Rico Solar came recommended to me by my boss who had used them when they were Poncho Solar. I was more impressed with their attention to detail and communications and they replaced our old Solar Water Heater panels and hot water heater with ease! I will use them again next time we have issues! David S, Kailua read more

Sales rep Karen was nice and professional but the one to come and inspect my roof prior to hiring never showed up. A female owner called and followed up on my decision so I told her no one came to check my roof to proceed with project and for that reason I'm going elsewhere, she (owner) was nice and professional about it unlike others. read more

Knowledgeable and trustworthy representatives. Give them a chance and review there proposal

Exceptional Service & Top-Notch Solar Installation! Rico Solar met all my expectations... I've been using their services for over 15 years since they were originally Poncho Solar. I've had two installations (one since Rico Solar took over)... both were a 120 gallon solar water heater and two panels - one system on the main house and the other system on the Ohana unit. From the initial phone consultation to the solar hot water heater installation, their team was professional and efficient. They took the time to explain everything, and helped me choose the best system. The installation was fast and my system is already working great. The crew arrived on time, cleaned up everything, and provided warranty and contact information after they finished. If you're in need of a solar water heater system, Rico Solar is my choice. Their customer service and expertise are excellent and highly recommended! Thanks Rico! read more

Poncho as I know them are the best. Been with the company for over 20 years for my solar water panels. Never disappointed with there service, friendliness and fair pricing. Highly recommended if youbare looking for a hard woback. crew. Who's got your back if something needs a little tweeking. read more

For those of you who were customers of Poncho Solar, this company was sold to another company that is doing business as Haru Energy. Poncho Solar was sold to another company without notice to customers like myself. The purchased warranty appears to be no longer valid. Imagine buying a brand new car and then finding out that the car company was sold and now your purchased warranty is no longer valid. That is what Poncho Solar customers are facing. This is simply wrong on face value and should be pursued through the Better Business Bureau. As I see here on other reviews, the new company does not respond to calls as I have experienced. If you are one of these unfortunate customers, you may file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. read more

Terrible customer service. Unreliable. Doesn't honor warranty. Total waste of time and money. Please share this with your friends.

After having our solar panels since before the dawn of time hot water had since transformed from an everyday utility to an occasional luxury treat. This was compounded by people showering at all kinds of ungodly hours of the night, similar to those people who drive with the windows all the way down blasting the A/C on high. Since having "Poncho's solar" come down and work the miracle of hot water on demand, said people like the guy who had a name, and normal people would call little brother, only I preferred, needy, weedy, weenie can now enjoy their warm bubble baths with their favorite rubber toy of their choice once again at 2 am in the morning without having their body parts threatened to be removed by a professional chef for more carbon neutral uses. Thank you on behalf of myself and my father who could not write this because he's boomer computer illiterate and tasked me with this digital quest, we thank Poncho's solar for fixing our stuff as well as doing some extra patch work to old piping free of additional charge. ~The grateful son, the annoyed sibling. read more

I called for help with a leaking solar panel (that they installed). Was told there was availability the next day between 10-2 and that I'd get a call the next morning giving me a more pinpointed time. The next day I received no call and had to call them at 1:30 to ask if anyone was still coming. I was told, "let me check on that and I'll get right back to you". NO CALL received. I tried to call them multiple times...no answer. One time I was even hung up on. The following day they had the audacity to call me back and ask if they could come now. The explanation for the day before was "we got caught up in a job". Horrible customer service. Do NOT call this company...you will be left hanging and waste a lot of time waiting around for them. read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY I used them for my hot water solar heater which was good, then I was convinced to have them do my PV solar for my whole house. The install took 1 day, to make it actually work properly probably took about 6 months. Mind you I was already making payment on my huge loan i had to take out. Not even a year later, my electric bill doubles. I call our sales guy Rick, he says he'll get a crew out to check it. 2 days later a completely different company calls to set up an appt to do a check on my PV, then tells me it'll be $250, cause they didnt install. WTH? Less then one year and $55,000 later, no warranty, no service, nothing. If you worry about warranty, and the after, and the what if. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY . They are unreliable. I'm so disappointed read more

