Signature solar horrible customer service

[robby]

So in your world do you hold every single company that imports items for sale from China to the same standard and do you go to support forums for those products and raise hell in there too? I deal with high end expensive medical equipment from Leica in Germany and their manuals suck too because of a thing called "difficulties in translation" but I don't see Leica USA rewriting any of their documentation. It's impractical to expect a reseller to write new manuals for every item they sell. I guess you should go on a rampage against Amazon and demand that they write new manuals for every Chinese product that they import and sell since all of those items come with the same poorly translated manuals. Lets see how far you get with that!

Yes I do and you will see a lot of 3 Star Ratings on Amazon that are 3 stars because the products have lousy manuals and the buyers then found the product very difficult or frustrating to use because of the poor documentation and they just hammered it's ratings.

Most people will not buy a product with less than a 4 star ratings so yes every negative review has a big effect on the products sales.
Why do you think Signature Solar does not publish bad reviews on their website?

 

[Checkthisout]

I can't beleive how pathetic this thread got. Attacking Bens Picture. Really? Attacking Harbor Freight? Unbelievable. This is why I don't post my projects. What a shame.

Ha ha. It's full on solar biker bar. There is a tea and coffee house across the street called Solarpaneltalk.com if it's too rough for ya.

 

[Checkthisout]

Yes I do and you will see a lot of 3 Star Ratings on Amazon that are 3 stars because the products have lousy manuals and the buyers then found the product very difficult or frustrating to use because of the poor documentation and they just hammered it's ratings.

Most people will not buy a product with less than a 4 star ratings so yes every negative review has a big effect on the products sales.
Why do you think Signature Solar does not publish bad reviews on their website?

I don't care what anyone says. Two of their batteries in my future. Not near near future but future......

 

[D71]

I don't care what anyone says. Two of their batteries in my future. Not near near future but future......

It is nice to have a choice..... I like the SOK battery but the shipping cost is ridiculous. the EG4 batteries are high for shipping too.

I went with 4 single lifepo 12 volts. Waiting on them to arrive. Will see how they hold up or fail. They will probably out last me. If fail then will tear apart to repair but not until then. The same company also sold a complete 48 volt battery but it was almost $500 or more over cost of the 4-12volt batteries. Nope. THE CABLE is not that expensive to put 4 - 12 volt batteries in series. Bad back means 4 single 12v batteries are easier to handle.
I am putting my emergency setup in a roll around 72 inch tall metal cabinet with added vents or mount the inverters external from batteries - no vents. The batteries will be low and next shelf up from bottom will maybe get another set of 4 - 12 volt lifepo batteries cabled in series. I am going to give the 3048 a spin then might go parallel if it works well with additional 3048. I only want emergency power in case generator goes out-vice versus the setup does not make noise like a running generator so generator becomes back up. ??

Our electrical grid system is shat and going to get worse..... anyone with any sense can look around and see that our infrastructure has not been maintained and it is going to get worse. The electric Companies big power are not going to suffer anyone sending power back and losing money.... they are already chopping those avenues up. New laws.... to protect big power

 

[Checkthisout]

I should have taken a screenshot.

The peeping tom, idiot savant, software geeks at Google noticed I had typed about or viewed material related to predator generators and I got an ad for 20% off any harbor freight generator.

 

[rodrick]

I should have taken a screenshot.

The peeping tom, idiot savant, software geeks at Google noticed I had typed about or viewed material related to predator generators and I got an ad for 20% off any harbor freight generator.

hey saccharine is safe, go ahead and send in your dna and no they aren’t watching us
must be a conspiracy theory type

 

[D71]

hey saccharine is safe, go ahead and send in your dna and no they aren’t watching us
must be a conspiracy theory type

Who are "THEY"

 

[rodrick]

Who are "THEY"

That’s the 64000 dollar question

 

[chuck1972]

@chuck1972 are your other units running now? (Besides the one with display issue).

