The hubby has gone and done it and I am livid!!!!

Ruth n Jersey

Ruth n Jersey

Well-known Member
Location
Northern New Jersey
For the past ten years the hubby has been hell bent on getting solar panels. We have had,I don't know how many companies, coming to our door trying to get us to buy these things. I thought he got it out of his system but today another company came knocking on the door. Supposedly, these people are connected to a program New Jersey has and will install, and maintain these things for 20 years. No cost to us. They will be coming to see if we have enough sunlight on our roof and if the roof can support the units in order to qualify. It won't be until late March that they will install. We have until then to change our minds,so they say. I don't have all the in's and out's about this but I don't trust any of it especially with a NJ program. I have a feeling they are going to say we don't qualify but for a certain amount of money they can make it happen. I am very leary of anything new. I'm not one to take chances and at our age I don't think we should be doing anything like this. I will research the company on line but when the hubby has made up his mind,that's it. I think we will be watching TV in separate rooms tonight. More to come on this subject I'm sure.
 

Ruth n Jersey said:
... I have a feeling they are going to say we don't qualify but for a certain amount of money they can make it happen. I am very leary of anything new...
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Not to upset you (;)), but this would be my suspicion also. Did you sign a contract or any papers? If not, just say "No!"

If so, usually there is a provision where you can back out within so many days, especially if the work is scheduled that far away in time.
 
I agree, sounds suspicious to me!

The word FREE, always makes me nervous!

One thing I have wondered about with these roof panels is what happens when the roof starts to leak or needs to be replaced.

The second is the payback period for the FREE solar panels, I assume that you will have to pay for the electricity they will produce if the panels and installation are free.

Third what happens if you want to sell your house, do these people have a lien or second mortgage on your home for the next 20 years.

Please check and double check everything before you and your husband enter into this agreement, it might pay to have an attorney look it over if you can't convince your husband to change his mind.

Be careful and good luck!!!
 

Ruth, I would do some checking too. How long in business--references or ratings--connection with the state, etc. Find out which program they are connected with and if the state backs up the twenty-year service agreement if the company should go out of business. I have seen them in our area but don't know anyone personally that has them. I do agree with Nancy, if you have signed a contract, often times there is limited time to cancel. I would probably not trust an oral agreement if there is a contract. I can understand how you feel, we do have to be very careful about salespeople knocking on our doors. I'm hoping they haven't requested any upfront money, that would set alarms off for me.
 
Ruth, I am so suspicious of anyone that walks up to my door selling anything. If I am interested in getting any home improvements done, I will research it myself. We recently had energy efficient windows installed in this old house and we sure got a couple of estimates before we picked a company. There have been so many news stories around here where companies (?) will come to your house offering services and want the majority of the money up front and then they never show up! Be very careful!
 
I dunno really. There was a table when I worked at Home Depot that advertised solar. That might be legit...Home Depot doesn't want a major smear and lawsuit. Anyone else and I would have a lawyer read the fine print.
 
As consumers all across America seek to save on utility-provided energy for their homes, they have become the latest victims of consumer fraud by third party renewable contractor/installers.

Here is how the scam works:

Homeowners and small businesses are approached by non-utility third-party contractor/installers promising significant energy savings and offering complete installation of a roof-top solar system with the enticement of a 20-year lease with small or no upfront costs for installation or operation.

These savings estimates are based on inflated assumptions about future utility rates that are unsupported by any real or reliable analysis. The consumers do not own the system that is affixed to their homes and are merely purchasing the “electricity” that is generated from an entity other than their public utility.

Homeowners are not told that, in entering into the solar lease, the solar company will secure the contractual obligations of the customer by placing a lien or other encumbrance on the homeowner’s property. As a result, the contractor/installer or holder in due course of the lien has a security on the entire real property not just on the solar installation.

Like any scam to be effective, the come on must be too good to be true – energy savings, no upfront costs, teaser rates in the early years, etc. Left for the fine print is the fact that the customer’s initially low lease payments escalates year after year, and that he or she may end up paying more for electricity just a few years out if their electric utility doesn’t raise rates as assumed or if other charges are made to electric policy that upset the dubious economics of the lease.

