InstallSolar Reviews 105

Absolutely terrible service, would not recommend at all. Wish I could give zero stars 🌟 trying to get settlement amount. They will not give.

They have gone bust, which is the best result

Every negative comment here is correct. Can’t add anything else. AVOID.

the installation itself was a bit of a joke , they just turned up without any prior warning , the electricians were very rough and did not seem to take any pride or even follow the 18th edition electrical book .
the roofers never installed the brackets properly as the roof has now started to leak , I have had it repaired.
No MCS certifification 1 yr on even though they said they were MCS accredited

The Installation is working and to be fair I am getting almost the amount of KW output I was told I would get .

Install Solar were cheaper by about £2K but it comes at a cost with the poor workmanship and no MSC certificate , but My batteries are charging and my imported electricity has drastically reduced to the point where I am only paying the standing charge during the long daylight days from match untill now .

The Batteries definatley make a difference , so I am using all my power and nothing is going to the grid

Ripped me off for over 5k - get onto companies house and follow the company and object to their certain insolvency when it comes. Get your civil court action filed asap as for sure they’ll be disposing of assets right now as no longer answering calls! You also need to register as a creditor in any liquidation!
Also contact consumer Advice Scotland for advice! Good luck ! I hope they can sleep at night after what they’ve done!

Along with the vast majority of people here, I paid a deposit of 50% of the installation price (which I later found out invalidates the deposit protection insurance), then waited. And waited. I received NOTHING WHATSOEVER. I did postpone one potential install date, but never had a follow up.

Luckily I was able to issue a debit card chargeback which was successful. Time limit on this is 120 days from contracted date of install.

Good news for anyone left with a non-MCS certified system, Octopus Energy have just dropped the MCS requirement for SEG payments. Might help anyone that actually got a system - albeit without paperwork.

Would give zero stars if possible. I echo all of the other recent comments. Shocking customer service. The small amount I still owe does not make up for the stress and time spent over the past year trying to get the system installed and working properly. It is frustrating to see my power being sent to the grid rather than my battery for no financial recompense. Directors need to be banned from starting another company. Should have noticed multiple red flags. Wish I'd been able to pay with a credit card and I might have had some compensation.

I have paid a deposit for an installation and now cannot contact the company. The company remains active at Companies House but its website and phone number have been disconnected.

Install went OK back in October 2022 - after having signed up with them and paid a deposit in April 2022. We had to call them back multiple times to get it working properly - which they did, and from the end of October it's been working fine - but no MCS certificate, despite many assurances. They have gone no contact and we're left with a system with no certification so we can't use any export tariff or many of the solar tariffs available. They seem to have disappeared now, the website is deactivated. Have reported them to MCS.

Failed to install batteries correctly, did not provide MCS. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

System installed in March 2020 and we still live with consequences. Battery installed wrong, inverter out of date, roof leaky where drilled through and system set up wrong.

Shocking service, they are no longer trading and seem to have gone bust, no surprises there as they are a terrible company to deal with. They are currently under investigation by trading standards for installing incorrect systems and claiming that they are MCS certified when they no longer are certified to do so.

Sadly a very poor company with no fulfilled supply of solar panel for us with cancelled placement dates.

They are said to be active traders but their base is shut and no answers to phone calls, text messages or emails.

Avoid this company they have taken our money and there is no recourse.

My husband signed a contract for solar panels plus batteries in October 2022 and paid £5500 deposit. The installation date was to be in December. Unfortunately due to snowy weather this was postponed. We waited until the end of January and contacted the company to see when the installation would be rescheduled. The date was settled for the beginning of March but the week before we received a phone call to say that because of snow forecast the installation was being postponed for a second time. This was no fault of the companies as they can’t be held responsible for the weather. Since then we have heard nothing. Even Jim Foggo who was very good at replying to emails has gone silent. We have written two letters cancelling the contract and asking for the deposit to be returned. The second was sent by recorded delivery and we said that if there was no response we would be contacting our lawyer. We have had no response. After reading the reviews here I don’t think we are either going to get the solar panels or our deposit back.

Everything went well to start, installation completed but no certificate . At the moment exporting LOTS of power to the grid for free, much like others in this review area. No emails or phone calls returned, since noted they are no longer at the place I have been contacting. This has been on going since late last year. They did the same type of job for my daughter, it went so well she recommended them, but she had her work done a couple of years ago. How now to get a certificate?

Nandish
If you payed by debit card or credit card
You can do a chargeback on card through bank
I recovered my money by this route

Truly Disappointed, thought we had a good relationship with Stevie and his mother, June, indeed my wife invited her to stay next time she was up in Aberdeen
They installed 32 panels in two lots with the appropriate inverters and three batteries. Initially we’d problems, including a minor fire but, with prompting, they were reasonably attentive( we even accommodated one of their service engineers overnight). As our electricity supplier was paying only 3.2 p per kWh but charging 30p + we decided to purchase a fourth then fifth battery, duly paying the 50% deposit on each which they readily accepted. Aha! With no contact nor delivery notification I contacted the main UK supplier of the batteries, during our conversation I learned that the system was only capable of accepting four. I let Installsolar know of my findings and requested that they amalgamate the two deposits to pay for one battery. Well it eventually arrived but the guy couldn’t make it fit (?)and left with the thing
That’s us down £1500, but you know what’s really irks? TRUST!

