Sunrun

My panels were installed on the 22nd of February last year and the system was actually activated the 26th of March. So it took approximately a month for Commonwealth Edison to get off their butt and approve the connection. From then on, it has worked great. I'm extremely satisfied. I go out and check how much I generate every couple days and just say, “Whoa, wow. Look at this.” Then I check my electric bill and see. There was actually a screw-up on my April bill last year but ComEd overcharged. They disregarded the fact that I had solar panels. They just charged me an electric bill but I got that back.

In my first year, summer was absolutely great. In December, I paid one and a half month’s electric bill. January was a two-month electric bill because we had a lot of cloudy weather and I have the Sunrun cost plus ComEd. So even though I have a lot of panels, they didn’t generate sufficiently through the cloud cover. But I expected that and my summer electric bills more than made up for it. I was between $16 and $18 a month, which is a connectivity fee with Commonwealth Edison. I can’t get away from that.

I was also there during the entire installation and I took pictures. There was a four-man crew and they were extremely efficient. They wasted no effort. There was a first crew that came in and sistered the joist inside the roof because Sunrun demanded that. Their engineering team wanted the additional support. But the four people that were on the roof were installing the plates that go between the shingles. They installed the standoffs to hold the panels up. One did the wiring and one did all the piping. It was a total one-day installation and they installed 26 panels on my roof plus the inverter. They also connected it to the box inside, through the meter standard. Everything was all very professionally done. They were quality people.

They did an extremely good and efficient installation, and it worked immediately. The Village had somebody come out and inspect it. He was going to fail it and I asked why. I happened to work for an electrical contractor at one time and I told him to look at it again. It was connected properly. The Sunrun rep was there too. The person from the Village asked me what I knew about it so I told him. Then he said I was right. Everything was connected exactly the way it was supposed to be.

You're supposed to have one survey of your house, your roof and property, and the first person who came out looked at our house. We were having the panels put on the garage but they didn’t check it so they had to come back out. Then, the second person they sent was new and he messed up at every appointment he had been to that day and he didn’t do everything he was supposed to do. So, they had to send a third person out. I was a little disgruntled about having to have people constantly come back out because we have dogs and it was a hassle. But they gave us a gift card to make up for it, so that was helpful and it made me feel better. So, enrolling wit them wasn’t really hard. It was just the fact that it was only supposed to happen once and it happened three times. Finally, the third person that they sent out did a good job, checked everything and was thorough.

We had a couple of things in our yard that we kinda had built in, like a playground for our kids and things, and where Sunrun wanted to run the lines, the second person who clearly didn’t know what he was talking about, told me that they would have to run it through there. I said that we couldn't tear that up and he said that he didn't know what I could do. So some of that was a little bit upsetting. We've already signed everything. It all worked out but if they were a little more careful of making sure people were either trained, that would be good. But other than that, it wasn’t bad.

We met with Sunrun mid-August and they installed them the first week of December. As of December 26th, the electric company had signed off on us turning them on and we started making electricity right away. This time last year, I would not have been sure if I had made the right choice. I recommend not to start the process where they're gonna turn on in winter because we were paying Sunrun and then we were also paying probably $100 to the electric company. Also, on January and February, it was gloomy and the sun was not really out. So, that caused me to panic a little because it was more than what we were paying with just electric. But now that we've had them through spring, summer and everything, we pay our fee of 117 for the equipment to Sunrun and then, we pay $16 a month to the electric company, which is actually a fee that they add on your bill. So, we're not paying them anything for actual electricity.

At first, when the installers came on installation day, they were gonna have to run it in some really cockeyed way that it was gonna look terrible on the side of our farmhouse. I ended up talking with the installation manager who was overseeing it that day and I told him that I didn’t want that run like that. He said he would think about it and he would see if he could work something else out. It took him 15 minutes and he figured out a way so it’s kinda hidden in the metal pipe through the attic that's not even in my way and it comes out the other side. It’s not ugly on my house. I ended up having to handle the situation and if I would have been a person who would do it however they want, I would have been unsatisfied with how it was installed on my house.

After they left, there was a spot where they put the box in the side of your house or garage. The wire comes down the side of the building and then they put almost like a cap over it, so it's protected and they put it in and then they moved it over a couple of inches. Where they had taken it off, there were little, tiny screw holes in the siding and you couldn’t really see them but then, throughout winter, they got brittle and it busted out a little part of our siding on our garage. I contacted them, and it took a month or so in order to get someone out here. But they made that right too.

You should make sure that going solar works for you. People should ask questions, specifically how they’re gonna run things through because our sales rep was nice and answered a lot of our questions but there were some things that he was kind of quick on. He said he would be here on installation day but then, he never was there on any of the surveys or the installation day because of some personal things going on, which I could understand. But on the other hand, I didn’t know what I was doing. So, it would have been nice if he would have been there.

