Overall, this was a long and at times frustrating process. I started the application in August, and it wasn’t completed until mid-March. While the system is now up and running and seems to be performing well so far, getting to that point was not straightforward.

The main issue throughout was poor project management and communication. It took many months to get an installation date and then dates were changed, on a planned install day the engineers didn’t turn up as scheduled. There was the lack of proactive communication — I was left to chase the company myself, only to be told later in the day that the installation wasn’t going ahead. If customers are expected to wait in, they should be informed much earlier if plans change.

The overall impression as a customer is that the business may have taken on too many projects and doesn’t have sufficiently robust processes or systems in place to manage the volume of clients effectively.

The engineers themselves were generally good when they were on-site — polite and capable. However, there were a number of snagging issues due to lack of care and attention which meant they had to return the following week. This extended the overall timeline and resulted in scaffolding being left up longer than expected, which could likely have been avoided with more care during the initial installation.

On one visit, a single engineer was sent with two very heavy batteries. He arrived around 11am and left at about 3pm, completing only part of the work. During that time, he had to move very heavy batteries himself without any lifting equipment, we helped him lift them. He didn’t complain, but it did feel like something that could have been better planned from a welfare and practical point of view.

There were other issues with the survey that impacted the end result, also issues with the quotation.

To be fair to them the company did work to try and rectify an issue when it was raised.

In summary, the end result seems reasonable and hopefully will perform well, but the journey to get there felt quite disorganised.