Signature Solar disappointing service

[Risky Rob]

So a new member Asymair95 posts a criticism, with no detail, and doesn't respond for any follow up? Maybe he or she is busy grinding a sh*tload of Harbor Freight axes?

 

[Koldsimer]

So a new member Asymair95 posts a criticism, with no detail, and doesn't respond for any follow up? Maybe he or she is busy grinding a sh*tload of Harbor Freight axes?

Maybe. Or maybe they have a job where they can't dick around on a computer all day.

I am interested to get details and find out exactly what happened. It could be that the customer is in the wrong and is just pissed about their return policy. Guess we will have to see if OP responds.

 

[Risky Rob]

Maybe. Or maybe they have a job where they can't dick around on a computer all day.

I am interested to get details and find out exactly what happened. It could be that the customer is in the wrong and is just pissed about their return policy. Guess we will have to see if OP responds.

Agreed. There should be details. Maybe Asymair95 will make a #2 post?

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Just wanted to pass along my experience with Signature Solar so other customers don’t make the same mistake I did. I hate complaining about stuff like this online, but I feel my treatment was so egregious it warrants it.

The short story is, don’t accept damaged shipments from Signature Solar...unless you’re ok with using damaged equipment, and MAYBE getting a few bucks off of your order. If you want The damaged item replaced/returned, refuse the shipment. Otherwise, if you accept the shipment, and try to return it later, they will blow you off, and slow roll replacing your damaged item.

There is a long backstory to this incident, and I would be willing to share it here if forum members are interested in hearing it. Bottom line, I won’t be doing business with them anymore, nor will any of my family/friends/neighbors. This is not the way you treat a customer who just dropped $12k at your business.

We will be in touch with you for a solution today. We are discussing everything currently in regard to the damage on the battery.

 

[MrThisIsME]

If I had to guess here, looks like someone threatened exposing SS to the forum here and started the process while simultaneously emailing SS of such.

If true, sad it had to go this route.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

If I had to guess here, looks like someone threatened exposing SS to the forum here and started the process while simultaneously emailing SS of such.

If true, sad it had to go this route.

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.

 

[Koldsimer]

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.

Sometimes taking a financial loss is less harmful than the exposure you get when you refuse to satisfy a customers reasonable requests. I'm not saying that is the case here because we don't have all the info. But that statement can be applied to any number of threads regarding signature solars customer service.

In another thread that popped up on the same day, you have a customer who has had his defective battery since June and his problem is still ongoing. And it seems to be a very simple, easily fixed problem. Yet here he is after months of infuriating dealings with an incompetent tech.

I applaud Signature for making an effort in this forum but it's a shame your customers feel they have to seek out other means of support to resolve their problems. Put out the spark before it turns into an inferno.

 

[MrThisIsME]

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.

Making some assumptions here that I think are obvious.

Actually it was a winnable situation but SS failed. Turning a negative into a positive is a power business tool. In this case here, sounds like it could of been resolved first call - and resulted in a happy customer who might of posted such joyful experience here.

Instead, it looks like it dragged out for a while, possibly no / slow response, warranting what happened here. Is it resolved now? Yes but with was of everyone's time, and a further tarnished reputation for SS.

So yes, it was a winnable situation. SS failed.

 

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

I urge anyone ordering anything of value. Inspect the delivery before sighing any paperwork.

I even had the driver helping me unpacking solar panels. He had no problem with it and understood.

 

[SilverbackMP]

I urge anyone ordering anything of value. Inspect the delivery before sighing any paperwork.

I even had the driver helping me unpacking solar panels. He had no problem with it and understood.

Picked mine up from the dock. Nothing was broken thankfully.

I don’t think I’d be brazen enough to ask the driver to help me unpack 62 of them. If I did, I’d throw out a $100 tip. Those guys don’t make money not moving their rigs as a general rule.

