Success with solar energy isn't as simple - or as lucrative - as it once was.
True Value Solar, which claims to be the largest installer of solar systems in Australia, has had numerous complaints made for sloppy service and delays in installation. One complainant said the company took his initial down payment but then he received no service for six months. He demanded and received full repayment.
Another customer, Mark Upton, claims TVS upgraded his system from a 3kW system to a 5kW system but failed to check the new set of eight panels before leaving. Upton says the new array didn't work, leaving him out of pocket for the lost power generation.
In December ''Disgruntled Consumer'' posted on the site saying that he had had two systems installed by TVS. He says the quality of both installations was independently reviewed as being ''sub-standard''.
''Both systems have lingering issues which they [TVS] simply refuse to attend to and all attempts to contact them fall on deaf ears,'' he says.
But TVS has also received glowing reviews on the same site, and for every complaint posted it has responded. TVS told Fairfax that it was ''the largest company in our field, selling and installing four times the number of systems to our nearest competitor''.
For further information on good practice, visit the Clean Energy Council's website and its consumer guide to buying household solar panels.