I want to preface this with Signature Solar had been nothing but excellent to me prior to this. I've easily bought $35,000+ worth of solar equipment from them and they always fixed any problem if there was one.
I ordered 6 pallets of the 355 Watt REC panes (link) and on each pallet there was what appeared to be crushing damage on the solar panels that were near the bottom of the pallets. On Dec 10th the panels were delivered.
One day after the panels were delivered to me I notified Signature solar of the damage, with an attached picture of the delivery manifest papers with the delivery truck driver noting on his copy and my copy the damage like crushed cones and smashed corners. The person who responded was Rolanda Betche, who is a super rock star, and who basically ran the whole claims department at signature solar by herself (if I understood correctly). She tells me that in a week the claims department will be handled by the customer service department. And that she will no longer be customer facing.
She tells me to go file a claim on the website.
Then a few emails later I send better pictures to Rolanda Betche and she replies saying this:
"Hi Tom
I am turning this over to customer service. I will be stepping out of the customer facing side of it. and only handling transportation claims with the carrier.
Someone from customer service should reach out to get information from you to assess what type of damage you are running into. so far it sounds like manufacturing issues."
--------
Now I've done a few claim processes with Rolanda, and she has done the claim part for me atleast once, where all I had to do was send an email with the pictures and she took care of it. So after I sent better pictures and she replied with "I am turning this over to customer service" and "Someone from customer service should reach out to get information from you to assess what type of damage you are running into" I took this to mean she had submitted the claim and I was now to wait for someone to contact me.
So I wait a week, and then call. I'm told they are still sorting out the new system and that they don't see my ticket so I should call back in a few days. I call back in 3 ish days. (if I remember right) Again, ticket not there.
To shorten the story: something happened, my ticket was not there, and I was told to go to the claims website and submit a claim.
I go the to claims page, submit a claim, and someone from claims contacts me, Tazmia Mason.
We talk, I tell them I have 46 panels. 1 or 2 of the panels border line damaged and send pictures of them all in a series of email.
In short Tazmia tells me this:
""Hello Thomas,
Thank you for providing the necessary information. We have successfully received all the details and submitted them into our ticketing system for processing.
Upon review, we found that this issue is not related to transit damage, so we recommend contacting the manufacturer directly. You will need to supply them with the information you've provided us, and they will be able to submit the replacement order on your behalf.
Please let us know if you need any further assistance, and we’ll be happy to help where we can.
Best regards,""
------------------------------------------------
I respond with an email saying things like the warranty on panels is void if there is evidence of mishandling and that I should not have to do an RMA claim with REC myself. Signature solar should be helping me with this.
And then another email that said this:
"""
Hi Tazmia,
So if you have determined the damage of most of these panels were not caused by shipping that means the panels were damaged when I bought them. So basically signature solar sold me damaged panels that they listed as new panels.
Secondly if I go to REC and submit claims they will likely tell me it looks like shipping damage and it will be a difficult fight for me to win. It is a fight I should Not have to fight.
Ultimately, signature solar should be submitting the rma claim to REC for me. I bought the panels from Signature solar and there are legal issues like the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which includes selling defective panels without disclosure.
Thirdly, previously signature solar representatives have handled rma claims for me before when I found defects in the solar panels that dealt with manufacturing flaws.
I will get you picture and documentation of anything you want. Even if I have to get the serial number from each panel and the damage in a video for each panel.
This is most annoying for all parties involved -sad face-
How do you proceed from here?
~My name here"""
----------------------------------------
At this point I'm contacted by Lindsey Faulks, who I'm told is a manager.
We exchange several emails. Generally her repeated message is that for the "non shipping" damage I need to go do an RMA with the manufacturer.
Eventually I submit a claim with REC and after a few exchanges with REC they reply. Part of there email says this:
there is evidence of mishandling or storing, the warranty is invalidated for this batch of panels. REC can suggest methods to check panels after installation, such as visual inspection and IR imaging but **** blah blah blah
****
Best Regards,
Michael Jimenez
REC Group
------------------------------
So REC removed the warranty on the 45 panels.
Now the last 2 emails I sent to Lindsey Faulks on Jan 7th and Jan 16th have gone unanswered. The last email I sent, on Jan 16th said this:
"""
Hi Lindsey,
So I got back word from REC about the panels. After I sent video and pictures of the pallets, after the saran wrap was taken off, and other close up evidence to REC they have nullified the warranty of 45 of the panels. REC found that they were mishandled either in handling or storage.