Edit, maybe $50…depending on what they had to do. I unpacked mine into a toy hauler off of my deck over. So was thinking about my situation.

 

[Risky Rob]

I urge anyone ordering anything of value. Inspect the delivery before sighing any paperwork.

I even had the driver helping me unpacking solar panels. He had no problem with it and understood.

This is true. I received two Acopower panels a few weeks ago. One was in torn packaging, with a tiny dent visible on the panel frame. I had the driver note the damage, took them, and they later tested fine. I ran a business years ago, and packaged product very well. When there was shipping damage, and it was reported correctly, I could always filed a claim with the carrier.

 

[BenFromSignatureSolar]

Making some assumptions here that I think are obvious.

Actually it was a winnable situation but SS failed. Turning a negative into a positive is a power business tool. In this case here, sounds like it could of been resolved first call - and resulted in a happy customer who might of posted such joyful experience here.

Instead, it looks like it dragged out for a while, possibly no / slow response, warranting what happened here. Is it resolved now? Yes but with was of everyone's time, and a further tarnished reputation for SS.

So yes, it was a winnable situation. SS failed.

It didn't drag out very long at all. When a damaged product is accepted, then is attempted to be returned later, our policy dictates troubleshooting the unit to determine if it is still functional. This requires very little, but this part of the process has been a bit of a hang up. When damage is only cosmetic and results from shipping we still offer the customer a credit because we understand that it is frustrating. We just want to try to show a reason to warranty replace the unit through testing.

 

[Jack Rabbit Off Grid]

Picked mine up from the dock. Nothing was broken thankfully.

I don’t think I’d be brazen enough to ask the driver to help me unpack 62 of them. If I did, I’d throw out a $100 tip. Those guys don’t make money not moving their rigs as a general rule.

Edit, maybe $50…depending on what they had to do. I unpacked mine into a toy hauler off of my deck over. So was thinking about my situation.

my SS pallet was shipped to a dock also. They let me unpalletize the whole shipment right on there dock and load it all in my trailer by hand inspecting every box before I sighed. I did the same with my inverter from another seller Shipped by a different shipper.

 

[SilverbackMP]

my SS pallet was shipped to a dock also. They let me unpalletize the whole shipment right on there dock and load it all in my trailer by hand inspecting every box before I sighed. I did the same with my inverter from another seller Shipped by a different shipper.

I had glorious plans of unloading at home with my tractor and sitting them directly into the toy hauler. Took a look at the pallet and at the length of my forks and decided that wasn’t a good idea (and one pallet was a bit jacked up itself).

I now own pallet fork extensions for future execursions.

God bless hydraulics for those with bad backs.

 

[MrThisIsME]

I had glorious plans of unloading at home with my tractor and sitting them directly into the toy hauler.

I am picturing you driving up the ramp of the toy hauler with the tractor? Please tell me this is not so.

 

[SilverbackMP]

I am picturing you driving up the ramp of the toy hauler with the tractor? Please tell me this is not so.

It handled race cars fine in a previous life and has a reinforced ramp. Tractor is fairly light but with stout FEL (Kubota MX 5100 open station). Wouldn’t try this with a medium or big framed skid loader though.

 

[Rennit]

I had glorious plans of unloading at home with my tractor and sitting them directly into the toy hauler. Took a look at the pallet and at the length of my forks and decided that wasn’t a good idea (and one pallet was a bit jacked up itself).

I now own pallet fork extensions for future execursions.

God bless hydraulics for those with bad backs.

I had the same plan. Luckily, my first shipment showed up on a short truck with a hyrdaulic tail gate and unloading was a breeze. The second shipment (the shipment to replace the broken panels in the first shipment FOR FREE) was a pain in the rear. It showed up on a 53ft box truck with no tailgate. The driver and I ended up unloading the panels by hand then stack back on the pallet on the ground so I could move it with my tractor.

