SolarMax Technology, Inc.

I have a residential project with Jerry Hong, who is a responsible man working in Solarmax. He prepared all the paperwork and give me a fair estimated price and proposal. Totally satisfied. Best choice. I would highly recommend him to my friends who need a solar system in the future!

We had SolarMAX install Solar in our house in San Diego 2015. The price we paid was fair and the service was outstanding. Our 21 panels are providing sufficient electricity and the electrical bill has dropped $ 270.00, on average, per month. Our contractor point of contact, Marvin Jimenez, was knowledgable and provided us a thorough understanding of the installation process, and how much power our system would need to produce based on past electrical bills. Installation went smoothly and completed on time. We have had no problems with the SunPower System and enjoy not having an electrical bill.

It is now 5÷29÷2016. SolarMax finally agreed to fix my system. They are going to replace the inverter and add 2 more panels. They came out on 5÷17÷16 and took down the old panels, and added some new framing… than left. I had to call 4 days later to see what was going on. They thought they were done. So we made another appointment for the 5÷23÷2016 for them to finish. This time they got closer, they replaced the inverter and connected only 17 out of 35 panels. The installers left and said we should be getting a call. Well it has been a week and guess what… no call. So we have half of the system connected. It’s progress I guess, but just another sign of terrible customer service. So this is where we stand. We have only 17 out of 35 panels connected and they still have not compensated us for the $ 1,400 that we paid in electrical charges because the system under produced last year. There are other smaller issues but I can wait on those.

Much better experience than SolarCity which I found to be hard sell, expensive and deliberately mystifying. Solarmax was 20% less expensive for 10% more power, much easier to work with, much more knowledgeable throughout the ranks for employees, etc. Now that I’ve been living with the system for 6 months I can definitively share that they absolutely delivered and I’m thrilled!

We recently got our solar panels installed. Everything seems to be working out great. If you’re considering solar for. your home I would recommend talking to Chris Shifflet. He made our experience so nice and relaxed. He is so knowledgeable and really nice. Not pushy like others I’ve talked to. He was upfront about everything and really wanted to improve our situation. Once we signed up he kept in touch often making sure we were happy with everything.

A big thank you to Dan Cooley and the whole SolarMax team for the recent installation of our solar panels. He was very professional and available any time we had a question or concern. We highly recommend Mr. Cooley and SolarMax for all your solar needs!

By far the Worst Experience Ever. They lie about almost everything. From rebates to what ever works to get it done. I’m a current customer. Jeff is a peace of Art Work. They claim to have rebates. As far as Government incentives. Tax rebates. They give you the cost of what your bill will look like at the end of all the discounts. Come to find out. The IRS doesn’t give rebates unless you have a tax liability. What does this mean? In order for you to get money back from the IRS you have to owe them money. If you are one of those persons that gets money back when filling Taxes. Then you don’t have a Tax liability. Because you don’t owe them money. Jeff knew this and said not to worry, we will do our best to guarantee that you get that rebate. Just make sure when you do get it. Send it back and pay your loan for the solar. For that will lower your payment. What a crock of shit. In addition. Jeff admits by saying. That the only thing he did wrong was move forward before checking with my tax professional. Kinda ironic since he was using this as a sales pitch. In addition he claimed the finance APR for the system was going to to a 1.9 APR. Once we Got the statement we noticed that the APR is a 5.7? Which is another lie. I asked for a call from upper management and all they can say it’s owned by executives? Really so no Boss. GTFOH with all this BS. I keep trying to reach out to them too see what we can do to work this out. But till now. No call back. Solar max maintenance repair workers were no show twice now. I guess something is wrong with their system not working right. They were suppose to come out 2 weeks ago. Today was another no show. This company is by far the worst to deal with. From not having a real staff. Just a bunch of answering machine. When they do answer .The only replies that they have is how much money I’m saving with the SolarSystem. That saving will come once I have finished paying the system. Soon you will see one of their reps trying to justify this complaint. But it won’t work. Unilocal has the power to tell people the truth. Instead of misleading someone. Good bless Solar Max

