Don't you worry - you'll be reading more about these criminals in later this summer. Why, you ask? Over the last few years they've been selling unsecured Mosaic loans to get people to "go solar for zero down!" without telling 80-90% of them that they're about to get slapped with a 30% balloon payment this June, and that their monthlies will become catastrophic. None of the guys who "trained" me told any customers they closed about that. Not a single one. I worked ASD sales, I'm ashamed to say. I'm the guy the president, Kevin Bauer, threatened a few posts down with litigation for sharing my miserable experience at ASD. If it's lawsuits he wants, ASD has a class-action in their immediate future, guaranteed. Careful what you wish for.
Santa Clarita, California Mar 10, 2016 539 views 2 comments
This company is a complete rip off. In order to buy our new house, we had to assume the solar lease attached to the property. Huge mistake. We were reluctant at first because the solar lease was considered a 2nd lien on the property. The previous owners said that they were getting a huge discount on their utility bill. Without being able to truly investigate it, we agreed to purchase the home. After about 3 months, I contacted S C Edison to find out how much money these solar panels were saving us. They told me I was getting approximately $90 off the bill on average. (I pay $128 on the monthly lease) So, not only am I not saving money, but I'm paying more money ($40) just to have solar. Doesn't make sense, huh? Exactly! I contacted American Solar Direct to find out how they stay in business. They told me there was nothing they could do because they could only fit 8 panels on the roof. So, I asked if the roof wasn't big enough to put enough panels on the roof to make a difference, why did they do it in the first place? They of course talked a bunch of bull and tried to get out of it. After a few telephone conversations, they said they could put another 5 panel on the roof for another $8000. So let me get this straight I asked, "I paid $25k for the panels I have already and I'm not saving any money, and in order to save money I have to spend another $8000 for the panels to save me money?
I called 2 other solar companies who nicely stated in a nut shell that we got ripped off. Basically, they said that our house doesn't have enough room on the roof to put enough panels on it in order to store enough energy during the nonpeak hours to make any difference.
I am completely disgusted with this company.
We are in the process of filing a lawsuit!
Stay away from American Solar Direct. They are full of it and only want your money.
Please take my advise and NEVER assume a solar lease to buy a property because there is no way to fully investigate the current bills.
We are in Escrow on a wonderful house and have just found out the solar panels are leased.The lease is for 20 years.
After running all of the numbers, we will be paying ASD for 1/3 of our electric bill for the next 20 years. Our electricity won't be any less expensive we will just be paying a different company. After the lease is over there is still a $3000 buy-out requirement to then own 20 year old panels that are significantly less efficient than. ASD will not work with us to resolve our concerns because we aren't the "current owner" of the lease.
To close escrow we must sign their contract transfer and then we will be locked into the 15 year commitment. The current owners have no option to buy-out their system (which we are financially willing to help with) or cancel it, because of the contract they signed. There are significant questions on their warranty and performance guarantee.
The whole lease solely benefits ASD and not the end user.Don't ever sign up for a leased solar panel system.
This review is a subjective opinion of a user.