I ordered my 28 qcell panels from solaris and 10 showed up destroyed in the first shipment. They ended up sending me 10 more panels at no cost. I did sign the delivery paperwork as damaged though so there was documentation the shipment was damaged.

I wish signature solar had qcells at the time I bought mine, I would have definitely ordered from them if they did. Last time I looked at their website they had them in stock.

 

[MrThisIsME]

It handled race cars fine in a previous life and has a reinforced ramp. Tractor is fairly light but with stout FEL (Kubota MX 5100 open station). Wouldn’t try this with a medium or big framed skid loader though.

OK, not an true RV toy hauler. That was what I was thinking.

 

[SilverbackMP]

OK, not an true RV toy hauler. That was what I was thinking.

Probably me with the confusing terminology. Older 25 foot bumper pull box trailer.

My get-out-of-the-Army moving rig and temporary barn.

 

[Asymair95]

My apologies for not responding. I don’t have a lot of time to spend online.

Now that Mr. Ben is in the chat, is it still appropriate to air dirty laundry? I’m trying to give them every chance to make this right. As of today, I still have no resolution.

Due to financial constraints, ordered a complete off grid system in two parts. The second order was two eg4 48v server rack batteries. First order was everything else. When the batteries arrived there was obvious damage to the box (Forklift tine crushed it). I asked the driver if we could open it for inspection, he said sure. The top of the battery was crushed and dented. Not bad, but I was concerned about the electronics inside. Even if it worked fine, I had concerns about safety/reliability long term.

With the driver there still, I spoke with someone at Sig Solar customer service to see what they wanted me to do. Do I refuse the whole order, or will you just mail me a new battery? She said to NOT refuse the order, that they would “Take care of me”. She did not elaborate on that, but I assumed it meant a new battery would be on the way. The driver also documented the damage, and started a claim ticked with his office. I took pictures of the damaged box/batt as well.

The next several weeks were filled with me emailing back and forth with multiple people at Sig Solar. They wanted pictures of the damaged box, pictures of the damaged battery, measurements of the damage, etc. This whole time I’m thinking they need this info to file a claim with the trucking company, which is totally reasonable, so I dutifully sent all info requested. I was passed to a few different departments, the last one being a tech department. Again, pictures, measurements, details of the damage, can you see inside, can you remove the cover please, we would like to do tests...what!?

At this point I asked if my new battery was on the way, and when I could expect it...”Oh, you want a new one?...yours is probably fine though.” At this point I became upset, because I had been strung along for five weeks sending all this info...the whole time thinking it was necessary for the return/claims process. I said I indeed needed a new one, because of safety/reliability concerns. “OK, I’ll have to send you to another department then.”

The next email I got said “Sorry, we don’t have anymore of those batteries, but you can package that one up in the original box/packaging, strap it to a pallet, and we can ship it back here for you to be tested, then mail it back.” Again, I’m fuming, because I don’t want this crushed battery, I want it replaced. I then called their customer service. I told them I did not want this crushed battery, I wanted a new one when more came in. On their website they did have the LL 48v batteries in stock, so I floated the idea of shipping one of those instead...never received a response to that.

The last communication with customer service indicated they would email me instructions to return the crushed battery. As of this morning, no email has been received. I also asked if when the new batteries came in, If I would be first in line to have one mailed out? She said “No, we have other customers who reserved them, you will have to get in line with everyone else.” Bear in mind, I purchased this battery 7 weeks ago now, maybe more.

If I’m way out of line, somebody please tell me. But, as I see it, they owe me one eg4 battery, or something comparable...not tomorrow, not next week, ASAP.

And, why are they not going after the shipping company who crushed the battery? There is a claim open with them, the driver documented everything. To me, this battery is going to belong to the shipping company after they pay Sig Solar for the damage. Don’t they come pick it up after the claims process? Why does Sig Solar want it back?

I apologize for the rant. Hopefully, Sig Solar can learn from this experience. I should have gone with Watts 24/7 like I originally wanted to.