Avoid Tesla Solar Products. They promise you the moon before purchasing. Once they are on your roof say goodbye to customer support. They use bait and switch tactics and the energy output is substandard. I am an extremely unhappy customer. read more

The appointment setters on the phone are nice and polite and professional. The sales people confirm their appointments, and the technicians do the same. We were told our initial meeting would be 30 minutes. it was almost 2 hours (which was fast for Glen, apparently). I'd told him I had to get to a meeting at a particular time, but Glen didn't seem to care much, as he just kept talking. He was a terrible listener, asking us several questions over and over throughout the evening. He worked very hard to "sell" us on solar, when we had reached out to them already ready to buy. The inflating lease is confusing, though Glen told us it was a purchase. The contract clearly shows it's a lease with an expensive "option to buy" at the end. Glen also had to use our wi-fi because "otherwise it will take his laptop all day". Really? Then get a new laptop. Or a better signal. Or even better, an iPad. He gave us folders and folders of completely useless information, and insisted we take several business cards even when I told him we only needed one (or none)- how "green" is this company, really? We then had someone else come and walk all around the roof, climb in the attic, etc. He left without saying anything, really... not even mentioning the problem that...... It turns out that (like other reviewers), we have a wood shake roof and it would need to be replaced before installing the panels. No other options. It would cost $8000. They did offer to take part of the cost, but there was no way we were paying for any of it when the roof has plenty of time left on it. Spending lots of money to save a little? No thanks. And why did the other worker not inform us of this? Other companies, strangely, have no problem installing on wood shake roofs. read more

If could give this company a "O" I would. They are very prompt for you to sign up with them, promising savings of at lest half of your electric bill. They installed last year and it took over 60 days to get it going (I guess they need to get paid by the electric co first). Since starting production in December there has been no savings! I actually pay more now (because I pay for the equipment to Solar City too). I sent then three emails and called twice, but have not gotten any reply. I will be contacting the FTC and my electric provider about this. read more

From the shady sales pitch, to the rude customer relations rep. I have never worked with a more unprofessional organization. They lied during their presentation and didn't bother to tell me that I would save far less money once the installation was complete. The process took forever and they failed to communicate in a timely manner (to me as a customer and internally to each other). They seem to be far more interested in signing up as many people as possible with high financing. I hope that the exciting world of Solar is not represented by a company such as this, otherwise expect failure. read more

We've had our panels for over 3 years now and have generated over 38,000 kWh of power. The last several LADWP electric bills have been less than $10 (LADWP bills every two months so that's really less than $5 per month). I got a full electric car last year that I charge almost daily. During the summer I also connect solar heating panels to heat our pool and I usually run the pool pump longer. We've had no issues with our SolarCity lease (there were a few minor issues early on after installation but that's it) and would recommend them again (we've already referred a number of other people to them, and most are now SolarCity customers as well). If you're in the LADWP area, you can go to the LADWP web site and download all the solar incentives data (huge spreadsheet with over 21,000 rows). Peruse the data and check out who the top installers are in your area. For us, it was important to have a solid company backing our 20 year lease. Because solar leasing can be capital intensive, some companies won't be able to survive and you may wind up with a new company servicing your lease. read more

I did not go to a specific address for my service, but I see no option to review Tesla.com, so I am doing that here. My overall experience with Tesla Solar (tesla.com) was very poor, with significant problems/delays every step of the process. Communication was bad across many different Telsa staff (with three positive exceptions). I placed my initial order August 28. It took almost 5 months to get permission to turn on my system. During those months, Tesla representatives made multiple and repeated errors, which I believe is largely because their business model appears to rely on departmental silos, making it difficult for customers (or anyone at Tesla) to communicate effectively regarding the whole job. I often received redundant and contradictory messages, including several emails after going operational asking if I still wished to pursue purchasing solar from Tesla. If I had not asked many questions, my solar system would not have accomplished my goal (whole home back-up). It took months for me just to get a correct contract (which involved adding panels and another Power Wall, contrary to Tesla's original recommendation). The panels were generally installed well, but the electricians failed to include grounding rods, did not seal mounting screws on the conduit on my roof, tore shingles under one of the mounting "pucks" for the panels, and left before identifying the circuits in the new panel box. If I had not inspected their work, I would not have known these things until my roof started leaking. I submitted detailed constructive comments in response to Tesla's requests for internal reviews, describing the litany of problems I had. I noted that--whereas I knew I had no legal grounds--it would seem to be good business practice to be provided some discount for all my trouble. Two Tesla reps eventually contacted me in turn and thanked me for my detailed documents. They both said that my documentation would be very helpful to Tesla's efforts to improve, implying that they agreed such problems should not happen. An investigation was even launched to assess my claims, but in the end, I was told that I had no legal rights (which I had already previously acknowledged). For all the problems (they admitted to 31 days of delays, but there were more), Tesla said I would receive a "Customer Satisfaction" payment of....drum roll please....$100! Does anyone think that this would *increase* customer satisfaction? In short, this $100 was equivalent to returning $4.00 to a person who had paid $1000.00. In fairness, my solar is working well (two months so far), but I dread needing future customer service, although the local person (vs. corporate) has been responsive. I have always thought highly of the Tesla products, but I cannot think of a worse experience regarding customer service than what Tesla provided. Their $100 check is perhaps the most insulting gesture I have experienced in a business transaction. Someone at Tesla needs to consult a dictionary for the definition of "satisfaction." read more

