ION Solar

Poor Customer Service

the salesman Patrick was very good and personal, explained the process etc. They installed my system on Friday July 1st, guys on the roof where very good nice and polite, they guy doing the electrical, who started flipping breaker off and on with no advance waring had issues trying to get the breakers in to the panel, fried my dryer, pool was not working, he had to put back the break he took out, said he would try to come back next day with the master electrician, no show, no call. Tuesday July 5th comes around still no show or call, have to start calling to find out what's going on, no one has a clue. After asking for senior management, end up talking to Hugo, who said he was the Director or VP of business, told him what happened, also told him that on Thursday July 7th the city inspection was scheduled and that they weren't going to pass as the electrical still was not hooked up to my panel and just capped off inside. I also said that at this time i can not recommend ION to my neighbors who where asking about my experience so far, i also said that i was thinking about bringing them in on a number of commercial projects that i want, which would be in excess of $200,000 and he just blew it off and what ever. So as of right now, very poor customer service, to me Hugo is about as much use as a one legged man in a but kicking contest. Hope they get there act together soon, before Hugo losses them even more business.

Poor Installation

Installed my panels wrong,Now they are asking for money either install more panels or move them by the actual diagram,Big time Cheater, Asked them to take there panels away,Think twice before you consider them,Some good companies around

Not enough power, trash customer service

Up until the install everything seemed great and then we installed, which was not complete in the time that it was estimated but that's not why I'm leaving a review. The first month our system was operational most of the month we were producing but not the entire month so when I got a bill I wasn't surprised, it was higher than I expected but nonetheless I figured let's give it an extra month. The next month I got an electric bill for like $55 or something. I contacted the man that met with me and discussed the plan and mentioned I would like to install an extra panel or so, that maybe cloud coverage or something interfered with the ability to produce enough electricity needed, something I would think their engineers would take into account but nonetheless - I didn't get a response. I just got my third electricity bill since my system went active and am still paying $65 on top of my $118 goodleap bill (which combined is more than even my worst summer month bill). My wife and I have no kids and have a 3 bedroom one story house. I contacted customer support and mentioned I would like to install an additional panel at least. They said they normally like to wait 6 months but referred me to a customer service rep. He asked for an electric bill and I sent the last two. They basically regurgitated the information from my bill and the solar unit production info back to me with an email that basically said "here's how to read your bill". They also said they estimated the production based on the previous 12 months of electricity usage at the time of consult/installation which is impossible because we had purchased the house brand new about 7 months prior. They also confidently mentioned that my system met 38% of estimated production and that many factors can affect this. 38% !! When their engineers estimated to produce power for 105% of my usage. How can they confidently say that!? I wrote back two hasth emails mentioning how unhappy I was with their service and answer And they have yet to reply. I have a 33k system and get to pay more money on my loan and electric bill together than my electric bill used to be on its worst month because they couldn't account for cloud coverage or whatever the reason its not producing enough and on top of that they won't install another panel and don't seem to care! I wouldn't recommend them to anyone

Would give zero stars if it was an option.

This company has been a nightmare to work with since we signed the contract. Watch out the sales team is great. The communication is almost non-existent. I had to call them to get the next step scheduled most of the time. It took several months (4 or 5) to get the system completed. They failed inspections during the process. In the two years we have had them the system has broken multiple times. If you add up all the time it has be broken in the last year it is more than 4 months. That leaves us paying for the system and a normal electrical bill. Be prepared for workers to come out and not know what is going on. Quite a few times they have just not shown up. We have already been told by the Ion team that are system is "old" and they don't use it anymore. Not to mention we have had several of their own employees mention that whoever did the install did a terrible job. That makes us feel really good. Currently the panels from the front of my house are sitting on the ground. They had to take them off to repair a roof leak from the roof that was torn up in the process of installing the panels. I guess I should feel lucky that they at least paid for the roof to be fixed.

