Shine Solar
reviews

I would like to warn other consumers from signing contracts with Shine Solar during initial sales calls and to give yourself many weeks to months of educating yourself about solar and Shine Solar's pricing and business tactics. I wish I had done better research into this company and I'm amazed at how many complaints I've come across and a clear pattern of unhappy consumers and a way of doing business that seems predatory when they don't get their way. I responded to an email in June 2023 claiming to provide me a no hassle estimate and it shortly lead to daily calls and emails to sign a contract. I have a family member who has cerebral palsy and I wanted to find a way to eliminate electrical bills for him if anything ever happened to me. I'm now being threatened with legal action and I've never even had any services performed.

Unfortunately my site inspection took place a week after my sales call so it caused problems with the legal right to cancel a contract after 3 days of having a site inspection. I believe this is done intentionally to wait more than 3 days because why would a person cancel if they haven't even received the true costs of the project or loan. Once I received the email providing the true costs of loan sheet required under federal law I let Shine Solar know I didn't want to proceed. Soon after my sales call I sent several emails and texts letting Shine Solar know I've run into some issues with moving forward and asked them not to order any materials and thought I was being thoughtful to help eliminate their costs if I changed my mind. I did change my mind and now the Account Manager in charge at Shine Solar is stating he will be coming after me for 10% of the whole system that was never even installed. I've tried to offer a reasonable payment for any time spent by their sales team but that isn't acceptable to Shine Solar and they plan to take legal action against me for $4,853.40. I've not had a system installed and only had a tech come to my home to gather measurements.

The account manager explained to me they have incurred costs for panels even though I asked them not to order any panels until I've made up my mind. He told me they've incurred costs in permits although the county has no permits filed or my electric company. He told me they cannot just re-use my panels on another project although the sales person told me they use the same type panels for every job. I'm not claiming Shine Solar has done anything illegal. I would just like to warn other consumers the business practices used when somebody changes their mind after a sales call. Please beware of this company! Just because a company may have a legal right to bill someone penalty fees does not make it right or good business practices and I truly don't want to see anyone else get into the same position I've gotten into with this company. Shine Solar sees this as good business practices but I see this as predatory to bill a customer for costs a business didn't truly incur. In this day in time a consumer should be able to change their mind if services haven't actually been rendered.

Beware because it all sounds very good and makes sense during the sales presentation but unless your an expert in solar or very educated in how your electric company compensates you for power not used, it can take time to learn all this stuff. The sales team provided me with false information during the presentation regarding compensation from my power company. I don't believe I was intentionally misled and just believe the sales person wasn't aware of my electric companies policies. Shine Solar is an out-of-state company providing services in many states so they just weren't aware of local policies that affected the overall costs of the system and therefore provided me with information that sounded better than it was. Those policies for compensating power not used actually made the panels more costly than just purchasing a certain amount of power back after so many KWH's generated.

I responded to a simple email for an estimate and now I'm being threatened with litigation with a company who wants $4,853.40 for doing practically nothing and I still have no solar system on my house and now I'm having to pay an attorney to represent me. It's very hard for me to believe Shine Solar has incurred such costs and when I asked for a breakdown of their costs so I could review and pay anything reasonable I was told they don't have to provide anything but a contract. In my opinion the site visit should be free anyways to provide you your estimate. I could tell this company has this move down very well and this is how they handle any customers changing their minds and deciding to wait. If there's any chance at all you may change your mind I would caution you not to sign anything and I would also encourage you to go with a company that provides high quality panels and is local and familiar with your electric company to avoid unexpected problems. Don't read the reviews on the fake websites but go to the BBB, google reviews and complaintsboard.com to get a full picture of Shine Solar. They have no fear of bad reviews and have a legal team prepared to handle anyone changing their minds and when it comes to solar there's many things to learn. It's a shame this industry is being headed up by predatory companies like Shine Solar.