Good products and great service. We bought our solar water heating equipment from Poncho's and have had nothing but good results with them. Recently, our water heater was giving us problems. Andre and Mac from Ponchos came over, diagnosed the issue and repaired the water heater quickly and professionally. They took the time to patiently explain what happened and what they were doing to fix it in a manner that was easily understood by a lay person like myself. I would not hesitate to use them for any of my solar needs. read more

Just completed a solar PV system with battery by Poncho's and from start to finish they were on point. Cindy was a great rep who was recommended by a friend. She was very good in getting the necessary paperwork for the Association and scheduling the work. The team of 2 electricians and 2 installers completed the job in less than 2 days. They were very professional and clean. I highly recommend them. It always helps to feed them lunch which to my surprise they don't often get but greatly appreciated it. Every customer/person has their own situation and outcome. Unfortunately the experiences are not all good. Please make sure you get everything in writing before the work or money is given. Poncho's was excellent in doing that for me. read more

We've used Poncho's Solar for over 30 years. We recently had a leak from the pipe that was installed over ten years ago. Poncho came out and determined the exact problem, stopped the leak. The next day the crew replaced the entire line going to the panels. They did the work in less than two hours. They are very professional. read more

I called yesterday and Poncho actually picked up. I explained what I've done to this point with no response and he said someone would call me tomorrow after their morning meeting to discuss. He gave me his cell # to text the information. I texted the info and he confirmed receipt. This is totally fine and acceptable. The next day, as promised, someone called and said they could fix the issue which was probably a bad inverter. The warranty would cover the parts but they'd charge me labor since I was not the original owner. My aunty was the original owner and I bought the house from her. I'm giving two stars because I think they should honor the labor warranty. I also think they should have called me back on my initial email and message left at the office and not make me call back and email multiple times. Bottom line, I no longer have a warranty with Poncho's Solar, only the manufacturer. Needless to say, I'm not giving this company any more money. Aloha oe read more

Originally had my solar hot water system installed by Ponchos Solar. Called for my free 5 year solar water heater service. When I made the appointment I specially said I was calling for the free 5 year service and a date and time was scheduled. The day of the scheduled service I received a call that they would not be coming out and were rescheduling me for another day. That was time wasted taken off from work for me. On the day of the rescheduled service they gave me an hour window of when they would be at my home for the service and they were late, then after the work was completed they said I owed $375 for the service completed. I told them it was free under the original purchase of the system from Ponchos and they said to call the office. When I called the office the next day I was told the company had been sold and that Ponchos was no longer in business and they didn't recognize the free first maintenance when the system was purchased. I complained that when I first called to schedule I specifically mentioned the free 5 year maintenance when the system was purchased and nothing was mentioned. At that point they said they wouldn't charge for the service. Very shady and deceptive business practices. Stay away from this company. If you put purchased your system from Ponchos Solar like me....good luck. read more

This is a follow-up to my first post about the poor service by Poncho's for SOLAR WATER HEATER repair. This whole situation is very confusing. Apparently the Yelp listing is for the company (eStat) that took over only the PV services from Poncho's so it's unfortunate that eStat is saddled by the poor reviews for Poncho's solar water heating service. BUT, I also contacted eStat about activating my PV system (also initially installed by Poncho's). At first, EStat was very helpful and a tech inspected my system and said I needed to call back once I had an internet connection. Once the internet was connected, eStat was contacted. There were multiple calls to multiple people and NO APPOINTMENT was ever scheduled. Supposedly eStat was waiting for Walter's Electric to research the original installation. Apparently, Poncho's had some arrangement with Walter's when it expanded into PV systems. So eStat also has poor customer service and follow up (2 stars only because of the initial prompt response). Bottom-line, I found a plumber to do the repair to the solar water heater and another PV company to connect to the internet. read more

Requested solar water heater maintenance service as we had not done it for 7+ years. Rico himself and another guy showed up on time and did the required service efficiently. They replaced the anode rod in the water heater as well as replaced the insulation on the pipes connecting the solar water heater panels to the house. Thanks! read more