Our household has a high energy usage due to air conditioning, pool pump, and small kids that generate a lot of laundry. After being killed by the high energy cost tiers of Edison for the past 3 years, I started doing research into solar system installation. My analysis showed that the payback on a purchased system was in the area of 15-16 years with financing taken into account. The system would be out of warranty before it was in the black. I read about the Solar City lease in June 2008, and put in a call immediately. Our consultant, Rory Garzot, met with us and laid out all the options. To me the leased system was a no-brainer. We signed the contract in July, our plans were done in about 2 months, and the install started the end of October. Although the initial system size was to be 7.2Kw, our house could only support 6.6 Kw after Engineering was through. I sure wish I had that other 600 Watts! The install went very smooth, and our system was on-line in early December. We are generating about 60% of our power from the system. I can't speak highly enough of the service from Solar City. A great experience from day one! read more

From my salesman Stuart, to the installers, to the company in general, everything has been awesome. Even the city inspector who came out to sign the permits at the final inspection told me with a smile, "Those Solar City guys do everything clean and everything to code, just the way we like it". read more

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Well I agree with all the comments make as 1 star but at the end the willing to do a good job and a fast grow is undeniable. They mess up more then once and they come back and do it again and fix it. People Working at SolarCity are professional and ethically fear! I appreciate the effort to doing a good job and never been difficult in the do process. I appreciate it! Keep doing and doing it better every day. We need alternative energy and Solar City is a great candidate! Think about the benefit of the solar energy and work to make it happen with a good partner as SolarCity could be. read more

I would give this company a 0 star rating if possible. I would have been better off not even contacting this company. The rep that I dealt with, Barb, was rude. We ended up siging papers with Sungevity, and gave Solar City a call just to let them know that we are no longer interested in their quote. Once Barb heard that we were going with Sungevity, she started trying to badmouth that company. She couldn't even get the words out, and finally just said "Good luck with that". A few days later, we got a call from another solar company that we have never heard of. I asked how they got our number, and that rep said he got it from Solar City. That they pass along the phone numbers of potential customers that they cannot help, in order to see if another company is able to help. To boot, we just called Barb, to see if she passed along our number. She swears she didn't. But whether she did or not, it's up to you to decide. read more

Seemed like a very solid company initially. My father-in-law went with them and is completely satisfied. I went through the inspection and got in initial plan that was going to over produce. I wanted to reduce the price and asked for a one panel reduction that would still, in theory, over produce. That was it..... for the past 3-4 weeks i've been getting cryptic emails about its coming, but really, 3-4 weeks to remove a panel from the plan? It took 4 days to get through the whole process, with inspection, to get the original plan. Not sure where things went wrong, but I have 750 plus credit score, an average electrical bill of 160 per month, and great sun exposure. If i'm not what there looking for, then who is? Lame customer service or hardball to keep the price up for over producing. Either way, they lost my business. read more

BUYER BEWARE!! THEY WILL LIE TO YOU AND BAIT AND SWITCH YOU! They will promise you low or no electrical bill, but when ladwp sends you a bill your mouth drops. What you'll "save" on your electricity bill is what you'll pay them for a lease monthly. Can't sell your home if you are under a contract with solar city. Like you're imprisoned for 20 years. There are cheaper and better out there. read more

SolarCity was great. They did a great job. Very professional from the get go. It took us almost a year to get the solar up and running, but that was mostly caused by the city and the electric company. SolarCity designed and installed the system in good time. The permits were very difficult to get through the city. Now that it is on it is great. It's amazing to see the meter run backward during the day. I also really like the Solar Guard on line system. It's great to be able to go on line anytime and see how our system is performing. read more

