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[Resolved on Day 15] New Solar/PW only ran for 5 days - TESLA completely non-responsive
- Thread starter JayClark
- Start date
Wow, just wow. I signed up on these forums because I was excited about owning Tesla products in the future. But after many, many threads on here about terrible service after the sale (cars and solar) I doubt I will ever purchase anything Tesla. Such a shame, their hardware seems like it's on the forefront but no customer service to back it up.
Yes it seemed that way to me and he did quote some 'infant" failures (eg failures quickly like yours). I'm just sad for you and discouraged about installing sp b/c even if I use a good company (not tesla) the inverter that is most used seems unreliable
Yes, it's been a bummer, I'm definitely in that infant mortality category. Day 13 of my Solar/PW outage, after failing less than two weeks after commissioning. Still broken.
However, I did just receive a text from my Tesla installation contact, with no information... other than to indicate that somebody will be out to look at the inverter this week. Not sure if they'll be ready and stocked up (replacement inverter) to fix it, or will just be diagnosing the issue on site. As usual, communication on the support/service side is cryptic at best. And again, on the sales/installation phase communication was actually pretty good, and surprisingly proactive. It's just not the case after they got my money.
One update I will add, is that I'm lucky this happened in the fall season. Despite my fears of being on a Demand charge rate plan, with NO solar or battery to offset my peak/demand period it's turning out to be not "too bad" cost wise. Because we're headed into the fall, our AC usage has dropped to to about 20% of what it is during the summer here in Arizona. Enough that I can pre-cool the house prior to the 2-8pm peak demand period, and pretty much cruise through that peak demand window with minimal AC usage. During the summer, a similar outage could have resulted in a total $500 electric bill for the month.
So taken together, with extremely cheap off-peak rates (3.6 cents/kWhr) I've managed to minimize peak demands. It still means instead of a $45-50 bill as I figured I would have for my October bill (SRP charges $32 base fee each month no matter what)... I'm still going to be around $90 for this months bill. So this extended delay is costing me, but I have to admit not as much as I feared just because the time of year this occurred, and because the cheap rates during off peak actually have more to do with reducing costs than Solar in my case, during the fall/winter months.
d21mike
Active Member
My install date is today and I have been reviewing your situation carefully. My installers and the service guys are pretty close to my house. If some one reading this knows my area, I live in Torrance and the installers/service are in Hawthorne (about 5 miles). Not sure if near the Tesla Space Center (Hawthorne) or not but there are charging stations there (including the new ones).
I did ask the main person about your situation and he did say the "service" guys are "slammed" (his words).
I did ask the main person about your situation and he did say the "service" guys are "slammed" (his words).
Seems like it. I wonder why Tesla hasn't built their own solar inverter, it seems like they have everything in place they need, and they have inverters in their PWs. All the Tesla components of the system seem to work pretty nicely, of course 4 weeks since commissioning, two weeks offline due to the SolarEdge inverter failure, I can't really say that with a lot of confidence.. but "the way" the PWs and gateway function and provide information is actuall pretty amazing, and nothing else on the market compares. Given feedback from other forum users, and after researching it as best I can, it seems like all installers are having problems with SolarEdge components failing, and unless installers (including Tesla) keep extras in inventory (which Tesla SHOULD DO!), they too will have delays getting replacements.
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d21mike
Active Member
I don't know how SolarEdge does things, but most equipment vendors warranty the item and will only send a replacement, normally refurbished, item. They won't reimburse for a new one. So Tesla can't just keep a stock and swap it, unless they then swap it again once your replacement unit comes from SolarEdge.
Tesla could keep a couple "spares" around for this, but it increases their labor/service personnel load, and if you have more than a couple fail you are just back to waiting for an RMA...
d21mike
Active Member
This morning I talked to the Head Electrician/Forman. And reported on that.
This afternoon I talked to the Head Solar Guy. I told him about what was happening to you and I was concerned about who takes of me when I have a problem. He said that they have 2 Service Guys now in Hawthorne. He said however if his crew is not busy they will help out. However, with the recent "Solar Rental" they are a lot more busy and can not help as much.
He then said about 4 months ago he did an install local and they used SolarEdge and he said it had a similar problem with an error code (I did not get exact code). This started after only 2 days of use. He said in his case it would go out then back in then out then back in. He said he was there when the problem happened so he was able to see it. He decided to take responsibility for it and it was a bad SolarEdge Inverter. He said it took SolarEdge about 2 weeks to send out a new Inverter. I said was it a refurbished unit and he said no it was NEW because he checked. Since only could a days of use instead of like 1 or 2 years he was given a new one.
