Solar Alliance of America

We are enjoying our 2^nd full year of energy produced by the Sun using 14 panels provided by Solar Alliance of America. With these hot days, we are able to keep our air conditioner running 24 hours a day and not have to worry about a high SDG&E bill. The office staff is always helpful and the whole process of installing the solar system has been a breeze.
Thank you for the opportunity to meet Artie and Cindy and the rest of the San Diego.

This is the best investment I’ve ever made. My monthly bill was $ 500 for my electricity alone and now I owe zero payments per month other than the minimum payment that the electric company charges of five dollars and some odd cents. I also get a rebate check from SDG&E once a year for the electricity that they are getting off of my solar. I highly recommend Solar Alliance of America for any of your solar needs.

I got my system three years ago. The company reps came out and told me exactly what my 20 panel system would produced. they were right on the money. they came out and installed my system in a day. and since then the system has been working flawlessly. my meter runs backward, and I often get invoices from sdg&e stating that I don’t owe a bill. I run my air conditioning all the time during peak electrical hour. with no fear of an expensive bill. I couldn’t be happier!

This is and update from 12÷5÷2014. My review has gone 1 Star to 5 Star. This company is now under new ownership and has made a 180 when it comes to Customer Service. I too received a phone call from Mark Colby who introduced himself as the Vice President for Customer Service. At first I couldn’t believe that he was calling me because I thought he was trying to solicit referrals from me and prior to his phone call I would have told anyone who would listen to run from this company. Instead, he said that he read the entire file on my dispute with Solar Alliance and he personally wanted to apologize for the mistreatment and poor service I received from them.
He got my attention.
He proceeded to tell me that we have a 25 year warranty with them and wanted to assure me that they would be there for any questions or concerns that I had regarding our solar unit. Since our initial conversation Mark from Solar Alliance offered to install a monitoring system which allows them to see real time activity on our unit. Prior to this installation they had no ability of knowing how our unit was running unless I went out to the unit and read the display read out.
Although there were challenges in installing the monitoring unit, Solar Alliance persevered until it was up and performing properly.
I just received a phone message from Mark this morning stating that he had completed the analysis on our solar unit and was very happy to announce that it is currently over-​producing by 11%.
Since I gave my original review of 1 Star I believed it was important to update my review to reflect how I currently feel. Mark Colby has done an outstanding job in taking accountability for the previous owners poor service and has turned a VERY negative experience to now a VERY positive one.
I can honestly say that as long as Mark Colby is heading up their Customer Service department I can whole heartedly recommend this company.
Mark gets it! Put your customers first and your reputation and success will follow.
Well done in turning this company around!

Initially, I was not impressed with Solar Alliance — but it seems as though they’ve turned the corner in their customer service. I would do business any time with a company that recognizes their shortcomings, and do whatever necessary to make it right.
Clients are the most important asset a company can have, and I must commend the efforts of Mark C. For helping this company start a new chapter in Customer Service. I have no doubt that they will WOW their clients moving forward… admission of failure is the first step in improvement both personally, and professionally.

Had a system installed last summer and to say the least we are ecstatic with it. Our utility bill went from $ 220 down to $ 5.16 within a month! Service was excellent and the salesman were friendly and not pushy. We recommend Solar Alliance of America to all of our friends and neighbors now.

We had Solar Alliance of America do an install of solar panels in early 2014 and were quite dissatisfied with the company.
However, they have changed ownership and the new manager has been calling customers to find out how they might be able to rectify previous experiences with the company.
They are more than willing to come out at no cost to evaluate our current situation and to make sure we are completely satisfied with our solar panels and with their customer service.
Based on the new ownership and follow-​up I am giving this company a 5-​star review based on their customer service. The panels themselves haven’t had many issues and our previous main concern was the company itself.
They are on track to building up their reputation and I wouldn’t hesitate to refer a friend to use them.

Two big thumbs up! This is an update from a previous one star rating I gave Solar Alliance last year. You should know that the company was sold this summer 2015 and it is a completely new experience. Mark Colby, the customer representative, reached out to us and personally met with my family 3 times to address and correct our issues. He also shared with us the new customer service protocols so that customers are monitored more closely and do not fall through cracks as we did under the previous ownership. The new CEO is focused on providing the best service from start to finish.
We feel compelled to afford them our highest rating and would work with them again in a heartbeat. Our electricity has gone down from abut $ 250. per month to $ 30. You cannot beat that especially for a family of seven. Solar energy is awesome when done correctly!
I highly recommend you look at Unilocal «not recommended» reviews of Solar Alliance. You will see the majority of them are positive.