The design of the system is perfect. It suits our home and it gives us the energy we need. But I did have a problem and I did my due diligence. We had no electricity over half the house. The washer, dryer, water heater, air conditioning, heater, and Wi-Fi were all out. Sunrun told me that I had to call an electrician to diagnose the problem to verify that it wasn’t the electrical in my house. He didn’t touch any of their equipment but he went through everything. The person on the phone couldn't understand the scope of the problem and how big it was. It couldn’t wait until they could get it checked out here 13 days. We have four adults in this house and two big dogs, and waiting two weeks for them wasn't gonna work.

The electrician talked to Sunrun on the phone. He went through the process that they were telling him to shut it off and turn it back on. Shutting the entire system down and going back on the grid didn’t fix the problem. I had already done that twice. He kept telling them that the problem was in their equipment. It was a long day on the phone with them. There are people that pick up the phone and they’re just going by a book. They’re not really listening to the scope of what is going on in your home. As the homeowner, I did my due diligence to identify the problem with the licensed electrician. If I didn’t know how to get ahold of the tech that came and helped me with my system when it was first set up directly, I would still be sitting here without electricity in my house. Basically, the solution was just locating the inverter switch where the only person that was supposed to go in was a certified technician to flip that switch back on. It was a matter of flipping a switch.

Sunrun is a good company, but they have some internal process things they need to work out and they need to train their internal employees better. In order to get a problem solved, you have to be the squeaky wheel and I’m not one to just sit back and wait for things. Plus, my situation was pretty big. I can’t run on a house without hot water or heat or air conditioning or a lot of things for two weeks because they can’t get a tech to me.

Sunrun is selling these big systems that cost a ton of money and they need to back it up with support. When you have a problem and you have to go through their customer service to get a tech to your house, that’s the downfall. They're supposed to get the right person to you. But they don’t know what they’re doing and they’re not listening to the problem. Their customer service people are not trained and not knowledgeable. If it wasn’t for the sales guy and the tech guy, I probably wouldn’t have been with Sunrun. Also, the equipment, the setup, and how it serves up in our home are wonderful.

Starting out, our monthly amount is less than what we would pay the utility company for energy. So, it remains to be seen over time. If utility rates stay low like they are right now, eventually we’ll end up paying more for the solar power that we’re getting through the system. But I can’t see that happening. At some point, everything is gonna go up in price. At least we know what our rates are gonna be for the next 20 years.

We have two separate solar systems on our property. We started our Sunrun process in 2016 and it got installed in 2017 because we started late in the year and it overlapped. But I was real happy with the way that turned out. I have 32 panels on the roof of our garage. And after having that for two years, I thought we could double our capacity and save more money. So, we had 35 panels installed on our house last Christmas and they showed up the day after Christmas.

We did all the preliminary stuff and they came out and did the inspection. They happened to be the same people. When they came out, they did the inspection and all the measurements. They sent the into the head office and they made a determination that the roof on the house wasn’t good enough for them to put the solar system on it. They said, “The bad news is your roof needs to be replaced. The good news is we’re gonna replace it for you.” So, we got a free roof with our solar system that we’re basically paying for that’s less than our utility bills. So, it’s amazing.

So far, we’ve not had any leaks although we had a shingle blow off in the wind last winter. I had to try and figure out how to get back to the roofing company since it was a subcontractor. But once I did get a hold of them, they came right out, literally got up on the roof in the snow, blew it off with a leaf blower, and fixed the shingles that had blown off. They made a determination that since it was on the ridge vent, they said that probably what happened was when they were installing the solar system, somebody stepped there. Because it was in a tight area, they probably had to sit there and it tore the shingle off the nail, which I can understand that by looking at it. Other than that, everything has been great.

The salesperson was excellent, and he even came back after everything was installed and made sure because I sent an e-mail and said I was not sure I know if this was running correctly. So, he came out on his own time and took a look at that. I had to get a new roof and Sunrun paid for part of that. They paid $2,000 on it, but I was prepared. I knew I was just gonna have to do it. I had an option of just doing the portion where the panels where gonna go or do the whole roof. Our whole roof was bad, so I got all of that done. They were very good about that. And then I had to get a new electric panel and they paid for that entirely and it was an excellent company. And the roofer was excellent as well.

Everything went well for me. I understand how things work with contracting, and you have workers that come out. There was a brief delay in getting the last little piece done. But then, when I said something about it, they were right on it. That was like a supervisor thing and I don’t think that person is even with them anymore, but that’s how business works. They have people that work for them and they have to stay on top of it. I don’t sweat the small stuff. If there was a little delay because of a part, that kind of thing doesn’t bother me. The end result is what I’m interested in. And I actually financed, which I’m gonna get paid off very quickly. And Costco and Sunrun together arranged all of that, so for me, it was very painless. Everything went smoothly.

