Big Dog Solar Energy

Not worth it. My fault.

I went solar back in 2019, during the government incentive. Back when it was "get 30% off your installation refunded". I was lied to and was told I would receive this incentive each year the government offered it (incentive back then was good for 3 years so, 11K each year. "Boom! See? Gov practically paid for your panels"). No. It is a one time only thing. After I signed the contract, the very next day, the same salesman came to me and apologized for his mistake. Not cool. I believe they also tacked on the knowledge they can dangle that 11K dollar kickback and increase the loan while still making it look worth it. Meaning, I feel they seriously overcharged me for the installation cost: My total bill for my 9.3Kw system (10kw being the largest you can get according to local laws), cost me 32K dollars. Getting a look at all the equipment they were installing (models numbers), I could have purchased all of it myself from Amazon at the time for around 12K dollars. Yet, I'll say again: being charged 32K dollars. Maybe solar is right for you. But please consider the following carefully: First off... I ended up trading a 60 dollar monthly utility Rocky MT power bill for a 230 dollar monthly bill, for the next 30 years. You need to consider if this is worth it. Second, How many months (years) will your solar power loan buy in utility monthly bills? My 32K dollar loan is 44 years worth of utility power. I ain't even gonna live another 44 years. Make sure this is worth it to you. Lastly, I will never see the money that I am 'gifting' back to the grid in surplus. In a matter of 3 years RockyMT Power owes me over 2K dollars. I won't see a dime of this. Not even if I close my account. Rocky MT Power owes you nothing for generating power. So please folks, be absolutely sure, that solar is right for you before agreeing to it. Do the math. Don't be an idiot like me who fell for the 3 year incentive every year lie. Or maybe a lie about how your power company will pay you for your surplus. The company has been a pleasure to deal with, but the salesman tricked me.

Rip people off, sell you a dream

Big solar company that doesnt disclouse all information. I was told if I moved I could take them with. I was basic sold a dream and ended up with a $500. This company sucks.

Cannot recommend this company.

Where to start in my review of Big Dog Solar? First, I signed the installation agreement on 9/23/22 and they were supposed to completed the installation by 10/28/22. The installation was complete and online around 1/2/23, so roughly 2 months late. Unfortunately, Big Dog Solar requested payment before the installation was complete and the loan company, EnerBankUSA paid them and hence started my repayment schedule. So, I ended up making two months of payments before the system was operational. The second issue I had with Big Dog Solar is the way they left my property when they were done. I have a large gravel area next to the shop where the solar panel were installed, they asked if they could turn around their trucks in the gravel lot, which I allowed, however I explained to them not to drive on the area next to the fence where the septic drain field was located. Not only did they drive on it, but they left huge ruts in the gravel. The soil underneath the gravel is soft in that area, especially when it’s wet, which is the reason I asked them not to drive on it. No mention of the huge ruts left in the gravel. Fortunately for me, I have a great neighbor who knew I was gone and fixed the ruts for me. They were so bad, he had to bring in farm equipment to level them. The third issue I had with Big Dog Solar is the quality of some of their workmanship. On the inside of the shop ceiling is an electrical connection form the solar panels to the inverters. This connection has a metal housing around it. It is approximately 9 or 10 inches square. There are over 20 screws in that housing, to me it looks like since the metal housing is attached to the steel roof, there should be at least a wood backing instead of screwing into just the metal roof, see picture below. When I inquired about the installation, I was told that is the way they do it and since they agreed it didn’t look good, they would be happy to install a cosmetic cover. I declined the offer, since installing a cosmetic cover would also hide any potential water leaks. Finally, their customer service is awful. I’ve called the customer service line multiple times and at least 75% of the time nobody answers the phone. You are asked to leave a message and a number and they will get back to you. They have never returned my call. My current method of getting customer service is to email the individual that sent me their installation warranty and request a warranty issue be initiated for my installation. Then and only then I have received a call from the customer service department.