Find another solar company. They penalize you if you don't let them access to your bank account. I'm stuck now, but I encourage others to find another company. I'm on board with any legal action against the 7.50 penalty on the bill. Check the rates. Southern California rates. Are lower than Solar City. read more

Tesla Solar is by far the worst company to go with. I have 12 solar panels that were purchased approximately 7 years ago. I recently had my pool built (1 year ago) and scheduled to have additional solar panels added due to the pool requiring more energy. I paid a deposit in February and was send a text message today that my order was cancelled. I tried for hour to get a real person on the phone to try and help me understand why my order was cancelled. After 5 hours of trying literally every number, and talking to multiple customer service reps, I get an email not a call from the project manager (Kelsey DiNicola) stating that my current panels aren't equipped to have additional panels. After numerous emails back and forth (because apparently talking to a loyal customer on the phone is in heard of) she states that I can pay to have my current solar panels removed and get another solar company. I have seriously never experienced such terrible customer service and would NEVER recommend Tesla solar panels. After today I wouldn't even consider any of their manufactures. If I could give negative stars I would. DONT USE THEM!!! Since then I was able to contact another solar panel and speak to a real person who advised me that once I got my current panels removed I could use them to install the adequate panels needed to provide energy to my house and pool. read more

I bought a house that already had Solar City, I had Sun Run in OC and loved them! Two years ago I thought about re-doing the roof so I contacted them about removing and replacing the panels (Sun Run did this for free for me before). The quote was $499, which I thought was reasonable. I'm in the process of selling my house and the new buyers want to replace the roof and wanted to know how much it would be to remove and replace the panels. I told them about the $499 quote but decided to get something more current from Solar City in writing for them. The cost has gone up to $3,627!!!!! That's a 13.75% increase. It's only $6,000 to do the whole roof! I told the person I wanted to speak to a supervisor, unfortunately they were in a meeting (of course they were) so I asked that when they get out of the "meeting" they call me to discuss this huge difference. When I got a call back, not from a supervisor, I finally found out why the HUGE price change - I was told it was Tesla that made this change. I'm buying a new house and planned on putting solar on it. After this whole debacle I will NOT be calling Solar City, I will take my $30,000 and go to a company that wants to keep it's customer's not gouge them. read more

Worst solar experience I've ever had. Right from the start I knew I should have canceled when I heard the very unprofessional solar installation group talk about not having the right "materials" for the job and having the design the complete opposite of what I said. The crew had to come back another day. When they came back a young man named roger was at my door knocking. He must have thought my window was closed because he was talking to his other male co worker if he wanted to bend over and get a promotion. He the attempted to grab his co workers penis. read more

So I contacted the rep at Home Depot while I was heading to the check stand because I was very interested in Solar. I was immediately contacted by a field rep who made a home appointment within a few days of my first contact. My rep, Brandon Kimball, was very low pressure and answered all 3.5 hours of my questions. I did a little homework before the rep arrived so I was prepared. I wasn't so much concerned with saving a dollar here or there, but I wanted a big company that was stable and will hopefully be around for a few more decades. After the meeting with Brandon, I immediately started receiving email updates regarding my quote and upcoming steps in the process. The emails were almost instantaneous. As soon as I finished a step, I received confirmation, and was contacted by the next person in the process. I received regular texts from Brandon advising me of any issues and asking if I had any questions. I was told it would be 3-5 months from the start of the process to the time I was on-board. I was OK with that. To my surprise my system was on the roof, inspected by the City, and ready to go in 28 days. Whoa! That is not the norm, but I'm not complaining. Now I'm just waiting for SCE to give their blessing and I can flip on the switch. I chose to purchase my system. After reading all of the pros and cons, and speaking to my tax man, buying is the way to go. I plan on paying it off in five years, and then it's all gravy from there. The system came with a 30 year warranty. With Elon Musk involved in this company, I would hope they will be around to complete any repairs if I have any problems. After reading all of the yelp reviews, I was amazed at the great difference in ratings. Either a 5 star or a 1 star, and not much in between. I can only speak for myself, and everything was very professional and handled amazingly prompt. Definitely a 5-star for me. And I'd like to give props to my rep, Brandon Kimball 661-544-6862, who was on top of every aspect of the production. I can't forget about the installation team either. Six guys who showed up early and knocked the whole thing out in five hours. They were professional and left my residence as clean as it was when they got there. read more