False Advertisement & No Support After They Had Our Money

Long story short, the representative who sold us the product lied about the timeline for installation and cost. Our panels were installed 4 months after the projected date. Our monthly payment will also be INCREASING FROM WHAT THE CONTRACT STATES. Any sort of phone call I’ve made has been received by someone who sounds like they have no idea where they are working. They also are prone to using what seems like a script of excuses. I highly recommend doing your research into a different solar panel company, so you are not stuck with the like my family is. I will be happy to go in depth and give specific experiences if there is a way to do so.

Just not worth the money

Look, it’s not that I’ve had a bad experience but it’s just not worth the money. I still get an electric bill every month that is only $15 less that before solar panels… yet I pay $80 a month FOR the solar panels. I cannot reach anyone in customer service and I had to pay $1000 to get a critter guard installed when pigeons made a home under the panels. You will get critters and a lot of companies install them with the panels, not this one. I just have found zero value in getting these installed. I feel completely hoodwinked.

Ion is terrible

Ion service completely terrible they built a system for my home that was completely different from what they sold me. My panels don't produce nowhere near what I need! I have 35 panels and I'm only producing 838-900 kw I have a 3288 sqdt home still getting a large bill from NV Energy. Ridiculous and when you try to call main sales person Christina she blows you off. Call customer service and they say well nothing I can help you with our hands are tied. Be very careful ION solar is a terrible solar provider!

Really not much better than the competition

The process was okay up until the install. The company switched our project coordinator a day or two before the install. I had items left on my roof to include a crowbar to slide down a few days later. After the install, it took weeks for someone to come out and do the inspection. The first reschedule wasn’t their fault but they didn’t prioritize the ones who were pushed to get them on the schedule. It’s now been about a month and a half since my panels were placed on my house. They still aren’t operational. I can’t get the company to come back here to fix the issues found by the city with the panels. Actually wish I went with a different company.

Took a year to have them turned on.... Issue after issue. Failed 3 inspections when I first told them it was an old house to warn them. I could go on and on. Just find someone else and don't trust them on the rebate pitch.

High electric bills

We had panels installed in March this year and we’re told to give it 2 to 3 electric bills before we could see a difference in the electric usage and savings; which as of this month has not happened! This last bill is $192.24 add that to the solar bill and we are out almost 350.00! Not a savings at all. The staff that we have spoken with have asked for our CPS bills which we’ve done! One said it’s the trees but they were there when installation occurred! Needless to say we are not happy with the fact that our bill is still higher than we expected and we were told it would be no out of pocket money. We have let them know that we want the panels removed since no one is offering a solution that suits us! We’re on a fixed income and don’t need higher bills that are programmed to save us money but fail to do so. Please contact us at your earliest convenience and hep us with this problem.

Detach/reattach Service

Let me start by saying I was/am happy with my sales representative, he's still very communicative and tries his best to help and seems to be the only person willing to address my concerns. My install team was great and all went smooth. I WAS happy with ION. HOWEVER, my nightmare began with my disconnect in order for roof replacement. During sales pitch I was told ION removes and stores panels in a safe location. This was not my situation. 10/28/21 My panels were removed and stored on the side of my house and all parts and pieces were basically "tossed about like trash". My reinstall date 11/22/21 was scheduled by my roofer weeks in advance, and when the date of reinstall was to happen, it did not. No call, just a no show. When my roofer reached out to ION we were not told I had to wait 2 MORE weeks for reinstall 12/6/21 - because they are on a tight schedule. So their error, is now on ME. Reinstall team shows up 12/06/21, and are more than shocked at how my panels are placed/stored, not tied down, so thanks to CO wind, one has blown over, scratched...but said to not be 'damaged'....we'll see. The detach team left all my electrical exposed from an upward facing conduit to the elements/moisture (I don't have attack access so all my piping is outside my house). NOW all my wiring needs to be redone. 12/11/21 (Sat) IONs electrician has a van break down and doesn't show. Told I would be rescheduled early this week, no contact for rescheduled time has been made, we are entering 'mid week' not "early week". I contacted my rep, 12/13/21 for someone to speak to that has the "power" to acknowledge the wrong that ION has, acknowledge the lack of responsibility on IONs behalf and to get my solar up and running again after nearly 2 months. I was told "James" the supervisor for "all reroofs" in the entire company would call me this morning, 12/14/21 - it is now 1:21pm and no call. My roofer pushed me to use her detachment team, but due to the "voiding my service" warranty if I used someone other than ION I chose to stay with Ion. I regret that decision. My roofer is less than pleased with their lack of professionalism and plain human decency. All appointments scheduled around the 11/22 reinstall had to be pushed out, impacting several other contractors. I lost great days of weather we had for preparing/painting my house. All of this has been more stress than it needed to be, and I've been less than satisfied with the flippant attitude I get when trying to speak to the people "scheduling" my service. I'm paying for solar panels I can't use, I'm on full use with my power company, so all savings that I should see because I'm a solar user are gone....I'm basically paying for 16,000 paperweights on my roof. I've been pushed back and ignored - and now this seems to be the only way to have my voice heard. I get it, "things" happen, but most companies jump on a mistake and fix it ASAP, I have not seen this from ION, days, weeks are slipping by and I am still fighting to get my panels back up and running. BEWARE - just get a new service warranty from a solar team if you need your panels detached....you'll save yourself a lot of headache. Trust me.

