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

I think the shipping companies are owned by oil companies who tell them to damage all solar products LOL
 
Just commenting here that I got my 4 EG4-LLs with zero damage in NM a couple weeks ago, shipped quickly after my order. The R&L driver had me sign. One person told me the 6 AWG cables weren't included, another said they were. The cables and RJ45 patch cords WERE in there. They forgot to add the USB-RS485 cable so shipped it later. Replacing my FLAs with them in my own rack/busbar system this weekend to my Schneider set-up. Shouldn't need a pre-charge resistor from what I hear. Looks like I can't communicate to all of them at once from a laptop unless I make or buy an RJ45 splitter?
 
I received my 24v 100ah battery after a long delay, ordered on the 5th of April received the 19th. The box is fine no obvious damage but one of the cells are pushed up and has the bar in a bind. Would you attempt to push it back down or would it risk damaging the cell.
 

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I received my 24v 100ah battery after a long delay, ordered on the 5th of April received the 19th. The box is fine no obvious damage but one of the cells are pushed up and has the bar in a bind. Would you attempt to push it back down or would it risk damaging the cell.
Unfortunately it looks like it was damaged in shipping. Reach out to my tech support team and we can exchange this for you ASAP. I don't know how the weld was affected by that movement. It may work and if so and you wanted to keep it you can likely get a partial refund for the cosmetic damages, but make sure it operates without issues prior to making that decision.
 
It seems like shipping companies got really lax in the past two years. We get lots of slightly damaged items now and we just deal with it.
 
It seems like shipping companies got really lax in the past two years. We get lots of slightly damaged items now and we just deal with it.
That's because the work force pool has gotten very limited. Shipping companies have had to resort to hiring any crackhead, that has ever played a video game to operate a forklift.
 
The panels are meant to be shipped vertically, straps will not break panels.
Feel free to post the photo of how and why this was caused for further discussion.
Vertical panels and strapping are currently industry best practice.
When there is damage we have to confirm with the carrier that the shipment was marked as damaged by the customer, we always advise in writing and in person now to mark as damaged unless you have absolutely checked all the panels. the truck driver will hassle you to sign before inspecting so he can go on, if that happens make sure to sign as damaged, if they will not let you mark as damaged or inspect it then call us and ask for shipping claims.
The trucking companies have this run-around where if you sign just to be nice to the driver, then find a forklift gash in your panel later they claim that you broke your panel after receipt. Our clear written instructions help protect from this
I have purchased a total of 18 REC 320w panels from A1 solar. Both times they were shipped flat on a large pallet with hard foam softeners between the bottom panel and the pallet. I am a very mature engineer with a lot of experience packaging and shipping sensitive equipment- there is no better way to ship <= 10 60 cell panels than flat on a pallet with softeners between the bottom panel and pallet and the little plastic separators between panels. I have seen some questionable statements from SS on this forum and some outright ridiculous responses from SS sales personnel via email, enough so that I have not done business with them - clearly some individuals that are very good but as a company I have serious reservations
 
I received my EG4-LL from Signature Solar via R&L and it was handled very well by both companies.

I went to the R&L terminal to pick it up. When I got there I saw the box was slightly damaged from the straps holding it to the pallet. I asked to open the box before I signed. The agent had no problem with that, and had a worker fork lift it into the back of my truck first. I opened the box and found the battery looked fine, and that's when I signed off on it. I fired it up when I got home and verified it worked.

I've also had a large machine lathe delivered to my house by R&L using a lift gate truck. That was also a good experience.

My guess is with R&L (and likely most shippers) the issues are specific to individuals at the terminals or the drivers. Everyone has a bad day now and again, and my guess is that is especially happening now with all the supply chain and chronic driver and employee shortages.
 
I have purchased a total of 18 REC 320w panels from A1 solar. Both times they were shipped flat on a large pallet with hard foam softeners between the bottom panel and the pallet. I am a very mature engineer with a lot of experience packaging and shipping sensitive equipment- there is no better way to ship <= 10 60 cell panels than flat on a pallet with softeners between the bottom panel and pallet and the little plastic separators between panels. I have seen some questionable statements from SS on this forum and some outright ridiculous responses from SS sales personnel via email, enough so that I have not done business with them - clearly some individuals that are very good but as a company I have serious reservations
This whole policy of throwing all the blame on the buyer to validate safe arrival is crap. Yes shipping companies damage stuff but that is an issue between the seller and the shipper and some sellers still stick with the lowest cost shipper even when they know damage is rampant.
What it really translates is the seller throwing all the onus on the buyer. That is why Amazon and so many customer friendly online sellers have a "No question asked" return policies.

