OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A metro homeowner says he’s thankful after a local solar company followed through on its promise this week by stepping in to fix previous installation work on his home that was done by a different company.
News 4 first reported about Oklahoma City homeowner Ryan Jacob’s predicament back in April.
Jacob said he hired a Texas-based solar company a year prior, in April 2023. After the company installed a solar panel system on his home he said that they never connected the system up to the electric grid, making it unusable.
Jacob said the company stopped returning his calls, and never fixed the problem.
Despite that, the finance company began demanding Jacob start paying for the system.
“It’s just beyond ridiculous at this point,” Jacob told News 4 in April.
After News 4’s initial story about Jacob aired, Oklahoma City-based Tru-Fuse Solar reached out to Jacob and offered to fix the system and get it up and running, at no charge.
“I just saw the need,” Tru-Fuse Solar co-owner Brett Will told News 4 in April. “He needed help, and I knew we could help him.”
Will and his team at Tru-Fuse Solar got right to work, but quickly found they’d need to do more than simply pick up where the first company left off.
“We met with Ryan back in April and looked at his system the day after you guys ran the story,” Will told News 4 on Thursday. “We realized we had to go back and start over his whole project from square one.”
They learned the first company never got proper permits or did inspections, and violated codes.
“His panels were not the same panels manufactured that were submitted on to the engineering side,” Will said. “So that was a big red flag right there. Second issue that we had with it is that we knew instantly that there probably was not enough structure on the roof to handle the panels and the modules.”
They ended up having to remove everything from the roof, and install about twice as many structural supports as the original company did, before reattaching the panels to the roof.
That wasn’t the only costly surprise.
“The other big thing was his system combiner box,” Will said. “His warranty was voided right away because the install was improperly done on the box itself, which voided all the warranties out. So we knew that piece of equipment and that change was going to be $1,000 fix alone.”
But what will and his team discovered when they looked at the work the original company did inside Jacob’s attic, could have cost more than just money.
“There was open electrical splices that were not in a junction box,” Will said. “This is something that, you know, is potentially a huge fire hazard.”
Jacob said that discovery made him livid.
“We have a newborn and we have a toddler,” Jacob said. “I mean, that’s crazy to think that because people just care about the money and not the quality of the work that something really bad could happen to our home.”
Will said discoveries of shoddy work like that are nothing new for him.
He says, for the past couple years, the solar industry in Oklahoma has been overrun with out-of-state, fly-by-night companies—like the one Jacob hired—coming in, taking customers’ money, performing shoddy and unfinished work, then skipping town and going off the grid.
“They keep coming in and the wreck and homeowners’ lives,” Will said. “It’s a cash grab. That’s exactly what we call it. And what’s sad is it’s ruining the name of solar. Because solar is a great thing and it works. Oklahoma’s a great state for solar.”
Will said there are some things homeowners can do to try to avoid hiring a dishonest company.
“One is, just make sure [it’s] an Oklahoma based company,” Will said. “Do your research, make sure they’re Oklahoma contractors, make sure they’re involved with the day-to-day operation of the solar company, make sure that full electricians are on staff, apprentices. Everybody is licensed under the state of Oklahoma laws. Do your due diligence, you know, check them out, make sure that the reviews are there, make sure the BBB ratings are there.”
He recommends homeowners to ask any company that they’re considering to hire, if they use sub-contractors.
“There’s too many companies that are coming in this market and they’re subbing out everything from the electrical side to the install side,” Will said. “And they’re not doing everything up to par with the way it’s supposed to be.”
This week, Tru-Fuse Solar was able to finally get Jacob’s system up and running.
More
Oklahoma News
“Everything’s passed through the city,” Jacob said. “OG&E came out and everything looked great. And so it’s just a huge weight off our shoulders.”
In total, it took Tru-Fuse about $8000 to get it done. But they kept to their promise—and didn’t Jacob to pay a dime.
“It’s like Christmas,” Jacob said. “I would just say that thank you”
Suggest a Correction
This post was originally published on 3rd party site mentioned in the title of this site
