Vivint Solar Reviews

Original Review: Aug. 8, 2017

There are two problems. First problem was a safety issue. Vivint Solar owns the panels on our house, was not willing to make them safe by installing snow guards (people could have been injured coming up our front stairs from a massive amount of snow falling on them), Vivint gave us the run around about installing the snow guards, told us we could not hire someone else to install them, said that they would not be liable if someone were hurt from falling snow, What kind of a situation does this put us in??? We finally paid $533 to buy the snow guards and finally Vivint installed them. The Utah and Massachusetts offices of Vivint did not seem to communicate with one another very well. We are very disappointed that they would not pay for the snow guards nor did they seem to care about people being injured.

Second issue. We are having construction done on our roof. We are having a very difficult time getting Vivint to remove the panels for our construction. The sales person told us that it would be "easy" if we ever need roof work done, that we call Vivint, pay them $500 and they remove the panels. After the roof work is done, Vivint puts the panels back. It has been not one bit easy. At the end of May we sent Vivint the drawings for the addition to our house. The Vivint person we sent them to never forwarded the drawings to the correct person. No one at Vivint told us that we were supposed to be sent an invoice for $500 before we could schedule removal of the panels. Six weeks later, Vivint finally tells us that we need to pay an invoice of $500. We wait 2 hours on the phone with the billing department to pay them $500.

They say that after we pay the $500 we will be able to schedule removal of the panels. Two hours after we finally pay the $500 we get an invoice saying that we have to pay another $250 for a redesign of the panels on the new roof before we can schedule the removal of the panels. Why weren't we told this before??? We are willing to pay them anything. We contact them almost 2 months in advance to have this all taken care of and they do nothing until we CALL and CALL to try to get the panels taken off our roof. We keep getting a different story from different people in the company. We are told our contractor cannot remove these panels from our roof but we cannot get Vivint to schedule a date to remove the panels so we can have work done on our house.

After we finally got them to schedule removal of the panels so we could have work done on our roof - 3 agonizing hours on the phone with them mostly on hold and carefully telling at least 3 people at the company the instructions about the panel removal (we even asked each person to repeat the work order to us) - they came and removed the wrong panels from our roof. After we sent a complaint to the Utah Better Business Bureau we made plans to discuss our many, many problems with Vivint with a manager named Michelle. We sent her 3 emails and left one phone message and have not heard back from her. I can't believe that we still have 18 years left in our contract with this company. This is like a marriage gone horribly and we can't get out of it. It's a nightmare.

Enrolling with Vivint Solar was very easy but after we had the panel upgraded and the solar panels installed, it was an unbelievably long period of time for us to be able to turn it on. They kept saying, "It needs to go through our final process." I said, "You know what? Take my file out from the bottom of the stack and put it on the top of the stack." Communication was not their strong suit. But every time I called customer service, they were absolutely wonderful. They were very nice and they understood my frustration. The door-to-door salesman was very nice and pleasant, Johnny-on-the-spot with answers but when I tried to get in touch to ask him what's going on and why can't we speed up the process so I can get my solar turned on, he never answered my phone calls. I haven’t gotten my bill yet but my experience was totally adequate.

Although the experience is not that good now, everybody was good. Everything was done right except that the system didn't work. I was told that if somebody messed up, Vivint is going to be responsible for the bill and I don't have to worry much about it. If they find what was done wrong, they could fix it and make sure that when they do their installation somewhere else, it doesn't happen and the customer will be happy. I have Vivint's sign in the front of my house and some people have told me that they are going to order the panels because I have that sign.

But we had a problem when it first got set up. They came out and installed the system, they had a quality crew come out to double check everything and then the city official came out and said that it’s not right. The problem was that they didn't put rods in the ground. I was a little put off that it wasn’t installed right in the first place and then the quality crew missed it as well.

And I’m still a little bit leery about the fact that I got a bill an hour ago and to me it seemed too high. I sent it to Jane and she's looking to see if it's correct. I understood that my power bill was going to go away. It’s usually at least $76. But so far it has been a good decision to go solar. Everybody's been very courteous. I was told a lot of things upfront and they’ve done everything they said they’d do.

Guess what. A squirrel climbs into the hole in my soffit and nests giving birth in my ceiling. Now I have water, mold, feces and urine over my bed... Did I tell you my wife has CF...a breathing disease? I had an wildlife crew come to get the critters out. Paid a window guy to caulk around my windows still not realizing it was the solar panels yet. Shame on me. My guy goes up on the roof...and sees the shingles are all smashed from the installation. Instead of the water running off it is pooling and soaking through and running between the siding. Soooo now we have an answer.

The solar company sends over a roofer, he recommends fixing all 3 locations, not just the one. Shingles will never match. They tell me they should never have put the panels on the roof. This will be the 5th person to tell me that, 2 from their company as well. They tell me to research another company since they don't like his work anymore. I get one. This guy is good. He hits on things the 1st guy misses such as fixing kitchen mess, mold remediation, electric wire placed back, fixing the rotted out beam, a dumpster for the trash, insulation replaced, etc. They thought his cost was too much. They now want me to use the guy they thought was inadequate... LOL. I sent them articles on mold and its effects on Cystic Fibrosis, told them I would get a lawyer from the CF foundation.

Back and forth for 2 months and we are at an impasse. They want me to settle on the cheaper price from the guy they deemed inadequate who missed a ton of damages... LOL. I want them to do the right thing and replace all 3 portions of roof since 5 people told me the roof was too old to support it anyway. Again 2 were from their own company. The only person who said it was in great conditions with at least another 12 years of life was the shyster sales guy. Did I mention they took the panels down and are still charging me the monthly fee? I feel like I was lied to in order to get these panels on my roof. In NJ there is a push for solar. I wish I never let them in my house. Shame on you Vivint. Do the right thing. At this point after all the missed days of work, money spent and aggravation I should get a whole new roof from them.

They're the best work crew I have ever seen. They were friendly and they would stop and talk if you asked them something but mostly, they just worked. I have 41 panels on my roof. The guy went through and they tossed things on the ground, very carefully picking all the little odds and ends up. I found a total of two they missed but it was 93 degrees so I can't say they were doing it in perfect conditions. But there was a breeze and it was earlier so, it wasn't quite as humid. Also, they had plenty of water and I have a tree in my front yard so that if they really needed to, they could get down in the shades a little. It worked very well and they finished about 5:30 that evening.

They were saying it might take a while for the county to come out and it didn't take them as long but they said the inspector who came out was not the inspector they really like. That one always finds something but he couldn't find anything wrong with it so that was okay. Also, BGE came out pretty quickly and I was online a whole lot faster than I expected to be. I also found that the panels seem to insulate a bit so that my air conditioner is not running all the time. So it's double energy saving and I'm having lower bills than I was expecting.

I don't fault Vivint for having the very first electrician who came out not having the ability to see what could be done because the second one knew exactly what to do and did it beautifully. Sometimes, the people you hire have not had as much experience as others and that was corrected so quickly and much sooner than I had hoped for. Also, there was no problem getting an answer from their customer service when I called about something I wanted to know. It's not terribly expensive, and I'm getting more savings than I expected.

But my biggest concern thus far is trying to reach them. Number one because we did a direct withdrawal from our checking and I haven't received a statement yet from my bank. I wanted to talk to Vivint to make sure. They said it was going to start in July and I spoke to them when it was installed. It was the end of June or beginning of July when everything went bad. Number two, my wife and I have separated and I am in the home in which the panels were put on, so I need to transfer it to my name. I was told we got to wait for the first billing cycle. But when I tried to call the number that I was given by some gentleman, I can't get through.

Three weeks ago I requested to have the solar removed. My sales person had originally quoted the cost to move the system to my new home at around $2,500. The quote came in at $8,690. I was all set to pay the fee when the transfer dept called and stated that they might not want to transfer the system to my new home as it is their choice so I have to wait for a committee that only meets on Thursdays to approve the transfer. This is a total nightmare and the saga continues.

So far, it’s been okay except with the billing department. They misrepresented Kyle. He explained certain things like the way the process, the billing and how much I was going to be paying. When I contacted the billing department regarding some questions, they explained the opposite. So that was kind of misleading on their part.

I also spoke with Mack. He’s a manager and he said he was going to square things away with the billing department. They let me believe that what Kyle was telling me on the field wasn’t the truth. I was so confused that I was even thinking of canceling the contract. It’s not a very good impression the way things are being handled by the billing department. The only thing that I’m comfortable is what the representation that Kyle gave as far as what Vivint offers and how it would benefit me as a customer. Also, you don’t put money upfront for the system, the support that they do, and the work that they did is a great offer to me.

