There\u2019ve been too many screw-ups and disasters in our construction process to bore you with in any detail.\u00a0\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Elon Musk may be very smart, but he doesn\u2019t serve his consumers well.\u00a0 Because I wanted his powerwalls batteries as back up electric storage, I now had to use his solar panel installation company as well.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Thus my first encounter with Sigora Solar<\/a>, the worst run company I\u2019ve ever experienced in my life.<\/p>\n I put down a deposit in June 2021 for a system of solar panels and powerwall back-ups. \u00a0Here it was June 2022 and still didn\u2019t have my solar system \u2013 much less my battery back-up.\u00a0\u00a0 The system was completely designed and waiting for installation back in September 2021. \u00a0But each month, some different bubbly young lady in the company front office would call me and say, \u201cCongratulations, we\u2019re now set to come out and do a site visit and design your system!<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 It would drive me nuts!! \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019d complain up and down the company command, like the worst Karen you could imagine, and get apologies non-stop and excuses like \u201cwell, we\u2019ve had a lot of turn-over in our office, etc. \u00a0Not to worry, yes, our records show your system is already designed.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 This went on for several months and then FINALLY I got the notice that we\u2019d have our installation this June.\u00a0 This would be for the solar panels alone, not the battery back-up\u2026.\u00a0 But still, progress!\u00a0 \u00a0The big day came and \u2013 nothing!\u00a0\u00a0 They didn\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n 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\u2019d have to run a cable along the outside of the house.<\/p>\n Oh, but wait, it gets worse. According to their records, I had apparently cancelled <\/em><\/strong>my powerwall order, so they were here to install a system which didn\u2019t use the battery back-ups but just fed back into the grid. \u00a0I stared at the crew assembled before me with my mouth open in astonishment for a full five minutes before I went berserk!!<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever yelled or screamed at anyone as much as I did that crew \u2013 and then a few minutes later shouting into the phone at their bosses, and still later at their bosses\u2019s bosses!\u00a0\u00a0 Never have I been so angry at such incompetence and stupidity and \u201cI-don\u2019t-care-it\u2019s-not-my-problem\u201d attitude. \u00a0\u00a0While stress in the construction process has been pretty much a daily issue, I nearly died of a heart attack right there.\u00a0 I hate being stressed out.\u00a0 I hate being angry at people. \u00a0I really hate this whole process of constantly being held captive by people who aren\u2019t capable of doing their jobs.<\/p>\n 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 \u2018misfiled\u2019; 2) my system would now be installed so that the powerwalls could be added \u201cseamlessly\u201d (Ha!\u00a0 We\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n Sometimes it pays to throw a tantrum.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I truly hope I never have to deal with such Olympic level incompetence again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019ve been too many screw-ups and disasters in our construction process to bore you with in any detail.\u00a0\u00a0 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 … Continue reading Solar Rant<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5016,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5014","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5017,"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5014\/revisions\/5017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zuschlag.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}