Preppenwolf,

Thanks for asking.just so every body understand i am a electrician by trade. not new to this have done a 10 acre solar farm northern ohio.
i did my own stamped drawnings and submitted to authority having jurisdiction of my area. passed with flying colors.the problems that i was
having was small and annoying. battery address's,battery comms ,mppt clipping, but they never shut down even when my display died. i also installed 40 kw isolation transformer after noticing led flicker it worked to keep sine wave in check. also i see people post you need to buy higher dollar items not true all these parts a made by the same companies. you just need to understand the limitations of what your working with.also i would like to thank Benfromsignaturesolar for helping to move this along.here is was i have istalled



4 eg4 6500 ex paralleled
24 445 watt panels (south) bifacial
12 540 watt panels (east-west)
4 tracking systems
6 eg4 48 100 ah batteries (need at least 12 more)

 

[D71]

Preppenwolf,

Thanks for asking.just so every body understand i am a electrician by trade. not new to this have done a 10 acre solar farm northern ohio.
i did my own stamped drawnings and submitted to authority having jurisdiction of my area. passed with flying colors.the problems that i was
having was small and annoying. battery address's,battery comms ,mppt clipping, but they never shut down even when my display died. i also installed 40 kw isolation transformer after noticing led flicker it worked to keep sine wave in check. also i see people post you need to buy higher dollar items not true all these parts a made by the same companies. you just need to understand the limitations of what your working with.also i would like to thank Benfromsignaturesolar for helping to move this along.here is was i have istalled



4 eg4 6500 ex paralleled
24 445 watt panels (south) bifacial
12 540 watt panels (east-west)
4 tracking systems
6 eg4 48 100 ah batteries (need at least 12 more)

The 6548 is not cheap in price nor is the advertising.... which is glowing. The 6548 is designed for an advertised application so it should fill it. If products fail then complaints should be made until quality improves. At least the next person will be informed if you share it here. Only reason got involved here. That plus hate bad customer service. Considering most of America is CUSTOMER SERVICE.

It is bad in this country when Harbor Freight offers better customer service then most other companies. Harbor Freight use to sell a lot of junk.but that is no longer the case their prices have gone up a lot too. Glad you got good customer service... which is what you paid for. Thanks for sharing. Thanks Ben for helping him.... appears customer service is not dead.... at Signature Solar.


.

 

[realpinochet]

Preppenwolf,

Thanks for asking.just so every body understand i am a electrician by trade. not new to this have done a 10 acre solar farm northern ohio.
i did my own stamped drawnings and submitted to authority having jurisdiction of my area. passed with flying colors.the problems that i was
having was small and annoying. battery address's,battery comms ,mppt clipping, but they never shut down even when my display died. i also installed 40 kw isolation transformer after noticing led flicker it worked to keep sine wave in check. also i see people post you need to buy higher dollar items not true all these parts a made by the same companies. you just need to understand the limitations of what your working with.also i would like to thank Benfromsignaturesolar for helping to move this along.here is was i have istalled



4 eg4 6500 ex paralleled
24 445 watt panels (south) bifacial
12 540 watt panels (east-west)
4 tracking systems
6 eg4 48 100 ah batteries (need at least 12 more)

Would you clarify a few things on the isolation transformer, the only time I've seen these being used or transformers in general with these installs was to supply a natural but you shouldn't need this. If it's literally to stop flicker seems like you're using it to pull a load like people use a cap? Are you connected to the grid and your saying you wanted to isolate from it cause it's unstable? Also, I don't think the parts in a xwpro or outback are the same as what's in these tier3 inverters by a long shot..imho.

 

[Checkthisout]

The 6548 is not cheap in price nor is the advertising.... which is glowing. The 6548 is designed for an advertised application so it should fill it. If products fail then complaints should be made until quality improves. At least the next person will be informed if you share it here. Only reason got involved here. That plus hate bad customer service. Considering most of America is CUSTOMER SERVICE.

It is bad in this country when Harbor Freight offers better customer service then most other companies. Harbor Freight use to sell a lot of junk.but that is no longer the case their prices have gone up a lot too. Glad you got good customer service... which is what you paid for. Thanks for sharing. Thanks Ben for helping him.... appears customer service is not dead.... at Signature Solar.


.

Yes. Predator generators and Harbor freight tools are of such little value with such high margins that yes, a low skilled cash register operator can just give you a new one when the thing breaks.

It seems rather unsophisticated to compare that to a company that has to offer skilled diagnostics and advice.

 

[realpinochet]

Yes. Predator generators and Harbor freight tools are of such little value with such high margins that yes, a low skilled cash register operator can just give you a new one when the thing breaks.

It seems rather unsophisticated to compare that to a company that has to offer skilled diagnostics and advice.

Do you sit in a room and huff your farts?

 

[rodrick]

Do you sit in a room and huff your farts?

Wow such a intellectual statement you must be the top dog in your trailer park, I thought in the rules of the forum it said tantrums were not allowed

 

[realpinochet]

Wow such a intellectual statement you must be the top dog in your trailer park, I thought in the rules of the forum it said tantrums were not allowed

Sure is a lot of women in this forum that can't handle guys ribbing each other. Does your wife pull your chair out for you?

