05/28/2019
Emerald Coast Solar
Churburna Puerto
As a solar installer, I was looking for the highest producing panel for a restricted roof area and, at the time, the Sunpreme 320 bi-facial seemed to fit the bill. Two years later, three of the 16 panels have failed. The issue is that the sheets of glass separated, allowing water to penetrate to the inside of the panels. We filed a claim on behalf of our clients for replacement of the panels. Months went by with Sunpreme either silent on the claim, or requiring tests be conducted that had nothing to do with the panel problem. Finally after more than 4 months and numerous phone calls by us and our wholesale distributor, Sunpreme agree to replace the panels. We are based in Mexico and Sunpreme agreed to ship the panels from the US to Mexico. We were happy to finally have the issue resolved, we thought. But no, Sunpreme is now insisting that we pay (as per the warranty) for shipping from the US to Mexico - $600.00 dollars US. That is more than the cost to buy the panels! Yes the warranty is clear, shipping is the customers responsibility. Yes we should have done our due diligence and fully checked the warranty before using this company. However, this clause alone makes the entire warranty virtually invalid. Who would pay more to have a panel covered under warranty than what it costs to by a new panel? This is just one of the sections of their warranty that is so one sided as to make it virtually impossible to get any satisfaction when there is a problem with one or more of the panels. Another section invalidates the warranty if the panel can come in contact with salt. Not good for beach side installations. This was not the first issue we had with this company. We also installed (on the same system) a panel that after it had been installed, and in position for more than an hour, mysteriously cracked and then shattered. No one was near the panel and it had not been mishandled in any way. It was installed in a string of panels and all the panels around it remained fine. When this was brought to the attention of Sunpreme, they flat out refused to warranty the panel and claimed there was no way this could happen with their product. As a solar installer, we depend on the quality of the products we install to meet the claims made by the manufacturer, but more than that, we depend on the manufacturer to stand behind their products. Sunpreme has failed to do this on not one but two instances, leaving us to deal with the end user. Their failure to provide a dependable product and, their failure to stand behind the product they manufacture and, their willingness to write and enforce a guarantee that is basically worthless (at least here in Mexico) means that our company will never consider using this company or their products in the future and we would advise against anyone using these panels. They may work great but, just never have an issue with them.