Michael J | Gilroy, California | 01/24/2022
No Service after signed contract
I contacted Clean Solar in April 2020 for Tesla Power Walls and a full solar roof installation. I deposited $2,000 and signed their contracts. In my contract, the scope or work was to be completed in "5 - 7 months" which would take us to November 2020. I responded quickly to any inquiry and kept reaching out to my project manager as time went on. The deadline came and went quickly, citing availability issues with the Power Wall. That's when i found out they never ordered them when they took my deposit. They explained that they don't order them until they're ready, which by then was already too late. Project Manager was fired or quit so I was contacted by someone new and kept getting a delayed ETA, no problem. Mind you these people never contacted me, I was the one who was reaching out for updates. I then found out my new project manager quit or was fired. its now over a year since i paid my deposit and no ETA in sight. May 2021, June....July... finally in August 2021 i reach out to the only people i knew including Art Balaoro who was quite the Customer Service guy at the beginning. My original salesperson finally told me, look, there's no ETA on your project and i wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen in 2022 either. I appreciated the honestly and told them with no end in sight, and since they overshot the contract by over a year, I'll just take my deposit and do something else. They were ok with this but didn't give me a full refund. They told me they had to take $550 for a permit they applied for which expired back in early 2021. I don't think that's right but that was their stance. I emailed Art again, no reply. They all clearly decided it was better to spend their efforts on current customers. It's really telling when the service you receive changes so abruptly. I opened a case with BBB as well which they let expire without a response. This is just my experience, I hope you do your own research first before getting involved with them.
Phillip Fouts | San Jose, California | 08/04/2021
Excellent service
We contacted Clean Solar after talking with 3 neighbors who purchased their installations from Clean Solar. Everyone Marcia Bever, Patrick Sweeting, Installer Angell and his crew, and Cris who came out for the City inspection-was professional, helpful, and very pleasant. The crew cleaned up after themselves and did a great job with the installation. We are very happy with the final product and everyone who we dealt with at Clean Solar. We highly reccomend them and their product.
FCA | Palo Alto, California | 07/29/2020
Beware of empty promises like production guarantee
When Clean Solar sold me a solar System in 2016, they made various claims such as guaranteed production and bill saving. None of these happened and Clean Solar backed out of all of their sales promises. Despite several attempts. Overall, Clean Solar pays less than half of the claims for production guarantees (data provided by their CEO through BBB). For the few who go through the painful claim process, Clean Solar responds with exceptions such as environmental changes and customers end up victims of their misleading sales tactics.
Stephen Carkeek | Livermore, California | 05/29/2019
Clean Solar is excellent and highly recommended
Wow, choosing a solar company is no easy task. There is so much confusion, which panels, which type of inverter, should it be micro or not, so on and so on. Having interviewed four different companies I finally decided on Clean Solar. And boy, I’m glad I did. Right from the start their sales rep Marcia Bevers went over the process, explaining the differences of panels, inverters, micro inverters and sizing the system to fit my needs and outlining the process of permits and the install schedule. Next we were assigned a Project Manager, Justine Farley who did an excellent job of keeping the project on track and on time. And finally I can’t say enough about the install crew. Julio Hernandez and his crew’s work was professional and top notch. Clean Solar is a fantastic company and highly recommended.
Erik Z. | Oakland, California | 04/30/2019
Most thorough bidding; make process enjoyable!
We just had our system go fully operational yesterday and we can't be more happy with the experience we had with Clean Solar. Their estimation/bidding process was they most thorough and personable. Once we decided to move forward with them, the entire process was stress-free. Clean Solar's project manager handled all the scheduling, logistics, and paperwork. We decided to install Sunpower, partially due to the quality, and that Clear Solar are a Sunpower Elite Dealer. Installation went without a hitch and I honestly believe the panels make my house look better. Thanks Clean Solar for the great work!
Allen King | Berkeley, California | 02/08/2019
Great company to work with and very good value.
They were very responsive and provided me with a very competitive quote for the high-end panels that we wanted. Met all commitments and timelines. Very easy to work with.