The only thing is we have had issues with my system because it's so big and I'm also having issues with the gas and electric company. But Vivint has been right beside me the whole time and they are handling things absolutely as promptly as they can. They told me what phone calls to make, who to contact and they followed up. I was never blinded by anything and they kept me informed, right along with them. I have never had a company work so well, hard and wonderful with communication. In the whole experience, I’m 1000% satisfied.

Once production through March 2017 was evaluated, it became very clear the production from the system was going to dramatically outpace the actual use by nearly 60%. The result was an increase in our energy expenses not a decrease. In going back through the reams of documentation we received, we realized the system was designed to produce 11,250 kwh annually (more than 25% greater than historic use). In actuality, the system produced 14,400 kwh (more than 60% greater than historic use). We contacted our salesperson, who repeatedly attempted to tell us we didn't understand how solar PPA worked.

We then contacted the Customer Service Department at Vivint and began working with Braden **, the customer service representative. I provided Braden with detailed documentation of the historic use of the system as well as statistical analysis to prove the system as designed and installed was oversized. Braden stated he needed to forward to the "exceptions committee" for consideration. Our requests were simple - either credit or refund funds paid for the exceptional system production and reduce the capacity of the system for the future. We made it clear to both Jarret and Braden to communicate above that no further payments were authorized until this issue was resolved. We removed the Vivint as approved automatic payment from Michelle's checking account, but not before Vivint put through another payment. This payment was after our discussions with Vivint's representatives.

What has occurred since has been ongoing follow up phone calls. At first, Braden attempted to state the system was properly designed at 11,250 kwh, but he was stuck on how that system could produce 14,400 kwh. Finally last month, Braden verbally committed to shutting off the monitoring on 7 panels (thus eliminating the invoicing for the production of those 7 panels) and capping the annual production billing at 9,000 kwh. He stated we would be receiving documentation for this shortly, but to date, no documentation has been received. We have begun receiving collections phone calls and the collections people have no interest in reviewing the outstanding issues. I have spent hours on hold waiting to speak with "supervisors" and/or "managers" with this company and have never been able to get through to anyone with authority.

Two weeks ago, we requested a proposal to straight out purchase the system and never have to deal with Vivint again, but we have not received any proposal for this. Basically, based upon the design issues and production of the solar array, Vivint's staff is either incompetent and fraudulent. I recommend staying away from Vivint Solar at all costs. Their sole purpose seems to be selling contracts and quality/responsive customer service seems to not even be on their radar.

UPDATED ON 08/24/2017: After my initial review, Vivint indicated on the site that they would be contacting either me or my fiance to resolve our issue. We are coming up on 4 weeks since that complaint, but to date, we have received no contact from any one in the company. I have filed a complaint with our County Office of Consumer Affairs. I wish we had never, ever gotten involved with this company. My advice is simple - STAY AWAY FROM VIVINT SOLAR!!!

The people at Vivint Solar have always been professional and easy to deal with. They are also very upfront and responsive. They told us when we started out to be patient because it might take a bit of a time and that was good advice. By the time I got the ball rolling things seemed fast. We’re really happy with the experience so far. I am recommending them to other people that I know. There were no surprises when we were going through the system. It has been as they described it and it has been an educational experience as well.

My Average electric payment with SCE, was $150.00 a month. I was told my bill would be about seventy or eighty a month. Now with Vivint, I pay an average of $142.00 plus 10.00 to SCE, so now I pay 152.00 a month, two dollars more. I had a construction job starting in October 2016, an addition to my house and I paid Vivint 499.00 to have seven (7) solar panels removed.

Vivint took forever to remove the panels about 1 ½ months. Then it's been almost seven (7) months and they still have not reinstalled them. I have called more than 20 times, to no avail. So, they finally scheduled an appointment for July 17, 2017, and it was a NO SHOW, NO CALL. Now, I'm on the phone right now with Vivint, speaking to supervisor, again.

In the meantime, I received a bill from SCE of $1,000.00, and Vivint not made any money from me since it's shut down. If Vivint's NOT interested in making money since they still haven't installed my panels, then they can take them all off and I'll find a company that is willing to work. I will file a complaint with the Contractors State Licensing Board, and all over SOCIAL MEDIA. I am also seeking attorney advice. On the positive side, most of their customer service reps were very understanding and professional. It just never translated to getting the panels reinstalled.

We had a month gap from the time the system was put on until PG&E said we could go ahead and do it, and then we had a panel shut down, so we had to get that replaced. Vivint Solar came out and replaced the panel a few weeks ago. It looks like we're producing some good energy because I watch the meter all the time going backwards and I like that. Also, their customer service reps were great, courteous and I like them. Anytime I called and asked them anything, they're right on the spot. I'd recommend Vivint Solar. I already have a couple of friends who are waiting to see how this is going to work and, if that's the case, they're going to go in themselves.

I found this as the best opportunity, where I didn't have to spend all the money buying all the panels and spend whatever I have to produce my own electricity. This way, it worked out for both us. My panels produce the electricity, they take care of the panels and I don't have to worry about it. Then, they charge the electricity to my credit card and they get paid. I would recommend Vivint Solar and I hope it's still working in 20 years because I signed a 20-year contract. But we'll see how much they stay with their equipment and if they can stay in business for 20 years and provide the continued service.

If you are considering solar, please buy your own. DON'T SIGN VIVINT'S CONTRACT! They have made sure that they can't be sued or held liable for anything. I've spoken to several lawyers already and am in talks with a few more. Please do your homework and avoid this company at all costs. And don't get their security system either, another form of their scam. Their customer service is without a doubt the worse around. Again, STAY AWAY FROM VIVINT PERIOD!

The only item that I have right now that's different with Vivint from other solar vendors is the lack of reporting trends for the day. All I get when I log into my account is how much energy I've generated for the day, for the month and for the lifetime. I have other friends that have solar and they can pull up a direct report. I'd like to see that. I also want to be able to compare trends on days throughout the year. I want to know how the system is and how it's working. What I'm getting right now is very basic information and I want more. But I've heard that Vivint is working on getting the panel for the solar stuff sort of integrated with their security systems through the sky panel.

Going through the process, I had to act as a mediator between Vivint and the city in some of the things that we ran into. They've taken some lesson learned from the things that happened from getting the panels installed and activated. They're deploying that through as they try to bring other customers in. And they're making changes to make the process easier. They've been well to work with and have always responded. I'd recommend them.

Enrolling for it was a good experience. The only downfall that I could see with the whole experience was it took so long. As soon as we signed up for it, they were out within a week and installed everything. But then it took too much time before all the paperwork and everything went through with SMUD. That becomes a bit frustrating. It took so long before we were able to throw our switch and start utilizing the solar. They did say that it was going to take a couple of months. Other than that, we had an excellent experience.

There was no 30 day and that was never discussed by Darren. To sum it up. We have to keep their panels on our house, always have internet for them and pay the same power bill plus pay vivint, and at the end of the year pay a true up bill of 800.00 dollars. Because they did not put enough panels on our home to give us any savings. Now we are told we will have to buy the extra panels from them. And that we will never do. Not giving vivint solar any more money. It's been 2yrs now and we have not seen any savings. We are just being robbed.

During these outages my solar panels were not producing energy but I am receiving massive bills from Vivint. My electric bill since having panels installed is doubled. I have called customer service repeatedly. A manager named Alphonso promised to call me back - that was over two weeks ago and I've left three messages. No one calls me back. I can't understand how Vivint claims that customer service is in their DNA when they only care about new installs. I would never want my friends or family to be treated this way so I will provide them with open and candid feedback every time Vivint is mentioned.

While we were waiting for the system to get approved and turned on, we're getting regular updates and everybody from Vivint was very nice and helpful in making sure that we understood what was going on through the whole process. We haven't had to deal or think much because Vivint has been taking care of everything. We're also very, very satisfied going solar now that the first electric bill we got is lower. The system is producing enough energy for us to pay for itself while we're renting it. Overall, it's been a nice, easy and good experience with very little headache.

I live in the desert of Southern California, where the electricity bills are high in the summer. And I have not had access to solar so far this summer from damage that occurred this past December. I think that is totally unacceptable! I have sent numerous emails to the damage resolution department to be reimbursed for the electricity I will now owe to my utility company for these past months and I get no reply. Same thing happens when you try to call them. I am not one to write reviews but I am not happy with this company and I feel people need to know how Vivint Solar handles problems when they arise.

Last year, their rep Tim asked us about our solar panels. We told him that we have a bit to pay and we’re not sure if we’re saving money. And he said, "Well, we need to take care of that. We need to add some panels to your house." We weren't sure we wanted to do that at first, but we decided to go ahead and add panels. We had an appointment for another set of panels to be put on our house in a few weeks, but the installers showed up a couple of weeks early and asked us if they can install the panels that day. They were polite about it and said, "If you don't want us to, we won't. But if it's okay with you, we'll go ahead and put them on today."