Horrible Company

We would never recommend this company, nor will use them on our next project for our mountain property. First problem. Unknowingly to us, Big Dog was using a 3rd party rep for our system design & installation. They do not disclose this clearly, nor require the reps to clearly disclose, that they are 3rd party reps. More on this later here. Second problem is that our design & install 3rd party rep (who is no longer with B.D. Solar) designed the system too small to keep up with our usage and it burns through our credits too fast from early fall through the winter. Third, problem since the system is too small, we have never not had an Idaho power bill, and for 5-6 months a year, we get an Idaho Power bill is 100.00+, sometimes as high as $120.00+. Fourth problem. Everyone knows that solar is marketed that one replaces their power bill payment with a solar system payment, with maybe a few small bills here and there, especially in the first 8-10 months depending on time of installation. Once credits are accumulated you are supposed to have a net zero power bill. Once your system is paid off you have free electricity. Because our system is too small, we not only have 5-6 months where we have our solar system bill, 140.00, we also have a $100.00+ Idaho power bill those 5-6 months. So effectively all solar did for us, due to the size being too small, is added an extra $600.00-900.00 a year to our cost of electricity. Even once the panels are paid off, we will still be paying for those 5-6 months of Idaho Power bills as we will not ever have a power bill. Our bill for January 2022 from Idaho power was $101.00+ So with solar our electrical cost was $240.00+ Fifth, problem. B.D. Solar blamed 3rd party designer, so claimed no liability to them, especially since he no longer works for them as a contractor. B.D. Solar solution to help us with our problem (not caused by us), was to have us pay them another 13-16K more (on top of the 17K we spent originally) & add to our system. The 3rd party rep simply referred us back to B.D. solar as he is no longer contracted with the company. We requested some type of price break on adding to the new system since the rep was representing B.D. Solar, that request was denied. As consumers who know nothing about these systems, one would think that all reps would be required to be responsible to some degree for the system designs they are selling, as well as the company contracting with 3rd parties. Consumers have no way of really knowing how big of a system they need. Our rep reassured us many times our system was plenty big enough, and even claimed that he had added "extra" panels for our very small two-person hot tub. BUYER BEWARE! Our experience is that B.D. Solar takes zero responsibility for their 3rd party reps who are acting on the companies’ behalf, and they do not confirm that the design systems submitted are accurate. Result consumer screwed over. All B.D. Solar has done for us has cost us more money & pass the buck to the 3rd party rep, who in turn passed the buck back to B.D. Solar. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Apparently, it is time to get a lawyer involved.

Don't do it

I got big dog solar in September of 2019. Was told my payment would be around 130. It ended up being 150. I live in Idaho Falls so we have snow usually starting around the end of October and I was told that with the 30% pitch the snow would slide off just like it does on a metal roof. Well it doesn't so from November to mid March my solar panels produced next to nothing. So my power bill went from 177 a month to 500 + and keep in mind I'm still paying 150 for the panels. I next had me taxed done and tried to get the tax credit that I was told I'd get. Well I guess there are certain stipulations to get that as well so I didn't qualify for hardly any of them. So now my solar panels will now cost me 190 a month. So now I've gone from a level pay on rocky mountain power to paying at least 240 a month for my panels and electricity. Now I'm not at all happy about this. So I'm sitting in my house and I get a phone call from big dog for a survey on how I like my panels and I tell them I don't like them. Well the guy didn't believe me about the winter time and the panels not shedding the snow and he looked it up. He said I was right and produced next to nothing. He then said he'd look into it and he would call me back. He never called back. Then about 6 months latter I had a lady from big dog call me to see how it was going and she told me the same thing that she would look into it and would call back. That was 2 months ago but I do have to tell you that I'm not surprised because if I can tell you anything about big dog solar it's that there communication is virtually non existent and once they have your money you are nobody to them. So if you are thinking of getting solar id tell you to not do it.

8 months!!!

It took 8 months to get my solar up and running. Numerous phone calls, rare follow through in return of questions. More than a month where a ladder was left attached to the gutter blocking the driveway, at least 5 visits from inspectors to clarify what they needed to do(or fix), no shows many times for when they were coming,. I will say that I was compensated for each month but only after ai pursued it with a lot of calls. so beware....