This afternoon I talked to the Head Solar Guy. I told him about what was happening to you and I was concerned about who takes of me when I have a problem. He said that they have 2 Service Guys now in Hawthorne. He said however if his crew is not busy they will help out. However, with the recent "Solar Rental" they are a lot more busy and can not help as much.
He then said about 4 months ago he did an install local and they used SolarEdge and he said it had a similar problem with an error code (I did not get exact code). This started after only 2 days of use. He said in his case it would go out then back in then out then back in. He said he was there when the problem happened so he was able to see it. He decided to take responsibility for it and it was a bad SolarEdge Inverter. He said it took SolarEdge about 2 weeks to send out a new Inverter. I said was it a refurbished unit and he said no it was NEW because he checked. Since only could a days of use instead of like 1 or 2 years he was given a new one.
jkoya
NA2 NSX
@JayClark - Thanks for starting this thread. I also have been following your progress with Tesla support after installation.
Our current solar arrays are not Solar City and I've been weighing the choices of going with the Tesla Powerwalls or going with the company that installed our Solar. The company that installed our solar is a former independent Powerwall installer, but has since switched to LG Chem for backup batteries. This company also has outstanding customer service with a 24/7 on-call operator. Spoke to our local utility company and they told me there are more rebates/incentives for our area with LG Chem versus the Tesla Powerwalls. Still waiting for Tesla to get back to me for a Powerwall quote ......
Hope your repairs go smoothly !!
Our current solar arrays are not Solar City and I've been weighing the choices of going with the Tesla Powerwalls or going with the company that installed our Solar. The company that installed our solar is a former independent Powerwall installer, but has since switched to LG Chem for backup batteries. This company also has outstanding customer service with a 24/7 on-call operator. Spoke to our local utility company and they told me there are more rebates/incentives for our area with LG Chem versus the Tesla Powerwalls. Still waiting for Tesla to get back to me for a Powerwall quote ......
Hope your repairs go smoothly !!
Thanks, this is interesting information. If they replace mine hopefully it would be new one, since it functioned for less than two weeks. Hoping to find something out this week - but for now still waiting.
Okay a Tesla service person came by. He replaced the inverter, and the system is back on line. So some good news. Finally.
The bottom line: it took Tesla 15 days from the time I reported the outage to make the system they installed functional. This was after the system was only in operation for less than two weeks after PTO. Originally when I posted I was frustrated and didn't take the time to count the actual days, which I've done now as part of summing up the whole experience. In reality it functioned for almost two weeks. Not sure if I can correct the thread title or not.
My take away. I still consider Tesla service and support, for actual system failures (not just phone support "how to's" and "Q&A") on a newly installed system as being wholly inadequate and unresponsive. Maybe on a system that is 1 year or more older I could see it taking a couple weeks to resolve, but really, even then that doesn't seem responsive given the amount of money involved with these systems that are touted as being able to "run" our homes free of the grid - and the supposed warrantees that are communicated here for these expensive systems. But in general here is my sum up (Short version, kind of)...
What I did on my end (Long Version - and honestly I have no idea if all of this made things worse for myself, or helped) to try and get information and a reaction, of any kind, from Tesla to my outage:
PS: Does anybody know if there is a way to get "Now Resolved" added to the thread title or something? Is that appropriate? I don't seem to be able to edit it.
The bottom line: it took Tesla 15 days from the time I reported the outage to make the system they installed functional. This was after the system was only in operation for less than two weeks after PTO. Originally when I posted I was frustrated and didn't take the time to count the actual days, which I've done now as part of summing up the whole experience. In reality it functioned for almost two weeks. Not sure if I can correct the thread title or not.
My take away. I still consider Tesla service and support, for actual system failures (not just phone support "how to's" and "Q&A") on a newly installed system as being wholly inadequate and unresponsive. Maybe on a system that is 1 year or more older I could see it taking a couple weeks to resolve, but really, even then that doesn't seem responsive given the amount of money involved with these systems that are touted as being able to "run" our homes free of the grid - and the supposed warrantees that are communicated here for these expensive systems. But in general here is my sum up (Short version, kind of)...
- Until the very end I either had no idea of what was being done to resolve my issue, or only very vague hints during the last few days that somebody might be on the way to either actually diagnose or resolve the issue. During most of this time where I had no functional Solar or PW, I had no idea what was going on, and nobody actually ever called me back. Only very curt texts or emails on 3 occasions - none of which were helpful until the last text.
- I made multiple calls, daily, during the first week, getting hold of different support people, none who could help me, and one who provided the only clear communication that essentially was, "sometimes it takes "months" to resolve these things if the inverter failed". Even if the system is brand new and only functioned for under two weeks? "Yes".
