!

I was very pleased with the customer service Desmond provided when I was inquiring about solar panels and pricing for my home. Very professional and and very customer service oriented. Although it’s not quite in my budget yet, I will be planning on returning to make the purchase soon.

The installation and all associates in concerning this job were first rate. I wholeheartedly recommend people do business with Sun Power. We could not be happier with our solar system installation. Thanks state of Connecticut for helping move us away from fossil fuel.

Professional through every step. Project management delivered upon sales representation. Install crew was courteous and client-oriented. Foreman Ricky was informed, communicative and aimed to solve challenges. Final product looked as advertised and is producing beautifully.

After interviewing several companies, I was most happy with the proposal SunPower gave me. I was always informed on all the steps that goes into having the panels working and I was happy with their professionalism. The package I received from SunPower was the best one out of several companies I reviewed. Thank you

Project took longer than expected after panels were installed. Seemed to be some mix ups in putting in new electric box. However i was impressed with the quality of the new box and the entire system. Staff were always 100% professional. Enjoying the app on a daily basis.

I talked to a Mr. Desmond W. about how solar works and how beneficial it would be for me to invest in solar for my home. Desmond answered all of my questions honestly and I really appreciated that. At this point my wife and I are really considering solar.

The team at SunPower was very professional through the entire installation process. They reached to us with regular updates on the anticipated timeline as we navigated the numerous steps in process. When we had questions the team was very timely with their responses.

SunPower was terrific. Staff worked quickly, helped me reach the right decision about system size with no pressure, and was EXTREMELY helpful with some difficulty PG&E gave us (offering to not charge us until PG&E upgraded our neighborhood transformer). I love the monitoring site.