Harlan Lachman wrote:
In article ,
Geoff Schultz wrote:
Geoff, another thank you from a lurker.

Not sure I will be in the market for a solar panel anytime soon. But if
I am, now I know who not to buy them from.

Another lurker's thanks here.

Well, I AM in the market for solar panels for installation
next spring to complement my wind generator and Solara was
top of the list. I am now reviewing my options and watching
this space closely.
BrianH.

About a week after posting the posting below (mid-December, 2006) I
received a message from Solara AG informing me that they would replace
the panels. They blamed Solara Energy (the US distributor) for not doing
anything to help me.

They also claimed that the warranty period for the panels is 2 years and
not the 20 years listed on web sites in the USA, Australia and Great
Britain. I wonder how all of these sites got the same wrong information?
I also wonder how they compete when their competitors have warranties in
excess of 20 years?

Anyhow, they offered to replace the panels if I paid half of the
shipping from Germany. This works out to 100 Euro or about $132 US.
Considering that these panels cost me $2000, this was a bargain and I
immediately agreed. Someone from customer service contacted me and sent
invoice. I noted that the invoice was for a single panel instead of two
and questioned this. The customer service person said that they would
check on this and get back to me when the manager who approved this got
back to the office.

A week went by. I sent more e-mail questioning what's going on.
Nothing...More e-mail from my side...nothing. I keep sending e-mail to
everyone who was corresponding with me and nothing comes back. So at
this point I'm stuck again. Other than flying to Germany and coming back
with the panels (they actually suggested this :-), I don't see any
solution.

In case you have any doubts about the veracity of my reporting of the
events, I've created a web page with all of the e-mail correspondence
with the various parties. It's even color coded so you can easily see
who sent what to whom. You can find it at
http://www.geoffschultz.org/Solara/e-mail.shtml .

I'll be headed off cruising to the Turks and Caicos at the end of
February and it looks like I won't have working solar panels again. To
me this is incredibly bad customer service and anyone who is thinking
about purchasing solar panels manufactured by Solara AG should take this
into consideration.

-- Geoff

Geoff Schultz wrote in
:

The following chronicles my futile attempts to get Solara AG, a
manufacturer of Solar Panels in Germany, to live up to their warranty
obligations. My panels failed and it appears that Solara AG has
decided to ignore me as well as the dealer and the distributor. While
this problem relates to marine panels, Solara AG is also a large
provider of land based panels.

In 2003 I moved my sailboat to from the Caribbean to Ft. Lauderdale,
FL in order to do some extensive equipment upgrades. One of the
projects was the installation of two solar panels. After a lot of
research I decided upon Solara AG's SM225M solar panels as they
provided the highest output available per their footprint and their
flexibility allowed them to be mounted on my hard dodger. The
following link provides a good view of the panels as well as
information on the panels:
http://www.barden-uk.com/semi-flexible-panels.html. I ordered two
panels at almost $1000/ea from SE Marine in Oregon. After completing
many projects we moved the boat back to the Caribbean. The panels
functioned fine during the next cruising season, but upon return to
the boat in 2004 they were no longer functioning. One provided no
output and the other would only provide output first thing in the
morning when the panel was cool.

The panels carry a 20 year warranty, so I felt secure that my problem
would be quickly resolved. I contacted SE Marine and they put me in
contact with Peter Burcat, who is a founder and executive VP of Solara
Energy, Inc. Solara Energy is the primary US distributor of Solara AG
solar panels. Solara AG is based in Germany. It was clear that there
was no way to get replacement panels down to the Caribbean, so I
decided to wait until we passed through the US again. In July of 2006
we once again brought the boat back to the US and I began writing to
Peter Burcat even before we arrived. Peter tried to direct me back to
SE Marine, but that didn't go very far as they said they had purchased
the panels through Peter's company and they couldn't do anything to
help me.

After some more finger pointing, Peter had me contact Frank Heise
) at Solara AG in Germany. Initally Frank and I had
very good communication. Frank, who is the export manager, was
asking me questions about the installation and the problem that I was
having. We exchanged multiple e-mails and I provided photographs of
the installation. On July 24th, 2006 I received my last e-mail from
Frank. All of my many e-mails to him since then have gone unanswered.
I've also called and left voice mail for Frank, but I haven't had any
calls returned.

I asked Peter for a list of contacts at Solara, AG and all that he
provided was a copy of contacts from Solara AG's web site. This list
seemed rather thin as Solara Energy was the exclusive distributor for
Solara AG panels. Peter has forwarded copies of my e-mails on to
Frank Heise, but apparently has heard nothing from him. If that's
true, then clearly something has gone very wrong in the business
relationship between the primary distributor and the manufacturer.

I eventually found the e-mail address of Solara AG's CEO, Thomas
Rudolfe ) and e-mailed him. I didn't hear anything
back. I also tried , which is listed as their
information contact e-mail address on their web site and received no
response. SE Marine has sent several e-mails and received no
response.

This has been going on for 5 months and I've gotten absolutely
nowhere. Further, I don't see any resolution forthcoming. The bottom
line is that if you're looking for solar panels, I would stay clear of
Solara AG panels. Their products may have excellent specs, but they
don't stand behind them. The US distributor has done little to help
me resolve this problem and the German company seems to feel that they
don't need to resolve foreign warranty claims.

