Tesla Energy - Profile & Reviews

We just installed 13 Tesla (made by Panasonic) panels on our roof. The experience was good overall. They have a team in Las Vegas that does all the coordination and scheduling. And they are easily reachable/available via email/phone/text.

While all the people at Tesla Energy have been a pleasure to work with, it is Tesla's approach to keeping costs down that caused some friction and anxiety. Tesla did not visit our home until the day of the install. And they did all the design online. In other words, they did not do a site survey. And as a result on the day of the install, the installers had to do some design work. Our home being 40+ years old, the main panel was only rated for 100 amps. And installers thought a main panel upgrade is the only way solar could be installed at my property. And that's a service Tesla doesn't provide. I had to call electricians for a bid on MPU and if any of them could come do it the same day. And MPU turned out to be a multi thousand dollar job. And that would extend the already long solar break-even period by couple more years. I was almost going to give up on solar. But later the crew came up with a alternative plan by moving some breakers around and creating some room in my sub panel. And they had to downgrade my main breaker to 90 amps so as to not exceed 120% capacity code allows (Stuff I don't understand too well). And they also had to put to new grounding rods (through my pavers, not pretty at all) and run the bare copper on the front of the house (again, not pretty) to water main (water bonding), all because they couldn't find the existing grounding and didn't want to fail inspection. And finally, our install was complete.

However, because the original plan had inverter on the outside by the main panel and they installed it on the inside by the sub panel, city inspector did not pass the inspection. Tesla had to redo the plan and then reschedule the inspection. It took us three weeks after the install to pass inspection. (On a side note, inspector told us that that houses of this age do have grounding and we may have passed inspection without the new grounding rods, thus saving all the ugly contraption.) Now I am stuck with it.

Despite all this, I am not mad because all Tesla staff were honest and friendly. So, if your home is older and you choose Tesla Energy, insist on getting a site survey before the install.

I recently had 26 panels installed under Tesla's new program where you put down $99 on their website and they do the design on the phone. They only have select packages to make their design and installation cost lower than the competition. I was a little nervous as all the other key players and a local company came out, did surveys.

Tesla was the most knowledgeable and their installation was more than 30% less than the lest expensive competitor. This is for the exact same kW.

The program worked. They were pretty accessible, not perfect, but if you called the main number, some one had access to all our dialog including texts if my key sales or program manager was not in the office. There was some confusion about who would paint the conduit and install side trims, but it was ironed out perfectly within a few moments without me whining. They really wanted to do a good job.

I have black on black panels with black side trims just like on their website and I will tell you, they look fantastic compared to other installations I've seen. I provided three paint colors for conduit to match my house, trim and roof and they used all three. They minimize the use of conduit and ran it through the basement to minimize visible conduit. If you care about aesthetics, no one does a better job from all my looking at other homes with solar.

To be fair, I am still waiting to be connected to the grid and the city inspector needs to do a final inspection, but I have no doubt in their purchase and installation process. This is not the old Solar City I was nervous about.

If anything changes, you can be sure I'll update this review.

Right from the start the professionalism was amazing. No pressure, my rep even accepted a quote from EnergySage and they "price matched" it (came close, but not identical) which saved me $$$$. I am sure my rep was getting sick of me, as I kept changing my mind on what and how many panels I wanted on my house and detached garage. 4 or 5 designs later I finally signed the contract (after the "price match"). The full survey and install went smooth and all workers were super professional. They even replaced the roof on my home and included it in the loan - beat the price of other local roofing quotes. Obviously it was a longer process than normal because of the roof replacement process, but from signing to install was about 3 months. I did have an issue with the system on my house running, and it took 3 visits to fix the inverter which needed a software update that wouldn't run automatically and the inverter also needed a wire replaced, which took a few weeks to get - so the service process was slow but I can't blame that all on Tesla as the part from the inverter manufacturer was delayed. Overall, an excellent experience and I would recommend to others. And if you can, purchase the system, at least here in NJ, selling SRECs helps pay the system off way faster.

Where do I begin -
This is a company that is has the most horrible customer service ever. Its been 10 days and I have not received a quote for a system I requested. There is so much infighting on who gets the sales commission that the customer is left cold in the water.
(All these are business days)
Day 1 - Requested a quote from their website
Day 2 - No response
Day 3 - Got a response from a sales person in Las Vegas but was told her computer is malfunctioning and they will not be able to proceed with a quote until the next day
Day 4 - Crickets
Day 5 - I call back with a complaint that I have not received any information. They put me in touch with another sales person in Las Vegas. I give all the information about the system I am looking for. They screw up the system (incorrect capacity - added powerwalls that I do not need)
Day 5 - I call back and say that this is not what i need. But she said she cannot change it. However, they need to get the home survey before they can make any changes and give me a more accurate quote.
Day 5 - I set up an appointment for Home survey for Day 7
Day 6 - A friend of mine gave me a local contact for Tesla who is extremely helpful and provides quick action. I tell him the story up until now. He tries to help but the Las Vegas people do not want to let go of the commission. So they do not let the good local guy work on my system. The local guy tells me that he is confused because home survey is not setup until the customer commits and signs a contract. But he tells me to let the survey continue. So I explain to local sales manager the situation. I have also sent an email to the sales person in Las Vegas that I want to work with the local sales person.
The sales manager in las Vegas calls me and assures that they will send me a quote for the system that met my specifications after the survey. She asks me to send my utility bill and competitive quote, which I sent.
Day 7 - Survey is done. The person who did the survey is amazing and also helped with a couple of other things. Went above and beyond his responsibilities.
Day 7 - The manager of sales person in Las Vegas calls me. Says that home survey was good. The design is in progress and they will get back to me soon.
Day 8 - I get the design documents. The panels included in the system is incorrect. The sales manager said they she will communicate to design team and prioritize my project. The sales person in Las vegas (who took incorrect specifications) keeps leaving me a voicemail with conflicting information (that conflicts with the information provided by the Sales manager in Las Vegas). She left a voicemail saying that it will take the design team another 5 days to get back to me.
Day 9 - The sales person in Las Vegas leaves a voicemail asking me to take the next step and "sign off" on the system. Note that I do not even know how much it will cost because I have not received a quote or an estimate on my system.
Day 11 - The sales person in Las Vegas leaves a voicemail saying that the competitive pricing has been rejected. And I will have to pay some amount. This is the first time I have hearing a number - on a voicemail. I have no clue what is included in this amount - how many panels, what capacity, what type of panels, what is the inverter etc. Additionally, that quote is about 25% more than what my neighbor was quoted. They want to me to "sign off" on this.

All this while, I have 3 other installers waiting for me to say "yes" or "no" on their quotes.

This is the experience. There is infighting. Their system is inefficient. Their sales people in Las Vegas are incompetent. They have no clue of how to provide good service for a customer who is investing more than $20000.

The representative was professional and knowledgeable. No pressure just information. They priced competitively. The survey technician was top notch. Very detailed, did a clean job and there is constant updates by the permitting team.

From the no pressure 1st appointment to the professional roof survey, these guys are top notch. Turnkey, Instillation and Warranty. Very Impressive. Ask to work with Matthew Buckley. Down to earth honest and knowledgeable.