Yesterday was such a disappointing day for us. We ended up returning our solar panels because of the incompetence of a company. Please read this story if you are considering solar panels or at least in case you know someone so they don't waste 10 months of their life like we did. This is a long story but it is worth the read if you are considering them.
This all started in April 2022 we called Olson solar energy to see if solar panels were an option for us. Started out great Tom told them right from the beginning that we have 3-phase electric and a generator. The salesman reassured us that it would be fine and would be no problem. He proceeded to take pictures of everything. We then got our financing for the project in May. Olson did tell us that it would be a little bit before they would be hooked up. We then proceeded to jump through all these hoops of grants and having to get insurance to protect WPS. Through all this the project manager they assigned to us never seemed to know what he was talking about and took multiple conversations to understand what was required of us. All of this process was minimal but they never gave us a for sure date when the panels were going to go in just that it was going to happen this year.
November we finally had the go that they were coming to put the solar panels the week before deer hunting and we were excited. They went in without any huge hitches. Little did we know the problems would all start the following week. They finally sent out the master electrician the week of deer hunting to look at our system and see what was needed. You could see from his expressions that there was a problem but we didn't know how big.
We were reassured that the panels would be hooked up by the end of the year. So I called pretty much weekly wondering when this would happen because at this point we had to start our loans and were now paying double since we were making payments on the loans and paying the power company. We were being told that they were waiting on a part and we were on the schedule weekly for whenever it came in. December came and went and in January I called again and got some line that it was cold and that's why they weren't out there and I told them that they had promised to be connected by the end of the year and had all month to do so. Finally were told that they need many more parts because of something that Wps was requiring. I said fine but this better not involve more money on our part and was told it wouldn't, but that was a lie. They came back and told us that we needed to come up with another $10,000 on top of the $63000 we already had for them to get the proper approvals from Wps. I'm sorry but why did they not have the approvals from the system before these panels were put up on our property. And we were upset about it because why on earth did they not have the electrician out right away before these panels were installed. And yes I did raise my voice at them and call them out on this incompetence. They did not like this and just placed all the blame on Wps. But when it comes down to it they should have had an electrician out right away and not guessed that it would work. When it comes down to it we ended up getting another loan for $10000 and were promised there would be no more problems and no more money involved and the system would be up and running when the ground thawed.
This brings us up to last week when they emailed me to tell me there were more problems with the wiring on the farm. They gave us the electricians number and we talked to him and to our electrician and found out that this would cost us another $20000 on top of the $10000 we already had. We then called the owner to tell him we were pulling out and he proceeded to try to end the conversation. I told him to hold on a second because I wanted to talk to him about reimbursement on the interest of the loans at this point because this was a total waste of our time. He proceeded to tell me I was nothing but rude and stressed him out and hung up on me. I really think that if Tom had been talking to him that wouldn't have been said but whatever. They then sent an email telling me that they contacted our lender to get our information about our loans and they would be out on Monday to get to the panels and we didn't need to be home to get this done. I'm sorry but what! you think you are entitled to my personal information without permission! I don't think so! And when exactly are you going to give us our money back. This leads up to Monday when they send two guys to come and get the panels with a check. This employee was very nice and was the first on at Olson that actually apologized.
To sum up everything, Olson never once took any fault it was all wps's fault and our bills. THEY NEVER APOLOGIZED ONCE! When they came to pick up the panels the owners should have been the ones to bring the check and clear the air. read more
