Signature Solar and shipping damage, are you a victim too?

[medic149]

Can you show us the packaging damage so we can know what to look out for ?
It looks like a pallet fork hit the front of the battery pack. Ouch.

The hole is a little bigger than it was when it arrived because I put my finger inside to feel around. I didn't feel any broken styrofoam, so thought it was okay.

 

[offgriddave]

I've had some pallet damage from an order from San tan. It wasn't their fault and everything still tested good. They offered to make it good but since it wasn't broken, and I got a hell of a deal, I accepted it.

But I am worried I also have an egll on order. No tracking yet but I am having it sent to a friends farm. I mentioned to him to reject it if it is damaged. Sucks yours was totalled

 

[SignatureSolarUS]

Great mine is stuck in an R&L terminal, waiting to move to the next "delayed for whatever reason". I will inspect the boxes, take pictures and note any damage on the paperwork "if given the opportunity" when I pick them up.

Ultimately it's up to the shipper "Signature Solar" to take care of shipping damage. They are the ones that choose the shipper, package the product and hired the freight company to deliver. They should insure it and handle any claims on their end. It should be transparent to the customer. If these shipping companies are giving them that hard of a time, maybe they should re-evaluate who they hire to deliver their products.

I had shipping damage on a huge stack of 350 watt solar panels from Alt E store once. I took some pics of damage and emailed Alt E customer service.. They said shipping damage is common and they deal with it daily. She went on to tell me the shipping damage was not my concern, they will ship my replacement panels immediately and submit insurance claim with the freight company. I had replacement panels a few days later. I was impressed with their customer service.

We take a cost-plus approach for panels like a true wholesaler, you and others will notice the bottom line prices per watt we have are the lowest on the internet. Whenever damage is not notated it has to be covered by a third party source, which adds expense to the cost of products and penalizes the customer in the end. we have tried to cut the fat out of the process by making the carrier process clear vs. paying a stack to let freight companies get away with skewering freight.

Not a pretty world. but Alt-E pricing is not our aim, they are $40-80 more per panel, buy a handful and basically the customer already bought the replacements.

bottom line here is we believe we should work with customers to attack the root issue in a claim so that the end panel cost is lower.

 

[SignatureSolarUS]

I've had some pallet damage from an order from San tan. It wasn't their fault and everything still tested good. They offered to make it good but since it wasn't broken, and I got a hell of a deal, I accepted it.

But I am worried I also have an egll on order. No tracking yet but I am having it sent to a friends farm. I mentioned to him to reject it if it is damaged. Sucks yours was totalled.

We are responding to and working through these issues. There are staff fluctuations here this week due to omicron in Texas the last couple of weeks. We should be in full strength in a week or 2 and the team here is working non-stop as well as adding new members at the same time.

0 people on this forum received a broken battery and did not end up with a good one or a resolution of their choice. We are aiming for 100% happiness no matter what goes wrong. If DIY solar is not a good experience overall, then we aren't doing our job.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

Not a pretty world. but Alt-E pricing is not our aim, they are $40-80 more per panel, buy a handful and basically the customer already bought the replacements.

bottom line here is we believe we should work with customers to attack the root issue in a claim so that the end panel cost is lower.

I don't know about Alt E being "$40-$80" higher per panel, my Canadian Solar 445 watt panels I just got from them was $246.53 each. That looks pretty inline with the cost per watt for Signature Solar current offerings. Freight was higher from Alt E for sure, but they are in MA, not 4 hours from me like Signature Solar, so I expect as much.

I was simply telling my only freight damage experience which happened to be with Alt E and how they took care of it with NO issues. I understand Freight in the solar business is a struggle and huge expense.

Tracking shows my batteries have made it to their destination terminal. I plan to go fetch them today. Fingers crossed I won't be posting pics of damaged batteries.....

 

[Bluedog225]

Nice to see Signature Solar participating in the conversation. Sounds like a reasonable position. And good advice on how to deal with freight companies.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

Good news, I picked my EG4 LL batteries up from R&L shipping terminal today and had only minor damage. The boxes was in relatively good shape, MUCH better than @medic149 batteries was. Only one handle was slightly bent on one battery. They all seem to power on and be functioning normally. What a relief...... Now to get them hooked up.

 

[medic149]

Good news, I picked my EG4 LL batteries up from R&L shipping terminal today and had only minor damage. The boxes was in relatively good shape, MUCH better than @medic149 batteries was. Only one handle was slightly bent on one battery. They all seem to power on and be functioning normally. What a relief...... Now to get them hooked up.

Congratulations!! Now let the fun begin!

 

[RV10flyer]

I always order at least one or two extra of everything. Then it’s not an emergency and I’ve got spares in case I damage something or a replacement is needed in the future. You sure won’t find the exact size for a replacement years from now. My 20.6 kw system came from Alt-E, except my diy 120 kWh battery bank. One panel damaged. One phone call, a few pics and received a replacement in a week. Great customer service and my panels weren’t 20% higher.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

I always order at least one or two extra of everything. Then it’s not an emergency and I’ve got spares in case I damage something or a replacement is needed in the future. You sure won’t find the exact size for a replacement years from now. My 20.6 kw system came from Alt-E, except my diy 120 kWh battery bank. One panel damaged. One phone call, a few pics and received a replacement in a week. Great customer service and my panels weren’t 20% higher.

