Elevation

It took 2 years to activate

We signed a contract with Elevation Solar April of 2022. They were highly rated, & we were impressed with the salesman. We even signed a contract for our daughter's house a few months later. But, a 60-120 day time frame, as stated in the contract, turned into 2 years. I won't detail every issue, but suffice it to say, we had nothing but one issue after another all along the way - for 2 years - before it was finally activated. About a month after signing the contract, they informed us that they would have to add an addendum that would cost us more. The site plan was incorrect: they didn't realize that a main panel upgrade (MPU) was needed until later, & they then informed us that it would be at least another $12,000 to hook into the electric down the street. We would've understood maybe 6 months, but 2 years was tough to swallow, especially with all of the problems that needed to be dealt with along the way. I tried to speak with the CEO about a year into it, but I didn't hear from him. When I finally got to speak with the CEO - after activation - he told me that he feels they fulfilled the contract, &, for our troubles, offered me $1,000 on a $25,000, project that took SIX TIMES longer than promised. As a business person, I don't consider that to be "fulfilling the contract". I truly hope that Elevation treats other customers better than they treated us.

Long wait for repair and service call

We had an issue with several of our microinverters not generating power since September 20, 2023. We notified Elevation of the issue and requested service and repair in early October once it was clear this was an on going problem. As part of decision to go with Elevation, we were advised that customer service was a priority and we were also advised to add a warranty. We were very disappointed when Elevation informed us that they could not send a repair person until after mid-November to determine the issue. In the meantime, our entire system went down so we only partial to no solar power for a period of 2 months. As a result we 2 very expensive APS bills we had to pay. I was informed by the service repairman that the delay in getting to us was due to a lack of resources. We feel that we were misled by Elevation related to their customer service given the wait to get our repair completed and the costs we incurred.

Not completely honest

I was told that I would get a rebate on taxes to apply toward the loan. That is a lie. It is a tax credit used only if you owe taxes and if you don't owe you get nothing. Check with your tax people before signing with them. Not very honest.

Slow, bumbling, non responsive

I like my solar and what it is doing, however Elevation solar made the experience far more difficult that needed, long in time, and incredibly poorly designed. 1. Sales pre to installation is ok. Honest guy, but not at all detail oriented. Elevation delays a good marketing effort would not all; a. 8 days between signing of documents and me calling to request invoice which then came within hour. b. 2 weeks later Elevation had yet to contact or know their registration in my town had lapsed. I called to inform and 3 weeks later the permits with town were signed. Elevation then took 10 days to pay for permit. Again slowing the process. c. After pushing them along, Aka managing their job, it's first of October, 2 months in and I'm in install mode waiting for the install date via a phone call that doesn't come. d. Call never comes so I call elevation and somehow I'm back in design phase. Turns out a tech was concerned that although the town had oked the project it would fail inspection due to main placement. No one ever tells me this, and in fact eventually a supervisor tells me the problem is being caused by my town, which is simply not true, the delay was 100% caused by Elevation and horrid customer communication, and inter company communications and it takes me another 6 weeks to get said tech out and agree to an install. e. While this cluster was going on I'm learning about solar and in looking at my design I see that over 25% of my panels are being wasted in full sun. Meaning I have 295 watt micro inverters married to 400 watt panels. This waste or clipping, the industry word for waste, could have been fixed with smaller panels as I suggested or higher output micro inverters easily. Net result is my 8kw system maxes out at 5.9kw due to poor efficiency design. 20% better performance could be easily attained with proper design. The amazingly weak efforts Elevation has made to complete this highly flawed transaction have been driven almost purely by me. I do not believe my system would be up had i not pushed them along as the deal was in nothing land until I repeatedly called their concierge service. I like them, Nice to talk to, but near zero follow up, and they too are bad at doing what they say they will do. Seem to be the company mantra. Listen intently, create a bunch of action items do none them. Never follow up to see if customer was served.