-- Geoff Schultz
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Geoff,

In my area Solara would be the default choice. However, I find your story
worrying and don't want to put my money at stake. What are the makes that
have the same good specs, prices and a better customer service ??

Bjarke



"Geoff Schultz" wrote in message
...
About a week after posting the posting below (mid-December, 2006) I
received a message from Solara AG informing me that they would replace
the panels. They blamed Solara Energy (the US distributor) for not doing
anything to help me.

They also claimed that the warranty period for the panels is 2 years and
not the 20 years listed on web sites in the USA, Australia and Great
Britain. I wonder how all of these sites got the same wrong information?
I also wonder how they compete when their competitors have warranties in
excess of 20 years?

Anyhow, they offered to replace the panels if I paid half of the
shipping from Germany. This works out to 100 Euro or about $132 US.
Considering that these panels cost me $2000, this was a bargain and I
immediately agreed. Someone from customer service contacted me and sent
invoice. I noted that the invoice was for a single panel instead of two
and questioned this. The customer service person said that they would
check on this and get back to me when the manager who approved this got
back to the office.

A week went by. I sent more e-mail questioning what's going on.
Nothing...More e-mail from my side...nothing. I keep sending e-mail to
everyone who was corresponding with me and nothing comes back. So at
this point I'm stuck again. Other than flying to Germany and coming back
with the panels (they actually suggested this :-), I don't see any
solution.

In case you have any doubts about the veracity of my reporting of the
events, I've created a web page with all of the e-mail correspondence
with the various parties. It's even color coded so you can easily see
who sent what to whom. You can find it at
http://www.geoffschultz.org/Solara/e-mail.shtml .

I'll be headed off cruising to the Turks and Caicos at the end of
February and it looks like I won't have working solar panels again. To
me this is incredibly bad customer service and anyone who is thinking
about purchasing solar panels manufactured by Solara AG should take this
into consideration.

-- Geoff

Geoff Schultz wrote in
:

The following chronicles my futile attempts to get Solara AG, a
manufacturer of Solar Panels in Germany, to live up to their warranty
obligations. My panels failed and it appears that Solara AG has
decided to ignore me as well as the dealer and the distributor. While
this problem relates to marine panels, Solara AG is also a large
provider of land based panels.

In 2003 I moved my sailboat to from the Caribbean to Ft. Lauderdale,
FL in order to do some extensive equipment upgrades. One of the
projects was the installation of two solar panels. After a lot of
research I decided upon Solara AG's SM225M solar panels as they
provided the highest output available per their footprint and their
flexibility allowed them to be mounted on my hard dodger. The
following link provides a good view of the panels as well as
information on the panels:
http://www.barden-uk.com/semi-flexible-panels.html. I ordered two
panels at almost $1000/ea from SE Marine in Oregon. After completing
many projects we moved the boat back to the Caribbean. The panels
functioned fine during the next cruising season, but upon return to
the boat in 2004 they were no longer functioning. One provided no
output and the other would only provide output first thing in the
morning when the panel was cool.

The panels carry a 20 year warranty, so I felt secure that my problem
would be quickly resolved. I contacted SE Marine and they put me in
contact with Peter Burcat, who is a founder and executive VP of Solara
Energy, Inc. Solara Energy is the primary US distributor of Solara AG
solar panels. Solara AG is based in Germany. It was clear that there
was no way to get replacement panels down to the Caribbean, so I
decided to wait until we passed through the US again. In July of 2006
we once again brought the boat back to the US and I began writing to
Peter Burcat even before we arrived. Peter tried to direct me back to
SE Marine, but that didn't go very far as they said they had purchased
the panels through Peter's company and they couldn't do anything to
help me.

After some more finger pointing, Peter had me contact Frank Heise
) at Solara AG in Germany. Initally Frank and I had
very good communication. Frank, who is the export manager, was
asking me questions about the installation and the problem that I was
having. We exchanged multiple e-mails and I provided photographs of
the installation. On July 24th, 2006 I received my last e-mail from
Frank. All of my many e-mails to him since then have gone unanswered.
I've also called and left voice mail for Frank, but I haven't had any
calls returned.

I asked Peter for a list of contacts at Solara, AG and all that he
provided was a copy of contacts from Solara AG's web site. This list
seemed rather thin as Solara Energy was the exclusive distributor for
Solara AG panels. Peter has forwarded copies of my e-mails on to
Frank Heise, but apparently has heard nothing from him. If that's
true, then clearly something has gone very wrong in the business
relationship between the primary distributor and the manufacturer.

I eventually found the e-mail address of Solara AG's CEO, Thomas
Rudolfe ) and e-mailed him. I didn't hear anything
back. I also tried , which is listed as their
information contact e-mail address on their web site and received no
response. SE Marine has sent several e-mails and received no
response.

This has been going on for 5 months and I've gotten absolutely
nowhere. Further, I don't see any resolution forthcoming. The bottom
line is that if you're looking for solar panels, I would stay clear of
Solara AG panels. Their products may have excellent specs, but they
don't stand behind them. The US distributor has done little to help
me resolve this problem and the German company seems to feel that they
don't need to resolve foreign warranty claims.

-- Geoff Schultz
www.GeoffSchultz.org