There’ve been too many screw-ups and disasters in our construction process to bore you with in any detail. But the absolute worst by far, the one which really caused me to blow a gasket and frighten everyone (who know I had it in me?) was the solar installation.
Elon Musk may be very smart, but he doesn’t serve his consumers well. Because I wanted his powerwalls batteries as back up electric storage, I now had to use his solar panel installation company as well. His product is fantastic, so despite my wariness of monopolies, I called the Virginia licensed dealer to order both the powerwalls and the solar panels to run them. Thus my first encounter with Sigora Solar, the worst run company I’ve ever experienced in my life.
I put down a deposit in June 2021 for a system of solar panels and powerwall back-ups. Here it was June 2022 and still didn’t have my solar system – much less my battery back-up. The system was completely designed and waiting for installation back in September 2021. But each month, some different bubbly young lady in the company front office would call me and say, “Congratulations, we’re now set to come out and do a site visit and design your system!” It would drive me nuts!! I’d complain up and down the company command, like the worst Karen you could imagine, and get apologies non-stop and excuses like “well, we’ve had a lot of turn-over in our office, etc. Not to worry, yes, our records show your system is already designed.” This went on for several months and then FINALLY I got the notice that we’d have our installation this June. This would be for the solar panels alone, not the battery back-up…. But still, progress! The big day came and – nothing! They didn’t show up.
So of course they showed up the next day (when I had all sorts of off farm appointments) and then proceeded to show me a design which was completely different than the one I had signed off on, AND they then informed me that the carefully designed (to their specifications) interior channel we had built-in from day one in the construction process was not sufficient and that we’d have to run a cable along the outside of the house.
Oh, but wait, it gets worse. According to their records, I had apparently cancelled my powerwall order, so they were here to install a system which didn’t use the battery back-ups but just fed back into the grid. I stared at the crew assembled before me with my mouth open in astonishment for a full five minutes before I went berserk!!
I don’t think I’ve ever yelled or screamed at anyone as much as I did that crew – and then a few minutes later shouting into the phone at their bosses, and still later at their bosses’s bosses! Never have I been so angry at such incompetence and stupidity and “I-don’t-care-it’s-not-my-problem” attitude. While stress in the construction process has been pretty much a daily issue, I nearly died of a heart attack right there. I hate being stressed out. I hate being angry at people. I really hate this whole process of constantly being held captive by people who aren’t capable of doing their jobs.
So, as the result of my epic meltdown, I frightened everyone enough that a flurry of conference calls with various bosses soon uncovered the following facts: 1) My powerwall order (with 50% down payment) was indeed still intact, it had just been ‘misfiled’; 2) my system would now be installed so that the powerwalls could be added “seamlessly” (Ha! We’ll see!) once the powerwalls shipped; 3) the interior channel we had created from the roof to the basement electric panels was deemed completely appropriate; and 4) they would begin installation immediately.
Sometimes it pays to throw a tantrum.
It took them a day and a half to do it, but in the end I had a nice solar roof that is invisible from the ground, and it was all hooked up to the grid. The powerwalls were still on order, but at least the solar array was finally installed as agreed upon over a year prior.
I truly hope I never have to deal with such Olympic level incompetence again.