[RE-wrenches] Discover battery RMA costs

[david quattro]

I think I have said this here before. A few years ago, after long
disappointing conversations with a manufacturer, where I showed them
exhaustive evidence of their botched tech support, serial component
failure, and dozens of wasted manhours - I was sad to take them to small
claims court. This tactic was successful.
    The hardest part is serving the papers to an executive on staff, but
frankly even that is not very difficult. Only if we all fight back as
installers will manufacturers improve their behavior. The word Warranty
needs to mean something.
   I am accustomed to excellent customer service provided by SMA America,
Fronius, Generac, and Enphase. I also remember when SHARP made solar
modules, their adherence to their warranty was bar none. The manufacturers
I mentioned all covered shipping and labor reimbursement with no questions
asked. Personally I have gotten speedy service from SolArk including
shipping of small parts, but I have never needed to replace a full
inverter, and to note - SolArk does not pay for labor.

On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 8:48 AM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches
<re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Bill for everything !
>
>
>
> *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
> "we go where powerlines don't"
>    <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>https://offgridsolar1.com/ <https://offgridsolar1.com/>  <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>
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>
> On 2026-02-26 7:59 am, Laura Conchelos via RE-wrenches wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I need to replace a Discover rack-mounted battery under warranty. When I
> started the RMA process, I was told I'd have to pay shipping costs for the
> replacement battery, which I found appalling. That, of course, is on top of
> the fact that they will not pay any cost for my labor or for the disposal
> of the battery. I'm in a rural area, so disposal is difficult. If anyone
> knows of a place to dispose of lithium batteries in Denver, please let me
> know. I can haul it up with me next time I go!
>
> I'm not as surprised that Discover is not paying for my labor. though that
> sucks. It's a fight to get Solaredge to pay for my labor for
> inverter replacements and I've never been reimbursed for
> module replacement. But the shipping really surprised me. I've never had to
> pay shipping for an RMA before.
>
> So I'm wondering what costs y'all are having to absorb when RMA-ing
> equipment these days? A guy at Discover told me that Sol Ark was now
> charging shipping for replacement products?
>
> It feels very bad to have to pass these costs onto the consumer when the
> equipment they purchased fails, so I guess these are costs I'm going to
> have to build into the initial install going forward. Thoughts?
>
> Laura Conchelos
> Sandhill Solar LLC
> Monte Vista CO
>
>
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