InstallSolar Recensioni 105

Many thanks to all at Install Solar for our recent solar panel installation - we found communication to be very good throughout; the installation and office teams were professional, efficient and supportive; the app was relatively straight-forward to set up once the datalogger dongle was installed; and the panels are now operating and reducing our electricity consumption as hoped. Only reason I've not given 5* is the fact we've not yet received a MCS Certificate. Will this be an issue as suggested by other reviews? Time will tell. In the meantime I'm very happy with the service we've received.

Stay well away from this company. I don't normally review anything but this has to be said.
I wish I had carried out more due diligence at the time of looking for companies. The sales guy was great and why I decided to go with them however he disappeared when my deposit was paid. I had to chase them for the install to happen and if I didn't I am sure I would still be waiting.
When you get to speak to someone in the company they constantly use C19 as an excuse, come on we are way down the line from that and I don't get that from anyone else I get to do work.
The install team were from start to finish unprofessional and I have spent a year now chasing the admin team for the correct paperwork and today have had to contact MSC myself to get the errors on the certificate corrected. I have spent a whole day trying to gather the paperwork or get paperwork corrected so I can submit to my supplier. They got our address wrong on everything and the MPAN wasn't even correct so nothing is matching, the DNO are even having issues trying to find anything to do with our install which is making us even more worried.
It is a shame this sector has no regulator as it seems any man with a van with the smallest level of electrical knowledge can set themselves up to install solar systems. I spoke to trading standards and they have said they are aware of this company but wouldn't say anything else about anything that may or may not be ongoing.
STAY WELL CLEAR

Unfortunately my installation became a legal dispute. As Installer Solar Ltd lied to me about being MCS registered. They had actually lost there registration.

Buyer beware. These guys commit fraud by lying about being MCS accredited in there quotes and paperwork. Check with MCS - they are not

The installations went well, but Install Solar was let down by poor communications and very poor after sales service including:
- didn’t advise us that they would not be installing the panels on the agreed date and taking another failed date before installing
- installed panels but had no battery to install despite having ordered and paid a 50% deposit four months earlier. Took another four months to get the battery, so lost benefits of electricity storage over the summer.
- Refused any discount for late delivery.
- Not provided with MCS certificate and getting it required many weeks of chasing - this delayed me getting on to a Solar PV tariff with our energy company.
- after chasing for months for the confirmation that the ‘DNO’ (electricity network owner for area) had approved the installation as this was required by our electricity supplier, I eventually gave up and it took just a couple of calls and I received a confirmation email from the DNO within one hour.

In total, I have been waiting nine months without being on a Solar PV tariff.

Thank you to John Sean and Craig , appreciate the tidying up at the end , had a couple issues with communication but overall great experience thanks install

I would say this company is trying to up its game. We had solar panels fitted recently by Lee Scott and John of Install solar. They were polite efficient and did an excellent job all in one day. The panels are working superbly as is the battery and inverter. Downloading the associated app can be a bit of a problem. However Install solar sent along John2 who gave me a lot of useful help with the app. I would suggest that the company sends along such a person routinely after fitting as these app/IT issues can be a pain. From ordering the panels to fitting it took about 2 1/2 months which is quite reasonable from what I’ve heard. From what I understand this company has mainly dealt with large industrial solar panel fitting in the past and has only recently come into the domestic market. It is important to note that the deposit is 25% followed by a further 25% prior to fitting. The remainder is paid on satisfactory fitting. There were a few admin communication glitches and these I suspect are a function of only recently coming in to the domestic market. I would suggest that the company looks into this area for future improved communication. I am very impressed by this company and from what I can work out their quote is lower than a lot of other companies. I felt that the chap who came round to discuss things initially was very wellinformed and non-pushy.

The quality and attention to detail of our installation of 15 panels, converter and battery has been superb with consideration being made of how to execute it in the most sympathetic manner.
Added to that is the anxiety of the company to be available to assist both pre- and post-installation which has been particularly valued.
We would totally recommend them, and, no, we have no connection with the company other than as a highly satisfied customer.

