[Resolved on Day 15] New Solar/PW only ran for 5 days - TESLA completely non-responsive

[JayClark]

We haven't had any major issues with our system and continue to recommend Tesla Energy for solar. When we've had questions, Tesla has been responsive and sent a tech out if needed.

Day 9 of no solar production for me, and silence from Tesla Energy Support and Services, no response to my email asking for an update from my "official" support contact. No apparent progress or movement of any kind. This is the type of responsive service $47,250 given to Tesla evidently bought me, when my brand spanking new Tesla Solar/Powerwall installed system stopped functioning two weeks after commissioning. Mind boggling. Depressing solar production snap shot attached.

 

[sceptic]

How much is the inverter? Is it possible to order one and have it installed yourself (if it wouldn't invalidate your "warranty" with Tesla) if they continue to be unresponsive and then sue Tesla in small claims court? In Calif it is up to $5k.
Of course this is a huge hassle but it depends how much you are paying for elec to your local company plus ?interest costs on loan for the install. I've read of people who had to pay hundreds for their elec while system was not operational plus hundreds/month for the cost of the (non operational) system.
Shame about the BBB system - that sounds counterintuitive as well as not exactly what I'd think they want to do for the consumer (eg how would I as a consumer know of your problem if you filed a complaint but I couldn't see it!)
Well, mark me as one who won't buy solar from Tesla - sadly this sounds just like their car service - I'm lucky - so far I haven't had a problem with my car, but I have never lived with so much fear of what could happen if I do (in 50 years of owning cars I must admit I never even thought about it with any other car - I guess b/c my choices for repair/service were never limited to a monopoly)

 

[Az_Rael]

Day 9 of no solar production for me, and silence from Tesla Energy Support and Services, no response to my email asking for an update from my "official" support contact. No apparent progress or movement of any kind. This is they type of responsive service $47,250 given to Tesla evidently buys a person, when a brand spanking new Tesla Solar/Powerwall installed system stops functioning two weeks after commissioning. Mind boggling. Lovely production snap shot attached.

Unfortunately you will probably have to lower your expectations on timelines. Weeks, not days.


Have you tried contacting Solar Edge directly yet? You might be able to get the RMA going from that direction.

 

[JayClark]

Unfortunately you will probably have to lower your expectations on timelines. Weeks, not days.

I understand your point, but it's absolutely ridiculous that somebody would have to lower their expectations in this situation. With a brand new system that cost nearly $50k that died after less that two weeks of use, and now it's going to take months to resolve, oh and by the way the whole time you'll have no idea what is going on, or if anybody is actually working on it at all. On one of my first calls, one of the Support people casually threw out that this could take months but "...who knows." They internally have set the expectations, before they even know what's wrong, that these things take months to resolve. So the fact I was just expecting them to come and fix it was shocking to them. It's completely unacceptable in this situation, and people should hold Tesla to higher expectations - they have to improve on these things. We should not be supporting a business that behaves like this.

Have you tried contacting Solar Edge directly yet? You might be able to get the RMA going from that direction.

No, and frankly I'm a little reluctant. After dealing with Tesla support now going on two weeks, and having seen the state of constant chaos they seem to operate in I'm hesitant to start anything that could "confuse" somebody in Tesla Support and services, and lead them to think "somebody else" is working the issue, or to somehow start multiple channels of information/communication going for this issue. They simply don't have the ability to manage complex workflows or channels of information, and little or no accountability. I honestly believe if I made progress directly with SolarEdge, and tried to communicate that to Tesla, they'd simply stop working the issue and say I was on my own (well maybe not tell me, but make that the effective situation). That's how they've responded every step of the way if I behaved in any other way than simply "sitting-back and just accepting" their non-responses, no-follow-up, and nearly non-existent communication. They seem to stop working on these issues the moment a "new" factor comes into play, or there is any confusion what so ever.

Lots of people on this forum, like me many months ago, are considering buying from Tesla, and people need to understand how Tesla responds should anything serious go wrong with their system - and we should not be lowering expectations. I want Tesla to succeed, I want more Tesla products - but they must be better than this, and they won't get there if we just accept this kind of behavior, and act like it's normal.

 

[Az_Rael]

Nobody should be supporting a business that behaves like this.

