# Tesla Energy -- Worst experience



## tee2nu (May 10, 2021)

Tesla customer service is non-existent. Terrible experience from the start. I should of listen to my gut and NOT used them. I ordered the panels July 2020. They installed the equipment in December 2020. So may excuses and delays that it is just ridiculous. The first rep they assigned me never returned emails or phone calls. They assigned me a new rep - and the same. Their customer service moto is deflect blame and don't take responsibility. Then they installed the Powerwalls on the floor when I asked them to wall mount it. They didn't fix it. They just ignored my calls and emails. Finally had it online in March 2021. Now my inverter died 5 days ago. They sent a Tech to come and troubleshoot, and guess what? The inverter is dead and needs to be replaced. The kicker is that it will take 5-7 business days to get the equipment in and then they need to schedule another tech to install. So I will be out of Solar Generation for 3 weeks at a minimum while this is the season for the highest solar bills of the year here in AZ. We are already in the triple digits. I will be wasting around $300 this month on energy costs that I shouldn't be paying. And Tesla will not take ownership that it is their fault for installing defective equipment. Tesla is the WORST!! I'm more than PISSED. This is the worst experience with any company ever. After spending close to $40,000 and they still treat you like an annoyance. 

**Anyone know how to reach someone at Tesla that can actually help?


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

It is a shame to see that Tesla sales have not improved since I bought my Model 3 nearly 3 years ago. They really need to get their act together as they are building a reputation for horrible customer service. 

I'm sorry you had an inverter fail on you, but it seems like they are taking care of the inverter as quick as they can. I don't have experience with their solar side, but I have definitely had much better experiences with servicing my car than buying my car and I hope that you also have good experience with them repairing the faulty inverter.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

You actually got products delivered and installed? That's way better than my experience with Tesla Solar. Mine dragged their feet and cancelled my project six times over a year and a half! The final time they pulled out the day before installation was scheduled! And TWO years I was screwed on taxes that I had planned to be getting a large solar rebate.
Don't worry, last year after giving tesla one more chance with both standard solar AND solar roof, I gave up and went over to SunBug on July 1, after numerous recommendations. All I asked was if they were sure they could install before Dec 32 31st. Of course they could!!
Well, it's now May of the next year and I still have no solar installed, and and again emptying all my accounts and tesla stock to pay taxes again.
I don't know why these companies can survive being so incompetent. These are BIG sales and they can't take two steps without tripping over themselves.


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

JWardell said:


> All I asked was if they were sure they could install before Dec 32.


Even Tesla can make that date.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

I just read an article yesterday reporting that a couple is suing Tesla solar for failure to honor an executed contract to install solar roofing. According to the article Tesla had promised performance within 180 days of the execution of the contract. Not only did they NOT meet that deadline, they also communicated that they had mis-figured the contract price and the new price was around 150% of the original contract price. The couple's lawyer stated that he was aware of similar antics involving at least 10 other couples and was considering a class-action suit.

@iChris93 is exactly right, Tesla is developing a reputation for horrid customer service that they can ill afford. Not to mention their penchant for unfulfilled promises.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

@tee2nu sorry to hear of your problems. I too had long waits in installation (a year and a half for my Powerwalls) and have had a solar inverter die. Yes, it took 3 weeks for Tesla to get it replaced. Lack of communication has been a hallmark throughout. I've been so mad at Tesla at times that I could blow a gasket. Thankfully I was able to let go of the mad before that happened.

Wish I had advice on who to contact who could help.


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## Frank_Deale (Jun 23, 2019)

I sometimes get rapid responses by complaining on the company's twitter handle, because it is all public. Try @tesla and if you are desperate @ElonMusk


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## Dfwatt (Mar 17, 2019)

Something is profoundly wrong with Tesla solar. After we got our second solar system installed we had a lightning strike that actually fried the computers in both systems which are in adjacent houses presumably from the same lightning strike. We got the fried computer fixed fairly quickly although not cheaply in both systems. But since then it's been a circus in terms of getting service on a powerwall that may or may not have been impacted by the lightning strike. Tesla was going to replace it at my cost without any diagnosis of what was wrong with it and when I balked at that they have scheduled a diagnostic service call and then canceled that three times. They seem to have no freaking idea what they're doing an absolutely no commitment to the customer in terms of honoring the promises of a warranty as opposed to trying to sleaze out of warranty service under a force majeure rationalization. I no longer recommend Tesla for solar even though I still recommend their cars. It's really disgraceful. Perhaps we should start a pole to determine whether or not there are enough people on the forum to create our own class action against them.


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## Pearl1 (Sep 23, 2021)

Something is profoundly wrong with Tesla Energy. 

They're not going to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy at the pace they work. My solar panel 2-day install is now going on 3-months and counting. If you think they'll get it done in 2-days, you are dreaming. I would love to know how many systems they've actually installed in 2-days. When they get behind, no effort is made to make up the time. They're attitude is, and yes it is attitude, we'll get it done when we get it done; tough.

