Signature Solar

[G00SE]

Looks like some forklift damage to me.
Likely difficult to line up forks due to using a pair of pallets, instead of a correctly sized pallet...

Good eye. I didn’t even notice the dual pallet

 

[42OhmsPA]

View attachment 182253

Is that 2 pallets spliced together that split? Were any modules damaged?

Fork pockets should be on the narrow edge but anyone that deals with logistics understands shipping air isn't economical and cubing and/or weighing out a trailer is key.

I wouldn't be opposed to paying an extra free to have modules shipped in a knock down crate... They could be used for multiple things.

 

[Q-Dog]

My guess is the feet on the original pallet were damaged, so they put the 2 regular pallets under the load to be able to get the forklift under it.

 

[flpilgrim]

no modules were damaged, but i ran a shipping department and we all would've gotten fired for something like that.

I realize I'm getting old and have expectations that are a little out of sync with today's business environment. 18650 Battery and Overkill solar were both a pleasure to work with however so I know it's possible to do better than this.

If I have 5 weeks to wait for product next time I might buy from Signature again, but they sure wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[Pinto Yates]

Summary of my personal Signature Solar experiences:

Order 1- no tracking # after 10 business days, emailed, received fast email response saying there was a mix up in shipping and it’s on the way. Received equipment a couple days later in perfect condition.

Order 2 - ordered refurb inverter and it arrived super fast, Changed my mind, emailed to ask if I could send back, they said sure, no problem within 14 days, was promptly sent RMA shipping label.

Order 3 - Tried to buy batteries online during a “free shipping sale”. Last day of sale my credit card wouldn’t go through and I was mad at SS Website. Ordered next day, paid shipping charge, and called credit card co. and found problem was on my end when CC Co said, “oh sorry, charge is above our fraud detection limit, we’ll raise it”. Hat in hand, I emailed SS to tell them the story and the snafu on my part. They didn’t have to, but they promptly credited me for the full shipping charge.

Order 4- Ordered 9 business days ago, one item was on back order but two weren’t. Shipping status currently shows back ordered. I’m assuming they’re waiting to ship all at once, but I’m not really stressed about it yet and expect I’ll get shipping notice in a week or so. If not, I’ll email and they’ll figure it out for me.

Honestly, I’m old cranky and lazy and not motivated to complain unless it’s an egregious vendor error. I dealt with vendors professionally for decades. I’m sure others may have had nightmares with SS but all my interactions so far have been mostly positive. They’re not Amazon, Starbucks or Tesla, but they seem to be one of a small handful of companies selling the most affordable solar components stateside and offering assistance when there are issues. It appears they are importing and moving a lot of product and that’s never predictable timing but it is what keeps the price low.

I‘ve also requested assistance from Current Connected and they are great to deal with. Their experts are a little closer to the telephone and I’d purchase from them anytime if they had what I needed at the time. I suspect their shipping is a bit faster being a smaller operation than SS.

My last choice would be to buy from an overseas company, with unknown business ethics, whose only support consist of late night emails through Google translate. I’m not good at gambling. I’ve read many of those letters here and that is just too big a threat to my wallet and blood pressure to consider.

Cowboys used to say “You don’t miss your water till the well runs dry“ So I’m glad theres a company in my state working hard to import and sell all levels of solar equipment at the lowest prices. We need more companies like them outcompeting each other around this country.

IMO, If you need it by a drop dead date, SS may honestly not be the best vendor choice, but if price and after sales support are more important than timing, then they may be hard to beat on most items.

I hope you found my unbiased, uncompensated, personal experience review helpful. But it’s ok if you didn’t.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

Summary of my personal Signature Solar experiences:

Order 1- no tracking # after 10 business days, emailed, received fast email response saying there was a mix up in shipping and it’s on the way. Received equipment a couple days later in perfect condition.

Order 2 - ordered refurb inverter and it arrived super fast, Changed my mind, emailed to ask if I could send back, they said sure, no problem within 14 days, was promptly sent RMA shipping label.

Order 3 - Tried to buy batteries online during a “free shipping sale”. Last day of sale my credit card wouldn’t go through and I was mad at SS Website. Ordered next day, paid shipping charge, and called credit card co. and found problem was on my end when CC Co said, “oh sorry, charge is above our fraud detection limit, we’ll raise it”. Hat in hand, I emailed SS to tell them the story and the snafu on my part. They didn’t have to, but they promptly credited me for the full shipping charge.