I agree, which is why I tell absolutely everyone who asks to not use Tesla Energy period.


I guess the reality of your (and my) situation is, short of pulling the system off your roof, you are stuck with Tesla energy. You can lodge complaints/poor reviews at all of the places you can (Yelp, BBB, your state attorney general, etc).

I don't have a copy of the warranty handy, but you can also exercise whatever dispute options it gives you.

 

[d21mike]

I know the OP is happy with the Installers. I am curious, are these Installers third party (sub-contractors) that did the install? If so, is that normal? I live in Southern California and am now wondering if the installers coming on Monday (10/21) are Tesla Employees. The reason for the question is I wonder if some locations have Tesla Employees "near" by.

 

[Az_Rael]

I know the OP is happy with the Installers. I am curious, are these Installers third party (sub-contractors) that did the install? If so, is that normal? I live in Southern California and am now wondering if the installers coming on Monday (10/21) are Tesla Employees. The reason for the question is I wonder if some locations have Tesla Employees "near" by.

When I did my install, the crew were Tesla employees. However that was over a year ago so that may have changed. You should have already met your crew chief when they came out for the initial site inspection.

 

[d21mike]

When I did my install, the crew were Tesla employees. However that was over a year ago so that may have changed. You should have already met your crew chief when they came out for the initial site inspection.

I am pretty sure the guy that came out is not the crew chief. I originally thought he was sent out to inspect the roof closely but he did check everything else including that the "plans" had my utilities on the wrong size of the garage.

 

[JayClark]

I know the OP is happy with the Installers. I am curious, are these Installers third party (sub-contractors) that did the install? If so, is that normal? I live in Southern California and am now wondering if the installers coming on Monday (10/21) are Tesla Employees. The reason for the question is I wonder if some locations have Tesla Employees "near" by.

My installers seemed to be Tesla employees, and the main onsite supervisor was definitely an Tesla employee - seemed like a good guy, ran back over to my site on the fly at several points to meet SRP and City inspectors that came at unexpected times. The guys doing most of the electrical and Powerwalls work wore Tesla shirts, and drove Solar City vans/trucks, and talked like they were part of Tesla - so guessing all Tesla employees.

All though, now that I think about it, there were two crews, one were for the Powerwalls, electrical boxes, and running most of the ground level electrical/conduits - and they were for sure Tesla. A second crew came to install the solar on day 2, and now that you've asked the question, I realize I wasn't around enough on that day to notice if they were Tesla.

 

[sceptic]

So if they were the contractors doesn't your state have a contractors licensing board? WhenI had a problem (sort of like yours) I got no response until I contacted them. (and I must say it wasn't what I would have liked but at least it got their attention)

My installers seemed to be Tesla employees, and the main onsite supervisor was definitely an Tesla employee - seemed like a good guy, ran back over to my site on the fly at several points to meet SRP and City inspectors that came at unexpected times. The guys doing most of the electrical and Powerwalls work wore Tesla shirts, and drove Solar City vans/trucks, and talked like they were part of Tesla - so guessing all Tesla employees.

All though, now that I think about it, there were two crews, one were for the Powerwalls, electrical boxes, and running most of the ground level electrical/conduits - and they were for sure Tesla. A second crew came to install the solar on day 2, and now that you've asked the question, I realize I wasn't around enough on that day to notice if they were Tesla.

 

[JayClark]

So if they were the contractors doesn't your state have a contractors licensing board? WhenI had a problem (sort of like yours) I got no response until I contacted them. (and I must say it wasn't what I would have liked but at least it got their attention)

I'll look into that for sure.

I was guessing they were Tesla employee licensed "contractors", so was assuming it's still something that gets reported against Tesla Contracting (not sure if that's a thing), and ultimately Tesla doesn't don't care who is reporting bad about them. They seem to be ammune to negative service reporting and reviews. The BBB reviews site for Tesla is just all 1 stars, overwhelmingly, thousands of 1 star reviews it seems and all about service (or lack of). Even though some how the BBB has Tesla rated "A" somehow. They did reject my actual complaint. Maybe companies can buy the overall BBB Rating, not sure.

Anyway, I'll look into filing a complaint with the contractors licensing board. Did you find the contractors license # somewhere on Tesla paperwork you have?

