Sungevity reviews

Patricia installed a small rooftop solar system about seven years ago and ended up with a setup that fits her household's needs perfectly. She now sees annual PG&E bills that hover between $5 and $25, the panels look good on the roof, and the system has caused absolutely no trouble. Her mother-in-law is scheduled for a Sungevity installation in Massachusetts next month after another company kept pestering her with sales calls; Patricia suggested Sungevity because they took a different approach. Sungevity initially worried that tree shading would rule the house out, but after a home visit they came up with a revised design that will save her money. What lingers from Patricia's experience is the combination of consistently tiny utility bills and a team that did the on-site work needed to make solar actually fit — not a barrage of high-pressure sales.

Tim K. leased a 40-panel Hyundai rooftop system about four years ago from Sungevity; when Sungevity folded or sold his lease, Omnidian Solar and Short Hills Lease Co. ended up holding it. In November 2019 he climbed onto the roof to wash the panels and discovered two with shattered glass. The new servicer came out, inspected the array and acknowledged a known defect with that Hyundai model — a problem they hadn’t proactively warned customers about. For safety they instructed him to shut the system off, but he remained responsible for the lease payments and continued paying SDG&E full price for electricity. The company has since said it’s negotiating with Hyundai and might have an answer “early in 2021,” which would leave him double-paying for well over a year. He pushed for immediate repairs at the servicer’s expense so they could pursue Hyundai later, and he isn’t the only one with this issue; he is now consulting an attorney who is reviewing his contract. What stuck with him most was being forced into a year-long limbo — no power from the system, continuing lease charges, and full utility bills while the companies sort out responsibility.

Shane K. discovered his roof started leaking in 2016, three years after Sungevity had installed solar panels in 2013. He requested the installation photos and city inspection records and the company agreed it should have recommended a roof replacement before the panels went up. Sungevity offered to cover removal and reinstallation of the array so he could pay to redo the roof, and the work was scheduled for March 2017. An employee, Thomas Hardman, reassured him he hadn’t been forgotten and would handle the job — then Thomas disappeared from the project and the panels were never taken down. Summer rains opened a new section of the roof, causing interior damage and raising his worry about black mold. Sungevity/Omnidian customer service escalated the service request and promised contact, but then cautioned the repair could be delayed 4–5 months because of backlog. Meanwhile he continues to pay his bill every month while damage inside the house mounts. The most striking detail: an explicit agreement and a named employee’s promise to remove and reinstall the panels in March 2017 never materialized, leaving him stuck with an active leak and an uncertain, multi-month wait for repairs.

Peter Y. walked through a smooth sales and installation process: his system went up within a reasonable timeframe, PG&E completed the interconnect a few weeks later, and he just finished his first full year of solar generation. What soured the experience was the referral program. He gave his neighbor a referral code about seven to eight months ago; the neighbor showed up in Peter’s friends list on the Sungevity portal after getting a quote, then vanished from the list once he signed. Peter followed up about the promised referral bonus roughly a month after the neighbor’s system went live and the manager explained that checks take six to eight weeks. Now, four months after the system started producing, Peter has emailed the sales manager again and heard nothing back. The installation itself left him satisfied, but the unanswered referral check and the portal glitch have made his neighbor reluctant to send others Sungevity’s way — a concrete problem that undercuts an otherwise solid installation experience.

Jason E. had Sungevity install solar panels on his home about two years ago. When equipment began failing recently, he discovered Sungevity had gone bankrupt and found himself unable to reach anyone for help. He tried the phone number listed on Sungevity’s website and sent emails, but received no response. Solar Spectrum, which was supposed to handle warranty issues, proved unreachable as well. The result: a system with equipment problems and no accessible warranty support, leaving him stuck with a nonworking setup and no clear recourse.

Kathy became a Sungevity customer in 2013 and remembers a 2014 service issue that the company handled quickly. She prepaid the entire cost of her lease up front specifically to get maintenance included, and counted on that protection. Lately she’s been reading about Sungevity’s bankruptcy, but has received no communication from Sungevity, from the bankruptcy court, or from whoever bought any of the company’s assets. That silence has turned her prepaid maintenance into a source of real worry — she’s left unsure who will maintain the system she already paid for and where her money stands.

Breanna D. has been with Sungevity since 2010 for her North Valley Los Angeles home and ended up turning a neighborhood curiosity into a small local trend — five neighbors installed solar after she did. She chose a 20-year lease but prepaid it up front, and that decision paid off: the lease was officially cleared in four years and trimmed what she would have paid in interest. Along the way the system required two repairs, both handled at no charge, which reinforced her sense that the lease route reduced unexpected costs. The only recurring chore has been an annual rooftop cleaning — desert‑dry winters and wind blow a lot of dirt — and she admits being timid with heights but still climbs up because the benefits outweigh the hassle. She invites others to come see the array in person or ask questions; the clearest takeaway from her experience is that prepaying the lease delivered a surprisingly fast payoff and protected her from repair bills.

Rose D. bought and fully paid for a residential solar system and carried a warranty, but two years later discovered the company has gone bankrupt. She ended up with a two-year-old installation that should still be supported but has no clear service channel or warranty backstop. The app she depended on to track panel performance stopped working, so she can’t even monitor how the system is doing. Now she’s left worried about future problems and unsure who to contact for repairs or support — a paid-for system with a warranty that, for now, provides no recourse or monitoring.

Brenda W. hired the installer in 2014 while she was finishing a nearby house, and the project turned into a string of costly, disruptive problems. Rain leaked through holes left in the roof after panel installation, forcing her to set buckets in the living room and hire her own roofer to seal the openings. While she was removing an antique clock from the dining room wall, a subcontractor began sawing through that same wall from the outside to install a new electrical panel — the blade came frighteningly close to her face. Her husband had poured his inheritance into the job, and she had to pay a painter out of her own pocket to repair, texture and repaint the damaged interior. Even so, she later served as a 4th of July festival coordinator and brought Solar City in as a vendor; what lingered from the home installation was the near-miss with the saw and the months of fixing leaks and walls at her own expense.