Affordable Solar, Roof, & Air

"He straight up lied to you." This was the reaction from a lawyer when I briefly explained my situation and read her an email exchange with the salesman. Over my interactions with ASRA, I've been ghosted, belittled, maligned, and baffled. I've been lied to multiple times and told I don't understand the meaning of phrases like "all required hardware", "no additional hardware", and "plug and play". They are currently back in ghosting mode. I've texted, emailed, called, and even sent letters without the slightest acknowledgement. Avoid at all costs. Original reply from company to this review 9/5: "James, I am sorry that this has been your experience but we have been in communication with you over the duration of time and have proof of communication. If you have any further questions please contact our office (800) 515-1254" Note how in the reply notes they have been in communication. I reached out on 8/7, 8/12, 8/14, 8/15, 8/19, and 8/22. All without replies or acknowledgements. There were previous communications, but they aren't following through on the simplest of things they promised. Also note how there was no denial of deception.

First off usually don't do reviews but figured I pass my experience with the company. First off my sales person which was Christian was very polite and professional and never bad mouth others company's and if you go with this company ask for him. We went over things and gave him my information with power bills and everything else. He gave me one of the better pricings upfront and their warranty compared to other companies. Other companies that was much higher calling back wanting to drop prices to be competitive.once we agreed and signed contract they installed my system pretty rapidly which I was very impressed. Also had two malfunctions with system and they responded quickly to take care of the problem. I am satisfied and how the system is operating other than the fact I believe they put two small of a system in but has cut my power bill considerably but my goal was to be at zero and maybe putting some on the grid which I was told it would do we just has not yet. I am told that when my system is a year old that they will reevaluate about adding The guaranteed panels if they do not put a big enough system in. I guess we will see in February how that goes. Other than that I do not have nothing bad to say about the company and like I say if you need a sales guy use Christian.

I chose Affordable Solar Roof and Air due to resonable price and review history. The salesman (no longer with the company) was knowledgable and responsive. My installation is slightly unusual - It is a townhouse with a mostly flat roof so and there is limited access and limited real estate for components. I want the required AC disconnect placed about 20 feet from the main panel. The main panel itself is located behind an exterior wall and accessed through a hatch. Because of this I wanted to make sure the company was fully aware of any potential issues. They made two site visits prior to my signing the contract and paying a 50% down payment. They are still in the design phase 6 months later. A brief timeline: 12/15/23 - contract signed, paid 50% down payment 1/25/24 1st Application to Centerpoint for DG Interconnection– rejectedJan 29. Two more site visits in March. 4/2/24 (almost 3 months later!!). 2nd application to Centerpoint, rejected 4/11/24 4/16/24 - 3rd application to Centerpoint. Rejected 05/01/24. I have sent many emails requesting status updates - almost all have been ignored. I get a better response when I call, but the lady who answers the phone usually can't help with much. 5/23/24 - It is now over 6 months since signing the contract and paying the down payment. Called the 800 number and transferred over to the Houston branch. Liz answered the phone and told me I would be installed next week. When I told her that we still didn't have the Centerpoint approval she referred me to Brittany and transferred me to her voice mail. I left a voice mail with no return call. Justin (project manager) did call me to schedule the install for Tuesday next week. He was not aware of any issues with the Centerpoint application. He also did not appear to be aware of the City of Houston permitting requirements. As far as I know they have not yet requested a City electrical or structural permit, nor submitted the stamped design for review as required. I told him that I didn't want anything installed until the proper permits were in place. He promised to look into it and call back. As of noon 5/24 that hasn't yet happened. 5/24 - called the Houston office again. Brittany is out of the office through next week. Called the Clearwater office with no answer. Update 5/28 - both Brittany and Justin have called me with explanations for the permitting delays. These came after posting this review. We'll see how this pans out. Update 5/30 - Cody called to tell me they have updated their City of Houston permit application. He followed up with a text containing the permit number. The permit history followed the explanation for the delays that I'd been giving. The current application is the 4th so far for this project. Things are moving along. They appear to be doing what is required so am now satisfied with that and the current level of communication.

