Energy Builders Inc Smart Home RemodelingSmart SolarSmart Home Solutions, Mr. Jude Moyal,Mr. Brad E Bischke Complaint: My wife and I called this company, in April 2013, and had a representative come to our house. Our desire was to have a sunroom built on our upstairs deck. Plans were discussed. san diego California

Complaint: My wife and I called this company, in April 2013, and had a representative come to our house. Our desire was to have a sunroom built on our upstairs deck. Plans were discussed. There were some delays, by both sides, and it was some months before Smart Home Remodeling even talked to us regarding city permits for the project. They would take days or weeks to respond to calls I would make requesting status. I was told that the city of Oceanside was making unreasonable requirements. Smart Home Remodeling continued to drag their feet. I suggested that they have the city inspector meet me at our house so we could discuss the situation and they told me it probably would not happen. I hung on to hope and gave their employee, Brad, multiple opportunities to get this project going. He failed to respond to calls, and when he did he failed to show up for appointments. I made several calls to the company, reaching only the answering machine every time. On 2-13-2014 I called and, again, reached only the machine. I left a message detailing my dissatisfaction and requesting a refund of our $1000.00 deposit. Receiving no response, a week later I left another message on the same lines. No response. Now I am writing to BBB to address this issue. Before I began any discussions with this company, I checked them on BBB. They were listed with an A+ rating, Now they seem to not be listed at all. We hoped to be enjoying a new sunroom this spring. But Smart Home Remodeling has delayed if not shot down that desire.

Desired Settlement: Refund and written apology.

BBB's Final Determination: Business is out of business.

BBB say this company just went out of buiness, but somehow the old owner of Smart is now the new owner of Energy Builders a different company, so they will not have to cover any or all of Smarts bad debts;

Complaint: Installation of our $25,000 solar system was completed in April, 2012. The company failed to turn on the system. It wasn't until the State came to validate the installation in December 2012 that we were informed the system was not activated. The monitor that was installed for us to check on our electricity production did not function since we did not have WI FI in our area at the time (We were able to get WIFI in Dec., 2012). After our first bill came and there was no reduction in our electricity bill with SDG&E I went to SDG&E to ask how I can tell from the bill how much electricity we generated. The lady in the office said there is no place on the monthly bill that gives us that information and that we will have to wait until March 2013 when SDG&E will "true up" and we will get a bill for the year. Since the system wasn't turned on we were generating no electricity so the bill we got when we "trued up" was $1,865. Once the system was turned on our monthly bills were between $10 and $20 a month so we are asking Smart Solar (a division of Smart Home Remodeling) to pay $1756 assuming our monthly bills would have been around $20 a month had the system been on. I have asked the company to pay this amount. They have responded by saying they would pay us $300 and the manufacturer would pay $100. They also responded by asking for copies of our monthly bills from SDG&E which I sent to them over 2 months ago. The bottom line is that their technician failed to turn on the system and they seem to think we should have known that the system was not on. If we pay $25,000 we shouldn't have to "know".

Desired Settlement: We would like a check for our bills totaling $1756.

Business Response: To Whom It May Concern, In response to Mrs. ****** inquiry and request we have concluded the following: It is the consumers’ responsibility to make sure that their solar system is turned on and remains on. It is our policy to collect final balance on a job and it is the consumers’ responsibility to release payment after they are taught to operate the system. Mrs. ****** made a point to delay the final check of $10000.00 until system was PTO approved and turned on. Our company installs the system, we pass inspection by County or City, we wait for PTO approval from SDGE to turn on system, and only then we collect final payment from customer. Moreover, Mrs. ****** claims herself that we turned system on and installed monitoring system, but monitoring was not working since ****** residence did not have wifi. That is proof that system was turned on. It is the consumers’ responsibility to monitor their own bill that is getting sent to their address and not our business address. Consumer must look and monitor their own bill and to see that it is lowered, otherwise the consumer must notify us immediately. Unfortunately, Mrs. ****** called SDG&E and not Smart Home Remodeling (the contractor), for questions regarding their electric bill. Moreover, we do call our customers routinely to check on their bills and monitoring systems. Mrs. ****** was called on two occasions throughout the year to verify if she had Wifi in order to commission the monitoring system, both times we were told “no” and that “we are okay.” We install over 100 jobs a year and not once have we encountered such a problem. When the state called Smart Home Remodeling for the inspection, SHR scheduled the inspection as soon as possible. We met with the State and were told the system was off. SHR immediately turned the system back on.

Consumer Response: Better Business Bureau:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID *******, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

****** ******

I am flabergasted that a company would install a $25,000 solar system and say "It is the consumers' responsibility to make sure that their solar system is turned on..."  Until recently I didn't even know where you would turn on such a system...at the monitor?  At the SDG&E box?  On the system somewhere?  I am under the impression that you don't need the "monitor" for the system to run.  The monitor, I was told, is so that we can see how much energy we are creating.  The system should run independently of the monitor or else the guy who installed the monitor and said, "Just call me when you get WiFi and I'll come back and hook it up" would certainly have informed us of that.  He didn't say anything about the system not running without the monitor.  Nor did he act like it was a big deal.  We did not HAVE wifi in our area at the time.  It wasn't just that we didn't want to get it.  Smart Solar said that "it is the consumers' responsibility to release payment after they are taught to operate the system".  So when was Smart Solar going to send a representative to our house to teach us to operate our system?  I was under the impression that there is nothing to it.  But it has to be turned on.  SHR mentioned in their email that  once "they met with the State and were told the system was off SHR immediately turned the system back on".  BACK ON?  It was never turned on.  Our electric bill reflected NO generating of electricity until January of 2013.  Not a little bit of electricity back in March, 2012...NO electricity.  We thought it was the way SDG&E billed. They said they would true-up in March. We never dreamed that the system wasn't on or we would have certainly called SHR.  And SHR didn't meet with the State, I did.  The State rep is the guy who showed me how to turn on the system.  This is like a mechanic saying he fixed your car but he didn't test it to see if it runs.   We've had a business for 42 years and I can't believe a business would throw the responsibility of all of this to the consumer.  Wow.