And, like any scam, the perpetrators must act quick with high pressure sales tactics employed to sign up as many victims as possible before the flaws in the leasing model are made public and then sell the leases which are secured by liens to others at a deep discount, offering no remedy to the solar customer if the profiteer goes out of business or simply walk away.

The homeowner soon discovers their alleged energy cost savings are nowhere near that which was promised. If the homeowner refuses to pay on what is now an upside-down lease, they learn for the first time that the solar profiteer placed a lien on their home – a lien that impairs the customer’s ability to sell their home and that forces them to continue to pay under a bad contract at fear and risk of potential foreclosure or other legal action by the new holder of the lease.

This is frighteningly reminiscent of the mortgage-bundling scam earlier this decade.
Nothing will stop the unscrupulous contractor/installer from bundling leases and selling them to investors, funds and banks under the guise of legitimate investments.

It has been reported that consumers have made numerous complaints against one of the largest solar roof top installers whereby consumers are telling horror stories of high-pressure sales, long delays in installations far in excess of what was promised, and no energy savings. In many instances consumers were unaware that their homes would be subject to liens in their homes as a result of the lease.

Probably the only time a homeowner will come to realize there is a lien on their property is when there is a default or when they try to sell their homes. Many times liens cause long delays and great expense to clear up a lien prior to the closing of title. Add to this the fact that it would be very difficult to sell a home with an inoperable solar energy system affixed to a roof. The cost of removal of the system alone would be of great expense to homeowners.


Breaking News at Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/BradleyBlakeman/Roof-Solar-Panels-Fraud/2014/03/14/id/559661/#ixzz4MxoBqqpE
Urgent: Do You Back Trump or Hillary? Vote Here Now!
 
We had one of these outfits putting up solar on homes in the neighborhood and someone came to our door. I listened to the pitch, took some info, did some homework and decided it was too risky given some of the info presented above. Plus, we plan to see our home in the next year. I worried about it interfering with the sale.
 
I'm with the others here, don't buy from salesmen who come to my door, usually aren't reputable, lots of horror stories on the news. I wouldn't want them on my roof either, not sure the savings would be worth it. Plus I'm sure they're very heavy, and what happens if you want to put on a new roof like we did recently from hail damage. Seems like a big hassle to me.
 
Just say "no" to all door-to-door sales persons.

That said, if your electric bill is less than $150/mo. then solar would probably not benefit you financially.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
The name of the company is Vivint.
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"Please....please read the fine prints on your contract agreement before signing it. We got our solar panel
last Sept 2015. The sales rep was a referral from a friend and of course we were excited about saving on our electric bill. Everything was fine we were saving 50% compare from our bill the previous year. Not until I applied for HELOC and found out from the credit union that they cannot move forward with our application due to Vivint solar had already put a lien on our home. I was told unless we use the loan to pay off Vivint then maybe we can get approved. UNBELIEVABLE! Really Vivint? A Lien? Now we have no choice but to deal with it for 20 years. And paying off Vivint is like giving away your savings. Just be careful, you don''t want to be the next victim......"
http://www.solarreviews.com/installers/vivint-solar-reviews/
 
Well....I'll confess, I got taken in by a 'traveling repairman' promising to fix the cracks in my driveway....by the tune of $700....live and learn. As pappy said Google for reviews and possible scams.
 