Also, the 2 panels that were damaged in shipping haven't posted to my account as store credit. What is the status on this?
~Tom"""
No word back.
------------------------
Now for the fun part. Pictures and Videos!!!!
Here are 5 videos I've posted to youtube:
The 3rd pallet <------ the 3rd pallet I unpacked. Obvious damage on both sides of the pallet.
---> Another pallets damage
---> cutting the plastic to see inside <---- go to 1:35 to see the damage. It's a shaky video, I had gloves on and dropped the phone.
--> Many panels with cracking and slight bumps with disappearing cracks depending on the angle.
--> The cracks can't be seen if the light source is from the wrong angle
I got a high powered camera with a macro lens to give you a close up of the kind of damage I had. 1 picture shows the cracks I think were caused by crushing damage. The other 2 pictures show how the cracks visually disappear depending on the angle of the light source. I will attach some videos that show how the cracks are only visible from certain angle, especially depending on the angle the light is coming from.
Now here are some of the pictures I sent to Signature solar.
From what I've gathered, I believe Signature Solar bought panels from someone that were damaged and they missed the damage when they were inspecting the product. I can understand if that happened. I'm open to negotiation on how to resolve this, but I haven't got any responses to my emails on this matter since Jan 7th. I don't know what to do, but it has been an ugly experience. I also asked two different people at signature solar asking if I had done something wrong in the process, no reply.
Now if any admins, or mods, or the owner of diysolarforum.com wants more evidence that what I've said is accurate, I can forward the email exchanges I've had with.... Rolanda Betche, Tazmia, and Lindsey Faulks. I can also send them a link to a dropbox with the pictures sent to REC.
All pictures and video are truthful and I stand by them. I've also done my best to communicate what happened though I may have made a mistake and missed something or maybe an email got eaten by the internet and I'm open to being corrected.
I want to be clear, before this one order, Signature Solar has been excellent and very good to me. The only person that I would call out that has been unprofessional to me is Lindsey Faulks. Who wouldn't answer questions on if I had done something wrong or why were these damaged panels being dumped on my with no support from signature solar on getting this resolved.... and has stopped responding on even emails that were asking about the status on the store credit for the panels that were actually damaged by the shipping company. A stone walling experience.
- The end -
~Tom
I ordered 6 pallets of the 355 Watt REC panes (link) and on each pallet there was what appeared to be crushing damage on the solar panels that were near the bottom of the pallets. On Dec 10th the panels were delivered.
One day after the panels were delivered to me I notified Signature solar of the damage, with an attached picture of the delivery manifest papers with the delivery truck driver noting on his copy and my copy the damage like crushed cones and smashed corners. The person who responded was Rolanda Betche, who is a super rock star, and who basically ran the whole claims department at signature solar by herself (if I understood correctly). She tells me that in a week the claims department will be handled by the customer service department. And that she will no longer be customer facing.
She tells me to go file a claim on the website.
Then a few emails later I send better pictures to Rolanda Betche and she replies saying this:
"Hi Tom
I am turning this over to customer service. I will be stepping out of the customer facing side of it. and only handling transportation claims with the carrier.
Someone from customer service should reach out to get information from you to assess what type of damage you are running into. so far it sounds like manufacturing issues."
--------
Now I've done a few claim processes with Rolanda, and she has done the claim part for me atleast once, where all I had to do was send an email with the pictures and she took care of it. So after I sent better pictures and she replied with "I am turning this over to customer service" and "Someone from customer service should reach out to get information from you to assess what type of damage you are running into" I took this to mean she had submitted the claim and I was now to wait for someone to contact me.
So I wait a week, and then call. I'm told they are still sorting out the new system and that they don't see my ticket so I should call back in a few days. I call back in 3 ish days. (if I remember right) Again, ticket not there.
To shorten the story: something happened, my ticket was not there, and I was told to go to the claims website and submit a claim.
I go the to claims page, submit a claim, and someone from claims contacts me, Tazmia Mason.
We talk, I tell them I have 46 panels. 1 or 2 of the panels border line damaged and send pictures of them all in a series of email.
