Review for Direct Energy Solar (formerly Astrum)

08/14/2016
Anonymous MD

Frequent microinverter failures

About 10 out of 41 of our enphase microinverters have failed, and Astrum/Direct Energy delayed replacement each time for 2-3 months. They now refuse to reimburse the downtime despite our contract that states the energy output is guaranteed. There is a newer version of the microinverters available, but Direct Energy will not replace the remaining microinverters until they also fail. I am an enthusiastic supporter of solar power, but it appears that customer service is likely better with other vendors.

Sales process
Price charged as quoted
On schedule
Installation quality
After sales support

Reviewer reply 08/29/2016
Direct Energy's Colin Gload reached out to me, and I am now completely satisfied with their response. We went through a number of email exchanges to arrive at an equitable solution. He explained the rapid growth of the industry had caused delays in the past, but they are now better able to deal with customer service. Even with the intermittent outages, my overall productivity was impressively at or near the initial estimate for the MWh production (within +/-1%). He explained that Enphase is ultimately responsible for the warranty on their inverters. Direct Energy now has a closer relationship with Enphase, so Direct Energy can replace these sooner than they could in the past. He expects repairs will now happen within 1-1/2 months in most cases. With improved customer service that includes a willingness for dialog with their customers, I can highly recommend Direct Energy, and I would raise my rating to 5 stars.