01/06/2021
Mitch R.
Escondido, CA
BAKER SOLAR CAN BECOME YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!! THEY CERTAINLY BECAME MINE IN 2020!! I did my research to a reasonable degree and concluded that Baker Solar sounded like the best choice for solar. They “sounded” that way because the salesman, Donald I., made false and inaccurate statements to us when we were in his presentation. Specifically, he assured us that our new Baker Solar system would be “monitored” 24/7 and even if some leaves covered a portion of 1 panel and it failed to produce properly, their company would immediately notify us and we or they could address the issue. THAT IS A LIE! Baker Solar DOES NOT HAVE EVEN ONE PERSON OR ANY IN-HOUSE SYSTEM THAT WATCHES ANY OF THEIR SYSTEMS. At that time we did not know that, so we signed the contract and Baker designed and installed our $52,000 system. All appeared to be doing well until this past December when we received a final adjusted bill from SDG&E for $3,800! When we called Baker to ask for their help in understanding how this could be, They tried to communicate with our solar system from their office but could not….the system was broken. IN FACT, AS WE ULTIMATELY FOUND OUT, IT HAD BEEN COMPLETELY BROKEN AND COMPLETELY INNOPERATIVE SINCE JULY 2020! 4 MONTHS AND NOT A WORD FROM BAKER SOLAR! So they sent a technician, who found that their 60amp breaker had EXPLODED, CAUGHT FIRE inside our electric panel and had destroyed several other breakers for our house. I have what is left of those breakers….which is not much! WE ARE BLESSED THAT OUR HOUSE DID NOT CATCH FIRE AND BURN BECAUSE OUR ELECTRIC PANEL IS IN THE PANTRY OF OUR HOME….RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING FLAMABLE. The original technician replaced their solar breaker but did not have a clue as to why the explosion and fire took place. I WAS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THEIR LACK OF AN EXPLANATION AS TO HOW THEIR SYSTEM HAD FAILED SO SPECTUCULARLY. So they sent a second technician. He cleaned the contacts a little but he did not know why the system caught fire and stopped working….maybe a bad breaker he told us. But the third technician never even came to our home…he just looked over the reports of the previous two technicians and declared it was absolutely an oxidized (corroded) bus bar…end of story….close out the complaint….nothing more going on here! Except he forgot to factor in the fact that I spent my entire working career as a master metallurgist and his explanation was totally bogus and untrue. I called him out on it and explained why he was wrong, but he never responded. So I ASKED BAKER SOLAR TO CHANGE THE LOCATION OF THEIR 60 AMP BREAKER TO THE OUTSIDE LOCATION WHERE THE REST OF THEIR SYSTEM IS LOCATED. FOR TWO WEEKS THEY TOLD ME THAT WHAT I WANTED WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN AND THEY WERE NOT GOING TO DO IT WITHOUT CHARGING ME! I am no electrician but I had to tell them how it was easily possible to do. Finally they came out and did what I had asked for. It took 1 man 30 minutes to make the correction.
Mitch R. reply
01/06/2022
Baker Electric responded to the customer on 1/6 at 6:14 pm with the following message:
Dear Mitch,
We are sorry to hear you are not satisfied with the service we provided. The failed breaker has been replaced and your system is properly operating again. Despite the production loss, your home consumed an estimated 4,500 kWh's of energy beyond what the system was designed for (the systems designed production was 106% of prior year's consumption, the 2020 total consumption was 129% over 2019). If requested, our Service Manager, whom you have been in direct contact with, is willing to continue to assist you with consumption analysis in the home. We appreciate your business and look forward to a resolution as our intention is to always provide excellent customer service.