 

[Az_Rael]

Did you find the contractors license # somewhere on Tesla paperwork you have?

Their contractor license number was listed on my contract.

 

[jakestgermain]

Did you have a separate person the handled your inspection paperwork that was local after your install. I know here in the RI they have local crews and someone that handles getting all the local paperwork done after. I would contact them. I found the local crews to be the most helpful with questions or problems after the fact. They will get you to the right person within Tesla.

 

[Az_Rael]

I am pretty sure the guy that came out is not the crew chief. I originally thought he was sent out to inspect the roof closely but he did check everything else including that the "plans" had my utilities on the wrong size of the garage.

Ah. During my install that fellow was the site supervisor for the crews.

 

[sceptic]

I'll look into that for sure.

I was guessing they were Tesla employee licensed "contractors", so was assuming it's still something that gets reported against Tesla Contracting (not sure if that's a thing), and ultimately Tesla doesn't don't care who is reporting bad about them. They seem to be ammune to negative service reporting and reviews. The BBB reviews site for Tesla is just all 1 stars, overwhelmingly, thousands of 1 star reviews it seems and all about service (or lack of). Even though some how the BBB has Tesla rated "A" somehow. They did reject my actual complaint. Maybe companies can buy the overall BBB Rating, not sure.

Anyway, I'll look into filing a complaint with the contractors licensing board. Did you find the contractors license # somewhere on Tesla paperwork you have?

My problem wasn't with Tesla solar (don't have them and wouldn't use them) but with a recalcitrant contractor - lots of attempts to get stuff fixed. etc. and the only way I got their attention/response was with something that could threaten their ability to do business (eg no license no work). Not sure how that exactly works with Tesla but it seems worth a shot.
Shame about BBB - I had given up on them years ago and sad to see nothing has changed

 

[Kant.Ing]

Just saw this thread. To OP, I had these things happened to me once before, in my 3rd year ownership of Tesla PV and PW2 (both installed by Tesla/SolarCity). The symptom was no solar generation and no charging of PW, and IIRC there was an error message like "ARC FAULT" in the inverter's screen--looked really scary. No notification was sent through the app, and I only realized it had been this way for almost a week and also noticed a PW firmware update might have happened at that time (or even caused the problem). In that early afternoon I called the 877-961-7652 customer support number wanting to talk with a tech but after an hour wait I gave up. I then left my cellphone number as suggested by the answering machine. Didn't receive any callback.

On my own I did several button/knobs power cycles and toggled the breakers to PV and to PW, in various sequences and combinations. Nothing seemed to work. Left them connected, over night. Amazingly and luckily the next morning everything was back to normal.

The number was handwritten by the installers on my manual and I ever used the number to quickly reach a tech to resolve some web access issues early on. I am with you, that it looks like customer support had gone south since then and now even further.

 

[sceptic]

I wish these issues would get some press coverage
1 To warn people before they buy
2 To maybe get the company to "cleanup its act"

 

[JayClark]

Quick update - Day 11 since inverter failed on two-week-old newly commissioned system of Solar & PW installed by Tesla - Not a word from Tesla Support, no response of any kind to my email inquiry made the day before yesterday through my "official support contact" - that I was told would be my point of contact for anything related to my system outage issue.

PS: Per this thread, in the process of pursuing official complaints via BBB & Board of contractors.

 

[sceptic]

while researching solar for my home I ran across this blog (note I know nothing about the veracity or anything about the blogger)
SolarEdge inverter review. The good the bad and the ugly legal threat.
It is quite negative and I didn't read it all but it makes me very discouraged (along with other reviews I've read) b/c it seems that solaredge inverters seem to be used the most by all installers

 

[JayClark]

while researching solar for my home I ran across this blog (note I know nothing about the veracity or anything about the blogger)
SolarEdge inverter review. The good the bad and the ugly legal threat.
It is quite negative and I didn't read it all but it makes me very discouraged (along with other reviews I've read) b/c it seems that solaredge inverters seem to be used the most by all installers

The blogger seems fairly credible, and very experienced. The writing definitely seems to come from a deep well of experience with products from many companies, and does not come across as is not written as a hit job against solar edge. Also, matches my experience, although my situation seems to have proven to have failed even earlier than the statistical norm as he's laid it out - and others have chimed in on this thread with their own solar edge failures.