We finally decided to get solar after year of struggling with Edison on our electric bills. My neighbors just had their system installed by SolarCity and seemed happy. So we went through their rep and he signed us up. We have had NOTHING but problems with this system that was installed last June 2017. Either there is a connection problem every few weeks or it just stops generating power. I just has the board replaced early this month and the system is still not working 100%. I now owe Edison over $800.00 from June 2017 - Feb 2018. I am now paying 2 companies for power and this is NOT what I signed up for. No one can seem to get this system working properly. Customer care will not work with me to prorate my bill because in January the system was down for half of the month. I have tried to work with reps and supervisors but nothing. I had a tech come out last week because the system "lost" connection again, he supposedly fixed it and 4 days later it stopped working again. I signed up for a working system to help me save money. I have had it with SolarCity and would not refer them to anybody. read more

my solar went down and have been waiting 2 months for replacement unit. all this time and they still billing me for power not used since system is down. I have been on hold 18 minutes this morning and then transferred to be on hold another 25 and finally hung up. On hold this afternoon for 20 min so far and counting. since they are Tesla now I guess they are not interested in helping existing customers. The hold music is full of static. The company has gone to crap. I used to think they were the best but now the worst. I would use anyone but them. I have a new house I was going to use them but not a chance now read more

Very, very poor company at customer service, do not attempt to deal with it. They will not disclose all the problems associated with installing solar panels. When thing go wrong they don't want to talk to you. I have a claim of $1,500 incurred out of their negligent behaviours which they have so far refused to refund. They do not allow you to talk to senior customer executives who colul help. You talk only to sales agents who know nothing & are not sympathetic with you. One of them even hung up on me. I am deeply disappointed. read more

This is five star all the way. SolarCity installed a solar panel system on the roof of my house. I first heard about the company from an enthusiastic story in the Los Angeles Times and immediately contacted them because SolarCity offers a solar system lease. This means you don't need to invest much (if any) upfront cash. Paperwork, rebates, inspections, and everything else was turn-key and entirely taken care of by the company. SolarCity even guaranties the output of the system, which I can monitor 24/7 via a sweet internet hook-up. From the first conversation with one of SolarCity's sales people, to contracting, the visit of my site, system design, permit process, and finally the installation, every step of the way was handled with outstanding professionalism, courtesy, and care. Going green (and saving money) was incredibly easy and enjoyable. When the installation team finally arrived, I was amazed how versatile and experienced every single worker was, including roofers, electricians, solar technicians, and computer specialists. I was in the best hands. The installation of my large system took only four days. The workers arrived on time, cleaned up every evening, and were incredibly friendly and professional. I can highly recommend SolarCity, and want to encourage everyone who is interested in living smart, green and somewhat independent of our utilities to give them a call. read more

Good product, but the process is completely cumbersome and requires a lot of work on the consumer's part to keep up with. Moreover, the company is so poor to work for that turnover is extremely high. The issue with this, as others have noted, is that the salespeople are not well-trained and provide incorrect information frequently. Probably not their fault, but if you are offered something by a salesperson be sure to get it in writing or else the company will definitely not honor any commitments made by former employees which is crazy for such a large company. read more

Just got the 7.55 kw system installed. So far everything they said will happen has, all good. Excellent communication with Solar City, electrical panel upgrade and solar panels installed without a hitch. Very professional company to deal with. We are now waiting for DWP to inspect and then time to flick the switch and reap the rewards of the sun. I would highly recommend this company to everyone, and I am not one to usually recommend a business lightly. Highly recommend this company. The longer you wait, the less the incentives from your local utility. Act now to get all the rewards of Solar, and GO SOLAR CITY!!!!!!!!!!! read more

I'm stuck with a 3.6kw inverter coupled with a 5kw solar array. I specifically asked for a 5kw system. I even asked for the documents for each device installed but never received one. I signed in faith they would send them to me. I was wrong. I found out my inverter was smaller than my solar array. I am now paying $165/mo plus the $5/mo to local electric company. Still pay $175/yr to local electric company for excess usage of power. Not once have I touched my principal balance of $25,650 after paying since October 2015. I didn't qualify for the incentive; luckily my contract stated it was an option to give my incentive to Solar City. I still am suffering though because my principal still remains to be above $25,650. read more

From start to finish, me experience with everyone was great. Installation of my roof and solar unit was done perfectly and quick. I could not be happier with everything that was done. And all of the guys was great. They took their time and went over everything with me so I would understand it all. And now I am up and running with clean energy. read more

