Solar electric dodgy salesmanship

malch

A friend has looked into having rent a roof solar panel system fitted, after having a local installer around he called me to see what i thought as he know i have panels fitted.
i looked at doing mine as rent a roof, but soon went off the idea and bought mine. anyway after a bit of chat about using the generated electric as it was produced during the day, he then told me that the saleman said that he could use the power upto three hours AFTER the sun had gone down:rotfl: i though he was pulling my leg but no he honestly said that. there is some sharp practice going on out there.

i have told him to log onto this forum to get some better idea.

Dave101t

dont the solar panels charge capacitors for delayed use after sundown? this technology is pathetic, wait another 40 years.

Cardew

Dave101t wrote: »

dont the solar panels charge capacitors for delayed use after sundown? this technology is pathetic, wait another 40 years.

That is a joke I hope?

malch

I kid you not; I thought he was just winding me up to start off with.
I was told a porkie when I bought mine but got it sorted although I believe that firm is still using the same patter, I think that being a relative new technology to the majority they will try and baffle people with bullpoo.

zeupater

Hi

On a similar note, I did have a quote where the 'surveyor' ambled on about the panels being that good in low light conditions that they were able to produce power by moonlight ... :rotfl::rotfl: .... he actually was attempting to make a serious point until I asked what the inverter was capable of ...... :cool:

There are so many 'surveyors' out there working for larger installers that are just given an induction, a tape measure, a sat-nav & a commission agreement that it's almost unbelieveable, whereas with smaller companies you actually do get to talk to someone who knows what they're on about, even if they don't always have the 'Gift of the gab'.

Z

celerity

It sounds like a salesman talking boll*x.

However, on the slim chance he's being misquoted, maybe what he was trying to say is that even though you might think the sun has gone down such that the panels won't generate, they actually do still produce electricity in ambient, non-obvious sunlight.

For example, until I had my panels, I never expected them to still be generating at 9pm in May, but they did.

Like I say though, I'm being a bit kind - he was probably blagging!

/\dam

celerity

One surveyor of a large, national company freely admitted he was just a salesman and wouldn't be involved in the work for our installation. He tried to tell me my roof was perfectly due South, and showed me a cheap compass to prove it. I told him he was holding it wrong, which he disputed, and even when I told him I could clearly see the angle in Google Earth he wouldn't relent. I seem to recall he was telling me my payback would be around 8-9 years too, which is unlikely in my opinion.

My other two surveys were from independent local firms. Both surveyors turned out to be the company owners, and they were far superior in every way.

/\dam

malch

here is another one i heard today.
one of my customers (nothing to do with solars or any energy come to that) was getting quotes about 12 months ago, one particular rep,he can't remember which company, said that if he wished to sell his property in 10 years he would still recieve his FITs payments for the remainder of the 25 year period. i don't think so.:rotfl:
The only way i could see that happening would be if he could talk his buyer into renting his roof out for the next 15 years. what a right carry on that would be, writing up contracts ect.

vickyanne_2

We've just had one who told us repeatedly that people think it's the sun you need for solar panels to generate electricity but it's not, it's light so when the moon's shining brightly we'll still be making money:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

then he got cross because we wouldn't sign up there and then so we could get the 'first house on the estate' discount etc - just like a good old double glazing salesman:mad:

james2012_2

I had a phone call from some company and the caller told me I would save £2000 a year on my electricity bill what with FITS and what I would save on my bill.

Anyway, after stringing him along for a while I said, that's good can you come and give me a quote and will my upstairs neighbour be able to save as well. Upstairs neighbour he said? yes, and do I need council permission as it is a council tenement.

He swore and hung up.

thenudeone

I was browsing an unrelated website and the following "adchoices" advert was showing in a panel on the page:

Madness of Solar Power
Buy it at 13p - sell it for 44p! Expert Solar Panel Installers
https://www.spiritsolar.co.uk

I suppose if you could get 4kW of panels to produce 3000 kWh pa for 25 years and they cost £10k, the average cost would be 13p/kWh, but I think it's very misleading to present it in this way.

Any Views?