Where to start...

To start off, I signed up for solar with Ion because I had heard great things and knew I wanted solar. My friend works for the company and walked me through it all and it made sense for me. He and the rep were awesome and have been incredible through this process in helping me contact the proper people to get help. Now the story: I first signed the quote to move forward with the project on April 20th, 2021. It took a bit to get things scheduled to start the process moving along. The first incident happened on July 9th - a crew showed up completely unannounced to dig a ditch connecting a mother-in-law suite to the main house as panels would be on the back suite and main house all connected to one meter. After that, the roof team came in to reinforce the roof in the next week and was done by July 19. I waited until August 10th to reach out as I hadn't heard anything about installation timeline. I was told that we were waiting on permits. I followed up Sep 9th and reached out to several people with no response. As before, I reached out to the original rep as they were super helpful and the only responsive person. Finally around Sep 22, the panels went up. The team that came said the trenching wasn't done properly and had to redo part of it. They also had to check because there was supposed to be an inspection done at the time of the trench being done that of course was not. After two days, putting up the panels and fixing the trenching, the install team did a great job and gave me hope that things would wrap up quickly since this was already far later than it should've been. Now I sit here on November 3 without any inspection completed, have missed any credits the summer sun would have built up for me, and out 3+ months of rent ($4000+) on the mother-in-law suite as I can't show it with the large ditch still open right in front of it from the un-inspected trenching that they can't close up. I know some of the issues in here are related to local government schedule changes and losing permits but nobody followed up until I brought it up. No sense of urgency. I was told from the beginning that the process if usually about 90 days but now I am more than 6 months out without panels I can turn on. I have given Ion the benefit of the doubt even up until the September installation (which is still very late) but apparently not done enough to raise alarm bells at how terrible this experience has been. If you enjoy volunteer project management, this is the nightmare for you. If I could go back in time, I would be better off paying them $4000 to not put solar on my roof. I would hope this is a very unfortunate, isolated incident but this is completely unacceptable.

I am unhappy that they changed the location on my panels. One is

I would not select them again.

The most frustrating home improvement I've ever experienced

Zero stars is more accurate. Do NOT hire this company. Their sales reps will say anything to sell you a system and if even one thing about your install is not standard they will mess up at every step along the road. I signed up for my system 11 months ago, I still don't have a complete system (rough inspection, final inspection, utility approval, and activation all still need to take place) I've been paying on my loan as well as for a full electric bill for months. At this rate I'll be lucky if I have a working system before 2022. Take a look at the complaints on their BBB account (https://www.bbb.org/us/ut/provo/profile/solar-energy-equipment-dealers/ion-solar-llc-1166-22338175/complaints). I'm not alone. Not sure how they're A+ rated. Most of the resolved complaints were not resolved satisfactorily for the customer.

