Natural Energy

Don’t you hate it when you see red flags and ignore them?! I was referred to Natural Energy thru a FB friend’s friend. Phil was great in getting my business – prompt on answering questions & returning texts. But from the moment I signed the contract – I have had to chase this company down every step of the way! I have a string of emails that go back to step 2-​wondering why no one has contacted me regarding site visit, then it was where’s the design I’m supposed to approve, then it was– I approved the design & 5 days later why haven’t I heard anything. This was constant – having to track them down to figure when they were going to start installation, to how come workers didn’t show up, to when will you finish, to when will it be turned on. They even notified Hero that the work was complete when it had just started, so they could get paid! The list is endless. During the ordeal there were unreturned emails –angry calls to incompetent ppl in their office, unanswered complaint email and messages left for the owner. NOW, 2 months after I contacted them to install solar panels, I get a notice from LADWP that their submission was incomplete, and although my solar panels are installed, I have NO WAY of knowing if they are working and how to monitor. I have yet AGAIN sent an email to 5 ppl asking AM I ON SOLAR YET, and what’s going on with monitoring and LADWP and of course – no answer!
This makes me very concerned about any warranty. If they are this unresponsive even before they were paid for the job, how will their service be if/​when I have problems?!
A ton of ppl have been asking me about my solar experience and I’ve been holding off til the job was done to let them know and the answer is simple: go solar. Just NOT with Natural Energy, you’ll get burned.

My previous review of their work still remains. I have decided to change my review from 3 to 4 stars after talking with my neighbor.
I noticed a water leak on her spigot that happens to be near the dirt turn around on our street. I fixed it for her. She stated that Natural Energy had fixed it for her the last time. They do electrical work, so I won’t fault them on the small drip on a water line.
The story goes, that while the crew of Natural Energy was working on my property, a red truck drove up the street. The truck turned around, backed into the spigot and then drove off as a 20 foot geyser erupted into the air. The crew couldn’t believe it. Being good people, they helped my neighbor repair the damage.
I still wish that things had gone slightly different with my solar panel install, but have upgraded my rating for them due to this kind gesture.

Natural Energy has been extremely slow to return my phone calls. I have told on several occasions that someone would get back to me yet no one did. I have had to make repeated calls before talking to anyone other than the receptionist. That being said, their employee turnover is quite fast. It has not been unusual to speak to someone new and be told that the last person with whom I spoke is gone. On two separate occasions I was given the «scoop» as to why the previous person was let go.
Unprofessional.
Unreliable.

I guess more happy satisfied customers need to review Natural Energy but it seems the disgruntled ones always have more to say.
I first used Natural Energy for my solar pool heating system. Then, 8 years later, decided to go with them again because of the great experience we had. Yes, there were lots of other solar choices, but the fact that they are still around means a lot.
The whole process went without a hitch and installers were all very professional and experienced. Natural energy had all the permit processed and the system is running great!
As in the photo, it is on top of our pool house and during the installation, it was not a perfect rectangle, so they even installed a «dummy» panel so that I would have a nice rectangular shape as I wanted.
Don’t pay attention to any of the negative Unilocal reviews as I am sure there are thousands of happy customers like me who just didn’t get a chance to write a good one, as they are too busy and happy to be saving lots of money on their electric bill!!!
Definitely would recommend them!

About 10 days ago my solar monitoring system lost connectivity with the Internet, so I had no way of monitoring the energy generated by my system. I called the office and am happy to say that 2 days later a very nice, professional service representative arrived at my house and updated the monitoring system. He was very helpful and a great representative of the company. He also informed me that the issue with my IPad would soon be resolved. Just a couple of days later the iPad arrived at my home. I do appreciate the follow up from the company.

I have had my solar system for about 2 years and I couldn’t be happier. My electric bill has gone down and I’m green and helping the environment. People have to realize it’s a construction project to get your panels installed and there are many factors to consider. Roof type, where the sun hit’s your house and cost. Do your research and if it makes sense I highly recommend you go Solar.

Natural Energy’s systems (both pool solar and electric solar) have been on our roof for many years now. Working great. Both systems have easily paid themselves off in savings. I can get our spa to 104 °F on solar alone. After five years we did have a water-​leak on one connection on the roof; they promptly came out and fixed it. Some of the poor-​review entries here appear unreasonable or look to be bogus. (I have no connection to Natural Energy.)