Gemma said:
"Please....please read the fine prints on your contract agreement before signing it. We got our solar panel
last Sept 2015. The sales rep was a referral from a friend and of course we were excited about saving on our electric bill. Everything was fine we were saving 50% compare from our bill the previous year. Not until I applied for HELOC and found out from the credit union that they cannot move forward with our application due to Vivint solar had already put a lien on our home. I was told unless we use the loan to pay off Vivint then maybe we can get approved. UNBELIEVABLE! Really Vivint? A Lien? Now we have no choice but to deal with it for 20 years. And paying off Vivint is like giving away your savings. Just be careful, you don''t want to be the next victim......"
http://www.solarreviews.com/installers/vivint-solar-reviews/
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience with this company. I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. I think I have the hubby convinced. I'm sharing your story with him as well as others who have written in this thread. My hubby is a good man but has gotten us in trouble before with several scams. He is soooo vulnerable.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with this company. I'm so sorry you are having to go through this. I think I have the hubby convinced. I'm sharing your story with him as well as others who have written in this thread. My hubby is a good man but has gotten us in trouble before with several scams. He is soooo vulnerable.
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Oh, it's not my story Ruth. I should have put that in quotes. Sorry about that, my mistake. It's a disgruntled customer from the site I linked to, her experience. I was shocked that they put a lien on her home and thought that would be of interest to you.
 
Gemma said:
Oh, it's not my story Ruth. I should have put that in quotes. Sorry about that, my mistake. It's a disgruntled customer from the site I linked to, her experience. I was shocked that they put a lien on her home and thought that would be of interest to you.
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That's ok Gemma. It did the trick with the hubby. The guy called just a few hours ago to set up an appointment. I answered the phone and told him I would put my husband on. As I was walking into the room where my hubby was sitting I yelled to my hubby that the scam artist wanted to talk to him,loud enough for him to hear. The hubby said we were not interested and not to pursue this any further. He then hung up. I hope that's the last of him. Hubby told me he did hear what I said,which made me happy.
 
Ruth,
I nearly got sucked in by a window salesman that knocked on my door. I had been thinking about replacing them so I let him come in and measure. They were very expensive but I thought I would do one side at a time so I signed an agreement. He gave me some local locations of houses they did so I went to one and my first impression was they looked very boxy and not eye appealing at all. I went home and sent back the contract and cancelled it and over-nighted it at the Post Office with a return receipt requested! I'm not saying it was "shady" but he was persuasive enough to make me believe these were the best available, most secure and I would be happy with them. The ones I eventually purchased are fine. Lesson learned.
 
I NEVER do door to door. This one roof company was extremely aggressive trying to get me to hire them to fix my roof. They kept calling me and knocking on my door telling me they would send their 'expert' to climb up on my roof and take a look at it "FOR FREE". I kept telling them no. Then one day when I was gone my youngest daughter answered the door to them and being young and a softie she let their guy climb up on the roof. SUDDENLY my roof had a bad leak. I think they drilled a damn hole in my roof. It had no problems before they climbed up there. Then they kept coming and coming and even said " You have a leak". No matter how many times I blocked their number they would call me from a new number. Then my house burned down. They called. This time I answered. ...

Guy says: Our experts have taken a look at your roof this weekend and it has a lot of damage and needs to be repaired
Me: Really are you sure they looked at my roof this weekend?
Guy : Yes your address #### on Stone####is in their report from this weekend. They said it's a very bad roof.
Me: Well they really are experts then because my house burned to the ground 4 months ago and all that is there now is AN EMPTY LOT . Nothing left but the
concrete foundation everything else was hauled off 3 1/2 months ago. THERE IS NO HOUSE AND NO ROOF LIAR!!
Guy: hangs up
 
Ruth, don't buy it!! Sounds like a scam to me! I like Pappy's answer.. Remember that when a man brings flowers, he ISN'T innocent.

Now, to play devils advocate though, there are some decent solar companies out there. I live in Utah and my husband did the SAME THING, only 5 years ago and we went with a company called SunRun. I was so mad at him at first. But so far so good with the solar.. it's been a good experience-- but it definitely wasn't FREE. The free thing gets me... Even though we had to pay for solar, we are saving money in the long run. Way I see it, is when the grand kiddo's get my home after I'm gone, they'll have free energy for life.

Anyway, I hope you the best. Good luck with the scammers!! I found this link that gives tons of information about solar power in New Jersey: https://www.solarpowerauthority.com/home-solar/nj so let me know if it's useful.

Best,

Grandma Betty
 

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