Physicsbob | Los Altos, California | 10/01/2016
Professional and highly customer focused solar installer
Clean Solar did a great job on our 18 panel home solar system. They were direct and honest with their proposal and there was no pressure or funny business. When I told them I needed a few months to make a decision, they were fine with it and Bryon, our account manager, checked in regularly and unobtrusively to ask if we had any questions. I did and he answered all of them throughly. I had contacted three other solar vendors, including the big and prominent one, and none was as willing to spend time and talk through my questions as Clean Solar. Clean Solar ended up putting together different five proposals as I changed what I was interested in with no issues. They gave me choices and options and told me the advantages and disadvantages of each. The big company never stayed in touch, when I called them later the contact I had originally had left the company, I was told someone would get back to me and they never did. But in addition, they were inflexible by favoring leasing over buy, and their pricing was not as good as Clean Solar for buying vs leasing. <br /><br />That approach to customer relations continued after we signed the contract. They kept us informed about what would happen and what did happen every step of the way. They let us know that Los Altos inspectors might expect to come into the house to inspect the smoke alarms, and what we needed to do ahead of time to be prepared. They handled the inspections and permits without me having to get involved, as well as working with PGE to get them to sign off. They made sure we approved ahead of time where each piece of the system went, including the proposed location of the inverter. The installation process took two days, and went smoothly. All employees were very professional and customer focused. Bryon followed up after the installation by coming to our house, going over paperwork and maintenance suggestions, as well as reviewing with us the details of how the system worked. <br /><br />Having gotten proposals from many vendors and seeing so many negative reviews in Yelp from others, I highly recommend Clean Solar.
Alok R | Milpitas, California | 06/07/2016
Great company !!
6 Thumps up for Tim Littlefield and Clean Solar !! Excellent experience with Clean Solar !!<br /><br />I saw the top Yelp reviews and they delivered across the board.I got quotes from several solar companies, ranging from large corporations to small local businesses. After my research and talking to few of my friends who has had panels for many years, I decided to go with Clean Solar and I am glad I did! They had all the perks of a large company - price advantage, parts warranty, labor warranty etc. However they also have the perks of a small local business: when you call you get a human every time, or a quick call back if they need to....<br /><br /><br />Here's what I loved about them:<br /><br />1. Convincing Sales guy <br />2. Project Management <br />3. Schematic Drawings<br />4. Construction/Solar panel Installation.<br />5. Smooth City Inspection<br />6. Walk Through of solar system.<br />7. Quick "Permission to Operate" from PG&E/Energy-utilities provider <br /><br />Tim Littlefield was a great sales guy who walked us through the quote process, he spent about 1 Hours on our roof on his first visit and told us there were no big issues standing in the way of installation. His quote totally made sense and his advice aligned with thew research I did on my own. He was able to help us source all Sun Power panels to maximize solar output and 25 years warranty,which really made the difference for us!<br /><br />--> Clean Solar gave us a detailed report with the quote explaining the economics involved in sizing the system -- they ran multiple reports to give me a couple of options based on various hypothetical scenarios.<br />--> Clean Solar answered every question I had about the process and the system (as an engineer, I had many of these!)<br />--> Clean Solar did a wonderful job on our house and supplied us with a clear diagram of how the solar would be placed and on which roof faces.<br />--> Clean Solar inked the deal and coordinated the install with me entirely over email ; I never even had to pick up the phone!<br />--> Clean Solar helped us do City Inspection as easy as it could have gone and hooked up with PG&E in no time.<br /><br />In nut shell, Clean solar has outstanding service, their employees are eager to please and have latest technology!<br /><br />The work was done in a less than a 10 days( When actual construction started and I got a Permission To Operate from PG&E), and the system was operational in the same time window. Even PG&E moved quickly for us without Tim having to badger them, I got an email within one day after the application went in to them saying we were all hooked up. <br />The city inspection also went smoothly with no issues raised. <br /><br />I highly recommend Tim Littlefield and Clean Solar to anyone looking to join the green revolution! <br /><br />Cheers!<br />-AR
