Review for Semper Solaris

Office location: 10713 Norwalk Blvd, Santa Fe Springs CA, 90670

12/05/2022
meike kopp Santa Paula, CA

Bizarre and Negligent Experience

BEWARE - It says so much about a company when they refuse to communicate via email, clearly not wanting to commit their maliciousness to written fact - I contacted Semper Solaris in May 2021 because half the panels on a fairly new system that was installed in 2018 (sold to a veteran for $49k) had blown off and the system was down. As if in slow motion, it took Semper almost 5 months and 3 inverters to fix the system (which I was told by technicians were installed incorrectly). I believed, Semper Solaris owed me money for electricity costs during such a long down time (note: they insist they never pay electricity costs for downed systems) - at which time I realized how could the electricity cost not change with the system working or not? Weird. I contacted Semper Solaris and was assured I was unclear on my electricity usage. However, my deductive reasoning suggested that the system was either not connected to the grid or perhaps not connected to the meter. Was that possible from a system installed in 2018? Semper insisted they could not determine this themselves, its a Southern California Edison issue to solve (which I discovered is not exactly true and could have been solved very easily by a Semper Solaris technician coming and opening the connection boxes). After almost a year and a half of phone calls, emails, waiting on hold, more hours than I could count to resolve - I finally get Southern California Edison to inspect the meter 6 weeks ago, and low and behold - this solar system has not been connected to a meter since its installation in 2018, thus paying full electrical costs! Wow, and the SCE technician also stated that he had been here in 2018 because previous owner complained of the same issue, when the technician discovered that Semper had mistakenly connected this solar system to a third party oil rig and marked the oil rigs connection box with solar power stickers. Then in an attempt to correct (once discovered by SCE), they illegally accessed the SC&E meter and jury rigged a what they thought was a connection - once again, incorrectly, so that the solar system was, again, not connected!! SS finally connected this system , after 4 years of being unconnected (and don’t forget the beginning of the story where half the panels blew off). Their account exec disdainfully recently told me that I am like a person who bought a car from a car dealership and am complaining about a flat tire! This is so offensive after all I have been thorugh with them. They have skirted any kind of accountability conversation, and have now begun to refer to this as simply a “warranty issue” and will not discuss any financial damages. If it were not for my tenacious work over 17 months, this system would have paid full electricity for the lifetime of the system after almost $50,000 investment. While Semper Solaris seems to get press as a top tier solar company, I did find them on a consumer watchlist at California Solar Consumer Protection (www.cpuc.ca.gov), you can look up their watchlist of non-compliant solar providers. This has been a lesson in repeated corporate buffoonery and egregious and negligent business practices, over and over and over again. Stay away from this company!!!!