Sun Electronics (Sunelec) review: Solar Panels 8

I am extremely frustrated with Sunelec services & products, I purchased 3 times from them and every time I had several headaches. They do not pack the products correctly, they give the wrong information regarding the products, their customer service is a joke. I spent over U$50, 000 dollars in all three purchases, it gets worse every time. I export the products to Brazil and when they get there they all come messed up. Just to show a few experiences, last purchase I bought 35 - 85 watts panels and they were supposed to be A type, that is, no cosmetic imperfection, to my surprise I found some panels with imperfection, so I talked to John Kimball and he told me to “deal with it”. But the worse has to do with the 110 watts panels that I purchased, they were supposed to produce 6.89 Imp, I tested all 11 of them and they were producing less than 2 IMP. John told me that I should realize first the price I paid for it, what does that mean? So because they are cheap they are not supposed to work properly? He hung up the phone twice on my face, he is totally unprofessional and an arrogant individual. After I e-mailed him threaten to sue his company he called me immediately, telling that he had a bad day and I should call him next day to figure out a solution. I did call him and he asked me to send him an e-mail explaining exactly what happened, so I did it. I obtained no answer from him, until I e-mailed a couple times asking for an answer, his employee, Pierre, asked me to submit proofs that the panels did not work. I randomly selected 4 panels out of 11 and tested them together with a Kyocera panel to show that his panels were underperforming. All was recorded and can be seen on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeIdC4llYnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjhzslZr9os
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W5ZpG2DMNU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t8S-RnfWng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuUY47FF_nQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfvtyH4Zq6U

The 110 watts panels are totally screwed up, I received an e-mail from Tom Morris (supposed to be the person responsible for product return) asking the voltage of the panels, and to my surprise the panels are producing 91.7 VOC, they were supposed to produce 20.1 according to the label on the back of the panels, actually all the data on the label is totally wrong. See below Tom’s e-mail [protected]):

"My suspicions are confirmed... There was a manufacturing or labelling error, and you unexpectedly got high voltage panels.
The panels will work with an mppt charge controller such as the outback fm60/fm80 or xantrex xw-mppt-60-150. Our supplier wired the cell strings in series instead of parallel - the wattage is correct but the voltage is 2x what is specified and the current 1/2x.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Are all your panels firing 90v? If so, they can be wired in parallel through a combiner box to an mppt controller and you will receive full rated wattage as the controller converts the high voltage low current output down to match your battery system."

Tom Morris KG4CYX
Sun Electronics International
Engineer, Radiate WRGP-FM 88.1 / 95.3 / 96.9
[protected]
Sent via network id 4151

I honestly cannot understand how can a company so experienced such as Sunelec sell apples for oranges, and the worst part is that its owner really do not care at all. So after they realize their mistake, I asked Pierre (sales guy) if they reached an agreement, below is his answer [protected]):

"Here is the email john sent you below.
Pierre
He did a Very nice job. He gets a full refund including freight.
Tom must have gotten confused or someone.
Just work out the details with him and ask him to take the film off you tube after he has gotten his money back. I’d like to see him too.
We should pull the invoice again and send him a check or whatever . If he is going to keep the modules maybe he would be willing to pay us a little for the watts they put out so you need to calculate that and ask for $.50/watt and to take the labels off. It was an honest mistake on our par, I feel.
And tell him the video was perfect, one of the best answers to resolving a complaint we have ever come up with and he did it! Excellent cooperation.
Please do it now. Never mind I just copied him on this one, but call him or email him and follow up ASAP, I know he must be frustrated, right Paulo? We are here to help. Thanks for your patience.
John"

So apparently we reached an agreement, so I contacted Pierre again to give him payment instructions, and he writes me the following e-mail [protected]):
"Paulo,
After speaking with Tom and John, they both told me they agreed they were not giving you a credit but will be sending you 11 free moppet charge controllers to regulate the voltage down to 12v for you.
Pierre"
AMAZING! In two days (check e-mails’ dates) they change decision easily. I do not want charge controllers, it is not that simple to just send me charge controllers, check the Brazilian legislation that you will se how complex it is to import any type of product. What I want is a full refund for the panels that were labelled wrong and do not deliver the performance they are supposed to. It is unbelievable the contradiction, the lack of commitment and disrespect to myself. John Kimball my loss is not only the cost of the panels, there is the freight cost and duties that I had to pay in Brazil, which doubles the equipment cost, needless to say the profit that I was supposed to make. This is not a matter of money but a matter of principle, it is my company reputation in risk and when a customer complains that my products are not working properly I do not hang up the phone nor tell them to consider the price they paid for it, instead I investigate and bring a solution that satisfy my customer, because in the end he pays my salary and word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool. I bought over 140 panel + water pumps and charge controllers from you, but it seems that I am insignificant to your business. Keep this attitude and we will see how long will your company last. I used to buy from you because I thought your company was serious, but how can it be serious if you are a pathetic arrogant that does not care at all. Your Sun panels are a fraud, and I proved that to you. I will see you in court and I will definitely spread out the word about you and your company, like I said word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool.