Solar Refund

theshed

I have recently been contacted by a company called 'AFK Letters' of Manchester offering to help me obtain a refund for mis-sold solar panels.
Quoting many reasons including loss of Guarantee, damage by installers, FiT exaggerations and GDPR issues, quite amusing that one.
I explained we had received partial refund from Barclays without applying, but AFK say we could receive full refund.
Of course there will be, as yet undisclosed charge for this service.
Anyone dealt with this company and indeed if such a claim is possible ?
Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Google is your friend:

https://www.justanswer.co.uk/law/jqc9e-approached-company-afk-letters-regarding.html

theshed

Thanks for that link. I did try trust Pilot but they are not listed.
I will certainly not be parting with any cash.
Do you think my partial refund from Barclays is the limit ?
Don't get me wrong, Barclays contacted me and I was more than happy with their approach. However their 'compensation' was aligned to mis-selling, whereas it appears other issues could allow us further redress.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

theshed said:

Thanks for that link. I did try trust Pilot but they are not listed.
I will certainly not be parting with any cash.
Do you think my partial refund from Barclays is the limit ?
Don't get me wrong, Barclays contacted me and I was more than happy with their approach. However their 'compensation' was aligned to mis-selling, whereas it appears other issues could allow us further redress.
Thanks

Giving legal advice on a forum is best left to those who are qualified to provide it. Letters such as this are often a ‘fishing exercise’ with information and addresses gleaned from Google Earth. 

I have a HV pole at the bottom of my garden. Every 6 months I get a letter telling me that I could be due for a lot of money. This would be true were it not for the simple fact that I already have an agreement in place with the DNO.

Mstty

If you have to pay for a service that someone reaches out to you in advance.....run away

Reed_Richards

There was a scheme by which people were oversold solar panels and paid for them by taking out a loan with a company that was ultimately owned by Barclays Bank; hence Barclays eventually agreed to pay compensation.  But electricity prices have risen so much lately that solar panels are worth more now than they used to be, in terms of the value of the electricity they provide.  So a re-evaluation might conclude that the solar panels you have are now nearer to being worth what you paid and you would get less compensation.  Leave well alone. 

Petriix

Ultimately it depends on the details of your installation, what was promised and if you were misled; and of course the details of any compensation you already received. Solar panels are not bad per se, especially now. Many of us are very happy with the systems we had installed and the price we paid. What exactly was mis-sold about your setup?

theshed

The basis of the 'mis-selling' was under performance, in that they would pay for themselves in '15 years'.
I have to be honest and say the salesman did say it would be more like 20-25, however Barclays refunded on the basis that selling company literature did state 15 years and promised further benefits for providing them with data.
I would say they are nowhere near paying for themselves in the 15 year timeframe.
The company that approached me stated that further compensation could be available due to other issues.
One of which was GDPR breaches, which I thought was quite amusing given how they contacted me !
As I have said, I have no intention of paying anyone to make any claim on my behalf, especially for just a letter.
But, PPI redress started as a bit of a joke with the regular cold calls, many benefitted from that. I don't want to be left behind if there is a basis for a claim.

Petriix

How on earth could they take 25 years for the ROI? How much did you pay? 
My 3.42kWp system cost £4150 in 2017 and has recouped ~ £3k to date with £670 worth of savings + FIT payments in the last 12 months. 

Reed_Richards

Petriix said:

How on earth could they take 25 years for the ROI? 

The problem was that you borrowed money to fund the installation so you had to pay the interest on the loan on top of everything else.  

theshed

Petriix said:

How on earth could they take 25 years for the ROI? How much did you pay? 
My 3.42kWp system cost £4150 in 2017 and has recouped ~ £3k to date with £670 worth of savings + FIT payments in the last 12 months. 

Capacity is 2.08Kw at a cost of £7000 in 2012 so it seems you got a better deal, though I guess our FiT would be slightly higher.
We are not all equal.