Review for Direct Energy Solar (formerly Astrum)

10/10/2014
Anonymous

Poor Post-sales Communication Practices

I have been very pleased with the administrative support staff and sales staff, and found the installation staff to be courteous and non-intrusive, However, the communication (or general lack there of) of the Project "Lead" and the install teams has been pathetic. A week out from my install date, the weather forecast called for substantial rainfall on day one. I sent an email to the PL, expressing concern. She said they would assess as the week progresses and would let me know if they have to push the start date. That was the last I heard from her. The scheduled install day arrived with heavy downpour, as forecast, but despite multiple emails to the PL over the days leading up, I received no reply and was left to assume that the project would be delayed. As my wife was heading out the door to work, the electricians showed up to work inside, leaving us to scramble to have someone at the house. Then when they left, the electricians told us that they had to finish another job the next morning so would not be to us until noon, but could not tell us if the install crew would be arriving in the morning. Again I reached out to the PL, and again received no response. The install crew did arrive early the next morning, introduced themselves and got to work. In the afternoon, the packed up and left without a word, again leaving us to guess what the next day would bring. Still no word from the PL. Ditto the next day. The crew showed up, finished their work and left. Fast forward to the electrical inspection - the inspection failed due to lack of required elements as per the engineer's plans. I sent an email to every contact I had at Astrum, including the PL, but received no response. I was finally able to get in touch with the Director of Regional Operations, who did respond within a few hours and did arrange for a crew to come out on a holiday weekend to fix all of the shortcomings, which I greatly appreciated. The crew that came out was also AWESOME. They were thorough in their work, they checked in when they were finished, and they explained what they had done. So we past the inspection! Now, four weeks later, we're still waiting for NStar to complete the final interconnect. This despite a promise from the Operations Director that he would see to it that they would complete the work the same day the inspection passes. Apparently a line of BS. I sent another email to the Ops Director and the PL two days ago asking for a status update, yet no reply. This is no way to run a customer facing business. I am really excited about going solar and really want to be able to recommend this company, but at this time I can not do so. They have my money and all I have to show for it is a great deal of frustration.