Akeena Solar Inc

We had a system put up by Akeena 6 years ago. Warranty was for 5.
Leak(s) developed in roof last winter to the point of water pushing through the ceiling of a bedroom below the solar panel rack mounts.
Contacted them several times with no follow up calls back. I also had another solar company and two roofing companies come to look at the installation.
All the companies told me the racks for the panels were mounted with no flashing, just screwed in through the roof with sealer, and none could understand why it was done that way.
Finally got someone at Akeena to look at the installation and give a bid a month ago.
Akeena's bid from Dave Comfort, project manager, was over 2500 higher than a competing solar company to remove the system, update the mounting system with flashing & re-install it.
When Akeena Representative Dave Comfort was asked to re-evaluate his bid and offer to at least meet the competitive bid, the response was, "No, we will not do it for any less".
Apparently they feel no responsibility for mistakes made during the initial installation.
I have since had the work performed by another Solar Company who found all the grounding clamps seized because an incorrect grade unsuitable for outside use was originally used by Akeena.
In addition, the roof shut off box had to be moved and mounted vertically.
Akeena had mounted it incorrectly laying it down on the roof shingles which allowed moisture inside and water to leak down the conduit to the first floor shut off box.
It is clear to me that Akeena made several mistakes on their original installation, which both caused damage to our house and degraded the integrity of some of the components of the solar generating system.
Dave Comfort, project manager, accepted no responsibility for the defects I brought to his attention.
The attitude I got from him was here is the bid for repairs, accept it or not.
There was a complete lack of concern on his part to have Akeena correct the defects of their original installation.
A BIG THUMBS DOWN FOR AKEENA - AVOID THEM PERIOD.

Posted 10/18/09 | Report Abuse

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I called Akeena Solar because we were considering panels for our home. I attended a seminar that they held regarding the cost / ROI benefits of solar, and was very impressed by the speaker. Then they sent out an installation engineer who took several readings on our roof, and gave us a very comprehensive report on what kind of system we needed in order to achieve the savings we were interested.

The engineer was was very courteous and knowledgeable. What we really appreciated was that they only quoted what we needed, and did not try to "upsell" us, or talk us into more system than we required. He actually talked us out of adding battery storage, explaining that it would not be necessary in our case.

They were priced competitively, and the systems they install are the least intrusive (less holes in your roof) than other companies we spoke to. We have held off because the government's "incentive programs" were put on hold, and that cancelled some of the tax rebates and added to the overall cost of the system. If you are interested in solar energy, I would highly recommend Akeena for your residential or commercial needs.

Posted 05/19/09 | Report Abuse

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