Are you looking for a solar system that is supposed to exceed all your expectations. A solar system where you get to use your own farm equipment to finish the work when theirs fail. That solar system where they leave plastic all around your property so your kids have something to pick up to keep your horses from eating plastic snacks. The system that costs you $30 more than your average electric bill and you still get to pay $80 to the electric company. You can even talk to a customer service agent that says the team that sold you the unit no longer works with the company or has switched positions. You can also purchase a system where you have to come up with $14,000 in 18 months to pay towards your loan or your payment goes up because the 30% you were supposed to get back after filing your taxes is only based on tax liability. You can even get a representative that says they know what you understood and not what you actually understand. Amazing! And for a limited time you can be making payments for 3 months and still have a system that isn't fully installed. If you want to experience all this and more then Shine Solar is the company for you. Thank you for reading and good luck!

I've always been curious about solar energy and other forms of home energy production. Shine Solar is the first time I have ever seen it make financial sense. From start to finish, they were willing to bend over backwards to keep the process moving. They're sales team is respectful of both your time and your concerns. They're installation teams are efficient and effective. Their customer service is always responsive. It helps that they all happen to be some of the friendliest people I've worked with on my home. In addition to the Solar Panels, Shine Solar also updated all of my lights to LEDs, added about a foot of extra insulation to the attic, and tuned up my air conditioning. It's all included in the package. The app for your phone is pretty slick. If you're a fan of data and analytics, this app is for you. Complete with daily, weekly, and monthly production reports, it gives you both immediate status updates and great graphics showing your production, consumption, and net import/export. Humblebrag: I exported 16 kWh on day one of my solar array's production. If you've ever been curious about installing panels, but were discouraged because of cost or the complicated nature of the project, Shine Solar is the company to talk to if you want make the leap.

From my first conversation with Shine Solar...throughout the buying process...the installation process...and their periodic follow-up inquiries to make sure we understand all the workings of our system, Shine Solar has excelled in customer service, quality of product, installation and service of our system, and quality & integrity of the highly skilled, educated and knowledgeable employees that make up this company. Whether by telephone or in-person contact...every person at Shine Solar strives to make you feel like you are the most important customer they could ever have or want. In every contact we have had with them they have been professional yet fun to converse with, they have been honest, forthcoming, and punctual at every step making them a very trustworthy group of people (company) to do business with. Shine Solar made the entire process almost effortless on our part by following a business plan which I think must be based on the Golden Rule. If I sound like I am over zealous in my praise for this company...it is only because they deserve it...and no...I am not an employee, a family member or a co-owner...I am simply an extremely satisfied customer. We could not be more pleased with Shine Solar and highly recommend them for your solar energy needs.

I've had my Shine Solar system operational for 10 days now, and am very pleased with the company. Every person that I've dealt with in the company, from Sales to Concierge, has been very pleasant to work with. Any issue that came up, was promptly addressed and resolved. No project of this complexity can be expected to be problem-free in completion, so company reaction is very important, in my opinion.

I live in Middle Tennessee, where solar is just getting started good. I have been planning on getting solar for thirty years, to the extent that when I built my current house in 1994, I made sure that I had a large roof area facing directly south. I research a number of solar companies before settling on Shine Solar. They were able to give me what I wanted - to include battery back-up for outages - for a reasonable price.

The installation itself went without a hitch, and was done over a three day period. When the inspector from the electric company came for the final inspection and new meter installation, he praised the neatness of the installation.

A big plus that I recently discovered is that when a Storm Warning is issued for my area, the system automatically switches to fill the batteries to 100% before using the produced wattage. When the Alert is canceled, it reverts to normal status.

My husband and I went solar with Shine Solar in October . From the beginning we never felt pressured by their sales rep. During the evaluation process they make it clear whether or not a solar system would be feasible for your home site. We were one of the first customers in our Electric co-op to go solar, so there were a few bumps in the road that Shine Solar handled very professionally. They kept us informed the entire time which helped us understand the process. Since our electric cooperative does not participate in net metering (the coop does give a credit for over production but at a lesser rate than net metering) Shine Solar was able to compensate us for the difference until they helped us have an Enphase battery backup system installed. This battery backup system allows us to store our excess energy so that we are not losing money due to the lack of net metering. Aside from the connection fee and a security light charge, our electric bill for March was $33 (for our total electric 2600 square-foot house plus utility buildings). Overall we are very pleased with Shine Solar and our solar system which is performing as designed. Anytime we have questions, their customer service rep (Matt) is always responsive and helpful. We particularly enjoy tracking our production and usage through the app on our phones whether we are traveling or at home.

