Current Alerts For This Business
BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning solar system operation, repair, and workmanship. Specifically, consumers allege solar systems do not work, repair, and workmanship concerns including delays, roof damages, leaks, failure to follow up with consumers, solar panel issues, and city inspections. Consumers allege production does not meet the expectations of what they were sold and installation concerns including long waits for installation, incomplete or failure to follow up on installation concerns.
On September 13, 2024, BBB submitted a written request to the company encouraging them to address the pattern of complaints.
Freedom Solar Power responded to BBB’s request on September 26 stating they have implemented the following:
· Freedom Solar Power has hired 4 new Service Coordinators to answer customer calls, troubleshoot system issues, and arrange virtual and in-person service visits, as well as 7 additional Customer Care Agents.
· Freedom Solar Power has implemented process changes including building out functionality devoted to their Service team in their proprietary solar project management software, as well as Hubsport, adding improved customer communications processes, and enhanced call scripting materials and training.
· Freedom Solar Power’s Customer Care team has been working overtime to field and action the increased number of incoming calls.
· Freedom Solar Power has developed its myFreedom customer portal to provide project updates in real-time, solar education, and allows customers to track their day-to-day progress.
· Freedom Solar Power’s Service Team has been meeting weekly to review aged service tickets to ensure they are not neglected.
Regarding service delays and roof leaks Freedom Solar Power responded that the primary cause of the recent increase in service delays and roof leak-related complaints are from Hurricane Beryl as both customers and employees were affected by the storm due to a lack of electricity for a week which resulted in a service backlog they are continuing to resolve as of today. Freedom Solar is working overtime for several weeks to accommodate their customers.
To address roof leaks Freedom Solar has proactively updated certain installation equipment and processes to minimize roof leaking-related issues in the future. This includes switching equipment manufacturers for the products used to install solar racking systems.
In response to a pattern of complaints regarding solar production concerns Freedom Solar Power responded that due to the complexity in nature of solar systems, many factors are at play to the amount of electricity that may be produced and bill savings that may be recognized. During the initial sales consultation, salespeople provide detailed information about customers' energy production, bill savings, and system performance.
While Freedom Solar offered a production guarantee for a short period of time, they do not offer a production or bill offset guarantee as clearly stated in their sale materials and solar installation contract. Customers are provided with educational resources to help them understand the factors that influence solar energy production, such as weather conditions, shading and panel degradation, and soiling.
In addition to describing and offering educational resources to customers to help them understand the factors that influence solar energy production, Freedom Solar has mandated that their sales proposal cannot be edited by their sales team members.
During the last year, Freedom Solar has also implemented enhancements to its process to address this issue:
• A pre-installation Design Complete call with the customer to discuss the design and system capabilities in detail. Freedom Solar offers the customer an opportunity to ask any questions relating to their system's production estimates and/or request any design changes that they feel are necessary. Since the implementation of this call, Freedom Solar states they have noticed a significant decrease in complaints related to system expectations.
• Created a process of checks and balances with their Design and Engineering team, which occur prior to the Design Complete call, to ensure that electricity consumption figures inputted into their sales proposal system are accurate and in line with how they describe their electricity bill offset estimates in their sales proposal.
During the sales process, their sales team uses a software program to estimate solar production based on several factors, including the number, location, direction, and tilt of the panels.
Freedom Solar collects the customer’s historical electrical utility bills to estimate electricity consumption; if these cover 12 months or more, they will use actual bills to estimate consumption; if these cover 4-11 months, they will use Aurora’s Energy Consumption Tool to estimate consumption; and if these cover 3 or fewer months (e.g., a newly constructed home), they estimate consumption using ResStock, a tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, based solely on the home's square footage, gas usage, and a fixed multiple by geographic region.
With this data, an estimated annual percentage of consumption offset figure is shared with the customer which is clearly labeled as an estimate, and the actual results could differ based on numerous factors, such as electricity consumption rates.
During the site assessment, which occurs after the sale, Freedom Solar runs a drone over the home, which allows them to develop a more accurate 3-D model of the home for production modeling purposes.
During the design phase, the design and engineering team re-designs the system using precise tools re-estimates production.
If production estimates through their precise tool are meaningfully less than through their initial program Freedom Solar will notify the customer, provide a new proposal with decreased production and electricity consumption offsets, and ask the customer to confirm if they’d like to move forward, the customer has an opportunity to approve the design and estimates or cancel the project with no cancellation fee.
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Complaint Details
Note that complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. See details.
Initial Complaint
12/02/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I paid $20,000.00 for a 11 panel solar system from this company last year. It was never installed correctly and my electricity bills for this year were exactly the same as before I spent $20,000.00 for this system. They keep trying to make excuses and show me reports; however, this does not explain how my electric bills are the same as they were before I spent $20,000.00. My house only uses lights and air conditioning. There are no appliances, TV or persons occupying this properly. They have not tried in any way to remedy the situation. Rather, they want to make excuses for their poor products and customer service.