I have received amazing service from solarcity / tesla but my experience was nothing short of world class. Great communication fast service and great price read more

I have had Solar City for a year. They are great until you need help and need customer service. My unit had not been producing so they sent out a rep to re-evaluate my property in July of 2017. I spoke with Vidi on 8.7 and I'm waiting on her return call I spoke with the Business Resolution Department on 8.11 and I'm waiting on their return call I spoke with Andrew on 8.14 and I'm waiting on a return call I spoke with Cristina who was not at all pleasant and I'm waiting on a return call No one can provide resolution on my solar unit that is hardly producing any energy. I will be seeking legal counsel next. Awful experience. read more

Zero stars. Stay away from this company. We bought a house that already had the panels installed and didn't take the time to thoroughly check it out before closing. The first month they were hounding us for payment but never sent a bill. I called "customer service" 4 times before I could get someone to successfully email me a statement. Then I see a 15.00 non-ach payment fee. You've got to be kidding me, a 15.00 fee because I'm not doing an auto payment. When I again called "customer service" I basically spoke to a robot who just repeated the same phrase over and over, it's in your contract. I have asked for a copy of said contract, but this seems outrageous to me--I can understand getting a bonus for signing up for auto pay but a 15.00 monthly charge. Bullshit! As for savings--haven't really seen that yet. read more

I spent two hours of my day, today, with a Solar City Rep and I feel the need to warn people about this company. Let me say first off that the representative appeared to be a hard working young man who seemed eager to sell me a product that he himself knew was a bad deal for me. As kind as he appeared to be, once I caught onto the scam I couldn't help but feel ill will towards him. I ended the conversation early and we said our goodbyes. It was a peaceful ending, had it been my father, he would have had some choice words for him, lucky for him I take after my mother. For anybody who thinks that they will be removing themselves from the electrical grid by going solar, you're mistaken. Your solar panels will feed the grid, in my case DWP. I will still get a DWP bill every month, but I will get credit for the solar energy my solar panels produce. My panels feed the grid directly, there's a "net meter" calculating the amount of energy coming from my house. Now in the case of a lease, which is what Solar City is trying to sell us. Solar City reaps all of the benefits that come with owning the solar cells, the homeowner in the lease situation doesn't get the $5,000. rebate from the State the first year, nor the $8,000. rebate from the Federal the second year, Solar City does, but they aren't telling you that up front. They want to sell you a lease, a 20 year lease, with only minimal upgrades on your panels, not enough to keep up with technology, in addition to that they want you to initially pay a higher rate for your Kilowatt Hours, in LA I currently pay about 12 cents per kwh. Solar City wants to lock me in at 13.5 cents and keep it that way for 20 years. They pitch it like the rising prices on gasoline, imagine the ability to lock in a fixed price on gas? Wouldn't that be sweet?? Sounds good on the surface, but given the higher price out of the gate and the inefficient panels as others come and go, it's like being stuck with the old brick cellphone plan when everyone else has the latest greatest... for 20yrs... Here are just some of the ways Solar City is making their profits. Those two rebates I spoke about totaling $13,000. in two years time. They are also selling the solar energy back to the DWP for a fixed rate, you can only bank a portion of it, the rest goes into Solar City's pocketbooks. They figure out how much energy you need to produce in order to cover, ( less than 90%) of your energy total, and the DWP still gets you for a portion. Once they determine how large a system they need to place on your roof they then charge you, (in my case,) an $8,000. downpayment, in two installments before I can even get the panels onto my roof. I then pay a higher rate then I am paying now and somewhere in the future, it's all about speculation, I then save on my kwh's, but it will never offset the initial down-payment of eight grand, if by chance it does, it will be atleast 15 years before that happens. They show you fancy charts and try to get you to look at the end of the 20 yr lease numbers, (based on speculation,) in my case they were speculating a $42,000 savings, total bullshit!! My currently monthly bill will increase and with that eight grand laid out, not a good investment. If you like the idea of solar as do I, here's what you should do... Shop around for panels, the right ones. First look at your bill and figure out how much kwh consumption you have, in my case it's 21 Kilowatt Hours a day. If I buy a system that produces 5 kwh's an hour, over a 10 hour day of sunlight, I will produce 2 1/2 times as much as I need. I will get the $13,000. rebate in two years time, I will get credit or be able to sell the remainder back to DWP, Even with a $20,000. system I will only owe $7,000 after two years and will be even and perhaps even making a profit in 4-7 yrs time. I would be out of my mind to accept Solar City's "deal." Leasing anything for 20 years is a bad deal, this one stinks especially bad for the consumer. I see a few positive reviews for this company, I feel sorry for those folks, I guess a sucker is born every minute. Solar panels for your home is a viable and affordable option these days for some of the reasons I mentioned about. Unfortunately there are a lot of greedy retailers out there that will take advantage of us consumers. Knowledge is power with everything, I hope my review gives you some insight into solar leasing companies?? I hear so much about how these systems cost 20-$35,000. and it all seems out of my reach, but now that I have looked into it deeper, I realize that there are many incentives out there for us middle class citizens when it comes to alternative energy options. Most utility companies will help spell it out for you, don't fall victim to companies like Solar City, they are so greedy, they try for every cent, if they compromised and showed a little more honesty, they could still make a profit and make it better all around. I'm disgusted with this company. read more

