Solar Panel Warranty Compensation

L1BYD

My Dad has had a phone call from a company who has told him he is possibly due to get compensation from being miss sold solar panel warranty. He then agreed to a telephone appointment the following day to take things further. He then told me what had happened and asked if I'd be with him when they were calling.  So it looks like it was Claims Resolution Services that called and he was then referred onto a company called Re-Solved It.  Dad got an email with a video appointment link but it didn't work so was done on the phone. Basically the guy said that Dad should be due compensation as he was sold equipment / warranties but there was no follow up / servicing of equipment and no follow up advice on maintaining the equipment he could be due compensation. When asked what the process was he told us that they would get all the information on what Dad was sold and it would then be referred to a department to be approved / not.  If the claim is approved there is then an upfront fee payable for the solicitors to draw up the claim file this ranges depending on the claim but is a minimum of £2500 which he would get back when the claim settles.  They then take between 10 & 15% as their commission.  I said he shouldn't be paying anything up front and was told that solicitors don't work for free and they advise that my Dad pay this on his credit card which offers full protection for him for peace of mind. Has anyone had a similar experience or what are thoughts on this?  My Dad has definitely been miss sold by Zest and I'd love to try get compensation etc for him but if I was to do this myself who should we be initially dealing with? I don't think its right a company offering this but you've got to pay an upfront fee!  Anyone any advice gratefully received thank you.

QrizB

It's either a scam or scam-adjacent.

No reputable company will cold call you about things like this. and asking for payment up-front is a red flag.

L1BYD said:

Basically the guy said that Dad should be due compensation as he was sold equipment / warranties but there was no follow up / servicing of equipment and no follow up advice on maintaining the equipment he could be due compensation. 

Solar panels don't require maintenance or servicing. More red flags.

Did your father make specific payments for ongoing support, or did he simply get the manufacturer's standard warranty on the equipment supplied by the installer?

L1BYD said:

My Dad has definitely been miss sold by Zest and I'd love to try get compensation etc for him 

What exactly makes you think he was mis-sold? What did he buy, and when did he buy it? If before 2020, has he been receiving FIT payments? If later, had he been receiving SEG export payments?

MWT

L1BYD said:

My Dad has definitely been miss sold by Zest and I'd love to try get compensation etc for him but if I was to do this myself who should we be initially dealing with? I don't think its right a company offering this but you've got to pay an upfront fee!  Anyone any advice gratefully received thank you.

Forget the phone call and the company that has contacted your father and above all else convince him not to proceed with any payment to them as paying by credit card does not offer 'full protection' as they will be able to show that they have done lots of work for him to justify the fee and he will not just be able to change his mind later and get a refund when they do not produce results for him after dragging this out for months and trying to sell him insurance or get further fees from him to progress the 'claim' .....

Focus on your last paragraph, why do you feel he has been miss-sold?

L1BYD

Yes I agree with your points.  
Basically Zest Energy were doing doorstop sales and my Dad signed up for an all singing all dancing system, solar panels etc. Any extended warrant that was offered he took.  Then they contacted him again and "suggested" batteries to store up more energy etc and then at another time sold him a new hot water system that I have only recently discovered is not even connected to his electric showers in the house.  Dad had dealt with this himself at the time, but over time he started mentioning that his electric bills were still really high and would we have a look at his bills to see what was going on.  THats when we discovered how much he has paid out on all this equipment etc.  It just seems that he has been sold add ons that theres not really much benefit of to him.  I was concerned with how the system was working and contacted Zest for advice and they didn't offer any help / solutions at all.  We then discovered that the water system had been set up with the temperature set too high and the air source battery supposedly powering the water tank wasn't producing enough power and the tank needed the immersion to heat the water hence why his electric bills had been massive.  Then I realised that this water system is not even connected to the showers in the house.  So the 2 electric showers in the house have seperate heating systems with them which work independently!  So they have a massive water tank and air source battery installed to have hot water for the dishes etc!  There just seems to have been no thought / consideration into the design of the system and its just been a case of selling as much as they could.  I totally accept my Dad shouldn't have agreed but he genuinely thought these folk had his best interests and were trying to help him.  They sold him a CCTV system also which he doesn't know how to view the footage, I have contacted ZEST when I discovered this and they've now told me they no longer deal / maintain CCTV systems and to contact a local CCTV / security firm to get the system reset (obviously at my Dads cost).  This is even though he has paperwork for a 10 year guarantee that runs until 2019.  Its just a mess and makes me so angry.  To me they have totally taken advantage and got him signed up to anything they could.

Keep_pedalling

This sounds like advanced fee fraud, try to stop him paying any money and stop engaging with these people.