Now over 70 days since I first called in reporting a leak in my solar hot water system, and still no repair. Someone did come out, after a month or so, and refused to work on my system, saying the last repair (done by Poncho's) was, in effect, incompetent (something about "sharkbites" used when wholly inappropriate for hot water areas like solar hot water). Subsequent "next week" promise from Poncho himself: nope, no one came, now more than 10 days past the "next week". read more

I needed quick service and called my uncle who recommended me to Ponchos because my grandpa many years ago used Ponchos. Wow I can say the Customer service was amazing. They were quick to help fix my parents solar water heater and the staff took care of everything. I will definitely mark them in my book and highly recommend them for my family and friends as a go to! read more

Horrible customer service!!!! Call and never get a call back!! They call you when they want your business then after when you need your paperwork for taxes for tax credit for solar radio silence!!!!!! Filed after got paperwork two years after solar put in and guess what tax credit denied!!!!!! $4400 wasted!!! If I could give negative review I would!!! DON'T USE PONCHOS IF YOU WANT A COMPANY THAT VALUES ITS CUSTOMERS!!!! read more

I met with Poncho, and everything sounded great. I had to communicate with his office worker for a month. He didn't come out on the second date for installation, nor did he call to cancel, and on the next date of installation, when I ask for 400 watt solar panels instead of 200 watt solar panels, he told me go find someone else thru his office manager, because Poncho listened to the whole conversation, and never got on the phone with me. I had cleared the land just for the solar ground mount in preparation, in the area we discussed. Instead of having 12 200 watt panels, I was just requesting 400 watts to cut down on the ground mount size. He refused. I found out later they don't even make 200 watt panels now, and I guess I was taking away from his profit margin by requesting newer panels. read more

I've been using Poncho's for years and never had a problem with service. My solar pump,was not working due to an old faulty differential controller so despite the negative reviews, I called Poncho's anyway because of my past experience with the company. I called prior to business hours and was unable to leave a message. I figured I'd wait till the business opened but within 10 minutes, Rico called me back and scheduled me for a differential replacement that afternoon. The crew showed up promptly and got the job done! I probably could have shopped around for a better price but I am completely satisfied with the response time and service! read more

Poncho solar put in a water heater and did a great job.. but it was very deceiving not to tell the whole truth about the so called tax credits. On the initial contract, the price of the solar was listed and the tax credits for federal and state was deducted so the price of the system looked great.. What ponchos solar failed to mention is that those credits are just credits and if you dont owe taxes, those credits are useless!!! You can never get any cash back for those so called credits!! So you end up paying the full price of the solar system!! The sales person failed to explain it in that way,,if he had, i would have not been interested in buying the system. Very deceiving and wrong,,..in getting my family to purchase the system I will go to the better business to file a formal complaint DO NOT BE FOOLED...THE 30% FEDERAL TAX CREDIT AND THE 35%STATE CREDIT...THAT PONCHOS SOLAR DEDUCTS TO COME TO YOUR FINAL COSTS OF THE SYSTEM....YOU CANNOT GET CASH BACK FOR ANY OF THOSE .. THE PRICE WITHOUT THE CREDITS ARE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO END UP PAYING FOR..BEWARE!! ponchos solar sales persons will not mention that to you!! read more

If I could give Minus stars for this company I would, we are now in January of 2023 and since before Christmas of 2022, they have come 2x once to just look at the water heater from them and for the third time last year repair a leaking panel, (causing our water bill to sky rocket), when they sent 2 guys out finally last week these guys just walked into our yard mind you we have a beware of dog sign on your ur gate cause hell we have two dogs luckily they were not outside, but I heard the dogs barking and went to the front of the house to see I see a guy and he is in my yard he tells me oh I'm here to check the solar, I say go ahead and go on into the back, all the while a man was in the back already near my back screen door without my permission, so my thoughts were why was this other guy standing in front of my garage, anyway long story short they knew they need to repair the panel, but through my sisters persistence, they came out that day to adjust the water heater temp and quickly took. Off he said oh the water will be scorching hot in a hour or so so be careful, well 3 hours later nothing temp still at 45, mind you we have been showering in cold water since before Christmas, my mom is elderly and cannot walk well, instead of trouble shooting to know the water heater has been tripping and this is why the water is not getting hot, we think the heating coils are bad, us non professionals had to Google and you tube to try to figure out what's going wrong while the professionals just came for 5 mins, smh still waiting for a reply or for someone to come Out, I would say think twice about using ponchos, you may end up regretting it like we do while we cannot wash dishes with hot water or bathe... read more

