Extended Inverter Warranties

Screwdriva

QrizB said:

Those 150 installations have paid SolarEdge for 22.5 inverters (15% of 150) and SE have supplied 4 inverters in return (and those 4 were covered under the original 12-year warranty). That's a pretty good deal from SE's perspective.

A paid-for warranty, like all insurance, will on average cost more than the value you get back. It's only worth taking if it's for an eventuality you can't afford to pay for.

I was waiting for you to come back with an analysis

Perhaps you missed the part where I said the end user pays nothing? I use scale to force the installer to absorb this cost (and the cost of bird netting) -  the premium to the roof owner is £0. They agree as they don't have to pay me a commission and being a SolarEdge premium installer means they get a discount on the cost of the warranty. Win Win?

Screwdriva

Waywardmike said:

After looking at the Growatt Trustpilot page posted above it looks like things are improving. Their Trustscore used to be appalling but now it's better than SMA or Victron energy and not too dissimilar to SolarEdge.

Looking at the reviews it appears the support is somewhat hit or miss, so whether your inverter dies at 1 year, 10 years or 14 years, I think the support you receive will be luck of the draw. Read the reviews for all the solar equipment companies, it appears that's an industry wide problem.

I wouldn't underestimate the power of paid-for-reviews when it comes to dramatically improving Trustpilot scores. Still an unethical brand from my perspective and nowhere close to the quality of Victron/ SMA/ SolarEdge. 

born_again

rustybucket43 said:

born_again said:

Manufacture can set whatever warranty terms they want.

Just how much are you losing?

I'm losing about 10 months. So, the warranty will be 14 years and 2 months rather than 15 years after installation.

I'm more interested in the principle. What if the inverter had left the factory in 2020 and spent 5 years languishing in a dark dusty warehouse until it made its way to me? That could happen if a distributor doesn't rotate his stock or products get misplaced in his warehouse.

It doesn't seem reasonable that a significant period of the warranty can be consumed by factors outside my control. That makes buying a complete lottery as we have no idea when it will have left the factory.

To expand on what I said before. I take it this is a Manufacture Warranty, which is over & above your statutory consumer rights. The company offering the warranty can set what terms they want in there. So sadly there is no recourse. If they go bust, then all you have is a worthless bit of paper.


If it is a 3rd party insurance backed warranty then that should be from date of install.

QrizB

Screwdriva said:

QrizB said:

Those 150 installations have paid SolarEdge for 22.5 inverters (15% of 150) and SE have supplied 4 inverters in return (and those 4 were covered under the original 12-year warranty). That's a pretty good deal from SE's perspective.

A paid-for warranty, like all insurance, will on average cost more than the value you get back. It's only worth taking if it's for an eventuality you can't afford to pay for.

I was waiting for you to come back with an analysis

Touche! (Where are the accents on this keyboard?)

Screwdriva said:

Perhaps you missed the part where I said the end user pays nothing? ... Win Win?

Yes, for the end user it's something-for-nothing (and I'll accept your implied point that the installer wouldn't discount the installation by an equivalent amount).

SE are still getting paid, though, albeit not the full 15%?

Screwdriva

QrizB said:

Yes, for the end user it's something-for-nothing (and I'll accept your implied point that the installer wouldn't discount the installation by an equivalent amount).

SE are still getting paid, though, albeit not the full 15%?

All installer prices are lowest possible and, so far, have proven hard to beat for equivalent spec. (I've been told to take a hike if I push for lower). SE does still earn a bit - I'm okay with that as long as the MSE forum member is looked after! 

Solarchaser

As someone who got an extended warranty with their solar panel installs and laterally found it was worth zero when I tried to claim it, id not pay for an extended warranty.
I also dealt with growatt, though admittedly 5 years ago, on an inverter that was less than 3 months old and... it wasn't pleasant and only ended when I threatened them with court.

Generally speaking a manufacturers warranty starts from their day of manufacture, though usually when they sell to a partner company the warranty then starts from that partner companies install date, but thats based on agreements of mutual satisfaction. 
As others have stated, manufacturers can pretty much do what they want.

I work for a large company who sells "machines" I suppose, with some internal parts supplied by other companies, and when those parts fail, it doesn't matter that our installed machine is 2 months old, it matters that their manufactured part is 13 months old and therefor out of their years warranty

Screwdriva

Solarchaser said:

As someone who got an extended warranty with their solar panel installs and laterally found it was worth zero when I tried to claim it, id not pay for an extended warranty.
I also dealt with growatt, though admittedly 5 years ago, on an inverter that was less than 3 months old and... it wasn't pleasant and only ended when I threatened them with court.

Sorry to read this. I'm going to save this post and use it to guide people away from that terrible brand. I hope you'll leave online reviews on Trustpilot, Google etc. It's the only way to force unethical companies to change for the better though I suspect it may just be futile with this one. 

Solarchaser

Screwdriva said:

Solarchaser said:

As someone who got an extended warranty with their solar panel installs and laterally found it was worth zero when I tried to claim it, id not pay for an extended warranty.
I also dealt with growatt, though admittedly 5 years ago, on an inverter that was less than 3 months old and... it wasn't pleasant and only ended when I threatened them with court.

Sorry to read this. I'm going to save this post and use it to guide people away from that terrible brand. I hope you'll leave online reviews on Trustpilot, Google etc. It's the only way to force unethical companies to change for the better though I suspect it may just be futile with this one. 

I probably should have Mr. Driva, but no I didn't.
And seems pointless now.
Truth is im fairly sceptical about trustpilot etc reviews based on various interactions with multiple companies for various things, as I'm sure we all have done.
You see great reviews about company X and you know even within a small friend group everyone has had terrible experiences with them.

Paid reviews are all too common and delete the validity imo.

Anyway, minor rant over.
I'm sure if anyone searches growatt or sph3600 on this forum, they will find several major rants from me at the time.

I still have one of their remote CT clamps revision 2 if anyone can make use of it.
I can't bring myself to throw it away knowing someone may get use of it.... but its been 5 years of moving it to different places in my garage 🙈

jimjames

rustybucket43 said:

born_again said:

Manufacture can set whatever warranty terms they want.

Just how much are you losing?

I'm losing about 10 months. So, the warranty will be 14 years and 2 months rather than 15 years after installation

Are you actually losing 10 months? What is the originally warranty end date? If that's 10 years from the date it left the factory then adding 5 years to it means you are still getting the 5 years you paid for and it's the original warranty that's short changing you not the additional part.