No Follow Through

After over a decade of dithering, my wife and I finally decided to go solar. We solicited bids from three companies. Big Dog seemed to be the best fit for us of the three. They were local and their people did everything from bid to install--no subcontractors, so we went with Big Dog. We gave the salesman a 50% deposit, and then we never heard from him again. After two months of no action we decided to cancel the install. Every time we called we either got a bogus story (“the electrician was out on Monday” -- Which was not true), a false promise (“the electrician will be out this coming Monday” -- No show) or a fabrication (“You declined the upgrade, which terminated your project” – we never discussed an upgrade). We canceled the project because of the poor communication, lack of follow through, disorganization, and constantly changing stories. They lost the paperwork we gave them with quotes for roof replacement and tree trimming which were to be included in the Solar package. After we cancelled the project, you would’ve thought the salesman would be contacting us immediately to find out why, and try to resolve the issue. We never heard from him. Following the cancelation, we received all our deposit back less the permit money. We argued they were the ones that dropped the ball and should pay for the permit. They said it was our responsibility because we had ordered the solar system. We asked who really owned the permit. If it was ours, we wanted a copy so we would not have to get another permit when we started working with another solar company. The Big Dog office said they would look into it and get back to us. After over a month, we have heard nothing. No response appears to be one of their main tactics. We cannot understand how these guys are still in business. So, if you are considering Big Dog Solar, consider again. We strongly recommend reading other reviews … we should have paid more attention to them ourselves.

Shop around and read reviews...

I wish that I had read reviews before going with Big Dog. There is little to no communication. We signed paperwork back in May. The first day they were supposed to start installation nobody showed up. When we called they rescheduled installation. It actually took three different "scheduled" dates before they truly showed up to install the solar panels. If I wanted to know what was going on I had to call them, and they do not return phone calls. Our solar panels have finally been installed but they did not pass inspection. I have called every day since the inspection to ask when they will be back to complete the work and they will not commit to a date or call back when they say they will. If you are looking to hire a company with solid customer service keep shopping. Big Dog is not the answer.

Worst company for customer service

7 months of promises broken. I went from reliable energy to power failure all day long. They will not back up what they claim to provide. Nobody in this fly by night company takes responsible for their actions.

Horrible experience

It’s been 5 months since we’ve signed our contract and our installation still isn’t complete. It took nearly 3 months to get a partial installation. Despite daily calls which were rarely returned, it took another 2 months for an inspection, which failed 3 times. Big dog would schedule techs to make changes, but wouldnt show up or notify us. Now my first bill is due and my system still isn’t finished. A horrible experience in customer service. I strongly regret choosing Big Dog Solar for this job. Go with a different company, or prepare for a never ending run-around.

A BIG MISTAKE

I chose Big Dog Solar because I live in a very isolate place and there aren’t other companies. I found out after the fact that the man who did the quoting based on my consumption etc was not an electrician or engineer, just a salesman, a shmoozer! As a result, the system does not perform as I was promised. I wasn’t told that there would be a loss between the panels, battery and the grid! I was thrown the bone of the 30% tax deduction, but they didn’t mention which type of income, so far I wasn’t able to claim my 30% and am still paying pretty hefty bills to the local electric company. I asked one of the installers to come at my house same time as the CFO and an electrician from the power company, but he didn’t even answer. This company is not serious and I made a big mistake hiring them. I will call the BBB and will make sure I post my disappointment to the world.

Unsafe and Disorganized

I wouldnt go through them. Problems with the sales folks. Damage has occured. Tools left. Plus they dont wear harnesses. Just seems like a business that isnt ready.

Dont go through them

I wouldn't go through them. Receptionist are nice but everyone could care less about you or your energy saving goals. They wouldn't apply a discount from farm bureau to the loan which could have saved us interest.The contract states our payments would start a month today it came out today no one wants to make it right. The solar wasn't completed in a timely manner I loved the idea of solar but now I would rather just cough up the money to rocky mountain power. Which by the way is 40 dollars less than my solar bill. Were not the only ones unhappy with this company.