I referred Phillip to one of my co workers for solar panels on his home in Thousand Oaks.
…even gave me a 10 year warranty on my roof for leaks!
…very professional!
…averaged $ 350 to $ 550 a month, last 3 months 95 cent, $ 1.05, and $ 1.16

We install 31 solar panels through Natural Energy for my in-​laws house. Although the install didn’t go as quickly as planned, the delays were not result of Natural Energy. Seems both the San Diego county and SDGE permit process are extremely slow and backlogged. After 3 months, we were finally up and producing energy. Originally we were considering 15 panels but glad we proceeded with 31. With SDGE consolidating their 4 tiers to 3 recently, and eventually probably 2 tiers; the larger implementation has produced more energy then we are consuming. Dave Baca who is our sales rep is honest and very professional. We were very happy with the pre sales experience and no pressure approach. I had talked to some of the other solar leasing companies like Solar City and was very turned off by their sales tactics. For any one looking into getting solar panels, I would research what type of converts are available and what type of panels. Natural Energy uses German made panels and micro inverters. Although newer on the market, we felt the benefits out weigh the traditional or other offers from other companies and thus far I am very pleased with performance thus far. I only have had the panels since April 2015 so time will tell.
Not sure why all the negative reviews, i did read them before deciding on Natural Energy but was convinced to go with them from word of mouth and referral from a friend who used them for solar panel install 8 months prior. I can only speak to my experience went very well with the installation crew, inspector from Natural Energy, electrician and project manager. They seem very responsive and I always included Dave on all my communications and he always followed up when there were any issues or questions. The only negative i had was a nail from the gutter broke during the install but Natural Energy offer to fix at their own cost.
I am now considering solar panels for my own home and probably will go with Natural Energy again and applying for the HERO program.

I had my solar system for the pool installed several years ago and was very satisfied. Last year I needed a minor repair and was very satisfied with that too. But this year, service has been very disappointing. It took two weeks and two phone calls to get a service appointment scheduled, but then the guy didn’t show because he «was stuck in traffic» and now another full week has passed and I still haven’t been rescheduled. So it’s been 3 weeks and I don’t know when if ever they will come to make the repairs. This is very frustrating because the water is not warm enough for my 85 year old mother to swim – and because of neuropathy, swimming is her only exercise.

I’ve taken down my original review because their Project Manager Nick has offered some assistance. But I am still dissatisfied with the product. The salesman who sold us the unit told us that with the two additional panels we ordered we wouldn’t have to pay the electric company anything and that’s just not the case. Yes, our usage went up when we put in the panels. That was the whole purpose of putting them in so we could run our AC and not have to pay a ridiculous amount. But the product was still misrepresented to us. We still are paying more today than we were before. Nick the Product Manager has been trying to help but I can’t get him to understand what we bought isn’t what we’re getting. He wants to review our past usage and that’s doesn’t have anything to do with what we are getting billed for now. We put in 16 panels and I’m still getting a bill from Edison for 70 a month and I have SOLAR! When the salesman sold us he said they’d have to pay us and that’s not what’s happening.

Such a bad experience!!! If I could I would give them NO stars. I gave this company half of my savings and not to get customer service. I tried talking to the owner Ted, left messages with his office and never got a reply. I’ve had a problem with my water heater tank for about
2 years and talked to many girls in the office and nothing was done about it. Finally someone came out today and was told that they don’t want to cover it, really ??? It’s your responsibility to fix it .Not only is it damaged but it’s damaging my flooring in my garage. And my pool panels cheap manufacturing. I feel betrayed, like they just took my money and left me on my own. So my next step is talking to channel 13 and show them everything I’m going thru. I have notes since almost 2 years ago how many times I called and whom I spoke to, how long it took them to come out. I would hate others to go thru a nightmare like what I’m going thru. Considering legal action as well. Thanks for taking my call Mr. Ted!!!
UPDATED:so a week ago 7-​10-​2015 I received a from a girl name Nikki from Natural Energy stating that Mr. Ted said to tell me they wouldn’t not be able to take care of the water heater due to no warranty, but it took them like almost 2 years to give me that answer. But what I find interesting is that my pool panel they took to fix that’s STILL UNDER WARRANTY, Mr Ted decided to tell Nikki to tell me they Will Not Come Out to put back and fix my panel UNTIL I REMOVE my Unilocal review. So I told her to tell him I give him a week to find out when my appointment is for my WARRANTY panel. Today 7-​17-​2015 is the week, no call from them so decided to call them. The outcome is Mr. Ted is sticking to the same thing. I need to remove bad review from Unilocal in order to fix my warranty panel. I’m I crazy? Or is this even possible. What do you guys think? Plus he had the nerves to reply on Unilocal only, and stating I want the product fix free, really? False statement and that I’m blackmailing him? Don’t thinks so! I think his blackmailing me and my family!