I asked them first where they are going to put the panels because we hadn’t seen the plans yet. The installer showed me the design for putting the extra panels on. And when I saw what they plan to do, I said, "No. I don't want to do that. I don't want panels on the front of our little house. It'll look like it's been swallowed up by solar panels because it's just small, 450 square feet.” Then the installer said, "Okay, no problem if you don't want it. We'll let them know that you don't want to have panels on the front of your house and then they're going to have to draw up another design. You'll hear from us later and that'll be fine." They were also going to put on an electric panel. We ended up with a lot of electrical work done and it took them several months to finally install the second set.

Vivint had asked us to sign a contract online. However, I can't read the contract online and we want to see the contract in front of us, black and white. We were getting messages saying, "Will you please sign this thing online?" Vivint kept pushing us and we couldn't respond back. I tried calling their customer service and that was to no avail. I also left messages a couple of times but I didn’t get answers back. We called Tim and asked him to come and bring the contract so we can read it before we sign. Tim came and went over the contract with us. My husband signed, so we're all good there.

Vivint also took a long time to get the second set of solar panels ready to go because everything had to be approved and checked. And I'm certainly glad that things had to be checked and approved. When I saw the email saying, "Okay, you can turn on them on now," I told my husband about it. So, we went out and turned the panels on but it didn't seem to work. We got a call from them telling us that the second set was not on and not working. They gave us a number to call and they said somebody would walk us through turning it on.

So we stood out there in the sun, trying to understand what the rep was referring to. He was very polite and patient with us as well. But we were nervous and we’re hoping that we're doing the right thing. They should’ve sent a tech out to turn the system on at least. It came to the point that the rep had to schedule a technician that would come out to turn the solar panels on. And we appreciated that. The technician they sent was a very sweet guy too. He showed us the box and what was going on. He also explained why the rep was confused on the phone. So we got the system turned on about a month ago and now, both systems are running together.

We’re paying three bills to Vivint—one for our first set of solar panels, one for our alarm system, and one for the second set of solar panels. They’re being billed separately and it’s complicated. When the second set of panels were charged, I got a message from Vivint that said, "Hey, we weren't able to process your charge card that you've given us to charge your bill to." For some reason, the second set of panels were being charged to the old number that we had used a long time ago before we changed it several months back. I gave Vivint the information on the new charge number before and everything had been working fine with the first set of solar panels. So I called Vivint and tried to get through. They always said we can change any information online, but since we’re in our 70’s, it makes me nervous to take care of business online.

I spent half an hour waiting on the phone to talk to somebody so I could give them a new charge card number, but I could not get through. I finally gave up. So we waited for them to figure it out on their own, that a different charge card number is what they should be using. Finally, we ended up getting a letter from Vivint about the card refusing the charge. It had a number to call, so I called them and gave them the new number. And the guy rep took care of it.

I am interested to see if we’re saving any money. I pay $100 now to Vivint and then we also pay our PG & E bill. This last month, our NEM charges are minus 63 and that's encouraging. Also, we still have a good deal going on with them because we didn't put out any money for our solar panels. It has also been a bumpy road with Vivint, but the people are great. It can be taxing to help us with technical and digital things considering us in our age, but everybody I've spoken with has been very polite, kind, and enjoyable to talk to. We have been recommending them until this last issue with the second set of solar panels. Though all of the kinks that have been coming up were annoying and some of them were unavoidable, I'm hoping that everything goes smoothly now.

We got a fat bill from the electric company and a bill from Vivint Solar. It's not as good as we hoped it would be. I have talked with Vivint Solar enough times and they're very nice on the phone and somewhat helpful. But, it wasn't really explained to us or if it was, we didn't understand because of how many papers and things that had to be signed and there was an awful lot of red tape, which mostly came from the electric company. Vivint wasn't helping with this process. I suppose they're thinking they're losing money so they're not in any hurry to connect. Vivint could have been more helpful and they could have at least made the process go a little bit more quickly.

I got an email saying that Vivint needed to sign up for something but they hadn't done it yet. MassACA said they would discontinue our service. Vivint Solar said not to worry about it so I guess it was just a scare tactic. They didn't have to do it right away and so it wasn't a concern. But, it was to me because of the way the letter from MassACA was written. We were not well informed about all this. Every time we thought that we're going to be connected, something else would happen. Then the electric company came up and told us they couldn't change the meter because we needed to have an electrician come and secure the box of the house. That took a couple of weeks and everything delayed us more than I wanted it to.

Our salesman who has since been promoted probably doesn't care what happens now. He was very big on selling us a system and then after that, we never heard from him again. I sent him emails and that was disappointing. If he were promoted, someone else would have taken his place. He would have appointed someone else to help us out but that didn't happen. He dropped us like a hot potato as soon as we signed. They know this because I called and complained big time. I was disappointed. I expected more.

I didn't like the fact that they wanted me to turn the system on when it was installed on the side of the house. I said, "No, you come and turn it on. I'm not going to mess something up and then it'd be my fault." I tried to get in touch with Rory, the guy that sold it to me, about turning it on themselves and he’s never returned my calls. I’ve messaged him for four times to call me and that I have a couple of questions for him. He never made an effort to return anything.

They were going to do an automatic withdrawal for payment but I didn’t approve it. So I called them and I told them to remove me off of automatic pay and I would call in every month. So I called in on the exact date that it was due, on the 20th. It said that they were busy, so if I would leave my number, they would return my call. Four days went by and nobody returned my call. So I called again and made the payment over the phone. But it was still an eight-minute wait for someone to pick up. I got my first bill from Vivint and PNM, last month. I haven't seen any savings, it hasn’t changed at all. When I first got it, I was recommending it to everyone. Now, I mention that I have it but when I say I haven't seen any savings, they're like, "Oh thank god I didn't do it."

It was a plus all the way. There was no initial outlay. Plus, it's green energy and it's saving a lot. The more people that have it, the better it is. I found it to be very good so far. The installers that put everything on the roof were some of the cleanest young fellows that I've ever dealt with. There was not one scrap of anything that was left behind. Everyone that I've dealt with from the Vivint company must have an excellent training program. Everyone whom I spoke with in the alarm phase of the products and then the solar phase of the products that they sell are very professional, extremely well-mannered, very willing to help in a situation. They're not like a bait and switch situation thing where all of a sudden you find yourself scrambling around trying to find out answers to questions. They’re very professional as far as they have service follow-up, which in this day and age is very important.

I’ve recommended them to two friends and both them also installed Vivint Solar. They’re satisfied. I had dinner with one of those friends last evening and they said that their existing electric company's bill went down to nothing. The Vivint Solar bill was extremely low in comparison to their normal regular bill with the local power company. We're out on Long Island in the suburbs of New York and our electric company's fees and kilowatt charges are very expensive because there's no nuclear and no subsidies anywhere. It’s like you’re really paying through the nose for everything. Their bill went down to nothing. They cut their bill by 50%, and that's significant.

We have an issue that still hasn't been resolved. They installed one of the ground wires in the ground rod right at the front of the door. And when they drove it in, my father came out and tried to walk out the gate leading to the backyard to where the panel is, and he tripped on that. They should have left no less than a 36-inch separation from either a box or something nailed out on the floor with no protection. That's the code so that there's no danger of it being run into or tripping anybody and I know that because I'm a trained IBEW electrician.

Then they had a guy come out to deal with the connection of the solar panels to the main box after they changed out the box and he was supposed to fix it but he didn't have the proper drill bit to install the hole. So, he went ahead and put a planter on top of that ground rod, mostly so people could see the planter. But the situation has not been rectified. It has to be at least 18 inches further away from the door to alleviate that problem but it hasn't been done up to now. That was his first project and he has a few going on. He promised they were going to do it but they're a distance away. So now my stepdad's got to worry about anybody that comes to visit him and anyone that goes out that door will be falling down.

A different department had sold it and promised to have it done. But then nobody would come back and fix it at this point. My main issue is that they had a lot of different departments that deal with different stages of the game, such that they had trouble keeping track which one was which. Sometimes, the communication wasn't very good either. They were supposed to communicate something to a different department but the installation would not be done. A lot of times they'd call us up and they would be in the southern section and they'd have to travel to the northern section to do something. They were short in communicating with us and we've even had to go north about an hour away to catch an installer. In general, though, the communication skills were good with another part of the company. As far as service, it's very good as well and my stepdad seems to be happy at this point.

