Free solar panels? Don't get fooled

You’ve probably seen the ads on TV and online, that you may qualify for free solar panels. One elderly Houston couple took the bait and then called KPRC 2 Investigator Amy Davis when they realized they’d been hooked, tricked into paying tens of thousands of dollars for those so-called free panels.

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[FRAMEDSKATEKREW]

I hate that YouTube doesn’t let us report those fake ads it’s so annoying

[JVS_T]

This is what the news should be everywhere. Helping the community instead of trying to divide it. Great job guys 👏🏻

[therealbahamut]

"If something's free, YOU are the product."

[happycook]

Thank you to these two brave people for sharing their story! Hopefully it will save many others from getting swindled.

[migmigjohnson]

This is the type of journalism we need to support.

[Starburstguy]

Let’s be real, these nice folks only got their issue resolved because the local press got involved. Otherwise these people would have gotten the run around. There’s always people in every industry trying to scam people, even if the business is a legitimate product or service. Those individuals make the rest of us untrustworthy of sales people in general.

[jlozano]

I've had these solar panel sales people knock at my door. I told them "I am not interested". Their rebuttal was "so you like to pay more for electricity", I said "yes I love to pay more". Being broke is my hobby. 😂

[Hermanjackson]

At the very least, I now grasp the concept of leverage.
Creating wealth and financial freedom isn't as tough as many people believe. Building wealth and remaining financially stable indefinitely is a lot easier with the appropriate information. Participating in financial programs and products is the only true approach to make a high income and remain affluent indefinitely.

[imudevco]

That salesperson should be in jail for predatory practices.

[sarita]

Breaks my heart to see people take advantage of the elderly. They aren't familiar with all the scams out there, and they come from a time when people were trustworthy and honest....at least a lot more than these days. This company is good for taking care of this for this couple.

[sharon]

OMG, a Company that actually stepped up and made it right. I'm honestly shocked.

[anetihernandez]

We got solar panels with Sunpro, and they are a terrible company. They almost blew up my house because they hired "contractors", I wish I knew more about what we signed. In the end, yes, it is not much different with paying our bills, but the, experience really made me not want to recommend solar panels to anyone. I don't wish anyone to be put out of their home for three months. It was a terrible experience. I'm glad this couple got a happy ending.

[Blackwlff]

The exact same thing happened to my elderly dad. The same story, the same pitch and the same everything. Good thing I came home on time before my dad put his signature on the contract. They were literally sitting at the kitchen table discussing the contract when I walked in. I asked the guy what the hell was going on and I told him to explain everything to me. Before he even finished, I kicked his *** out of the house

[dasse]

I am so happy to hear that this couple got a happy ending. I was worried that the company wouldn't take action. Most of the time the elderly lose thousands of dollars and no one does anything to help.

[_valles]

I'm glad I'm involved in my grandma's business and that she asks the family for their input on decisions like this. It's horrible how some people consciously and knowingly lie, scam, fraud, take advantage of our seniors, they should be thrown to jail!

[Cristian-pwiv]

rule #1: tell the door to door sales person to go take a hike

[ricksuarez]

I'll say this for a majority of sales:

1. If it's vocal... IT DOESN"T COUNT. Get that stuff in writing, documentation etc.
2. The worst companies will use "3rd party" companies to avoid accountability. They probably didn't really fire her. She's probably at another branch
3. A lot of shady companies will open up another shady company after they get burnt too much. Look at "Pink Energy". Literally the CEO (Jayson Waller) thought that changing the name from "PowerHome Solar" would escape bad press, lawsuits etc.

Do your research on the company. If they rush you then show them the door.

[Sidicas]

Aaaand the reason that sales woman is not in jail for fraud is what exactly ?

[kenc]

Sunrun's sales people are everywhere--they go door to door, and are at Costco and Home Depot. I'm an old guy, and the "pay back" period for solar panels is just too long for me to be interested. I'm surprised that Sunrun made this right so quickly--they could have given this elderly couple the run around...must have been the attention from the Channel 2.

[anthonyfaiell]

THANK YOU! I asked the right questions when they came to my house and found out they were going to charge me over $30k for a 5kw system (and they didn't mention anything about getting a slow starter for my HVAC unit which would have allowed me to be fine with a 3kw system)... And that's if I paid it off in one lump sum. If I went the payment route, it would probably add up to more like $50k+. They disguise it as monthly payments based on your average electric bill. So if my average electric bill is $180/month, they say they will charge me $160/month. If you ask the simple question of "well, if it's free, and the solar panels should theoretically be sufficient to power my house... what am I paying for?" You get the honest answer, you are paying off the panels... so yea, they are not free. And not only are they not free, but in raw materials, that 5kw system without a battery bank would cost around $3k-$5k... So they are charging easily $25k+ in labor. And to top all of this off, your system will be hooked up to your local power company where they will buy any excess power back from you while providing power needed during the night (since you won't have a battery bank). Upon deeper investigation, I discovered that they will gladly charge you full price for any power you take from them, but any power they buy back from you will be at "wholesale price." In simple terms, this translates to, you will pay more to take power than to give it back. And what does this mean? This means that $160/month deal they tried to convince you was going to save you money now likely goes up to actually more than you were spending before...
.
I realize solar requires a fairly large initial investment, but it's crazy how manipulative these companies are getting. Just make sure you are asking the right questions and understand what you are getting into. All of this has convinced me to study up and teach myself how to set up a solar panel array. I could get a $5, 000 (maybe more like $7k-$8k if we include a battery bank) loan and pay that off with minimal interest from my bank and then I never have to pay for electricity again.