Peter and all,
The Enphase product is the only one of its kind on the market currently (there will be more). Their sales are far beyond where they thought they were going to be-good and bad news. Great for them to be confirmed in their market prediction. Bad for the people who are anxious to get the product. Many companies simply ramp up production and hope for the best. It is my impression that this is not what Enphase is doing. They are trying to carefully control production. If you are making sales based on the benefits and availability of the Enphase product alone, that is probably bad business. Until the Enphase product is widely available, I would recommend that you continue to use the product wisely in specific locations where it will clearly outperform any other option. If you are using the Enphase product where another mature available product will do, you are not using your head or applying the limited quantity of available product wisely. Continue to move with measured caution. The product looks good, but it is not a silver bullet. Don't push the company to make stupid mistakes and overproduce-too many companies in the PV industry are doing that very thing today. Bill. From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Peter Parrish Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 12:00 PM To: 'RE-wrenches' Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase Recall? I see your point. If Marv is the one "manufacturer's rep" for EnPhase (they get just one, right?), then he should stay on point, that is, squelch the rumor. I personally was offended by his propaganda about product availability. Actually, here is why I am upset. I have made a goal of our company to keep 30% of our business repeat business or referrals. Why? We tend to close these deals without competition, and the client usually comes to us understanding that price is not their sole consideration. In other words, these are our ideal clients. Significant foul-ups by the manufacturer usually results in that customer NOT giving us follow on work and more importantly NOT providing positive referrals. In other words we get painted with the same broad brush. I guess I could learn how to avoid having these truly unpleasant events damage our company, but right now they usually do and I don't think it occurs to manufacturer's reps that this sort of thing happens. - Peter Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President California Solar Engineering, Inc. 820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065 CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26 peter.parr...@calsolareng.com Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885 _____ From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of R. Walters Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 11:11 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase Recall? No offense Peter, but Enphase's growing pains are nothing new to the PV industry. We've watched almost every supplier struggle to keep up, have shortages, booboos, require free BETA testing of their "not quite ready for prime time" products, etc. If manus can't comment without fear on this list, we will be in the dark more: Not good. R. Walters Solarray.com NABCEP # 04170442 On Jun 19, 2009, at 11:47 AM, Allan Sindelar wrote: Is anyone as bothered about this as I am? Well, I'm not. The Wrenches list has always had space and encouragement for a single technical representative from a manufacturer. That's a major asset in principle on the list. So far, Marv has kept to the limits of the role of such a rep. It seemed to me that Marv's explanations were as clear and direct as could be. That's my $.02.3. Certainly there's room for other opinions that differ from mine, Peter. Besides, I'm an off-grid man. Allan Sindelar al...@positiveenergysolar.com NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer EE98J Journeyman Electrician Positive Energy, Inc. 3201 Calle Marie Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 505 424-1112 www.positiveenergysolar.com _____ From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Peter Parrish Mr. Welch et al, I am personally embarrassed by this thread. First, it is at its best rumor mongering. Don't get me wrong, a little mongering often is the first step in teasing out the truth. So, we need to quickly move from mongering to the facts. What really bothers me is Marv's participation. Marv works for EnPhase and therefore is biased. Is he otherwise qualified to be on this list? Let me parse one of his statements (see below). Remember, we are talking about a possible "recall". Marv uses his post to prattle on about: "Demand has far exceeded our expectations. This has led to challenges with product availability which may have resulted in misinformation in the field." The first sentence is a bit of well crafted propaganda. The first problem EnPhase had is that they discontinued one product, without sufficient notice to their supply chain. This resulted in unfulfilled orders, sore distributors, aggravated installers and irate customers. As to "expectations" we can only guess whether the statement is factual, as we are not privy to EnPhase's expectations. The second statement about [demand exceeding expectations leading to] "challenges with product availability" is also misleading. Lack of [new] product availability was a consequence to a problematic transition to a contract manufacturer. So Enphase could not longer deliver the old product and was not able to deliver the new product either. Under the circumstances, they couldn't fulfill a single order. Finally, if Marv is talking about a "recall" being "misinformation in the field", he may be correct in so stating. But that's about it. I honestly don't know if we can filter marketing (i.e. propaganda) statements from manufacturer representatives, Michael Welch's job is tough enough. So if Marv and others are qualified to post self-serving statements about their Company's products, maybe all we can do is to comment on them when we read them. Is anyone as bothered about this as I am? - Peter <image001.gif>Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President California Solar Engineering, Inc. 820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065 CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26 peter.parr...@calsolareng.com Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885 <image001.gif> _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org 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
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