I got one bill but the system was just turned on. I'll have to pay my first bill on July 5th and then my electric bill comes on the 10th. That's the first one that I'll see that says about getting credits. It's producing 8 kilowatts one day and on another day it was producing 12 kilowatts. I like that feature. The customer service staff is knowledgeable and very cooperative. Therefore, I've been pleased. As a matter of fact, I've been watching their stock and I'm thinking of buying. It's been excellent and I recommended it to my neighbor.

About 10 days later after the last inspection, they called up and SDG&E said I was clear to go ahead and throw the switch. Everybody that came here was really polite and knew what they were doing and answered any questions I had so I was really happy with them. However, the hardest thing to do was to get anyone believe there's no expense involved. You're not buying it, it belongs to them and all you're doing is sign a contract for 25 years to indicate that you will continue to use the solar power. If for some reason you decide to move to another house, they will take if off the roof and put it on your other home free of charge. If you decide to have the roof replaced while the panels are there, you pay whatever it would cost to have it removed and placed back on after the roof is installed. They'll do it but all you're paying is the labor cost.

If you sell your house, you have to get the person buying it to agree to pick up the remainder of your contract and if a person coming in is going to save money, why would he not want to do it? They installed the whole thing and I didn't pay a dime out and you're paying less per kilowatt hour than you would be with SDG&E and there's no doubt that SDG&E got four or five rate increases in the mill so it's going to get a lot more expensive. You're paying whatever the panels produce so bills are going to be high in the summer than in the winter. Summer time you're producing a lot and you may not be using it as much, then winter time you're still using the same amount, but you're not producing near as much electricity so you're using banked electricity. You have to look at the whole year to determine what your average cost would be and how much you're saving. It's very good and I definitely recommend them.

The panels were put in May and the installation went fine. They said they're going to be here and they were, and they did their work on time. So far it's been good. And when the bill comes, I will see how the performance is. I have to check for it based on what gets covered in my energy usage. The only thing right now is I haven't gotten the incentive yet. Tony said it's within 45 days but it's been way over 45 days. Other than that, it's been a good experience.

My father was in his early 80s at the time and he has the overall say, but I help him along the way. We were knowledgeable that we still have to pay Vivint 80% and Southern California Edison 20%. Before my dad even had Solar, he was paying about $234 to Southern California Edison. It's been issues after issues and when it comes to energy, we're not able to save.

Then a year and a half later, they came back to sell more panels and my dad agreed upon it. He signed the contract for additional panels. Now, his whole roof is filled with panels and we had issues on top of issues regarding the second account. Last month, we finally started paying on the account and then I received emails, which is totally understandable. In the spring and summer months, our solar bill's gonna be high because of the sun, and in the winter, it’s always cheaper. It hasn't been beneficial because still, at end of the 11th anniversary month, we still owe Southern California Edison a tremendous amount of money. Luckily, I keep that credited. We bought a lemon and we signed a contract to a lemon.

At the very, very beginning when the first ones were put up, something that was attached to the computer must have been a bad one or caused it to start a fire and the fire department had to come, but thank God nothing was burnt except the outlet which had to be replaced. But Vivint was very good about it, replaced it and paid for a new router. Everything was good and they took care of it. Everybody was very friendly, kind, nice and helpful.

During enrollment, their employees were very professional and nice. Signing up was easy too. Then they installed everything for us. It kept snowing, so we had three teams come out and they were all nice. We've been with Vivint Solar for two months now and we've barely even gotten our second electric bill yet. But so far, we like it. We’re just hoping that the air conditioning cost for our big house is offset this summer.

Also, enrolling with Vivint Solar was kind of vague. We really didn’t know what we were getting into, and we didn’t really understand what was going on. There is a fee that we paid that’s quite high to PG&E, as part of our bill, for having solar basically. It’s confusing whether we’re really saving any money or not. I guess instead of really saving money, we are just paying it out a different way. The customer service is courteous, but it's hard since there's so many different offices, phone numbers, and people you deal with that you don’t know who you’re dealing with, for what. I’m not happy with it, and you have to pay a lot of money to get rid of it. It’s partially our fault that we didn’t really research it enough.

But the people that came out to install were very good. They cleaned up and they told me the things that I needed to know as far as when I could turn it on and who’s gonna be calling me. They did it all in one day, which I didn’t think it was gonna happen but it did. However, I haven’t had any information back from it yet because from what I understand, I wouldn’t know if it’s really working for me until 12 months. I no longer get a bill from my electric company until the end of the year. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant experience overall.

There was a young man in Utah that I called the higher ups about because he deserves compensation for everything he did for me. He called PG&E himself. He arranged conference calls and did everything he possibly could to expedite it because I couldn't use it until this process was done. It would make me a whole lot happier if someone would do something about this young man that helped me. If Vivint wants to keep its customers, it better keep young men like him on the payroll and compensate him for going the extra mile. Because had he not been able to do what he did, I still wouldn't be hooked up to the solar.

We put solar on two houses. We started this house which is our primary residence eight months ago and I still don't have a working solar on my house. We agreed to have solar put on our rental house and it has been up and running for about six weeks now, and it started two months after this house. My husband was calling every other day for a while and they would have a different answer as to why. One guy I spoke with was completely non-sympathetic. He told us we are well within the 45 to 60-day range. We told him we are out of that range and he was argumentative saying that those are business days. I told him we were installed on February 23rd and more than 45 to 60 days have passed since then. He just kept coming back to saying we are within their acceptable range. It's like a robot thing over and over again.

Other than him, everybody else has been sympathetic and has been telling us they'd have a supervisor call us. But nobody ever calls. Finally, three days since our last call, a supervisor called. She told us that it was their back office quality assurance review team that was holding things up. Then she asked us to give her two weeks to fix it. Now, one week has passed and I've not heard a word from her. The impact that all of this has on our household is severe because I understand the way solar works. We were told initially to expect our solar up and running by March and we thought that was great. For March, April, and part of May, we'd be able to collect a lot more solar that we could bank so that when the summer heat hits, we'll have some banked energy to use before we start using our air conditioner in June.

We have six neighbors who asked us how was the solar that we got installed six months ago by Vivint Solar going and we told them to call somebody else. We have other neighbors who have gone with SolarCity or other installers who have surpassed us in the process and all the neighbors who were asking us for opinions are now going with SolarCity. We may start to forget this frustration once we get our solar up and running, but it's been a nightmare with Vivint Solar. They are non-responsive. They're leaving it to their salespeople. And when the salespeople are no longer available, you just don't get serviced. They're not concerned about the customer and we are unsatisfied.

It was also a couple of months before we got our solar panels installed. We had some issues with inspections and the weather. I started looking into it in December. After we got everything on and everything, we still had to wait on inspections and the county inspector had to come on certain days before they could turn everything on. Our appointment wasn’t until February. Other than that, my husband noticed that the kilowatts that we generate have been pretty good with SolarCity. We are happy with the service.

Several reps also gave me different information. They told me that my electric company is Edison but I told them it was San Diego Gas & Electric. And then a couple of reps said they’d call me back but they never did. I was always the one initiating the status update and then I had a female rep argue with me. Overall, I would recommend them, but as far as experience-wise with the staffing, I wouldn't recommend them.

However, I now have two bills with Vivint Solar and we still have our Pepco bill. Vivint Solar takes two separate amounts from my account every month and I don’t like that part. I should have just one consolidated bill. Also, the new bill that’s come on is considerably higher than the old one. I called them the other day and told them that I was trying to figure out why we had two separate bills and why one was so much higher than the other. Their customer service reps were knowledgeable but they cannot merge the two accounts. They said when they put on the second set of panels, that was under a separate account. They also said that the second set of panels were brand-new and it needed some time to build up some energy for that account but they would do an analysis that we wanted them to do.

They also said that the panels are storing up energy and we might see the biggest savings during the winter months. I told them it’s the summer months when we have the air conditioning on when we need the savings. I have savings during the winter months anyway when my gas kicks in. The guy also told me that the bill would probably be higher during the summer because the other bill is also higher during the summer.

But so far, the service has been okay because our utility bill appeared to be less for last year which was the first full year we were into it. A lot of people saw the panels on the house and they stopped and wanted to know how do we like the panels and were they helping, etc. Because of the new set of panels with a higher bill than the old one, we told them we’re not quite sure yet. At this point I'm not sure what’s happening or whether we’re saving anything or not. We'll wait and see. But we like the solar idea. We believe in the program and hope that it’s gonna work for us. We have recommended Vivint Solar to a lot of people.

However, enrolling with Vivint Solar took a long time. The channels of communication seemed to be broken. There were minor organizational things that could be improved and there were a lot of different steps that seemed unnecessary which could easily be fixed on Vivint's side. For example, they gave me a time window for the first inspection where the experts would come and look at the house but nobody showed up. Then somebody called after the window time frame and told me they could not come. The appointment had to be rescheduled. That kind of situation made me a little upset.