It’s really difficult to work what is going on with this company the reviews are incredibly mixed, making the positive reviews so hard to believe.
We paid a massive 50% deposit to install solar in June, and had to chase to receive a receipt for this. We had dates agreed for installation which came and went with zero communication from the company that there were delays or that installations were not going ahead as planned. We phoned the company so many times, with often no helpful response. Promises to get back to us and to take ownership of our installation, and then nothing. Until we called again and again. At times their phone lines would not work and you could not get through to speak to anybody. At one point we were told we needed scaffolding (this had never been discussed), and then told that the original survey was inadequate and in fact they couldn’t fit the number of agreed panels and suggested other arrangements using different parts of our roof even suggested putting one over our skylight. It all felt very bizarre and filled us with zero confidence. At the same time horrific reviews were appearing here. We were at our wits end and requested a full refund of our deposit based on the fact we had been missold the product (inadequate initial survey and their loss of MCS accreditation) . We were promised that yes refund was happening via email from the then managing director. But this stalled and stalled and then finally 5 months after we paid our deposit we were refunded in full by the aforementioned managing director who seems now to have resigned, according to companies house. I feel like we had a very very lucky escape. Particularly after reading some of the other recent reviews. The salesman at the initial survey said to me ‘don’t worry you won’t regret this’ - I don’t think I could have regretted it more, our dealings with install solar have been incredibly stressful. I would not be at all surprised if this company ceases trading at some point in the near future. I would strongly advise that you avoid this company.

Took my money and ran. Promised mcs accreditation, and since paying our deposit, they've stopped answering any emails.

I'll be filing a report with the police.

In July 2022, salesman Jim Foggo visited my property and confirmed my property would be suitable for solar panels. A quote followed and I paid 50% of installation fee. Thereafter I experienced communication silence. I had to do all of the chasing and eventually got a confirmed installation date of 18 October 2022.

That day an electrician and 2 roofers attended none of them had any idea of my property and were not happy that scaffolding was not being used. The electrician said he was really sorry that he would make a mess within my property by cutting various holes in walls and ceiling in my living room resulting in a visible cable coming out of the wall and into the roof space and also quote "butcher" my built-in wardrobe in the upper floor, lift carpets and remove skirting boards. All of this would mean that I would be liable to repair and redecorate various rooms. None of this was mentioned by Jim Foggo during his sales pitch.

After much deliberation I decided that the work could not go ahead due to the added expense and unsightly cable in the living room. The electrician and roofers stood in my kitchen while I spoke with Paul who said it was unlikely I would get much of my deposit back as the materials were serial numbered and couldn't be reused. The roofers laughed at this and said that was not the case as they have reused materials before.

I then entered into email dialogue with Stevie Bell who offered me a refund of just over 30% of my deposit. This was on 21st October. Being told it was not negotiable and that he wouldn't normally offer a refund but was trying to be fair!!

I reluctantly accepted however after a month elapsed I emailed back and have emailed every week since. To date I have not received a response or my refund.

I paid for this service in good faith however it was mis-sold to me. There are some positive comments on this site about Install Solar it's not for me to say if they are reliable or not but as far as I'm concerned this company should be avoided at all costs.

Update - After 4 months of trying to get to my refund Steve Bell emailed me to say that due to the fact he had not received a refund for materials and the company were now refusing to pay, he was not going to refund me. This was totally expected from this rogue trader.

No problems with Surveyor, Chris. Initial delays with installation date, without notification, with excuses of supply and scaffold (which wasn't required) when bad weather would have sufficed. Installation 9th Dec, team courteous
Some battery error code meant 2nd electrician had to come, thereafter final payment demanded.
Dongle needed to be configured to router which I had to do myself and then I noticed anomalies such as battery being charged from the grid and a trickle of export even though the battery has never charged above 12% as yet. The 1st week the panels were covered in frost, then a week of snow!
The installation manager, Paul did eventually tell me this was all normal (according to Growatt) but the solar forum seem to report similar issues that can be resolved if you play with the control settings.
Surely this would be considered standard commissioning but my questions are ignored and I'm left to try to optimise the system myself. If along the line I find there is a fault I doubt this company will resolve it.