There is nothing worse than a company that doesn’t care about safety. Natural Energy installed my system about 2 years ago. After the install, I notice that a screw was missing from my electrical panel. I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal and they probably just lost it. About 8 months later I had an electrician out to work on something unrelated. He found the screw but when he tried to use it, he receive a electrical shock. It turns out that NE intentionally left the screw out, Instead of doing what’s right and fixing the problem. I called them and asked them to make arrangements to fix this obvious safety hazard and they said they would take care of it. It’s been at least a year and I’ve still not heard back from them. Natural Energy is just your typical «got your money and nothing else matters» company. I guess I’ll have to pay an electrician to fix their shoddy workmanship.

I don’t think anybody likes to write bad reviews, but I have never forgotten the poor service and experience I had with this company. And after a fluke conversation with a friend, it reminded of just how frustrated I was and I felt like I should share.
Everything with the sales people started out nice, and all I had asked for was a little communication and the owner put my job off for two weeks as punishment, what can you do, your vested you just get through it ASAP.
I am gated with dogs and I just needed to know when they would be out so I could make sure someone was home if not my self, and when people showed up unannounced, I just called the office and asked nicely to please give me a heads up, the owner himself was rude and put my homes schedule in the rears, and when your already trying to get ready for the season and not to mention you just want it done so you can move on the next project.
The sales people were nice and apologetic for his attitude, and even said its not the 1^st time they have had this experience.
Funny thing is, this company did a job for high school friend and we had met for sushi to catch up, as I had mentioned the Fluke conversation earlier! and one of the topics was this solar company that he was having a tough time with and had to take them to mediation to get things resolved. Prime example of Small World Right?
As for product its still working fine, just reluctant to refer them to anybody as a result.
Hopefully he’s not proactive with his projects anymore, as that would help them a lot as a company.

In response to Ted’s comment on my review, I am a customer. I tried to speak to Ted directly and they never put me through and he never returned my calls. I am also contacting the better business bureau about this situation!

My Aunt Linda expressed to me that she was interested in solar panels as an money saver in conjunction with her utilities. She had asked me to do a bit of research to help her out with this and luckily I found Natural Energy.
I submitted my information for a free quote for my aunt and they promptly got in contact with me to discuss the details. Needless to say, I was very impressed with their level of professionalism over the phone and initial consultation to address my aunt’s needs.
She decided to go forward with them and was very pleased with the results!!! Since she doesn’t have a Unilocal account and I do, I wanted to put this review out here as a thank you from her for the services they provided and the excellent customer service.
Thank you guys!
Sincerely from my Aunt.

I’ve done a research on this topic and then contacted Natural Energy. They were able to educate me even more and provided me with a reasonable quote. After that, the installation was a breeze. Pleasure to deal with! Without doubt, I recommend them to all my friends down here.

I purchased a property about 10 years ago and was spending far too much on my energy bills. Especially in a city that receives as much sunshine as San Diego, I felt that it made perfect sense to strongly consider having solar panels installed. I did quite a bit of research and realized that Natural Energy is one of the first solar companies in San Diego. So I decided to give them my business and I can honestly say that this was one of the best decisions and investments for my property. The customer service was amazing, they always responded to my calls and everything went smoothly during the installation process. I highly recommend them to anyone considering solar energy for their homes. Thanks so much Natural Energy!

I have had the system installed for a little over 5 years… my paperwork calls for a «Full 15-​Year non[prorated lifetime warranty.» I have had them out at least a dozen times to fix leaks that just reappear weeks later. Now the want to charge $ 80 as a surcharge to respond… Not sure what happened to the «Full 15-​Year» Warranty…
UPDATE: I received a call from a company VP and he assured me that my concerns were important to the company and he apologies for the miss-​information we had received. They sent someone out to fix our leak under the warranty without cost to me. He has assured me that the company will honor the warranty and if I had any problems to call him directly.
I have upped my rating from 1 to 3 stars and would have gone higher had it not been for the trouble with the local office.

I have had these solar panels for my pool heat since 2005
Problem resolved.