Review for Smart Wave Solar

Office location: 8354 Northfield Blvd, Denver CO, 80238

02/28/2023
Cory Nelson Erie, CO

9 months plus and still no production

I think that sums it up, but for more read below. We decided to move forward with Solar after years of reviewing. Being super cautious and engineering-minded I decided to get quotes from 8 companies. Having found the equipment I wanted, at a price point I thought was reasonable, a salesman I was familiar with (although at a new company), and Smart Wave Solar seemed reputable. Well, I am here to tell anyone looking for reviews, I feel I made a bad choice here. We signed up with them on May 23, 2022, with the expectation of having solar up and running in 3-4 months. It is now February 28th, 2023, 281 days later. That’s 9 months and 5 days. The biggest problem I can see is that there is no project manager. No one has notes on what is happening, how it should happen. No one thought about parts until the panels were on the roof. You can’t cry supply chain issues when you didn’t order it up front. Materials should have been considered up front upon signing, not as they are needed. Unfortunately with a job of this size and repeated visits to my property, it is hard to recall all of the shortcomings of this crew. To list a few • The Salesman is the only one who returns messages and calls promptly. Others I wait for days. The most recent discussions with the president, I can’t even get a callback. They are just finger pointing at each other saying the other person was supposed to call you. • Xcel delays through summer, change your rhetoric if time frames change the expectations stated up front. The problem was that after Xcel delays through the summer, which I did understand was out of their control but also certainly out of mine, they then started telling me about supply chain issues. You noted what equipment was needed and you ordered it when needed, not up front. • Installed panels end of October. So they have been on the roof for 3 full months now. Maybe the one thing that went well so far? That crew wasn’t bad, but it was also clear no one knew who to speak with as the project manager or coordinator. Here is where it really started going downhill. • My house was built in 2000, so the panel is an all in one and is only rated for 150amps. They originally understood they were going to need to replace the panel, but per the electrician who showed up “we believe we found a workaround that will allow them to derate my panel” Basically getting out of replacing the panel, jamming me with no slots left and a questionable power delivery. • After stating they have already tried that in my city and it didn’t pass, they decided they would then replace the panel and meter, but supply chain issues again…. • Few weeks later, the SAME electrician who was there the first time shows up with a panel and meter, separates instead of all in one. He comes to review the installation and they realize “its not going to fit where they planned”. This is the same crew that was there previously. Do you not have pictures? So now realizing they were going to have to dig and move the incoming wires from Xcel, they stated the ground was too cold to dig. They came out for nothing, AGAIN. We warmed the house, shut off PC’s and appliances, in hopes of progress. This was the second or third time this was done. The bigger point was that the onsite crew lied to their superiors on the reasons they couldn’t work, this bothers me greatly. • Next a new electrician and helper showed up, and finally got the right equipment installed. They dug to move the incoming Xcel wires, digging up rock and weed barrier, then mud, then just packing it all back down together. Appreciate that! I would have gladly dug if I knew we were going to have to fix it afterwards anyway. • Now we area all prepared and waiting for yet another phase. We spent two months chasing them down about this being ridiculous and got some approval for being reimbursed. So far I have a check for <$60. I still do not know how they plan on fixing this, all the while energy prices are going through the roof increasing my electric bill. • Finally today I got to speak to my project coordinator, who told me the president got spread very thin and couldn’t reach out. I told the person that the president also texted me, that he was on VACATION!! I have been lied to repeatedly here, and this one is was the icing on the cake. Spread too thin, or on vacation and doesn’t care about projects that are delayed with his business?!?