Sunergy Solar

unknown

Complete nightmare. I kept trying to give them the benefit of the doubt despite mounting warning signs but in the end it seems clear that this is a disreputable company committing multiple acts of fraud. I first met salesman Matt Cohen when he knocked on my door mid-January, 2015. He gave me the usual spiel about the benefits of going solar, which I was already familiar with. In fact, I had already worked with a couple of other companies, trying to come up with a cost-effective solution but due to my particular financial and tax situation, the long term benefits just didn't outweigh the near term expense. I explained this to Matt, but he was persistent, urging me to give him the go-ahead to do a soft credit check so that he could try and come up with a plan that would benefit me. I agreed. My first warning sign came when I tried to find some other reviews for this company. Back in late January, there was not a single review available -- nor even a listing -- for this company on Angie's List, and only one review on Yelp (which has since been deemed by Yelp to be "not recommended" i.e. suspected of being fake). I brought up this concern to Matt, who said he would get together the names of satisfied customers and their reviews. Meanwhile, I receive a letter from GreenSky Credit dated 1/20/15, congratulating me on my approved installment loan to finance my "Accelerated Construction" project. I was a little annoyed at this, because it meant that more than just a soft credit check had been done and this newly opened account could impact my credit score. But the real shocker came a couple weeks later, when I received my first statement from GreenSky, showing 2 purchases billed by Sunergy Inc. in the amount of $3475.00 each, dated 1/22 and 1/26. I immediately called GreenSky and explained that I had never given anyone my account number nor agreed to any charges. To my relief, GreenSky was very understanding and sympathetic, and immediately suggested freezing the account so no new charges could be made, while encouraging me to contact the vendor I was working with to clear this up. At about this same time, Matt provided me with a small packet of printouts that consisted of a page from the Better Business Bureau for Sunergy Solar (with a subheading "By: Accelerated Construction" -- their parent company, I was told); it claimed they had an A+ rating with 0 complaints. Then there was a page with the Yelp review. Then a page seemingly from LinkedIn with a positive review from a "Mother nature" from zip code 92545. Then a printout of a press release dated February 5, 2015 announcing Sunergy Solar had once again earned the coveted Angie's List Super-Service Award for 2014, complete with quotes from Sunergy Solar owner Joseph Berlinda and Angie's List founder Angie Hicks. And lastly, there was a copy of their 2012 Super Service Award certificate. I called Angie's customer service and asked if there was any possible way that this company could have received this award in 2012 and 2014 yet not show up in a general search of Angie's List service providers. The answer was no, there was no possible way. Sunergy Solar did not exist in their system. I presented all of these complaints/accusations to Matt on 2/24. He replied that he would be happy to cancel my order if I was not satisfied, claiming the Angie's list info had been provided by his corporate office and that Sunergy is the DBA name of the contractor. This is already getting to be a long review, so let me condense the rest. I gave my cancellation request to Matt, who said it would be no problem. I continued to receive statements from GreenSky showing the account had not been closed. Every time I contacted Matt, he would act very concerned and friendly while giving excuses, saying because things had progressed to the ordering of materials, they had to arrange their return to their suppliers, etc., etc. Finally, I contacted GreenSky and began an investigation. They asked for all my documentation of dealings with Sunergy and said they were satisfied that Sunergy was acting fraudulently by not issuing the refund, as no work had been done and Sunergy could not offer them any proof that it had. GreenSky has issued me a provisional refund in the full amount while they have initiated charge-back procedures with Visa against Sunergy.