Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

Jon_Tiffany

beedydad wrote: »

A poster has suggested better and more customer friendly (i would say more financially rewarding deals) may well come along.

Regards

I would say only in the short term - i.e between now and April 2012 when the FITs start to reduce. In my opinion prices will not be driven down enough, in fact the increased demand may even push prices in the short term - look at the worldwide shortage of inverters as an example.

Poosmate

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

I would say only in the short term - i.e between now and April 2012 when the FITs start to reduce. In my opinion prices will not be driven down enough, in fact the increased demand may even push prices in the short term - look at the worldwide shortage of inverters as an example.

You could be right there Jon, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. I do wonder how the little guys will compete against the bigger companies, the only way I can see is to make the price more lucrative to buy.

Let's not forget that there is a limited number of customers they can (or should) sell to. I wonder what percentage of the property market are suitable for solar panels? I also wonder when we will be fighting on this "consumer group" forum for mis-sold solar panels by the unscrupulous people who are currently jumping on the bandwagon (I checked the MCS registration site just the other night). There are loads of new companies being registered, a lot within the last couple of months.

All of these companies are touting for the same customers (those of us with the right facing/pitched roofs). Many of whom don't want to invest in such a long term alteration (improvement?) to their home, either for financial reasons or aesthetical reasons or just ignorance of the system/FiTs.

I think the real scam is yet to come. Little old ladies with east/west facing roofs being mislead to believe their panels will generate enough electric to make a difference to their bills, people who's rooves are maybe not strong enough to take the weight of the system, or rooves with the wrong pitch. I'm sure there are other reasons why solar panels would not be suitable but I don't know them. Just thinking aloud here.

I guess the bottom line, as with any alteration to your property or large purchase, is to do as much research as possible.

Poo

lemfizz

M4ximillion wrote: »

But it tells you everything on the website and i alwo got copy of their lease without any hassle i wouldnt have applied at all otherwise. i like to know what i may be getting myeslf into:).

So do I, thats why we pulled out.

I thought this forum was called Free solar power system. Is it a scam?

We followed the correct procedure on the website, did more research, considered the options and decided not to proceed. I thought it might be helpful to share our experience with others on this forum, but it seems that some people would rather criticise our decision than consider an alternative view to theirs.

Keep the blinkers on!

Poosmate

Good for you Lemfizz, if you didn't feel right about it you had every right to not go ahead with it. Maybe if it's something that you are seriously thinking about and your experience with ASG hasn't put you off, you may want to try Homesun.co.uk (I think). They are running a similar scheme whereby they place the panels for free (or for £500 + £5 pcm and you get the choice to buy them at a later date).

I can see a lot of people preferring to take that route than the totally free panels because people always live in hope that "things will be better next year" even if things haven't got better for the last 10 years! lol (Or is it just me?)

Don't give up because you've had a bad experience with one company and certainly don't let anyone on here make you feel like you committed the crime of the century by voicing an opinion that's contrary to theirs. Your opinion counts as muh as anyone elses.

Anyway, for anyone who wishes to buy their own panels I have a link to the MCS register. Check out all the newly registered ones!

http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/Home+and+Business+Owners/Microgeneration+Installers/Solar+Photovoltaic

There are even installers in Scotland. Hope that answers a question that was posted on this thread and not the other thread on the Utilities board in Electric & Gas sub board! lol

Poo

Cardew

lemfizz wrote: »

We followed the correct procedure on the website, did more research, considered the options and decided not to proceed. I thought it might be helpful to share our experience with others on this forum, but it seems that some people would rather criticise our decision than consider an alternative view to theirs.

Keep the blinkers on!

I stated above:

Whilst I personally agree with your reservation that the rewards of the scheme are meagre, I find it difficult to understand why you feel you feel you are under pressure

No criticism, merely a comment that it might have been better to have found out full details before applying and having a surveyor visit. You would surely have felt under 'less pressure' had you not applied before knowing for what you were applying!!

Jon_Tiffany

Poosmate wrote: »

I think the real scam is yet to come. Little old ladies with east/west facing roofs being mislead to believe their panels will generate enough electric to make a difference to their bills, people who's rooves are maybe not strong enough to take the weight of the system, or rooves with the wrong pitch. I'm sure there are other reasons why solar panels would not be suitable but I don't know them. Just thinking aloud here.

I guess the bottom line, as with any alteration to your property or large purchase, is to do as much research as possible.

Poo

I think the MCS scheme will go a long way to stop any misselling, they have to use the governments SAP system for estimating the output, plus no MCS accreditation = No business.

The problem will be two fold - firstly how effective will the MCS be at checking up on installers. Secondly, the installer may do everything 'by the book', but the homeowner doesn't fully understand the technical aspects of what they are buying.

lemfizz

Cardew wrote: »

I stated above:



No criticism, merely a comment that it might have been better to have found out full details before applying and having a surveyor visit. You would surely have felt under 'less pressure' had you not applied before knowing for what you were applying!!

So before you make any decision you have to have all the facts before you, you're not allowed to reconsider or change your mind. If you are invited to apply for something on a website you must not do so unless you are absolutely sure you are not going to change your mind. You must not let someone survey your property because you might be wasting their time!

And you must under no circumstances try to be helpful and share your views with anyone else on a forum like this because some people wont appreciate it.