Faced with overwhelming demand, Tesla Energy has given up on customer service and, more importantly, project management. This is what Tesla Energy need most of all, active project management of each install. There is very little project management. I chose Tesla because I thought, incorrectly, that because they only did Tesla systems that Tesla would, by now, have the install mastered. In my experience, not so much. On the days they have shown up, they show up mid morning and leave early afternoon; maybe 4 hours of work a day. My home is a long drive from their warehouse, but that's known from the start. My roof is complex and takes more time. This was known from the start. I have a tile roof which complicates the install, which was known from the start. 

The crews do not appear to be well supervised. They work, when they work, at very leisurely pace. They are not very clean. In speaking with he crews, I was very surprised to find that the crews had no formal training. Everything they knew was taught on the job.

Buyer beware. This is very intrusive to the house. It rough on the house, and it will be rough on you. But, I'm too deep into this to turn back. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have gone with Tesla. Hoping that the system performs great so that this period of time becomes one of those "remember when" stories.


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## DocScott (Mar 6, 2019)

While I did have a few adventures getting Tesla solar panels installed in 2020, many were (plausibly) related to the pandemic, and after ordering early in the year I had working solar by the end of July.

But I'm really posting to give Tesla solar a (positive) shout-out. I'd tried multiple times over the years to get solar panels with various companies, and as I recall had twice gotten as far as signing a contract. Both times, well in to the process, the companies determined they couldn't install because the rafters weren't up to current codes. No instructions were ever given as to what I would need to do to remedy that. Tesla, in contrast, found the same problem--and then agreed to remedy it for no extra charge, installing some kind of cross-braces. :thumbsup:


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## theclam (Nov 7, 2018)

Completely agree, my solar and powerwall install is a 1 year+ adventure and it is still not 100% functional!!! I have 2 powerwall +'s and a 3rd power wall battery. One Powerwall + and it's battery has never worked (has been installed for 2 months), they can't figure out how to get it working and have now ordered a new one. That means only half of my solar panels are functioning as well since they are split into the 2 inverted built onto of the Power wall +'s.. I can't believe how unresponsive and how poor communications has been, i do not even have an appointment scheduled for them to finish the job that started 2 months ago from an order I places over 1 year ago!!!


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## Dfwatt (Mar 17, 2019)

Tesla Energy: To borrow from Charles Dickens, it was the best of products, it was the worst of products.

We have had two solar systems installed and in relationship to our first one, in our primary residence, a 12 kW system with two powerwalls, our builder who does solar himself and is highly technically competent, witnessed the first install and said "wow, these guys are an A-Team." No issues, made rated power, worked flawlessly.

So of course seduced by the assumption that this is how it would always go, we've got another smaller 8 kW system for our rental property next door. Once again, A-Team installation out of Tampa Tesla Energy. Again everything cruising along without any issues . . . until later that summer when a lightning strike took out both Gateway computers in both systems at the same time. The houses are side-by-side but they do not share a transformer and a lightning strike took out the transformer for the rental property but must've somehow back fed into the other transformer for the other house. All the 240 voltage wires coming into the computer refused and melted.

Great- And no one could tell me how it was possible with a single lightning strike could take out the Gateway systems and leave every other circuit and all the electronics in both houses completely unfazed! So it took forever to get service on this, with crazy invoicing, including getting a sent a bill for taking the solar system off the roof. Finally, both Gateway computers were replaced, and we thought, things were back to normal.

But about three weeks later, one of the two Powerwalls in the property that had had the blown transformer developed some kind of fault - who knows why - and Tesla simply assumed that this was from the lightning strike without any evidence of any kind about the basis for the Powerwall malfunction (no fused circuit board was ever taken out of the thing, for that matter, no real diagnostics were ever run on it as far as I can tell.

So we were presented with a bill for $15,000 to repair and replace a basically brand-new Powerwall that was only a few months old. I objected to the lack of any clear diagnostic information. After about four months of negotiating with Tesla energy, including making it clear to them that if they could not prove that the Powerwall malfunction was from a lightning strike, I would press a claim against them in a local court for warranty violation. Finally, the exceptionally talented technician that had repaired both gateways came forward and said "I have proof that this thing work for a while after the lightning strike so that makes it very unlikely it was damaged rom lightning." Although it took eight months, Tesla actually replaced the Powerwall as a warranty issue. Who knows what the basis for its failure really was, Tesla certainly didn't, and neither did I, but in the absence of definitive information a warranty repair was the right and proper outcome.