I’ve been a customer for a little over a year. I was never informed that solar panels attract birds that nest under them. HUNDREDS OF BIRDS! This is such a problem that it spawned a new service industry of solar panel bird proofing companies. My Solar Max installer told me it is very common. So common, most large solar companies bird proof their pannels now. The birds leave vast amounts of droppings on the sides of my house. Very unhealthy. They also can damage the roof. Solar Max agreed to fix it.
The bad thing is their fix did not work. They installed bird spikes instead of screens. The birds just squeeze between the spikes like they were not there.
I called Solar Max Riverside and advised them of this issue. I was told Solar Max is not responsible for bird proofing. I advised them that Garrett agreed to fix this problem for me. I was told that Garrett no longer works for them. They repeated they are not responsible for bird proofing. Their finishing statement was «the solar panels are not creating the problem, the birds are.»
Can you believe the arrogance?
The funny thing is that my sales person told me «I’ll take care of the contracts for you» since I had trouble opening the e-​documents.
I can not recommended Solarmax.

My panels were installed about a year and a half ago and I have had no issues at all. The choice to get solar was the best decision I’ve made — my salesman was the best and I’m paying less than half of what my energy was before. Very happy with Solarmax!

So I’m one of those that feels Unilocal reviews are sometimes hard to utilize because either people post when they love or hate a service. I try to not be that consumer. So here is my review. A year ago my husband said «let’s go solar.» I had my reservations: the look, cost, and effort of the process. We met with Solar City (total crooks), Sun Power (came in 9k more for the same system) and Précis Solar which was almost double what we paid. They claimed to sell «the best product ever» but the productivity was pretty much the same so I don’t understand who would pay double. Let me just say we felt Solar City was so crooked! Each person we spoke to gave us different information. We were very clear we didn’t want to lease a product, and we didn’t want a PPU (pay per usage which basically means they become your energy provider). We then met with Chris Adams from Solar Max. Yes he was a salesman but growing up in a family of salespeople he didn’t rub us like some of the other high sell reps we met with from different companies. He was very straight forward and very understanding of our questions. He came back twice to answer our questions and moved at our pace. I told him I had concerns after reading some of the Unilocal reviews. He explained that solar is not an overnight process and that his company works very hard to address any issues that arise.
We started this process in June (after having a $ 500 power bill the previous summer.) We have 3100 square feet and we run the air A LOT! We showed him all of our offers. We told him we have an HOA and we didn’t want to do any of the leg work. We also made them put it in writing that is was their responsibility to secure the rebate from Riverside Public Utilities and that if we didn’t have the system in time to meet the deadline then they were to pay us that rebate. They agreed. Our system was installed in Sept. Yes it took some time but they had to wait for our HOA to sign off and then the city. They also met the deadlines and took care of all the rebate formalities. We never had to leave our house to take care of this. The installation was very quick. Less then a day. We had a wait about a week once it was is talked for the city to sign off and let us generate power.
We produce a little more then we have used. We are very happy with the system. They were very fair as the when they started billing us (we financed through them) and we didn’t want to pay a power bill and a finance bill the same month so they accommodated that until we were generation power and no longer had a power bill. My only complaint and its minimal is we were told they would come back and paint the conduit to match the color of the stucco. I think they forgot but when I called them they immediately set up a day and time to take care of that. So overall I highly recommend this company. My husband gets very excited looking at the monitoring system and seeing what we produce. Also the panels are on the back of our roof and look nice. Hope this helps someone.

What a great experience! My sales guy Jeff Downs was amazing. He walked me thru every step of the process with total care and honesty toward my family. We got the solar up and we couldn’t be happier. These guys are awesome. I’ve referred them to all my family members and friends. Thanks Jeff for all ur help!