When we first decided that we needed to go solar we had a lot of options. From start to finish Shine Solar has been the best company for us. We were first contacted with a proposal on what Shine could do for us and how much it would cost. We had talked to Shine first so we didn't have any idea of what other companies could offer. We talked to other companies and they were way more expensive and their reps weren't as professional or personable as the rep from Shine Solar. After we were committed to Shine they walked us through all of the process from financing to commissioning. They never has us feeling that we were abandoned or left out of the loop. I'll be honest with you. Getting panels installed and up and running probably won't happen overnight. They have to schedule your installation, permitting, inspections, commissioning, etc. It takes time, but Shine stays with you through it all. We were told we were the first installation in Tennessee. They folks that did our installation came in from Arkansas. That's how serious Shine Solar is about their product and serving their customer. They didn't contract the work out to some locals. We are starting to see results on the sunny days and are looking forward to summer when the days are longer. Check out the rest of the competition. If you find something you think is better than Shine Solar then you go for it and good luck to you. I have no regrets about going with Shine Solar.

In 2020 I inquired about a solar install, after discussion we made a deal on 22 panels to be installed on my steel shop building. And an additional 2 hvac systems to be installed in our home. The install took place in late summer. Everything appeared to be working well and then in late October a winter storm came through the area and caused a large ice build up on the solar panels and caused my steel shop building roof to collapse to a total loss stand point. Shine solar of course claimed that it was not their fault for issue. I find that hard to believe that they are free of fault when they chose the shop to put the panels on as well as sent out engineers to verify it was suitable for such an addition. The building had been built for many years prior to this and within a couple months of the install it was flat on the ground. I'm very grateful this was not my home where my family is in. This review could've went a very different direction. Fast forward nearly one year later and they finally have reinstalled the panels on the new shop building. Very long process after you cut the initial check. Very poor follow up communication and support. I requested a ground mount for the reinstall and they quoted several thousand dollars to do such. Even after I had already paid more than most people's vehicle for the first install as well as stuck with the bill to rebuild the steel shop building. In the end I still had to pay an additional $600 to replace bent and broken parts just to get the panels reinstalled. I felt this process was absolutely terrible and would never recommend this company for anything at all. If I wasn't in the hole on this original purchase so greatly I would just cancel the whole plan all together. Please take my experience as an example of the bad side of this company.

I was torn between giving a 4-star and a 5-star, but ultimately came down on 5. Short version: The process was a little slower than I wanted, but not too terribly long either: about 3 months from the time I reached out to the panels going live. The sales and customer service rep were pretty awesome throughout the process, though there was one or two hiccups. Longer version: The initial sales pitch was less painful than most, but only because I was already really excited about going solar and my wife and I rushed the salesman through his prompts. I can't stand sales pitches and it sounded like he had one lined up for us, so I'm glad we got him to skip most of it (we extensively researched solar power for our situation and had detailed questions going into the scheduled call - I'd recommend doing this). After agreeing to the terms, we got rolling pretty quickly: he sent over a number of documents for us to review and electronically sign. Throughout the process I felt like the sales team was pretty great: really informative and usually quick to respond to any questions I had. After that first step, though, things slowed down pretty significantly. We waited a couple of weeks for a guy to come out to our house to take a look at our roof and electrical box, and another week for an aerial scan with a drone, then several weeks for paperwork to be done behind the scenes (permitting with the city, an agreement with the utility company and whatever else). Finally the panels got installed, but we couldn't turn them on for about a month and a half. My customer service rep had warned me ahead of time that they couldn't be turned on until a final inspection by the city and then the utility company had to come out and install a special electrical meter, but he had indicated that this usually takes 2-4 weeks, while mine was about 6 weeks.