- Nobody on the support line seemed to know who was doing what, or if a tech would even be scheduled to come out, much less when.
- Finally, last Friday at noon (day 11 of my outage), I received a short text from my original "installation contact" in Las Vegas (I'm in Arizona) saying somebody would be at my house today (the following Tuesday) for replacement.
- Today is that Tuesday, and the system is functional again. For now. Fingers crossed.
What I did on my end (Long Version - and honestly I have no idea if all of this made things worse for myself, or helped) to try and get information and a reaction, of any kind, from Tesla to my outage:
- Day 1 of my outage, I called support and registered my issue. The support guy had me do all sorts of shutdown and reboots in various orders - but nothing worked. The said they'd have to get back to me.
- Day 1 - I also emailed and called my primary Tesla installation contact out of Las Vegas (I'm in Arizona). 3 days later (after hearing nothing) I received an email that she had passed on my information to the support team.
- Days 2-8 days, since support could never even hint at what was happening, I called support once a day, trying to get hold of somebody that could provide any guidance or hint that my issue was being looked at, in any way, and what the next steps might be.
- On Day 5, still with zero communication from Tesla support I started this thread, and copied my installation contact letting her know I was frustrated with the lack of information or apparent progress. I received zero response to my email.
- Around Day 7 I got the only hint of information from all any of my daily support calls for help, that there was some type of thread related to my issue being maintained on Tesla end of things. That hint of information was when the support person I got hold of on the phone that particular day indicated she could see... "gee... I can see you seem like you're really upset" from the notes another support person put in their system notes - but even with that note having been recorded, there evidently was no other notes that hinted at whether anybody was working on my issue. So again, she could tell me nothing.
- Around Day 8 I filed a Review and a Complaint on the BBB site, and was informed by the BBB via email that my one-star review regarding poor service and support was publicly available. my review included a link to this thread, but the BBB also indicated my formal complaint was rejected since I had also at the same time filed a public review. I didn't pursue the complaint at that time figuring I'd circle back to that when I had some time.
- Day 9 - I received an email from "Christine" in support, saying should would be my contact on my issue. It kind of felt like a "stop calling" support email, but it didn't actually say that, but I did stop calling at that point. I responded immediately by thanking her, and asking for information, even a slight hint on where things stood relative to my system issue in terms of diagnosing and fixing the system, what were the next steps?. I never received a response, ever, of any kind from Christine.
- Day 9(-ish), I tweeted @elon "Help" just for the hell of it, and included the link to this thread.
- Day 10 - I heard again from the BBB that the complaint had actually been accepted and communicated to Tesla (After the BBB sent the prior email indicating the complaint was not accepted because of the review I filed at the same time). I have no idea what that was all about.
- Day 11 - I received a text from my original Tesla New Solar/PW installation contact (in Las Vegas) that somebody would be by the following Tuesday. Interestingly, probably just coincidence given the close timing, but this is around when I got the notice from the BBB that the complaint had been accepted and communicated to Tesla
- Day 15 (today) - Tech shows up to the house. I offer him brownies, water, soda, warm milk... beer. He replaced the inverter in about 30 minutes, but wanted nothing to do with the offered treats. He told me it was a new inverter when I asked, and when I asked he said he hadn't seen any of these inverters fail. They work great he said. He shrugged off my skeptical expression, and glanced warily at the warm milk I was still holding. Well... ok then.
PS: Does anybody know if there is a way to get "Now Resolved" added to the thread title or something? Is that appropriate? I don't seem to be able to edit it.
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Jay,
Glad to hear your nightmare is resolved. Pay close attention to your new inverter for a while, hopefully it continues to run okay.
To fix the title, report this thread yourself, saying you want to change the title, and a moderator can do it for you.
Glad to hear your nightmare is resolved. Pay close attention to your new inverter for a while, hopefully it continues to run okay.
To fix the title, report this thread yourself, saying you want to change the title, and a moderator can do it for you.
charlesj
Active Member
Jay,
Yes, finally the headache is gone and hopefully not to return. Been following your nightmare from the sideline.
I am in the process of getting two powerwalls as I already have solar in my 8th year.
Am in contact with a local certified installer outside of Tesla and also decided to reserve an order through Tesla as the local may not be the same price as Tesla. Will see.
Charles
Yes, finally the headache is gone and hopefully not to return. Been following your nightmare from the sideline.
I am in the process of getting two powerwalls as I already have solar in my 8th year.
Am in contact with a local certified installer outside of Tesla and also decided to reserve an order through Tesla as the local may not be the same price as Tesla. Will see.
Charles
