Legacy SunPower Corporation (Out of Business) Avaliações 523

We have a leased solar system with SunPower. We have a total of 45 panels. We are only at the property 6 months in the year so the panels satisfy all of our electric needs regularly. In Oct. 2023, we received a bill from Edison totally $4156.32. This was obviously shocking. It turns out that our solar system had been down due to an equipment malfunction that has now been fixed. SunPower monitors our system and never reported this issue. Our agreement includes a guarantee for production. We contacted Cecille Penales with SunPower to address this situation. To date, we have been completely ignored. It has now been over six months and still no resolution. We involved our attorney, and they ignored him too. If this was a small bill, it wouldn't be worth our time. SunPower is not complying with their lease agreement with us.

“We haven’t generated a single watt of electricity in the past two years, even though we faithfully pay our monthly lease. When there’s a problem, they eventually send someone out, but without the necessary repair parts. Despite our twenty-year lease, they don’t manufacture parts for our aging solar panel. The system broke after seven years, leaving us without any operation for two years. Every 3 to 4 weeks, they dispatch a team to diagnose the issue, but the lack of urgency and available parts is frustrating. Initially, we recommended SunPower to friends and family, but that won’t happen again. Our advice: Don’t use SunPower.” Case number 03657325

Reply to Sun power: This issue has been with an escalation manager for a year, and unfortunately, there has been no progress in the past 4 months. We haven’t received any updates beyond the assurance that they are actively working on it. However, we still lack concrete plans or a timeline for resolution. Could you please advise when we can expect it to be repaired? I’ll be sure to update my review once the issue is resolved.

Very disappointed with SunPower service turnaround. I started my service on 5/10 and on 5/18 one of the panels stopped producing. I logged a case and been chasing to have a technician to come and visit. When selling I was told the service center is nearby and prompt service will be provided. Now the local installer who assured prompt service does not respond to text. At this point I am going to open BBB complaint.

6/14 - As of date, they reassigned Escalation Specialists 2 times. Every time Escalation Specialist is assigned they ask for 3-5 business days. Almost 1 month with no action. Logged BBB complaint and will escalate further. Would not recommend anyone.

I've been with out an accountabliltiy for the lack of solar power for 5 months. Called 5 times this month and get the run around. today I spent 40 minutes attempting to resolve my issue. Rep said someone will call at noon. its almost 10 pm. No call back. My panels are not producing. I am paying over $100 a month to sunpower; and now because the panels aren't producing, owe Edison a considerable amount. They have an agenda and a total disregard for their customers.

I have leased my solar equipment with SunPower for 9 years. I remember a time when SunPower actually called me because my monitoring system was not working properly. Not anymore! Why should they, they receive my energy credits when my monitoring system is not working correctly!
My solar monitoring was working intermittently & then not at all. It took a month, three telephone calls to SunPower, when I was told that I might get better service if I called Hooked on Solar directly for repairs. Then, It took 3 1/2 months to diagnose the problem, order parts, delays of personnel to make the repairs.
As a result, I owe my electric company $ 1,000.00 for the months & days my monitoring system was not working. I still pay my monthly fee to SunPower.
SunPower has gotten credit for the energy produced when my system was not working.
I have tried to recoup the losses from SunPower, to no avail.
Check your monitoring system daily! Keep a "standing" appointment with Hooked on Solar to prevent scheduling delays for repairs.
Ultimately, it costs the consumer!

I bought my home in August and installed a new WiFi network. System hasn't been communicating, yet I'm generating power... who is getting this credit?
After numerous calls and attempts to have me correct the issue, the phone reps were as helpful as they could be. I was given the numbers to authorized dealers who could help (3 out of 4 numbers have been disconnected and I left a message for one- still waiting for a call back) one company would come out after wuoting & agreeing o. $300, sent a contract for almost double… just to come assess… it’s now 9 months later, I am still offline and they offer a tech visit for $1,179.00 to upgrade my system... I don’t need an upgrade as it was working until we changed internet providers and just need to get online and they can't help because we own the system that isn't under contract any more.
Very sad! Very disappointing!
Where is the benefit of owning your system?
They should be ashamed!!!!

I recevied a response to my Google review that they would escalate... they did and we are back to square one with an operator telling me the technicians do not speak directly with residential customers and the supervising tech would call me back... nothing!

Wish I could give zero

Sunpower useage requires internet connection which is pointless when the power is out.
Anytime there is a power or internet outage the system goes down- kind of counter productive.
Call for assistance and the person has so much background noise dogs kids etc you cant hear anything

Update: I provided my contact details via Trustpilot to SunPower as requested and have heard...nothing. The offer in the follow up from the companyv was not fulfilled - company has my email address but refuses to use it.

I filled out SunPower's online form requesting information.

Since then, after providing answers to questions via e-mail, I have received multiple phone calls (per day) from SunPower outbound sales staff who claim that they have no record of previous contact with me and attempt to convince me to go through their script of already answered questions, going as far to accuse me of being confused regarding which company I "think" I've previously spoken to (the phone records I have show that this is not the case).

