Elevation

Avoid, inept delivery team

If you’re not going to read this entire review and just want the TLDR. Avoid if living in California. They misrepresented their capability to deliver, lied until I proved that they provided me a stream of inaccurate information. I chose Elevation to install a solar + battery project via the EnergySage marketplace. The sales process was simple, straightforward, and painless. That was how I thought the delivery portion of the project would go. This was my second home solar + battery project and unlike the first time. I knew about the process, and how my city’s permit process works wrt batteries. Turned out, that this knowledge was superior to that of Elevations own delivery team. After the contract signing, Elevation measured my roof, and then nothing happened, literally for months. I raised questions with their concierge team and received statements that it was in “Design Redo” for 3.5 months. During all this time, I made nor required no changes. Call or txt I’d receive the same answer. Nothing happened, other than they had my deposit. I requested specific clarification, as to why nothing was happening. According to Elevation this was due to my cities permitting department. Having worked with San Jose before, I knew they were detailed orientated, but not particularly slow. So I chose to pull my residence permit history, low and behold, Elevation had never actually submitted any permit request on my behalf. After close to 6 months from contract signing, having seen nothing happen and been misled as to the actual state. I escalated, stating that I was prepared to cancel if nothing happened. At last, they submitted a permit request, incorrectly and the permit hung for close to 2 months. Again no communication, when I requested updates, they blamed the city, but after reading updates it was clearly apparent Elevation was using the incorrect process and the city had requested them to correct but nothing happened, other than stonewalling me. A second escalation happened in June, but again the same issues, the design team could not for the life of them get it right and 3 months later still had not managed to secure a permit. It was always me, checking with the city, getting updates from their permit department. My takeaway: They sold a project, and realized they delayed so long that due to inflation, would cost them too much to honor, so they strung me out and waited for me to cancel Their model of using a centralized planning department in AZ does not work, they have no one competent in California that understands the process. Their design department lacks insight into cross-state regulations. Thus make constant mistakes Their concierge group has little to no knowledge of the actual project status After 10 months of waiting I canceled, two friends have asked me about my process and I’ve directed them away from Elevation. So far Elevation have ignored my request to return my deposit, since I view them as being in breach of contract.

Started Great

Sales process was great. Delivery and support has been poor. Promised a home monitoring system called a CURB whne I purchased and installed in 2019. Last week, Sept 2022, they told me that there are no installers in Utah so they can't fullfill. They installed a 3g cellular monitor on my system. When 3g was phased out in June I lost the capability to monitor my system. They offered me a $500 wifi solution as they didn't think 3g being phased out was a warrenty issue. They have no ineterst in working with my power company over the disparity between what the system reports (when I could see it) and what the power company says the system generates.