Order 4- Ordered 9 business days ago, one item was on back order but two weren’t. Shipping status currently shows back ordered. I’m assuming they’re waiting to ship all at once, but I’m not really stressed about it yet and expect I’ll get shipping notice in a week or so. If not, I’ll email and they’ll figure it out for me.

Honestly, I’m old cranky and lazy and not motivated to complain unless it’s an egregious vendor error. I dealt with vendors professionally for decades. I’m sure others may have had nightmares with SS but all my interactions so far have been mostly positive. They’re not Amazon, Starbucks or Tesla, but they seem to be one of a small handful of companies selling the most affordable solar components stateside and offering assistance when there are issues. It appears they are importing and moving a lot of product and that’s never predictable timing but it is what keeps the price low.

I‘ve also requested assistance from Current Connected and they are great to deal with. Their experts are a little closer to the telephone and I’d purchase from them anytime if they had what I needed at the time. I suspect their shipping is a bit faster being a smaller operation than SS.

My last choice would be to buy from an overseas company, with unknown business ethics, whose only support consist of late night emails through Google translate. I’m not good at gambling. I’ve read many of those letters here and that is just too big a threat to my wallet and blood pressure to consider.

Cowboys used to say “You don’t miss your water till the well runs dry“ So I’m glad theres a company in my state working hard to import and sell all levels of solar equipment at the lowest prices. We need more companies like them outcompeting each other around this country.

IMO, If you need it by a drop dead date, SS may honestly not be the best vendor choice, but if price and after sales support are more important than timing, then they may be hard to beat on most items.

I hope you found my unbiased, uncompensated, personal experience review helpful. But it’s ok if you didn’t.

This is wonderful Pinto, thank you. Thank you for being one of the few to use your precious time to extend a positive, but also thorough review of your experience. We appreciate you so very much! Please don't hesitate to reach out for any support in the future!

 

[Sticky1]

NO ISSUES. They went out of their way to get me the parts I needed in the timeframe I needed.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

NO ISSUES. They went out of their way to get me the parts I needed in the timeframe I needed.

Thank you @Sticky1 ! We appreciate you and your feedback so much!

 

[Sticky1]

No issues

Thanks

 

[PaulLad]

For the record, I haven't spent any money with SS though I've considered it numerous times but repeat threads like these stop me. Back on 3-31 I emailed sales for a freight quote along with a question on a Schneider bundle, I received a reply 4-11... I didn't go through with that order.

Exactly where I'm at. Was thinking about ordering but now I see this thread and am thinking twice.

That said, their prices are way lower than CC, NAZ, etc. Their 5kwh server battery is half the price of some of the others.

I'm in business and I can tell you, its almost impossible to have great prices, great quality and great service. Show me a company that does. Look at Walmart for reference. Great prices, bad quality and bad service.

So, take your pic. You want excellent service and excellent quality, you're going to pay WAY MORE for it.

 

[jsmithtx]

My experience with Signature Solar so far has been very positive. That's with ~3 orders.

Order 1: Placed 14-Nov, Shipped 6-Dec. Equipment was almost perfect -- one bus bar spacer's had broken but was a super cheap replacement (less than $10).

Order 2: Placed 2-Dec; but changed my mind (wanted to switch from LF4 to LL-S batteries) -- called SS on 14-Dec and the sales guy canceled the order, placed a new one, and when he discovered the panels were backordered, he gave me a free upgrade to a better version, separated the shipment without charge so I could get the non-backordered items (6000xp are backordered) faster! Was really impressed. Shipped same day.

Order 3: Placed 19-Dec. Waiting shipment, has a backordered cable that I suspect may be holding it up. Don't mind waiting for it.

SS is also about 1-1.5 hrs from me. I may visit them next time I want to pick up a few batteries to meet them and save shipping . But so far, I've been very pleased with the experience.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

My experience with Signature Solar so far has been very positive. That's with ~3 orders.

Order 1: Placed 14-Nov, Shipped 6-Dec. Equipment was almost perfect -- one bus bar spacer's had broken but was a super cheap replacement (less than $10).

