Solar PV Quote (tesco)

Siren1974

Hope you don't mind me posting a new thread, I'm completely overwhelmed by the amount of information on this site and thought this was the best way to get some advice.

We've been looking at getting solar panels for a while now and with Tesco offering 20% off we got a fella around for a quote. All the paperwork arrived today and I genuinely have no clue whether it's any good lol

This is what it says...

Proposed System Price

2.3kWp Kit : 10xSharp ND230, SMA SB2500 - £10,299
Discount (20%) - £2,059.8
Consume Unit Upgrade - 1 Way - £150
Upgrade/Install Main Equipotential Bonding to 10mm2 (gas and water) -£160

The roof criteria is SW facing, 45% pitch and no shading. The estimate for return, including electricity bills as roughly a grand.

Sorry if I sound like a stupid person, I'm totally befuddled by all this

TIA x

thenudeone

The going rate for a 4kW system is about £12k (including VAT) but some of the costs such as scaffolding are pretty fixed regardless of the installation size, so c.£8k for 2.3kW isn't too far away from what I'd expect. £1k pa saving looks about right too, perhaps a little optimistic if the roof is off due South.

If you have the funds and the roof space a bigger system would give a higher percentage return and a shorter payback.

family_turner

We applied for installation back in mid August with Tesco and paid the 25% deposit and returned the agreement acceptance page. We heard nothing regarding installation date and telephoned to find that they had lost the acceptance page - we resent.

Installation date confirmed by Tesco beginning of October. I paid a further 35% deposit. I took annual leave to be at home for the installation. Roofer turned up, but no scaffolding - job could not be done. We were promised the scaffolding would arrive 2 days hence. I took the afternoon off to meet scaffolders - you guessed, it did not turn up.

Tesco gave a further date for scaffolding to be done at 9am. I took another days annual leave - yep, did not turn up!

Yet, another date was confirmed by Tesco - this time scaffolding and roofer arrived. However, no electrician to connect the system. We are still awaiting for Tesco to get back to us with a date for the electrician to arrive.

I've telephoned many times and sent a complaint via email - Tesco have failed to respond!

We don't usually add info onto forums, however, this experience has prompted us to post this in order to give warning to others looking at purchasing Solar PV through Tesco.

scottme

I have been delaying my decision on which supplier to go with pending a quote from Tesco. Now it's arrived and despite me being very clear with their surveyor that I wanted a 4.0 KWp system (which other suppliers have all said was no problem given the size of my roof), Tesco have quoted me for 3.0 KWp system. And their £10500 price for that including discount is only £1500 less than the best quote I have for a 4.0 KWp system.

I suspect they are overwhelmed with requests because of their 20% offer, and are simply not taking the time to do a proper job on the quotes. I won't be going with them, and I'm rather annoyed that I've wasted a month or more waiting for them to quote.

Yut_Man

Where do I start. I got a few quotes TESCO seemed simular to a few others but with the tesco club points and the fact they are likely to be around in 25 years, I decided to go with them. Booked fitting date, with scaffolding due day before. Scaffolders arrived, early morning placed the scaffolding and left, nice job. then the phone went from the solar panel fitters, there electrician has just walked out (hmmm). so they cancelled the appointment. booked day of work for nothing. they then said they could not fit me in for another slot for another 4 week and I would have to put up with the scaffolding. Booked another day of work and got another week to go before I know if they turn up or not. not happy having scaffolding stuck up for 4 weeks doing nothing. People on these forums have started after me got good quotes and are now sat happy with there systems. im still sat here twiddling my fingers hoping it may happen

[Deleted User]

Tesco sent someone round who was here less than 10 mins. We never did get a quote - even though we rang up to find out where it was. So we went elsewhere.

zeupater

Yut_Man wrote: »

Where do I start. I got a few quotes TESCO seemed simular to a few others but with the tesco club points and the fact they are likely to be around in 25 years, I decided to go with them. Booked fitting date, with scaffolding due day before. Scaffolders arrived, early morning placed the scaffolding and left, nice job. then the phone went from the solar panel fitters, there electrician has just walked out (hmmm). so they cancelled the appointment. booked day of work for nothing. they then said they could not fit me in for another slot for another 4 week and I would have to put up with the scaffolding. Booked another day of work and got another week to go before I know if they turn up or not. not happy having scaffolding stuck up for 4 weeks doing nothing. People on these forums have started after me got good quotes and are now sat happy with there systems. im still sat here twiddling my fingers hoping it may happen

Hi

If it happened to me I'd ring them up and speak (yes speak !) to the most senior person that I could as they should be managing their sub-contractors much more professionally than this. You've been inconvenienced and there's the small matter of security that the scaffold affords, so I'd push the idea of compensation for what's happened to date, probably £1k would be a good place to start and would certainly make them take the conversation seriously, especially as I would ensure that they know that the compensation clock is still running . I take it that with the scaffolding being in place you've paid the second installment and did this no more than three weeks before the agreed system install date, so during the conversation request the REAL membership number of the contractor.