Later on, I needed to follow up to move into the next step every single time so that was kinda frustrating. And when the final email that I can already turn the service on came, there were pictures of what to do but the pictures weren't showing. It was just a text. It's technical and I could turn the wrong thing on. I tried to reply to them and call them and they said they can't do anything. I forwarded the email to my rep and he said he can't see the pictures either. To this day, they never responded. These kinda small things made me nervous about the decision before the solar service started. But once it started, there hasn't been any concern. I could not yet see the economic impact because we have to pay the whole year, but so far, so good. I don't have any complaints in terms of interaction with their customer service. The people were decent and nice. They were professional all the time. I'll recommend Vivint Solar but with caution to be patient.

The solar panel installations done by SolarCity or by other solar companies are done in one complete flat surface whereas those done by Vivint, even though as shown in the diagram that there are hold-down clips, they stick up and above the surface of the panels so it looks awful. I begged them to change it. They’re like, “No, no, that’s our mounting system and we don’t do it that way.” I pressed them very hard to get them to fix things. They did and it looks better with the changes they’ve done but it is certainly not the nicest, smooth and clean look that you would see when you drive down the road and you look at a solar installation. I was not being a difficult customer, it was just that it looked horrible and had I gone to court with it, I would’ve had a problem in a courtroom. But that’s not what I wanted to get accomplished.

When I look at my neighbor’s, it looks great. It’s a single, flat plane. It doesn’t look anything like that. They have done a lot of extra work but they still haven’t corrected them. We found a way that we could run all of the conduit into my attic space but if I would have gotten out of the contract with them if I could. I saw on the paper drawing these bonding clips, I figured it’s for electrical bonding or grounding and I had no problem with that but I had no idea these things stick up. When I asked them if we can change the mounting system with the same thing that the Solar City uses, they would not use a different mounting system and they told me, “Oh, that’s proprietary to SolarCity.” It’s not. It’s Vivint's preferred mounting system.

Jim, the territory manager, was awesome. He did a great job but there were other people that were very difficult to deal with and so finally, they were insistent on turning it on. I told Martin, their regional manager, “You’re not turning this on in my property until this is finished.” And he said, “Well, we can’t do the work until it’s on.” I said, “Absolutely not. Why would I go ahead and give you the authorization to go live with this thing then I lose my leverage and I hate to say it that way but that’s really what it comes down to.” If they would put into writing what they were going to do then I would allow them to turn it on live. So they did and got it running live. They got Jim, a contractor for roof work, and he was fantastic. He replaced shingles and did holes into the roof. He was awesome.

It was not a professional set up. I was very disappointed and I was so angry when I saw it and it took me over 8 months to come to an agreement with them to change it. It was installed last August but I finally let them turn it on April of this year. The only reason why I didn’t go with SolarCity is because Vivint was offering a lower rate and I thought I was getting the same system.

I would tell anybody in my street not to go with Vivint and make the mistake I did. I’ve been considering putting it on their website and their Facebook page so that nobody gets ambushed like I did. I was very dissatisfied. They did come back and took care of it but I couldn’t in good faith recommend this to anybody. To this day, if anybody ask me, “Hey, would you use Vivint Solar even though it’s on your roof?” I would tell them, “No, don’t do it. Pay the extra little bit per kilowatt hour and use a different company that has a different mounting system so that it looks nice and clean.”

I’m satisfied with my decision to go solar but I’m very dissatisfied with the process. We began the process in July of a year ago and we met with Bryan and his supervisor Tyler. We went over things and talked about it. Then they drawn out plans for what they'd propose for the panels and that process was very long. Then they finally came back but the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing at the company. There was a lot of runaround between the two. Finally, they said, "Okay. This is approved." But nothing was happening. Then said, "Well, you can't do that because this has to be done." And that went on for a quite a while.

Finally, things got approved and then we were told that before they could do anything with the panels, we have to replace our tar and gravel roof first. And they said, they absolutely would not install on tar and gravel. My parents bought this home brand-new when I was eight years old. So, it's 56 years old. We knew it was within a couple of years of needing to be replaced anyway. So, we went ahead and discussed that process.

The roofing company entered into an agreement with Vivint that they would cover the cost of the roof and write it into the cost to be written into my contract. Then the roofers were scheduled to come and do the roof but at the last minute, the appointment got canceled because Vivint didn't have permits. They rescheduled for a few weeks out but Vivint still didn't have the permits. But I was told at that point that the roofers got permits to do the roofing that had nothing to do with Vivint's permits. So, I was not pleased that we had pushed that back. And then, we had to have our permits closed for the salesperson to get paid. They had to have their payment within a couple of weeks when there was time. And then I found out that the roofers didn't get paid for 45 days. I contacted Vivint and I got a response back saying that they have a process they follow to pay.

We're also trying to get the solar done so that it would be on last year's taxes. But it’s getting pushed back and back and then they would say, "Well, we don't have permits from the city yet." And I finally said, "Why don't you go park yourself on their doorstep and find out why you don't have permits?" They said, "Oh, we don't want to offend them. And this is the first one in Murray that we've done." And I told them, "It's been two months. Go park yourself on their doorsteps." They walked out of there with the permits in hand. And so then, they said, "We're now scheduling three, four weeks out." Which now would mean it would be January before they would install. And I said, "This whole idea was that to get the state and the federal tax credit on this year's taxes." They finally came and then I was told, "Well, as long as they started, you can claim it." But I found out that wasn't true after the fact.

They finally got the panels up after a period of time but they still weren't operational. They told me, "Well, we have to go through this. We have to go through this series of inspections and back to be operational." Then they got somebody out from the city that was going to inspect. Vivint sent the worker out, and the window of time that they were given was that that they would be here somewhere between noon and 4:00 that day. But I found out that the worker who was sent out could only be here 'till 2:00. Otherwise, it would have put him into overtime. At 2:00, he left and didn't say a word to us. The inspector shows up at 3:45 and there's no paperwork so he couldn't do a thing about it. That man had to reschedule again to do the inspection. Then they set that up and got him back out here. He did the inspection and said, "Everything is great. Except as old as this house is... You got to have grounding poles. You don't have any grounding poles on this house." So, that had to be scheduled and the inspector had to be scheduled to come out the third time. We got that done and we passed the inspection.

By this point I have discovered that until I have permission to operate, I can't claim anything solar on my taxes. I know the federal got extended, so that I can claim the federal this year. But I don't know if the state expired at the end of the December. I may have lost the tax credit for the state. I also discovered that you don't get money back. Instead, you get a tax credit against whatever taxes you owe. So if you owe $9,000 in taxes, you can only claim for that year $9,000 towards the credit and it zeros the taxes you owe. There is no money that comes back to you. Only from what taxes you may have already paid. And then if you have more credits, you can claim it the following year. So, by not having the permission to operate, I ended up paying between state and federal taxes last year $4,500. We did not plan on paying anything because we had a couple of things that had to get done as well and we knew we were getting the tax credit. So we had to pull the money out of our retirement which we weren't penalize on but it could have sent a higher tax back.

At this point, we still did not have a permission to operate. All of the inspection was passed but we had to wait for the net meter. And it took several weeks for the net meter and I got notified that it was in and asked to go out and take pictures of it and to send in for verification. So I went out and looked but I didn't think it was a net meter. And it hadn't been installed yet. So I emailed the pictures and said, "I'm positive this is not the net meter. It doesn't look like the picture you sent and this looks very similar to what I already have." Then the day after that, the power company showed up and put the net meter in. By this point we made the first payment to Mosaic who got the contract, without even being live. We went operational towards the middle to end of last month. It took almost a year to complete.

I would recommend Vivint but I would also warn people about the process. I felt I was lied to. And I ended up getting corporate people because I started making phone calls the day the power company showed up and I had no tech here. I knew that he was there when my grandkids came home from school because they said, "Why is the Vivint truck out?" I said, "They're waiting." And then I turned around and there was no truck there. Then I called the power guy who gave me ten minutes of his time before he said, "I can't wait any longer."

And then when asked about, "Well, why didn't they just leave the paper?" I said, "If he had to leave, why not just leave me the paperwork?" Then corporate said, "Well, homeowners might lose it." I thought, I have a doctorate degree and I'm not going to lose paperwork. And then the power company said, "Why didn't they just put it in the panel box like other places do?" And the response is, "Well, it might get stolen." We have two large dogs here. Nobody is going to go into the backyard with the dogs loose. When we know people are coming, I always made sure I was here because of the dogs. I need to kennel the dogs in the house, so that people can work in the yard. The dogs are friendly as can be but scares the daylights out of everybody. This is why I'm always here.

