Review for Freedom Forever

Office location: 43445 Business Park Drive STE 110, Temecula CA, 92590

04/01/2024
DocBob Tucson, AZ

Would not recommend company or salespeople

Review of Our Solar Power Installation with Freedom Forever Solar Company We got to this company on the recommendation of our pest control company, after having already had discussions with several salespeople with other companies and not liking the prices or knowledge displays. We dealt with a salesperson named Julie Festerling, whom if I remember correctly was actually an independent sales agent for a company contracted to sell for FF on commission. She was very pleasant, seemed quite knowledgeable, and gave us a good price and terms. So we signed and gave a deposit. The entire project took almost 6 months; it started well, they surveyed our place and the roof, and the panels were installed quickly and efficiently, and then the problems started. Nothing was happening, so we called and called FF (more on this later). We also called Julie a fair amount. Here eventual repsonse was to just drop us - not call back, and refer us to her boss, Tom Rompel for him to deal with. He was quite nice, very sympathetic, and essentially accomplished nothing for us. We ultimately found out that the project had been assigned to the FF local office in Phoenix, and we live in Tucson, so it had to be transferred back to Tucson. FF then designed a system and put it to Pima County which rejected it, and told them our electric service and panel weren't large enough capacity to handle the installation. After months of calling and nothing happening (more later), FF finally came out, installed a new panel and total rewire, and a new Tucson Electric Power (TEP} meter, and then wired up the microinverters to the production meter and back into the Grid. Within a few weeks we were inspected, up and now running. It's rated at 10.78 kW, and it has not produced more than 5.3, since we turned it on about 3 weeks ago. They are supposed to be looking at the system online through my Enphase app, and deciding whether they need to come out. Entire project took about 6 months. Then I got an email saying they would show me how to turn it on and operate it AFTER I made the final payment! That wasn't in the contract, so I wrote back saying I would make the payment after the system was operational and I knew how to use it! I made the payment after they threatened to send me to collections, and the system is working, though not, as I said, up to specs.Problems with this company from my experience: They are very difficult to call. One may wait forever on the customer service line, and leaving a message got us a return call only about 40-50% of the time. There does not seem ever to be one individual who has overall responsibility for the project, and with whom you can communicate on a continuing basis. Every call get you a different customer support advisor. Just before the installation of the new panel we finally got to an Electrical Supervisor, Zach Pignataro, who is a dream come true! He essentially took charge of the remainder of the work, gave us all his contact info, and told us to contact him directly. If he ever gets his own company I'm sending all my referrals to him. We also got contacted by another Zac, Zac Allen, who I think is a customer service supervisor. He told us that, once the contract was complete and fully paid, there might be avenues of recourse to get us some compensation for our horrible experience. However, now that we have fully paid, he has stopped contacting us and is not returning my calls, I think he was just stringing us along to get the final payment. They seem to have almost no organization to effectively deal with projects and customers. We certainly cannot be the only customers with these experiences. Suggestions: For those of you putting in solar, I would strongly suggest that you insist on a construction-type of contract: a schedule of payouts upon completion of construction milestones, with specific dates for completion, and per diem monetary penalties or credits for delays. Unfortunately, based on our experience, I can't give either FF or its salespeople a good recommendation