SolarCity reviews

First you have to strip away the feel good gloss and see what the industry is really all about - making money in a Wall St. kind of way, with all the associated thrills, ills and obfuscations - Solar Leases, PPAs, Solar Loans. So far SolarCity, Sunngevity and to a certain extent, SunPower have failed the "making money part". So how do you make money in the solar industry if you're SolarCity or Sungevity, or Vernego, or Sungate, or RealGoods Solar or . . . the list goes on and on. The only chance you have is to pay exceeding low wages for non sales positions, or dangle the carrot to those sales personnel who think they can make a six figure salary with relative ease (50 hr work week, which should be the minimum for any sales position that has potential). Now, please note this does not include c-level executives because that's the way capitalism works! And capitalism is about making money, and more money and more money. And Solar power is about being green, saving the planet and feeling good about one's lower monthly electric bill. Unfortunately, when you put the two together, people get burned. You just have to read a few of Solarcity's GlassDoor reviews to feel the ill will towards the company. After reading most of the SolarCity review, I found they fell into four categories: 1. A certain number of reviews just seems to be made up to compensate for the 1 star reviews. These reviews seem to be short, vague and generated by someone who needs to take a course in creative writing. If you're going to make up a review, put some meat into it! Here's an example: I love working at Solarcity because I get to experience the interaction between high level finance, construction, logistics and public policy while helping to build America's clean tech infrastructure . . . one roof at a time! Oh, sign me up!! 2. People who have just gotten their first job and are just elated to be employed, and even more elated to be saving the planet. 3. People who took the solar hook, bait line and sinker, and quickly found out they're working at a glorified roofing company cloaked in the veil of a feel good green company. 4. Sales folks who realized that selling solar in a tough business. And even tougher once you realize the touted offerings (no down solar leases/ppa) are typically the worst investment for the residential homeowner. So as the title of my post states: Don't Drink The Kool Aid Until You Know How It's Made! And more importantly, do your due diligence before applying/accepting a job. Best, Big Volt

I have been with SC for almost 2 years and have worked for three different departments. There are so many CON's its hard to remember them all. I can tell you the biggest con of all is that their rate of growth allows people with little to no experience, selling or installing solar, to be your service provider. The sales person has no technical knowledge of solar, its all done by fancy software that is buggy. The engineers and designers mess up almost 100% of designs and engineering. SolarCity won't even get new designs approved by the city or the customer while the install is already in progress. The installers end up redesigning that morning just to get the job done and "kW on the board", so they don't lose their jobs. Keep in mind these are installers with less than 1 year experience. I don't think there are many crews in my area that have more than 1 guy with over a year of solar experience, and no construction or roof experience at all. It's unreal how many roofs have their lifespan shortened while the unwitting salesperson tells the homeowner solar will make your roof last longer. That's just plain stupidity. Holes don't get patched all the time, wires are put in the wrong places, and the most common saying we use is "it's not my house". Most of these guys have never had to use a square, a level, or a tape measure accurately. SolarCity's goal is to get you to sign a 20 year contract and blast a solar system onto your roof in as little time as possible. They experiment with equipment on people's multi-million dollar homes, break OSHA rules, and have no regard for the city planning departments at all. My advice is do not get allow these people in your home. Do not get a system from SolarCity no matter how good the deal seems. Finance your own system and have highly trained professional installers install your system. How can you tell the difference. EASY! The sales person, auditor, designer, engineer, and installer should all be able to come to your house and talk to you. Take you up on your own roof and show you. Give you a thorough understanding of the materials that will be used. And all these people should say the same thing and not pass the question to the next dept. SolarCity is broken up into so many departments in different area's that NONE of these people ever come in contact with each other, they just blame each other when something goes wrong; instead of worrying about the customers install, roof, and security.