As a Petersen Dean Solar for America refugee, I was searching for a solar company to process a warranty claim for my LG residential storage battery and ultimately be my "go to" for system expansion and service. LG provided me with a list of LG authorized vendors, and advised me that LG pays up to $500 towards labor to the selected authorized vendor for labor related to warranty replacement. After contacting a few, I selected Mega Power Electric, Inc. who provided me a verbal quote of $550 over the phone, and arranged to have someone come to my home to inspect my battery.
A technician came out a few days later, inspected my battery, and gathered information to process an RMA replacement with LG. He advised me that once the RMA was processed and approved by LG, another crew would be coming out to remove my battery, and send it back to LG for repair or replacement. I asked if there was any paperwork to sign, and how payment would be handled, and he advised me that there was nothing to sign, and that payment was handled by the office. No paper quote was offered.
Months went by with no notification, so I contacted Mega Power for status of my RMA. A few days later, I was contacted by Mega Power, via text message, advising me that they had a replacement battery for my and that they needed to schedule a time to come out and retrieve my old battery and install the new one. I was surprised, as this was a deviation from the procedure that I had previously been advised of by the inspecting technician. However, we settled on a time and I was advised that payment would be due at the time of installation, payable by Zelle or check. I asked for a confirmation of the balance due, and was advised that the balance was $100 more than I was quoted. I responded to them asking for an invoice and warranty info for the new battery. The following day, they responded by telling me that they would e-mail an invoice to me which would state the labor warranty, but that they were providing no other documentation.
A crew came out and made the exchange, after which I asked them if there was anything to sign. They advised me that there was nothing to sign and that the office would be in touch. Weeks went by, and I received a text from Mega Power reminding me of my balance due. I hadn't yet seen an invoice, so I asked for them to re-send it. I received the e-mailed invoice from Mega Power advising me that I owe $650 for the labor associated with my warranty replacement, and indicating that there was NO labor warranty. I called LG to confirm the $500 credit, and was sent a form and instructions on how the vendor can claim the credit to forward to Mega Power. When I alerted them of the information provided to me by LG about the $500 labor credit, and that I would be sending them a check for the balance of $150, they suddenly advised me that my bill was actually $1150, and that I still owed $650 after the credit offset. At no time prior to this, was I presented with the $1150 figure, or indicate that they had factored the $500 credit from LG into the original quote; not on paper, or verbally. I called LG back and advised them of the situation, but after escalating the situation within LG, and waiting a couple more weeks for a response, they apologized for my experience with Mega Power and advised me that while Mega Power's business practices may be unethical, there was little that they could do other than compensate me for loss of use. They also offered to assist in identifying a more scrupulous solar vendor that services my area.
In summary, the interactions that I had with the people who actually did the work, were positive, but the practices of the Mega Power business office are unconventional and unethical. I hope that anyone looking to do business with this shady company can learn from my experience. Get everything in writing, and insist on a detailed quote that includes any potential credits offered by the manufacturer. read more