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

DiveFrosty

That's what I'm thinking.

I was just reading a thread on the Which site and Mark Bonifacio the MD of MYPlanet has left his email address so people can contact him. I'll make sure I have this to hand when the sale rep is with me.

sferg410

Divefrosty, take a look back at my entries. Sounds like the same deal they were offering my mother. The salesman will try to make you sign up on the day, say about the 20 free LED bulbs for your house worth £600 (yeah right!!!) and other stuff.
They get the money from the monthly payment you are required to set up for a period of 10 years... Yes that was 10 years..... which is the cost of the panels, install etc and a huge amount of finance interest which results in you paying twice the value of what it would cost for the same set up if you could pay up front, about £6-7k.
So they get paid from you. You will have a lower electric bill, but any money you get back from the government/utilities company will be spent on your payment to MYPlanet.
I stayed cleared and would suggest you do also..
Stewart

sillypassword

Watch out for these guys, they're over priced, over quote their generating figures, & charge for more panels than they fit!!! If that's not bad enough, they won't respond to their Customer Care e-mails & you can spend all day trying to contact them on the phone. It's nearly 2 months since I complained about their overcharging & I have not got my money back.

Shop around & save the planet with another company

richie19rich77

Had a visit yesterday from MyPlanet and the salesmen was very pleasant, not pushed into anything at all.  At the end of the night I thought everything sounded really good and I signed up to see if my application would get approved.  After he left I started investigating further into solar panel installations.

MyPlanet get your attention by saying "Government backed scheme free solar panels for £100" sounds amazing, this is what the salesmen explained to me.

Four options,

1. Rent your roof to someone for 20 years, they pay everything and you get the benefit of using the electricity it produces but all the tariff costs go to the person that has rented your roof.  There  can be problems if trying to get out of the contract early if you want to sell your house.  So this is a non starter for most sane people.

2. You purchase your own Solar Panel system for as little as £100..... Amazing.  But the bottom line is you take out a 9.9% interest loan with Barclays under the Home Improvement Loan Scheme.  You get all the government tariff costs and the use of the electricity it produces, anything not used you sell back to the grid.

3. Same as 2 but you pay off the installation costs in one lump.

4. Do nothing and walk away.

The "£100" is their way of getting you interested, and I must admit it sounds a good deal as the system pays for it's self as the loan is over 10 years at just over £110 per month and the costs you save per month is just under that, then they have another scheme that saves your £30 odd on any transactions you make which do directly into your bank.  Perfect where do I sign.

Hold on ........ This is why you may think twice.

1. MyPlanet state this is a Government backed scheme, but what benefit are you getting from this scheme when you could go to any registered MCS installer and purchase the same system for half the price.

2. Do not be fooled by thinking that you will only get the government tariff costs if you sign up to MyPlanet because they are a Government backed scheme.  You automatically get the 20 year government tariff costs as soon as any installation is signed off by MCS and you have registered with a energy supplier that you will sell energy back to the grid to.

3. Compare prices with other installers, you will come to the conclusion like me that the price MyPlanet is stating (£8500 for a 3.5KW SolarWorld system) is well over any estimated price within the UK.

I hope this helps someone, I have signed up but have not had my application approved yet; either way I will be backing out of the application and looking around.

I would say that the MyPlanet salesmen was very helpful and opened my eyes to Solar energy, but like any purchase it is worth getting several prices before deciding.

And the most important message is "Just because they state this is a Government backed scheme does not mean it will be the best deal you can get".

Thanks

SteveCritten

They are twisting words when they say government backed.

beverk

MY PLANET unresolved problem

This is a sorry tale, I thought I'd got a great deal, a 4Kw 12x327panel system with immersion booster switch for £6 K and all was going well the EPC survey went ahead ..all ok with that and an installation date set but then...
Quote from a complaint to My Planet customer services, I have to tell you all about..

"I should have had a system ( 12 panels @327w etc).. installed today at 10.30 am start arranged but no one has turned up.
I was rang yesterday by Mr Paul B (your rep)who said that your company head office had been in touch with him and couldn't supply the 327w panels and that you wanted to substitute lower rated panels and a new contract drawn up and sent to me. I stated that this was unacceptable to me and could I speak to his superior. A person called Mark subsequently rang me and stated that your company wouldn't supply that panel (327w) at the price agreed and that the representative had made an error ( even though he had checked with his manager
that the price was alright before he offered it ). Mark went further to say that he would redraw the contract and give another £500 off the lower rated panel system 2.5Kw or it would be an extra £2000 for the contracted system specified.
I stated that this was also unacceptable and I expected you (My Planet) to stand by the signed existing and fully paid for contact.A cheque for £6000 was given to Mr Beale when the agreement was signed and was cashed by My Planet. I
also said that all his proposals to alter the contract and why be put in writing."

This was a couple of weeks ago since then I have involved HIES, a trade organisation which offers mediation and a Ombudsman service. Although they broke the contract HIES accept that is was a genuine error by the representative and and that my options were to ask for my money back or take it to Ombudsman service which he said would take months to get my money back.I opted for contract cancellation and money back.
Since then the MD and his wife have been on holiday and the lady in accounts is off till next week and no one else can write cheques .Next they say its in the post or the computer is broke or the pen has ran out of ink.
Has any else used HIES to mediate or this Ombudsman, My Planet seem to be giving them the runaround .I know I was stupid but it all seemed so good.
HAS THIS HAPPENED TO ANYONE ELSE?

45six

My personal experience with My Planet has been fine so far.
The cold call was the usual scripted nonsense you tune out from, if we hadn't have made initial enquiries with Ikea the previous weekend I would have asked to be removed from their list. As they offer a free initial survey I thought it worth following up on.

MyPlanet have quoted £9900 for a 2955 kWh system, 12 x 250w panels.

Ikea (Hanergy) have quoted £4350 for a 2021 kWh system, 18 x 120w panels.

EDIT: Having done more research it's clear that MyPlanet's prices are way too expensive. We have since had quotes for systems with higher output for almost half the price. The Ikea panels are way underpowered so their prices are relatively high too.

beverk

Very overpriced..just had 13 x 285kw panels and i boost for £5105 from CTS Renewables of Mansfield..brilliant service and vfm..superb.

beverk

MY PLANET
Got my money back and a lovely bunch of flowers from Mark the MD and apologies. THANK YOU.

Mr renewable

Hi All,
So many answers I have for the above comments, firstly micro inverters, emphase, you do not need to waste your money on these unless you have a roof with shading issues, the rep that suggested a bird sitting on the panels is just cause for installing micro inverters is a con woman, totally ridiculous comment!!! and she will 100% be on commission.
Reps that say this to try and relax you, put you at ease, a "soft sell" routine I have never heard of a company that don't pay commission for sales, they wont do it because there is no incentive for the rep to sell.
Now-system cost-4kw system prices do vary due to many factors, panel, inverter, roof mounting kit amongst others and you will not get a quality system installed for 5-6k it will be the cheapest equipment available on the market despite how great the biased rep tells you it is!!
On the flip side you can get to a point where paying for too good a quality panel is a waste of money and will not pay dividends as far as return on investment go, so like everything in life its all about balance!
MOD EDIT: Rule 7
Too many companies out there will try and sell you what is best for them, as opposed to what is best for you!!!
They just care about the sale not the customer.
MOD EDIT: Rule 7