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Signature Solar disappointing service

SS should not require receipt of the damaged battery prior to shipping. It should already be shipped with a call tag for the damaged unit.
Customer should not have to wait for SS to get their head out of their ass to do the right thing.
This reflects very poorly on SS. I was close to making a purchase from SS but will now look elsewhere. I have no tolerance for bad customer service. The only thing they have to sell is customer service. If it is not reliable, then they have nothing worth selling. Everything else is from China. The only reason to buy from SS is that they could be a buffer between US and China, so we could avoid poor Chinese customer service. So at this point there is little risk in buying directly from china, from the way this sounds.

I believe the only remedy SS could present to change this perception, is a no questions asked replacement policy for 90 days. You call SS they send a call tag for old unit, and ship new unit immediately. They deal with whatever is the issue, and if repairable, they sell the repaired unit clearly identifying it as a repaired unit to consumers, but at a lower price.

Just an idea for consideration!
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
Problems like this are very difficult. When there is an issue that is clearly shipping related and it is accepted upon delivery it leaves us in an unwinnable situation.
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Ben, keeping your reputation is a win.

Do the right thing for the customer and the profits will follow.

A business who defines a win by the amount of profit they make off a customer will not be a business for long.
 
McRod said:
Ben, keeping your reputation is a win.

Do the right thing for the customer and the profits will follow.

A business who defines a win by the amount of profit they make off a customer will not be a business for long.
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Well said. And SS agrees completely. Which is the reason we have policies like the the 1st strike, where we take care of the first equipment failure due to user error at no cost. I learned some new information since I made that comment in regard to Asymair95's situation. We made mistakes on our end that prolonged the issue and resulted in frustrations that could have been completely avoided. This was a learning opportunity within our process and we will be making the necessary changes to get better.
 
McRod said:
@RichardFromEG4 assured me they do. Said they even have a white paper on it.
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I always thought they had a different bms and they weren't able to communicate. In fact, i know that was the case but maybe they have a firmware update or something that has fixed that problem.

Ben did just say that he didn't recommend combining the two so maybe he can offer details and clarification.
 
Koldsimer said:
well shoot.... just when i thought we were all on the same page
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I would like to see exactly what was said in that conversation. The batteries are the same internally and can certainly run in the same system, and you can communicate with the batteries individually. But full BMS communication isn't available when mixing the two. EG4 may be working on a fix for this for the future, but I don't know everything that they currently have in the works.
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
There are certain things that we are not allowed to comment on in regard to wiring for liability reasons. We can only assist between PV input and A/C output on the inverter.
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My question was very simple and just clarifying what is indicated in the manual... Just what Filterguy mentioned in other topic, product may not be flawed, but manual is... Well tech support or service, let it speak for itself whatever members said in this forum. Consistent pattern here... That reflects the kind of company.
 
After reading this thread, it seems to me that Asymair95 will still be waiting for SS to make thing right if he did not post the issue on this forum, I wonder how other people that do not know about this forum are still waiting for SS to make it right for customer.
Since SS already have the pictures of the damaged goods, why don't SS ship out the new batteries now? Why does SS have to wait until SS gets the damaged battery back?
 
Bud Martin said:
After reading this thread, it seems to me that Asymair95 will still be waiting for SS to make thing right if he did not post the issue on this forum, I wonder how other people that do not know about this forum are still waiting for SS to make it right for customer.
Since SS already have the pictures of the damaged goods, why don't SS ship out the new batteries now? Why does SS have to wait until SS gets the damaged battery back?
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My thinking as well. Seems like from what we read here, SS dragged the OP through the ringer, hoping he would go away.

This is not customer service here on the forum, this is CYA. Hats off but shame that the OP had to go this route.

Like Bud said, when you see one cockroach you can assume there are many more.
 
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Our goal is to get better everyday and to resolve issues as efficiently as possible. I know there are issues that fall through the cracks and one of the main reasons i come to the forum is to try to catch things that have been missed. We're human and we make mistakes. I know that is always going to make us a target, but I accept that because when something like the OPs problem pops up we want to get it taken care of. Confidence can't be regained over night through a forum, I just hope those of you who have purchased through us know that we are here to help every way we can. We are working hard to get more techs trained to make the support process better. I'm sure I'll catch some grief from this post but I just want people to know that we're in this together. We want to help
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
Our goal is to get better everyday and to resolve issues as efficiently as possible. I know there are issues that fall through the cracks and one of the main reasons i come to the forum is to try to catch things that have been missed. We're human and we make mistakes. I know that is always going to make us a target, but I accept that because when something like the OPs problem pops up we want to get it taken care of. Confidence can't be regained over night through a forum, I just hope those of you who have purchased through us know that we are here to help every way we can. We are working hard to get more techs trained to make the support process better. I'm sure I'll catch some grief from this post but I just want people to know that we're in this together. We want to help
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I do not know what position you hold at SS, but how often do you look unto the customer service department to catch the mistake?
So how are you going to find out if things have fell through the crack at SS, just curious? I hope it is not going to be like 7 weeks like this case before you realize what is going on in your company.
How does the customer get the attention from the top management instead of trying to get through the Customer service run around?
As I indicate, if you did not see the issue posted in this forum, you will never know what is going on in your company until someone post in the forum.
I do hope you will improve on catching mistake so your business will do well.
May be you can create fake customer purchase # without the customer service knowing and then you call into your customer service about shipping damaged issue you have like OP has gone through and see how they handle it, otherwise how would you know how good/bad the customer service is doing.
 