Not Recommended for California Customers

I can't speak to Arizona but in my view and based on the volume of complaints on the Better Business Beaurou website I'm comfortable saying that any California customer should avoid Elevation Solar, at least right now. Their project management is a complete mess, and communication is seeming impossible for them. My pannels went up as scheduled, though with a 3rd party contractor even though I was promised Elevation techs would do the work. They ran an ugly pipe conduit down the FRONT of my house which just makes me sad to look at honestly but the biggest problem is basic communication and finishing the job. I've had solar running for over a month and they havent' managed to get the monitoring and communication piece running so no one knows if its doing what its supposed to do or not. I've had dozens of very polite emails and phone calls and they have sent 5 techs out. The problem is they never communicate the problem with the tech so they try the same thing over and over vs just resolving what is ultimatley a rather simple problem. On top of that I waited 3 weeks for them to ship out a "special wifi adapter". It finally arrived and they promptly sent someone out to install it the next day..... only to discover the unit already had a wifi adapter installed and the 3 week wait was pointless. I'm still not fully up and running but I know I will be eventually. My advice, Solar is not a very technical project please save yourself a world of hassle and go with someone who communicates, has a basic grasp of Project Management, and does what they say. I can't tell you who that is, only who it isn't.

Bad communication, slow, no permits

I chose ES not because they were the cheapest but because I liked having one point of contact and that they did more than just the solar panels but also improving insulation in the attic. I signed the contract first week of April. At first I was very happy, the insulation guys came very quickly and got there work done in half a day. I was then notified that my permits had gone through quicker and they were ready for install. Day of the install, halfway through the process, I find out that they didn't have any build permits for the city and got hit with a stop work notice. That's where the delays started happening. It took multiple weeks for the city to approve and then multiple weeks after approval just to get installers back out to finish. I had to notify ES that curb still hadn't been installed and it took 1 1/2 weeks just for them to respond back to schedule the install. At this point, I decided to call SRP myself for final confirmation and connection but was told it had to go through ES to schedule. 4 weeks later and still waiting for my system to be turned on.

Elevation dropped the ball!

After choosing Elevation Solar (ES) for a +$55,000 solar job, the main reason I choose ES wasn't because of the price (they were not the lowest quote) but rather their commitment for providing a "one point" of contact. (as a baby boomer, this was most important to me as it is so annoying to talk to different contacts and have to repeat yourself potentially dozens of times). I required and obtained written confirmation of their commitment. And after agreeing to this, about half way into the project I heard that my "one point" contact had left the company because of a dispute from upper management that my salesman, whom was the director of sales at that time, made in commissions more income than a certain vice president, his supervisor. Evidently, as I was told, that was a no-no as that certain VP could not have any employee make more income than him. After all, maybe employee performance and ranking is not based on ability, but job title? Unfortunately, no one at ES stepped up to be his replacement. ES was in default their agreement. As far as the other issues, ES has not completed the installation as contracted. ES was very late (months and months) in completing the installation for various reasons, (I rec'd many many phone calls saying.... I'm sorry for the delays. I'm sorry we can't meet our commitment, etc, etc. These delays included having their proposal rejected by SRP (much more to come on this, including steps taken by ES to hide certain details from the SRP inspectors), not having scheduled all the necessary components to arrive in time (more to come on this), and and and. After not hearing from ES for over 6 months, I contacted ES on Thursday July 20, 2022 to resolve these issues only to receive an immediate demand for final payment (that did not settle well). I responded that I would discuss all issues next week. On Saturday July 23, 2022, I received a registered letter demanding payment by August 4, 2022 or ES will start the collection process (that did not settle well either). NOT ONE PERSON REACHED OUT TO TALK TO ME. This is my first review, of which may not be my last. I did not previously wish to elaborate on several other issues, like the tech ES sent to work with me that I heard later died from Covid-19, or the commitment from ES on Oct 26, 2020 that they would install by Dec 31, 2020 so we could take advantage of the tax credits. As of July 2022, installation still hasn't been completed, etc., all I wanted was to receive is what I contracted for. Nothing more, nothing less. And here I am now being pushed around by a big company that doesn't even care to know the facts. What was their response to my text on Thursday asking for a resolution? It wasn't that they wished to discuss it, or to resolve it, rather .... they just sent a final demand payment letter saying pay the balance due or we will turn it over to COLLECTIONS. I did receive their demand letter! (which wasn't even signed by a real person). I will not be pushed around, all I want is what I contracted for! Nothing more, Nothing less. And for ELEVATION SOLAR to live up to their commitments. Nothing more, nothing less. Stay tuned..... Johnebegood

