I was initially sold on the idea purchasing solar due to the presentation given by a BDS Solar sales associate. Problems came soon after I had signed the contract with BDS Solar. When I discovered that solar power would not benefit us financially it was too late to cancel. Contractors showed up to do the installation before we had our loan funded and BDS Solar never notified us they were coming. On 9/20/2012 installation of solar panels on our house was completed and the contractors informed me that BDS Solar would be submitting to PG&E the Interconnection Agreement, the Single-Line Drawing, and the Final Building Permit & Inspection Certificate from the city of Atascadero, all necessary documents in order to have solar turned on by PG&E. After not hearing anything from PG&E I called the solar dept. of PG&E and was informed that they had no documentation indicating I had solar installed. I contacted BDS Solar by email and by phone and was told that all the necessary documents had already been sent in to PG&E. On 9/28/12 BDS Solar emailed me two rebate documents as attachments and told to print, sign, date and mail them back to us at your earliest convenience. Then on 10/16/2012 BDS again emailed me with the very same documents as attachments to be printed, signed, dated and returned to BDS Solar. I asked the administrative assistant for Ken Samson, the owner, why the same documents had to be sent again. I was told PG&E claimed they never received them. As to why PG&E had not responded and come out to inspect our solar installation I was told that they apologize for the delay but that I need to be patient as PG&E has 30 days to respond from the time they receive the documents. On 10/24/12, after hearing several times from PG&E that they had received no documents indicating I had solar panels installed, I finally phoned and spoke to the supervisor of the Solar Department within PG&E. I also sent an email to PG&E (gen@pge.com) at the address where all documentation for solar is to be sent. The supervisor of PG&E Solar Interconnection Dept phoned me and assisted me by sending an email to BDS Solar with a CC to me informing BDS Solar that as of 10/23/2012 he could not locate the interconnection application in the gen@pge.com inbox. On 10/25/2012, a month and 5 days after the solar installation was completed, BDS Solar sent an email to me with an attachment for me to print, sign, and fax back to BDS Solar. Any guesses as to what that attachment was? It was the Interconnection Agreement documentation form that I had never seen or received, BUT WAS TOLD THAT IT HAD BEEN SENT TO PG&E TWICE PREVIOUSLY. But the delay is not hurting BDS Solar because they have already received $18,660 with only $840 due. They have no incentive to be expedient in facilitating my hook up of solar energy with PG&E.
Another person reviewing BDS Solar on Yelp, BlaBlaBla B, said they would like to give BDS Solar a zero star rating if they could. They posted this rating on Yelp on 10/23/2012 and have been waiting for solar hook-up for 6 months. I concur with their opinion and rating, although I believe zero is very generous for BDS Solar. read more