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Bud Martin said:
I do not know what position you hold at SS, but how often do you look unto the customer service department to catch the mistake?
So how are you going to find out if things have fell through the crack at SS, just curious? I hope it is not going to be like 7 weeks like this case before you realize what is going on in your company.
How does the customer get the attention from the top management instead of trying to get through the Customer service run around?
As I indicate, if you did not see the issue posted in this forum, you will never know what is going on in your company until someone post in the forum.
I do hope you will improve on catching mistake so your business will do well.
May be you can create fake customer purchase # without the customer service knowing and then you call into your customer service about shipping damaged issue you have like OP has gone through and see how they handle it, otherwise how would you know how good/bad the customer service is doing.
Click to expand...
We have expanded our ticketing system to be able to better track these oversights. Now there are alerts that are visible from multiple departments when an issue goes 72 hrs without progressing. This will help make sure its seen before we get to this point. It's still new but we're learning it quickly.
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
We have expanded our ticketing system to be able to better track these oversights. Now there are alerts that are visible from multiple departments when an issue goes 72 hrs without progressing. This will help make sure its seen before we get to this point. It's still new but we're learning it quickly.
Click to expand...
I hope that it will work out, time will tell.
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
We have expanded our ticketing system to be able to better track these oversights. Now there are alerts that are visible from multiple departments when an issue goes 72 hrs without progressing. This will help make sure its seen before we get to this point. It's still new but we're learning it quickly.
Click to expand...
I am no expert, but your sentiment conveys your willingness to improve. I hope that your company management has the wisdom to give you the authority to convert your good intentions into actions, that hopefully will reflect a better customer service experience, by those who are willing to place their trust in your company.

I for one was driven to your company by the diy will prowse videos - and i am hoping that you can live up to expectations.

My motto of a good company with which to do business is a company that
UNDER PROMISES but OVER DELIVERS

Make our lives easier, because we are already struggling to exist, if you make it easier,
we as customers will be loyal, and we will drive our friends to do business with you!

Please make it happen!
 
I use to think that Forums had separate sub forums for vendors just because the forum owner wanted to make some extra cash and keep away the product peddlers that were just there for a free promotion.

This whole SS service thing has taught an old dog a new trick.
The even bigger benefit is that sub forums give a company no where to hide.
I always noticed that some companies had thriving forum sections and others no matter how big the company is/was are soon dead.

No where to hide means as soon as a newbie is interested in a piece of gear he goes straight for the company sub forum and is greeted by either constructive lively and sharing posts or he is greeted with pages full of complaints. The companies with a massive collection of complaints tend to fade away quickly and the forum as a whole becomes self cleansing and the forum more popular due to new members typically being steered to the best companies because all the Data on them is in one spot.
 
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Maybe Signature Solar can create a dedicated delivery team?

I would think that an in-house delivery team (or maybe a third-party dedicated team, I'm not sure) are trained in the proper handling of the products, more so if you are shipping bulky and heavy products such as solar panels and rack batteries.

Sure you can return it if it's damaged, but what a hassle that would be! And the excitement factor gone ?

I'm not sure though if it's practicable in the U.S, given its size.
 
chess-equality said:
Maybe Signature Solar can create a dedicated delivery team?

I would think that an in-house delivery team (or maybe a third-party dedicated team, I'm not sure) are trained in the proper handling of the products, more so if you are shipping bulky and heavy products such as solar panels and rack batteries.

Sure you can return it if it's damaged, but what a hassle that would be! And the excitement factor gone ?

I'm not sure though if it's practicable in the U.S, given its size.
Click to expand...

There have been discussions about this before, see:

diysolarforum.com

Signature Solar wins... I lose.

[Mod note: if you are not directly involved in this situation, please read through the thread before reflexively commenting (or at least the OP and this series of replies of comments from Richard of Signature Solar), many people are making non constructive demands for refund on OP's behalf not...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com


Bottom line, if you want low prices, shipping options are tight right now in the USA. Capacity, fuel prices, finding workers, especially competent forklift operators, etc.

Freight companies are reluctant to take on the liability to ship fragile items (like solar panels) when they are have trouble keeping up with demand on regular shipments. To get that kind of service, you will have to pay for it.

Signature has found it easier and less expensive to just allow customer to keep damage panels and refund if it is fewer than 4 panels to replace.

So they recommend purchasing more panels than you need.

I placed an order over the phone and that policy was not mentioned. I had two panels damaged and was offered a prorated refund or credit. To order more, the minimum order was 10 panels.

I decided to get the additional panels and see if I can use them. If I can’t use all of them now, I will have spares and maybe find future projects for them.

With the prices Signature offers, this inconvenience is worth it for me.
 
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