 

[D71]

Sure is a lot of women in this forum that can't handle guys ribbing each other. Does your wife pull your chair out for you?

Hahah you guys crack me up. No rules checking now..... this is a keyboard dance off.

incidentally I won't buy a Harbor Freight Predator as think they are over priced now. I bought a Wen Inverter 4000 surge watts and 3500 running watts open frame - shipped from walmart for $389.00 Wish had bought 2 of them the price is over $500 now.
look walmart lowered price some:

Robot or human?

most items like the 6548 either work or they don't. No trouble shooting on the phone most of the time. Box up - send back - get replacement. About what happened here. remove - replace. If service had been what it should first time then post would probably never have been made. Glad they handled it. Looks bad on a forum when a company doesn't care To support the items they advertise and sell. Nothing innovative about slapping a name on clone of a clone equipment. Sorry.... no amount of customer service needed except saying put that stuff in a box send it back - replacement on the way. Exactly what signature solar finally did ..... from the way it reads.

read about the light flickering on several older models growatt and these

 

[ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient]

Sure.

So you want bottom dollar products with top-dollar reliability, ease of setup and operation AND customer service from "could be engineers but chose to work in customer service instead" level people?

If you can't have that, you'll take products at harbor freight prices and level of refinement along with a Costco-like return policy?

Why are you so against spending the money it takes to get stuff that just works?

EDIT:

Oh look. Signature solar sells Victron and Schneider. Why don't those end up in people's carts instead of the $1100.00, 8 billion kilowatt AIO that accepts up to 8 trillion volts from your 300 panels in series solar array? You like that you can just series wire 900 panels because then you can use old speaker wire you found in the abandoned house next door and not spend the money on expensive things like combiner boxes and breakers right? Oh and who cares if the heat generated from the 20kw idle draw heats the garage or laundry room up to hotter than the surface of the sun! It's worth it!

Do they make that speaker wire in dental floss gauge. I'm on a budget ok?

 

[Think About It]

I’ve been skipping over the sig solar threads for a year or so. Y’all’s rep could use some polish here. Some pretty bad stuff in the not so distant past. Hope you are improving.

I bought my panels from Signature Solar. I received a good price and good service, and I would rate my experience a 10 out of 10.

Many good points have been made in this thread. DIY Solar is not for everyone. There are nuances that require many hours to learn. It also requires a lot of research. I would have thoroughly researched the inverter manufacturer including their support channel. Did Signature Solar state in their quote or sales order that they included FREE solar engineering and technical support?

You definitely get what you pay for. I didn't call my distributor for support for TIgo and Sol-Ark. I called them. Did Signature Solar drop the ball in this case? Yeah, probably. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

People are 10 times more likely to post a bad experience than a good one. I understand why the original poster is upset, but isn't some of the blame on him for buying cheap products and not doing his homework first?

Also, I see Ben is on here doing everything in his power to remedy this. I consider them a reputable business, not perfect but reputable.

 

[D71]

I bought my panels from Signature Solar. I received a good price and good service, and I would rate my experience a 10 out of 10.

Many good points have been made in this thread. DIY Solar is not for everyone. There are nuances that require many hours to learn. It also requires a lot of research. I would have thoroughly researched the inverter manufacturer including their support channel. Did Signature Solar state in their quote or sales order that they included FREE solar engineering and technical support?

You definitely get what you pay for. I didn't call my distributor for support for TIgo and Sol-Ark. I called them. Did Signature Solar drop the ball in this case? Yeah, probably. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

People are 10 times more likely to post a bad experience than a good one. I understand why the original poster is upset, but isn't some of the blame on him for buying cheap products and not doing his homework first?

Also, I see Ben is on here doing everything in his power to remedy this. I consider them a reputable business, not perfect but reputable.

Cheap is matter of perspectives based on values and money available. Most ppl buying low priced are hoping for AFFORDABLE LIVES UP TO ADVERTISING.

 

[PreppenWolf]

Cheap is matter of perspectives based on values and money available. Most ppl buying low priced are hoping for AFFORDABLE LIVES UP TO ADVERTISING.

The OPs system worked in USE and the 61 error is a known issue fixed by firmware. I'm not sure whatbelse you expect.

Its the user's responsibility to update the firmware before they even commission the system.

If you buy a computer/phone/tablet and don't update it, then it gets bricked by a known virus that was addressed in a update you didnt apply, it's your fault. Not the manufacturer or the store you bought it from.