Hi Peter, Please help !! I got a quote of shelling out additional money to put more panels which is more that what i paid for putting the complete system just 5 months back. I am shocked ! I feel solarcity should pick up the cost as i was not guided properly in the first place to put up a system that will not be sufficient to offset my electric cost. In fact, now i am paying more that what i used to before i had solar. I would appreciate if Solarcity can show their commitment towards customer satisfaction and help me. Thanks... read more

I wish you could give negative stars or at least a 0, unfortunately, you need to give one star, thereby how Solar City earns this one star from me. This has been a horrible experience. I have had two sales reps that have had great personality, but how can a sales rep posses that,, their job is to be personable and outraged when things don't go your way. But for all their outrage, every other experience has been horrible. Installation was nothing but a pain. I told them my time was very strained due to working full time and having two daughters who were in the hospital for an extended stay, along with a mother-in-law that doesn't speak much English so doesn't feel comfortable with people she can't communicate with....all things I expressed to Solar City who told me they understood and would call me 1/2 hour before they would be arriving to set up the system. The reality was: -They sent a team unscheduled to do some preliminary checking, luckily I happened to be going to the house and was there 5 minutes after they arrived. -They neither called nor showed up at the scheduled time, so 90 minutes after their scheduled time, I called them to find out they were on their way and would be there in 5-10 minutes which ended up being just over an hour later. -The late start meant they couldn't finish in time, so we needed to reschedule to finish another day (so more time away from my daughters) -They instead showed up on an earlier day without a call (my mother-in-law called me wondering why workers were there that day) I got on the phone with them and told them to leave and come back on their scheduled day and time. -They were only 90 minutes late for their final installation appointment. The results of Solar City for a year. Between what we paid Solar City and Edison, we paid $545.00 more than the previous year. Considering we were still at the hospital for part of that time with out daughters and did not use air conditioning or any other appliances more (outside of a second refrigerator we bought) than the previous year, this was not the basic break even we were looking for. Our utility bills are low, so low that when people asked us what our bill was, they always said solar energy was not for us. It was only when Solar City said they couldn't really save us money, but could basically break even that we agreed to have solar panels in our home. I don't consider a 40%+ increase to be breaking even. We called them once during this time and agreed to wait until a full year to conduct a savings analysis (or in our case a lack of savings analysis). A new sales rep came to our house and shared all the things he was upset about and how he would be on top of this. Again, he's a sales rep, of course he's a nice guy. But his upset and promise hasn't seemed to do much for us as 5 weeks later I received a phone call from Solar City telling me there has been a delay on this analysis based on the following: -The person who had my file originally was no longer with the company...or maybe couldn't complete it for some reason. -It had been in his email for a while, but since there was an attachment on the email, it had been flagged. I am personally confused why something flagged gets ignored and why a company started by Elon Musk is stopped by the technological advancement of an attachment on an email. That my case was being marked urgent (which I was told it already was by the sales rep) and these things typically take 3-4 weeks (so even though it is marked urgent, which has shown it means nothing, it will take the typical amount of time?). If this isn't the worst experience I have had with a company, I can't remember who has been worse. read more

We were excited to have a solar system installed on our home. The installation process went smooth and we were impressed with the workmanship, however, we have had nothing but problems with our bills, and getting answers to our filing questions has been impossible. Over the past 3 weeks we have called 5 different times, and have been told "they needed to research our question, and would return our call." This has never happened. It now appears (with the knowledge we have gathered doing our own research) Solar City did not calcuate our panel needs correctly and the amount of power we are generating is not sufficeint to pay on the principle, thus at the end of our contract we could have a huge balloon payment. We are very concerned and yet no will will discuss this with us. It is beginning to feel like a big scam. Please be cautious read more

