We signed up for solar in August of 2021 and we were told that the process would take around 2-3 months to complete. We were hoping for October, but understood that it may be November. The plans were drawn up and we waited for APS, our HOA, and the city to approve it. We got approval from the HOA and APS withing the first month and they even sent it back and requested revisions be made to the plan that Envision drew up. (No big deal. These things happen) Envision concluded that we needed a panel upgrade before they could install the panels. I was very patient throughout the entire process because I assume that this industry was experiencing supply chain issues and shortages due to COVID just like a lot of other industries.
We finally received a notification from the company on November 18th 2021 that our electrical panel upgrade would happen on 01/20/2022 at 7:00am and the solar panels would be put on the roof on 01/24 - 01/25. This was the first thing that made me start to worry because we were concerned that since this was going to take place in 2022 instead of 2021, it would prevent us from filing it with our taxes until the following year. (Still not a deal breaker)
For the electrical panel upgrade, they notified us that the power would need to be shut off for 6-8 hours that day. My wife and I work from home, so we had to take the day off and request the following weekdays off for the solar panel installation as well. We got the days approved and made plans to go through food in our refrigerator and not stock up due to the power set to be off for the day. When the day came I awoke at 6am to get ready for the power to be turned off around 7am. Everything seemed to be going to plan until 7am came and went and we were stuck waiting around for a few hours. I gave them a grace period since I assumed it would work that way. At 10am and no sign of the company I called in to check what was going on. The rep I spoke with informed me that they cancelled my electrical panel upgrade THAT morning around 7am. So here we are already taking a day off and then pretty much cancelled on without even knowing it. I had to call in to them to get this information. This immediately upset me and I found it inexcusable to not be told what was happening when it happened, and also to fact that they were able to cancel on the day of. So I felt uneasy even rescheduling because no how can I even trust they won't cancel again?
So now we are already unsatisfied. So far we have already waited 5 months and we still have no solar panels or an electrical panel upgrade and no set date as to when this will get done. Not only that, but this panel upgrade was scheduled in November. So we planned and waited for this for 2 whole months and it was cancelled on the day of.
On February 3rd they notified me that they could do the panel upgrade on 02/09/2022. We declined that date due to a death in my wife's family and funeral proceedings being out of town. The company then told us that 05/02/2022 @ 7am was the next available time for them. We accepted this. There was no way they would mess this up again right? Its February and we have almost 3 months to prepare for this and we already accepted that we came this far now we just want it done at this point.
As we were approaching the date for our panel upgrade I decided to give the company a call to see what's going on to make sure they haven't decided to change something and not tell me again. So on 04/29/2022 I called to just make sure everything was going to plan and they told me that now I was cancelled because the financing I was approved for had expired since this process took so long. They wanted me to reapply for the financing and then reschedule another panel upgrade date. The problem I had with this is the lack of communication. They had cancelled me more than 2 weeks prior and never informed me in any way (email, text, phonecall).
This whole experience was exacerbated due to the fact that my wife lost her grandmother in late February and 2 uncles in January. This family lives in Mexico and in Yuma Arizona and we live in Phoenix AZ. This forced us to use many days off work to commute back and forth frequently during these months. The reason I bring this up is because this means that us taking days off work was extremely valuable this year. So it really pissed me off that nobody from this company communicated these things to me and it caused me to take days off for essentially no reason. It is also just flat out disrespectful not to inform me. It undermines my time and my family. I told this company to just cancel my whole application and that I would not be working with them ever again.
I don't know what their deal is, but this was a serious mismanagement on their part. I am a patient and understanding person, but this was the worst experience I have ever had with a company. I shouldn't have to check that they are doing their job. I trusted them and they flat out failed.