*This is what I see with Tesla over and over again: brilliant products and occasionally exceptionally competent technicians paired with dismal or simply absent communication, baffling and illogical service decisions, with poorly trained and misinformed technicians working elbow to elbow with the brilliant exceptionally competent ones, and enormous delays getting things fixed for reasons that are unclear. * It's baffling and at times infuriating, and I'm almost afraid to expect that the high-quality installation will be mirrored with a long and trouble-free service life. If someone were to ask me what my overall grade would be for Tesla energy in Tampa I'm not sure I could rate them. They installed 2 very well assembled systems for a reasonable price. The systems worked great - until they didn't! The repair process was chaotic, confusing, and just missed being financially backbreaking. They did finally take responsibility for an ambiguous PW failure which I appreciate. Should it have taken eight months? Nope. Should they have been able to diagnose the Powerwall more definitively? One would think so but apparently not - it appears that there is no troubleshooting of Powerwall issues and if they every fail they are just swapped out. That seems nuts. That's essentially like bringing your car in for service and instead of it being diagnosed and repaired, you simply swap it out for another car! That's a crazy approach to servicing a complex piece of electronics. No one a Tesla energy can tell me why they do it this way - but that's a symptom of a larger problem - that common sense questions have no clear answers. I still don't have an answer as to how a lightning strike affecting one house blew the Gateway computer in another house separated and insulated presumably from that lightning strike. I still don't know despite my asking Tesla many times why the Gateway computer is vulnerable to current surges when nothing else in either house was damaged. That included expensive and potentially fragile electronics all over the place - TVs, routers, wifi systems, refrigeration units, pumps, pool electronics, A/C system, etc..

In any case in our primary residence, we now have essentially an independence from the grid and almost no electric bills ever. Not sure that I can recommend Tesla Energy but then again If someone were to ask me if we have good solar system I would say absolutely. Was it a good value? Yup. I just know it shouldn't be this loaded with so much uncertainty, grief and exasperation. And it could've been a lot worse. They could have simply refused to replace the Powerwall and I would've had to take them to court and pay for an expert to diagnose what was actually wrong. So overall, the outcome was good, but again, it shouldn't be this complicated.


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## Dan A (2 mo ago)

Unfortunately, starting next week I am hiring a lawyer to get out of contract with Tesla. Unlike other people I got my solar installed timely in July 2022. However, I am unable to turn on the system after technician shut it down to show to county inspector. Tickets are taking more than 20 days to resolve at Tesla and I am disgusted but mine has not been picke up since August 2022.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

@Dan A, installed and getting all the permits to operate it are 2 different things. Are the permits to operate completed? That sometimes can take months.


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## Dan A (2 mo ago)

Bigriver: I understood. I am just unable to get a hold of anyone at Tesla for 4 months. And now when they just submitted my application to Comed I learned that something is wrong with my system. There is nothing else I can do at this point but to fight until I get their undivided attention.


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## Boognish (2 mo ago)

I have a terrible experience to report too. Any advice would be appreciated. I've posted elsewhere as I'm trying to cast a wide net for information: 

I am having an issue with Tesla around my solar panels which were installed in late 2020 along with 2 powerwalls. I noticed this past March that my panel power production had dropped by about 50%. I contacted Tesla who did not send anyone out to take a look until May. We noticed a few weeks prior to them coming that a squirrel had established a nest under my solar panels. The nest and squirrel have since been removed. We have a two story craftsman. When the Tesla tech looked in early May, she noted 2-3 damaged wires and 1-2 damaged optimizers. She suggested that the wiring would need to be repaired by a roof team. I was advised that the system was unsafe and so it has been off since early May. Another tech visited in late May and confirmed some wire damage but I did not get any specific information from that person. In the ensuing months, I received an evolving explanation as to what was going to happen. First, that Tesla was waiting on replacement parts. Then, that the panels would need to be replaced. Then, that the whole system (including inverter but not powerwalls which are working fine) would need to be replaced. I then submitted a complaint to Tesla at around the 6 month point requesting a description of damage and estimate for repair. This culminated 2 months later in an email from a Tesla customer service person that I had never spoken to stating that an extensive internal review had been done and that my panels were not repairable. I was advised to file a claim with my homeowner's insurance (bad advice because homeowner's insurance does not cover rodent damage to anything) and find a third party installer to remove the panels (also not possible). Just to prove the latter, I contacted the only installer that advertises removal and reinstallation services where I live (Portland, OR), and they told me that they do not service Tesla systems because they are unwieldy and utilize proprietary parts they do not have access to. That installer also pointed out that because of the way Tesla panels are mounted, they must be removed and examined one by one to know where the damage is. This implies that Tesla in fact has no idea what is damaged and is not. This is consistent with drone video I have taken and in which no damage is visible near the margins of the panels. I suspect only some wires near where the nesting site was are damaged. I have also spoken to another installer who stated that wire damage is generally repairable although if the damage is too close to the panel it may not be. I am considering my options. My contract has a forced arbitration provision so I could initiate arbitration. I am curious if anybody on the forum has had any similar difficult experience with Tesla, or any folks that have had issues with Tesla might have any advice regarding this situation. I am also interested to know if there an Tesla solar installers/electricians (current or former) who might be willing to speak informally.


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## francoisp (Sep 28, 2018)

Tesla is a great company until you need servicing. I was waiting for Tesla to start selling in my area but I think I'll start looking at alternatives.


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## Boognish (2 mo ago)

francoisp said:


> Tesla is a great company until you need servicing.


I am learning that the hard way unfortunately. I definitely will never buy a Tesla product again. But in the meantime, I have panels on my roof that no one will remove or service, including Tesla! It is a major pickle.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

@Boognish so sorry to hear of your situation. Tesla solar is particularly hard to deal with. (I have had much better experience with customer service on the car side of the business.) I wish I had any helpful advice. I will be watching this thread to learn. Please do keep us informed.


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