So I've got one more piece of advice for anyone who has already applied for the solar panels - don't read this forum, don't consider any advice offered on here, don't believe the figures quoted, because if you do you may just change your mind, and thats frowned upon.

Poosmate - thank you for your advice, it is invaluable and positive.

M4ximillion

Poosmate wrote: »

Good for you Lemfizz, if you didn't feel right about it you had every right to not go ahead with it. Maybe if it's something that you are seriously thinking about and your experience with ASG hasn't put you off, you may want to try Homesun.co.uk (I think). They are running a similar scheme whereby they place the panels for free (or for £500 + £5 pcm and you get the choice to buy them at a later date).

Poo

hi I think its you who's mentioned homesun before, you seem to know a bit about homesun - have you seen their contract because i'm still waiting for a copy of it, in fact am still waiting for a response. I just want to know, is it JUST the £500 you ahve to pay, or does it depend on your roof? Also, if you want to 'buy' them out later on, how much do they charge? Also, how many installs have they done and is there anyone reading this forum who've had any installs from them or isis???

Poosmate

M4ximillion wrote: »

hi I think its you who's mentioned homesun before, you seem to know a bit about homesun - have you seen their contract because i'm still waiting for a copy of it, in fact am still waiting for a response. I just want to know, is it JUST the £500 you ahve to pay, or does it depend on your roof? Also, if you want to 'buy' them out later on, how much do they charge? Also, how many installs have they done and is there anyone reading this forum who've had any installs from them or isis???

Hi Max, I applied to Homesun when I first heard about them on this or the other thread. I got this email back on 13/08/10:


Hello,

Thank you very much for contacting HomeSun.

As you may have guessed, the response we had to our launch was absolutely terrific. This mail is just to let you know that we're in the process of going through all the applications, you are logged onto our system and, if you haven't yet heard from us, we will get back to you very soon to let you know whether or not your roof is eligible.

Thank you for your patience.


[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]HomeSun Customer Team[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]0844 824 0000[/FONT]





NOTE: Please do not reply to this e-mail. Replies to this address are not monitored or reviewed.

I haven't heard anything since.

All of the info is on their website:

http://www.homesun.com/

Scroll to the bottom of the first page and click SolarShare, that's where it says about paying £500 plus £5pcm for a service charge. This is for installation of a 2.5kw system.

As I've mentioned before (either here or on the other thread) ASG set the bar, Isis can (or could) work to that bar, Homesun are offering the same plus. ASG and Isis are not in direct competition with each other as one is up't north and the other is daaawn saaaf. I'm not sure where Homesun are targetting but they've dropped the bar a level and are offering a better package (assuming all things are equal i.e. quality of goods, service and aftercare).

I do get the impression that these three companies are suffering somewhat from their own immediate success, happen that will calm down over the coming months, especially if they don't advertise (I guess they don't need to atm as word of mouth is spreading the news like wildfire by the looks of it).

Hope that helps.

Poo

beedydad

Poosmate wrote: »

Hi Max, I applied to Homesun when I first heard about them on this or the other thread. I got this email back on 13/08/10:


Hello,

Thank you very much for contacting HomeSun.

As you may have guessed, the response we had to our launch was absolutely terrific. This mail is just to let you know that we're in the process of going through all the applications, you are logged onto our system and, if you haven't yet heard from us, we will get back to you very soon to let you know whether or not your roof is eligible.

Thank you for your patience.


[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]HomeSun Customer Team[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]0844 824 0000[/FONT]





NOTE: Please do not reply to this e-mail. Replies to this address are not monitored or reviewed.

I haven't heard anything since.

All of the info is on their website:

http://www.homesun.com/

Scroll to the bottom of the first page and click SolarShare, that's where it says about paying £500 plus £5pcm for a service charge. This is for installation of a 2.5kw system.

As I've mentioned before (either here or on the other thread) ASG set the bar, Isis can (or could) work to that bar, Homesun are offering the same plus. ASG and Isis are not in direct competition with each other as one is up't north and the other is daaawn saaaf. I'm not sure where Homesun are targetting but they've dropped the bar a level and are offering a better package (assuming all things are equal i.e. quality of goods, service and aftercare).

I do get the impression that these three companies are suffering somewhat from their own immediate success, happen that will calm down over the coming months, especially if they don't advertise (I guess they don't need to atm as word of mouth is spreading the news like wildfire by the looks of it).

Hope that helps.

Poo

Yes - as stated before they may well be swamped but they should, as a serious business model, have gone thru worst/best case scenarios before putting these deals into the public domain - especially for thelikes of MSE to get hold of it and the followers!

It seems they have not got their infrastructure sorted and no doubt have not got either sufficient staffing nor PV kits - let alone other elements such as scaffolding, etc.

So could be an ever lengthening wait for such a good deal!!

I remember all those previous "free" deals - example being a free holiday by buying a hoover!!!! what happened to that????

DYOR.

It is the right thing to do to have the company rep to visit and go thru the finer points, why not? You are going to have a big bit of kit sitting on your roof for 25 odd years so i think it makes good sence to see the company whether you like them and get a decent feel as to whether they are genuine, creditable, trustworthy etc.

Just trusting their websites to make a decision seems barmy!! Anyone can make a website seem half decent it does not tell you the whole story - buyer beware!

Regards