Signature Solar Review -30k spent in last year - honest review

[rossmoesis]

Here is a my run down of my signature solar experiences. I ordered roughly 17k worth of solar panels and batteries from them last march. The order was straight forward, shipment took place shortly after I placed the order. The panels and batteries arrived undamaged and packed well.

I installed my system in April 2023 using sol-ark 15k inverter, eg4 batteries and bluesun panels from SS. No issues at all, actually a pleasant experience. I've documented this in this forum.

I decided to build a off-grid solar shed utilizing eg4 minisplit, 18kpv inverter, powerpro battery, and a pallet of panels. I sent an email asking if I place the order early could they wait to ship the order beginning of November. The sales person informed me that this wouldn't be a problem and sent me a quote that he built. I paid the roughly 14k for the order.

I email the sales representative on Monday Oct 30th to make sure everything was good and there weren't any issues. here is a quote from my email

"Good morning,
I wanted to check in on my order that I placed a couple of weeks ago. Are all the items in stock and ready to ship? I was hoping to have them shipped Nov 3rd so I can have them delivered Nov 9th or the week of Nov 13th - 17th. You probably have a better idea of transit time from Signature solar to Grand Junction, CO. I can't remember how long my last delivery took."

Four days went by without hearing anything back.

Friday Evening Signature solar replies with

Hello Ross,

The shipment is being prepared to ship soon."

"the shipment is being prepared to ship soon", That is how much detail they put in their response. I called earlier that day since I hadn't heard from the email I sent to Signature solar in 4 days and was told the powerpro batteries were still sitting on a boat docked at a port and they had no idea when they would recieve it.

Preparing to ship soon... means they don't have any clue when they will ship it or even try work with a customer that has spent over 30k with them in the last year.

Today I called SS again to try to get another update. I was informed they are overwhelmed with orders due to free shipping. They would contact freight to see if they can push my order out minus the battery. I didn't hear back anything all day. I called back 30mins ago to find out they still don't have an answer from freight department and they would contact me tomorrow.

I'm happy those guys are busy with orders but it's a bit painful trying to extract useful information from them after my order has already been placed. This order was placed 30 days ago. I would have preferred split shipping when they knew the battery wasn't going to make it but it's like pulling teeth to try to get information from them.

In a nutshell,

First order in March was awesome. No issues, I paid for freight but got everything I wanted on time.

Second order in October has been more difficult. I tried to pre-plan and order early. The communication has been lacking. I'll keep the forum updated.

 

[Brett V]

I can understand how the free shipping deal overwhelmed them with orders. Warehouse and shipping guys work hard for their pay but I know that doesn’t help you any. I’ve ordered from them 3 times over the last few years and they always came through.

 

[Supervstech]

So frustrating whe you prepay for something, to be shipped out a particular time in advance, and it is plain the company put your order to pull on the day you specified, not the day you paid...

Simple rule is...

NEVER pay in advance until your product is in house, and packed for you.

Sad a company would take your payment but not order the items... no way to know that is what they did, but it semms like it.

 

[rossmoesis]

I can understand how the free shipping deal overwhelmed them with orders. Warehouse and shipping guys work hard for their pay but I know that doesn’t help you any. I’ve ordered from them 3 times over the last few years and they always came through.

I agree, I'm glad those guys are busy. I think they will come through also, but I'll probably have to cancel the order and place another order later on next year so it doesn't get shipped out at a random date when the battery shows up. Not the end of the world but just giving my feedback. I like their products

 

[chrisski]

Simple rule is...

NEVER pay in advance until your product is in house, and packed for you.

What household goods do you order that will accept payment like this?

I must be missing something. I thought cash on delivery was a rare deal. Only way I know how to get any purchases that way are financing.

I have gotten a few larger projects done recently like a water heater and roof where an estimate was given and as soon as the labor was done, I paid the bill.

Every piece solar gear I purchased for my RV was paid for prior to delivery. For my current ongoing solar build for my house by contractors, 80% is due prior to the system getting turned on.

 

[Hedges]

Contact credit card company and dispute the charge.

When vendor hears from credit card company, they'll have to decide fast if they want to ship now, or have payment cancelled.

? ?

 

[Nobodybusiness]

? ?

