SunPower by Freedom Solar

Beware of the fine print!

Quick Facts

Energy Needs Met

100%

or more of electricity

Property

Energy need met:: 100% or more of electricity

Technology

Type:: Solar PV
Purposes:: To generate electricity

Financial Details

Own or Lease:: Cash Purchase
Additional Financial Notes:: Although the financing cost was 2.99%, they increased the gross system price so therefore customers are paying more for the financing then you believe that you are getting. For example the cash purchase price was $21,706 compared to $24,179, a difference of $2,473 so therefore which is 11.39% of the cash cost so effectively a person is paying a financing cost of 14.38%. This makes the financing seem as though you are getting a really good deal, so beware and look at all of the numbers before you sign the documents. This is why we decided to pay cash instead of financing.

Professionals & Suppliers

Products:: SunPower
Installers:: Freedom Solar

What You Need to Know

My Motivation:

We started looking at solar to try to control the amount of money that we would be spending on energy for now and in the future. The idea was to pay the cost now to beat the cost of inflation as we prepared for retirement. This was the goal that we started with, however it seemed as though pushing the sale was more important then the customers objective.

Advice:

Do a lot of research before you sign the documents and comparison and then don't settle for less. This is a high sales pressure market so do not be so wrapped up in the graphs and excellent presentation that you get sidetrack on what you are truly looking for from the product.

Experience with Installer:

Freedom Solar is the only installer that Sunpower uses in the Texas area, which was too bad for us as these where the panels that we had chosen after weeks of reviewing the production and power warranty. The problem is the although Sunpower ranks the highest inefficiency due to their cell technology, Freedom Solar the installer will not back up these claims with the warranty that is given by their production guarantee. You see this is the fine print where the product is only as good as the lesser of the warranty which is where Freedom Solar reduces the warranty by the manufacturer by 4% throughout the live of the system. Another problem that we had was they didn't listen to what the customer was trying to achieve as they was just trying to sell a product, one that was already sold as we had done the research. Because they did not listen to what the customer wanted as our end result, they lost the sale. Make sure you know your own home and where you get the most sunlight for your home. All of the satellite readings of our roof that was used was taking in the wintertime and did not give a true reading of the shading in our yard because of the large tree that is in the front. Because of this every Solar estimate calculator was incorrect on where panels should be installed on our roof. It seems as once we looked at our energy consumption and the annual production they were trying to sell us, which by the way was 3000 kwh more than our annual consumption, and where they had decided to place the panels on our roof, it became a sales game to keep the price the same instead of getting the customer what they was trying to achieve. After days of going back and forth we lost all trust in the sales representation of John Simon and wanted to find another Sunpower installer and to our dismay found that Freedom Solar is the only company they use in Texas.

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