Miko Barrios came by this morning to replace 5 microinverters on our PV system. I was impressed with his professionalism as he was really pleasant and explained what was involved in switching out the faulty inverters. If you ever need Poncho's to do PV work, ask for Miko. read more

Bill went up! It is higher than everyone else and we have more panels and we don't even have AC in the house and that is the first question we always get! read more

Poncho's Solar replaced our solar water heater and the workers did a great job in giving me a good price, warranty, and timelya installation. Blake, our estimater, helped us get our rebate from HECO and additionally came to check on the installation. Scotty and Derek, our installers were very helpful, knowledgeable, and professional. They cleaned up the area and took all the old equipment away. Jamie, electrician, also educated me again on how to use the system, vacation hold, and other aspects of the solar heater. I have been using Poncho for all my solar and PV requirements and have had no problems when I had to call them for service. I chose them since they're a local company and will be around to honor their warranty. read more

Excellent service from Ponchos team Juju, Andreas, and Mark are the ones I dealt with. Thanks for great customer service.

Disappointed from the start. Give your money to someone else! Terrible communication skills when we did hear from someone, and terrible on-site communications. We bought a town house that had a solar water heating system installed, by Ponchos. We have the paperwork that states the warranty carries over to new ownership... but, of coarse Ponchos does not recognize the transfer. SOOO, we wanted a check-up and preventive maintenance done, and they charged us the full amount. Id be ok with that if ANYTHING else had gone well. The 2 that showed up to perform the work did not explain anything. Including what their doing, condition of the system, who we pay, how much or when we pay. Left me feeling like they cut corners and gave me an incomplete, dishonest job. Oh yea, they also pissed in our bush out front. Welp, there goes professionalism. Last, but certainly not least.... We gave them our credit card over the phone, and yep.... couple of weeks later, up popped multiple charges. Google... Taco Bell and other crap. In Hawaii, on a card that we have only used 1 time, with 1 company in the last 6 months. Coincidence... nope. This is business. You better be working for your company to MAKE IT, or somebody out there will be working to BREAK IT. (if I could give a negative rating, I would. Be warned.) read more

NEVER USE PONCHOS. Ponchos put solar on my Mom's roof and there has been roof leaks ever since. The second and third roofer guys they sent out also did not know what they were doing and my Mom's roof is still leaking. And they also added more holes in her roof cause they used wrong nails you can see nails coming through the garage ceiling on top of the roof leaking. A roofer recommended by a friend came and said they did such a poor job, the Ponchos guy put the roofing paper on incorrectly so that's why it's leaking and they keep putting layer after layer on instead of scraping it off and doing it correctly. read more

Great service from technician, Andre. He was very helpful in explaining options, and my questions. He was also very friendly, and extremely knowledgeable. He was very responsive to my inquires. If I could give him a grade, it would be an A+ I initially had my Solar Water Heater installed in 2008, and their system has worked well for the past 13 years except for some issues with the pump, which was easily taken care of by their staff. read more

I've never used their services and based on other reviews I likely never would either. Especially what I witnessed while sitting in traffic today. This company is a poor reflection of the kind of people they have working there. As I'm sitting at a light with 3 kids in my car, 2 men in a Poncho Solar Services truck pulls up beside me. It caught my attention because the truck was dirty and little beaten up. If your truck is a reflection of your business, I thought to myself, I wonder how well they'd care for my solar panels. Then I witnessed the passenger pouring a green bottle into a cup and pass it to the driver. As I start to pass them up, the driver is sipping on his up and the passenger is still holding the green beer bottle in his hand. Sure, they pulled into a neighborhood at 247p in Waipahu so maybe they were on the way home. But if they were so close to home why couldn't that beer wait or maybe they had been drinking bottles all day. Either way...Poor decisions! Especially while in a company vehicle. read more

