Richard | Oceanside, California | 11/07/2020
Run! Don’t Walk!
Let them into my home and it was a ride from day one….When the sales rep arrived at my home he offered a free estimate. (sounds good), but it required a roof inspection (sounds reasonable) so I agreed. But he was adamant that I sign “an authorization to inspect” on the spot. It was late and I really just wanted to start my night, but sure… (thinking it was a one page release). Nope… it was a full on engagement contract. **red flag #1**; I’m too tired to read this and, as I never sign without reading, it would have to wait - so I tell him to email it to me and I’ll loop back tomorrow. He didn’t like that answer, so he reiterated (multiple times) that it was nothing more than an authorization to inspect the roof and if I don’t sign it, he can’t schedule the inspection. **red flag #2**; I took another quick look at the multi-page engagement contract and said, “Then I thank you for your time, but I’m not signing something without reading it and I’m not reading it right now”… he persisted to the point I was near showing him the door (**red flag #3) when he decided to call his manager **red flag #4**; his manager essentially repeats the same thing over the phone, but added “you can cancel after the inspection if you decide to not move forward – no questions asked”. Now -- That’s some timeshare nonsense that I have zero interest in participating in.… **red flag #5**. I repeated my position but guess that my tone made the point, so he committed to send them via email. As agreed, we got the document via docusign but after reading it – as I expected – it was a lot more than an inspection authorization **red flag #6**. I had no intention of signing an engagement contract when I haven’t even received a site plan or a quote. Regardless, the inspection was done and we did get the site plan and then the proposal. We had a few questions, so some back and forth but at no time did anyone approve the project to move forward either verbally or in writing (at lease intentionally). A month later we get an email from SDG&E informing us that our application for interconnection has been received and it had Empire Solar’s (the would be installer) name on it. – what application? Who submitted an application? Sure wasn’t us. **red flag #7** at this point, there was zero chance Simple Energy or the installer (Empire Solar) were getting the deal and I knew the app would eventually die off without certain other steps that wouldn’t happen, so we simply moved on with the other providers. They looped back later so we told them we wouldn’t be moving forward with them – just to put it to bed cleanly. Two months later – we got a statement from a lending company informing us that we had a fully executed loan and that our first payment was coming due. A loan for a project that was never approved nor completed. Were getting it cleared up but i highly recommend that you stick to installers that have control of the process from start to finish to avoid the "not it!" conversation.