Shhh… Listen…Hear those sucking sounds coming from your electric meter… Blood suckers. Yes, you may know them as SCE (So. Cal Edison). No doubt they are sucking you dry, too.
Honestly? Solar businesses have been irritating me with cold calls and in your face solicitations at Home Depot for quite some time. But when I noticed a whole tract of homes being built nearby, all with new solar panels on their roofs, I was intrigued. I noticed the sucking sound in April but grew to an unbearable roar in September 2014 after 5 months of bills ranging between $ 400 to mid $ 500 each month. Add to that Edison had just raised their rates (yet again), my usually high threshold for anger finally peaked and I started shopping.
That’s when I heard about Dan C, solar sales rep and possibly skilled vampire killer.
He came to our house in September bringing with him his finest professionalism, a brain full of knowledge, an easy manner, and thankfully, no garlic essence or wooden stakes. I tried to stump him with my myriad of questions, but he charmed me like a champ. He unraveled the 4-​tiered highway robbery techniques of Edison, and explained the many hurdles we would have to jump before getting our system completed. And once I saw the light, he worked with me to get some necessary work done before the installation (i.e. tree trimming/​removal to minimize shade on my south facing roof, an upgraded electrical box, and some roof repair). But I think the most impressive trick in his bag, was his dedicated follow-​up. Once I said «Let’s do it», I heard from him at least once a week, sometimes more. And I could call him anytime and he ***jaw dropping*** returns my calls immediately.
Who are we kidding? Yes, it was costly. Still, we bought… meaning we are not under their alternative leasing plan. But for those who do not have the finances to purchase, or do not want yet another loan to pay, the $ 0 down 20-​year lease plan is still a decent option to reduce those killer bills for really high users like me.
The actual work involved several different crews, each with their own expertise. They were polite, prompt and hard working, especially cleaning up after themselves. The Project Manager was great at holding my left hand while Dan held tightly onto my right. It really doesn’t get better.
As Edison continued to brew evil plans for further rate hikes, it was almost like Edison was nudging, no, pushing me to do this. Nice thing, I will enjoy a substantial Federal tax credit this year for all related costs that will return about 30% (I believe) of my out of pocket expense. And if I can’t use it all in one year, I can carry it out to 3 years… if I need to. We were told this fabulous tax credit (to purchasers only) would no longer be available some time in mid 2015.
My roof was not big enough to hold enough panels to completely wipe out my existing usage, and I probably will not see the real results until the daylight hours get longer, but I am looking forward to framing for posterity my new, considerably lower electric bills. Right next to the old, obscene SCE ones. I might also find myself hanging an 8×10 framed, autographed picture of smiling Dan in his company t-​shirt.
It took less than 4 months from start to finish. I hear that is an amazing turnaround. And I am very happy for choosing Solar Max.
POSTMARK 11÷4÷15: Unilocal Headquarters decided to remove this review due to violation of content guidelines and privacy concerns (mentioning full names of the fine people who gave us outstanding service). Fine. It’s baaaaaaaak, slighly changed. Hope you don’t mind.
It is now almost a year since installation, and the latest news about Edison is, they are figuring out new ways to punish us, raising rates again for those without solar, changing the 4 tier to a 2 tier pricing, and surcharging those of us that do have solar who have a monthly bill less than $ 10. So if your bill is in negative territory, meaning you are actually generating more than you use, you will be whipped appropriately. I am doing my best to be done with you, SCE. Hsssss… Blood suckers… Begone!
Also, you should know that since the number of panels generated less than our usage this year (Solar Max warned us ahead of time), at the end of 12 months Edison will be billing us for about $ 670. I have no problem with that, my investment helped me save at least $ 3000 this year (i.e. it will pay for itself in ~5−6 years). Bean counter that I am, I will be keeping track of my history, easy to do, since my new Edison bills give me a 1 year history. I can assure you it will be greater savings next year due to more changes in our overall usage and lifestyle. I am happy.
Tip: Keep those solar panels clean!

I cannot tell you how happy I am! If you are thinking about solar go with these guys. I met with one company and it was really sketchy and I got the high pressure routine like I had to sign RIGHT NOW or they couldn’t do it. Problem was I didn’t read enough reviews so when I sent them out the door I did more reading and Solar Max has all these amazing reviews. Well add me to the list. Troy from Solar Max came out, explained everything and when I asked to have some time to read the contract he was totally fine. I read it word for word (18 pages) and it was totally clear and fair. Today their team came out and in FOUR HOURS I am solar (city has to come inspect) but it was fast.
These guys are professional, upfront and deserve every good review they have gotten. I fullllllly recommend!