I ordered extra panels, but I'm not ordering a spare $1,750 EG4 battery just in case....

 

[Skinny76]

I ordered and had delivered 10x370 watt bifacial panels from signature solar. It was delivered by R&L carriers. Driver helped me move the panels to my shop, warned me they would want to fall over immediately when the bands were cut. He helped me cut the bands so I could inspect. I guess it depends on the driver. He was a good ol' boy from Alabama. I gave him a phenomenal review to the company.

 

[medic149]

Received my 2nd batter from Signature Solar yesterday. This one was in much better condition. The 2 metal handles were both bent, but the battery turns on and seems to be okay. Just awaiting them to provide me a return authorization after I had to get a pallet and prepare the first battery for shipping. What I don't like is that they are telling me they will take the battery back under warranty, have their technicians evaluate the battery and either replace parts or provide me credit to work with a salesman to get another battery. Since it was all shipping damage, they should just take it back and send a new one.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

Agreed they SHOULD just exchange the battery, it was shipping damage, not a warranty claim. Signature Solar then should turn around and submit a claim with the shipper for the value of the battery "insured amount". Many times the shipper will collect damaged equipment paid under a insurance claim, so chances are IF they file a claim with freight company you won't be getting that battery back.

But with them saying this, it makes me question, DOES Signature Solar actually insure their shipments for the value of the goods? Are they going to file a claim?

Either way, I would demand a new battery, not a repaired one. It's not warranty, it's shipping damage.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

One more thing to add, shipping the battery back to Signature Solar would be wasted dollars and time on shipping. The process usually goes, you contact the seller "Signature Solar", provide them with all the details and picture of the damaged equipment. They submit a claim with the freight company, Freight company may come out to pickup and/or inspect damaged goods. Claim will be approved or rejected. Signature Solar then should ship you a new battery. If you picked them up from a terminal, you may be required to take damaged good back to terminal. That's the way it's worked for me in the past. More than not the freight company never came out. But that was with other companies, not Signature Solar.

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

Received my 2nd batter from Signature Solar yesterday. This one was in much better condition. The 2 metal handles were both bent, but the battery turns on and seems to be okay. Just awaiting them to provide me a return authorization after I had to get a pallet and prepare the first battery for shipping. What I don't like is that they are telling me they will take the battery back under warranty, have their technicians evaluate the battery and either replace parts or provide me credit to work with a salesman to get another battery. Since it was all shipping damage, they should just take it back and send a new one.

seen

 

[medic149]

One more thing to add, shipping the battery back to Signature Solar would be wasted dollars and time on shipping. The process usually goes, you contact the seller "Signature Solar", provide them with all the details and picture of the damaged equipment. They submit a claim with the freight company, Freight company may come out to pickup and/or inspect damaged goods. Claim will be approved or rejected. Signature Solar then should ship you a new battery. If you picked them up from a terminal, you may be required to take damaged good back to terminal. That's the way it's worked for me in the past. More than not the freight company never came out. But that was with other companies, not Signature Solar.

 

[medic149]

I'm just waiting on their response back, but hopefully, they will end up just sending out a new battery. I do trust them.

First picture is of my bondage technique to ship the busted battery back LOL
Second picture is of how the second battery looked on arrival. Much better!

I think they need to use larger pallets. Overall, the shipping company needs to assure quality control over their night shift forklift operators. One driver told me they can't get people to work and the ones that do, don't care and slam everything around. A sign of the times I guess

 

[offgriddave]

Seems like they should take a bunch of broken pallets, and cut up some 2x3" or 2x4" sacrificial boards and put it in the front where the metal handles keep getting bent. I seem to recall this is the second report of bent handles.

But then again, it so hard to find laborer's now days just to do that, it would be a cost benefit analysis verses dealing with shipping returns.

... seems crazy but last year I got an offer to build pallets for $60/hr unlimited work if I wanted to move a hundred miles north and live in a RV parking lot... turned it down because it seemed crazy.

Still waiting for my EG4 LL 48v, I will take some pictures when I receive it.

 

[Mr-Sandman]

Yes they need to make adjustments to their packaging and/or shipping of the batteries. I got lucky "but I'm close to them", and only one of my batteries was damaged. Bent handle. It was cosmetic for the most part, so I'll just live with it, but the handles stick out past all cushion in the box and any strike to the front corners of the box will result in bent handles at best and maybe worse.

 

[MurphyGuy]

For the record:

In 2017, I ordered 30+ panels from Renvu.com and they arrived with a damaged pallet that caused the bottom 5 panels to be "bowed" in an arc of about 1.5 inches. Not being comfortable that they weren't damaged, I called Renvu and they went to work. Two weeks later, I had 5 replacement panels.

In 2019, I ordered 12 more panels from Renvu.com and again, 5 of them were damaged. One was shattered, the other 4 looked like something had smashed the frames causing gouges.. panels might have been fine, but I wasn't comfortable with them. Once again, I called Renvu and they went to work.. Two weeks later, I had 5 more panels delivered.

Panels are made of glass, trucking companies and fork-lift drivers are rough on them.. it happens.