Get ready for a bad “Solar-coaster” ride! :(

I would not recommend Elevation as your solar partner unless you are prepared to be heavily involved in project managing your entire project and don’t really care when your installation will take place. I’ve already invited the ownership of Elevation to contact me about my experience, to which they did not respond. If you see the standard “we’re sorry about your experience, contact us” response to this review, know that they chose to not respond to me during or after the project. If you are from Elevation and you are reading this, save your review response and pick up the phone to give me a call. I’d be happy to discuss this with you. You have my phone number. If more specific details are helpful to you, read on. Good: 1. The sales process through EnergySage was great. Ryan was very responsive and knowledgeable. The price was great and I chose Elevation after communicating with Ryan that the solar industry has a poor reputation as a whole. He assured me Elevation was solid and was excited to earn my 5-star review. 2. Generally speaking, Ryan from sales remained responsive throughout the project and was the most helpful employee. 3. The Accounts Receivable department is solid. You’ll always get super fast invoices and helpful reminders about payments being due. Their communication is so good that you’ll likely learn about your installation date from them instead of your concierge when you get your invoice. Bad: 1. Our sales process shared that the timeline was 2-4 months for installation, but likely going to be within 6 weeks. We signed our agreement on March 10, 2022 and did not get our project completed until August 11, 2022. When I mentioned this timeline given to us by Ryan to our first project concierge, they said: “that is just what the sales guys say, but it is definitely going to take longer than that.” 2. Elevation made a number of mistakes that cost us time, including forgetting to stamp plans, not realizing laws required pictures of Joshua trees on your property, and forgetting to communicate when our solar equipment was being delivered. Nothing terrible, but overall very sloppy. Ugly: 1. You’ll be assigned a “concierge” who is meant to be your complete point-of-contact post signing your agreement through the completion of the project. We had at least 4 over a 5 month period. The idea of this role is great, but probably one of the biggest operational deficiencies that Elevation has. 2. Our concierge provided essentially zero timely information, requiring me to text and call them repeatedly. Every promised follow-up time I initiated for us to meet was blown off by them, except for one (after I had to really strongly chastise them for perpetually failing to follow through). This role seemed to have little practical information and our contact blamed almost every department for their inability to provide the information we needed. When I shared my deep concern over their lack of responsiveness, they said "we have lots of projects and yours is just one of them." Overall, this was one of the more frustrating parts of the project. 3. Before signing our agreement, I confirmed with Ryan that we could do an attic run to avoid running conduit around our house. Given the challenges I observed with the company, I decided to revisit that topic before our installation. They shared that they did not have a record of that being what we agreed to and that our installation would be completed via conduit. I threatened to cancel the project which caused them to scramble and ultimately re-agree to those terms, but not without me having to hold them accountable. 4. When we finally cleared our conduit issue and received our installation date, I cleared my schedule to be home and available (since they needed to run through the attic) for the installation team. Their arrival window came and went, but they were nowhere to be found. I had to call our concierge, who neglected to tell us that the third party they were using for the installation refused to come on the day they were scheduled because “it was too last minute”. We were able to get them to come the next day, but with lots of personal phone calls, following up and applying pressure on the Elevation team. 5. Our installation was supposed to take one day and ended up taking two. This point could probably live in the “bad” section instead of “ugly”, but at this point, I was beyond fed-up with Elevation and their overall lack of operational capability, communication and level of excellence. 6. I asked our concierge for compensation and for Elevation to take accountability for their blunders throughout the project, which required me to spend extensive amounts of time engaging in emails, phone calls, text messages, etc. I stepped out of multiple work meetings and re-arranged my schedule a number of times to keep this company moving. I received about $72 for my trouble with zero personal response from management or the ownership. Before writing this review, I offered our sales and concierge contacts the opportunity to discuss this matter further and did not receive a reply. To make matters worse, I referred my neighbor (and did receive a referral bonus for doing so, which everyone can do) who is currently going through much of the same issues. After doing collectively ~$45,000 of business with Elevation, I’m beyond shocked at how poor their response to my invitation to talk was. Bottom line, we have solar. I’m glad it’s over. I’d never use Elevation again, nor should you.

AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE

We had solar panels installed in 2021 and the experience was so good we decided to have a battery also installed in 2022. It has been nothing but problems. First they scheduled, never called to cancel, when my husband called to confirm the day before, they said, oh no that was just a tentative date. They tried to reschedule in May. We told them via phone, email and text that we would NOT be home the entire month. Got a call in the middle of the month that they were just turning onto our street. Finally got the installation finished. Next was the county inspection. After several weeks of being told that the county was just slow, I called the county and Elevations had never submitted the form for inspection. Finally that was done. Now to wait to Tucson Electric to inspect. TEP was backed up, but finally I looked out the window one day and the truck was parked in front. When I went out to open the garage for the inspection I was told the inspector forms were submitted for panels, not a battery system. However, the guy inspected for the battery also. He found two violations, both completely amateur (paint on connections and no warning label on a power box). Elevations sent out a crew who put the warning labels on. I told them the TEP inspector said to submit photos to TEP through Power Clerk. The service guy said, we don't use that. When we got the failure notice from TEP it clearly stated that all photos of remedies must be submitted through Power Clerk. The same failure notice was sent to Elevations. And here we sit with non functioning solar panels and a useless battery system. NO ONE AT ELEVATIONS SEEMS TO CARE. THEY WILL NOT COMMUNICATE WITH US. We are now out a boat load of money with nothing to show for it. Go elsewhere. I have no idea of some of the specifications so I just put in random numbers.

