[RE-wrenches] Iverters and their Manufacturers

Fri Mar 27 15:43:50 PDT 2009

Peter,

We have had 5 defective Outback FM80's in three weeks. One DOA was  
sent to replace one with no backlight which was to replace one that  
was programmed as an FM60 out of the box! (Check your 80's out there  
to make sure they come up as 80's) The service rep volunteered "I need  
to get you some money" meaning for all my wasted time. Not sure if I  
will see it but I feel your pain. Generally OB has been reliable for  
us in the past so I'm not sure what is happening. Last year we got a  
check right away for Xantrex for a GT failure but when a Fronius quit,  
the credit was sent to my distributor and applied to my next purchase.

Larry Crutcher

On Mar 27, 2009, at 2:58 PM, Peter Parrish wrote:

> I don’t know about the rest of this group, but we have noticed a  
> steady increase in inverter warranty calls. It used to be one a  
> year; then things started to increase to the point of at least one  
> per-month. In the beginning it was the just the GEC-1000s, then the  
> SMA EEPROM debacle, followed by the Fronius IG firmware problem,  
> followed by the Xantrex GT “controlled flight into terrain”. Now  
> both Outback systems we have installed recently have gone down (#@!? 
> *). We are finding that most manufacturers are essentially  
> indifferent to installers who are an integral part of their warranty  
> obligation and are doing a poor job of supporting installers for a  
> variety of reasons, to wit:
>
> (1)   Outback will not reimburse installers period. Not for anything  
> that they do. They require that equipment be removed and sent to WA  
> for repair or replacement, or will ship replacement parts when the  
> problem is obvious, but that’s it. We have had one repair last month  
> and are facing a second in April. We paid extra for the CEC-grade  
> warranty, and I expected more. Based on this experience, I will not  
> recommend or sell Outback equipment, until this policy changes.
> (2)   Xantrex lost a returned GT inverter! They began dunning us for  
> it. We had the RMA on file but didn’t bother to write down the  
> tracking number from the Xantrex-generated UPS label (what am I  
> going to do with an inverter that won’t invert?). So not only will  
> they not process our request for reimbursement, they “want their  
> inverter back”.
> (3)   SMA didn’t want to honor payment on a service call for an  
> EEPROM swap out, even though I had an email from one of their  
> techies promising just that. After I produced the smoking gun, they  
> pointed out that we were about six weeks late in sending in the  
> reimbursement paperwork – they weren’t going to pay us. They’ve  
> taken a legally defensible position, but it makes for terrible  
> public relations.
> (4)   I thought Fronius might the only cowboy wearing a white hat,  
> but no. They want us to wait a month before reimbursing not us but  
> our distributor who only had the misfortune of selling us bad  
> merchandise. How we manage (and when) to get reimbursed from our  
> distributor, only time will tell, but I bet they won’t cut us a check.
>
> But I am saving my best story for last…
>
> (5)   Xantrex II: we had a terrible time getting an XW6048 to work  
> properly (the details are unimportant, except to say the design was  
> spot on). I made six service calls after installing it last Summer.  
> I did a firmware upgrade, tightened even terminal and wiggled every  
> wire I could. I checked the module connections and the PV combiner  
> box. We programmed and reprogrammed every possible system parameter,  
> to no avail. After about 4 months (5?), I refused to make any more  
> service calls without a Xantrex technician at my side, and the  
> customer threatened to see an attorney. Xantrex eventually sent a  
> technician down to Los Angeles and administered another firmware  
> upgrade and the system settled down. Do you think they are willing  
> to pay for any of our post-install service calls?
>
> I don’t switch vendors very often or without good reason, but I  
> don’t expect to sell another Outback based system, nor do I expect  
> to sell another GT. I am trying to convince my salesmen to sell the  
> Sunny Island system over the Xantrex XW product (for a number of  
> reasons) even though it is a more expensive proposition.
>
> Is the following too much to ask for?
>
> - Superior, real-time technical support in the field, including  
> generation of an RMA on the spot
>
> - Replacement equipment promptly shipped with prepaid shipping  
> labels for the return of the defective item.
>
> - Receipt of defective equipment by the manufacturer, triggers  
> installer payment without the requirement of submitting a separate  
> invoice.
>
> - Direct payment to company servicing the equipment, within 30 days  
> of the service.
>
> I am not aware of a single Company out there which meets the above  
> four criteria, but I haven’t looked closely at PVP or some of the  
> others. All other things being equal, I would really like to get  
> behind a manufacturer of quality inverters who also treats  
> installers as partners in the warranty department, and be able to  
> extol their virtues to customers. In the next breath, I will  
> patiently explain to the prospective customer the hazards of  
> purchasing an inverter from a Company that does not have a sound and  
> equitable warranty policy.
>
> Any thoughts? And let’s remember, at least on this list, they are  
> all listening…
>
> - Peter
> Peter T. Parrish, Ph.D., President
> California Solar Engineering, Inc.
> 820 Cynthia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90065
> Ph 323-258-8883, Mobile 323-839-6108, Fax 323-258-8885
> CA Lic. 854779, NABCEP Cert. 031806-26
> peter.parrish at calsolareng.com
>
>
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