Also, from once the blue states people came out, you have 7 or 14 days in which to do what you had to do. They were supposed to come out and do the grounding lugs but they didn't show up. I was here all day and I knew they had not come. But they didn't bother to tell me they hadn't come either. So I called the next day and said, "Wasn't somebody supposed to be out here yesterday?" And in looking at it, the person who was assigned either still didn't qualify or wasn't qualified to do it. But they didn't tell me a thing. This is the case where the technician just canceled the whole order rather than say something.

All this time my brother is saying I should have gone with the company he went with where the process took less than three months to complete. But I am happy with the panels. We've been up and my last month's electricity bill had a partial month of operation and my bill had dropped down to 60 some dollars. But Vivint definitely needs to work on communication. You don't lie to your customer and leave them in the dark.

Next fiasco: Vivint bills us for $90... FOR THE MONTH THEIR SYSTEM WAS NOT WORKING! Fast forward a few months, system stops producing again. More time online waiting for hours, Tech finally dispatched. Tech says the panel had come loose and needed to be snapped into place. AGAIN WE RECEIVE A BILL FOR THE MONTH IT WAS NOT PRODUCING! We have decided this is our last go-round with Vivint, we will not contact or pay them until they call us and settle to our requests. My advice, do NOT use this company, if you are already stuck with these hacks, STOP PAYING THEM. Cut them off from auto pay, it is the only way they will contact you. We can only hope a class action lawsuit begins soon. They demand payment for not producing power, they ''Estimate'' costs of course always way over cost and in their favor. Their customer service is actually the worst I have ever experienced.

I did have a good experience with Vivint Solar. It's a self-install because they put that little orange plug on it. “Okay. Take the orange plug. Run the power on. Then turn the box on.” But there was a missing piece in the current instructions. It talked about one of the four electric pieces that was not in the instructions. I was worried about that because I didn’t see anything. It didn’t say about the meter. There was supposed to be a net meter in there and then something was done on the Pepco side or with the existing meter.

It showed 50 kilowatts being generated the first three weeks when I had it but then something went out. They had me go to the Wi-Fi box but it seemed to be working okay. The Wi-Fi is a killer for a lot of things but Vivint Solar needs to know when outages occur so they can notify the client as opposed to waiting until the client notify them after checking online to see if they're accumulating anything. I was led to believe that my panel, which I recently installed, would handle all of that from day 1. But, that solar won't be on the Smart panel until sometime in the future. So, there were misconceptions. That was disappointing to my wife because she doesn’t go on the computer all the time. She goes to that panel all the time and look at the cameras.

I had to call in yesterday but I can't get somebody to come until Friday. The system has been out since the 11th so that's five more days of not being operational. I thought everything was okay, but somebody should've came out and work with the new customer, and check everything to make sure everything is operational once you go live. But nobody has been at my house at all to make sure that things were right because they leave it up to the consumer to have that little thing looked at.

The instructions were not up to date based on the pictures that I saw on my new system. Customers need to know that everything is working and Vivint needs to show them. Now, they want me to troubleshoot stuff but I know nothing about the system. That's the bad part about it. Thankfully, I still have Pepco to back up my electricity. It’s a good fallback. If I was relying totally on Vivint and I didn’t have the backup, it would be devastating.

I did 35 years of customer service and I’m passionate with it. And that’s what I expect to get because I always gave it when I had a team of people that were providing service to the consumer. So I expect to get a certain level of customer service from whatever service I'm paying for. When things go wrong, Vivint Solar don’t notify me. I got to go in physically. It's not like my alarm system. I have Vivint alarm for about seven years now that’s why I chose them. I got cameras and all that stuff from Vivint and I can see on my phone but this app is not a phone app. I have to go through Chrome and go to a website to see all the things.

They should be responsive to a current customer so all of that other stuff people are complaining about won't happen to me. The salesman assured me that they’re on top of things. Vivint needs to do a better job after they lock somebody in with how responsive they'd be to people. Solar is a new thing to a lot people and everybody don’t understand it. You leave somebody hanging after the installation and you just tell them, “Keep the switch. Oh, you're up and running now,” but then there's nothing after that.

Basically, they need to improve on when they actually go live with somebody, that there’s somebody that can walk people through what they can expect to see and everything as opposed to a salesman who is out to just make money and lying to people up and everything. The company needs to have somebody going around at least one or two days after that activation to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Also, it would be nice to teach everybody in the house what to look for in case there's a need for troubleshooting. My wife doesn’t know anything about it. I was out of town for seven days and she wouldn't know what to do even if they call her to do that. Try to keep sending the technician out. It's expensive but being in a business, they got to deal with these things. Overall, it looked good and I was pleased with the service over the time it was operational. But today until it’s up and running again, I'm very dissatisfied with them.

The other thing is, it's been almost two months since it's been operational and I haven't seen a bill yet. Their whole billing process is mysterious. They're just completely impersonal. It's like dealing with Bank of America or Citibank or some other impersonal organizations. There's really nobody that’s knowledgeable, capable or competent of providing systems and information. At least the local manager was amazing. He was the only bright spot in the whole project because, despite their system, he really tried to maintain a personal relationship and was empathetic and helpful. Ultimately, when he was released to do the job, he got things done. But it's their corporate structure that’s messed up.

I've talked to other Vivint customers and it's weird when how you have a bad experience, all of a sudden, everybody had the same bad experience. You don’t care if one person says anything good about a company. Vivint is one of those companies where I've never heard anything good about them. Constructively, they can do much better. They have the capability but they just need to get their act together and really develop personal relationships, and that’s where they're weakest on. So here's the challenge. Like most corporate organizations, nobody’s going to say the king has no clothes. Regardless of what feedback you give them, I would be highly impressed if they were able to make an effective change. Typically, when it starts from the top of management, nobody better say anything. Good luck with that.

It's been turned on a little while a couple of weeks ago and they were very professional installing it. The prices have gone up once since I got it. But they have to bring in electricity from out of state. I'm going to be satisfied if my rates are lower because I have to look out for myself and it's a big house but I'm okay with it. Some of the neighbors were saying it's not a good deal. One neighbor even cussed them out and shooed them off. It was terrible, but they thought they were taking advantage of a poor old lady like I'm stupid. They think I have dementia but I think I did the right thing and I've mentioned it to several friends.

The people from Vivint Solar came in, installed the system on the roof, got all the mirrors bearing it and I never heard back from them for two weeks. They had to have an inspector come out to check the system. I was a little upset because I had to call in to get that done. They didn’t follow up with me on it. And it just got done recently. I know I paid my first bill with them but I’m getting bills from SDG&E and I find it hard to believe that I used more than what I got in the solar system, so I’m a little confused on that process. I got a bill from them for $2.47 and another one for $11 and another one for $22 and it says "don’t pay this debt." I don’t know what the hell any of that means or why I am even getting billed from them because Vivint Solar has set the system up and it was based on my usage. My assumption is that I will be paying them for my energy and for the solar.

I’m trying to figure it out by checking. It might have been the transition in the middle of the month from solar to SDG&E, so I can tell them that. I’m giving it a couple of months until the billing works out. I thought I was clear on whatever was explained to me, but I’m not clear to getting conflicting things here. The install, no out of pocket money install, is essentially covered. Free install. I understand Vivint Solar gets the solar credit which covers the cost of the unit installed, but my understanding is I’ll be paying 16 cents kilowatt hour.

They average my bill for a year to figure out what I would pay but the last bill I got was $89 and I’m trying to figure out was that when I used in solar or is there a lease. I assume it’s a lease on paying a certain monthly fee plus whatever I use in solar which I wasn’t cool with sky lighting roof at home because I asked them several times ago, “So 16 cents kilowatt hour?” “Yeah, oh yeah.” I’m still working through that, but it’s still cheaper than the SDG&E by half, so I’m not too upset about it. The rep cleared that it's a monthly lease plus the cost of the solar.

I was a little hard on their customer service because of some of the corporate policies that were set but it wasn't their fault and they were really good. There's still stuff that hasn't been completed, like when we actually have to build a wall to move the house. I did the wall and they came in and painted it. First, they only painted the front rather than just paint the back side of it. Then, they had to come back and change out some sizing and wiring. They still got sections and the pipe is not painted alongside the house. So some of the finished stuff has not been completely finished.

I had somebody come and knock on the door one day and asked if I am interested in solar. They didn’t see it and so I told her we already had it. She asked me how I like it and that’s my complaint because that’s my experience and it was one of the draws that took us to Vivint. The other thing is that the other company was fairly new and warranty-wise, we thought it's a little bit comfortable. The warranty was comparable but when you're looking at this other company that’s fairly new, you wanna go with somebody who's been around. Also, my neighbors talked about how great their experience has been. But now, looking around through my neighborhood, there are a lot of my neighbors advertising for and recommending the other company. They're really pleased with them and I haven't seen any Vivint advertisement for a while.

