SolarMax Technology

It was excellent!

excellent service, arrived on time, followed up to make sure every thing was good and the system was acceptable to HOA and SCE. Their system design and sizing made sure I produce slightly more electricity than I need each year, so my utility bills for usage are zero and I get a small refund at the end of the year.

I highly recommend Solar Max for going solar. Our rep, Chris Hanzel is the best!! He explained the whole process to us, our options, and the game plan. We’ve had it for several years now, and have been happy with our decision. Whenever I have a question, I know I can always call Chris, and he gets right back to me. Comparing solar companies can be daunting, and misleading too. Trust me, call Chris and set up an appointment...(and tell him I sent you/they have a referral program too)! I don’t mind if u want to personally ask us any questions or concerns u may have!! Go green, go solar!!

Deciding that I wanted to go solar I began shopping around. After meeting with several of the big companies I felt Solarmax was the most competitive. They offered good pricing with low finance, the process was surprisingly easy even the rebate part of it was seamless. I did encounter one issue during installation; there was a mix up in how the wiring was to be routed. I thought this was going to be a long drawn out effort to correct but again to my surprise they sent someone right a way to make things right! A big thanks to Chris Handzel who saw me through the whole process. I have absolutely no reservations about referring Chris and Solarmax.

Outstanding. Very Competitive, on time & great service.

From getting a bid to finishing installation SolarMax was terrific to work with. No high pressure tactics, and was smooth the entire time. The loan process was simple and came with exceptional terms. Better yet, our monthly energy bill has dramatically decreased.

I was very impressed on the efficiency of the solar max teams that came to my house to install the panels and electrical panel. The entire process was complete in 2 days!! The panels were installed in 1 day while the electrical panel was being installed on that same day. The 2nd day was the repair of the wall where the wall was broken up for the new electrical panel. All very efficient and expediently. I highly recommend SOLAR MAX and DAN COOLEY, Sales Rep. Dan Cooley was very informative and helpful during this whole process. Thank you SOLAR MAX!!

We loved Solarmax. Our rep was pretty professional and the price was good but within a couple of months after installation we began having a serious pigeon problem on our roof. All night we hear pecking and noises which disturbs our peace. Turns out they are nesting under our panels. I contacted our rep and said it does happen but we would have to pay to have wiring installed. Why wasn't this mentioned ahead of time and why do we have to pay more money to prevent a known issue caused by Solarmax? Several other attempts to contact Solarmax have gone nowhere. Just excuses. I have to say we're a bit disappointed

After speaking with six installers (all with good reviews her and elsewhere), I decided to move forward with SolarMax because they had the most competitive price, used the best equipment, and offered the best financing options. Initially they thought they could not match the lowest bid I was given. But when I told them I was locking down my decision soon, not only did they match the lowest bid, but they did with a larger system, the most efficient panels available (Q Cells), SolarEdge optimizers and inverter, and other top quality components. They had a design done quickly and got the necessary materials to my HOA. After HOA approval, which was not a problem, they quickly got a permit from the city and then scheduled an install date. They installed everything in two days by putting lots of manpower to work (about 5-7 hours each day). The system was running completely that afternoon and we quickly got final approval from the inspector. The next wait was to get SCE's PTO (permission to operate), and that took about two weeks. I was impressed with the speed and professionalism of SolarMax. The biggest negative is their responsiveness. Since they have been so busy with solar installation, they are not very proactive in notifying you of the project status in between milestones. In the end it really didn't matter since the whole matter took about 60 days from signing the contract to PTO from SCE (with 3 weeks waiting for the HOA meeting), but it can be frustrating not knowing if there is some hold up that you are not aware of. I spoke to SolarMax about this and I hope they can hire some more people to improve this part of their customer service. They are very responsive if you call them, but I tend to like to do things by email. One final point is the financing that they offer. The best option is to finance yourself with a home equity loan or line of credit. If you cannot obtain a HELOC, there are several solar loan options with credit unions. However, they tend to have high fees which can increase the size of the loan by thousands of dollars. SolarMax provides their own loans with reasonable rates and no fees. There is no penalty for early repayment, and they offer a one year grace period for 30% of the loan (equivalent to the 30% Federal Tax Credit). When you take their financing into account, you'll realize that you will save quite a bit over the other loans with fees.