Fire to the feet.
Emojis to the rescue!! ?

 

[privatecluck]

Recently, I have had a less than adequate experience with Signature Solar. Purchased $14K worth of inverters/batteries (upgrade to an old Growatt system). Had issues with receiving incorrect battery cables from SS. Never was able to talk to anyone live on the phone. On hold forever - never answered. Finally (after several days) via email was told that what I got was correct, but they told me I'd have to modify it to make it work. Only after posts to this forum did I get the cable I needed shipped to me from them. I was supposed to get a refund for shipping the wrong cable back (about $100) using their issued RMA, but never received it. Crickets when I've emailed about the refund. Then, while having these issues (unfortunately) I had decided to order some solar panels that were on sale for the month and had the free shipping. I had just looked at pricing on a pallet of SEGs the night before ordering (several days before end of the month). But when I looked them up the next day for actually placing the order, it showed a different higher (by about $600) price. I didn't want to miss out on free shipping, so I placed the order anyway for on-sale single Solarevers (higher per watt cost). Went back last day of the month and the SEGs were back to the sale price. Not sure what happened, but I ended up paying more than I should have for what I got. Have had a bunch of problems with getting my EG4 18kPV inverter set up. Settings don't work as described in the manual. For the last several days, I've been trying to get in touch with Tech Support, but so far have not been successful. If I could do this over, I would not order from Signature Solar. Their customer service needs vast improvement. My old Growatt system was easy as pie to install and set up. Worked flawlessly. Live and learn.

 

[Bluedog225]

Shocking I tell ya. Shocking.

I recall some communications here a long time ago from a higher up. Might have been the president/ceo/whatever. Made me realize it was 100% a management problem. Hasn’t gotten better in the intervening years.

 

[cs1234]

There is another thread on this very forum where @SignatureSolarJames and @n2aws and @Quattrohead are telling @robby that he is on a one man crusade to smear Signature Solars good name.

Spoiler: How can this be!?

 

[n2aws]

There is another thread on this very forum where @SignatureSolarJames and @n2aws and @Quattrohead are telling @robby that he is on a one man crusade to smear Signature Solars good name.

Spoiler: How can this be!?

You may want to reread my posts on that thread. I wasnt saying anything about SS support quality until my last post. I quite literally was saying you cant get an accurate portrayal of the quality of support by reading a forum.

I thank you for not trying to mischaracterize my words on an unrelated thread.

 

[Bluedog225]

Remember the 1000 post thread? So full of suckiness. Probably costs a fortune just to archive it.

 

[cs1234]

You may want to reread my posts on that thread. I wasnt saying anything about SS support quality until my last post. I quite literally was saying you cant get an accurate portrayal of the quality of support by reading a forum.

I thank you for not trying to mischaracterize my words on an unrelated thread.

I dare say that you can. So we seem to disagree. Forums are a perfectly fine place to get information about a companies customer service. Where else are you going to get that information, on their company website? By playing Russian Roulette and ordering from them?

I can't help it if your posts read like you were cheerleading for Signature Solar. Sometimes specific words aren't necessary, the tone and post history speaks volumes.

You'll notice that I've badmouthed many companies, not just Signature Solar, so my conscience is clear.

 

[n2aws]

I dare say that you can. So we seem to disagree. Forums are a perfectly fine place to get information about a companies customer service. Where else are you going to get that information, on their company website? By playing Russian Roulette and ordering from them?

I can't help it if your posts read like you were cheerleading for Signature Solar. Sometimes specific words aren't necessary, the tone and post history speaks volumes.

You'll notice that I've badmouthed many companies, not just Signature Solar, so my conscience is clear.

Let's pretend that exactly 100 people are active on a forum.. any forum. Let's say ALL 100 people call XYZ company for support.

Now, let's pretend that exactly 50 people got anything from decent to excellent levels of support from that company. How many of them are posting about that experience in the forum?

Now, exactly 50 people had mediocre to terrible support. How many of them post about their experience?

As i said in the other post (still not sure why you dragged me over here to a completely unrelated post) but people don't generally post about things that went as they would expect. But they do post when it's bad.