Solar Attracts Pigeons

I was very excited to get Solar and the install was good, but the company failed to tell me that Pigeon's love to nest under the panels. When I called to get answers I was met with that will cost you another $700.00. I have bird droppings all over my roof and in 6 year's here I have NEVER had that problem. I called again and they said they were not doing pigeon guards in Vegas anymore. Thanks ION for nothing!!!!

Don't trust their math

If your looking at Ion for solar, make sure you read all the numbers and do your own math. My proposal estimated I would get 99% of my energy needs from solar with an estimated one year production of 5,667 KWh. I trusted the folks at Ion that engineered my system and to my regret didn't do my own math. To get to these numbers, they looked at my previous 12 months of electric bills. After almost 10 months of active solar, I'm not getting anywhere close to 99% and what was supposed to be an offset expense for the new solar panels by very reduced electric bills has become an added expense. I decided to do the math, too late of course, and now I question where they got their numbers. I put a spread sheet together and factored the numbers, solar produced, electricity delivered by electric company, electricity sold back to the electric company, and by my calculations I'm only producing 71% of my electrical needs (I am on track to consume more electricity this year). I reached out to ION, and after they looked at my numbers, the pointed out that I'm on track to produce 5,667 KWh in my first year, which I see is true. So that had me thinking, then where did the 99% come from, so I looked back at the 12 months prior to my solar and came up with 6922 KWh of electricity consumed for those 12 months. By my calculations, with that number my system should have been engineered for a one year estimated production of 6,852 KWh, a shortfall of 1,185 KWh and the system engineered to only produce 83%. I've pointed this out to Ion, but they seem satisfied that I'm on track to meet the 5,667 KWh, even if that's no where close to 99% and have not gotten back to me since.

Disappointed, incorrect amount of panels installed, damaged home

I would absolutely not recommend ION to a family member or friend. The sales rep, Nat, was excellent and knowledgeable and got us excited about solar. From there, it was a complete mess. ION installed the incorrect plan on my house, with no explanation on how that happened and we were the ones to catch it, after it had been fully installed. After this, we were put in a very awkward position. Our original agreed upon plan was 16 panels. That was more than enough for my family and I have written proof we never agreed to additional panels. When the installers came, they never reviewed anything with my wife and started working. This is where the issue was made in which 9 panels were added to my north roof. Completely installed and damaging my brand new home. With this issue, I immediately made the rest of the process pause in order to work through this. This is where I am extremely disappointed with ION and why I would never recommend them to my friends or family. Instead of taking full blame for this problem; they made it mine. They basically made me choose between paying for panels I did not budget (with cash - ION would not let me finance these panels) or be left with a roof that was three months old that had been damaged and penetrated, after they took the panels off. This penetrated roof would have voided all warranty with our builder, should something have gone wrong. Additionally, even if I have them "fix" my roof, I have a separate warranty and all the associated issues of who takes blame when things go wrong. This was an unacceptable solution to me so I requested ION keep the panels on. I then worked tirelessly with customer representatives to make things work. In my opinion, ION should have taken a complete loss on these panels but senior directors refused this and continued to drag out the process in which I had to scrape together as much money as possible, after buying a house just months before mind you, for ION to finally agree. I worked with Erick Martinez and to be completely honest, didn't think he really cared that ION was completely at fault. His words to be were, we have a legal team here at ION for situations like this. He mentioned that if I wanted to contact a lawyer I could, but I would have to pay all those legal costs. We did come to an agreement, but I truly feel ION frauded me into these panels and locked me into a place where I had to come up with $6,500 dollars to pay for their mistake. If these guys had to pay this money out of their pockets, I’m sure they would have taken it more seriously. Also, the issues did not stop there. When the inspectors finally came out from the city, it was realized that the plan ION submitted to them was the original 16 panel design (or some other incorrect electrical layout) and led to more delay. We were not approved by the city, dragging out the process over a month longer and inconveniencing us more than ION probably realizes. We were never actually contacted by anyone telling us that

