Solar Alliance reviews

Timothy Klein had a 5.2 kW solar system with a battery installed on his city home in Knoxville and found the installation itself clean and efficient. He received email replies within 24 to 48 hours throughout the process, and the crew worked quickly, left the site neat, and delivered solid workmanship. A year after the install his array continued to perform as expected, and when a component recall and a failed controller cropped up, Solar Alliance didn’t wait for him to chase them — they initiated the fixes promptly. What lingered most for him was the company’s follow-through: timely communication during the project and proactive, effective service afterward.

Nanette bought a rooftop solar system from Solar Alliance about four years ago and financed it through a third‑party loan. She took the deal partly because the salesperson framed the loan around an $8,000 tax credit that would offset the cost. After installation she discovered the credit didn’t materialize as promised: her tax situation allowed only about half the credit the first year and just a small portion the second year. When she contacted the company to explain the shortfall, the response felt like a shrug — no real remediation or help followed. A few months later she changed her home internet and the solar gateway lost its connection, so she couldn’t pull production data or monitor output. She learned that only one tech at the company handled that kind of fix and he was on vacation; it took three weeks to get any contact. They promised an explanatory email on how to reconnect, but it never arrived, leaving her to chase them for support. When her household added a pool and she asked to tack a single panel onto the array to cover the extra load, Solar Alliance told her the smallest option was buying six panels at roughly $1,000 each. That rigid upsell — rather than offering

L B. had rooftop solar installed three years ago and is still dealing with fallout from what began as a service call: a roof that was supposed to be repaired before the panels went on now leaks into the attic, and after an onsite admission from a Solar Alliance representative that the roof work wasn’t done correctly, they have waited more than three weeks for a proper fix. They paid Solar Alliance to arrange the roof update when the system was installed, then discovered the contractor’s work failed. About 18 months after installation the solar system stopped working, and because the company would not cover the outage beyond a two-month window, they paid $300 out of pocket to get electricity restored while their bills climbed. Since the roof problem surfaced, multiple phone calls have produced missed appointments — a crew was scheduled two days ago and didn’t show, and another scheduled for today also failed to arrive — and attempts to reach the owner went nowhere. The most lasting detail: the company’s contractor admitted the roof wasn’t fixed correctly, yet the leak remains and scheduled repairs keep being missed, leaving ongoing damage and mounting frustration.

Lawrence Carico had a 7 kW solar power system installed at his home about nine years ago and discovered it became one of the best investments he’s ever made. He ended up with an installation completed to a high standard and was impressed by the crew’s professionalism and excellent workmanship. Nine years on, the lasting value of the system combined with the quality of the installation is the detail he highlights most.

T. Montgomery ended up with a four-year-old, 18 kW solar system with two lithium batteries that kept developing faults over several years. They struggled with recurring problems while noticing the company's responsiveness and overall quality decline. After placing numerous calls, sending emails and requesting service repeatedly, they received little to no response as the system eventually stopped working. With Solar Alliance unresponsive, they found themselves forced to seek repairs from other providers — the defining detail being the lack of follow-up that left the array offline and unresolved.

Dana P. went looking into solar after catching Solar Alliance on a morning news segment and taking an appointment partly for the $50 gift card — she researches big purchases and figured she had nothing to lose. She ended up ordering a 5.8 kW system (24 panels) for her 3,800 sq ft house with a pool; SDG&E bills had been about $300–$350 a month before solar. HOA approval took a bit, and roughly six weeks passed from the initial visit to the crew mounting the panels. What frustrated her most during that month-and-a-half was the handoff shuffle: different people handled paperwork, rebates, permits, loans and installation, and none of them served as a single point of contact. She got bombarded with overlapping calls and emails and often had no clear answer from the person who reached out. Fortunately the permits and rebates went through without problems, but the process felt chaotic and time-consuming. Once the system was live she began to see real savings. In the first year her bills dropped to roughly $60–$120, and in more recent months her account is sometimes in the negative or only a few dollars owed, depending on usage. The biggest disappointment came with financing. Solar-­

Robert Kahn owns a nine-year-old PV system with 36 panels and microinverters. When one microinverter began underperforming, he contacted Solar Alliance Southeast and worked with Kevin to pinpoint the fault. Because Robert lives about 100 miles from their office, Kevin avoided an expensive round trip by ordering a warranty replacement and having it shipped directly to him with clear instructions for swapping the unit. He installed the part himself at no charge and now plans to call them again when he wants to upgrade or expand — the thing that stood out was Kevin arranging the shipped warranty part plus step-by-step guidance, saving a long drive and extra labor fees.

Anne C. had been satisfied with a 12-panel system installed two years earlier, then decided to add ten more panels after a new pool began draining more power. She waited six months just to get a quote and felt she had to stay with the original installer to avoid voiding the existing warranty. She signed the contract on 09-27-13, but the project stalled: after many calls the crew finally began work only two months later, and early mistakes revealed they hadn’t done a proper site survey. The company initially submitted the old design to the county without accounting for vents and risers on the roof, so a designer had to come back and redraw the array. Net-metering approval dragged on through four separate submissions because the one-line diagram didn’t match the application. The physical install stretched over four days and finished on November 29; the county inspector didn’t arrive until December 5. A technician from Solar West brought an updated plaque, but it was incorrect; when Anne pointed that out he called his office and was told to install it anyway and “we’ll fix it later.” As a result the inspection failed — the county didn’t have the revised plans and the plaque showed the

Edna R. went live with her SunPower system more than a year ago and discovered that the year-end SDGE true-up produced no savings — she ended up owing SDGE just over $400 for electricity. That balance sat on top of the monthly payments she continued to send to SunPower and separate SDGE charges for gas. She waited a long time for anyone at SunPower to respond to her inquiries. The Solar Alliance consultant had painted a picture of an annual electric bill under $150, but that projection didn’t hold up; when she tried to reach him he told her he no longer worked for Solar Alliance. She felt taken advantage of, and what stuck with her most was the broken $150 promise and a salesperson who had disappeared while the bills kept coming.