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Should I cancel the roof?
After reading over all the threads in this Solar Roof form they all seem to have one thing in common. Awful customer support, paired with incompetence, and long...very long waits for every step of the process.
Started the process in May 2020 took over a month to get anyone to return our phone call. Went through a few advisors and finally got one who would call us back.
Long story short at every step of the process its like pulling teeth.
They have pushed back install dates 6 times already and after looking at all the install threads on here - none of them seem to have gone smoothly.
Tesla dropped of two pallets of materials that has been sitting on our street for the past few weeks, with an install date that keeps getting pushed farther and father back.
Thinking of cutting our losses and terminating the roof. Thoughts?
Started the process in May 2020 took over a month to get anyone to return our phone call. Went through a few advisors and finally got one who would call us back.
Long story short at every step of the process its like pulling teeth.
They have pushed back install dates 6 times already and after looking at all the install threads on here - none of them seem to have gone smoothly.
Tesla dropped of two pallets of materials that has been sitting on our street for the past few weeks, with an install date that keeps getting pushed farther and father back.
Thinking of cutting our losses and terminating the roof. Thoughts?
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Comments
Good luck and do report back on the rest of your experience.
With the materials on-site, it sounds like they are through most of the hard parts and just need the install team. With COVID that can make it more difficult, but I'd hang in there. The end results are impressive. Lots of people comment on my roof as it's the first one in our area. I've seen 2 more go up since my roof within 6 blocks.
> Are there any other solar roofs in your area? When I first ordered I assumed it was a ready to go product in Seattle. But as time went on it became clear that it was not that. It's more of an enthusiast thing and we are the ones camping out in front of the line to get the first products in our respective areas. In that context, all we can do is get to know the people camping out with us and have some fun along the way.
@david, I am in Snohomish County to the north and would like to know how it goes on your project. We will be starting our rebuild process in calendar '21 which will replace all roof trusses, and obviously all current roofing.
First item I am concerned about is the 25 year material and power warranty. It seems very short. Have five homes with 40 year roofs and one with 37 solar panels. The panels produce well. The next house will have a southern exposure for optimal collecting. As you probably know, 40 year roofs last 35 years at best in the Pacific NW.
FWIW, COVID seems to have wreaked havoc extraordinarily on Tesla Energy customer service. It's not an excuse, but an observation.
My experiences (not in 2020) with Solar City and Tesla Energy, much like TeslaTap's, has been exemplary.
Tesla had the compass orientation of my house wrong by 45 degrees in their design, they punctured sprinklers in the tear off, the initial crew installed much of the flashing badly and they had to call in a new crew to start over, they couldn’t get the specs right for the emergency disconnect with the County for two months, the production was obviously way off the moment they turned it on, it took me three months to convince them of that, they finally did a new design, which their crew promptly punted on because apparently their designers never had accurate measurements of my roof from the very start despite multiple drone flyovers and photos, they left equipment and a portable toilet on site for weeks despite no work being done, they left nails in my driveway that punctured tires, they destroyed a bush with their ladders at the edge of my house, and now finally they’ve conceded they just never had the right design and are writing down the contract, providing some extra “goodwill” and still need to paint parts of my house where their bad flashing job marred things. And that list is not exhaustive— just what comes straight to mind.
There have been a few shining spots of some good guys working for them — the electrician who installed the Powerwalls was fantastic and went beyond the extra mile for me, and the lead of the second roof crew was also great.
But these guys alone could not make up for the gross and hideous mismanagement I have suffered almost literally every day because of this project. I still won’t be done with them for months despite this having started in June.
So TeslaTap, if that makes me a fake or a complainer, then you deserve stronger words than I’ll put here. Count yourself lucky you had a great install experience and quit diminishing those of us who did not.
You clearly had a lot of problems. It seems many of them could have been avoided with a little more observance at the start of the project. Having a bad crew clearly was not good and hopefully, Tesla fired that crew.
You offer good suggestions on how to get a good install no matter the vendor. I don't think you need to micromanage the project, but it is worth it to be vigilant and observe and ask questions, especially before the start of any major house project.
Here's my timeline...and this is gonna sound crazy, but this is how it played out:
-Nov '19: Placed order
-Jan '20: Design accepted and agreement signed
-Jun '20: Install started
-Aug '20: 80% complete
-Sep '20: 90% complete (PTO from utility)
-Dec '20: 99% complete
So, a little over a year from start to finish.
My biggest piece of advice - you are going to have to be prepared to play project manager. That's just the way it is - Solar back office is overwhelmed and can take days to respond to emails/phone calls. I kept a list of names and phone numbers and made hundreds of calls to keep things moving. Also, I was fortunate to have a very experienced crew and foreman. Something you might want to ask about before construction starts.
I should never have responded to your nonsense in a public forum -- and for that, I sincerely apologize to the rest of the readers trying to distill through these threads for useful information.
I'm not sure how someone who has their mind set on something would read this, but for the OP - my advise is be patient and follow the good advise you've been given.
My timeline:
-5/22/2017 put in my deposit($1000) for the Solar Tesla Roof
-Today PTO...
from 2017 till today(12/31/20)
it's been a crazy journey and I could go into the crazy details of my installation, but I just wanted to answer the OP with my thoughts and that's be patient if you want the thing bad enough it will bear fruit....I'm in NY-LI so we get things alot later than most of the country and we have 4-seasons...
Good luck whichever direction you choose and if I can offer any assist let me know...I'm going to "find" time and post up my documentation of the process but:
-be patient
-ask alot of question
-do your research and ask more questions
Good Luck!
The original photos (two dimensions) of the prototype slate version appeared to show significant surface texture so I am not sure how slippery it will be if ever put into production. Time may tell.
The original terra-cotta version did look extremely slippery.
Feb. '20: Agreement signed.
March '20: Construction began.
June '20: Major construction finished.
Nov. '20: PTO
Jan. '21: About 95% complete.
As others have said, you have to be patient and be prepared to be the project manager (lots of questions, phone calls, and e-mails). The work crews were mostly really great, but they were there to do one specific thing and no one was in charge of the overall project. If I hadn't kept pushing, I don't think we would have even gotten to the "major construction finished" stage.