Review for Solar SME

Office location: Chestnut Ave, Bowie MD, 20715

10/04/2023
Michael B Baltimore, MD

"Just not SMEs"

My experience with SolarSME was mediocre. My salesperson Jim was very personable and designed a system customized to my property’s needs. First and foremost, SolarSME is very, very (very!) expensive. Even with an 800+ credit score, SolarSME’s interest rate was more than 600% higher than others, but I purchased my system outright with cash so I missed that red flag. The reason I agreed to their price premium over Tesla and others was because I trusted that SolarSME would provide a significantly better installation and support experience for 25 years vs. Tesla’s 10—so far, they haven’t… at all. First, I got final engineering designs back from SolarSME for approval. The first (obviously) didn’t meet building code so I rejected it. The second and third designs used my neighbors’ roof/ property to reach the system size promised in my sales presentation. After that fiasco, permits and applications to complete the build were filed late and incorrectly leading to significant delays. I tried to cancel my contract with SolarSME, but the cancellation fee was so egregious that I settled for SolarSME’s promise to assign my account to a new PM with additional oversight of SolarSME’s operations manager through project completion. I was assigned a new PM, Emir, who was better than Reuben but I continued to have issues and SolarSME’s senior management could care less and were nowhere to be found until after I filed a BBB complaint against them. It took SolarSME’s installers 3 tries on different 3 days to get the system installed and working correctly. Neither of the inspections went well—the first city inspector was displeased with some of their work but SolarSME’s technician was able to fix the deficiencies while the inspector waited impatiently and eventually signed off. The second city inspector left after arriving for the appointment and leaving due to SolarSME being a no show. SolarSME’s technician was there—he had just fallen asleep, literally, on the job. SolarSME says their price premium is because they use higher quality materials and have a proactive Compliance Team actively monitoring and identifying issues before the homeowner is even aware for 25 years. I don’t know about material quality, but in the first 25 *days,* there were half of a dozen system alarms and SolarSME’s “Compliance Team” was unaware and absent. To be honest, I have serious doubt they even exist. It took me several follow up calls and e-mails to get these alarms cleared, access to my own system via the various (clunky at best, faulty at worst) apps. and portals, the Pearl Certification documentation, and for both my SREC and MEA rebate application to be completed and submitted. SolarSME ultimately did fulfill their requirements but necessity and frequency of following up is not what I bargained for and not what was sold. When I raised my concerns to SolarSME’s senior management, they were argumentative and unhelpful, actually making matters worse. At the end of the day, my PM Emir tried his best but SolarSME’s management had obviously tied his hands behind his back. I don’t regret my decision to go solar but I wouldn’t choose SolarSME again. The experience isn’t what’s promised/ sold, their solution—while customizable—is very expensive and not as aesthetically pleasing compared to competitors, and was generally not what I expected from “subject matter experts.” We’ll see how reliable my system is over the next 25 years and if SolarSME can be bothered to clean my panels, maintain, and monitor/ repair my system as agreed.