We have been a customer with Solarmax, (the dealer, installer) and Sunpower as the monitoring company for about 2 years now, and we realized that the panels they have installed only produced 70% of the power we consumed, and every year we have to pay to our local power company in excess usage. Prior to solar, our average bills were between $ 65 to $ 75 per month, and now we are averaging about $ 115.00 to $ 125.00 per month. Does that make sense? Solarmax told us that our consumption went up in the past two years, but what puzzles me is that we have been living the same way we do and consume the same electric power prior to solar installation, why would our consumption go up?
In the beginning, the Sales Rep. from Solarmax calculated our consumption based on our bills from the local power company and told us that the panels installed should be sufficient enough for up to 4 people living in the same household, but in reality the panels installed will only produced 70% of our consumption for 2 people living in the household, and the rest need to be purchased from the local power company, and when the local power company sent us the bill for the excess usage, we are actually paying more than what we would have pay if we were a non-​solar customer. Also, first year into the solar program, the solar system was turned off for 4 months and no one from Solarmax or Sunpower had inform us and we ended up paying our local power company for the consumption for the 4 months, plus our monthly lease payment to Sunpower, which resulting the increase in our utility bill by over $ 450.00. Sunpower was willing to pay us the 4 months of utility due to system being off for no reason, but after their calculations on the kwh the system supplies and what we paid to the utility company, they ended up just paying us $ 100.00 in gift card and till today, we still have not receive it.
The sales tactics that Solarmax use to acquire customers are very unethical, they don’t disclosed a lot of information, for an example, once you signed the lease agreement on the solar system, they placed a lien on your home and if you are going to refinance or sell the home, the lien needs to be lifted or satisfied prior to any transaction can takes place. Another example, Sunpower charges 3% escalation cost on the lease payment for the solar equipment every year, that was not told to us by the Sales Rep. So it all boils down to Solarmax just want to make a quick sale and get as many customers as they can. Solarmax, Sunpower and we have been going back and forth in the last few months on trying to come to a resolution, but Solarmax and Sunpower were not very helpful in resolving our issues, all they said was that we signed the lease agreement and there’s nothing they can do about it!
We are the first time solar user, and we don’t know one end to another on how the solar system works, and with what the Sales Rep. from Solarmax telling us what we need to know in our favor, we naturally believed him. Again, all Solarmax wants is to make a quick sale and not disclosed the other important issues. If anyone wants to go Solar, be aware of Solarmax! I’m sure there are other solar companies out there that offer great services and honesty, but still do your homework, so you don’t have to be a victim like me…

SolarMax is the way to go! My friend referred them to me and they are amazing. Sergio Ramirez, my consultant was responsive, listened to my needs and concerns and developed a plan and design that was perfect for my home. I have a south facing home with a large lot. After speaking with several solar companies, each of them tried to sell me something different (panels on the front roof, panels east, panels west, ground mount etc). None of them could figure it out until Sergio and SolarMax came by. After consultation with his designers Sergio suggested a patio cover structure with solar on top! Brilliant solution! Although more expensive than roof or ground mount, their design was still affordable and addressed all the asthetic concerns I had. Most importantly, these panels generate power and are eliminating my electric bill! Last few bills less than $ 2 per month.
SolarMax is also local in Riverside and their customer service is excellent. I had a minor issue with my monitoring and Mr Kramer in customer service was on it, fixed it the next day. I used their financing options as their interest rates can’t be beat. So if you are looking go Solar for your home, make sure you consider SolarMax and ask for Sergio, you won’t regret it!

My wife and I generated a rough electric bill last summer, so we called around and got some solar quotes. SolarMax was the most reasonable and the most consistent in answering our questions over the course of several hour long meetings and never pushing us into something we didn’t want to do – something few companies can claim.
Thank Mike Sousa for this review. He has been fantastic. My wife and I happen to have a connection with someone in ownership, which I’m sure hit Mike’s chunk of commission. Even so, he answered almost every call I made, and if he didn’t, he returned my calls immediately. He never seemed frustrated by my incessant questioning (I’m a skeptical buyer), my late evening calls or anything. Great company (thus far!) and a kick-​butt rep. Does things on YOUR time and YOUR schedule. Still calls me and/​or texts me every couple weeks to check in.
He’ll make you laugh a bit too. Makes those long, dreary meetings go quickly.
Advice? Buy your solar. Leasing is still a benefit, but you want that 30% tax credit!
Original Bill Avg: $ 145ish
Current: $-30 (only on month two)
Cost: Reasonable

