Green Day Power

"Hiring the wrong contractor can be a nightmare" - Seth Devey < From Green Day Power’s “About” page. Well, I hired the wrong contractor for sure. Green Day Power was an absolute nightmare to work with!

From BIG holes left in my roof, to tons of parts left on my roof, to broken roof ties (that they refused to fix until I produced photos proving that they were not broken before), to multiple missed appointments, to missing city inspections…. This project was a nightmare.

During insulation they broke a bunch of roof tiles. We are talking 20+ and they pulled from one spot on my roof to “replace” the missing/broken ones. They also put big lines of caulking over different cracked tiles to “fix them”. The missing tiles were all on the back of the house, between two panel arrays and on the uphill side of my chimney, thus really hard to see from my property. However, due to other issues I did a detailed inspection and found the missing section of my roof. That missing section was left untouched from 2/10/22 until 3/17/22, just over a month. During that time it rained 3 times.

I have seen messy contractors, however, they left broken roof tiles, bolts, nails, and other parts laying all over the roof. Some of these items I was able to take off the roof using a short ladder (I was not about to go up on the roof and have them try and say I broke a roof tile). However, some of the items (bolts, nails, and broken roof tiles) all fell off the roof due to the high winds where I live. I’m just thankful that no one got hit by any of the items falling off the roof.

Some of the broken roof tiles they just put a big thing of caulking over… and left it. Most of the ones that they did this with were right on the front of the house above the door. Come on really? I asked that they replace those and they said “they were like that already”. However, I was able to produce photos from a few months prior of the roof showing the area in question was not damaged. They said that they had photos contradicting what I said… I asked to see the photos and was told the person who took the photos was “no longer with the company”. They did finally fix the broken tiles above my door.

Communication was a total mess! Now to understand this nightmare you have to know that I was sold this system via a sales company called “HomeLink” located in Santa Clarita, Ca. Thus at first Green Day Power would email HomeLink and then HomeLink would email me. Due to this all the communication was a day or so delayed. Upon realizing this I asked if the Green Day Power project manager could just email me directly. However, communication did not get any better. I would be told that someone would be at the house “tomorrow at 8am” and then no one would show up. I would get a call or email saying that it was actually going to be the next day, and then nothing. This was very common and how the whole roofing mess went. I was told 5 different times that they would “be out there tomorrow to fix the roof”. The mail electrical panel upgrade date got moved last minute, the solar install date got moved last minute, inspections got moved or the city inspector would show up and Green Day Power would not be here. They (Green Day Power) would call me and ask if I could meet with the inspector or the city would have to reschedule and it would delay my system.

During the initial sales process I noted that I wanted BOTH production and consumption monitoring. I went as far as finding a smart panel with consumption monitoring built in (span panel). However, I was told that the Enphase system would have BOTH production and consumption monitoring built in. However, after the install I was told that they were not going to install consumption monitoring. I called HomeLink (the sales company) and they said that Green Day Power didn’t want to install it. When I pushed Green Day Power finally said that it could get done for an additional cost.

If you are in the same boat as I was and you can’t get your project manager on the phone then call the main office (for Green Day Power) and ask for sales. Explain what is going on and then sales will make sure to get you on the phone with a VP or someone who at least has some weight to make sure something gets done. The only issue is the VP does not follow up and the field project manager lets the project fall through the cracks. And then it’s back to calling the sales number. During the 3 months of my install I did this so many times that the sales office knew my name.

I could keep going… But I think I have made my point.

As of this review I still don’t have access to the Enphase gateway so that I can sync it with the separate consumption monitoring system that I got.

I went into this solar/battery backup agreement because I was going to get a reduction in my power bill, get a $18k rebate for the battery backup, and not have to be without power during the power shut offs. Well, communication has been overall horrible. The sales guy (Travis) decided to abandon GDP for a better paying job and neglected to tell me. I could not get in touch with anyone else. That took filing a BBB complaint, and like magic, I got calls that same day from GDP AND the old sales guy.

As for the rebate, no one at GDP had any clue about it (although other solar companies did), but they said they would help me, which was before the BBB complaint. I continued to ask for the information that I needed, so that I could fill out this rebate and get it submitted ASAP. After months of asking, they discovered that they actually had an employee that filled these out. Well she quit or was fired, and the rebate went uncompleted and not submitted. The operations manager (Emily) said she would take care of it.

So after still waiting and waiting and waiting, the rebate form was not submitted. Then someone else emailed and called asking for information because she was going to submit the rebate form. Well she filled it out wrong. After informing Emily, she said that she'll oversee it and make it right. PG&E kept sending responses saying the application was incorrect and or needed the same information that was submitted I don't know how many times.

Emily came back saying that PG&E retroactively changed the deadline for the rebate application to October 2021. I have been hounding GDP since July 2020 about this rebate that they failed to get done, which was the sole documented reason for me agreeing to this overpriced setup, so they cost me $18k.

Installation was not without problems either. It was first delayed, then the poor install guy had to come out multiple times due to breakers flipping off randomly and arcing inside the box. Not to mention the internet connection was a problem, so that required being fixed, so that they could remotely monitor my system for problems.

Fast forward to the end of the year and the PG&E True-Up where they tell you how much you owe them. Well this 45-panel system, which was guaranteed to give me 1400 to 1500 kWh a month has now cost me $3700 with PG&E. The reason you wonder. Well, after emailing Emily, who said she would get back to me, which she did not, I discovered that the system was not completely on. At some point, probably when they were last out in the Spring, 2 sections of panels were disabled, which explains why after April, the system was severely under performing. So not only have they cost me $18K, they have also cost me an additional $3700 for what they guaranteed, but totally failed on their part. So much for remotely monitoring my system.

Fast forward again to now and Emily said she was working with Generac to reimburse part of the True-Up. For 5 months now I have been given the runaround with Emily saying "you'll get a check next week," more times than I want to count. When the amount owed to me was presented, I was told I would get paid, but I would also receive an email in a few days. A week went by, so I stated the obvious. I later received an email stating that I need to sign an agreement that basically says that GDP won't be held accountable for any further setbacks or problems. They are supposed to warranty this system for 25yrs and make sure it is running properly hence the existence of remote monitoring. So I replied back, more or less stating that and a good part of the above. Still no reply, no check, lack of communication as expected.

Another thing to point out, which another review did was that I was setup to be financed through Sunnova. However, after they installed this system, I was still paying PG&E for months prior to them getting PG&E to approve it. Getting reimbursement for that took a long time as well. Then I started receiving phone calls that I needed to call back about financing through another bank. Well because of the high cost of the system, this had to go through 2 different banks. What they don't tell you is that these banks charge compound interest and your glamourous minimum payment (which is comparable to your monthly power bill) is about 90% interest every month. I didn't have much choice in the matter because I knew they would threaten a lien otherwise. But just a warning to you.

This company is horrible, a scam, and at this point thieves. Find some place else that is reliable, actually communicates with the customers, costs less money, and doesn't screw you over.