American Solar Direct of Woodland Hills is a full-service solar installation company serving homeowners in California. ASD also provides financing options for its systems to make going solar a simple, affordable experience.
I came across these guys when they went door to door in my neighborhood. I hate door to door salesman, but I was considering solar, so I gave them a shot. Last year a different company said we couldn't do solar due to the way our roof is built, which limited the number of solar panels we could have. I told American Solar Direct this and they said "well the solar panels have really been improved in the past few years". My response "well this was less than a year ago..." He said he would give me a call to confirm if we can do it. Well he called back not too much later and said his team of engineers said that we could go with solar, so we scheduled our appointment. He said I would need to have my usage/bill for the past year and said that both homeowners would need to be present for the meeting...he was EXTREMELY pushy on that, but I said it would be impossible. I lied of course. It would have been very difficult, but we could have done it. I called him back asking if I could email him my data/bills so as to save time during the meeting. This should have been a big hint that I like efficiency and hate to have my time wasted. He said no need and that it wouldn't take long to figure out...ok fine. Come time for the meeting, he was right on time. Starts off with a long used-car-salesman type speech about what solar is, where energy currently comes from...yada, yada, yada... 45 mins of speech with me constantly saying yeah, I'm don't really care to know the background on that, can we please get to the numbers!! FINALLY we get to the numbers and placement of the panels on my roof...clearly I was annoyed at this point. He shows me a diagram of where the panels would be placed and it looked like Solar had vomited on my house. Panels EVERYWHERE on EVERY little spot of my roof...except the south facing of course. He gets the quotes from the company (I wanted to purchase, not lease and he was VERY pushy about leasing) but then says he can't email me them...so I had to write them all down. I forget what the next step would have been, but I was going to go forward to see better numbers. After filling out another 15 mins of paperwork he tells me that he will also need a $500 deposit with it. If I decide not to go forward, I would get that $500 back. If I go forward, then that $500 would go towards the cost. No thanks, you should have told me that 20 mins ago. Basically I wasted two hours of my life and I would never go forward with this company because they are not efficient or considerate of your time.
Description of Work: Estimate for solar panels
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
professionalism
3.0
responsiveness
1.0
punctuality
5.0
$20,000
Response from American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills
Hello [Member Name Removed], I am sorry to hear that your experience with American Solar Direct did not align with your expectations. And I am happy to elaborate on our approach when it comes to clarifying how solar works to our potential customers. We ask for your energy bills so we can accurately estimate your system’s production capacity – which is based on your historical consumption for the past 12 months. We ask for both homeowners to be present because both are legally liable in our contracts – we need both homeowners to agree to our terms and conditions, pricing and other relevant details prior to moving forward. We rely on the door-to-door selling technique and in-home meetings because we feel that this a great way to explain exactly why going solar can help you save money, what benefits you could reap by going solar, what to expect in each step along the way, and many other details. We customize our approach to each homeowner, depending on their electricity consumption habits, the size of their home, their home structure, amenities, and many other variables that come into play. While we are aware that the presentation takes up to an hour to complete, we think that this thoroughness covers most points that the homeowner would have – so that they know exactly what they are signing up for prior to moving forward with us. I hope that our paths meet again and that could meet your expectations in the future. Thank you for sharing the details of your experience with us, Patricia. Best, The American Solar Direct team
rob R.
06/2015
1.0
solar panels
+ -1 more
.
Description of Work: .
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
quality
1.0
value
1.0
professionalism
1.0
Response from American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills
Dear (removed member name), We are very sorry to hear about your experience with American Solar Direct. We take our customer's comments very seriously and would like to reach out to you to discuss your experience with our team in greater detail. If you could, please provide your contact information so we can get feedback specific to your experience and work towards improving it. Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Warm Regards, The American Solar Direct Customer Care team
beth W.
12/2014
1.0
solar panels
+ -1 more
.
Description of Work: Their salesman, Brodie, came to our door out of the blue one day and because we were interested in Solar we let him in to hear his pitch. He was pleasant, but condescending, assuming we didn't know anything about how electricity worked, and made a lot of statements that we found offensive. We decided to go with another provider, and Brodie became a very aggressive salesman, he would come by the house, uninvited and ring our doorbell, repeatedly; he sent a lot of emails and left a lot of voicemails, all after we had called and told them we were not interested in doing business with them. We felt insulted by the tone of his emails, as they became more and more desperate; thankfully he eventually gave up and they stopped. The offer we got from Solar City was much better, and the sales team were much nicer and never made us feel like we were idiots, like Brodie did.
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
professionalism
1.0
responsiveness
1.0
punctuality
1.0
Response from American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills
[member name removed] - We're so sorry that you had a negative experience with one of our Sales Consultants.We appreciate your feedback as it is our mission to provide unsurpassed customer service. It sounds like you've gone solar with another provider - congratulations on that! If there's ever anything we can do for you down the road, please don't hesitate to contact us: 855-SOLAR-55. Best of luck.
Myron S.
02/2012
1.0
solar panels
+ -1 more
Not good. He never showed up for his appointment.
Description of Work: Dave Collins knocked on my door to tell me about his company. I was very interested in solar panels. He said fit would work fine with my roof. He set up appointment to meet with my wife. He would check with the satellite imagery and if not effective would call me. I pulled my my electric bills and was prepared for him on Tuesday 7:00. He never showed up. No calls or anything. Very disappointing. This makes for an unreliable company.
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Service Categories
Solar Panels
FAQ
American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills is currently rated 1 overall out of 5.
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills accepts the following forms of payment: Check,Financing Available
Yes, American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills offers free project estimates.
No, American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills does not offer a senior discount.
Yes, American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills offers emergency services.
Yes, American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills offers warranties.
American Solar Direct - Woodland Hills offers the following services: Solar Panels