We got our solar system from Poncho's more than five years ago. Had great service then and equipment works great!! Had problem and called for help. They showed up, fixed it and were the nicest people!! Thanks Poncho!! I don't get the bad reviews?! Don't believe them!! Ps Save money on my electric bill every month!!! read more

What a 5 star experience! The dedicated and outstanding employees at Ponchos Solar Service far exceeded my expectations. Their expeditious service and amazing staff took such good care of us and made it such a pleasant experience doing business with them. I highly recommend Poncho's Solar Service to anyone thinking of or needed a new solar system in Hawaii. They are committed in the industry, prices are reasonable, and their service is exceptional read more

I was having issues with my hot water coming from the pump/ I called them and made an appointment for Saturday since that is the only day I can get off. They said the tech will call that day. On Saturday the tech called at 8 am and said will come about 11:30 am. That was fine. He arrived early about 10:30 a and went to work. Explained what was wrong and the how the system worked and can be maintained. It turned out to be the solar panel, was old and just gave out after 20 plus years. My tech was Andre and was very professional and informative Oh and just took about 20 minutes . In the end i got the hot water back and service was excellent. read more

UPDATE: So 2 weeks later on a Saturday a technician calls up my husband saying we are at your house. Mind you we never attempted to try and reschedule an appointment as we gave up on this company! My husband told him "I'm not home and you need to leave" as we are already looking into other companies. 1 week after the incident of technician stating they were at my home I get a bill from their company. They did nothing for my solar, messed up how many times on scheduling and now a bill. I have cameras set up around my home too so proof that no one went up on my roof! This company is ridiculous and total joke!! read more

Rico Solar - They send me a bill after not showing up multiple times as scheduled! Mind you they did NO REPAIRS and now this ridiculous bill?! - Solar Installation Near Me - Honolulu, Hawaii

Can't even give a real review based on service. What I can tell you is we waited for our scheduled appointment and it ended up being a no show and unfortunately not even a courtesy call to say they couldn't make it. Future advice would be to confirm with them that day so you won't be waiting like we did... read more

This company lacks customer service. Called to inquire about a leak from PV panel they installed, no response.

I called ponchos 2/26/2011 I got one of the rudest employees who refused to give me his name then hung up. I have P.V system installed by them and the solar company which monitors my system informed me that a couple panels where not functioning right. I called ponchosI to call me and to find out what mine and the companies responsibilities as far as the warranty. The employee promptly told me this is a Friday and they promptly lock up at 4:00 pm. I tried to tell him I just wanted a call back . Then he told me to make a complaint, So when I asked for his name he hung up. read more

I previously had no problems with installation or service. However, this time around was different. One of my PV panels was not functioning properly. It should have triggered an alert but apparently, Walter's Electric is no longer on Oahu and not monitoring their installs. I made a call to Poncho's and they switched the monitoring over to Poncho's Solar Service. They immediately saw my problem. A replacement microinverter was sent out by Enphase, which took 3 weeks to arrive. I was instructed to call Poncho's once the part arrived. That is where my problems started. The service call was scheduled nobody showed on the appointed day nor did I receive a call. I called the following work day, and the day after that,.....Nobody returned my calls. I was promised a return call with a repair schedule but again, nobody called. Apparently, they have so much repair calls that my order got lost in the shuffle. Since I was going to be in the area, I stopped by their office in Mapunapuna. Poncho was there. He confirmed that they didn't have any printed work order. Looking at their scheduling board, he told me that someone would come by that afternoon. As promised, Guy showed up and replaced the defective microinverter. The unit which I received was actually used before but still under warranty, a refurbished unit I guess (25 year warranty). A note to all, there is a known problem with the Enphase microinverters, mostly with the older 190 units. My unit was a 220. My initial install came with a 10 year labor guarantee so no charge, that I know of. Moral of the story is, if you need help from Poncho's and have trouble with returned calls, go down to their office in the afternoon. If the man is there, he'll take care of it. Just look for the guy who looks like Carlos Santana, really. If I had gone down to the office initially, this would be a 5 star rating. read more