Their customer service team called up on time, made arrangements when the techs were gonna be there, and they were exactly there at that time. It was very good. They were excellent. Also, It's new technology and my wife says, "Nah, nah. I don't want that," but when she got the bill, she's happy. Last month's bill from LIPA, now PSE&G, was $33 and Vivint was another $45, so $80 for the month, which normally would be over $200 before. It was a great experience and the people were knowledgeable. The product is up-to-date and the installers were great. I've been telling everybody about Vivint Solar.

Loss mitigation transferred me to another rep who was supposed to help me log in to my account online since that's never done, so I can start paying my current bills and receive them via email. Oh, but guess what, the system won't let me (I still have the rep on the phone with me BTW) and she is clueless. We try several different ways to access and several numbers, nothing works. So I get transferred to someone else and he wants to review my account and call me back tomorrow.

Since my last phone call, I did receive an invoice (I thought they were paperless billing) and a certified letter notification to pick up mail from the post office from them. Wow... They don't talk to new customers or let them know what I had signed up for or a courtesy call for a whole year and 6 months but by darn they do hunt you down when you owe them money. That's poor business. A week later (today), I call them back since no one called me back. That's poor business.

So for the 4th time I have now ended my call with Vivint Solar, made a large good faith payment, and still no one understands why I cannot access an account that I have 2 numbers to. I now have two accounts. My "paper" invoice had the wrong installation address and they do make sure to highlight in different markers all the words in your invoice. I had two dates of billing on Jan and Feb of 2016. I have gone nowhere but spent about 4 hours of telephone time with them. I'm quite sure I spoke to the same lady as last week who was supposed to send me a copy of my transfer agreement and never did. So when I said, "Hey I think I spoke to you last week, same name and voice." She replied with "Oh ya there's another lady by that name here and she sounds like me." She told me I signed documents in january. Well I purchased my home in November and there is no possible way.

They just continue to pass you around. So disappointing. This new lady promised to send me a copy of that transfer today just like that lady did last week. So let's see... All I want is a little courtesy credit since I will be stuck with them for another 15 years, and to log into my account to make current up to date payments. They're unaccountable and negligent... Horrible service.

We are a little upset about that, so I told the young lady that if this is not resolved by the end of the month, we are going to have them pull the solar panels because it's a breach of contract to us. They promised us one thing and we're not getting that promise. So, why should we continue to stay with Vivint when we can go to another company? So far, they have not given us a time as to when they will resolve this.

I'm also sure panels will be more sophisticated in the future. I was told I would save over 30%. Not the case at all! We are paying more than ever. When you complain to the company they don't take you seriously and are not willing to work with you. I feel deceived and scammed. Get these panels and you're stuck in your own home with no way out!!

The other thing is that if you have from Solar America or you're leasing the panels from somebody, the person buying your house has to qualify through them. But with Vivint, the people buying my house don't have to qualify. There's no credit check and if they don't want it, they're gonna come and take it. But why wouldn't they want it when they're getting free electricity that they don't have to qualify for? It's the same thing for renters.

The agreement is that I will purchase my electricity through them. I allow them to use my roof to generate the electricity. In the state of California, the Governor signed a bill and there is two or four billion that they have set for solar panels, alternative means of power. What I was told that happens is Vivint does whatever they do and gets the panels for free through the state. They install the panels on your roof and don't charge you to install so long as you buy the electricity from them, which is fine. In California, they have three different tiers and I've always been in Tier 3 but with Vivint, my guaranteed pricing is in Tier 1 or lower. For 20 years, like everybody else, I'll do my stuff through them and they maintain it. Then, the extra energy gets put back in the system but since I'm not a supplier, they're not gonna turn around. I doubt if you're ever gonna get a bill and that Southern California Edison is gonna cut anybody a check.

They went over my yearly bill and found out how many kilowatts I use. I use a lot of kilowatts but not on purpose. The house is big and it has two air conditioning units, a swimming pool and a water feature that has a water slide and a waterfall, so during the summer and the hot months, the kids always have everything going but I try and limit the AC.

The amount they offered me was double because the system that I have is so big. I have 36 panels and that's a lot. They do an inspection and make sure that the roof is strong enough to support it. The money is supposed to help people if they have an older house and there might be some work that needs to be done structurally on the inside up in the attic to help reinforce it so it will be structurally sound to hold up or take care of the solar panels. My house is under 10 years old and brand-new built so I didn't have to but the money's there anyway. The funny part was I got a check for $750 because they didn't have to use the money for reinforcing structurally inside my house. Also, if for some reason the roof becomes damaged any time during this, there's a $10-Million policy that covers everything which is amazing in itself because I don’t own anything that could add up to $10 million.

It's also tough to tell them no when they came out and they're there the whole time. They're also very professional in the way they come out, talk to you and go over everything. Somebody came out, looked at my roof and marked out where all of the vents and stuff like that that I have on my roof. Then, when the guy came to finally talk to me about the install and what to expect, they have a whole computer-generated outline of the house, where all the vents are, where the panels are going and how they're gonna set them up. They also kept me informed and they're there on the days that they said they're gonna be. Everything seemed really professional to me and gave me that sense like they know what they're doing so it seems like a good thing.

My first bill from them for the month was $142. From day one, even before I had my pool, my bill was never this low. I'm pretty excited about it. Also, they told me about the mistakes that people make. They go under the misconception that now that they have solar, they can leave everything on. But that's not the case because, ideally, when I use solar during the day, I try and make sure everything's off that I don't need to use. What happens then is my electric panel is spinning backward like winding a clock up and putting credit on my bill. Then, at night time or when the sun's gone, I start using power through Edison again. That way, I'm only using what I generated during the day so it's like a wash and I don't have to worry about anything like paying the electric company. This is pretty cool.

My wife had gone on to the ConsumerAffairs website and there's a lot of people that have negative listings. One of them was saying be careful because Vivint puts a lien on your house. But if you look at their contract, it's in big and bold lettering that they do not. There's no reason for them to and they don't have to because you're not buying or leasing the panels. I asked the Solar guy about that and he said some people were upset and got irritated because they didn't get a phone call right away so they decided to put a negative comment. But I'm extremely happy and so is the wife. I don't think I could be happier with them.

Then, when my system was activated, I got a phone call within two hours telling me I had a bill and that I needed to respond immediately to pay the bill. I spoke to a representative and they gave a lot of verbiage and justification and that they made an assumption of what the bill would have been based on my consumed usage. The rep was trying to fast-sell me like a car salesman, so I expressed to him that I don't care how the error was made but I would like it fixed. It was for $3 or $4 and very minimal, but it's not the amount of the bill. It was the fact that I turned my system on for less than 24 hours and I'm getting a call as if I'm a delinquent bill payer. Now I have to watch my credit report to find out if this is something that's been reported to my credit report.

But I'm satisfied that I'd gone solar. If I'd had the capital to do it and own the system, I would have gone that way. Everything has been installed and gone well. But PNM, a public utility here in New Mexico, took a long time to come and turn it on and put my digital meter in. It was already six weeks after the system was built and ready to go before we could start using it. Then, they say that they're backed up by so many people going solar, which I suppose can be true. Also, I pay a much lower rate than I would pay for my local utility company. So I save money but in the spring of summer months, it's gonna produce a lot more electricity than it will in the winter months because of the amount of sunlight. So my bills will be higher in spring and summer and I'm not really benefitting as well as if I'm paying for electricity. But if that's pretty much what I need to use, then it's no big deal and I've only had one bill so far and it was about $30 less than what I would pay PNM.

In the long run, I'm still gonna save money and I'm happy to be using solar power versus coal. I think using sustainable and renewable energy is a good thing and that was part of my decision to go solar even though I don't own the system. The upside of not owning is that I don't have to maintain the system so if something breaks or something needs to be replaced, that's Vivint's responsibility and I didn't have to go out-of-pocket whatever it costs to own the system. Also, there hasn't been anything that I've had to have them come out and fix either. I'm waiting to find out how responsive they are to that but my customer service has been good so far.

The system was just turned on not even a week ago. I'm very, very curious to see how the system actually works to see how I'm gonna get billed and to see if it's true that I am gonna get big savings. I would truly recommend them based on the people that installed them and based on the sales staff who've been very informative.

The installation process was smooth and to get everything turned on was just a couple of months when I was anticipating it to take about six. I was the one who had a couple of hesitations because it was a big decision. We have a lot of equipment in our house now that doesn’t exactly belong to us so that made me nervous. But we just got our first bill from Vivint and PECO and it’s about half than it previously was. So when it comes down to the money, we are very pleased with it. We have a neighbor behind us who was asking about the solar panels and I've recommended Vivint.

