Michigan Solar and Roofing LLC review: Entire salesmanship is a scam, not just customer service

For you to claim that Michigan Solar and Roofing is 91% trustworthy and your only concerns are based on their customer service is a complete disservice to anyone looking for a proper review of their business practices and the outcome for the customer.

We're 12 months in to having the solar panels and are learning they in no way are going to offset the cost of our electric bill. Which means once the bill for the loan kicks in this December we will just be paying the loan. Their practices are completely non-transparent, they only tell you what they want you to know in order to make a sale. For example, we lost power for 5 days in an ice storm in February, but were never told that without a battery to store any of the excess power, it would do us no good. Looked into batteries and the prices were way out of our budget. We would need another loan and that isn't happening.

I submitted this almost verbatim to Michigan Solar and Roofing on April 17, 2023:

Me: "After receiving a comment on my review from August I'm reminded of the constant anxiety I've had about these solar panels and considering deleting my review. We're 8 months in to having the solar panels and are learning they in no way are going to offset the cost of our electric bill. Which means once the bill for the loan kicks in this December we will just be paying the loan. The only time we see any sort of discount is the 6-ish months of regular sun we get here in Michigan. And we lost power for 5 days in an ice storm in February, but were never told that without a battery to store any of the excess power, it would do us no good. Looked into batteries. Need another loan. Someone needs to regulate how information is disseminated on using solar power in Michigan because this is definitely feels like a case of just trying to sell a product without disclosing extremely important information. Especially to a struggling middle class family who was told that the panels would "pay for themselves" which is clearly not going to be the case."

Them, April 19: "We do apologize for the confusion. We would be more than happy to see if there is a way to help you out."

Me, April 20: "I would appreciate that, please let me know what options you are thinking about"

Them, April 27: "Lyndsey - this is what your system did yesterday (photo of usage from Enphase), this should mean you incurred no utility electricity cost at all. The system seems to be performing really well as of now. Idk if you have gas through them or just weren’t getting much production in the winter months?"

Me, April 27: "We are getting little to no production in the winter months. That's the overall problem of the supposed "offset" of our electric bill. Yes, we get gas from them as well, but we are not figuring that in. We know we will have that cost still. But our electric bills have still been higher than what the loan payment will be, which is concerning for our overall yearly budget. Also, we lost power for 5 days during the ice storm this winter. We were not able to tap into any of the solar power we were producing and were told by others that we would not be able to because we do not have a battery. So even though we were producing energy, it was basically going back to Consumers for free. We received a measly $25 credit from them for the outage because it was 5 days. We looked into getting a battery system and that's even further out of our budget. So instead of producing our own electricity, we are giving all of that extra energy to Consumers."

Them, April 27: "Well when the grid goes down, your solar actually stops producing entirely without a battery. The issue I believe is bc if the excess power isn’t stored onsite, sending it to a down grid could cause safety issues for them while trying to repair it. Based on what we saw in recent days, you are over producing and should be offsetting your bill for the most part until next fall/winter. Ideally you’ll have credits that carry over now that you’ll get a full season of production to offset the darker months. What is your current solar payment and what would you say the average electric bill was before anything was installed?

Me, April 28: "I appreciate all of this information. I do want to continue this conversation, but I will be out of town for the next week. When I get back I will take a look at past and present bills and at the loan agreement to see what that looks like. To date we have not received any credits toward our electric bill due to solar production, which began last August, but if we start to see that change it would certainly put our minds at ease."

Them, April 28: "Okay yeah feel free to reach out when you’re back. This may be an issue with your utility provider bc you are producing rather well at least recently"

This is the last time I heard from them, even though I continued to send them messages.

Me, May 12: "Hello, we are back from out of town and have been taking a look at our solar production/usage and our April bill from Consumers. There is clearly a discrepancy we don’t understand. Are we missing something? Do you know who we contact about this?"

With this message I included a photo of our electricity bill AND the solar production via Enphase.

June 2 I send the next month's electricity and solar production via Enphase.

Me, June 2: "So what am I missing here? Based on what I see we produced more than we consumed. Our gas bill should have been a whopping $1.08, but we are still being charged for electrical usage."

Me, August 18: "We received the above response from an inquiry to Consumers Energy your employee suggested we pursue (see above) from Consumers Energy Company. If the program changed 2+ years ago, as started in the email, you must have known this. Yet I have proof in this Facebook messenger chain explicitly stating we should not be incurring any charges for electrical usage. This, then, comes down to false promises related to trying to sell your product. I have taken record of our conversations via messenger and email - in particular where we tried to cancel installation because of months of waiting, poor customer service, and financial concerns, only to be resold on the fact that the loan is transferable to the next homeowners (not to mention the fact that it would be unethical to enforce this on the next owners) and the cost of the loan would be offset by savings on our electricity bill.

We have received NO CREDITS and our electric bill IS NOT offset by the energy produced by the solar panels. We are just giving consumers energy back and lowering their electricity production responsibilities.

We also received a bill TODAY from mosaic “suggesting” we pay over $6000 on our loan by Aug 11 (8 days ago)

I would like you to remove the solar panels and cancel the loan. I would also like to be reimbursed for electrical costs incurred for the last year above the rate offset by the solar panels. Our panels were installed last August, payments are set to start in December. I would like this taken care of prior to the start of any payments.

I believe this is reasonable considering your current circumstances, including the recent court case brought against your company from WESCO, your several extremely poor one star reviews that will likely become a further class action lawsuit given so many of us are losing tens of thousands of dollars, and your lack of registration with the Better Business Bureau. It speaks volumes about your values and integrity. If that isn’t enough, I have proof in writing that demonstrates falsification of information and intention to sell a product under false pretenses."

August 19 we receive a bill from the loan company, Mosaic, suggesting we pay $6357.77 toward our balance, even though our original agreement with them was an 18 month deferral. We had everything installed and loan signed August 2022, which means out first payment (of $188.81 according to the loan agreement) should be December 2023.

Me, August 29: "Do you have any idea how much anxiety this is causing me?! We don’t have the money to pay for a loan AND electric bill for solar panels that will NEVER offset their cost. Your indifference just makes the anxiety worse, which is triggering the slew of autoimmune disorders that have left me bedridden. You may think this sounds melodramatic, but I would be more than happy to show you my medical records. Either take the deal outlined above or I will have no choice but to contact a lawyer to get back not only the cost of these solar panels and the money I’ve already lost to them, but also for the other ramifications that have occurred as a result of your negligence.

Come take these solar panels down, reimburse us for the costs already incurred, and cancel the loan.

Considering I’m bedridden I have nothing better to do than continue to write you and work with my lawyer."

Someone needs to regulate how information is disseminated on using solar power in Michigan because this is definitely feels like a case of just trying to sell a product without disclosing extremely important information. Especially to a struggling middle class family who was told that the panels would "pay for themselves" which is clearly not going to be the case.

*Additionally, it is a good thing I copied and pasted my complaint into a Google doc because when I clicked to review the FAQ section, as is required by your terms, and tried to get back to my complaint it was completely blank! I want to know where to file a complaint about your practices as well.

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