Ra Solar - Profile & Reviews

Look at flexyfalas's review below mine. Clearly, regardless of RA Solar's service before, they are having issues with fulfilling the contracts for multiple customers and have a history of going radio silent when you ask for your money back. My story is long, but I've included the details to demonstrate the patterns and behaviors this company exhibits in the process of getting you to sign a contract and promising the world to pocketing your money and ignoring you when you ask for it back.

Long story short, RA Solar claims to have general liability insurance and states they will carry it at all times in their contract, then ghosts you when you request your deposit back after finding out this was a lie. Despite their claim in the contract, RA Solar does not have general liability insurance, which creates a huge hurdle in obtaining financing. It is fraud — not just a breach of contract — for one to falsely claim that they have liability insurance at the onset of a contract claiming they currently carry it. I called the insurance company listed on the contract and they have not insured RA Solar since 2021, despite the contract stating the opposite. This is in addition to Varney Johnson, the owner/proprietor, admitting this to me on the phone, saying it’s “expensive”. RA Solar's lack of liability insurance makes it very difficult to find a lender willing to work with them. Long story short, they still have my $10,000 deposit and I have no solar panels 1+ weeks after the install date. If you look at the CSLB's website for RA Solar/Varney Johnson's license (Lic # 988918), you will see all sorts of citations for failure to pay suppliers and even a notice saying his license may be suspended soon.

Here is a timeline of what happened:

April 25, 2022: Contract (with NO arbitration clause, as I opted out, thank GOD) signed with RA, which stipulated I, the customer, am to obtain funding through ELN. I was told by then-employee Renato that ELN is a great company with whom RA Solar has a long-standing, solid relationship. The install is scheduled for July 12 and 13.

June 17, 2022: Varney, the owner and proprietor, informs me via email that "Enphase [the battery company] partnered with a new Financing company that has a better rate/fee than ELN...". The 'new financing company' he is referencing is Service Now, LLC. I later learn from calling ELN that they recently blacklisted RA Solar and this is the reason for his redirection to a different loan company.

June 21, 2022: On the phone, Varney tells me he will handle the entire loan through Service Now LLC. I now understand this to mean he was filling out an application for RA Solar *themselves* to be able to work with the new financing company, Service Now LLC, as they had not yet been authorized to work with them despite Varney's earlier representations. As you'll see later in the timeline, this application was denied due to lack of liability insurance. I inform him which loan term I want.

June 28 - July 7, 2022: After a long period of silence, I repeatedly try to get in touch with Varney regarding the status of my loan application, offering to help expedite or facilitate the process in any way possible. He first says he will get to it later in the week (the week of July 4th)

Friday, July 8: Varney goes silent when I ask him if the loan was done, as the install was the upcoming Tuesday.

Monday, July 11:
I call Varney numerous times, trying to find out if the impending install is still happening the next day. Finally, he returns my call and informs me that he is not actually able to get me a loan through the Service Now lending network and that the install will not be taking place on the dates specified in the contract (July 12 + 13).

Suspicious of what had actually transpired, I call Service Now LLC myself, and they have no record of my name, phone number, application, or social security number. They state they do not have a relationship with RA Solar, despite Varney's statements implying they did. I call ELN, the original lender stipulated in the contract, in an attempt to find some sort of financing. They inform me that they no longer work with RA Solar due to issues they had in paying their suppliers.

I take it upon myself to find Varney and his company a new lender, called Green Biz Financial. They give me instructions to give to Varney for him to apply for RA Solar to work with them. They say they will need a copy of his contractor's license, workers comp insurance, and liability insurance.

Tuesday, July 12:
I text Varney early in the morning asking if he sent Green Biz Financial the required documents. He says he did. He repeats this claim that he sent 'everything' multiple times throughout the day.
Green Biz Financial informs me that Varney sent them a copy of his ~~~AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE~~~ instead of his general liability insurance. In retrospect, this seems like it was an attempt to stall/distract from the fact he is uninsured. They state they replied with another email asking for the correct documents, which had not yet received a response.

I frantically attempt to contact Varney in an attempt to get him to send the right insurance, as my loan cannot get approved until he is approved to work with the lender. I ask him point blank if he has "insurance", and he gives an evasive answer that "all contractors have to have insurance", as if I am being unreasonable for even asking such a question in the face of all this difficulty in getting a loan. While I was arguably overzealous in my attempts to get ahold of him while he was MIA, I feel that my worry was beyond justified at this point.

Green Biz Financial tells me that Varney informed them upon further questioning that he/RA Solar do not, in fact, have liability insurance, only workers' comp insurance. While only Workers Comp is required by the state, lenders typically require general liability insurance.

Varney confirms with me that he does not have general liability insurance. Further, and perhaps most importantly, Section 6 of the contract explicitly states that "Contractor shall maintain commercial general liability insurance throughout the term of this contract". I call the insurance company listed on the contract to see when he stopped having coverage, and it was in 2021. This means he fraudulently claimed to have general liability at the onset of our contract in April 2022.

On the advice of the lender and someone at the CSLB, I ask for a refund. He states he will work on getting that to me, minus any 'fees and expenses', for which he couldn't articulate an exact amount. He emails his secretary to calculate that number and process my refund, claiming that they cannot “force people to be [their] customer”.

I respond with an email informing him that our contract is void due to his fraudulent misrepresentation of RA Solar's general liability insurance and that I would like the $10,000 back.

Friday, July 14:
I leave a message at RA Solar head offices and on Varney’s cell. He texts back, reiterating that he will take out money from the deposit before processing it and returning the remainder. He gives no timeline for this.
I refer him to my email indicating the contract was fraudulent and ask that all further communication continue in writing. I ask for him to let me know if he intends to refund me the full $10,000.

Now, July 18th, I have my lawyer send Varney/RA Solar a demand letter. Hopefully, that will explain in no uncertain terms just how serious I am about this. I refuse to have my hard-earned money taken by a company/individual who has no problem inducing their customers to sign a contract under fraudulent pretenses.

As for my lack of refund thus far: my guess is that RA Solar exists in a constant state of money being shuffled around, evidenced by an apparent lack of ability to refund my money, an inability to consistently pay suppliers, and a lack of general liability insurance. They also appear to have a judgment against them from 2019 for ~500k, to be paid to CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS, INC, a supplier they appear to have neglected to pay based on the court documents.

Please, please, please, stay away! Go to the CSLB website, Google Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc. Vs. Free Energy Systems, Inc. Et Al if you don't believe me.

Scam... Do not use RA Solar

I signed a contract to have my solar project installed and funded the project with a loan from USE CREDIT UNION through Energy Loan Network (ELN). Verney Johnson of RA Solar Collected a $38,800 upfront cheque from USE CREDIT UNION.

RA Solar canceled multiple attempts to install the panels. They. Never showed up; I had to call them on the install day to find out no one would be coming out.

I requested the project be canceled and funds ($38,800) returned to USE CREDIT UNION since RA Solar could not get me installed. The cheque Verney Johnson sent back did not clear after two attempts by the bank. Varney, the owner of RA Solar (registered as Free Energy System Inc), cannot tell me when they will pay the $38,800 back to the bank.

I am stuck with a solar loan payment with no panels on my house. Please do you use this company; they are a scam!!!!

I have filed a complaint against them with the California Contractor License Board and Better Business Bureau (BBB). Both cases are pending.

Ra Solar had a good low bid. I greatly enjoyed everyone I interacted with. They did the installation efficiently and within one day, took care of all the paperwork and permits and I was up and running in a short time. The system has continued to perform flawlessly and is covered all of my electrical costs