Advice for Signature Solar

Most of us buy from Signature Solar because they are USA based and they tout "Real Texas Based Support". However, anyone that has sent messages to Signature Solar tech support knows that they don't respond. If you call Signature Solar support, you will be on hold for a long time. You can choose the option to get a call back, but that call back will be in several hours. The people that do answer the phones DO NOT know what they are doing. They only give you things to try which seem to come from the manual. Even Tier 2 support is lacking. Basically, the products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support.

I used to run technical support for one of the major banks of the northern hemisphere. I had way, way more clients to deal with than Signature Solar and my support team was relatively small. Based on my experience, I recommend that Signature Solar does the following;

1) Implement any CRM system. You can even do a simple spreadsheet if necessary. Use this to be certain to keep in contact with customers. Each open support ticket should receive contact daily, even if it is an automated text stating the resolution stage.
2) Split up the tier one and tier 2 tech support folks to have a specialty - One for batteries, one for EG4 Inverters, etc. Have a tech support "Person" answer the phone to determine which group to route the call to and/or take a number to call back.
3) Train all of the tech support folks. Have each person actually setup a complete system with a single inverter, then parallel, split phase, etc. Have them do this with all of the products they support.
4) Assign a Tier 2 support genius to each group of Tier ones. Have that person available to the Tier one during all business hours.
5) Setup a point person at each vendor (Schneider, Voltronic, Growatt, etc.) to deal with each Tier 2 genius. These companies will be more responsive if they have a single relationship support contact.
6) After the support ticket is closed, contact the customer to make certain that problem resolution was achieved and ask for satisfaction scores.
7) Reward your support team based on call answer time, problem resolution and customer satisfaction score.
8) Fire and hire until you have a good team.

You may think that it is expensive to have so many support folks. But once you have a good team it may not take as many as you think. Besides, how long can you run without good customer support?

"Your call is important to us. Please stay on line and listen to hideous music or our latest For Sale specials for several hours until you give up. If you would prefer a call back rather than holding push 1 now. (1) Call return time is 2 weeks We are sorry for the delay but everyone is at a employee retreat to foster team bonding."

RGH69 said:

Most of us buy from Signature Solar because they are USA based and they tout "Real Texas Based Support". However, anyone that has sent messages to Signature Solar tech support knows that they don't respond. If you call Signature Solar support, you will be on hold for a long time. You can choose the option to get a call back, but that call back will be in several hours. The people that do answer the phones DO NOT know what they are doing. They only give you things to try which seem to come from the manual. Even Tier 2 support is lacking. Basically, the products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support.

I used to run technical support for one of the major banks of the northern hemisphere. I had way, way more clients to deal with than Signature Solar and my support team was relatively small. Based on my experience, I recommend that Signature Solar does the following;

1) Implement any CRM system. You can even do a simple spreadsheet if necessary. Use this to be certain to keep in contact with customers. Each open support ticket should receive contact daily, even if it is an automated text stating the resolution stage.
2) Split up the tier one and tier 2 tech support folks to have a specialty - One for batteries, one for EG4 Inverters, etc. Have a tech support "Person" answer the phone to determine which group to route the call to and/or take a number to call back.
3) Train all of the tech support folks. Have each person actually setup a complete system with a single inverter, then parallel, split phase, etc. Have them do this with all of the products they support.
4) Assign a Tier 2 support genius to each group of Tier ones. Have that person available to the Tier one during all business hours.
5) Setup a point person at each vendor (Schneider, Voltronic, Growatt, etc.) to deal with each Tier 2 genius. These companies will be more responsive if they have a single relationship support contact.
6) After the support ticket is closed, contact the customer to make certain that problem resolution was achieved and ask for satisfaction scores.
7) Reward your support team based on call answer time, problem resolution and customer satisfaction score.
8) Fire and hire until you have a good team.

You may think that it is expensive to have so many support folks. But once you have a good team it may not take as many as you think. Besides, how long can you run without good customer support?

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I completely agree. A simple NICE inContact with Salesforce CRM solution will go a long way and benefit all parties. The way this ‘Texas based support’ is going will lead to alienated customers and diminishing sales. The overall customer population for DIY Solar is most likely fixed to some percentage. The word is out there in multiple forums/groups about the terrible support at SS. All this leads to a lack of repeat customers which is what you really need long term to survive in a fixed population customer base.

Your point 8 is spot on. Rotate people quickly and fail fast by hiring/firing to build a high performing team.

RGH69 said:

Most of us buy from Signature Solar because they are USA based and they tout "Real Texas Based Support". However, anyone that has sent messages to Signature Solar tech support knows that they don't respond. If you call Signature Solar support, you will be on hold for a long time. You can choose the option to get a call back, but that call back will be in several hours. The people that do answer the phones DO NOT know what they are doing. They only give you things to try which seem to come from the manual. Even Tier 2 support is lacking. Basically, the products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support.