The lack of respect for a potential customer's time is quite concerning to say the least.

Update 5/21/2024 - Still getting nowhere with Sunpower. Communications has been the typical canned messages stating they are awaiting a technician to perform a site visit. I have spoken to two local SOLAR providers and neither one will touch the system due to Sunpower's service policy and reputation.

I have had an inverter failure since early March 2024 and after reporting it to SunPower and getting the run around regarding having it replaced under warranty, they provided me with a service date of today, May 7th. During this time there has been no communications from SunPower. I confirmed the service date at the end of April and was told to expect someone between 8 and 9 AM. Not getting a positive feeling, I call early this morning and was told that my service is now scheduled for early July. No advance emails, phone call or any other notifications. Speaking to their representatives is useless, they just tell you a scripted response and getting to any level of management is impossible. If I knew now about how bad their warranty support is, I would never have chosen them as my SOLAR installer. Buyer be ware, SunPower service is terrible and full of excuses and poor communications.

Around six months ago, my system was installed and I made a full cash payment to settle my account. However they are refusing to pay me back the $1000 refundable deposit, and they have no reason not to do so.

was checking my production from prior years discovered production went down 5000 kwatts from 2017 t0 2018 in fact Nov and Dec of 2018 no production just learned today problem 2 of 5 modules were not working waiting for dealer in Phoenix area to return call for service call to hopefully fix problem, on my nickel, where was there customer support aren't they suppose to watch for things like to this and notify you I did buy out my lease in Oct 2019 but had started before then GREAT CUSTOMER SUPPPORT

UPDATE (5/16/2024): SunPower contacted me 2 additional via email times since their "escalation". Each time, the answer was "we are still waiting to hear back from the warehouse". The same excuse for the last 7 months now. Seriously, you'd serve consumers better with the truth and just say "we are not going to fix the crappy inverter we installed for you" because you are laying off workers, shifting your residential services to probably another crappy provider, and dealing with a class action lawsuit. Thus, this way consumers can at least go a different route. Shame on you SunPower.

UPDATE (4/30/2024): SunPower replied that they would escalate, but that’s been promised over the phone multiple times already. Canned review responses to show others that they are receptive to customers is more of a ploy. If they truly cared then they would actually resolve the issue immediately. If and when they do that, my review will reflect that.

Original Review:

My inverter broke over 6 months ago. The service person who originally came out explained the model I had was problematic with many inverter fails with other customers. He couldn't do anything and originally said it would probably take a month or so for a new inverter to get ordered and shipped.

I was patient for many months, but after many phone calls and emails, all SunPower can tell me is that they are still waiting for the manufacturer and cannot give me any concrete details of when. The exact same thing every time I have called and the same thing they state when they email.

It boggles my mind that SunPower has absolutely no visibility into their supply chain. Supply chain management/software has been around for decades at this point.

Everytime I called customer service and asked to speak to a superviser, I was told it would not do anything, etc. I don't even know if my issue has been escalated properly, other than the word of the rep.

And, in the mean-time, I have lost hundreds of dollars due to an inoperable solar system. It may even be thouands depending on how much longer SunPower takes. Had I known all this would happen, I would have gone to another service provider for a new inverter in the first place.

Updated after 2 weeks
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I haven't heard any new updates from them even though they told me they would contact me within 24 hours.

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I purchased their system two years ago, and it has been reliable for the most part. However, my experience with their customer service has been abysmal. Without any explanation, they've rescheduled appointments three times already. Now, I'm told I have to wait another three months for someone to finally come. It feels like they might be a one-person team. Needless to say, I'll be cautious about choosing them again. I've heard similar complaints about other big companies like Tesla. Once they install your system, it seems like support becomes nonexistent. That's why I'm inclined to explore smaller companies that prioritize responsiveness to their customers.

Since early 2023, my solar panels have been generating zero or very little solar power. There have been multiple issues, some have been corrected. The one still not corrected is that one of the two invertors has not been working since at least since summer of 2023. I have been waiting over 5 months for the non-working invertor to be replaced. One would think a company like SunPower would have spare parts on hand. I was told they are still installing new systems, so invertors must exist!!

Update - There have been 3 case numbers since April 2023 - #C03267717, #03376082, and #03690871. Also, per SunPower on 4/19/2023, SunPower was not communicating with the solar equipment for over 2 years so was not monitoring the performance of the system. I was not aware of this until the system was not working.