Cancelled my order within days of paying my deposit. Then they stopped answering calls and emails. Horrendous customer service. Still waiting for my deposit 4 weeks on from date of cancellation, have now escalated issue with legal advice.
New sales manager Jim foggo turning out to be as unresponsive as previous one David Carey. Mr foggo now blames the MD STEVEN BELL and their accounts dept. for withholding the money
Still no deposit returned, now 3 months since order cancelled. This is a rogue company do not use.
Just had my deposit refunded from the bank, absolutely no communication from install solar. What a disreputable bunch of fraudsters. They have no MCS registration as they claim. Their website even claims they have depots around the country, another blatant lie from these rogues. DO NOT USE THEM, believe all the negative reviews.

Booked installation in October 2022
And paid half the cost of thousands of pounds
Due to be installed 9th December
So took day of work
No one appeared on day and no call to say they wouldn’t be here
On calling then told it had been cancelled due to unable to get scaffolding
Strange as they asked me if my job needed scaffolding
Was advised they would contact me with a new installation date
Have not heard back from them since
Now they don’t answer call texts or emails
Contacting trading standards now and will go through the legal route to refund deposit
absolute disgrace

Install Solar, before you respond with “we don’t have you on our file thank you”, Sibyl is not the name I normally use but if you check your inbox, you will find I am the person whose emails you have been ignoring since 4th December when I first requested a refund and who:
• during a home visit from your rep N. on 16 August was:
a. told that applying for an interest-free Scottish loan would slow down the process (especially as you were waiting for your accreditation)
b. reassured me that Install Solar never experiences components shortages as it imports them from so many different countries
• transferred nearly £5,000 a few days later - acknowledged by your employee A. within 24 hours
• was given an installation date for 1st November
• called you during the course of that morning as nobody had turned up, was told that they were “going to find out where the installation team was and would ring me back”, was never rung back, tried several times to get in touch but only got the answering machine, waited all day to no avail
• had a call on the next day from an installation chap who apologised profusely and tried to convince me to get the panels without the battery, meeting my objections with a sarcastic “it’s the panels that produce electricity, not the battery!” and my comment on what I was told by the rep regarding shortages with another sarcastic “Are you aware of the international situation?!”
• had no further communication for nearly a month, but was left a message during the week, I had specifically told him, I would to be absent
• only received two polite emailed replies from A. who claimed to have forwarded my requests to “the relevant department” as by her own admission she “does not have the authority to do this”
I have naively placed my trust, and considerable sum of money, into Install Solar following what appeared to be a very convincingly professional approach from their rep N.
This trust is irreparably broken.
This is not just a one-off very expensive purchase. The idea of being dependent on Install Solar for my electricity, potential amendments, repairs and parts for many years to come, fills me with absolute dread.
As it stands, not only have I relinquished what would have been a very welcome interest-free loan as I trusted professional advice, Install Solar are holding my money, I have to pay rocketing prices instead of enjoying the benefits of free electricity and they are treating me with disdain.
All I want is my money back and never to have anything to do with Install Solar thereafter.
Unfortunately, any remaining optimism disappeared after reading the reviews on this platform. I have downloaded them, just in case I need to prove that mine is not an isolated issue. I could not believe that so many customers were confronted with such grievances.
Realising that my refund request could remain unanswered for a long time, I am now planning to contact Trading Standards Scotland who happen to have “energy marketing” on their priority areas at the moment and Citizens Advice Scotland of course. Failing this, other options might include getting in touch with MCS Certification Fund and perhaps even a well-known radio programme that deals with ignored claims.
Funnily, when I transferred the money in August, the bank clerk (I don’t bank online) seemed very hesitant and asked me three times if “I was sure” and when I confirmed, insisted on me checking Install Solar’s website on my phone in front of her. I was very surprised, then concluded it was part of their checks with scams being rife. But now, I just wonder…

27th February, 2023
Still completely ignored. They still have my money. I sympathise completely with James, Alastair and Gary and am sorry that you got caught too. How many more will be, I wonder. Their 26 Google reviews have disappeared, replaced by 5 star ones. I had taken screen shots of them in December. I cannot believe that this is allowed to carry on!
So far, MCS, Trading Standards Scotland and Consumer Advice have been made aware of my case.