I used to run technical support for one of the major banks of the northern hemisphere. I had way, way more clients to deal with than Signature Solar and my support team was relatively small. Based on my experience, I recommend that Signature Solar does the following;

1) Implement any CRM system. You can even do a simple spreadsheet if necessary. Use this to be certain to keep in contact with customers. Each open support ticket should receive contact daily, even if it is an automated text stating the resolution stage.
2) Split up the tier one and tier 2 tech support folks to have a specialty - One for batteries, one for EG4 Inverters, etc. Have a tech support "Person" answer the phone to determine which group to route the call to and/or take a number to call back.
3) Train all of the tech support folks. Have each person actually setup a complete system with a single inverter, then parallel, split phase, etc. Have them do this with all of the products they support.
4) Assign a Tier 2 support genius to each group of Tier ones. Have that person available to the Tier one during all business hours.
5) Setup a point person at each vendor (Schneider, Voltronic, Growatt, etc.) to deal with each Tier 2 genius. These companies will be more responsive if they have a single relationship support contact.
6) After the support ticket is closed, contact the customer to make certain that problem resolution was achieved and ask for satisfaction scores.
7) Reward your support team based on call answer time, problem resolution and customer satisfaction score.
8) Fire and hire until you have a good team.

You may think that it is expensive to have so many support folks. But once you have a good team it may not take as many as you think. Besides, how long can you run without good customer support?

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Yes and when they do all this and the batteries go up $300/pcs to support all this no one will buy.

Alkaline said:

Yes and when they do all this and the batteries go up $300/pcs to support all this no one will buy.

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Oh noes
Almost like you need to pay for products from a good vendor and that shopping by price alone isn't the right metric?! How shocking ?

Is it time for a SS / EG4 only subforum that doesn't appear in the what's new section?

They appear to be immune to good advice.

"products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support"

I'm tossing this out, because I want to see what others' expectations are, wrt renewable energy gear and support thereof ... mine is that this is entirely a self-supported world (unless you bought turnkey) with online aspects only for support.

SS seems to sell lots of gear from many vendors. I can't imagine that they can really support everything they sell, even if they say they do; they are more of a sales organization. If they think that they will (and you believed them), then it will take time (years) to get there. One look on their website tells me they aren't there (no valid online support mechanisms), and I wouldn't have counted on them to be there. Whereas, Victron and others do have online support mechanisms ... go there first, then work with SS for returns & such only.

So, that leaves these routes of support (and the support capabilities have to be determined before you buy from a company, or into a vendor's line, or any specific item):

- self-support: are you building this yourself ... then investigate each vendor's support pages (like Victron), and see if it will typically give you good, online support. you will build up your self-support skills, because there isn't an alternative that leaves hair on your head.

- turnkey: you aren't building this yourself ... you'll spend your effort picking the vendor who will install/support the entire system for you, and buying from them; may need a support contract as well. You will get to scream at your vendors for support, because you are paying for the privilege with support contracts.

Anything other than sales questions, and there will be problems, mostly because your expectations weren't really in line with the realities of this complex renewable energy world of products, the manufacturers/sellers/installers and such.

Once I buy from an organization, I really just want to get the product fast. I'll do everything else ...

How do I do this support stuff? Research all I can beforehand; investigate the companies' methods of support ... I'm looking for forums, wiki's, knowledge bases, etc. Are warranties reasonable, or too short (who buys 1 year or less warranty these days ... that's throw-away quality)

Where possible, buy one and test it for awhile ... does it match up with what I thought when I bought from them. Company good, product good, manuals good, did installation go like I thought? And finally, does warranty and product track well together.

If a product fails, I'll figure out why it did (root cause, to best of my abilities), and I'll decide if I'm ever buying from that company again.

My "self-support" approach is not for everyone, but more and more, this seems to be the way the world is going. There doesn't seem to be much of an alternative to self-support than "turnkey" ... there will no longer be any "in-between" services.

IMHO Warranty claims should be repair or replace with very little back and forth based on simply addressed issues (did you plug it in?). Other Support such as "how do you install something" is not the responsibility of the Seller. Nor is "How do you setup and run something" if an adequate Operation manual is included with product. Thus the only other purpose of Customer Service is billing/shipping issues or obtaining parts.