Our solar panel and battery system has been off-line for at least 5 days. Sunpower support says there is an assembly called the Gateway that appears to be broken. They have to order one and they will let us know when it comes in and they can schedule an installation. In the meantime, we are buying all of our power from the grid. I don't understand why Sunpower can't keep some spare parts in stock. I suppose it's cheaper for them to operate with no backup stock. Also, on a previous outage, it took something like a month to get a service appointment. Couldn't sunpower schedule a service appointment now, using an estimate of the part's arrival? To us this seems urgent, and sunpower doesn't seem to get that.
Update: May 4th. After Sunpower replied to this review, they assigned an agent to see that our case got escalated, and she got in touch with us. We haven't heard from her this week. The system has been off-line since April 16th, and we are not aware of any movement on the problem. The frustrating thing is this: sunpower refuses to even schedule a repair until the part comes in. Our experience tells us that we will have to wait a month for the appointment from that date. Doesn't Sunpower know about how long it takes to get a replacement Gateway assembly, and could they not schedule an appointment shortly after the estimated arrival? Our "escalated case manager" just wrote to us and said that Sunpower doesn't consider 3 weeks of downtime to be excessive, but at this rate, it's going to be twice that.
Update: June 14th. The serviceman came yesterday with the new gateway. He installed it, and the system still didn't work. A new defective part was identified. Now SunPower had to order that part, and again won't schedule the next service date until the part is received. We expected the "gateway" to be some complicated assembly that was prohibitively expensive to keep spares around, but it looks like a cable modem - it probably costs about $50. The newly-identifed other defective part is a relay the connects the panels to the hub. It is also probably worth $50, and yet SunPower has to order it. Why don't the service trucks have a few spare gateways, and a few spare relays, in them? It is really unbelievable that these inexpensive parts, without which the system doesn't work at all, cannot be kept handy. It has been almost 2 months that our solar system has been down, and a fix date has not yet been identified.

I am glad I came to this site because at first I thought I was the only one experiencing issues with this company. I had my solar system installed over a year ago and instead of saving money I have ended paying more to my electric company than I did before the installation. The panels have been producing little energy even on very sunny days and I can’t seem to get a technician out here to look at the problem. When I call Sunpower I am told it’s a problem else where and that I should contact my electric company. During the winter months my electric bill is almost $500 per month keeping in mind that my heating system is gas. The summer months are almost equal in comparison. Today for instance it a bright and sunny day and the panels are only producing .1 percent of my energy when I first checked and five minutes later it’s producing 3.8 percent. This system seems to be flawed and my attempt to get a tech to look at the panels have been futile because all I keep hearing from their end is that the panels are working.

My wife and I moved in on mid January 2024 and Sunpower took awhile to activate and were told to do it manually but no green light on the PV monitor. They sent a tech over and I met Warren Grennan and he did a splendid job with quality work. He took his time to make sure everything is up and running. He answered all my questions and guided me through the sunpower app. The green light is now on the PV monitor. Thank you again Warren Grennan!

I just bought a new home in Santee and I met my SunPower tech Warren Grennan when he was doing maintenance on my neighbor's home. I asked him for some insight on my home and he took the time to educate me on the type of solar panels I had and what to expect. Fortunately, it was good news that I didn't need additional panels. Once we moved in I had SunPower come out to make sure everything was working properly. That was a good move because there were some things that needed to be upgraded and reconfigured to work optimally.

Warren set up shop in my garage and walked me through the app on my phone and let me know what to expect consumption and usage wise. He was very thorough and kind. Warren made sure I didn't have any questions before he left. I even picked his brain about battery walls which I plan to do once we decide what kind of electric car we will buy in the future. I wish more companies had a Warren they could send out to make sure these things are done correctly. Thanks for taking care of us!

Lastly, I was told by our community that this process could take weeks/months. This isn't even our second week in our new home and we are already up and running. #Awesome

All of these solar companies are a scam........they give you their sales pitch......a lot of their customers buy the system upfront......when you take that price and spread the cost out over 30 years, then you take in consideration the months during winter that you are drawing energy from the grid you are paying more for your electricity than unfortunately the electric company.

Take some time to do the cost......it's a scam.

There is no sales order number. No sale was made due to the above statement of conversation.

DO NOT THINK ABOUT CALLING AND SIGNING WITH THIS COMPANY STAY AWAY!! Our first project coordinator was amazing she would non stop contact me and let me know what was happening. One day I get a email that TRENT will be taking over and that’s when the nightmare started.. it’s going to be a year that we have the system on our roof and it hasn’t been turned on!! One day I lost my cool and wrote a beautiful email to Trent to let me know what was happening because my power company had sent me multiple emails wanting proof and I didn’t know what was going on so ofcourse Trent didn’t even bother to answer until 3days after the email was expired. Every time I ask him what is happening his answer: let me contact the team and that’s it goes on for weeks with nothing until I have to email him again asking to call me asap! He’s only called me once to let me know sorry your system is oversized we have to downsize. As always it’s the same excuse and no moving forward. today my husband called him and finally he picked up his line because he didn’t have my husbands number saved. So ofcourse first thing we did was ask for a supervisor or manager and first thing he did give me a second and hung up the phone. Called back he started making excuses oh my manager this that until he gave me a fake email to his manager and few mins later he calls my number letting me know oh this line is recorded this is my managers correct email and he will contact you today until end of the day and it’s already 9pm I’m still waiting for his managers call or email. 

If you have another local solar company please run or if you’ve signed with Sunpower and have Trent as your project manager RUN!!