It did take a while to get everything done but that’s understandable because I had to get a new roof, and the inspector had to come out from the city for the electrical panel and he also had to come out for the solar. I bought the battery system to go with it. All that had to be inspected and you just have to be patient. It took like three months from the very start when I signed the papers until everything was in place. And then you gotta wait for the power company to okay it.

Overall, my personal experience was very good. I would recommend Sunrun to a friend. They have different programs. I am fortunate enough that my credit history is excellent so I was able to finance. Some people I know, they take an equity out on their home, which I could have done, but I didn’t want to do that. And I have a good income, so I can pay off the loan many years before the end of the loan.

Later that same day the system tripped again. I called Sunrun and asked why the technician had not come for the appointment. The Sunrun operator stated that there was a technician at my house but he showed up a couple of days earlier. I told the operator that the system had tripped again, the operator stated that the inverter would probably have to be changed and an appointment would have to set to come and replace it.

After a couple of weeks I again called Sunrun in reference to my appointment, the operator stated that they were still waiting for a new inverter and they would call once one was received. After another month I called inquiring as the progress of the inverter, at that time I was told that due to covid they would not send anyone out until the lock down was lifted.

My city was entering phase 1 of reopening, and again I called Sunrun. This time they said that they were not sending anyone to repair my system because it was up and running. I told them reason the system was up and running was because I was constantly watching the inverter and resetting it after it shut off. I waited a couple of days until the inverter tripped again and called Sunrun. This time they stated that someone would get back to me to set up an appointment.

After about a week I again called Sunrun and had a appointment set for 8 days in the future. At the time of the setting of the appointment I told the operator that I wanted the technician to call me when he/she were coming and that I did not want them to just reset the system which I had been doing all along. The appointment was set for 8 days between 12PM and 5PM. The system had been down for over a week at this time with no production.

Day of the appointment 12PM - 5PM had come and gone at 5:01PM, my system was still showing the error message. I attempted to contact Sunrun but had to wait for them to call me back. When Sunrun called me back they stated that the technician was at my residence and had repaired my system. I told the operator that I had requested a call when the technician was on his way and that I had never received a call. At this time another appointment was set, this time two weeks in the future.

After the call to Sunrun I received a voice message on my cellphone from the technician that he had been at my residence. I tried calling him back but his voice mail was not setup. The next day looking at Sunrun's website the production records showed production from 9AM - 11AM, then nothing. The technician had come early and just reset the system, and after 3 hours the system went down again. Now I have wait two weeks now. Hopefully this time they'll do more than reset the system.

As I mentioned earlier that our home is on sale, we got offer, pricing finalized, sale process started and planning to close escrow soon. unfortunate thing is I cannot close escrow because solar is not working. so I called Sunrun customer service in 1st week of June, they said they are still working, may be another 2-3 weeks. I explained them the urgency and I was bit frustrated.

Guess what today is 6/20, nothing happened.

I called customer service again on 6/18 to check on status as I did not received any call from Sun Systems Technologies, I was told to contact them directly instead of calling SunRun. So I did (its like we are at the mercy of Sunrun) called Sun Systems Technologies, they said they had a question for Sunrun about my service request and question was sent on 6/16 but they don't have reply yet to schedule an appointment. Again I called SunRun (same day) to find out the status, its like I am working for them. then I was told by SunRun that they talked to Sun Systems Technologies and I will receive call in 2 days. As I said before today is 6/20. nothing happened. I guess Sun Systems Technologies is closed today, I called them, no response. As expected it's been 40 mins now, I am still on call & waiting for someone to answer my call at SunRun customer service.

Now, I am worried that escrow closing will get further delayed and buyer will be frustrated as they have commitments to move from old house to new house and of course my blood pressure is high too because of this nonsense, pathetic customer service. Also I am contacting legal to get some advise to file a case, as my escrow closing is getting delayed and circumstances of delay are bad for me and for my buyer.

I never experienced such a pathetic customer service, SunRun is typical UPSELLING COMPANY. No service commitments. I am sure their management will learn more if they ever heard recorded calls. Here are the worst parts of this experience.

5. Though I explained the need of inverter replacement, no one seems to be understanding. I waited for almost 2 months and still waiting.

Here is my request(s).

1. Please don't buy solar installation from sunrun. They are purely an upselling company. If you ask for installation, within 24 hours someone will call you. If you ask for service, now you are on their mercy, you better be away from them.

2. I know that sunrun has a booth in some Costco stores. Don't fall in to sunrun trap when they explain you techniques, costco cards/discounts and tax credits (once I was victim of this trick). Tax credits, you can get from federal if you install solar from any registered solar company(nothing to do with sunrun). And for few hundreds dollars of costco cards/discounts its not worth, later you have to spend many hundreds of dollars visiting doctors because of high blood pressure and frustration.

Actually they deserve minus stars. Thanks for reading this review, hope my experience may help you to make decision to go with SunRun. I still need to wait to get inverter replaced before I close the escrow of home sale.

RK