Solar

Friday:

We've been planning to get solar panels on our roof for ages, this week I finally got around to doing some research and asking a few companies for quotes. Prices have come down a lot in recent years and the government also offers a large rebate which works out to around a third of the total price. I had long talks with several companies (over the phone; they look at images of your roof throughout the year to see if you have shade problems, ask about your electricity usage etc) and learned a lot! We haven't yet decided between two companies, but there was one we definitely won't be going with.

The guy seemed nice on the phone, and the quote was the cheapest, but my research showed that they use the lowest quality materials on my list. He wanted to call me back the next day but I said to at least give me the weekend to talk to my husband before we made a decision so he said he'd call Monday. He asked me to give a deposit on the spot to fix the quote and make sure it didn't go up (with other companies the quote was valid for a month without a deposit!) and that he'd give the deposit back if we didn't use his company (what is the point of a deposit then?) which I declined to do. Then despite me asking him not to call until Monday, I have received a 'follow-up' text from someone else at the company and it seems I have been put on their subscriber email list because I've also received advertisements about their latest deals. To be fair, I suppose neither text nor email are technically a phone call! I've blocked their number on my phone and unsubscribed from the email list, and sent messages on both mediums that we won't be needing them thanks. Maybe it's just me, but it feels more like pressure than customer service.