Review for Strawberry Solar

Office location: 4444 2nd Avenue, Detroit MI, 48201

07/19/2023
Oasis Acres Highland, MI

Solar Review measure I will start with before the contract was signed for our $72,000 system, they were very eager to talk with me. Things have just gone down hill from there. I am not one to leave a bad review but I want other people to be aware of what happened. Before installing my system I spent a lot of time talking with the sales representative, the electrician and the owner about my unique situation. I also have a geothermal system which used to have a 30% discount meter attached to it. My average electric bill in the winter before solar was about $500. My main concern was loosing the discount meter for the geothermal system. We had agreements on the layout of the panels and the electrical before we signed the contract but on installation day everything changed. Strawberry Solars electrician called me the day of installation and told me he had “run the numbers” and he was sure that he was going to save us money by removing the discount meter. I spoke with the owner later that day to voice my concerns again. I let him know that if the system did not preform as described I was expecting them to make it right by reinstalling the discount meter. I can tell you, 2 years in to having our system that my electric bill in the winter is over $800 a month. On top of my $550 solar payments. My payments for my electric bill were calculated originally to be an average of $100. That is rarely the case. Continuing into the actual install of the system things just got worse. The owner was on site and I talked to him several times throughout the day. The original plan for my panel set up was change without our consent that day. 6 panels were moved to another location and again I was assured that they would be more efficient like that. Again, that is not the case. The 6 panels that were moved are producing on average 50kWh less a year than previously anticipated. That is 300kWh lost every year for us. I know it doesn’t seem like much but at this point I need all the help I can get with my electric bill. The installers also took no consideration to the fact that I have animals that use my lawn for food. They left metal shavings in the lawn where my animals eat and the electrician left small wires and plastic debris everywhere. Again. They knew that I had animals and could easily see that they were grazing in the yard all day while they worked. Needless to say, I spent several hours searching for every metal shaving, screw and piece of trash they had left behind to protect my animals. If all that wasn’t enough, my most recent interaction wasn’t any better. 3 months ago I contacted the company directly to let them know I wanted to have another battery installed so I could use more of my own electricity. This had been the plan from the beginning. I informed them that I had spent the last 1 1/5 years calling, texting and emailing the contacts that I had from my original installation and sale with no response. The customer service representative on the phone was argumentative and very defensive when I was explaining the original situation. We came to an agreement that he would email me so I could send him my most current electric bills and they could help me to resolve this situation. Unfortunately, I still have not received any communication from Strawberry Solar’s representative. This is the last straw for me. Others need to know what happened and I am hoping that this will prompt a response from someone at this company. system, they were very eager to talk with me. Things have just gone down hill from there. I am not one to leave a bad review but I want other people to be aware of what happened. Before installing my system I spent a lot of time talking with the sales representative, the electrician and the owner about my unique situation. I also have a geothermal system which used to have a 30% discount meter attached to it. My average electric bill in the winter before solar was about $500. My main concern was loosing the discount meter for the geothermal system. We had agreements on the layout of the panels and the electrical before we signed the contract but on installation day everything changed. Strawberry Solars electrician called me the day of installation and told me he had “run the numbers” and he was sure that he was going to save us money by removing the discount meter. I spoke with the owner later that day to voice my concerns again. I let him know that if the system did not preform as described I was expecting them to make it right by reinstalling the discount meter. I can tell you, 2 years in to having our system that my electric bill in the winter is over $800 a month. On top of my $550 solar payments. My payments for my electric bill were calculated originally to be an average of $100. That is rarely the case. Continuing into the actual install of the system things just got worse. The owner was on site and I talked to him several times throughout the day. The original plan for my panel set up was change without our consent that day. 6 panels were moved to another location and again I was assured that they would be more efficient like that. Again, that is not the case. The 6 panels that were moved are producing on average 50kWh less a year than previously anticipated. That is 300kWh lost every year for us. I know it doesn’t seem like much but at this point I need all the help I can get with my electric bill. The installers also took no consideration to the fact that I have animals that use my lawn for food. They left metal shavings in the lawn where my animals eat and the electrician left small wires and plastic debris everywhere. Again. They knew that I had animals and could easily see that they were grazing in the yard all day while they worked. Needless to say, I spent several hours searching for every metal shaving, screw and piece of trash they had left behind to protect my animals. If all that wasn’t enough, my most recent interaction wasn’t any better. 3 months ago I contacted the company directly to let them know I wanted to have another battery installed so I could use more of my own electricity. This had been the plan from the beginning. I informed them that I had spent the last 1 1/5 years calling, texting and emailing the contacts that I had from my original installation and sale with no response. The customer service representative on the phone was argumentative and very defensive when I was explaining the original situation. We came to an agreement that he would email me so I could send him my most current electric bills and they could help me to resolve this situation. Unfortunately, I still have not received any communication from Strawberry Solar’s representative. This is the last straw for me. Others need to know what happened and I am hoping that this will prompt a response from someone at this company.