Solarking quote, are they to be trusted now?

albatosh

Hi,
Had a quote yesterday from Solarking, in summary 14 panels, 1x1.7 3.5 kw SAP (?) 711 + 892 output 2850.5 1st year 'FiT £395.65 g'teed £8579 which included a one off 'discount ' of £1500 - bit concerned as to the one off discount - Our orientation is South and East, pitch 35 degrees and it would be a split array. Extra was a 'solarking' discount card worth 3% cash back at ASDA, B & Q etc. Has Solarking tidied up it's act or are they still to be treated with caution? Cheers, John

Sterlingtimes

I refused to engage with Solar King when then insisted that my wife must attend their sales session with it. It is, said Solar King, the law that a wife and husband must make the decision jointly.

Their approach had all the hallmarks of a time share sales approach.

KevinG

albatosh wrote: »

£8579 which included a one off 'discount ' of £1500 - bit concerned as to the one off discount

"One-off discount" = you will get a much better deal from someone else. I know this from bitter experience.

KevinG

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

It is, said Solar King, the law that a wife and husband must make the decision jointly.

So, if you are single, I presume you must get married to buy from Solar King.

pw22

I believe they are breaking RECC guidelines by offering a discount of more than £250 and the price they have quoted you is about £2-3k over priced compared to the prices which others have been getting on here.

Sterlingtimes

KevinG wrote: »

So, if you are single, I presume you must get married to buy from Solar King.

Presumably, Solar King would have to establish whether the house is a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common before they would talk to anyone.

But they cannot cite the point of law that make the wife's attendance mandatory.

Clearly, this is ridiculous since there is no requirement for husbands and wives to be jointly involved in house-related purchase decisions. This must be a sales ploy.

Solar King told me that the visit could not go ahead.

KevinG

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

But they cannot cite the point of law that make the wife's attendance mandatory.

Of course not, as it is rubbish. They can choose not to sell without both parties present but that's entirely their business decision.

tunnel

albatosh wrote: »

Hi,

Has Solarking tidied up it's act or are they still to be treated with caution? Cheers, John

Who knows if they've smartened their act up....but going on the price they've quoted they're still trying to rip out the eyes of the gullible....do people really use them?

Milky_Jones

they are not to be trusted, they use big drops and tell you your return is guaranteed, don't even tell you what panels or inverters they are going to fit, tell you every system is bespoke to suit each property but you will get the best system there is for your property, then the fit the cheapest poly Chinese panels they can buy in bulk at the time and get a subcontractor to chuck them on your roof in no time.

Avoid like the plague.

Sterlingtimes

I can see that Solarking's model is to fund a high marketing and selling cost through over-priced installations. They have people walking around housing estates cold calling. When they get a little interest then a call centre telephones to book an appointment. At that time then tell you that the husband and wife must be in attendance ("it's the law"). If you say, "no my wife will not attend", they drop the sales pitch immediately. I rather surmise that when you get a visit the sales approach will be similar to timeshare selling.

Fortunately, there are sellers who win business on reputation rather than aggressive sales techniques.

smitchy73

Sounds a bit Like HELMS up here in Scotland, £8k for a 4kWhp system, but you can do it on finance for £103 per month x 120 months, total payback over £12k.