abysmal

I regret the day I ever invited a representative of this company into my house. In Short here is why: 1.False claims of timeline for Install 2.Signed up in January and they weren't done until May. 2.5 months past schedule 3. Their installers messed up my gutters and they have yet to fix them. THey've already rescheduled once 4. The salesman that signed me up was fired during the install. No one bothered to tell me. 5. Installers left debris and tools all over my backyard 6. They said they would take care of notifying the HOA and they had pre-approval to work in the neighborhood. That was a lie. I spent 2 months getting retroactive approval 7. They screwed up the city inspection. 8. They had to come back and put additional protection on the wiring under the panels.(Requiring removal and re-installation of the panel. 9. Showed up late for install. Had to cancel all my plans for the day 10. Install ran longer than planned and they said they would be back the next day; that was a lie. I had to track down the installers after they were 4 hours late again!!! 11. They failed to compensate for lost time. 12. When I asked to speak to higher ups, they put as many obstacles in my path as possible and/or simply did not answer my repeated requests to talk to somebody. 13. This is a company masquerading as a bigger company than they really are. 14. They. botched the paperwork for the Utility company inspector and it caused additional delay of over a month and a half. They lied about having submitted the paperwork on time. I found that out when I called the inspector's office myself. Even if they rebutt this statement, please know that I have proof of all emails and text correspondence. Any person requiring further clarification before you buy, I will gladly help you steer you away from this money-grabbing company.

Very Disappointing

While the installation process went smooth, everything after is BS. We were promised, ( this is one of the first things I asked knowing I was replacing my roof soon), they would do the first Removal and Re-install for nothing anything after there would be a charged. That was a load of BS, even trying to get someone to speak to was a challenge, when I finally spoke to a so called Supervisor he said he would look into it and get back ASAP, AGAIN BS. He won't call back or answer my calls. I reached out to the Service Dept and all they did was send me an Estimate $10k to do the work and it has to be paid in FULL PRIOR TO SCHEDULING...WTF. $10K when everyone else charges half of that, What you have the ION Executives coming over to the work????? My advice to all find another Solar Company, these guys will blow you off the minute your up and running. NEVER WILL I RECOMEND THIS COMPANY EVEN TO MY WORST ENIEMIES. Get everything in writting regardless of who you go with.

Dishonest and misleading

This is by far the worst company I have dealt with in ANY industry. They have yet to get my system functioning with the power company and I have had the panels on for over a year. They tell me everything is working great and that there is nothing that they can do for me, however I called the power company and they advised me that they have been emailing ION for over a year with no response so they removed the "permission to operate". Basically my system is producing power that is not being used.

Ion is by far the worst company ever

My wife is currently battling with her bank right now, Ion solar pulled out 3 thousand dollars and they are currently lying about it. Worst company ever.

Product not what we purchased; whole process was not good

To start, we did not receive the product we purchased. We originally used ION solar because two of our neighbors had used ION for their solar installation and were happy with the product and process. Based on how the product looked on their homes, and also their feedback we went with ION. Our sales person also showed us the same product installed on our neighbors’ houses in his sales presentation, very specifically mentioning what we liked most about it. We really loved that it was going to look like one big panel without spaces in between the panels, and had a frame around the outside, making it look complete and really professional. However, the actual installation on our house it turns out, is individual panels on a rail system which look entirely different and sloppy. There are spaces between all the panels, and there is no frame at all. We could not believe it-as that had never been discussed as an option on our installation. We are so disappointed in how the panel system looks based on what we were sold. Secondly, none of ION’s many “teams” communicate well together. This process was painful the whole way, and we had to repeat things or tell them in the process what was next based on talking to so many people in different “teams”, many times in the same phone call. Scheduling team, utilities team, installation team, customer service team, etc. None of them discussed things in person with those actually out here working which maybe could have made a difference. So many times we got repeat phone calls to schedule something that we already had done, or was already on the calendar. We had too many instances where we had to have someone come back out for something to be fixed. At least once, we booked a 3 hr time slot for work to be done, and verified it on the phone, but the workers were given a different 3 hr time slot on their schedule, which is not fun for anyone and led to us being angry about taking time off work to let people come do work in the house, who were expecting to come at a different time. On top of that, there are some workers who don’t have the best trade knowledge working in the houses. (Most of them don’t fit in that category, but on more than one occasion it was obvious that some do). For instance we had damage inside our house (a light dropped from our kitchen ceiling) because a worker was not careful inside our attic walking, and that had to be repaired. Secondly, the first electrician who did our installation showed up two hours late when I was told he was 15 minutes out, and did not do work that passed city inspection. This delayed our system finalization by 5-6 more weeks in order to get ION to get another electrician out to fix the work, and get a repeat city inspection that passed. Every time there was a delay in work due to a problem, or something needing to be fixed, we had to reach out to the company, as they took days to weeks to reach out to us if we waited. We are disappointed and would NOT recommend ION.