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Excellent service and product.

They were on time. After a month doing a research, I came back to them and they were still very patient and understanding. It took me back to the process of the contract and they completely understood it. It seems to be reasonably priced.

Dena Baldwin, the local sales representative in Thousand Oaks, presented all the options to me, responded to all my questions within hours of my e-mails, and was very proactive in making sure things were progressing as quickly as possible. When Dena found out the electrical panel would have to be replaced, which was not part of her original estimate, she arranged to split the cost! Dena continued to check in with me up through the approval to turn on the system. All the planning and installation teams were wonderful - the person who came to inspect the roof and plan the installation site, the folks who installed the support structures, those who installed the solar panels and new electrical panel, Tony who installed the monitoring system and taught me how to review the function of the system, and Adrian who did the stucco repair. All teams arrived when they said they would, met the inspectors as planned, and explained exactly what they would be doing. This was the best possible sales and installation experience I could have hoped for! Wonderful customer service.

They were excellent. They were always very great with communication. We had several things done, going on besides the solar installation, so some of the problems I was having I assumed was the solar and it was not. They were always very very courteous and installed a fabulous system that is monitored all the time. I am on their list of references to call if somebody is wanting to ask information for them/about them. They are just really professional and will go a long way to make the customer happy. Once they installed the system, I loved it switching over to solar.

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This is the worst company my wife and I have ever had to deal with. First off we were told by it was a three month project from start to finish. Needless to say, that timeline came and went and if we hadn't contacted Solar Max on many occasions we would have never known what was going on. But when we did contact Solar Max the only answer we would get was our panels were in production. Solar Max would never call us back with any updates or with answers to our questions. It is very clear that Solar Max has no idea what they are doing or how to run a business. Every time we would call for answers, the person we needed to talk with was not in the office, or said they would get back to us and never did. I spoke with the contracted electricians who installed the panels and they told me I was lucking to have the panels as quickly as I did because some people had been waiting up to a year for theirs. The electricians also told me that they were constantly having to apologize for Solar Max's poor service. Not only is Solar Max's customer service horrible, they have no idea how to coordinate with city/county inspectors and the installation of the solar system. I had an inspector calling me about doing an inspection for something I had no idea about. The panels were installed on our roof, then literary sat there for two weeks collecting dust before an inspector could come and make sure everything was done correctly. Solar Max also failed to file the correct paper work with our electric provider, so we were simply giving power to our provider without getting credit for it. This was only discovered by my wife when she called our electric provider to insure everything was completed legally due to fact that we no longer trusted anything we were told by Solar Max. When we contacted Solar Max about this matter, we were told they had submitted the paper work with our electric provider and they were wrong. It always seemed to be some else's fault with this company. One funny note, after the panels were had already been on my roof for about ten days collecting dust, I received a phone call to inform me that my solar panels were ready to be installed in the next couple of weeks. I started laughing at how poorly this company is managed, no one knows what is going on or who is responsible for what. It is now six months since my wife and I were told this was a three month project and the installation still isn't complete. Please, save yourself a lot of heart burn and frustration and never, ever use Solar Max. Please pass this on to anyone looking to install solar panels for their home. There are many more companies out there and they have to be better run than Solar Max.

This is the worst company to deal with. We signed the contract on 12/04/2012 and it is May 28, 2013 today, My solar system is NOT YET working. According to the sales rep and the manager, SOLARMAX is a BIG company and so their service is extremely slow. this is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. When we decided to have solar installed, I went to 3 companies, their quote is actually $5000 more than the other company. But we went with them because we thought bigger company comes with better service. We were so wrong. On May 7th, I contacted the and quot; Main Service Managerand quot; in the corporate, HE promised everything will be turned on by May 23rd. Again, Memorial Day just passed and it is still not turned on. I cannot say enough that It is the worst company to deal with.. Just want to let all members be aware of this company.. SolarMax is also listed under City of Industry, but same address.. Their corporate is in Riverside.. Very frustrated and we have also decided to complain to BBB.