Guardian Solar

Stay away from Guardian Solar

It is taking Guardian solar 1 and 1/2 year to get my solar system and battery operation going. They failed inspection 3 times. Horrible customer support. The technicians do not know what they are doing. The worst company I have dealt with.

Do not use this company. Stay away.

My system was installed less than two years ago by Guardian Solar. This was the company used by the broker that sold me the system and the reason I went with them. I wish I had done a little homework on Guardian but I trusted the broker. From the beginning there were delays on the installation. Then it didn't pass inspection because one of the breakers didn't match the amp power rating that was on the blue print. The blue print called for a higher amperage than what was installed. Really??? So it took a little over a month before they could submit an updated blue print for approval. It would have been quicker to just change the breaker. That same breaker continues to strip causing for half the system to go down. Looks like it actually needed the higher amperage after all. It took almost an act of God to get someone to return my emails and calls for the first two times the system when down. The second time I was told that I needed a steel box instead of fiberglass to avoid moisture from getting in but they didn't have the box in the truck so it was just glued and sealed. The system when down again for the third time in November 2020 on the same grid but this time NO ONE from Guardian returned my several emails and calls. Very frustrating. I went to Enphase with the complaint who did responded but could not do anything other than apologize and tell me that the installer Guardian needed to fix the problem. The problem was finally fixed after I found another installer in Orlando (Sunlight Solar) and I requested for them to be officially transferred on record to service my system. The new company actually answered my calls and emails. What a concept!!! Stay away from Guardian. On a positive note, it is good to know that I now have a reputable and responsible installer who will be able and willing to service my system and honor the factory warranty.

HORRIBLE COMPANY

Words cannot begin to describe how horrible this company is... NOTHING and I mean NOTHING is what they say it is. It started with my sales rep Michael who visited me after I filled out some information online looking for solar. Michael told me he was not an employee of Guardian but rather an independent "solar broker", which meant he could get me the best deal with the best companies in my area. It seemed sensible at the time and he was very nice and assured me my system would offset all of my electricity costs except for the basic charge from Duke for $8. Installation was supposed to take place in about 6-8 weeks. This is where it goes downhill. I got the run around form Michael who claimed "I don't work for Guardian" on multiple occasions and Guardian's office on multiple occasions without any return phone calls regarding when my panels could be put on. I finally got the owners phone number to see if I could make any headway with him. Apparently the owners name is Glen, but he goes by Danny. So I called "Danny" and upon answering the phone he seemed agitated and asked me if I had called the office before calling him because he doesn't know every job off the top of his head. I told him nobody has called me back and he literally proceeded to raise his voice and tell me "WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU ARE CALLING ME ABOUT THIS, I DON'T KNOW EVERY JOB OFF THE TOP OF MY F*****G HEAD, WE WILL CALL YOU WHEN WE ARE READY." and he HUNG UP! I was appalled! It's clear why the company doesn't care to return calls or give anyone answers when the owner acts like this! I was never rude to him, just looking to see if he could help me. I have never in my life experienced a response like this, especially from the OWNER of a company. Long story short, It took almost 20 weeks for my panels to go up, 2 inspections before it passed the city inspection, and then another 7 weeks before Duke got my new meter on. I called Duke numerous times and was told Guardian never submitted the paperwork until 3 weeks after my job passed the final inspection! The worst part of all of this is that my panels are not producing enough power to get my bill to $8 as Michael promised they would do. He completely lied to me from the beginning. I had another local company come out and they said there was no way the amount of panels Guardian installed would ever offset my whole power bill so now I have to have more panels put on to get me where I need to be. Fortunately the other company is trying to help and giving me a good deal to install the extra panels. They also said they would clean up the "sloppy" work and all the pipes that are all over my roof so I would be satisfied once it's finished. If you are considering this company I urge you to seek other options first. I wish I would have done my due diligence .

Incompetent

I had this company install a brand new solaredge system at my residence. After 3 dead inverters we finally found the cause of the problem. Installation! The inverter was only capable of handling 15 panels per string and these fools wired two strings with 18 panels instead of even across all three strings. I noticed some of the bad reviews others had made but figured they were probably from uninformed homeowners. LISTEN TO ME.... GUARDIAN SOLAR IS GARBAGE...

If you want to pay more for Electric

Guardian Solar is quick to take your money and process the loan quickly perhaps because they don’t want you realizing how terrible their customer service is and prevent you (once the loan is approved you can’t backout) from going to a responsible vendor. After installation, the solar panel stopped producing energy. Called the owner, Danny, several times due to lack of him answering the phones. Took a week to send workers to the house. According to their sales pitch, your bill “should” balance out, but it doesn’t since the energy Co. caps you at the amount you can sell energy back, so there is something to consider if you choose to go solar. The solar panels they installed at the house keep breaking and not producing 6 months’ worth of electric paying for both loans and electric. In other words, paying more for electric because now you have the solar panels loan. No balance in that equation, so who is going to pay the difference now? I would NOT recommend this vendor and looking for alternatives to get it out of this terrible business deal. If you guys know a good lawyer, feel free to recommend him/her to me. 20180604: Technician showed up assessed the panels and declared no production due to a faulty component (for the second time). Stated 5-7 business days to obtain the component. 20180612: 7 days after the technician showed up. No word if the replacement part for the broken panel arrived. Requested a status report via email. 20180612: Reply from Renette: "SolarEdge was contacted about their defective inverter and they have shipped out a new one. It should be delivered to our office by the end of next week. As soon as it arrives someone will contact you to schedule a day to come out and replace it." 20180618: Electric bill came in. What's another week of non-production when the panels haven't work for 6 months? 20180621: The Solar Guardian tech called to ask what the serial number of the converter was. Notice the “5-7 days” timeline has already past. Perhaps that will also be SolarEdge fault. 20180626: Over promising and under delivering is what you will get with SolarGuardian should you decide to go solar. Not to mention you will have to call them a million times for them not to answer the phone, so choose someone responsible. My neighbor tells me A1 Solar respond quickly and the best part of it all is that the same SolarEdge system she has, has yet to malfunction. 20180702: If you’re looking to pay extra for electric then choose Guardian Solar.

Unprofessional and worst installer ever

Guardian Solar has to be the most unprofessional Solar Company and worst Installer in the Central Florida area. It was nothing but problems from the get go. It was very obvious that there was no pre-planning involved in our solar panel installation. The first question they asked when they arrived on site was: who is your electrical utility provider? Are you kidding me? They did not even know this basic question that had been talked about and conveyed during the purchasing of the system. They did not bring with them the contracted solar panels, we had signed a contract for SolarWorld Sunmodule Plus SW 290 Mono and they installed SolarWorld Sunmodule Plus SW 285 Mono. When I asked why the discrepancy, I received a curt answer from Danny, the owner/installer sending me to talk to the salesperson. If I had not inspected the solar panels I would have not been aware of the change and would have not been told. In addition, they did not bring with them a Solar Fan that was part of the installation, his answer was "I don't know anything about that go talk to the salesman". They did not pick up after themselves either and left electrical tape and plastic bags all over the yard which I had to clean up. They installed the system on May 16, 2016 and it did not become operational until June 10, 2016 after multiple follow-ups on my part. It turned out that this was their first installation in OUC (Orlando Utilities Commission) territory and they did not know the process involved in getting the system up and operational. We gave 1/3 of the cost upfront and we did not pay them the additional 2/3's of the cost until the system was operational. We love our system and hope to never have any problems/issues since we do not want Guardian Solar ever again back in our premises.