My husband and I decided to go green and have solar panels installed on our house. We had quotes from 2 other companies. Solarmax was deffinately the better priced of the two. Mike Sousa was our consultant who was our go to person from the very beginning.
What I liked about Mike was his honesty. When we made an appointment for him to come to our house he was very easy going and not pushing us to buy his company’s product. He answered all of our questions and if he did not know the answer, he got back to us with in a couple of days with a response. Whether we text, emailed or called Mike he always got back to us in a timely matter.
He walked us through the process of how things were going to go and the time frame. Everything was pretty much as he said. We started this process in Oct 2014 and finished in March 2015. When all the permits were established and paperwork complete, the install was the last step and was done in 2 days.
Over all, I am very pleased with Solarmax. If you are looking into having solar panels installed on your home, deffinately give Mike Sousa a call (909) 806‑5951!

Mr. Jerry Hong was my solar consultant. He was honest, informative, honest, patient, and did I mention HONEST?
I shopped a handful of solar companies. It was clear that Mr. Hong was the most knowledgeable out of all of them. Perhaps, we spoke the same nerdy language, since I am an electrical engineer and he was a mechanical engineer…
My experience with Solarmax has been great. Where do I begin? Mr. Hong arrived 5 minutes before our appointment. We walked around my property then I grilled him with questions after questions, yet he was able to answer them with great patience. What normally would’ve taken 30 min for a consultation took 2+ hours, because he was there to make sure all of my questions were answered prior to his departure. Needless to say, I signed up on the spot, since Solarmax blew their competitors out of the water with price and professionalism.
I was kept well informed during the entire process. Mr. Hong made sure to get my permission to «spam» me with updates, and he would give me phone updates every week to two weeks. Even when there was no update, he would still call me just to tell me he was on top of everything and we were just waiting for the City to issue permit. When a design layout needed approval, Mr. Hong would come to my house to personally review the plan with me and obtain my approval to proceed. He was here to oversee the installation process and he personally came to turn on my system when SCE issued permission to operate. From start to completion, we probably met more than 4 – 5 times. I mean, honestly, where else can you find someone like this in the home improvement industry?
I’ve had solar for approximately 28 months. To date, I have not had an SCE bill over $ 5. As a matter of fact, my year-​end bill ended up to be -$ 216.48. I could choose to «cash out» my credits, but I chose to roll it over, year after year. By the way, I have recently acquired a Tesla and my solar system is still able to accommodate the extra usage to incurred by the charging station.
I have thus referred my neighbor, relative, co-​workers (Environmental Protection Agency) to Mr. Hong, and they all went solar. I honestly cannot imagine what other negative reviewers have gone through. My experience was simply great.

Watch out dishonest business
There sales /​consultant BO Peng dropped by saying he wanted to use our house as a model and give us free panels. I asked what the catch was, he said no catch they are free. So long story short he lied to us and wanted to sign us up for a 20 year lease starting at 17 cents a kW with a 2% per year increase. Not free after all.
Fortunately another solar company was canvassing the neighborhood at the same time and offered a better rate and a shorter contract, and hey they were up front and honest.

I had bids from a few solar companies, and let me tell you they smashed the competitors price and did the installation super fast!
I needed them to do it fast so I could get the rebate by the deadline and my system was up and running before the date it was supposed to be finished! (And its a pretty big one) The installers were clean and courteous, on time everyday. Got our permits fast, not one single issue, comes to mind!
I had great customer service from beginning to end and I am able to see how much production I get daily from the website they gave me! So far with the energy ive made, ive planted 199 trees and made enough energy to power 90 houses for a full day!
The best part of my solar system is that my last bill came and it was $ 1.68!!! I have a $ 215.00 credit from the utility company and I make more energy everyday!
This was one of the best investments I have ever made and it continues to be a good one! If you care about our planet, and you like to save $$ I highly recommend this company for all your solar needs! :-)