I have been working with LA Solar (I.E. Bay Solar Group) for the last 7 months on the installation of a battery backup system for which they have collected $35,500 from me. I still do not have PTO from PGE after the installed system failed their inspection last month. The system installed did not follow the design plan we agreed upon, and correcting this problem has been hell. The agreed upon plan included 3 Tesla Powerwalls and 3 electrical panels (PV sub panel, Gateway, and service sub panel). My specific concern was the installation of panels on the front of our house, and I rejected all plans that required more than one box in front of our gate. After installation I came outside to realize that 3 panels were installed at the entrance of our home. In total, and in stark contrast to the plan I was presented, we now have 8 new electrical panels installed on our house. This includes 3 AC disconnect switches, 1 NGOM meter, 1 gateway, 1 PV sub panel, 1 Solar/Powerwall sub panel, and 1 service sub panel). I was told "the installers know better than the design engineers what is required," which makes me wonder why they even bother with having customers go through a design phase.
I offered to walk away from the extra box issue for a $1250 refund in order to build a "doghouse" around the 3 panels at the front of our house, but they requested to do it themselves. We made this agreement on April 6th... and I included pictures of where that project is at after 2 days of work and 1 no-show visit. Instead of completing this project themselves (after their tech also no-showed), they outsourced to a handyman service in the East Bay. They also agreed to paint the installed conduit, but when this was completed, they had carelessly painted our copper gutters and completely ignored a section on our second story. Since their work can't be trusted (pictures, again), I'm correcting this part myself.
Over the course of this project LA Solar has scheduled 5 site visits that either LA Solar or their contractor no-call no-showed for. Twice PG&E has showed up at my house for an inspection/install I was unaware of, and, just yesterday, PG&E showed up to install a required meter but had to leave as LA Solar no-showed and was unreachable all day by phone. We attempted to reach the assigned tech, project manager, and chief of staff, none of which answered phone calls or e-mails. I haven't heard from any of them after a separate appointment was no showed Monday.
Their work is careless and shoddy, installers are rude and challenging to communicate with, and leadership is operating remotely from LA. There is little/no quality assurance on the ground and you're on your own to raise issues and fight for corrections.
At this point I have not heard from my original sales rep Ryan since I brought up issues in March, and instead I'm communicating with a different project manager (DJ), and the chief of staff (Stan). Despite this, the same issues persist and repeat themselves.
Take your business elsewhere. I had my solar installed by Your Energy Solutions and the process was seamless with 3 vists (site visit, install, inspection) and I highly recommend them. If you're a Bay Solar Group or LA Solar customer experiencing the same problems, DO NOT PAY THEM A CENT UNTIL IT IS FIXED! I can't stress this enough.
Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have questions about my experience or would like more details.
