Beware of the “complimentary upgrades” after the deal is done!
In recent months we have been receiving calls back from clients that we couldn’t win the business from with them having suspicions that something odd or off was at play with the solar company that they decided to go ahead with.
The client told us, that the company they had originally selected to go with, had contacted them a few days before their installation was scheduled to be completed. At this time the company proceeded to tell them that the original premium “gold category” panels and inverter where now “out of stock”. The company continued to inform them, they would be giving them a “complimentary upgrade” from the 390W panels to the new 400W panels and swapping to another Inverter brand that was the exact same as the original, otherwise their installation would be delayed indefinitely and subject to price rises or reduced government rebates.
“There is no truer saying then something that seems too good to be true, can’t be true especially when it comes to solar!”
After speaking further with this client and collecting the exact details on what models and brands they where being “complimentary upgraded to” we found that the changes where as far from an upgrade as you could get!
We did the pricing exercise for the client to put things in perspective.
The system that the company had proposed in their complimentary changes, presented over a $1,300 difference in the cost price of the new panels and the panels originally included and a difference of $1,400 from the new inverter Included to the original inverter in the proposal. This is a combined $2,700 saving that the solar company had just created with their “complimentary upgrade” without passing any of these savings on to the client!
In our opinion, that is just bad business, down right ripping the client off and borderline fraudulent!
Initially, before they had decided to take their business elsewhere, we had conversations over and over, trying to explain to the client the risks of investing and placing your trust in a company selling the dream of a system that is too good to be true. As mentioned in previous blog posts, solar systems pricing is built on key simple items:
Panels
Inverter
Mounting System
Installation
System, Product and Installation Warranties
If a system is cheap, it’s one of these points that is suffering because of it!
We couldn’t figure out how the company was able to present prices so cheap to the client initially, but before we knew it, a switched on client smelt foul play!
That solar company was able to win the clients business and trust with no intentions at all to supply and install the quoted products which gave them a competitive edge over us!
We couldn’t help but think of how many times we had faced challenges similar to this and wonder, how many other clients had been ripped off by this same scam!
Here are 3 points we have come up with to help you steer clear of becoming another victim to these scams!
Check reviews on multiple platforms
Go to local community pages and ask for your local specialist
Ask friends or family for recommendations
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