Enrollment was easy. We went through different documents that I have to sign off on and give information and they dealt with the town as far as permits go and inspections. I really didn't have to get involve that much. Their reps were very good and very responsive. They do what they say they're going to do. It's an alternate way to help the environment, alternate energy source and I was very happy with the installation. They did a very neat job and it blends right into the house. Overall, it was a very positive experience and pain-free.

After finally getting the panels activated I started to notice that there are days where again the panels aren't producing anything. March 30th after several calls to the tech support they determined that my inverter had a fault. I was told that the panels are producing power but for some reason it's not communicating with the system. Which also means the panels are not communicating with my electricity provider. I asked if they monitor the system for these types of faults and was told that they do monitor but their response time frame is normally 1 month. So I was encouraged to continue to monitor my system on a regular basis. I was also told that a tech couldn't come to my house for 2 weeks April 13th. That's a total of 4 weeks of ZERO SOLAR PRODUCTION on a system that is only 6 weeks old.

I called Freddy again in hopes that he could fix it somehow. He came right over the next day but was unable to fix it. He said that my internet connection may be to blame. So we rebooted the router and crossed our fingers to no avail. He contacted Vivint Support to get me expedited also to my avail. The ironic thing is that the first payment is on April 15th and my system hasn't worked for a full month.

The other thing was that they forgot to tell my HOA, that they were going to install the system. So the HOA was giving me a little hassle about the solar system being up when I was going through a process. And Vivint said they would take care of that. Other than those, I’m very happy with the system. It's very nice so far and it looks like it’s working okay and I’m generating more energy than I’m using so that’s a good thing. I’m very satisfied.

All of this sounded wonderful!! But unfortunately every single thing was a lie!! We are paying Vivint .18 cents per KW!! No $5,000.00 check, roof still not fixed, and worst of all a 20-year agreement!! I was just recently informed that Vivint Solar cannot place panels on my residence unless the panels will save the homeowner money, and we are not saving .1 cent!! Also I was recently informed that we in fact should have received a $5,000.00 rebate check from the state but Vivint Solar misled us so they can receive it! What Vivint Solar is doing to us is complete negligence and against the law! My hope is that Governor Cuomo will prevent Vivint Solar from doing business in NY state sooner rather than later so this will stop happening to hardworking families that are trying to do the right thing!

I also ran out of patience waiting for them to complete the job, so I called the customer service several times because I couldn't get in touch with my case person. Their customer service then got in touch with the people working on my case. In the beginning, I was excited about Vivint Solar and I was telling everybody about them. But after my experience, the conversation changed to something else totally. And after going solar, my bill still goes over $1,000 because winter has been extremely cold, but I'm hoping that next year, I would see a big difference.

Overall, the program's good, but I don't think they were prepared very well. I think I was misled a little bit along the way on things, that it would be a lot speedier to get it up and running. There were a lot of delays along the way. The solar energy system got installed fairly quickly, but it took about 10 months to get it all up and running. They were saying that there were some problems with PNM, but I think Vivint Solar over sold. They weren't ready for the response and weren't set up to handle things efficiently. I have spoken to their customer service team and the girl who we dealt with was very good. She was trying her best. There was a lot of confusion but she was as helpful as she could be with what she has to work with.

I understand that it's a new startup and it's to their advantage to get these things up and running. I won't fault them for that but I think a lot of people would not be very understanding. I know I recommended several people to them and one person is not too understanding about it. Nevertheless, I'm very satisfied with my decision to go solar. I haven't had a full month bill yet so I'm still assessing it but overall, I'm glad that it's up and running.

So far, everything's turned out to be pretty good. We only had a 20F box and we needed a 30F. They've installed a different electrical box, and it didn't cost me a penny. They also explained that in our area, gas or electric energy has different rates at different times of the year or hours of the day, depending on how much demand there is for electricity, but my rates are going to be pretty much set at about $0.08 per kilowatt-hour. I talked to a rep named Pat because he was our contact in having the electrical box changed and in setting up appointments, and it was good with him. We usually communicated through email. When I would send him an email, he would reply within a day or two, so it was quick and I was happy with that.

Overall, it was easy with Vivint Solar. They took care of most of the paperwork, including getting the permit. I would highly recommend them. In fact, I've recommended them to a couple of my relatives. One lives in Temecula and he had a look into it. He's a computer geek and really knowledgeable about solar energy. Then I have another relative whose house burnt down and is being reconstructed now, so I told him to contact Vivint and get an estimate to see what it will cost him to get a solar system.

I tried calling them again and they said they would call back later or that I would have to call back later because they were closed. Now, I don't know whether I'm saving money or not because the inverter doesn't tell me how much it's producing. Lastly, I tried to call change my date to pay the loan because I wanted to pay it off early yet they wouldn't even work with me on that.

After services were active and things I thought was going well then we had an outage from National Grid for about 2 hours. I thought having solar and power was out I would be the only person on the block with electricity. I guess I was wrong. I call Vivint to find out how come the battery back up didn't kick in and that's when I was told that there is no battery back up with their system. I express my opinion and hang up. I was not told that there was no battery back until my first outage. I was very upset and would not recommend Vivint to anyone who is looking into solar. My neighbor had Solar City put in and I went over to look at his system and they produce more energy than mine and they have a battery back up in case there was a power outage.

I am very disappointed with Vivint. So far we had several outage in the area and I had to pull out my generator to get power into my house. Also there is no saving when it comes to my bills between Vivint and my National Grid bill. It cost me more having Vivint. I just want to go back to National Grid. At least I'm paying $.08 pKw with them and Vivint charging me $.09 pKw. How can I cancel my services with Vivint Solar Co? It's like they put these panels on my roof and feeding all energy produce to my power company and charging me for it when they should be helping me save. Can someone help get out of this mess? Thank you.

The guy from Vivint told us a couple of things that didn't pan out. My wife is still annoyed because they tell you that if you refer somebody and they get their solar installed, that they give you a $250. Now my neighbor's been trying to get in touch with him and he hasn't returned her call and my wife keeps asking and they tell her that she has to speak to him. I don't know what's going on with that but we haven't heard from him since he sold it to us. It's been a headache from day one. They said that I have no internet connection with them but they're still charging me. So I don't even know if that has anything to do with that and this has been almost two months now and they're finally sending somebody on the 31st of this month. If I was gonna refer a solar company to somebody, I would not refer them.

The workers were very courteous and explained everything to me, too. Some people when they come to your house and they’re working, they would ask why are you asking them questions. But I was very pleased with Vivint's workers and everything is working fine so far. I have no problems and no one else in the house has made any complaint. Everything is doing great. I’m so satisfied that I’m looking around to see if I have some other people who I can introduce to solar. I have a brother-in-law who just bought a house a couple of blocks away from me and he’s in the process of moving in. I plan to check with Vivint so that I could show him what I am paying now and what I was paying before.

They came up and put the panels on the roof. Then it has to be approved by the county. We live in Howard County, Maryland and we had the Howard County Consumer Affairs Board involved. They were mediating between us and Vivint for a while because we weren’t making any progress. The rep left and though our account has been assigned to a new rep, we fell into like a black hole and we had no communication for some time. It was just a bad experience all around. The ball was dropped several times and it was just a very messed up process.

They finally got the system up and running about a month ago. Then I received another call from Vivint saying we're not completely online and they're gonna send a rep to check out the system. I specifically asked would they need to come in the house to do that and I was told no - it was something at the box outside. The day came and I got a call telling me that they need to get inside the house. I work 45 minutes away from where I live, so I’m not there.

I rescheduled for Saturday in the morning where I could be at home, but they don’t have reps that go out or techs in the Maryland market that work on Saturdays. So I told them if it’s going to be during the week, it has to be first thing in the morning. So I was home waiting for them at 8 o’clock because I was told 8 o’clock, the rep would be there. 8:30 rolls around but the rep still didn’t show up. So, I called Vivint Solar and told them the rep's not here. They said they had the service in a window from 8:00-11:00. I told them I was very specific that that would not work for me. I have to be at the first appointment in the morning because I had to work. And so they rescheduled it again. It got to the point where we just wanted to get the panels removed and get out of the contract. But that wasn’t an option and we were told we can’t do that. So what they did is they settled. They cut us a check for $1000 for all of our trouble.

What has been happening is total incompetence. I understand as I’ve worked for a large company, too, but it’s the repetitive breakdown in communication or misinformation. And it started from the very beginning, from the sales person not properly trained to really set the expectations of how long the process should take so we’d realize when we signed up that it might take a few months. My wife, Ashley, was the one who was handling this process at first, but she got so frustrated that she refuses to have any dealings with them at all. It became a very confrontational situation between her and Vivint and that’s why I’ve been handling it since then.