An update to my original post, I got in contact with Jonathan at Affordable after my original post. He stated that the 1st year production was wrong on the contract, that it was supposed to be 11.3 kwh, instead of 18.8kwh, and suggested it might have been a typo. That response didn't make sense to me. I then sent him the design proposal that I agreed to, that ties to the 18.8 kwh production figures quoted on the contract. He said he would get back to me. That was April 29. It's now May 22 and still no responded. These guys operate in FL and TX. I can't speak for FL, but the TX operations are no good. I plan to file a complaint with the BBB. WARNING TO NEW BUYERS: ALL POSITIVE REVIEWS ARE FOR THE INITIAL SALES/INSTALL. TRY TO FIND A POSTIVE REVIEW POST INSTALL. Original Post: Don't buy a solar panel system from Affordable if you are basing your decision on their guarantee of power generation in year 1. I bought my system that was rated to generate 18,761 kwh in the first year. It went into service Feb 7, 2023. In the first year, it generated 15,023. I initially contacted their office manager, Brittany, on Feb 6. I've talked to and exchanged emails with her on several occasions. She says that someone in their engineering group has been notified to review my case. It's April 29, and no one has contacted me. Her excuse is that they are very busy. I find it amazing that when I was reviewing installers, they were able to get me a design in days. IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING SOLAR, ASK THEM FOR PROOF THAT THEY HONOR THEIR GUARANTEE OF POWER GENERATION. ASK THEM WHAT HAPPENS IN THE INSTANCE THE SYSTEM IS SHORT? WHO DO YOU CALL? WHEN SHOULD YOU EXPECT A RESPONSE? WHAT HAPPENS IF THEY CAN'T DELIVER ON THE GUARANTEE? After using Energy Sage and getting quotes from 5 or 6 installer, I narrowed it to 2 installers. I went with Affordable because of the guarantee, which was probably a mistake. Frankly, I don't know if any other installers are that much better, but I know what my experience was with Affordable. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you need verification. Lastly, I think I've posted reviews maybe 3-4 time in my life, but I felt it important to do this post. Most, if not all reviews on Affordable are from customers that just installed the system. I too would have posted a positive review on day 1, as they were great during the sales and install. But, it's the after service that you should put more weight on, as this is supposed to be a 25-30 year system.

I was shopping with solar companies for the last 1 to 2 years, signed on one and canceled within a week because I failed to read the fine print and got misled about the prices. I was going to go with ADT, but they declared they were leaving the residential solar business about a month later and I again canceled the contract. I finally signed with Affordable Solar Roof and Air, and they were not only the most competitive price I had come across, but their salesman Charles was extremely straightforward and easy to deal with. No issues with permitting, installation was smooth and prompt. The only issue that has popped up was the microinverter panel was having issues reaching my wifi, and their rep Spencer promptly came out the next day and set up a wifi extender for me, free of charge! Nothing but positive experiences so far with Affordable.

Affordable, Roof, Solar, and Air (ASRA) was one of the best companies I have ever worked with on a project this size. While I was originally only going to do a roof replacement, ASRA put such a great deal together for me that I decided it was in my best interest to also add Solar. Frankly, I was tired of paying ever-increasing, Duke Energy bills! ASRA rolls like a well oiled machine. Because of a special app, you download to your phone, you can see your project and its progress at every stage of the job. Whenever I had to make a phone call to the company, 95% of the time someone always answered the phone. If I had to leave a voice message, within 10 minutes, I would get a return phone, call, email, or text. Everyone who worked on my project was extremely professional, dependable, and very friendly. I am so very happy and satisfied with all the work that was done. A special “well done” shout out to Max, Mindy, Betsy, Trevor, Team number six, Spencer, and Alejandro.