Viewers call Kurtis after losing solar for hottest months of the year: "I just want it fixed"
EL DORADO COUNTY — Viewers in El Dorado County say their solar company ignored them, right before their warranty was up. They decided to Call Kurtis to investigate.
"The PG&E bill is going to be horrific," said Benita Majoulet. In August, she says their SunPower solar system stopped generating power during the hottest months of the year.
"We realized it when we were checking how much sun power we were getting and we realized, we're not getting anything because it's not working," she said.
When the system went down they got an alert on their phone that said "one or more devices are not working properly. Contact us to investigate this issue."
Benita says they did, and a week later were told that SunPower would send someone out but didn't specify when.
"That was three weeks ago," she said when CBS13 spoke to her. "We've still not heard from anybody."
CBS13 found that SunPower has had over 600 complaints with the Better Business Bureau over the past three years, including some that are about issues with the company's inverter box.
CBS13 reached out to SunPower, which blamed the delay on supply chain issues, saying the Majoulet's almost ten-year-old inverter required a special order.
"I just want it fixed," said Benita, who later told CBS13 that SunPower agreed to swap out the part and cover $562 of their power costs.
SunPower insists they don't have to cover power bills but decided to help the Majoulets out. And CBS13 notes that other solar companies are also struggling to get parts after the pandemic.
That's why Kurtis thinks it's important to clearly stake your warranty claim in writing before time runs out.
Kurtis has been getting a lot of solar complaints. So many that he's decided to dedicate one of the volunteers just to issues with solar. If you are having problems, be sure to fill out our form.
In response to Majoulet's issue, SunPower solar issued the following statement:
"We believe strongly in the power and benefits of solar energy, and that the experience of getting, installing and using it must be easy and effortless. We are very sorry for the experience this customer had and empathize with them. They did not receive the world-class service we aspire to provide. We are taking a close look at process and procedure to ensure that this situation does not arise again in the future."