Myplanet UK Solar Panels ...... A Warning !!!

emyace

Alan, thank you. I'll do that.
I also texted the guy who phoned me but no further response from him.

I will also need to contact M&S credit card, the company has taken £500 deposit. I'm still within 14 days cooling off period, well at least with the contract for 11 panels. The first contract which I made a deposit on was for 16 panels which the company said they could not do on our property.

I'd go ahead with it if they review and reduce their price accordingly. Please note the sales lady that visited me and signed the contract has already left the company.  

Here's hoping for a resolution

blankscreen

I'm no legal eagle and fortunately had not paid a deposit, it is wise not to do so until you have thought any works through, no matter what they say.

While i would not claim your being ripped off, it seems is not the cheapest company. But then should that really be your only yard stick? Will they be around to sort out any issue's? google their name, google their manager, directors names see if anything pop's up

We don't know if you need tricky scaffolding to get to an awkward location, or special roof fittings etc. If shaded you might need need to have separate micro innverters for each panel, so price alone is not really a good guide, where several competative quotes are.

Ironically, the rep who pointed out the unfair tactics to me, on being told they were £1400.00 dearer than a previous rep like for like, phoned her manager who offered to price match and be £50.00 cheaper, without any proof i was not winging it roflmao.

With Solar Panels the installer should be MCE registered to qualify your installation for acceptance into the FIT (Feed In Tarif.)  I don't know how reactive this body is, but at least check the installers name exist on the MCE site as they should be clearly listed, but they do not guide you on price and i would not know what they would regard as been 'excessive'.

Read through that site's regulations, the installer must conform to, especially while selling they should not use any pressure tacticts. If the rep did, that contravenes the MCE rules and you can seek their assistance, for example, the old chestnut of the rep ringing the office 'for a managers special discount - just for you', or saying sign up now 'while we are in the area it will be more expensive later on blah blah' etc.

If you google '14 day cooling off period' you will see many links, the 'Which?' link has a fairly clear explanation of your legal rights.

I knew very little about solar panels less than 5 weeks back, today i could very likely and competently sell them from advice given to me mainly by this forums members alone. The amount of reading i have done means my eyes are like 2 glazed cherries on an iced bun.

Alan

emyace

Alan, thank you for your lengthy input.

The installation guy I texted phoned me 10 mins ago. We discussed my concerns and my intention to email my cancellation. I explained that I'd still go ahead if the price is reduced, he offered 10 off. I asked him to go back to the company and asked for a 25% off. What do you think of the 10% off £7750?

neilball

I'll only add that if the installation is straight forward, needing no special access measures or more expensive inverters to combat shading issues, then it still sounds expensive at just under £7k. I had my 4kW array fitted last December by a local company who used a local building contractor for all roofing works (so not a large company with the economies of scale they can sometimes achieve) and paid £6k having decided to upgrade to a slightly more expensive inverter with 10 year warranty. I could have paid closer to £5k via one of the national suppliers, but wanted to stick with a local business with a bricks and mortar shop and owners that I personally know. For me the extra cost was worth the extra piece of mind. However I would not have wanted to pay a few thousand extra for a much smaller array!

If you make an assumption that each panel is costing around £200 fitted then this suggests they would want another £800 or more for a 4kW array, taking you back up to nearly £8k even after the discount they have offered. So it does sound like they employ the usual high pressure, high volume, high commission sales force who are only in the game to make as much money from each sale as they can rather than aiming for quality installations at a fair/competitive price. That kind of company would not be a company I would want to deal with, especially as once their sales start to dry up they could simply shut down and move on to the next money-making adventure!

emyace

Neilball, thank you for that.

I made contact with their sales guy down south. Although I did not get him to give me 25% off the quoted price, we settled on a final price of £6250. I'll pay with my M&S credit card and will get £62.50 vouchers. So in reality 2.75kw 11 solar panels cost me £6187.50.

Allan, it is still on the dear side but I feel ok with that. 24 hours ago I did not have any issue paying the quoted price. I know someone who paid more than £12K for 4kw 16 panels but generating a high Feed In Tariff.

I know that it is always beneficial to have a bit of information before committing to an expensive project. We did not get quotes or do our research beforehand but at least, it was not too late.  I saved us £1500.

I hope that lessons will come out of my experience.
emyace

emyace

Dear Fellow members, would you believe a solar company just phoned me and based on a minimum info, not only could they match the kind of panrls but are able to provide 11 panels that could generate more than 3.5kw and the price is about £4000.

It is getting complicated. But I'm still within my cooling off period.  A surveyor is coming for assessment. If he gives me quote a lot lower than £6250, what do I do?  What would you do? Please help. Thanks, emyace.

blankscreen

I think solar panels a becomming a payne - sory, i'll put the xmas cracker jokes back in the box lol!

Lets ground it down a bit more for you, in my case i backed out completely, deciding that at 65 in ten years i will be 75 and after 20 years i will be (all together now)? and be beggared if i'll even know myself by then .

If i were in my 30s it would be a good bet

So really, part of your concideration is will you benifit at the right time? also, yes you will get a better FIT by signing up before the deadline, but this only makes a difference of 3% i liken that to driving 20 miles out if your way to save 1p on litre of fuel, and then only buy a quarter tankful.

Why do i say that? because you will be installing in a very low yeild section of the year, if we get 3 weeks if snow as forcast from Sunday up to to Chrismas, nada will be generated but your still going to have to pay M&S at a very high interest rate, and the electricity provider will also present their bill for what you used.

neilball

Ultimately your revenue from FIT will be much better with the 3.5kW solution, and would appear to be a significant amount less too, so why stick with the lower output/higher cost system?

blankscreen

at a guess i suggest useable roof space is the issue?

Alan

emyace

Good am and thank you to all my respondents. I cancelled on Saturday evening within my cooling off period my order with MP which was going to be installed last Monday 8th Dec. They finally replied yesterday and asked for the signed original paperwork. I'm sending it today via recorded delivery. Thereafter, I'm told they will return my deposit within 7-14 days after receipt of the paperwork. It's all been confusing but I'm relieved that's being sorted. Emyace