10th April, 2023
They are still holding my £4,975 deposit (since August 2022) and have ignored my last three signed for letters based on Consumer Advice, in the past month and a half. Letters received, Royal Mail pdfs downloaded. Next step is a legal procedure.
Long chat with staff at my local bank branch who decided to make their fraud and scam department aware.

It’s all in the name Intall Solar is what they do. Customer care is however non existent.

Having purchased a solar and storage system a year ago, which went up efficiently, in Nov this year I identified what I thought was an issue with the storage battery. I thought I had nothing better to do than give them a call and have a conversation about the issue or indeed non issue. Oh how wrong I was.

Over the following weeks and still current it has become patently clear that this organisation has no interest in any form of customer service.

I tried to call them by phone which appears impossible. I went to their website where they claim they are a Trusted Name and Market Leader, and submitted a web form contact and heard nothing back. I then emailed them where I did succeed in getting a reply from Julie with promises that Paul, one of the engineers, would contact me. This didn’t happen despite a number of email promises. I was eventually given Paul the engineers mobile but calls and texts were not answered.

I even supplied photos of the alarm codes on the inverter to give them all the info they could have asked for to enable a quick chat still nothing.

Frustrated with a shockingly poor customer service I emailed again expressing my dissatisfaction asking that my call be escalated to the Managing Director who should be interested in the reputational damage of such poor service.

To date I have heard nothing all emails are now being ignored.

I ended up switching the battery off and on and it looks like the matter may have resolved itself.

Pretty pissed off with them I started to investigate claims around the validity of their MCS certification and whether there is a route of complaint through this scheme

I can’t find Install Solar as being registered with the MCS scheme despite their claims of having just re certified. Worryingly the MCS number on the certificate they provided me with doesn’t appear to exist. There is a route for complaint to the MCS scheme if they are registered and I will be pursuing it.

Looking at the response to previous negative Trustpilot reviewes I expect them to reply that they don’t have a record of my call but I do and I am happy to publish for all to judge the customer service for themselves.

Reputable renewable energy installation companies should also be members of Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC). This mob are not part of this scheme so do yourself a favour and avoid them as they are only interested in taking your money and do not deserve your business

UPDATE: no coincidence but I did get a prompt response from Install Solar following this review. A WhatsApp chat with their engineer identified the possible issue. Despite the heavy snow that fell overnight a Mark the electrician arrived promptly this morning and identified a broken wire as the cause. Fixed promptly and now I can see we are drawing energy from the storage battery exactly as it l.

That’s the kind of customer service customers expect.

So Install Solar installation and problem solving is good you just need to work on the customer service aspect of the business,

We had 17 panels installed in 2019 with batteries later - all very good. Then we added 9 panels earlier this year - different crew, very messy and took till August for someone to return and fix. A roofer who looked at the new 9 installation reckons they will cause leaks after a few years!!

In March we ordered another 2 batteries and paid a £1,100 deposit. They were supposed to be installed “soon”. In September after numerous calls to the office which were responded to with the someone will get back to you today but never did I spoke to MD Alex after I’d emailed the directors. He said there was a supply problem from China as Germany had been buying up all available batteries but we would have ours by November.
It’s now December, my call to the office recently was responded to with the usual someone will get back…. My two calls to Alex are still waiting for a response.
I’ve just read a 5 star review from someone who had his batteries installed in October, so why am I still waiting. I just checked and they do not have MCS accreditation anymore.
I’d like my deposit back and get batteries from someone else but Alex warned me that would invalidate my guarantee with them!
They may have been reliable once but not anymore. I’ll be seeking advice from trading standards.

First impressions were good from David Carey. When I started to have trouble contacting staff I began to suspect problems.

I started to smell a rat when the tone of the conversation took awkward twists without reason. After chasing many times, I was always promised things to be looked at 'this afternoon' which resulted in nothing day after day, message after message, chase after chase. In the end we got our panels from contact solar, who have a far more thorough process and a more thorough process.