UPDATE 8÷14÷2015. I have been contacted again by Mark at Solar Alliance and he has asked me to update my review based on solar performance and recent experience. IF that is the criteria, then I will give 5 stars. My solar system so far this year is doing really well. My electric bill for the year is at 45.00 and that is with a hybrid vehicle so I am on TOU now, (I put that as a disclaimer) and he is also getting me the IPad I was promised so based on performance and desire for customer satisfaction now, I am comfortable increasing my rating. While I believe Mark will make a difference with the company and his desire for customer satisfaction, it still does NOT erase the negative experience in the beginning or the shady salesman. I do believe in giving people a chance when they try to make things right however and I am confident Mark will do just that!

Let’s face it, these days, there seems to be a million different «mom and pop» solar companies cropping up all over the place. Everyone is trying to take advantage of the tax credit before its possible expiration at the end of 2016 (depending on the elections). I was trying to find a well established company, one that would help us deal with the whole process from soup to nuts We vetted a lot of solar companies before selecting Solar Alliance of America. I first noticed them through an advertising/​news segment with the local San Diego news station, KUSI. Apparently, most recent, they were purchased by another renewable energy company and are under new management. I called to ask some questions. They seemed very personable. That really appealed to me and put my mind at ease because I think the process of having solar installed raises quite a few questions so it’s nice to feel that the people you are going to deal with have all the answers (financial, tax credits, installation, etc) and treat you with respect along the way. Solar Alliance was extremely helpful because we had a lot of questions, my wife especially. Nothing was too much trouble. The installers they used, are very consciousness and respect your property. That part’s important too because correct installation and leaving your roof in good order is pinnacle to ensure no leaks. As a side note, these guys have a non-​profit that provides financial assistance to disabled vets who want solar. That’s a nice touch, especially in San Diego because of all the local military down here!

***BEWARE…VERY MISLEADING***
After seeing a commercial during the Charger’s game offering FREE CHARGER tickets if you set up an evaluation with Solar Alliance, I went to their website and gave them my info. For the next couple weeks we received 3 – 5 calls/​voicemails on our house phone daily. When I finally called them back to let them know that another Solar Company had been out to give us a quote and we decided that it wasn’t cost effective for us because our electric portion of our SDGE bill is only about $ 60/​month, the rep informed me that Solar Alliance was different from everyone else and that they could still save me money with a FREE Solar System and that I would receive the FREE CHARGERS TICKETS regardless of if I agreed to the Solar System or not.
Well a rep came out last night and was very friendly and seemed knowledgable about the system he was SELLING, however we had an option of paying $ 3k or $ 7k and we would be leasing not buying a solar system. It was something we were interested, however we were interested in our free Charger’s tickets that we were promised just for making the appointment. The fine print they forgot to mention on the commercial or when booking the appointment, YOU ARE ONLY ELIGIBLE FOR THE FREE CHARGER’S TICKETS IF YOUR ELECTRIC PORTION OF YOUR CURRENT BILL IS OVER $ 160, which as I had previously told the rep on the phone when I set the appointment our is NOT! Waste of my time and very disappointing. Will not recommend Solar Alliance of America to anyone!

I would totally recommend these guys. They did everything they said they would do. System was up and running way faster than anybody else I know that recently went solar. No issues with the system and I’m already saving money!

My first full months electricity bill with my new solar system in place was $ 19.17… compared with $ 124.88 over the same period last year.
I am thrilled with my overall experience and with my purchase and would highly recommend Solar Alliance of America.

THE WORST!!! This is the worst company in the United States of America. The worst customer service. My unit is not yet commissioned after over 1 year after the installation. Could not get a hold of anybody. If the company is reading this please contact me ASAP and please do something about my unit. Thank you!