I paid deposit of 6750 end of jan 23, work was due to be done by april, they have done a runner unable to contact, anyone,
Can any one help how to proceed to get money back
It was a bank transfer,
I have called bank (they cant get it back), have reported to trading standards(they cant deal with it as its over 5000), police dont seem to be doing much either
Has anyone contacted solicitor or lawyer
if so can you kindly share their information so we can all fight unitedly to get money back
The company still is on companies house

Like many other recent reviewers, Install Solar appears to have absconded with my deposit - almost £5,000. After significant delays in communications an install date was finally provided for early November. Just 5 days before the install I was told that this would have to be delayed because of the unavailability of a part (they had previously told me they would need to give me a different battery and inverter than originally agreed because of shortages).

I was finally then given a new date at the beginning of March, but by then there had been some damage to the building on which the panels were to be installed, so it had to be delayed. I contacted them 10 days ago to reschedule. My call went to voice mail, my e-mail went unanswered, and their website had disappeared. This is when I found all the other reviews here about this company and realized they seem to have done a runner. Subsequent attempts at communication have also been unanswered.

I went over to their registered office, but there was no sign of them. No company sign, office was locked up during normal business hours.

I have contacted my bank to inquire about getting my money back (it was paid by bank transfer). They are investigating, but I have no idea what my chances are. One thing that I have not noticed in other reviews is that the contract states that they have an insurance policy which can be claimed on in case they go bust. Of course I was never given details of this policy. If anybody has such details (if the policy actually exists, which seems doubtful now) please share.

I have contacted Advice Scotland, which gave me the usual boilerplate language to communicate with companies in this situation, which I don't expect will amount to anything. They have also passed this on to Trading Standards.

Next step I guess is to contact the police and file a fraud report. If enough people do this, maybe they will conduct a robust investigation.

In case you want more info about the company, the company number on Companies House is SC614222. It's quite interesting when you start looking into how these companies are registered. The director is Steven Bell. A former employee of the company, David Carey, registered another company, IS Solar Ltd (SC738000), last July at Steven Bell's registered correspondence address (no sign of life there, either - just around the corner from the main registered address). This was while he was still an employee of Install Solar. David Carey is also connected to another two companies - Save Heat Energy Limited (SC753625) and Prestige Solar Energy, which is the trading name of Save Heat Energy Limited. So not really sure what is going on here, but hopefully something the police will look into. I have just contacted West Lothian Trading Standards.

Anyway, good luck to everybody trying to get their money back from these people - share your stories here!

Update 16 May:

Got a call from RECC after contacting them. They confirmed that Install Solar was a member at the time I signed the contract last summer, but is no more. They have an arbitration service - costs £100. Through this you can get a judgement against the company but it my not be enforceable if they don't respond. I also gave the RECC some of the additional information I have found out about potentially associated companies. Also, the insurance is through iwa.biz. He was not sure whether it would still be valid for me since I paid the deposit so long ago, but will call them tomorrow.

I also heard back from West Lothian Trading Standards. They confirmed that they are investigating the company in association with Trading Standards Scotland. So for those affected, if you have not contacted trading standards I would encourage you to do so to give them as much info as possible for their investigation. Hopefully the law will eventually catch up with these people.

Update 17 May:

I called iwa.biz to inquire about the insurance policy mentioned in the contract. They told me that Install Solar stopped its membership at the end of March this year, and further that it had never taken out a policy in my name, so there is nothing for me to claim on.

Update 22 May:

There is another company based at the same address as Install Solar - Energy Now Ltd. I found them on the MCS website. I cannot find them on Companies House. There obviously must be connection between the two, so be wary if you run across them.

Update 2 June:

I have just received my deposit back from my bank. Somehow it was able to recover the funds (I had paid by bank transfer rather than credit card). I will provide more info when I hear more from my bank.

Update 15 August:

The website of Prestige Solar - one of the other companies set up by these people - has been deactivated.

Installation agreed early 2022, part completed July 2022, months of emails and arguments until finally they did the remaining part of the install Nov 2022. System is faulty and doesn't work correctly - told Stevie Bell that I wasn't paying balance until it worked correctly. No further contact until Bell emailed me in March this year asking for the outstanding balance, and was there a problem why I hadn't paid it? He obviously has a selective memory! Needless to say, he was told where to go until the system works correctly. I am now looking for another contractor to sort out their mess!
Be very wary if looking for solar installers - do your homework, check the companies out with companies house and see if the following people are connected, if so, run away! Steven Bell, Alex Miller, June Miller(?), Dave Carey, James Foggo.