Ignorant sales rep and solar system design engineers

I took Elevation Solar eight months from signing contract to complete my solar installation. I informed the sales rep that I was having my roof coated with a high density foam roof coating. We discussed installing the panels using a ballast installation process instead of using the penetration process. The rep told me Elevation could not install a ballast mount process on a foam roof so I cancelled my roofer (this was in late September 2021) It was not until November 2021 that the installers showed up to install the ballast mounts, upon their arrival the installers told me they could not install the ballast mounts until the roof was coated. I had already had rescheduled my roofer to foam the roof the week after Elevation scheduled the ballast mounts to be installed. I originally agreed to the ballast mount option with the sales rep because the foam sealant would seal the mounts to my roof. I then decided for Elevation to proceed with the penetration mount option because Elevation could install the penetration mounts then I could have the roof foam coated sealing around the penetration mounts to eliminate the chances of roof leaks. The sales rep at this point agreed this would be the best option. I had to cancel my roofer again in November 2021 because Elevation had to reschedule for the penetration mounts to be installed. Now my roofer is a little unhappy with me due to Elevations ignorance on the exact process of how different mount system could be installed. Elevation installed the penetration mounts and I rescheduled my roofer to foam the roof. My roofer told me he was going to have to charge me an additional $1000 due to his materials cost and supply chain issues. My roofer also informed me he would not be able to foam the roof for at least a month. To make a long story short it took Elevation eight months from signing of the contract my solar system to get up and running. Because it took so long, Elevation had to reapply for the TEP power company permit due to it expiring after six months. I ended up having to pay an additional $1000 for my roof work a losing several months of solar power generation due to Elevations lack of knowledge on how solar systems could be installed. Elevation also sent a person out to inspect my roof before I had a $1200 roof overhaul done and made me sign a roof waiver relieving Elevation from any liability if there were any roof leaks due to their installation process. I asked Elevation for some compensation for the additional roof cost of $1000 I had to pay due to their delays but they said they would not. In closing it is my honest opinion Elevation solar is not a morally ethical company.

Thousands over bid & months behind schedule

Do Not use this company! I hired elevation in January 2022, to install a 30 Kw system on my home and I’m still waiting. from what I can tell this system was way more than they could handle. They are now thousands of dollars over their bid and about 3 months behind their projected completion date and there is nothing scheduled going fwd, so here I sit waiting. Their so called concierge service is a joke.. all I get from them is excuses and with no actions. If they know anything about project management I’d be surprised. As one can see from the attached picture the main power boxes still need completed. I’ve requested a complete legal review and the findings will determine the procedure going fwd.

Worst thing I ever did in my life

I had Elevation solar install solar on my house in April of this year, I was told everything was inspected by the the city of Phoenix and SRP. But when it got turned on in June, all of a sudden everything thing turned to Sh_ _ ! I had circuit breakers blowing in my bed rooms CURB was off line power surges . I call and they had a tech come out to check it . He did something and I had no power on 1 side of my house. Call again , they sent him out again . He said it was fixed. Right after he left my house it started getting hot . My A/C shut down. When I called they said it was because I was using up my power grid and I was on a Demand program , which was never explained to me. But come to find out the Demand box was never installed so I had an HVAC tech come check my A/C unit and he said that a power spike must have burned out my compressor. I haven’t had A/C in my house for 4 days and this is the hottest time of the year 4 straight days of 110-to -112 degrees. I can’t leave because I’m a 100 percent disabled Veteran . I have 3 dogs and small puppies living with me and my wife. I can’t run a portable A/C unit because it keeps blowing the breakers. I have call Elevation, and They say it’s SRP , and they say it’s Elevation and so on . So no A/C all weekend because no one works or answers the phone on weekends So this how they treat US disabled Veterans. That’s SAD.

bad management

I am still in process of getting solar activated , they messed up in the first inspection it took them one month to get the appointment for the inspection and the system was missing equipment, although I have been telling them some of the stuff is missing and they told me the tech will install them and no one has installed it yet. communication with them is unbelievable, the people on the phone have no knowledge of what is going on with your account and only give you run around very bad customer service. they Sub my installation which was fine with me but when all the equipment is not installed it becomes a problem. overall I would not recommend them for solar installation.

No customer service or competent engineers

As an electrician I am disappointed in them.. After drawing are done they come back at me for another $500 for a meter, which I argued about. After all said and done NV Energy didn't not set a new meter they changed my existing to a bi-directional meter. Now I cant get my money back and I have to repair their work myself. Worst company ever. Do yourself a favor go elsewhere not worth any savings, not even a penny.

Empty promises

Really questioning if i made the right decision going with Elevation solar at this point. After two years, with repeated failures in my cellular connection to the monitoring station, i was told that they would connect to my WIFI to remedy the situation, then they turn around and say they're not responsible for poor cellular coverage, and if i want to connect to my WIFI its gonna cost me $600+. I was also promised to have the ability to set up custom alerts on the monitoring app to alert me when my system was down (which has happened at least four different times, the last time for over a week before i noticed) but that never happened, they blame SolarEdge and SolarEdge blames Elevation, bottom line I don't have what I was promised. Really disappointed in the service i am getting from Elevation Solar to date.

