Sunrun, Inc. Blatant negligence, horrific customer service, and consistent misinformation San Francisco California

2 ½ years ago we entered into a contract/lease for 90+ solar panels on our house. The monthly solar panel lease payment is $222.19.

On September 7, 2022 a 3,500-pound palm tree fell on our roof and damaged 12 solar panels. At that time the home was vacant and listed for sale. On September 8, 2022 at 12:02:57 PM CDT Sunrun was notified of the roof leak and solar panel damage. The response from The Sunrun Team noreply@sunrun.com is as follows:

Thank you for contacting the Sunrun Damage Department. We have reviewed your damage claim submission and have determined that the scope of damage reported does not fall within the warranty of your Sunrun contract or does not indicate solar involvement.

We advise you to seek consultation from a contractor or roofer for the damages listed. Please contact our Customer Care department at 1-855-478-6786 if you need to have panels removed for your roofer to make repairs. Please do not reply to this email, it is not monitored.

On September 11, 2022, the solar panels were removed and the active roof leaks were repaired by our personal contractor. 

On September 20, 2022, 1902 Running Springs Drive went under contract for sale and the closing is scheduled for Friday, October 21, 2022. The sales contract states that the home is “in the progress of roof and solar panel repairs”.  

Myself, my husband, and our real estate agent have collectively called customer service, the transfer department, the Damage Department, and the Removal & Reinstall Team at least a hundred times typically getting disconnected, sent straight to voicemail or ultimately just told that there is no one available that can help.

Case manager, Alejandro Martinez, repeatedly promised to send emails that were never sent/received and promised to make phone calls to “corporate” that were never made. When I told him I had no choice but to purchase replacement solar panels from a third-party company he begged me not to “because it would affect my credit”.

He also called our real estate agent, Tammy Charles, to ask her to call me and make sure I didn’t purchase replacement solar panels from a third-party company. He never did call me back with a solution or resolution. When he could no longer be reached at the direct number (385-274- 6759) he provided I once again started calling customer service to speak with a supervisor.

I was finally put in touch with Vince Trout (786-634-6145) who listened to our complaints and pleas for help. He said he would try to help but after over a dozen phone calls to him we were finally passed on to Carissa Baca, Case Manager Supervisor, Customer Care (860-960-0717).

On September 30, 2022, Carissa Baca called and apologized for all the run around and terrible customer service. She also admitted that our solar system has only been performing at 47% for the past year and we are owed $2,400+ for performance review refund. She provided two options to present to the buyer of the home: 1) replace the 12 damaged solar panels or 2) cancel the solar panel contract. The buyers decided to cancel the contract and that was relayed to Carissa on October 2, 2022.

Despite numerous phone calls and emails to the transfer department, Vince Trout, and Carissa Baca we didn’t get a response from Carissa until October 4, 2022. Her email read as follows:

To clarify, when I talked to Tom, I was under the impression that there were ONLY 12 panels on his home and all of them were damaged by a tree falling onto his home. I had approved for a 12 panel cancellation. I did not approve a 90+ panel account cancellation.

It was a misunderstanding that has been communicated to the potential buyer already. I do admit I should have checked the number of panels on Tom's home before confirming the option but I can not submit an insurance cancellation of Tom's account if only a portion of the system is damaged.

I would be happy to personally call the buyer's realtor to discuss options for transfer and to greatly reduce the monthly payments made for the solar system. I also would be happy to offer Tom an appeasement for the confusion.

Vince should have given options to permanently remove the 12 panels of the existing system with a payment reduction to reflect this. If accepted, we can get the document for that sent out today. If refused, cancellation will need to go through my legal department here at Sunrun and can take weeks to finalize without a full system insurance claim. Please let us know what you decide so Vince can action this as quickly as possible.

We responded with a list of questions that are still unanswered by Vince and Carissa. A Sunrun sales rep (Not Carissa as she had offered to do) called the buyers and was not able to answer all their questions so they were left understandably upset and very leery of moving forward with Sunrun. Now we are at risk of losing the buyers because of blatant negligence, horrific customer service, and consistent misinformation made on Sunrun's part.  

On October 5, 2022, I sent yet another email begging and pleading for someone to help us find a solution and take action. This time I included Sunrun executives Mary Powell Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Jurich Co-Executive Chair, and Edward Fenster Co-Executive Chair.  

On October 6, 2022, I received an email from Rachael Grant, Escalations and Prevention Specialist (385-290-8055) titled “Complaint to Multiple Executives”. She indicated she would be our primary point of contact until we are able to resolve our recent complaint and I was hoping she would actually be able to do something but her last email on October 7, 2022, explained the following:

The main problem at this point for me is that I am limited in what I am able to accomplish in such a short period of time. I am happy to help in any capacity that I can, but this is also somewhat tricky now that we are at the weekend. I can take another look at this in the morning or possibly on Monday when I will have more access to resources. When you say that you are wanting me to own this, can you be more specific in terms of what I can do to help?  

At 11:31pm CST I spelled out specifically what I was requesting.

Rachael,

Specifically, I want someone from Sunrun to take ownership and do the following immediately:

1. Decide whether the damaged panels are being replaced or cancelled. 

2. Someone with complete knowledge of our solar system and Sunrun’s processes and procedures to call the buyers and their agent to answer ALL of their questions and to make sure they feel at ease and are comfortable proceeding.  

3. If the panels are not being replaced then we need written documentation amending the contract and canceling the 12 panels.

4. If the panels are being replaced, I want someone to find out whether or not there are 12 panels available in the Houston warehouse.

5. If the panels are being replaced and they are available in the Houston warehouse I want authorization to pick them up and have them installed by our contractor immediately (because I’ve been advised that you do not have the manpower locally to do it.).

6. If the panels are being replaced but are not available in the Houston warehouse I want authorization to get a third party to install comparable solar panels.

Please understand that you may have just been brought into this situation a few days ago but Sunrun was advised that the panels were damaged by a palm tree/storm on September 8th, an entire month ago. We’ve been seeking guidance and direction from Sunrun since then.

We’ve been passed on to countless departments, case managers, and supervisors and still have not been able to resolve anything. If you do not have the resources and cannot help us please don’t waste anymore of our time because we simply don't have it. Please forward this on to someone that can.      

No response.

The closing date is in 13 days. Sunrun has had exactly 31 days to act but to this day nothing has been resolved or settled. We’ve only been lied to, ignored, completely disrespected, and passed from one department to another. As I’ve mentioned several times, our financial future is literally hinging on the sale of this home and now the sales contact is at stake because of Sunrun’s refusal to act. We are running out of time.     

Carissa Baca never responded with requested tracking information for the $3,000 performance review refund and appeasement check that was promised to be sent overnight yesterday and the check WAS NOT received.