BrianS | Temecula, California | 03/09/2022
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE
TL/DR: Larsun/Harness installed my solar. Didn’t replace 25 tiles which went unnoticed for over a year. Denied replacing the paper needed to fix the leak that developed before even looking at the roof. Ghosted customer. Zero Stars. Avoid like the plague if the plague did cut rate roof/solar installation. My wife and I purchased solar from Larsun Solar (now owned by Harness Power) in December of 2020 shortly after buying our home in Temecula, CA for a total cost of roughly $41,000. While initially happy, that emotion changed drastically when we put our home up for sale roughly a year later due to having military orders sending us out of the US. One portion of our roof (conveniently the only portion of the roof not captured in the post project completion images), was found by our home inspector to be missing close to 25 tiles. No tile debris anywhere and these are 5 to 10lb tiles so they don’t get picked up and carried away like shingles. If a storm had magically only hit that one point, there would have been some type of evidence of broken tiles….but not even a nail was there. I contacted Larsun immediately to get the full completed project photos so I could go to my home insurance company for reimbursement. Initially all contact, verbal and email, were cordial, professional, and the company was quick to respond. After leaving two voicemails, Mr Posese Pulu called me back on 18FEB2022 at 1017am and after talking through issue, he agreed it seemed like it may have been an oversight by their installers not replacing the tiles which were removed from the area their team was traversing the roof, but not actually installing any solar panels. In the photos, its very clear this is the most logical (and really only safe area) for equipment and personnel to get onto the roof to conduct the installation), not to mention my wife went out several times to offer the team water and watch some of the work. During this phone call, Mr Pulu was apologetic and promised to get some personnel out to replace the tiles. I also identified the paper under the tiles had been compromised (we had a leak in the living room below the area in question) and needed to be replaced after being exposed to the elements for over a year with no tiles protecting it. Mr Pulu promised to advise the Operations Officer (kyle.hawkins@harnesspower.com) of the issue. As 18FEB2022 was a Friday, the soonest Larsun could have an team out to address my roof was 21FEB2022…which was cutting it very close due to the sale of my home closing escrow on 23FEB2022. But at this point, I was still happy with Larsun. As we all know, mistakes happen and the real measure of a company is how they rectify issues when they arise. The team was set to arrive before 1200pm and that left plenty of time to fix the roof, especially since my wife and I had already dried out the ceiling in the room below, had paint and supplies and were completely willing to fix the interior damage. We weren’t trying to nickel and dime anyone and really just wanted to make sure the buyers of our home were able to move in on time and didn’t inherit any roofing issues. On Monday 23FEB2022 at 1014am is where Larsun / Harness Power started to show just how they dealt with issues from a customer. At 1014am, I received an email that simply stated “This is an update for the work to be done for the missing tiles on Mr. Stimson's roof. Our head of ops has determined we will only be replacing roof tiles, but not the paper material underneath. Thank you. “…and that’s it. No further information. I sent an email in order to keep a written record from this point on and called Mr Pulu back on the number provided in the email. Although concerned, I wanted to know the reasoning for the denial. My email stated simply, “While I appreciate the update, a bit more context regarding the decision I think is warranted here. The paper below has failed due to not being protected from the elements because your crew did not replace the tiles removed during installation. If there are variables or considerations, I am unaware of, please let me know.” Mr Pulu answered my call at 1018am and stated he didn’t know the reasoning behind the denial. My concern was really no one had been out to view the roof from Larsun and the photos I sent easily demonstrated the missing tiles and any reasonable person understood the function of tiles is to protect the paper below. No tiles giving protection equals damage to paper due to negligent installers. My phone call with Mr Pulu lasted 2 -3 minutes at which time he said he was going to find an answer for me and asked me to hold. At 5 minutes on the phone the call was ended…not failed….ended. Phone technology identifying it wasn’t a connectivity issue, but rather a deliberate end to the phone call. I then attempted to call Mr Pulu back on the number I had been using to talk to him only to have the call go unanswered and sent to voicemail (of which I left many), or be cut off after just one or two rings. This was a dramatic and obvious attempt to just avoid having any contact with a customer. I received a text message from Mr Pulu at 1040am stating, “I am having a meeting with operations to see if we can do the repaper on your roof. We are sending out two guys today to do a roof check first before putting up tiles. Please standby as I escalate this and I will get back to you today”. This was after more than 20 minutes of trying to get back in touch with Mr Pulu, but any contact was a good thing or so I thought. I heard nothing back from Mr Pulu….ever….and still haven’t to this day despite numerous emails and call attempts. At roughly 100pm on 21FEB2022, the team from Larsun arrived in a HarnessPower branded vehicle and explained Harness had bought Larsun but they were sent to conduct an assessment on the roof. Although the two employees were nice people and generally professional, some of the things they said within 10 minutes of arriving were alarming. Neither was a roofer, but had been sent to conduct an assessment on the roof and determine what needed to be replaced/repaired, the company had been experiencing significant turnover in employees due to prior installs not being done correctly or up to what they thought was industry standards, and they began badmouthing the install team who had done my install once they viewed the roof for themselves. They were nice enough to send me the pictures they sent back to Larsun/Harness which they circled all of the compromised areas of the paper where the tiles should have been including nail holes (showing tiles had been installed at one point, and other wear/tear which was possible points of compromise. Despite this, after informing his supervisor of what he found and sending the photos, Larsun denied to replace the paper, but offered to ‘spot seal the nail holes and then replace the tiles”. While the second employee went up the ladder to view the issue for himself, I asked the 1st employee if he would accept this repair if this was his home….no hesitation….he would not. After the second employee came down, he stated due to there being two different colors of paper on the roof, Larsun/Harness would not repair the paper as ‘it was obviously already replaced’. For someone who acknowledged he was not a roofer or installer, and never had been either, his assessment of what was ‘obviously’ a previous repair and not a normal discoloration between batches of paper or a roofing company who had used paper leftover from a previous job (it was a housing development so this is likely) is very suspicious. Furthermore, the Operations Officer had no reason to deny the paper replacement almost 3 hours before anyone from his company advised him of any paper color variations, but suddenly the supervisor found something when he went to second guess his own employee. Even more concerning is all of my attempts to get in touch with anyone at Larsun including Mr Pulu was ignored completely. In order to not be a shady home seller and give a fellow Marine a home with corners cut on a roof leak (I am an active Marine and so was the buyer), I denied Larsun’s/HarnessPower’s attempt to put a bandaid on this bullet wound and paid out of pocket for a licensed roofer to come out, make his own assessment of needed repairs, and repair the roof before the buyers took possession of the home. Forwarded invoice to Larsun…..still no response. More than happy to provide screenshots, emails, photos, or answer any specific questions if anyone has them….just send me a DM. Don’t want anyone else to not have any questions about how bad Larsun/Harness are before any potential customer moves on to other more reputable companies.