Business response
12/08/2021
We have been in communication with this customer and actively working on a resolution to her concerns.Customer response
12/17/2021
Complaint: 16198364
I am rejecting this response because:I have not heard back from this company for over a week now and my attempts to contact them have not been returned.
Regards,
**** *****Business response
12/21/2021
We in fact have been responsive with this customer and over the phone today 12/21/21, she let us know she did get our previous attempts to contact but that she just hadn't seen them yet prior to writing this 2nd claim. We are continuing to work with this customer to come to a resolution.
Initial Complaint
11/30/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Billing Issues
- Status:
- Answered
ISSUE---My Solar Panels were installed by Freedom Solar Power Company in February 2021. They have not functioned as of today. My electric bills are higher than before when I did not own solar panels. By Freedom Solar Power suggestion, I signed up with ********************** When I started receiving high electric bills, I notified Freedom Solar Power. Freedom Solar Power confided that ********************* charging their customer with their malfunction monitoring system. I did not receive any compensation from Freedom Solar Power nor from ***** ******** for acquiring ***** ********s high electric bills. Now I am signed up with ************* suggested by Freedom Solar Power. I am paying high electric bills with *************, again. Freedom Solar Power Company advertises: The customer will not have to pay any electric bills, the solar panels loan will be the only payment. The customer will receive incentives such as certain amount of money, receive high efficiency products for the home. Customer also will receive electric company switching fee for signing up with Freedom Solar Power. I am not receiving any credit for my solar energy production.Business response
12/10/2021
The customers panels are functioning per the contract. The customers energy consumption has increased significantly since the panels were installed, as acknowledged by the customer. This customer was not willing to switch providers initially which resulted in her not being on a solar buyback plan. We have reviewed the customers utility bills and reviewed smart meter Texas to determine the customers 2020 usage when we built the system. Based on this data, the customer used ****** kWh annually. The system is designed to produce ****** kWh, which was constructed based of historical data usage this is very close close to what the customers actual usage is. The customer admitted to us that her usage increased. When calculating usage the increase is significant,using the data from December 2020 - November 2021, the customer consumed ****** kWh annually. While the customer does need additional panels to further offset the load it is not due to an error on our part. We have offered an extremely reasonable solution to provide additional panels to the customer.
The company advertises that the customer will no longer have an electric ****.
Freedom Solar Power, LLC. does not advertise that the customer would no longer have an electric ****. We ensure this by including a copy of a "mock" utility **** in every presentation that is shown to the homeowner. The customer is often curious about what a ********************** buyback plan looks like and how the credits (sold solar kWh back to the grid) are applied to the monthly utility ****. The goal for most homeowners is to build a solar system that is capable of producing as much power as the homeowner is using, citing annual consumption figures from public data sources (Smart Meter Texas) to find the annual consumption amount. In this customers case, she used ****** kWh in 2020 and we built her a solar system capable of producing ****** kWh annually. We found that after only 8 months, her annual consumption had increased almost 20%, resulting in her receiving a utility **** for the difference between what her system is producing and what she is using.
The customer will receive incentives such as certain amount of money, receive high efficiency products for the home. Seen in the attachments of this email is the proposal. We discounted the total cost of the system based off of the current market costs for residential high efficiency products and explicitly told the homeowner that this discount was applied so that they themselves could buy these high efficiency products for their home. SunPro, now ADT Solar, offers these services for homeowners and the homeowner received a quote from them before she decided to go solar with us.
Customer also will receive electric company switching fee for signing up with Freedom Solar Power. Our company already paid ***** for the early termination fee.
I am not receiving any credit for my solar energy production. - We are not the utility company and we are in no position to give her credits for her excess solar sent to the utility grid.
When I started receiving high electric bills, I notified Freedom Solar Power. Freedom Solar Power confided that ********************* charging their customer with their malfunction monitoring system. I did not receive any compensation from Freedom Solar Power nor from ***** ******** for acquiring ***** ********s high electric bills. - We are not a utility company. An example would be similar to a car dealership - a car dealership does not set up car insurance for a buyer when they buy the car, that is the responsibility of the buyer.Freedom solar fulfilled our end of the contract and all of our obligations.
Initial Complaint
11/04/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I was quoted a solar panel system that was said to offset my electricity costs by 100%. I have had the system Since May of 2020, and it does not offset my electricity costs. I am having to pay the solar panel loan, plus I am still getting $300 utility bills. This system has also prevented me from selling my house because it is not efficient. I do not feel that I should be liable for a system that is defective, and not working. The company is very hard to deal with, and has not done much to mediate the situation. I am getting ready to hire an attorney if something isn’t fixed in my favor.Business response
11/29/2021
We are working with this customer to troubleshoot the system and come to a resolution.
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Contact Information
Customer Complaints Summary
115 total complaints in the last 3 years.
49 complaints closed in the last 12 months.