Raymond | Seattle, Washington | 11/23/2022
Absolutely Terrible Experience with No End in Sight
Trust has been broken by nearly everyone I have talked to at Smart Energy Today/Lumio. It has been over EIGHT months now since my first signing with your sales representative, Josh Miller. Summer has come and gone, and we STILL have no working solar panels with zero communication from anyone in your organization on when this will be completed. The absolute TERRIBLE experience we've had was as follows: 4/14: Spoke with Josh Miller. We were told if we signed that night, we would be given 3 months worth of payments. Signed that night. 4/15: Welcome email received from Smart Energy Today with timeline saying target 6-8 weeks from finance approval with picture showing maximum timeline of 12 weeks, which would have been 7/15. 5/10: Got an email requesting for documentation with my name on the property. House is under my husband's name, so we needed to add his name to the loan. 5/24: Signed new documents with my husband's name on it. New maximum timeline should have been 8/24. 6/22: Solar panel was installed roughly around this time. After the install, I got a physical copy of a timeline showing a timeline maximum of 84 days plus one step that had a variable date range. New maximum timeline should have been roughly 9/22 without knowing what the variable timeline is. This was the final update to the timeline I got, so as far as we are concerned, this should have been the target date. 6/23: Inspection was supposed to happen in the morning. Waited until 1 in the afternoon with no one showing up and no word on when the inspector would be coming, we needed to reschedule due to work. I was told someone would call me back to reschedule, but no one ever did. I had to reach back out to Josh for help to get the inspection rescheduled. 7/2: Got letter from Service Finance Company that our first payment is due 7/28. We asked Josh about this since only the solar panels were installed, but our main panel which needed to be replaced due to age was not installed yet and was rolled into the loan. Josh acknowledged that this seemed odd and would look into it. 7/21: We got our first bill from Service Finance Company. Sent to Josh again, he said he'd look into it.8/16: Main panel replacement occurred. On the same day, we got a call from Service Finance Company that we are 19 days overdue and will be going into collections soon. Reached out to Josh again about this, and Josh promised he'd pay for the late fee. 8/18: Finally got a gift card from Lumio with the first three months of payments that Josh promised us. Since we had to resign the loan for a new amount since the main panel was rolled into the loan, the gift card was for 3 months based on the old amount, not the new amount, and it did not include the late fee that Josh promised. Was told I would get an additional gift card for the remainder by a representative who called me to confirm I got the gift card. 8/19: Got a survey from Lumio about the solar panel install. I took the survey and fully explained the horrible experience I had up until that point. The survey asked if I would like someone to contact me, and I said yes. To this day, no one has contacted me. 9/2: City of Seattle came to inspect expecting a Lumio representative to be present, but there was no Lumio representative. Josh said that no Lumio representative should be onsite. Via email, Jennifer said a Lumio representative should have been onsite. I told Jennifer Josh said this wasn't necessary, and Jennifer said there should have been. Rescheduled inspection. 9/13: Got a text from Jennifer saying I needed to schedule an inspection again, which made me think the previous inspection scheduled on 9/2 did not occur (error on her part). 9/17: Texted Josh asking for a follow up on the gift card. Zero acknowledgement. 10/12: Texted Josh again about the gift card. Josh texted me an email screenshot Alexa Gamble sent to Rachel, AJ, Catherine, and 7 other people for follow up. 10/20: Text from Ivie to schedule final electrical inspection for 10/27. I texted back requesting for 10/28, but didn't hear anything back from her. 10/28: No one shows up. 10/31: Text from Ivie saying that the technician had an emergency and her text to me never went through, now the final electrical inspection is scheduled for 11/10. 11/4: Texted Josh about the gift card. Zero response. 11/10: Lumio inspection with Seattle City Light. Was told additional work needed to be done. It has been two weeks, and I have heard nothing back from anyone about when that would be scheduled or take place. This only includes the correspondence I've had in writing with your organization. This does not include the countless phone calls I have made to follow up with your inability to provide clear communication and follow through. In writing this and reliving the experience I had with your company, I am completely astounded by your organization's inability to follow up your customers. It's not just one or two, but multiple people who have dropped the ball with communication with us.
Unhappy Solar Owner | University Place, Washington | 09/27/2022
Bad communication/customer service
From the beginning it started off fine, up until the inspection. My system was not installed properly, so it failed inspection. They did come out quickly to get me set up and paid for the reinspection fee. I had the system for 7 months before one of my panels stopped working. It has been nearly 4 months and it still isn't fixed. Two appointments that no one showed up for. Sent me the wrong part for repair. When someone did show up it was unexpected, and I had no idea they were coming. This is when I found out the wrong part was sent, and they would be back that following Monday. That has been about 3 weeks ago, and no one has been back. Every time I call or message, I get we will get this handled, we will get this taken care of right away. Honestly, one of the worst decisions I have made was getting solar through this company. I have so many unanswered messages when I have followed up on the repair. Then one of the guys that actually responds to me informs me the company has been having a lot of issues lately and that he personally had two people fired that week.....as if that was something to be proud of or boast about.
Rachel | Spokane, Washington | 04/07/2022
Do not recommend
No customer service! We can’t get our solar panels to be used because we can’t pass an inspection! Because no one can deliver the correct paperwork! NO APOLOGIES! No one takes our calls seriously. We were scammed. Don’t believe the sales pitch!
Bad Company | tacoma, WA | 12/09/2021
bad communication
I would not recommend this company at all ....they do not return calls or emails we had a system on order , but had many questions , which were never answered and we never heard back ...we contact them to cancel the order , and they sent me an invoice ..... do not get involved with this company
Jerry Chia | Camas, Washington | 10/04/2021
I have worst experience with Smart Energy Today
I was invited to their seminar dinner on 9/21 at The Heathman Lodge. Richard is a speaker. He claimed that a dedicated installation team will come in local to do installation for SOL-blanket and solar fan this week and next for those who sign an agreement with them. I referred my son-in-law and he signed an agreement on 9/25 and paid a down payment of $16,500. Then he was told that he will be contacted early days of the following week to schedule and complete the work that week. No one called after then. we contacted 9/29, 9/30 and 10/01 but there was never any response in scheduling the work. We call their main office on Saturday (10/02) morning and left a message but still no response. We called again on Monday (10/04) 8:15am. The lady was not taking this call seriously. She said she would work on this right away but did not commit when someone will call me. Then she said it is too early to get hold persons to get response to us. Then she hung up the phone. It is shameful to have a company operates like this.
Diane Hawkins | West Richland, Washington | 05/29/2021
They don’t call you back for service! 25 year warranty is a scam
I had solar fans and insulation installed on May 19th and it is making a rattling noise that can be heard inside the house. I have called 888-405-8689 repeatedly without a soul answering the phone. I have left messages and no one has returned my call. I have sent an email to support@smartenergy.net without any response either. How can a company that has a 25 year warranty on their product not support customers who have spent $8000 on their products?? At their dinner, they asked for three names of your friends so they can enter you into a raffle for a gift card. We won the gift card and we’ve asked about it four times and we were completely ignored. They said they would come out to drop it off and nothing. Integrity doesn’t go far with this company. Please consider the lack of support if you’re going with this company! Please DO NOT give them the names of your friends either because they don’t keep their word. It’s the principle behind it. If they can’t keep their word on small things, then they WILL NOT on important and bigger issues. I was planning on having them back for solar blanket installation after our home remodel and solar panels but they have completely shut the door on that.