URGENT WARNING for customers of First4Solar (solar panel and battery company)

geekylisa

Dear all, 

In the interests of trying to protect people's hard-earned cash, I am sounding the alarm on this solar PV company. First4Solar is a trading name of Tanrec Ltd.

If you are a customer who has paid a deposit to them and yet you are still waiting for your installation to go ahead, then you've probably been wondering why it is taking so long, or why you might not get replies to emails or phone messages. You may have already headed over to the review sites to see what experience others are having.  

Being in the same frustrating position myself with lost income through pre-arranged time off work to be at home during the installation period (only to find out at the last minute and only because I phoned them) that they weren't coming, iI decided to try to get customers together and created a Facebook Group called Last4Solar. 

Despite only being set up late last Friday, this has attracted a lot of interest from people wanting to share their stories and there are some alarming revelations. 

I'd like to give some advice to those who have received or are awaiting an installation by this company 

1. Please be aware that your HIES deposit protection guarantee only lasts for three months. This can be extended. F4S said that they were applying to extend mine. They didn't..

2.If you didn't pay on a credit card, then time is of the essence if you are looking to try to obtain a refund and have to go down the chargeback route. Act quickly.

3. If, having waited for an age, you now have scaffolding up and are asked for a staged payment so that they can deliver the panels/battery to site, insist on paying when the goods arrive.  At the very least pay by credit card. You may get told that their card machine is not working.

4. Do not pay money for goods/services directly into a personal account of one of the directors (or anyone else for that matter). If you have signed a contract with Tanrec Ltd, then this is where any payment for products and services should be made. The directors are a separate legal entity from the company. 

5. Look at their accounts on Companies House and see how much they owe to creditors. Goodness knows how they can claim to have that much in stock when they have no storage facilities and (for the jobs they do start) customers say that the panels and batteries etc are only purchased on a hand to mouth basis as they are about to do the work. 

6. If you have already had an installation, and this is difficult folks, please check that you have all the correct documentation. Customers are reporting lack of valid electrical installation certificates. There is concern about whether some installations had a qualified electrician on the job!  EICs are a legal safety requirement folks.  Also for those with larger installs and an inverter size of > 3.6Kw, please check that a G99 DNO application was made by the company and approved before install.  They should have done this, but some customers are now finding out that they skipped this. 

We suspect that this company is putting plans in place for a pre-pack administration (the evidence is available for this), but they are still asking for upfront staged payments from existing customers. Some of the stories shared by members of our Facebook group are heartbreaking. 

Please, please, please, protect yourselves.