Solar Universe-Upstate 87

Long and drawn out. Contracted with Solar Universe that holds franchise in Albany Capital District. They sell and/or lease systems for Sunrun a Google company we later learned. The process started well enough with good salesman who walked us through choices to buy or lease, costs, build out times, install process etc. Then the waiting began. System supposed to be installed 90 to 120 days after purchase. After a couple months heard from salesman who needed some paper work signed for NYSERDA which was taken care of on my end immediately. And then, nothing. No word from no one regarding an install date. Approaching 90 days I called and said it would be scheduled within a few weeks. After a few weeks and still no contact I called again and told it would be a couple weeks more pushing the 120 day promise. Again no contact though I was promised someone would call me the following week after last call so more calls to Solar Universe. More delays, various excuses, misinformation, and delays. Passing four months after signing a contract and missing the best time to accumulate credits I was getting aggravated. All discussions or email with the one individual that seemed to be combination secretary/office assistant. Reasons and stories kept changing and being in the project management/construction industry prior to retirement I knew when smoke was being blown up my butt and got more aggressive with wanting truthful answers. Finally a VP at the business called and explained the real reasons for the delays. The final explanation, what I believe to be truthful explanation, was reasonable and even to my benefit. Why they chose to tell me stories up until then is something I still don't understand. Finally was given an estimated install date close to a month late but that date came and went. I got pretty angry and let them know in no uncertain terms I was extremely unhappy and was ready to cancel the whole thing. I also posted to their site on Face Book which seemed to get a reaction as well as copy Sunrun in on emails. Another date agreed to and just before that date got shaky and didn't happen. Again on the phone with the VP and another date agreed to that was more then 150 days after agreement signed. The sub contractors arrived as did equipment delivered by various trucking companies. Work commenced on the installations, wiring, meters, control panels, etc. The sub did a great job and were extremely professional. They were the highlight of the entire transaction. System works great once meter was changed. Sub said this was first job they say where meter wasn't changed before worked started, had to be delay in paperwork to National Grid. Given experience so far I had to agree. Early September we were up and running after inspections done. After install we were supposed to get two incentives (installing a NEST thermostat and $250 gift card) promised at time of signing contract. Trying to arrange an appointment to get them was again met with delay after delay and multiple broken dates. After the 4th/5th canceled appointment I again wrote them copying Sunrun and also posting on their Face Book page. Then I hear from VP that while they couldn't make original morning appointment they would be here around 5 PM. Both VP and President came to house with explanations which I found only somewhat realistic. They did both apologize profusely which while appreciated really didn't make up for everything that happened. I was told of all their customers, all the problems only happened in my case and no one else has had my experience. I have no way of knowing if that is true or not and having been in construction and building management, I've been through where something always happened to go wrong with one project no matter how hard you tried. But usually on review, I found where there was more I could have done and I have to think there was more they could have done to fix things along the way before they got so out of hand. Conclusion - Good news - I actually ended up with better panel system then I contracted for which will pay off in the long run. I did get a good system at a fair price that I am happy with. The actual install was well done and looks great on my roof. Our first National Grid bill after system installed was $17 and change. NEST system is cool as h*** and president wrote me a check for $250 so I didn't have to wait on a gift card. They apologized for the delays though didn't really take responsibility for as many as they caused. Sunrun the lease holder and who in the long term contact will be seems to be very responsive. Bad news - The franchisee who is responsible for sales and service was extremely frustrating to deal with and frankly, were not honest in their communications much of the time. I had to take the initiative to contact vendor because I just never heard from them otherwise. There are other franchisees in area the handle Sunrun systems and I think I'd look for them before dealing with Solar Universe. I did get a call from Solar Universe headquarters in California and they want to talk with me. I explained to them my experience which they also apologized for. Who knows, maybe I was the only one that ran into multiple problems/delays but I have no way of knowing and can only report on my own experience.