Worst products ever

A year and half in my inverter has failed and my battery has failed. My entire system went down and I only found out when I got an electric bill. Texted with a Tech on the phone which took me calling them back after 4 weeks I finally got some one here. Now I've had 3 days I had to sit at home and my system still does not work

I’ve got the solar panels they recommended

This company is the worst on communication and is the worst to get things straightened out if you have information about Elevation Solar do not do business with them

System down 3rd time

Every few months something goes wrong with the Envoy monitoring system and we lose production. A bit tiresome to have to watch and check to make sure it is working every week. This is 3rd time in 12 months. $17k and it's not reliable.

Worst costumer service I've seen.

This company will give you a quote for the credit union and when you get the documents from the credit union it's higher. When you ask the customer service about it all they say is I'll look at it tonight, tomorrow which never gets done. Now they are saying it's between me and the credit union. Don't trust them.

Horrible service and system is not working

I have had my system for two months. And even though I paid full price, my system has only been functional for 20 days. Forget about the customer service, it is deplorable. the real question is what recourse does one have when you pay for a service ($20K) and the system doesn't work and you can't get them to come out to fix the equipment?

Horrible

This has been the worst experience ever. The comapny alone is horrible. You do not save any money at all. I am paying over 200 a month with the solar and duke energy it is ridiculas. I would never recommend anyon to ever get solar. there is no savings with them at all. They also tore up my gutters and hardly ever reply to fix issues you have.

DO NOT USE ELEVATION SOLAR!! They are lying about you getting a

Because the sales pitch was full of lies and deceptions

SHOULD HAVE DONE MY HOMEWORK FIRST

This is the worst company that I have ever dealt with. Once my solar was installed (6 months) activated and they got my $60,000 cash, I no longer mattered to them. They do not respond to phone calls, emails or texts. They promise service and never show up. My system worked well for 2 months, and now I am receiving large bills for electricity in July and August. I don't believe they are monitoring as promised. The last time someone was here, they said they would be back in one week to move or replace 4 panels that are consistently underproducing. That was May 2 and they never came back. I truly regret my decision. Their advertising is fraudulent; they do not care about their customers, at least not this one. After threatening a lawsuit, I received a call today saying there would be a technician here in another week. I had a wonderful experience with solar in California for 12 years. A technician was needed only twice in that whole time and they were there within 24 hours. Elevation has a lot to learn about efficiency, integrity and ethics. I am sad and angry that I have been treated this way.

Not good

I am a general contractor You may want to read this intire review before you decide who you would like to go with for solar i did alot of research And personally interviewed 5 companies in Arizona before I decided who I was going to go with and still made the wrong decision by going with Elevation Solar. don't get me wrong The equipment that I purchased from them Solar Edge Is top of the line and I love the system This is totally based on their sales performance installation and customer service reacting to Problems that I've had .I have had my system for Almost 2 years now it all started in the very beginning. 1st One of the things that was most important to me on the installation of my panels was How the panels Would be attached to the roof because I have a territorial home with a flat foam roof i was looking for a company that would install the panels on Weighted skids That was called a ballast mounting system And I made it very clear to the salesman that was one of the Only reasons that that i decided to go with them because out of the 5 companies that i interviewed only 2 of them offered this Type of installation And they both had the same type of equipment that I was looking for Solar Edge. Elavation solar was slightly higher than the other company in price i went with them because of what I Thought was going to be a great experience from the vibes I got off of the sales man Big mistake. They came out and started installing my system When I was at work By the time I got home the system had been installed they lag bolted down through My foam roof Exactly the way I did not want it installed and was one of the most important reasons that I went with them I wanted the ballast system so there would not be penetrations in my roof now I have Over a 100 of them Anyone who knows anything about roofing would know that Over A matter of time this will leak It's just a matter of when. So I called the company And explain to them what happened And that I was very unhappy At first they offered to give me a gift card to go out to eat For the mistake that they made then they tried to blame it on me because I signed the design plan which never even cross my mind would be different from what I spoke with the salesman about, And he assured me that is the only way that they install it on a foam roof system like i have . Then he tried to offer me $500 off I told him he didn't understand i was not trying to get any money back i just wanted it done the right way i asked to speak to the owner that never happened.then he said that they don't do that type of installation anymore. They sent one of their roofers out to meet with me and 1 of there installation forman guys to figure out how to put a bandaid on it instead of offering to remove it and installing it the way it was supposed to be. Needless to say this still makes me sick when I think about it. (NOTE REVIEW PLANS AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING IN WRITING ) My review was to long to completely explain