In short Tazmia tells me this:
""Hello Thomas,
Thank you for providing the necessary information. We have successfully received all the details and submitted them into our ticketing system for processing.
Upon review, we found that this issue is not related to transit damage, so we recommend contacting the manufacturer directly. You will need to supply them with the information you've provided us, and they will be able to submit the replacement order on your behalf.
Please let us know if you need any further assistance, and we’ll be happy to help where we can.
Best regards,""
------------------------------------------------
I respond with an email saying things like the warranty on panels is void if there is evidence of mishandling and that I should not have to do an RMA claim with REC myself. Signature solar should be helping me with this.
And then another email that said this:
"""
Hi Tazmia,
So if you have determined the damage of most of these panels were not caused by shipping that means the panels were damaged when I bought them. So basically signature solar sold me damaged panels that they listed as new panels.
Secondly if I go to REC and submit claims they will likely tell me it looks like shipping damage and it will be a difficult fight for me to win. It is a fight I should Not have to fight.
Ultimately, signature solar should be submitting the rma claim to REC for me. I bought the panels from Signature solar and there are legal issues like the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which includes selling defective panels without disclosure.
Thirdly, previously signature solar representatives have handled rma claims for me before when I found defects in the solar panels that dealt with manufacturing flaws.
I will get you picture and documentation of anything you want. Even if I have to get the serial number from each panel and the damage in a video for each panel.
This is most annoying for all parties involved -sad face-
How do you proceed from here?
~My name here"""
----------------------------------------
At this point I'm contacted by Lindsey Faulks, who I'm told is a manager.
We exchange several emails. Generally her repeated message is that for the "non shipping" damage I need to go do an RMA with the manufacturer.
Eventually I submit a claim with REC and after a few exchanges with REC they reply. Part of there email says this:
there is evidence of mishandling or storing, the warranty is invalidated for this batch of panels. REC can suggest methods to check panels after installation, such as visual inspection and IR imaging but **** blah blah blah
****Best Regards,
Michael Jimenez
REC Group
------------------------------
So REC removed the warranty on the 45 panels.
Now the last 2 emails I sent to Lindsey Faulks on Jan 7th and Jan 16th have gone unanswered. The last email I sent, on Jan 16th said this:
"""
Hi Lindsey,
So I got back word from REC about the panels. After I sent video and pictures of the pallets, after the saran wrap was taken off, and other close up evidence to REC they have nullified the warranty of 45 of the panels. REC found that they were mishandled either in handling or storage.
Also, the 2 panels that were damaged in shipping haven't posted to my account as store credit. What is the status on this?
~Tom"""
No word back.
------------------------
Now for the fun part. Pictures and Videos!!!!
Here are 5 videos I've posted to youtube:
I got a high powered camera with a macro lens to give you a close up of the kind of damage I had. 1 picture shows the cracks I think were caused by crushing damage. The other 2 pictures show how the cracks visually disappear depending on the angle of the light source. I will attach some videos that show how the cracks are only visible from certain angle, especially depending on the angle the light is coming from.
Now here are some of the pictures I sent to Signature solar.
From what I've gathered, I believe Signature Solar bought panels from someone that were damaged and they missed the damage when they were inspecting the product. I can understand if that happened. I'm open to negotiation on how to resolve this, but I haven't got any responses to my emails on this matter since Jan 7th. I don't know what to do, but it has been an ugly experience. I also asked two different people at signature solar asking if I had done something wrong in the process, no reply.
Now if any admins, or mods, or the owner of diysolarforum.com wants more evidence that what I've said is accurate, I can forward the email exchanges I've had with.... Rolanda Betche, Tazmia, and Lindsey Faulks. I can also send them a link to a dropbox with the pictures sent to REC.
All pictures and video are truthful and I stand by them. I've also done my best to communicate what happened though I may have made a mistake and missed something or maybe an email got eaten by the internet and I'm open to being corrected.
I want to be clear, before this one order, Signature Solar has been excellent and very good to me. The only person that I would call out that has been unprofessional to me is Lindsey Faulks. Who wouldn't answer questions on if I had done something wrong or why were these damaged panels being dumped on my with no support from signature solar on getting this resolved.... and has stopped responding on even emails that were asking about the status on the store credit for the panels that were actually damaged by the shipping company. A stone walling experience.
- The end -
~Tom
