06/28/2014
Anonymous
I had priced out a couple of businesses, and this one was the most affordable for me given the type of system I was looking for. I imagine the main reason is that they do all of the work themselves, rather than contracting it out. I liked this, because I liked knowing who I was talking to on the phone, who I was going to meet with to discuss the contract, and who was getting up on the roof. I spoke with Bob from the beginning. He patiently talked to me probably 3 different times to answer questions and offer suggestions. These 3 times probably totaled about 5 hours. I liked that he was never pushy, buy always offered his opinion when asked. Some other companies might try to steer you in one direction for the wrong reasons, or be non-committal when you are looking for suggestions. An example of this was when I was deciding between micro vs string inverters. Bob explained the pros and cons of each, and I asked him, "Which would you choose in my situation." He told me the micro and why.<br /><br />I am a bit of a paranoid buyer. I always think that more informed people are trying to take advantage of the less-informed. So every company I talked to, I researched afterward to see if the research agreed with what I was being told. With Bob and Larry, it always was.<br /><br />The first time they came out to the house to talk business, they were up on the roof so they could get measurements, assess how it would look, and get accurate solar angles, etc. When I met with other companies, they didn't get on the roof, and it seemed they were a little less committed until I was fully committed.<br /><br />When I signed with Upstate Alternative, Bob turned me over to Larry, and we handled all of the paperwork and signatures via email.<br /><br />There was one issue that we came upon, which was the panels I was looking for were 255 watt panels. However, they were not in stock so they offered me a 265 watt panel at the same cost. I was very content with that; who wouldn't want a higher wattage panel at the same price. Before I agreed I researched the new panel and decided it was worth it. Within a week they were on the roof. They came three different days, and were totally done in about 1 week, with only 1 of those days being a full work day. I officially signed at the end of March, and the system was humming on April 12th.<br /><br />I then went online and watched my roof produce electricity for me. However, during our meet and greet, they had shown me how I could watch each panel individually produce, but my log-in was not doing that. I contacted Larry to ask why that was, and the company had created restricted views. In order to view them unrestricted, I needed to pay (I think) 250 additional dollars. Larry apologized and offered to pay half of that, which I was fine with.<br /><br />During the whole process, they were always quick to respond, whether it be by text, phone call, or email. Very stand-up guys. When we were talking about different energy-saving techniques, Larry offered to install a pool timer in our basement, and did so at no additional cost. We had a birch tree in the front corner of the house that I planned on cutting down to maximize our solar return. Bob said, "Do you have a chainsaw, because I can cut that down right now." <br /><br />I know this is probably a record-breaking review in terms of length, but when I was trying to decide on an installer, the longer reviews helped me a lot more than the short ones did.