Order 2: Placed 2-Dec; but changed my mind (wanted to switch from LF4 to LL-S batteries) -- called SS on 14-Dec and the sales guy canceled the order, placed a new one, and when he discovered the panels were backordered, he gave me a free upgrade to a better version, separated the shipment without charge so I could get the non-backordered items (6000xp are backordered) faster! Was really impressed. Shipped same day.

Order 3: Placed 19-Dec. Waiting shipment, has a backordered cable that I suspect may be holding it up. Don't mind waiting for it.

SS is also about 1-1.5 hrs from me. I may visit them next time I want to pick up a few batteries to meet them and save shipping . But so far, I've been very pleased with the experience.

Hi @jsmithtx Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback. We can never adequately express our appreciation when a customer takes the time to leave a review like this. It would be absolutely wonderful if you could come down to meet us and see our new location!

 

[DioRox]

Let me know if my expectations are too rigid please. I ordered from Signature last Saturday, and was planning to install in two weeks over Thanksgiving. I didn't order any of the popular cheap components that seem to be in high demand right now; I got a Schneider Inverter bundle and a pallet of Canadian Solar panels. I used to work in a shipping department and that would have been a two-day pick and ship turn around for us max.

I emailed on Wednesday and haven't gotten a reply.
I called yesterday and sat on hold for 30 min before I hung up.
I saw a guy named Ben from a different thread and DM'ed him yesterday to try and avoid posting publicly.
I replied to another thread that had a Signature person active on it during business hours yesterday.

In your experience, should I cancel my order and go with someone else to try and get my stuff here in two weeks?

They are also charging me sales tax. Overkill didn't do that, neither did 18650 battery. I looked it up and Indiana is definitely exempt this year. I'd rather not go through the paperwork trying to recoup that.

I'm not upset (yet) and I'll be willing to interact peacefully with anyone from Signature that wants to weigh in here, I tried to work through every other channel before posting this but I'd rather not be in the dark about this. Signature may be the lowest price out there but $11,000 is still a lot of money for us.

I'm fed up with them myself. They continue to make mistakes with me, and say they will fix it and they don't. This is the 3rd time they made a mistake, again. Then they promise things they won't stand by. I'm honestly thinking of reporting them to the BBB if they are members.

 

[DougfromdaUP]

I'm fed up with them myself. They continue to make mistakes with me, and say they will fix it and they don't. This is the 3rd time they made a mistake, again. Then they promise things they won't stand by. I'm honestly thinking of reporting them to the BBB if they are members.

Please don’t just whine.

Let’s hear specific allegations.

 

[tomlos]

We just placed an order a few weeks ago with Signature Solar.. for the first time. We ordered 15x Talesun 400w bifacial panels, and within 2 days it flipped to shipped, and my only gripe is it didn't provide me with a tracking number quickly. I had a few day gap between the order, and when I wanted to have them on my truck, and transported to my ranch. I called SS customer support, found out they already were on the delivery truck for that same day. All in all, we got our panels in 7-8 days after ordering... amazing customer service, and happy to order again someday when needed. They are only 1.5 hours from me, so that helps, and something I might do is make a trip out there someday to pick up an order, depending on the size of the item ordered.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

We just placed an order a few weeks ago with Signature Solar.. for the first time. We ordered 15x Talesun 400w bifacial panels, and within 2 days it flipped to shipped, and my only gripe is it didn't provide me with a tracking number quickly. I had a few day gap between the order, and when I wanted to have them on my truck, and transported to my ranch. I called SS customer support, found out they already were on the delivery truck for that same day. All in all, we got our panels in 7-8 days after ordering... amazing customer service, and happy to order again someday when needed. They are only 1.5 hours from me, so that helps, and something I might do is make a trip out there someday to pick up an order, depending on the size of the item ordered.

Thank you so much for your feedback @tomlos ! This is music to our ears and exactly the service we aim to provide! (Apologies for the delay on the tracking info, we have been working on a method to smooth out the automated email process) We would love for you to come out for a visit someday! In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns or need any assistance or support, please don't hesitate to reach out to us anytime!

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

I'm fed up with them myself. They continue to make mistakes with me, and say they will fix it and they don't. This is the 3rd time they made a mistake, again. Then they promise things they won't stand by. I'm honestly thinking of reporting them to the BBB if they are members.