You can certainly get first hand anecdotal stories and information on a forum, such as what is being shared in this thread.. but if you think you are getting a full and realistic picture you're simply delusional. The people who were pleased with their experience moved on to the next thing in their life, and you never heard about it on the forum. It's really a simple as that

Honestly i think you just tagged me to argue, and I'm tired of making this point. If you believe you are able to get a complete and accurate picture of the level of support ob a forum cool bro. Go ahead and believe it. I've got no dog in the fight. I'm done responding to people who are clearly looking to argue.

 

[Crowz]

Let's pretend that exactly 100 people are active on a forum.. any forum. Let's say ALL 100 people call XYZ company for support.

Now, let's pretend that exactly 50 people got anything from decent to excellent levels of support from that company. How many of them are posting about that experience in the forum?

Now, exactly 50 people had mediocre to terrible support. How many of them post about their experience?

As i said in the other post (still not sure why you dragged me over here to a completely unrelated post) but people don't generally post about things that went as they would expect. But they do post when it's bad.


You can certainly get first hand anecdotal stories and information on a forum, such as what is being shared in this thread.. but if you think you are getting a full and realistic picture you're simply delusional. The people who were pleased with their experience moved on to the next thing in their life, and you never heard about it on the forum. It's really a simple as that

Honestly i think you just tagged me to argue, and I'm tired of making this point. If you believe you are able to get a complete and accurate picture of the level of support ob a forum cool bro. Go ahead and believe it. I've got no dog in the fight. I'm done responding to people who are clearly looking to argue.

I agree you cannot know the ratio of happy to unhappy customers of a company from a forum.

Happy people use what they bought and are happy.

Pissed off people find a forum and go off on the product or company.

Its human nature so I don't use that as much an indicator of quality.

What I do use as an indicator is how customers are treated by the company and the responses the employees post here towards the customers.

That part looks very bad for them in some of the post I have read here.

 

[robby]

I
What I do use as an indicator is how customers are treated by the company and the responses the employees post here towards the customers.

That part looks very bad for them in some of the post I have read here.

That is exactly what I am looking at when I draw my conclusions. Then just like in the video @cs1234 posted above I start to wonder if I am the only one noticing this crap.

Then comes the meaningless intimidation post from SS and then comes the childish attacks from people who evidently got a special deals on 18Kpv inverter and other goodies.

 

[cs1234]

What I do use as an indicator is how customers are treated by the company and the responses the employees post here towards the customers.

That part looks very bad for them in some of the post I have read here.

Precisely. @SignatureSolarJames responses to numerous people on the forums is indicative of how Signature Solar (and EG4) is run. Think to yourself, this is how he talks publicly. Imagine what takes place behind closed doors. He is the top dog at those companies (owned essentially by him and his family from what I can tell), he sets the tone and policies.

Don't get me wrong, some of the products he sells seem like a good value. He is doing us all a favor by dropping the price floor in the industry on UL listed equipment. I think we can all agree that's a good thing.

Beyond that though, he needs to just step back and let somebody else handle the customer service / relations department. He lacks the demeanour and humility required to engage wronged/hostile customers. He is not just some random internet troll like the rest of us here (me at least). He is representing the company, as the CEO. There is a level of professional decorum expected, or at least, there once was.

 

[Quattrohead]

See this is what is wrong with today's world, no one will take responsibility for their own self and it is not acceptable to have a personality anymore, no matter what that personality may be. Live and let live and if you don't like something filter it out.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

I'll say that as someone new into solar, who hasn't bought anything from Signature Solar yet, seeing all the negative comments on the forum has been steering me away.

I am fine spending a couple hundred bucks to buy some cheap Chinese all in one (my MPP branded one, for example). If it dies and they fail on supporting it, oh well, I am burned a few hundred dollars.

The stuff I'd be buying from a retailer like Signature Solar would be more of a $10k type of order, and at that price I don't know if I'd want to save a few hundred dollars over somewhere like Current Connected if it meant I get a bad support experience.

 

[cs1234]

See this is what is wrong with today's world, no one will take responsibility for their own self and it is not acceptable to have a personality anymore, no matter what that personality may be. Live and let live and if you don't like something filter it out.

He can have whatever personality he wants, and obviously does. He certainly isn't suffering for it.