Shine Solar is very overpriced and doesn't tell you the full details of what goes into that price. a 10.7kWH system with 10kWH of battery storage was quoted at $82k! After I called this out, they reduced to $72k. The going rate for a system that size (same panels, inverter, and battery brands but with double the battery capacity) is about $48k. Why the difference? They don't tell you about the dealer fee they are charged for putting in "their financing" program. The banks they work with charge them a 25% fee which they pass on. Even then, they'd be at $60k. Where's the other 12-22k? I guess they just like to overcharge. Another reason why it's hilariously over priced - they didn't even size the system correctly. They did not take into account code setbacks from the edges of my roof. There reality is, they would not have been able to put 10.79kWH of panels up there. Nonetheless, the panel system they "designed" was so oversized for the battery storage, I would have been generating way more energy (~40kWH) than what could have been stored (10kWH). So the extra 30kWH would have been fed back to the utility company for nothing (my utility company doesn't do net metering - something else they seemed ignorant about). And the final point, 10kWH would have only covered my critical loads; not my large consumption ones. Here's the final horrible piece - after confronting them about all of this, they still wanted to charge $8.3k in a cancellation fee. Yeah, yeah, they will say "you signed the contract". I did that when I thought they were competent. They did eventually decrease the fee to about $4.1k. Nevertheless, that's $4k gone for no reason - they provided 0 value and did 0 work. And after all that, my HOA decided they wouldn't have allowed the panel install anyway. So, truly, Shine Solar was going to steal that $4k no matter what. I would avoid at all costs.

Hi, I want to preface by saying I did not go through with letting this company provide me solar. I do want to highlight my experience with Shine Solar because I want to warn consumers of their predatory practices. I recently reached out to Shine Solar for a system and initially I was impressed with what seemed to be a high level of customer service. What you're really getting is a very well-trained salesman trying to tap into your pockets. They are not there to help you go green, save money, or provide you with a good system. They tried to trap me in a deal and thankfully they got my name wrong on the first contract I signed. It helped me from a headache of getting out a contract that no service was yet provided. They even tried to contact me to threaten me that I was trapped in the deal. They called me with three different people, the one salesman and two other "managers" from multiple numbers. He said there were "stipulations with the contract". I was smart enough to not even answer any more of their calls. I went over their head and had already gotten out of the deal with the company providing the loan. The system they tried to sell me was less than half of the power necessary to replace my electric bill at about 7 kW. Every other company I've shopped quotes for has provided me with a quote for a 16+ kW system. Shine Solar wants to underpower your house. You'll still have an electric bill, a new solar bill on top of that, and you will also need to have them come back out with a new loan and more payments and additional panels to add to "upgrade" your system to make it work properly and actually affect your electric bill and burn less coal. They will blame you for using more power than you originally stated in your initial quote. And they will suck you dry if you let them. My house is 1700 sq ft. Do not let them sell you a system. Shop around if they're your first call. You will immediately thank me and yourself if you happen to see this review.

Shine Solar's reviews with the ComplaintsBoard.com appear to be overwhelmingly favorable. Our experience, however, was anything but. Our (2nd) consultant, and even the Director of Sales himself, admitted as much to us. My wife and I signed a contract to have panels installed on our manufactured home. Forty-eight days after the site survey, we were told that panels on our house would not be to code and would not pass inspection. We didn't want ground-mounted panels and we rejected a proposal with panels mounted on our garage that would have resulted in fewer panels. Having already paid ½ of the cost up front and not seeing any results, we verbally requested our money back. (Because we didn't use their financing, we were required to pay half the cost of the system up front.) Three days later, we were told the design team had re-evaluated our roof and now it would be okay to mount the panels there after all. In our minds, the only thing that had changed was that we requested our money back. Lacking confidence and seeing no progress, we still wanted our money back. Next, the Director of Sales called us to apologize and to sweeten the deal to win us back. After giving 2 days to make good on their sale, his proposal hit a snag. He did not call us or inform us, rather we called him. This was the final deal breaker for us. We had been put-off and uninformed for too long. Finally we asked the Director of Sales to just return our money. He informed us that there would be a $399.00 cancellation fee since we were breaching the contract. After 14 weeks we had had enough. The Director of Sales would not email us nor accept our phone calls regarding "cancellation fee" which was never stated in writing. A "Notice of Cancellation" was sent to the company via certified mail. We requested our money be returned within ten business days less a $399.00 cancellation fee. Twelve business days later, we were emailed an invoice for $399.00 for the cancellation. Once again, we had to be proactive and inquire about the money that had already been paid. Then, we received an apology for the error due to a miscommunication. In 15 business days we finally received a refund of our money less the "cancellation fee" of $399.00. This experience was very unsettling and absolutely inexcusable. It was a huge relief to be done with them.