I get in a lot of stuff and 90% of the time the driver will not wait around for me to sign anything unless the box has obvious damage. Most of the time the damage is not obvious because it's caused by items being dropped or squeezed into place. Rarely is there a direct hole in the box, most times it's just a bit of cardboard crumbling which means nothing to the driver but is typically an indicator of pressure impact which is something he will not wait around for me to inspect.

The current shortage of drivers the new normal for the next several years and you can forget about anyone waiting around for inspection or signing. Also the notion that a customer would Break a Panel for fun or dent in the side of the a battery on purpose is ludicrous, so why is he penalized for finding that after he opens the box.
Protect yourself and buy from a company that has your back should the device arrived damaged or fail during the warranty period.
 
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Not really shipping damage not yet anyway. I waited for about 1.5 months for the new EG4 inverter to be for sale then ordered as soon as it hit their website. Waited for Fedex to come they came and left a growatt inverter. Emailed SS they promptly sent a pickup tag for the Growatt meanwhile by the time it took SS to receive the mis-shipped item they sold out of the EG4 inverters. Now I'm waiting for another month Hopefully they will not send me the wrong thing again. I know mistakes happen but I feel like they should have held a EG4 inverter from their stock instead of selling someone else the one I purchased on day 1.

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We wish this is the way it worked, it would make our lives 1000's of times easier. The issue with most shipping companies, especially freight, is they have you sign to receive it and it typically says to mark the product damaged if there is damage. Unfortunately a lot of these drivers are rushing people and don't fully explain the process. If you receive a shipment from any LTL company, you should always open and inspect for damage. If they don't let you, you write something along the lines of 'Possible Unseen Damage due to Driver Not Allowing Inspection'. If you simply sign, they almost always decline the claim saying it was damaged after the driver left. We have some very clear guidelines on our website and in emails we send out (especially when it comes to panels) and unfortunately they get overlooked.

Edit: Just wanted to say we insure all our shipments, but it's hard to collect if the company fights that it was damaged by the end user based on a signature saying they received the product and didn't notate it was damaged.
I had batteries shipped from another vendor via FedEx Freight (not ground, which is like a different company!!), and the driver was super nice and told me to mark the battery as damaged because it had a little bit of crushed side. All batteries were fine. I gave him him $100 tip to reward this kind or honorable behavior...
 
I had batteries shipped from another vendor via FedEx Freight (not ground, which is like a different company!!), and the driver was super nice and told me to mark the battery as damaged because it had a little bit of crushed side. All batteries were fine. I gave him him $100 tip to reward this kind or honorable behavior...
There are definitely some good guys out there. Harder and harder to find, unfortunately.
 
Not really shipping damage not yet anyway. I waited for about 1.5 months for the new EG4 inverter to be for sale then ordered as soon as it hit their website. Waited for Fedex to come they came and left a growatt inverter. Emailed SS they promptly sent a pickup tag for the Growatt meanwhile by the time it took SS to receive the mis-shipped item they sold out of the EG4 inverters. Now I'm waiting for another month Hopefully they will not send me the wrong thing again. I know mistakes happen but I feel like they should have held a EG4 inverter from their stock instead of selling someone else the one I purchased on day 1.

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Probably shouldn't take that long, hopefully.
 
I received ordered battery EG4-LL V2 48V 100Ah, I've been waiting for it for 1,5 month as it was delivered by sea. When I opened it and took from the box it appeared that it was damaged. I am so disappointed. One of the corners is smashed and the lid is bent. It must have been fell on the factory as the package box does not have such damage and foam plastic which covers the whole battery is firm and intact. Yesterday I opened a claim on the SignatureSolar site.
 

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I bought a pallet of 10 panels, the 440w mono ones recommended on here, 1 panel arrived broken.

There was no damage visible from the outside, after I got to the last one I found it was cracked glass and the panel bent, by what appears to be the straps used to tie it to the pallet.

I sent pics right away, they are trying to put the damage on the shipper when I even told them up front it doesn't look like the shipping company did this. It looks to me like signature solar did this by strapping them down standing on their sides, bending one panel with the straps.

They were just 10 panels shipped on their side strapped to a pallet, not crated, not protected with plywood on each side or anything. Seems like insufficient packing to me, and the flimsy glass and aluminum frame couldn't handle the torque from the straps.

Is this typical they just try to pass the buck? They haven't denied my claim yet, but I'm assuming they will.

Are they all as bad as signature solar? I will need more panels and don't feel like using signature again.
I bought panels from Santan solar and they were great for replacing the ones that got damaged and nice and friendly, just my two cents
 
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