We’ve been really concerned to receive a number of calls from worried customers who’ve been told that their solar system is dangerous and must be serviced or that they can get more Feed-in Tariff payments if a small “protection” box is installed and other similar sales pitches.
Our customers are also being told that SunGift are no longer trading and/or that the person calling is somehow affiliated with the person who installed their system.
To set the record straight:
1. There are good reasons to get your solar system serviced every few years by a reputable installer, as you would for a boiler or a car. A reputable installer can check that the system is producing as much energy as it should and that no faults have developed.
But, a reputable installer will send a qualified person out to check on your system for a reasonable price, after you have arranged a service. They should not be knocking on your door or calling you to pressurise you and they should not try to get a large deposit from you at your home or during a cold call.
SunGift are happy to service systems but we’d never pressurise our customers into having a service.
If your system is serviced by someone who isn’t qualified they could create faults with the system or cause it to be unsafe, for instance by tripping isolators. They could also invalidate product warranties by not treating the products in accordance with the warranties.
2. If your system isn’t serviced, you won’t lose your Feed-in Tariff and it’s very unlikely, if your system was installed by a reputable installer, that your system has become dangerous. There is also no way a cold-caller could tell whether or not your system has any problems, without more information.
However, if you have specific concerns with your system, please do ask a reputable installer to come and check it for a reasonable fee.
3. There are no protection boxes or similar devices that will increase your Feed-in Tariff payments. Your tariff will have been set when you registered your system.
Sometimes, it’s worth upgrading parts of your system, such as the inverter, especially for older systems. However, please do not trust exaggerated claims about new technologies without proper research. Please take the time to make an informed decision and have any upgrades carried out by a reputable installer.
Often, you’ll need to weigh up the costs of upgrades with the benefits they offer.
4. SunGift have not passed your details to any cold-callers and we are not in any way associated with these companies. We are, of course, still trading. We would never resort to pressure sales, nor try to gain entry to our customers’ homes to persuade them to pay us a “deposit”.
Please do not fall for the sales tactics of these companies. Please do not give them any money by way of “deposit” or otherwise. Please do not let them into your house or let them anywhere near your solar system.
If someone who is unqualified tampers with your system they could make it unsafe and invalidate warranties.
Please do report any unwanted calls or visits to Trading Standards. Even if you are not taken in by these people it is possible others will be so it’s really important to get them stopped.
You will see from this article (click here) that MCS are warning customers of businesses pretending to be affiliated with them, so please watch out for this as well.
If you would like to have your system serviced or checked, we can help. Please call us on 01392 213912.