Didn't get far in the process. Warning signs: wife met Tanner of Solar City at a Home Depot. He told her that he worked for Solar City, took her phone to make an appt. Tanner called several times, I blew him off first, thinking it was a call center, then he called again, very agreeable, so she made an appt. He asked her for a power bill, which we were ready to show him. But this is where it gets hinky. Day before appt., Tanner didn't call, he kicked the account over to a salesperson, a woman whose name I didn't catch, very aggressive, began telling me what to do. Scan the power bill and send it to her. Told her I couldn't do that. But I began thinking, I don't like this used car dealer technique, Tanner approaches, kicks it over to the closer, never bothers to tell the customer. So I asked her to hold on, while I checked yelp for the negatives. I told her checked yelp. She answered we have other reviews. Was polite, told her that her time would be better spent with other customers and broke the appt. Hope that's the last I've heard of this bunch. read more

I'm going to chime in here and wish wish wish I had read these review before I met with Solar City last year on 10/26/13. JS, my sales rep gave me a hard sell pitch and I went with Solar City as two friends recommended them. I was approved and told that I would be up and running in 3 months (lie #1). In January, I started calling about scheduling installation; Feb 18, 2014 installation begun. I was told it would be 2-3 weeks before the panels were turned on (lie #2). Found out that sales rep JS, was no longer with the company. I called SC frequently after installation to find out the status. I also asked if I could change to a pre-paid lease as I came into a little cash and thought it would be better. I was told it would be looked into and they would get back to me. SC never responded (lie #3). Out of the blue I get an email asking for an electronic signature on a DWP document "just in case" the DWP needed it. Turns out the DWP did need it and SC, did not initially submit this form which was required for the connection. (lie #4). SC did assign a rep to help me after my frequent squeaky wheel calls and complaints. I also spoke to someone who told me that SC would make up the difference with a check, from when I was promised to be connected/panels turned on and when it actually occurred -- this would have been around $150. She assured me that I should speak with her and she would take care of it (her name escapes me right now). I was so fed up, I called my member of LA City Council and asked for help with DWP as they seemed to be part of the problem. That office gave me a special customer service number with DWP and with that call, the log jam broke loose -- the following week the DWP came out and connected my panels. It was April 25, almost 6 months to the day of signing the contract with the now disappeared JS. When I called the above noted person to discuss getting the rebate from SC, I was told that since it was the DWP's fault, SC would not pay me. (lies #5 through 10). Okay, the panels are in, I'm harnessing the power of the sun to run my appliances and lights, etc. Wish I didn't feel so darned BURNED by Solar City. So unlike me as I am a careful consumer. To all -- approach with caution. read more

Solar city review If six stars was an option I would give that! I'll start by saying that I took three estimates ( over a year ago) when I was considering solar system for my home, solar city was not the cheapest option I had but their customer service from the moment I decided to pick up the phone and call them till this day has been extraordinary. The installation process from the planning to completion was simply smooth and after about 7 to 8 months I was able to enjoy the new solar system( including the DWP delay to turn the system on). Even though everything was perfect something had to be not so perfect and when the first rain came I've noticed a small leak under the area that the solar system was installed I was extremely surprised to see that the crew came literally three hours after my call (9 PM on a Friday night) to patch the roof unfortunately since then it was leaking and patched about three times and that's when Esteban the regional Manager came into the picture which I'm very happy he did because he definitely took care of the problem. Instead of sending another crew to patch he decided to hire a professional roofing company and to remove the whole solar system to do the work as it needs to be done once and for all ! on top of that he offered to pay for all the damages that occurred due to the leaks ( still waiting on that check but it's been only 1 week so he assured me I'll get it). I consider myself a reasonable man and therefore I understand that sometimes things can go wrong but the customer service I got from Esteban and Solar City in general is really admirable and I'm very happy I did the work with them. Thank you Esteban and thank you solar city I will recommend you to all my friends and family. J. Grinberg. read more