I found an inexperienced staff member who visited us to be pushy, outspoken and lacking in all areas of expertise. Their agenda was more important than ours as the client, which is just bad practice. This company should not be trusted.

Originally I met Alex, the MD, who came to look at the proposed site himself. A good confidence-inspiring meeting. Having delayed my decision I put down my deposit in late July 22. I was quoted 4 months for installation because of supply chain problems and a massive increase in demand for systems. I accepted that. The installation team of John, Lee and Scott arrived late November and initially it was grumble after grumble about the tiled roof, the wrong brackets, too many panels for the space etc. So they went away without the work done. However, they returned 10 days later, with the right brackets, a much more positive attitude and got the job done in just over 6 hours on a very cold day. I had been tempted to call the job off and get my deposit back after their first visit and having read some of the negative reviews on here. I am now very glad I resisted that temptation. My experience with the central office function reflects other comments here about difficulty in getting through in the phone and a sense of last minute organisation: my impression is of a company struggling manfully to cope with the unprecedented demand in the midst of a tight supply and labour market.
The end result is worth the wait though! The system appears to be working as intended, and should meet at least 2/3rds of our annual consumption, with a 4 year payback at most.
Have a good break over Christmas, lads, you’ll have earned it, but stay away from the top of stairs! I’m sure Alex will be contemplating sending Putin a bonus!!!

I contacted Install Solar during the early summer this year being clear I was wondering whether they had anyone who could come and discuss solar panels, storage batteries and how they integrate into your home life and the national grid. I made it clear I was not looking to place an order at the time and understood if they wouldn't be able to help.

I was contacted by one of their advisors who made an appointment to come and see me at home. He spent a good couple of hours talking me through everything, and I agreed to receive a no obligation quote which was sent promptly the next day.

I elected not to proceed at that time but only because I had managed to secure a fixed energy tariff which pre-dated any signifiant price hikes and remained in place until well in to 2024.

However as the summer dragged on into autumn and world events continued to affect supply chains I realised that if I left it much longer there could be a significant increase in the cost of installation no matter which company I opted to go with, so I contacted Install Solar and placed an order (panels and storage battery).

As my installation date drew close I unfortunately experienced some personal issues which were going to cause challenges around installation.

I contacted Install Solar to explain, and I have to say that they could not have been more helpful and have bent over backward to assist and accommodate my circumstances. My deposit had been paid and they were under no obligation to accommodate me, but they have.

I noted a recent review to the contrary but I can honestly say that my experience from first contact to date has been first class.

At no point was there in any way any effort to push a hard sale. In fact there has been no 'push' at all. They took the time to explain what I needed to know, provided a no obligation quote and confirmed receipt, and then left it with me to decide how and when I want to progress (or not) without any pressure was so ever.

There are a lot of companies advertising solar installations, and I have noticed a few window installers branching out into solar installations. My experience across a number of previous quotes and requests for advice and help have resulted in significant effort to pressure me into a sale.

Definitely not my experience of Install Solar. Installation yet to be done but they have been nothing but professional and courteous and helpful and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

After fitting my inlaws system roughly 4 years ago ( it as already paid for itself ) I contacted Install solar for advice and see if they would do a visit and talk us through the installation of a system that suits our needs. Our previous electricity bills were looked at and a system was worked out from these. From initial contact to installation took about 12 weeks. In this day and age that's pretty good I would say. ( a new car can take 12/18 months to wait for ) as well as the energy crisis, you can understand these companies are well and truly inundated with enquiries and demand for the services. On the installation date the team travelled from Scotland down into England to do the work. They arrived early morning and never stopped all day fitting the equipment. I am very meticulous and everything was completed to my Satisfaction. The installation team were efficient, friendly and very professional doing their job. We had 6kw system fitted with battery storage installed in our garage. The lads even replaced a cracked roof tile that was broken on the roof for me.
This is a genuine experience report and have no hesitation in recommending them. ( neighbours already asking for their contact details ) like I say the demand for theses companies now is greater than ever before and only going to get worse. I'm more than happy and after a week, I can already see by the data logging app (that you can monitor on your phone) we are saving money on our energy bill.