The Solar Store

David D.

2 issues. I was told by my former solar provider I needed a monitoring service. That turned out to be false because they weren't monitoring my solar power production and neither does Solar Store-at least actively. But when I called Solar Store to start the monitoring, I was told I needed an inspection of my system. I had that done. It took about 10 minutes and cost me about $400.00. Then I went through the incredible, months long hassle of getting the Solar Store to actually have my account transferred to them. Once that was finally done, I was told Solar Store could view my system's operation but they don't actively monitor it. So this is just like my former provider, Arizona Southwest Solar (who no longer does solar installation). My inverter failed and I was never notified by them. I discovered it on my own when electric bill arrived and it had no solar power generation on it! I feel I was sold an unneeded inspection for an unneeded service. On a bright note, the Solar Store tech who installed the new inverter did a great job.

Diane C.

We used The Solar Store to replace our old solar pool water heating system. They assured us there would be no problem with freezing in the winter, which caused our old system to break. We later found out in order to insure that, we needed to pay them to disconnect and drain the system in fall and pay to reconnect and start up in spring. The turn on charge has jumped from about $90. to $240 since last season. A huge increase for minimal time spent.

Mike B.

I have been extremely pleased with Solar Store. We placed Solar Store solar panel systems on our last two houses, and I even recommended them to my in-laws, and them see satisfied too. Our last house appraised for a higher price to cover the cost of the panels, which enabled us to purchase another system for our current house. Both systems have worked well, and 9 years later, for our last house, and 7 years, for later our current house, we are still pleased. I still recommend them, and if we sell our current house, we will be reaching out to Solar Store again to install another system. Pleased and hope others have as good an expertise as we have had.

Mark B.

The Solar Store installed our PV system. Due to the north-south orientation of our home, I was looking for an attractive solution that would still generate maximum energy. Kevin, from The Solar Store, came up with the ingenious solution of a parking structure adjacent to our home, which gave the array the southern exposure for maximum efficiency. The install went great, with quality LG panels and Enphase microinverters. (The Enphase inverters have been fantastic, with an app on my phone, I can monitor the power output of each panel!) It's been a great experience, and last year, the array generated 101% of our energy use over the entire year, so it's perfectly sized. The Solar Store has since come out a few times to address weather related issues with the array. Highly recommended.

Nadya L.

We are very happy with the product, the design for installation*, the purchase plan, the service we receive and the team. We count ourselves lucky that The Solar Store was willing to do an installation in Phoenix as they are located in Tucson. Everyone asks about our monthly bills. My husband likes to say, ""About $360."" When people look puzzled, he says,""per year."" It was worth the investment. *SS built a structure over our RV parking area to hold our panels instead of putting them on the roof. L&N in Phoenix

Dan P.

I've used them now for a few years to monitor my panels via Enphase. They helped me get a used panel to replace one of mine that had was damaged in a wind storm (I don't recall how much but it was way cheaper than the alternative) I did the install myself. They later replaced two inverters with only labor charges (inverters under warranty). I also had issues with my envoy that started on 9/23 and persisted until Jan 2024. I had called back in Nov 2023 on this issue and was assured the unit would eventually catch up. It didn't and this is the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars. They did talk with Enphase on the issue, but then pretty much spaced at that point. I'm the owner of this system, it was my fault as much as theirs. Eventually I contacted them and they sent a tech out (Jeff). We worked on the envoy for a couple of hours and had Enphase do a remote reset (Zack). This cost $240.00 in labor and dispatch charges. The system is now working and I've decided to install a new box for the envoy on my own. I did get an invoice from them for a new envoy that showed a line item for the envoy that was $50.00 cheaper than the list from Enphase, but with labor to install and some diagnostics, consumables, etc. would have been $1145.00. This seemed reasonable for the effort, but turned out to be moot. They are a local group and that can be a challenge in this business, so don't expect perfection. Always room for improvement, but I haven't any real complaints.

Anne B.

The Solar Store was very responsive when leaks occurred in my solar pool heating system. Quickly replaced. Problem solved.

Jason N.

TL;DR They lied to us & kept $10,000 having done no work.

This company took a deposit from us, did no work nor even scheduled any work to be done for us, lied about a offering a refund on our deposit while pretending to be compassionate about a death in our family.

Chris Tippet, on behalf of Kevin Krause & Katherine Kent, promised a refund - then months after delaying a refund told us today to sue them if we want it back.

As the project was never scheduled - they had done zero work on our contracted project, and had ordered zero supplies for our project per Chris Tippet. We were offered a refund minus costs for preparing the quote on our project.

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My wife & I agreed to terms and signed with Chris Tippet to begin a solar battery project.

Within a few weeks of signing we had an unexpected death in our family. This required all our free time & money. I reached out immediately via voice and chat, and they offered a refund, saying we could reschedule as the work start date hadn't even been agreed too. He said the price would likely be higher in the future when we resigned. We agreed & thanked them for the compassion.

Now more than 6 months has passed and we have yet to get a dime back on our ~$10,000 deposit.

When I called last week they assured it was an oversight & that they would get the refund processed - subtracting $800 for the sales contracting costs incurred. As previously offered & agreed to.

Today they called and told me that they won't refund anything - that our only recourse is to sue them.

Their lack of compassion and willingness to take advantage of people at a truly difficult time is disgusting.

Our only recourse now is to take all the transcripts & documentation of our communications via voice, text and email to court. Which we will, on principle alone of a company operating in such bad faith and defrauding their customers.

As a business owner myself, more over as a god fearing man, I would be ashamed to operate in such a bad faith fashion as they have.

As my wife is an attorney, we are in a fortunate position to take this to court. Many others won't be. We will willingly incur much greater than $10,000 in costs hiring a contract attorney to adjudicate this matter - in hopes of preventing this company from taking advantage of anyone else in the future.

Hopefully they will learn that contradicting a written contract with later written & verbal assurances made in bad faith in an attempt to defraud, may make the original contract an instrument of little legal certainty.

Clint G.

I paid this company February 10th nearly 700 dollars to get a permit in Pima County. The first 4 months went by not hearing from them I called. Found out they lost my file. Told me they would put me at Top of list. Four more months go by. Still nothing nor a call back as I've left multiple messages. I email them weekly. No response. They're the only company in Tucson offering this service. I have no other option but to wait. Costing me 300 a montg in electricity. My system is 9kw which I own outright. My yearly usage is 6kw. I could be paying nothing. Except for whatever the reason my money carries no importance.

Mark D.

Finding a reliable company to maintain a solar water heating system seems to be a challenge in Tucson. We have used about five companies during the past 15 years here, and they all have gone out of business. A plumber working on another project for us said he had heard good things about The Solar Store. Overall they were prompt, reasonably efficient, and did get the job done properly though took four trips and six weeks. Our solar water heater is now working better than ever, so I would have to recommend The Solar Store. They stuck with the project until they got it right.