Alan L.
05/10/2020 12:00:00 SA
I would not recommend Elevation.
I started in Aug 2019 for a 10kw battery-ready inverter and 16 330-watt panels, my plan was to expand in the future.
When the plans were dropped off, I looked them over and it was downgraded to a 5Kw inverter and not battery ready. I contacted Elevation and they stated that I had been sent a revised quote with the 5Kw inverter (amazingly at the same price point) and that I had agreed to it. After the ensuing argument, I was told if I wanted the 10Kw inverter*, I would be charged an additional $700 to $1000, but if I was willing to do the 7Kw* inverter, she could do that without additional charge. I reluctantly agreed. I probably should not have.
Four weeks later the tech comes out to install the inverter and it is not battery ready. Another argument ensues and I had to send the email where the sales agent had stated it was "absolutely battery ready." After another delay, the correct inverter and related equipment were installed and my approval process is started with the utility.
Commissioning is Nov 27, 2019, after delays and attempts to give me lower equipment. It failed as the plans were not correct. I called Elevation and they said they would send out a tech. After two more weeks, I emailed and called several times and they told me a tech had come out and everything was fine, no changes had to be made. I tried to call Elevation back over the next week to no avail. That is when I contacted a resolution manager and together, we figured out the duplicate plans were the problem and had to order a new commissioning date as the original agent had dropped the ball.
Jan 6, 2020 - The tech shows up and cannot get the system on, so my utility company fails my commissioning again. I contact Elevation and they advise they are ordering a new inverter. Two weeks later, the tech installs a different inverter and all is supposedly done. I researched online and found that the new inverter is not battery-ready, and lists at half of the price as the one I was promised.* I called the resolution manager. He called me back a day later and stated they had installed the wrong inverter and they would be out in a week to put the correct one in. The tech came out and did not have the parts for the installation, so they rescheduled to install it. During this time, the resolution manager called me to let me know two of the panels were not reporting and he would have someone out to look at that.
Once the new inverter was installed, and the panels looked, I was told it was all ready to go. However, after the tech left, I saw a different panel was not reporting. I contacted Elevation and was sent to a different resolution manager, so I had to start the conversation all over to make sure she was aware of all the issues. She sent out a Quality Control tech who went over everything and then scheduled another tech appointment (two weeks out) to fix issues he had found as well as the non-reporting panel.
When this tech arrived, he had no idea I still had a panel that was not reporting and was only there to paint the conduit to match the house. After replacing an optimizer and getting the panel to report correctly, they left and I received an email letting me know everything was done and my set up was completed.
Sales vs. Installation: The completed quote was for a 10kw* inverter that was battery ready. The attempt to install a 5kw inverter, and the attempt to replace the non-functioning inverter with a different model that was not battery-ready at a later point in the process just seemed off. I am not a solar expert and had I not reviewed the plans and the specs of these inverters, I would have never known what was being done. The original quote total price was NEVER adjusted, as I am sure the 7kw inverter is less expensive than the 10kw* inverter.
Full Disclosure: The resolution team has sent me a check for about $50.00 to make up for lost production, and a $100.00 Amazon gift card. I doubt this accounts for all the lost production, and the difference in cost of the 10kw inverter and the 7kw* inverter I ended up with.
Follow-up: Clayton Andersen (Elevation CEO) called me concerning the above review. He apologized for all of the mis-steps and we also talked about mitigation efforts that have been added to the operations of the company to avoid these issues.
*In the interest of fairness, I wanted to qualify my statements concerning the inverter costs and how the sales team may have mis-quoted from the start. The CEO pointed out that the sales rep may have quoted the 10Kw inverter (not battery-ready), which is less expensive that the 7kw inverter I now have that is battery ready, so the initial total price may have been very close to accurate based on the system that was finally completed. This still leaves the question of why, after being quoted the 10Kw inverter (regardless of being battery-ready), the actual install initially had a 5Kw inverter on the plans.