Elevation Solar - misleading practice asks customers to sign doc

Elevation Solar - misleading practice asks customers to sign document allowing them to proceed before HOA approval Our HOA had our first installation of solar panels in our neighborhood and we understand that by law we cannot impact more than 10% of the solar panel installation. HOA's cannot deny solar panels but can influence some of the placement. In this situation the company contacted us for the approval process and we were responding in a very timely manner. Before approval was obtained the company began installing the panels on the customers home. My point of contact had no answers and then stopped returning my calls. This left us wondering what had happened. It turns out part of their packet of information in their paperwork that the home owner signed allows them to proceed with the installation without HOA approval. The home owner signed so many documents they don't even realize this is one of them. I think this is a very bad practice of solar panel companies, but they say it is necessary due to some HOA's taking too long to approve the installation. Solar panels have good environmental benefits but this aggressive tactic will give companies a bad reputation. In the future our HOA will accept the approval form from the resident not the company so the resident will be sure to know HOA approval has been obtained before installation begins. The company needs to stop this practice and be genuine about working with HOA's.

A Nightmare from Start to Ending

I had high hopes for Elevation Solar but they bungled three different installation dates that were spaced out over a period of 3 months. The original installation was supposed to have been at the end of March. Elevation Solar was a no call / no show. The customer service rep who was handling my account told me that the surveyor who had come to inspect my property had not drawn plans to scale for these panels. I was told that the plans would have to be redrawn. Since I put 1/3rd of the total cost down at the start of this contract with the balance due upon completion, I was not happy when the accounting department for Elevation Solar began contacting me to request payment of the remaining balance. Insofar as the solar panels had not been installed, I didn't see why I should paid the balance due. I said as much in an email which they ignored. I also complained to my customer service rep and they didn't listen to him either. A month passed. Elevation Solar finally gave me a 2nd installation date. The crew arrived at 7:30 AM. After offloading panels and parts in my backyard, THEY LEFT! They explained that they hadn't brought any tools with them. Why a solar panel installation crew would arrive without the tools needed to actually install these panels is just bizarre. I was not amused when their accounting department again began to harass me for payment for work that was never completed. Elevation Solar subsequently made a third installation appointment for the following week. They were a no call / no show. Customer service explained that they still didn't have all of the parts needed to complete the installation. I don't understand why they scheduled an installation if they were still missing parts. The customer service rep offered me a discount if I would stay with Elevation Solar. I asked him via email how much of a discount we were talking about. I also wanted to know when the installation would be completed. After five days passed without the courtesy of a reply, I requested and received a cancellation of service. The company has promised a refund less the $2000 they charged me for an upgrade to my electrical breaker box. I'm now into the 2nd week following cancellation but no refund has been received. My backyard is still cluttered with solar panel parts. The only response I've had from Elevation Solar to repeated requests to remove these parts have been, "We're working on it." As you can see from the pictures, I now have weeds growing over the panels. This project was a disaster from start to end. Part of the problem appears to be with the quality of internal communications between customer service, operations, and accounting. Operations had several issues but didn't share these issues with customer service. This resulted in customer service scheduling installation dates that operations had already decided were not feasible. This also resulted in their accounting department repeatedly billing me for work that had never been done.

Not good at all

Worst mistake I ever done !!!! I hired them to do my solar on October of last year we are in The end of March And still not done Communication sucks so bad They Lied to your face they gonna be there never show up I wish I would not never used them Know I am stuck with a $30,000 loan sucks Bad business!!!!

No response to calls regarding leaking roof after installation!!

I got panels installed in April 2019. After the rains last year and this year I have observed a leak below the portion of roof where panels have been installed. I have called the company multiple times. I have talked different people each time. Initially I was given an appointment for troubleshooting the leak but nobody showed up or called. I tried rescheduling and they promised to send someone but nobody called back to give me a time slot during which they would come and nobody showed up. What is their Warranty worth if they do not even respond to my request for troubleshooting this leak?

Complete failure of project

The project is coming up on a year since it started with Elevation and they still can't seem to figure out how to install and/or turn on the system. Literally every time something was scheduled to be done at my home there was some kind of mistake made, mis-scheduling, or mis-communication. At this point I'm thinking of removing the panels myself and leaving them in the alley for them to deal with. Since they've upgraded my circuit box every time it rains we pop a fuse although I've told my point of contact no one has come out to check it.

Poor service of existing system within first year of ownership

Certainly the company was good during the installation, but the moment they were done their responses to email... none. The customer service and monitoring... extremely poor. Their $25,000 system is attached to my house, I have had it only 10 months and it has not generated power now for several weeks. SRP had to tell me it wasn't working as their monitoring department failed to say anything. I have to call them more than once for everything because they don't do what they tell me they will do. A 12 year warranty means nothing when they do not meet their commitments to fix anything. This terrible mistake is still not working. Buyer beware!!