DISHONEST

I am very disappointed with ION SOLAR...For their dishonesty and Lying to customer......When they first came to my neighborhood to advertise about their company, the rep informed and convinced me about the quality of their product and how far they go to support their customer. HE told me that all the work will be done on time and if the system is not turned ON time they will cover up for the cost and don't have to worry about two bills. I received the bill from their lender Loanpal for the month of Feb Statement date 2/25/2021 and the due date was 3/14/2021 when the system was not even turned ON. The system was only turned ON on 3/11/2021. I called the Loanpal and they said contact ION Solar they can't do anything....When we call the ION on February, complaining that we already have the bill but the system was not turned ON .....They said we are very sorry please pay the Bill and we will reimburse to you....but now when I call them to get my reimbursement they don't want to pay....I ended up paying two bills both from the lender and the utilities company...... DON'T TRUST THEM....Now I am questioning on the quality of the product too.....I was in the process of referring my friends, coworkers and family members about this company....Glad I found about their true color on time....DON'T FALL FOR WHAT THEY SAY....ITS ALL LIE...

Dishonest

I orginally chosed Ion Solar over SunPower. Prior to choosing Ion Solar, I informed my sales representative that I don’t want to sign a contract until my house refi has been funded. My sales person ensured that signing the contract is just a place holder, and if for any reason I start receiving messages from Ion, ignore the messages. While waiting for my refi, I discovered SunPower’s high wattage panels. I switch to SunPower, it’s not because of the costs, but the overall size of the panels they can provide (ION=9.16kW, SunPower=13.68kW). Fast forward about two and half months later, I received a call from Ion, and they were charging me $1200 for cancelling the contract. This was the original contract, that was suppose to be a place holder until the closing of my house refi. I informed SunPower, and they were willing to cover charges from Ion. Furthermore, after informing Ion my reason for switching over to SunPower. Ion guaranteed that they could’ve match the same solar output power. I’m not sure how they could deliver the same solar output, when I’m informed by their survey team that’s the max output they can install. Lastly, I was threathened that the $1200 will be sent to collection agency, if I don’t pay it right away.. I’m currenty waiting for the bill so I can pay it, and get my reimbursement from SunPower. Before getting solar, check out SunPower, and show them this post.

Buyer Beware

2/25/2021 Buyer Beware! I purchased solar for my 2-story home in the spring of 2017, The company was called Vision at that time. If you are considering solar, make sure you are aware of hidden costs that the salesperson will not give you. These include the need to clean solar panels professionally as pollen sticks to them like glue and the hardest rainstorm won't clean them. ($300.00 - $500.00) Also, make sure the installer leaves at least a 4 foot perimeter around the panels, otherwise if you need to install a critter guard ($1000.00 - $1500.00) to keep out squirrel or bird nests, you won't be able to without paying to have the panels moved yourself. Workers have to be able to navigate around the panels. My installer placed my panels only a few inches from the edge and Ion has refused to move them. They claim they have no installers in my area anymore. So much for customer service. How can they claim to have a 25 year warranty on the panels if they aren't in the area? You also may need to consider installing a special lightening rod to protect the panels in the event of a lightening strike. ($3500.00). I'm 63 years old and definitely have buyer's remorse. I should have left well enough alone. I'll never recoup these costs from my electric bill savings. Kathy W.