ESE Solar no longer providing Flexi-Orb or MCS certificates required for Octopus Feed In Tariff

SteveHam

Post sales, ESE are the most obstructive and unhelpful company I have ever had to deal with.

Despite all the promises that getting on an Octopus Feed In Tariff would be straight forward, and their system was tailored for it.
After seven months ESE will still not provide the required certification, and say they are not even registered with the organisations (Flex Orb & MCS).
This despite supplying the required Flex Orb certificate to a relative, when their solar system was installed (so they had no problems)
Octopus say they cannot procede without one of these certificates, so I am stuck.

Anyone know where I can go with this, it's not covered by any ombudsman?

wrf12345

Small claims court for loss of feed-in income?

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

SteveHam said:

Post sales, ESE are the most obstructive and unhelpful company I have ever had to deal with.

ESE Solar's reputation precedes them. Search the forum.

SteveHam said:

After seven months ESE will still not provide the required certification, and say they are not even registered with the organisations (Flex Orb & MCS).

Safdly, the time to check this was before contracting them. MCS make their registration database available on their website.

Did you get an insurance-backed guarantee through one of the major names? And are ESE a member of a consumer code? Both of these are requirements of MCS registration, and are other corners that ESE might have cut.

SteveHam said:

Anyone know where I can go with this, it's not covered by any ombudsman?

If ESE are members of a consumer code, you can complain to them.
Typically solar installers use RECC or HIES.

https://www.recc.org.uk/

https://www.hiesscheme.org.uk/

But if ESE haven't told you which code they belong to, you might be out of luck. If they're not members, your only option might be small claims court.

SteveHam

I chose ESE because my daughter had recently had an installation by them with no problems and complete with Flexi Orb certification, Trust pilot etc showed good reviews too.
Between that install and mine the company seems to have had a complete meltdown.
I shouldn't have to know the ins and outs of all the certifications, I understand it is legally certified, so that's all I should need.

QrizB

SteveHam said:

I chose ESE because my daughter had recently had an installation by them with no problems and complete with Flexi Orb certification, Trust pilot etc showed good reviews too.

TrustPilot etc. are easily manipulated. It sometimes appeas that ratings only collapse once businesses have gone bust and stop managing their ratings.

Independent forums (like this one) often tell a different story. Also check out the media for consumer rights stories.

SteveHam said:

I shouldn't have to know the ins and outs of all the certifications, I understand it is legally certified, so that's all I should need.

What cetification have you actually received?