Read the REAL code thoroughly, taking note of sections 6 and 7 before the call ..... http://www.realassurance.org.uk/pdf/consumer-code.pdf , particularly 7.2 paragraph 6 ...

If a member makes a significant change to the agreed, specified delivery or installation date set out in the contract, the consumer will be entitled to cancel the contract and receive a full refund of any deposit or advance payment. This is in line with the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. To continue with the work, the member will need to issue the consumer with a new contract, including a new cooling-off period. (This does not apply to changes that result from events beyond the member's control.) If no delivery date has been specified, the goods and services should still be provided within a reasonable length of time. Members should make consumers aware of their rights under this legislation. If a delay is the responsibility of the consumer, for example if they have not got the permission they need in time, the member will use their best endeavours to arrange a new start date that is convenient to both of them.

....)


After the call confirm the details of the call directly with the contact you spoke to via email. The contact will likely be at Enact, so the next stage would be to contact Tesco head office and somehow find someone responsible for renewables. If you're given the run around get the details for their UK or global sales director and their customer liaison director and make sure that any further correspondence with Enact is copied to both until either they have delegated to the correct individual in the organisation, or you are happy with the outcome.

It is not an issue which you have caused, therefore as long as you are polite you can be particularly firm on your position. I would expect that if I was to take this approach the relevant rockets would be launched in the correct direction(s) and a system would be in place sooner rather than later ....

HTH
Z

christineperseus

You're lucky they actually turned up!
I have taken two days off work for a quote.
I was expecting them between 1 and 4 - they called at 12:35 to cancel.
The second time they didn't turn up at all ............. Tesco say they no longer deal with that company.
I am expecting someone to quote tomorrow - I too can waste their time!!!!!

BornAtTheRightTime

It seems there is a big variation in the service from Tesco's (Enact's) suppliers. Perhaps I was lucky that Enact sent Paynes (East Sussex) to me as I had no complaints at all over the visit, quote and booking procedure. The only slight hiccup was Enact delivered the wrong inverter which I spotted and called Paynes' surveyor. Within 10 minutes Enact called me apologising profusely, blaming a new software package and arranging for the correct inverter to be delivered direct by 10am next day. It was - although Paynes's electrician was not able to return for 2 days due to other jobs.

The FIT certificate turned up 4 days after the install completed so I was able to get it to E.ON within 5 business days to qualify for registration from install date.

zeupater

BornAtTheRightTime wrote: »

It seems there is a big variation in the service from Tesco's (Enact's) suppliers. Perhaps I was lucky that Enact sent Paynes (East Sussex) to me as I had no complaints at all over the visit, quote and booking procedure. The only slight hiccup was Enact delivered the wrong inverter which I spotted and called Paynes' surveyor. Within 10 minutes Enact called me apologising profusely, blaming a new software package and arranging for the correct inverter to be delivered direct by 10am next day. It was - although Paynes's electrician was not able to return for 2 days due to other jobs.

The FIT certificate turned up 4 days after the install completed so I was able to get it to E.ON within 5 business days to qualify for registration from install date.

Agree .... problem will be with the subcontractors ... they'll be the weak point, especially if it's a small operation who are working on a fixed price from Enact and therefore not as concerned at keeping the the Enact/Tesco customer as happy as their own direct customers where the real profit is .... but it's still down to Enact to pull their finger out and crack the whip a little in order to maintain their own reputation, even if that means agreeing compensation or instructing another contractor to complete the work ... the way it's going you'll probably find that Yut_Man will be getting an automatically generated 'final demand' letter for overdue payment of the last installment before the system arrives

Z

Yut_Man

Thanks for the advise. I think I am to nice sometimes. Ill give them to the agreed date (week on thursday) and then the appropiate rocket will be launched as zeupater suggested. Yes the second deposit was paid.