Run away while you can!! Thank you Yelpers for helping me narrowly escape signing a binding contract with these guys!! I was literally half way to being stuck in a 20 year mistake. The sales pitch they give you is like the worst car dealership you could imagine. After talking to a lawer friend about the very sketchy contract and then looking at Yelp reviews, which I should have done first, I realized that this company has big problems. They really give you the sales pitch about how much you'll save and getting off the grid and being green. Trust me, do your research and you'll find they aren't as green as they would like you to think. Panels are not even made in the USA. I love Elon Musk and after reading his book I not only put a deposit on a Tesla, I also started researching solar, hence talking to SolarCity. I'm very surprised that he isn't more involved with making SolarCity as great as I think it could be. I'll check back in with them in a couple years, perhaps then they will have it a bit more together. I also think I should mention that before SolarCity decided to respond to my review, someone, and it's not a big stretch to guess who, had my review removed FIVE TIMES!! I kept reposting it and all of a sudden they respond. Interesting ehh!! Sketchy Sketchy Sketchy read more

I was visited by door-to-door salesman ("consultant") Tighe yesterday morning. He gave me an overview of SolarCity's services, briefly flipping through reference documents: general information on solar power, a neighboring household's cost savings statistics, as well as a template of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that he said he could email me. After a pleasant conversation, he asked if I'd be interested in a no-charge analysis of how much I could save on my electricity bills, as well as schedule a free site survey of my roof to see if panels could be installed. I was interested, so he asked some basic questions to set up the work, i.e., who paid for the bills and contact (email/phone) information. He also told me that I needed to sign a waiver that released me of any liability should the workers hurt themselves during the site survey. He then presented his smartphone that had a signature box for me to sign. After, he called another representative to schedule the survey date with me and left. Later in the day, my husband and I were discussing the free estimate. We came onto Yelp and read some of the reviews. What caught my attention were the reviewers who indicated they had been asked to sign an agreement during their "consultation". I subsequently checked my email and found that the sales representative took my husband's name (payer of the electricity bills) and my signature to complete a PPA. I immediately called the salesperson, who explained that the signature on the PPA is only an acknowledgement that I received the information, but didn't commit me to anything. To reassure me, he added that I had to sign three additional documents in order for me to even get a solar power system. I read the 17-page PPA more closely. As the name states, it is the binding contract of the sale of power between the SolarCity and the customer. Cancellation of the PPA needs to be submitted prior to midnight of the third business day after the date the PPA is signed. The customer actually does have one more chance to cancel the PPA after s/he signs the subsequent PPA amendment, which details out the estimated production (assuming this comes after the site survey?). Oh, and in case you were wondering, there was nothing in the contract about workers' liability that the salesperson casually mentioned earlier in the morning. Fool me once, shame on SolarCity. Fool me twice, shame on me. Never in my conversation with the salesperson did I think I was signing a contract. I'm not risking any more on a company after being a victim of its salesperson's bait-and-switch tactics. I've already sent the PPA cancellation via email and traceable carrier. Hindsight is 20/20. I have had a number of projects done on my house; I cannot recall ever needing to sign anything for a free estimate of work done. Any contracts come after a detailed breakdown of the anticipated scope of the project, not before. Thank you to you fellow Yelpers...you saved me from a big mistake. read more

I have a 4.4 kW system on my house in Chatsworth that was switched on a couple of weeks ago and has generated about 25 kWh per day since then, which is consistent with my predictions. I got quotes from SolarCity, Sungevity, Mimeos, and SunRun, who referred me to REC Solar. I chose SolarCity on the basis of price--I still don't know how the prepaid lease works out to be so cheap--considerably cheaper than buying the system outright and claiming all of the rebates and credits myself. But I have no complaints, since they delivered what they promised on the schedule they predicted: It took 3 months from signing the lease to getting the panels on my roof, then another 2 months to get city approvals to turn it on. Installation itself took a day and I was happy with the Orange County crew who did my install. I intended to give SolarCity five stars, but Yelp filters my review if I do so. I guess the filter can't believe my positive rating. I'd call this an instance of filter failure. read more

Worse than used car sales men. After one meeting I would never use this company. So Shady!! If you call them out get ready for the hardest sales pitch of your life. Why do companies have lease? Because they make more money and have you hooked for 20 years!! It's crazy that a cell phone can lock you into a 2 year contract. This is 10 times that! I also thought this was very important: If you sell your house within your 20 year contact the person buying your home with the solar has to have a 680 credit score to take over your lease. So someone buying your home with a 650 credit score means you have to pay to take of the solar and have it moved. Right there all your utility savings are gone. Think very hard and be ready to deal with this company but I 100% can not recommend it. READ ALL THE 1 STAR REVIEWS. THEY ARE EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME! read more