Great Experience thread

[LostWages]

I had a great Tesla Energy experience, just thought I'd pass it along. Sometimes forums are a good place to vent, sometimes a good place to get honest reviews, and sometimes lean negative.

I put my deposit down in the first week of October 2019, at the same time called 3 additional solar providers for competitive quotes. I opted for a medium system for several reasons. The orientation of my house / roof wouldn't support too much more, and 'medium' was pretty close to break even vs. my last 12 months of electricity use.

All the local providers / installers were very similar in terms of cost and schedule. Costs were ~35% higher than Tesla, and all were scheduling installations after March 2020.

Tesla scheduled their install for the week of Thanksgiving. There was a small amount of confusion here, but overwhelmingly worked out in my favor. The forecast called for > 12 inches of snow on my install date, and I just assumed it was going to be postponed. The installers arrived 24 hours early (!) ahead of the storm, and completed outside work as the snow was falling.

Communication was a little sparse between install / inspection / utility approval, but Tesla "just took care of it." Happy to say Everything has been on for > 2 weeks and no issues.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

I had a great Tesla Energy experience, just thought I'd pass it along. Sometimes forums are a good place to vent, sometimes a good place to get honest reviews, and sometimes lean negative.

Splendid idea. Tesla certainly reads these forums, so it's good to tell them what they'd doing well.

All the local providers / installers were very similar in terms of cost and schedule. Costs were ~35% higher than Tesla, and all were scheduling installations after March 2020.

Sales cost. TSLA investors don't understand how much of an advantage Tesla Energy will have this summer by proactively ending door-to-door sales and shifting to this set online pricing. Expensive sales teams are so ingrained in the process literally everywhere else that they can only do one of two things:
1) Rapidly lose share to Telsa.
2) Match Tesla's pricing at a massive loss on each install.

Communication was a little sparse between install / inspection / utility approval, but Tesla "just took care of it." Happy to say Everything has been on for > 2 weeks and no issues.

This was the experience I had with my local installer. The only thing I really needed to be involved with was when they inspected my breaker panel. Since my inverter is mounted outside I really didn't even need to be around(or be consulted) for any of the install.

Hopefully Tesla realizes they good communication and service piled on top of their online ordering is the way to go. Get it right the first time by making sure everyone's on the same page and the customer has been heard.

 

[taronwalton1]

Another great job done in Rancho Cordova, in Sacramento area. Added it to an Enphase IQ7+ 9KWatt system. Ordered from Tesla Sept 15, 2019, installed Nov18th, 2019, inspected a few days later.

 

[JBen07]

@LostWages I know I'm a few months late on your post here but how did your actual install cost compare to Tesla's online quote for the medium system?

I am targeting solar install this year and planning something right around the size of the medium system. Unfortunately, I am just outside Tesla's solar service area (30 miles) but their prices are an average of 15% lower than anywhere else that has quoted so here's to hoping they come a bit further soon!

I'm also considering adding 2 Powerwall's to my order and their online price gets even more advantageous than other powerwall installers, about 23% cheaper before incentives (~$41K vs $32k for comparable solar + 2 powerwall). Anyone with experience care to quote on their Powerwall costs vs online estimate?

 

[LostWages]

My out-of-pocket cost was exactly the online quote.

I did not get powerwalls, or have them install a car charger.

Good luck!