Regret using Elevation

Elevation was not the least expensive, but it came with a separate insurance policy that provided extra peace of mind, they said they used their own installers and not subcontractors, and I really liked our sales representative Ryan. However, after signing the contract in early September 2021, the rest of the process has been very frustrating and disappointing. The plans/permit were approved by the City in mid-December 2021. I was told by Elevation that the City caused the long delay. Our plan included upgrading our electrical panel as well and there was another long delay because Elevation said they needed to coordinate with So Cal Edison to shut off the power to install the new panel. After I reached out to SCE in mid-Jan 2022 and passed along a contact person to Elevation, I was then told that the power did NOT need to be shut off after all. By then, the REC 365W panels we had originally signed up for were no longer available due to supply chain issues. On a positive note, Elevation allowed their customers to switch to 400W panels at no additional charge. I was under the impression it would still be REC panels, but by Feb 2022 no REC panels were available. Because I was worried about changes to net metering in California, I agreed to switch to Q Cell 400W panels. I am wondering if we are owed any money back since there is one less panel needed and REC panels are more expensive because they are better panels overall than Q Cells. We sent an email to Elevation asking them to review the pricing and have not heard back. Communication has been poor during the installation process. Panel delivery and follow up electrical work happened unannounced. The panels were installed last week (March 2022) and I was informed that the City inspection would happen within the week. When I called the City over a week later to find out when the inspection would happen, I was told that no request had been placed. I just spoke with Elevation and they said no request was made because they had to see when the SUBCONTRACTOR would be available to meet the inspector. Again, one reason I picked Elevation was because they said they used their own installers, not subcontractors. I am hoping the final steps of City inspection and SCE approval go more smoothly, but given the many delays and poor communication I cannot recommend Elevation for solar installation. Look elsewhere.

I should have gone elsewhere

I just want to say off the bat- I haven’t actually gotten my system installed yet. I’m sure the installation itself will go smoothly, as our insulation upgrades did. Right from the beginning my sales rep was polite, professional, and educational. So because if this I felt good. But I told him I would follow up with him after speaking with my partner and specifically asked he not follow up with me. Which he didn’t listen to. He followed up almost immediately. And again. I had to remind him that I asked him not to for which he apologized. And chose again to follow up. While some people may not mind this, for me it’s a red flag. My original quote was outrageous! Had I not done more research I would have paid TWICE what I’m paying, which after more research I have found, is still high. Then the design team, designed a layout that put a quarter of my panels on a northwest (roughly) side of my roof. Um okay. Knowing they will work less efficiently. Why would I pay for panels to be placed where they won’t work? What am I going to do with 5 wasted panels? Why would that design pass your guidelines? I had to object and insist they redesign it and find a way to make it work. Interestingly enough, they did. So why didn’t they try that design to start?! HUGE red flag! Why would they even feel comfortable selling that design knowing it will not be enough? Now let’s talk customer service. My customer concierge was prompt with her pitch that she will be my go to (as was my sales person) and was polite and professional. But then I stopped hearing from her. We’ve been waiting for the permit to go thru. Which I found out actually got approved on 9/11 according to the paperwork on my house. I texted asking for a follow up and heard nothing. So I called today to be told ‘it just went thru’ and they will call to schedule the install. Then my concierge called back to let me know they have been waiting on us to sign paperwork that was sent a month ago to a spam folder. Are you serious?! No one followed up about the loan paperwork?! No one told us anything until I called to see what was the delay, and now I’m being blamed for the hold up. It’s true the email was there, but no one thought to call, text, or email a follow up, for a month? I should have paid the $1500 penalty and gone with another company. The best part is, after all that, I finally got a reply to my text message letting me know if I had text them they were having issues and not receiving messages and to call with questions. So I’m going to get this system installed. Btw its a 7.4 system and I’m paying $23k. And I’m going to love having solar and I’m going to pray I don’t need any customer service from them for a long time.

Lots of mis-steps, extended install frustration

I would not recommend Elevation. I would post a detailed review, but this site has a severe limit so I cannot.

Disappointed

I had my solar panels installed over a year ago but only got them working in November, 2016. I have to say, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't. I feel their sales pitch to me greatly over inflated the benefits of having the system and the interest from the finance company is double what I save on the electricity. My husband says I got snookered.