Hi @DioRox I'm so sorry you're feeling this way! Mistakes happen, but 3 times?! I'd really like to look into this and see what has caused this. If you'd like to reach out to me at engagement@signaturesolar.com I will ensure we get you the help you need.

 

[solsearching]

I know signature can have a pretty bad rep when it comes to customer service, but I have to say that in my most recent experience of buying 10 of the nesolar panels this wasnt the case. After 10 days my order got lost in tracking no-mans land so I contacted Signature’s customer service and Jess in particular. The issue was cleared up within minutes and I received my panels within two days and also four earlier than expected. They were excellently packed with zero damage. R+L carriers were professional and courteous- even wheeling the stack 100 yards through an alley to an outbuilding entrance out back. I’ve now placed three orders with signature, and two others ( an eg4 hybrid mini split and a lifepower 24v) that were dropped shipped by them. All has worked out on all purchases- with R+L also being the carrier for the rack battery and mini split- so I figured it was time to give a little credit where it’s due. I think that goes mainly to Jess!, but also to Signature for recognizing the need to improve in certain areas. They aren’t perfect yet, and probably never will be, but recognizing that they can do better for their customers and trying to implement that change is a solid and appreciated start.

 

[SignatureSolarJess]

I know signature can have a pretty bad rep when it comes to customer service, but I have to say that in my most recent experience of buying 10 of the nesolar panels this wasnt the case. After 10 days my order got lost in tracking no-mans land so I contacted Signature’s customer service and Jess in particular. The issue was cleared up within minutes and I received my panels within two days and also four earlier than expected. They were excellently packed with zero damage. R+L carriers were professional and courteous- even wheeling the stack 100 yards through an alley to an outbuilding entrance out back. I’ve now placed three orders with signature, and two others ( an eg4 hybrid mini split and a lifepower 24v) that were dropped shipped by them. All has worked out on all purchases- with R+L also being the carrier for the rack battery and mini split- so I figured it was time to give a little credit where it’s due. I think that goes mainly to Jess!, but also to Signature for recognizing the need to improve in certain areas. They aren’t perfect yet, and probably never will be, but recognizing that they can do better for their customers and trying to implement that change is a solid and appreciated start.

Thank you so much @solsearching ? This is music to our ears! We truly are working diligently to improve our CS reputation and your words immensley reflect our dedicated efforts. We GREATLY appreciate your post and I personally want to thank you for mentioning my work directly. Please let me know if you need any further assistance with your future orders, we are always here to help!

 

[DioRox]

Thank you so much @solsearching ? This is music to our ears! We truly are working diligently to improve our CS reputation and your words immensley reflect our dedicated efforts. We GREATLY appreciate your post and I personally want to thank you for mentioning my work directly. Please let me know if you need any further assistance with your future orders, we are always here to help!

I know signature can have a pretty bad rep when it comes to customer service, but I have to say that in my most recent experience of buying 10 of the nesolar panels this wasnt the case. After 10 days my order got lost in tracking no-mans land so I contacted Signature’s customer service and Jess in particular. The issue was cleared up within minutes and I received my panels within two days and also four earlier than expected. They were excellently packed with zero damage. R+L carriers were professional and courteous- even wheeling the stack 100 yards through an alley to an outbuilding entrance out back. I’ve now placed three orders with signature, and two others ( an eg4 hybrid mini split and a lifepower 24v) that were dropped shipped by them. All has worked out on all purchases- with R+L also being the carrier for the rack battery and mini split- so I figured it was time to give a little credit where it’s due. I think that goes mainly to Jess!, but also to Signature for recognizing the need to improve in certain areas. They aren’t perfect yet, and probably never will be, but recognizing that they can do better for their customers and trying to implement that change is a solid and appreciated start.

You sound just like me a couple years ago. I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. I was sticking up for them on youtube constantly, asking people to have patience, that they're doing the best they can, etc. Unfortunately, this last employee Ethan, in my opinion, was dishonest. I have asked them at least 6 times to pull our phone call, but for some reason, they never respond to that, and when they do it's simply, "I didn't know we could do that." Well you know now, so pull the f'ing call and listen to what he said! Long wait times, etc, sure, I get all that. But dishonesty? I can't tolerate that.