Review - My New Customer Experience with SunPower and Viridis Energy

So, your system seems to be working to your satisfaction but their communication is not to your satisfactiion. Is that about it ?

If so, you have a lot of company.

As for a solar company being in financial straits, they're not alone.

I'd count my blessings for what you seem to describe as a decent install.

Hi JPM,

Thanks for the thoughts. I guess I have much to learn. I agree with your last sentence. I have to count my blessings.

My problem is that I have worked in hi-tech customer service; so, my perspective is out of date and not in vogue: One should take care of the customer, especially the new customer. TO me, that means honoring the warranty from the start.

Here's a metaphor for your consideration:

Imagine that you bought a custom-made electric car from a dealer who promised access to all the car's data; so you would know exactly how it was working. You get the car and it drives great. And then you find that most of the time the electronic displays don't work. How do you know how much energy is being expended; how much charge you have left; whether there are any problems? And when you go to the dealer, they say go to the manufacture, who in turn says to talk to the dealer. How would you feel?

Update - My posts seem to ave caught their attention. Today (Wed) a techie for the local dealer showed up. He had a replacement part, but it turned out to be a broken part that had been mistakenly placed in the "new" inventory. The guy also said that delays were due to SunPower.

So, on the one hand they showed up again to do something. One the other hand, the finger pointing at each other continues.

I agree with all that is being said. Troubleshooting takes a lot of critical thinking and seems to be handled by curated scripts at each level of support for almost every company nowadays.

Troubleshooting and fixing custom pieces of equipment takes knowledge, skill, perseverance and a company mission statement that allows that to happen. And if you are a customer facing service employee, you have to have people skills by talking to actual people; not texting them. I'm not sure where all these brilliant employees are going to be minted since AI seems to have taken over many aspects of customer "service".

You're welcome.
We all have a lot to learn. I consider learning the process that grows the raw material that powers my curiosity.

A story: I was once a commissioned sales rep. If I sold nothing I made nothing. I made a good living (and took a pretty healthy pay cut to become an engineer) but a lot of the benefit to me from being a peddler was the education I couldn't get anywhere else in terms of understanding the value of a customer and of developing personal relationships.
I also learned in spades the facts of life as they relate to the not so nice side of human nature - my own as well as everyone else's.

To respond to your question and since I take the question as non-rhetorical: I'd feel not good but most certainly not surprised - as a matter of fact, that's about what I'd expect or worse. But that's just me.
I add that I also wouldn't buy such a custom made vehicle because of the unacceptably (to me) high probability of the likelihood of problems (a lemon) brought about by the non-standard nature of the product and the resulting unnecessary but unavoidable complication of such a product brought about from the violation of the KISS principle.
But that's part of what an engineering outlook on the world has taught me.

Rant mode on:

Sounds (reads) like you bought into the B.S. sales pitch when you bought the system. Well, caveat emptor on that.

It sounds (reads) too like you're still looking at the business world through pollyanna rose colored glasses. Consider this possibility: The guy that recently showed up with a broken part did so to shut you up and make you think the company is on your side and then blamed someone else (Sunpower) for the problem. That crap is in the peddler's bag of tricks.
That's not only got no class, it's cynical and also stupid on their part.

Know this: PV outfits, like every other business in a capitalist system are in it for one reason: To make a profit. Full Stop.

If you think most outfits will have their moral compass pointed in the right direction most of the time and will do the right thing by their customers every time, I've got a bridge you might be interested in.

Looking back on my 10+ year experience as a peddler and then thinking of myself on the other side (as a customer) has taught me a good deal about the value of self-reliance, the ability to sift through B.S., getting my own information and forming my own opinions about things as well as and the value of skepticism.

Botttom line: If customers would become more informed, and also less trusting, peddlers of all stripes would make less money.

More importantly, consumers who take the time and make the effort to get a clue about what they want or think they need will get more value for their time and money.

I appreciate how you feel about your experience but IMO only, I doubt if anyone really cares about any opinions you may have about how you think the process went or how the personnel performed except you.

That's not because what you wrote is not considered and well written (but IMO underinformed), but rather and mostly (but not entirely) because most readers anywhere are too self-absorbed, mentally slothful and so too ignorant to benefit from your observations.

Rant mode off.

Take what you may want of the above. Scrap the rest.

Thank you for sharing this here. This is really helpful.

A positive update:

As I mentioned in a previous (3/20) update, a technician showed up a few days ago, but had a bad part.
He returned the next day (3/21) and the new part seems to have worked. I have had full reporting for the last three days.

And finally (for this comment), I've started exploring this forum site. As member JPM mentioned, my experience hasn't been all that bad compared to the norm
I guess on the one hand, it reflects the poor state of customer service in the USA (across many industries); and on the other I can choose to be happy. The system works!

Great to hear the technician got things sorted with the new part! Exploring the forum sounds like a good idea; there's often a lot of helpful info and supportive folks around. It's unfortunate that customer service can be hit or miss, but it's great you're choosing to focus on the positive side.

It sounds like you had quite a mixed experience with Viridis Energy and SunPower. It's disappointing when companies promise great service but fail to deliver when issues arise. Thanks for sharing your honest feedback.