Solar City

My roof was old and rather than pay $500 to remove the panels temporarily the day I finally decided to replace it, I went ahead and put on an Owens Corning Platinum Guarantee heat resistant roof which came with more attic venting and guaranteed I would get the maximum benefit out of the panels and keep my San Fernando Valley home as cool as possible. Because I had to coordinate with the roofer, who was very experienced and did a great job, and because I work full time, I turned many of the details over to the roofer. He had worked them before and was as smooth a "Swiss watch." Solar City seemed like the best deal around and I was really sold on them through the process of signing the lease. However, they were growing very rapidly. Too rapidly. They were hiring like crazy and as a result had some inexperienced people working for them. We were assigned a very inexperienced project manager. The person who came and took the initial measurements made a mistake and forgot to indicate a roof vent pipe on the plans, causing the design to be off. They were able to tweak that, but then the person who delivered parts for the job was very grumpy and unpleasant according to the roofer. Long story short, the grumpy guy delivered stanchions that were too tall and the inexperienced project manager didn't catch it. We didn't figure this out until the stanchions were in place and the new roof installed around them. The panels sit on these stanchions and at that point, it could not be changed. The only problem with the stanchions being too tall is my roof is not very pitched and the stanchions are very obvious. From the front of the house you can see underneath the solar panels - which is not the look I was sold or that I expected. I was very upset and felt it damaged the curb appeal. It should look sleek and sit closer to the roof itself. I was offered a creative solution by my salesman (a custom made skirt that was a little longer than normal which would hide the bright silver stanchions.) Solar City owned the company that made the skirt so I thought this was brilliant and was pretty satisfied. It never happened. No matter how often I followed up, ultimately I never heard anything and eventually gave up. They really alienated me by doing that and though I am still happy to have the panels and the fixed monthly rate, I don't feel the same about the company or as great about my choice as I did going in. There are many other companies to choose from.

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