Peter,
We have had 5 defective Outback FM80's in three weeks. One DOA was
sent to replace one with no backlight which was to replace one that
was programmed as an FM60 out of the box! (Check your 80's out there
to make sure they come up as 80's) The service rep volunteered "I need
to get you some money" meaning for all my wasted time. Not sure if I
will see it but I feel your pain. Generally OB has been reliable for
us in the past so I'm not sure what is happening. Last year we got a
check right away for Xantrex for a GT failure but when a Fronius quit,
the credit was sent to my distributor and applied to my next purchase.
Larry Crutcher
On Mar 27, 2009, at 2:58 PM, Peter Parrish wrote:
I don’t know about the rest of this group, but we have noticed a
steady increase in inverter warranty calls. It used to be one a
year; then things started to increase to the point of at least one
per-month. In the beginning it was the just the GEC-1000s, then the
SMA EEPROM debacle, followed by the Fronius IG firmware problem,
followed by the Xantrex GT “controlled flight into terrain”. Now
both Outback systems we have installed recently have gone down (#...@!?
*). We are finding that most manufacturers are essentially
indifferent to installers who are an integral part of their warranty
obligation and are doing a poor job of supporting installers for a
variety of reasons, to wit:
(1) Outback will not reimburse installers period. Not for anything
that they do. They require that equipment be removed and sent to WA
for repair or replacement, or will ship replacement parts when the
problem is obvious, but that’s it. We have had one repair last month
and are facing a second in April. We paid extra for the CEC-grade
warranty, and I expected more. Based on this experience, I will not
recommend or sell Outback equipment, until this policy changes.
(2) Xantrex lost a returned GT inverter! They began dunning us for
it. We had the RMA on file but didn’t bother to write down the
tracking number from the Xantrex-generated UPS label (what am I
going to do with an inverter that won’t invert?). So not only will
they not process our request for reimbursement, they “want their
inverter back”.
(3) SMA didn’t want to honor payment on a service call for an
EEPROM swap out, even though I had an email from one of their
techies promising just that. After I produced the smoking gun, they
pointed out that we were about six weeks late in sending in the
reimbursement paperwork – they weren’t going to pay us. They’ve
taken a legally defensible position, but it makes for terrible
public relations.
(4) I thought Fronius might the only cowboy wearing a white hat,
but no. They want us to wait a month before reimbursing not us but
our distributor who only had the misfortune of selling us bad
merchandise. How we manage (and when) to get reimbursed from our
distributor, only time will tell, but I bet they won’t cut us a check.
But I am saving my best story for last…
(5) Xantrex II: we had a terrible time getting an XW6048 to work
properly (the details are unimportant, except to say the design was
spot on). I made six service calls after installing it last Summer.
I did a firmware upgrade, tightened even terminal and wiggled every
wire I could. I checked the module connections and the PV combiner
box. We programmed and reprogrammed every possible system parameter,
to no avail. After about 4 months (5?), I refused to make any more
service calls without a Xantrex technician at my side, and the
customer threatened to see an attorney. Xantrex eventually sent a
technician down to Los Angeles and administered another firmware
upgrade and the system settled down. Do you think they are willing
to pay for any of our post-install service calls?
I don’t switch vendors very often or without good reason, but I
don’t expect to sell another Outback based system, nor do I expect
to sell another GT. I am trying to convince my salesmen to sell the
Sunny Island system over the Xantrex XW product (for a number of
reasons) even though it is a more expensive proposition.
Is the following too much to ask for?
- Superior, real-time technical support in the field, including
generation of an RMA on the spot
- Replacement equipment promptly shipped with prepaid shipping
labels for the return of the defective item.
- Receipt of defective equipment by the manufacturer, triggers
installer payment without the requirement of submitting a separate
invoice.
- Direct payment to company servicing the equipment, within 30 days
of the service.
I am not aware of a single Company out there which meets the above
four criteria, but I haven’t looked closely at PVP or some of the
others. All other things being equal, I would really like to get
behind a manufacturer of quality inverters who also treats
installers as partners in the warranty department, and be able to
extol their virtues to customers. In the next breath, I will
patiently explain to the prospective customer the hazards of
purchasing an inverter from a Company that does not have a sound and
equitable warranty policy.
Any thoughts? And let’s remember, at least on this list, they are
all listening…
- Peter
Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
California Solar Engineering, Inc.
820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885
CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
[email protected]
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: [email protected]
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
_______________________________________________
List sponsored by Home Power magazine
List Address: [email protected]
Options & settings:
http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
List rules & etiquette:
www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
Check out participant bios:
www.members.re-wrenches.org