After reading all the reviews, I thought I’d put in my 2 cents. We’ve had our solar since Aug 2011. So about 2 ½ years. I actually love it now but let me tell you some background info that we went through. I’m usually anal about certain things & usually research before I buy anything expensive. But I first heard of Solar Alliance on some morning news show and if you called and made an appointment, you get a $ 50 visa gift card. So I figured, what do I have to lose. No obligations & I get a gc. Plus I figured, they must be ok if they are on this well known news show, right?
So the representative comes & talks about everything from size to savings, etc. We ended up signing up. We have a 3800 sq ft house & our SDGE bill was roughly $ 300−350/monthly & thats w/​o using our ac. And we also have a pool. We ended up getting the 5.8 kw, 24 panels. I want to say it took about 1 ½ months from the initial visit to the installation. We have HOA so we had to get approval from them first.
I don’t want to lie & say it was an easy task but they had so many people doing different tasks, it was so confusing & overwhelming. They had one person handling the initial paperwork, one for rebates, one handling the permits and one person I have no idea what she did but she kept emailing me & never had any answers. Then you had to deal with someone for the loan. Then there was one guy for the installation. You didn’t have one point of contact that you can go to for anything. And they really don’t tell you who they are, you just know they are regarding your solar. And worst, they all email or call you at the same time so you get bombarded with so many things to do at once. But that was just 1 ½ months of stress, as long as nothing else goes wrong. Thank goodness nothing went wrong with our paperwork.
Once the solar was up and running, we did see savings but not drastically until this past year. Originally our bill was around $ 300 – 350 and during the first year it was roughly around $ 60-​$ 120. But now its either in the negatives or $ 4 or so. I guess it just depends on the month and our useage.
I would like to just say that the worse part of dealing with Solar Alliance was the loan part & deception. When we first signed up, they had this deal. no interest or payment for 18 months. Our solar without rebates costs around $ 41k. After you get your rebates, tax write-​offs and savings applied to the balance, it would be around $ 25k. And they said after the 18 months they would help refi that balance so you don’t get stuck with the accumulated interest. Well a few months prior to our 18 months, I called Solar Alliance to inquire about the refi. I Couldn’t get a hold of anyone that could help me with this. They said they didn’t have such a thing. I tried calling the initial person that set us up and he no longer worked for Solar Alliance. I emailed Arti and he referred me to a couple of places but they couldnt help me because they only deal with initial loans and not refi’s. I didn’t bother bugging Solar Alliance after that cuz I know they really don’t have anything in place after the 18 months. it was a scam to get you to buy their products. Thank goodness we have good credit and able to refi with our own bank.
I’m not sure what kind of deals that Solar Alliance has now. But just a warning. make sure you have a back up plan after the initial no interest/​payment deal. Make sure your savings outweigh your loan. If you are moving soon then it’s not worth it. We are planning on living here for a long time so we are ok with our monthly loan. Basically we currently don’t pay much for our SDGE bill now so our loan is what we we originally paid SDGE before our solar but only for 5 years. After that, it will purely be all savings! And that’s my 2 cents. sorry so long!

Daniel Cord
I started June 14, 2013 with a contract with Solar Alliance and it took nearly six months to complete. It seemed that once I signed the contract they were done with me and left everything to their sub contractors and when I would talk to someone from S.A. I would just get another lie or broken promise that they would look into the issue and call me back, they seldom did. After getting completely fed up with the salesman I finally got to talk to the owner and I got a promise that he would look into and call me back guess what he didn’t call me back until I hounded his staff enough. Arti really didn’t have much to say about the poor service but he did send a couple tickets to a charger-​raider game. There are a lot of solar companies out there and what they all offer is about the same its either buy or lease (I recommend buying) so what it really comes down to is customer service and I absolutely did not feel that was a high priority for them.

Artie and his crews are to be commended for exceeding our expectations with our brand new solar system. Everyone was on time, professional, and met our goal of being the best price and best service. Thanks Guys!!!

I signed the contract with Solar Alliance on January 31, 2013. They installed the panels, but have failed to activate them. I have been waiting for six months with no action. All I get from the company is the runaround.

It’s been over a year since connection and my SDGE bill had «true up» … NO savings at all! By the end of the year, I still owe SDGE over $ 400. for electricity. This is aside from monthly payments to sunpower plus SDGE for gas usage,
It took a long time before anyone from sunpower contacted me back with my inquiries.
The consultant from Solar Alliance was not truthful that my annual electric bill was below $ 150. Average. I tried to call the consultant and he said he no longer work for solar alliance.
I feel taken advantaged of by Solar alliance

Called to get a free estimate. Because I wasn’t the home-​owner (I’m their son-​in-​law & they asked me to call around and get quotes) wouldn’t schedule an appointment.
Asked to speak with a supervisor and was told that I was speaking with the supervisor.
Stupid way to do business.