I'm an IT Director and have managed helpdesk techs for several companies. I've also purchased a complete solar system from SS recently and have dealt with their support. They really don't need a fancy system. I use a simple helpdesk queue system and it's super cheap. Their problem isn't a ticket tracking system, it's bad manangement of their support team and basic customer curtesy. Sure, they are busy but if you manage the team properly and communicate good information to customers you'll cut the back-and-forth by 80% so you can take care of people more efficiently. Right now I can tell they bounce stuff around for days until customers get angry send a bunch of calls, emails, and postings on message boards because they are too slow to follow through with customers. I'm experiencing it right now. I have a Victron charge controller that died after a month of use. It's a known issue with Victron and has to be replaced. It's now been 21 days and counting since I've sent in the information they requested (which is a rediculous amount of info btw) and haven't been issued an RMA yet. I've sent multiple emails to get an RMA but only recently was told it was with the resolution specialist. It probably takes 5 minutes to issue this RMA but here I am waiting 3 weeks and have no idea how much longer it will be. I'll still have to send it in and wait to receive a replacement too. Will that be another month? In my world these type of support request come in with a 3 day SLA. Anything not addressed gets escalated to a manager. Even if overwhelmed with tickets the manager will send out an email to the customer and let them know when they can expect a resolution or at least a call back. It's amazing how much that alleviates in frustration for the customer and reduces the amount of incoming calls and emails requesting updates that take time to process. It's very basic.

And another one.

I recently had pretty good support from Signature Solar by calling them shortly after 8am central time. Tech support either answers right away or I am on hold a short time. It took three calls because I am usually on the road at that time and had to call them back after I tried something that they suggested. The support rep was Nick, he was very patient with me and got others involved that had more specialized knowledge of my problem.

So, try calling Tech support earlier in the morning before they get swamped.

50ShadesOfDirt said:

"products are very good but only for those that are technically inclined and capable of self support"

I'm tossing this out, because I want to see what others' expectations are, wrt renewable energy gear and support thereof ... mine is that this is entirely a self-supported world (unless you bought turnkey) with online aspects only for support.

Click to expand...

One of my old investment theories was that companies that foster a good online community that supports their products and helps customers figure out how to help themselves are inherently well positioned and worth both my investment and consumer $$. Ubiquiti was one of those companies; they had a great forum with people that had a lot of experience with their gear (and many got discounts on the gear as a reward for thier committment to the community forum). They squandered much of that opportunity via some of their newer product lines and failing at ever really in-sourcing support. A contrasting company is Sonos, who deletes unfavorable comments and threads in their community forums.

A community forum does a lot to triage issues, and that is the best way to keep customers happy.

Mattb4 said:

IMHO Warranty claims should be repair or replace with very little back and forth based on simply addressed issues (did you plug it in?). Other Support such as "how do you install something" is not the responsibility of the Seller. Nor is "How do you setup and run something" if an adequate Operation manual is included with product. Thus the only other purpose of Customer Service is billing/shipping issues or obtaining parts.

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While you are correct on one level, I disagree on another. Much of this equipment is essentially Beta gear, and no company can support a high return rate on such products. It is also used as a system with a collection of other components which might impact its operation, so you don't have a lot of black-and-white on working or not.

Beta refers to computer software. A lot of hardware does rely on software nowadays to work properly though. Support based on that is quite different than support based on physical faults. A software fix as a Support situation would need a easy way to accomplish it for the average consumer. If not than indeed a company will have a high return rate to implement the repair. Cost of doing business.

Mattb4 said:

Beta refers to computer software.

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I've bought a lot of Beta hardware over the years, knowingly and not. Firmware updates are one thing, but sometimes it only meets standards that are appropriate for testing. Often they think it is production ready and it is an early validation run, but you see more and more corners being cut these days.

In my experience, getting a hold of someone the first time is the easiest part, and even that can take an hour of waiting on hold or a week of waiting for your website “support message” to be responded to.

You’ll get one or two responses and then you won’t hear anything for weeks. Either that or they’ll want to “schedule a call with you” and then never call. This has happened not only with support folks but also members of management. It’s happened so often, it’s like they just don’t care at all.

The problems need to be fixed at the top and disseminated down. It’s worthless to only try and fix the problems at the bottom.

I heard back today about my RMA! Start the clock on how long it takes to get my product replaced.

jasonsele said:

I heard back today about my RMA! Start the clock on how long it takes to get my product replaced.

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Good luck

50ShadesOfDirt said:

SS seems to sell lots of gear from many vendors. I can't imagine that they can really support everything they sell, even if they say they do; they are more of a sales organization.

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I have 2 Growatt inverters purchased from SS. On 3 occasions I had the need to ask help with issue. I called the Growatt support number and got a cal back within 3-4 hours, in 2 of the 3 cases I had figured out my mistake before the call back- the third was a confusing setting issue for the battery that the tech fixed by remoting in while on phone with me. Honestly, I was surprised to get callbacks the same day. At least with Growatt products, I suggest calling Growatt, not SS.