I-Team: Customers Pay Thousands Of Dollars, But Get Burned By Solar Company

BOSTON (CBS) - They signed up for energy savings, but instead, a growing number of homeowners say they got burned by a New England solar company.

The WBZ I-Team discovered customers, subcontractors and former employees claim the business owner owes them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They want to know, What happened to all that money?

Last June, Chris and Traci Byers decided to move forward with a solar project at their Lowell home.

They signed on the dotted line with Twin State Sun, a business owned by Bill Woods with offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The Byers expected the project would be complete by the end of summer. But before work had even started, the couple learned the entire amount of their solar loan had already been drained.

"We were paying interest on a $61,000 loan and had nothing to show for it," Chris Byers told the I-Team. "There were no panels. There were no phone calls. And there was no money left."

Chris said crews eventually showed up and installed a portion of the panels. But he later learned a $4,000 payment to the utility company to get connected to the grid had never been made.

When the I-Team visited in January, the system still was not working, meaning the homeowners were missing out on valuable state tax credits that help pay back the cost of installing solar panels.

They grudgingly forked over an additional payment to their utility company just to keep the process in motion.

"This has been really hard and frustrating," Traci Byers said. "Every time I get my electric bill, I get more upset."

Pam Schwartz and Jim Ducharme built their home in Douglas with solar in mind. They designed the direction of the roof and cleared trees in the backyard to maximize the hours of direct sunlight.

In August, they paid a $6,000 deposit for a project with Twin State Sun.

Weeks passed and nothing happened. By November, the couple had lost patience. They sent a letter, demanding a refund of the deposit.

When it appeared they were out of luck, Schwartz contacted the I-Team to investigate.

"What the owner is doing is basically wrong. Really wrong," she expressed. "We just don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

The I-Team reviewed court filings and consumer complaints recently submitted to the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, finding a number of similar stories:

• A Hyde Park homeowner who paid $46,000 and has no solar system
• A Templeton homeowner who paid $40,000 to Twin State Sun, but claimed only $1,000 was transferred to his loan
• A retired Merrimack, N.H. couple who paid $50,000 and has no working solar system
• An Andover homeowner who paid an $8,000 deposit that was never refunded
• A Saugus homeowner who paid a $4,500 deposit that was never refunded

Several of those homeowners are now working with GreenSky to get chargebacks credited on their solar loan accounts.

GreenSky vice chairman Gerry Benjamin told the I-Team that Twin State Sun was suspended from the program in early November after receiving several complaints in a one-week period.

"We take our merchant management responsibilities very seriously and are committed to ensuring that all borrowers have their issues dealt with timely to their satisfaction," Benjamin said.

The I-Team connected with subcontractors who say they are owed money for unpaid installation jobs.

In December, the owner of Big Sky Renewable Energy, LLC filed suit against Woods, his wife and Twin State Sun. The subcontractor is owed an estimated $200,000 for unpaid jobs, his attorney told the I-Team.

A former Twin State Sun employee also wrote to the I-Team, complaining that Woods owed him and other salesmen thousands of dollars in paychecks.

The employee, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said the business seemed very successful when he joined in early 2016.

"The owner came into a sales meeting with a bag of cash," the employee said. "He handed the money out to employees who were getting referrals and selling deals. He was trying to make it look like a great job to the new employees like me."

However, the employee told the I-Team that things quickly went downhill during the second half of the year. Paychecks weren't arriving and customers were constantly asking why their solar projects were at a standstill.

"The guy screwed me," the employee said. "I'm late on a lot of bills now. It's money that was coming in that I was expecting and now it's not there."

When the I-Team first tried to contact Woods in January, he was on a trip to Mexico.  But his attorneys indicated the business owner is in the process of filing for bankruptcy.

Jack Kauders, an attorney representing Twin State Sun, said the company is not currently conducting any transactions, has no employees, and is not seeking new sales.

When approached outside of his attorney's office, Woods did not answer any of the I-Team's questions regarding customer allegations. Without saying a word, he got in his car and drove away.

Federal court records show Woods filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Vermont in 1999.

A Massachusetts Attorney General spokeswoman said consumers who believe they may have been victimized are encouraged to contact the agency.

Customers like Chris Byers believe there is more to the story than a business owner who simply got in over his head. He wants authorities to investigate.

"I think (Woods) needs to be held responsible for what he's done to a lot of people," Byers said. "Nobody should be able to do business like this. I don't know how you get away with it for this long. And this much money."

Ryan Kath can be reached at rkath@cbs.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or connect on Facebook.