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Jason, Sol-Ark warranty...I've never paid S/H and a deposit for fixing any other brand's defective inverter. I could live with the $3,000 deposit but the shipping and handling n both directions is salt in the wound.</div>
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Has been a good product for us but product by itself without good installer support and manufacturer de-risking leads us to deemphasize this product until the company grows up and implements better installer support. They should not pawn off their costs on
to my balance sheet!</div>
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The incident gives me deja-vu of an incident in 2018 wih another manufacturer that prompted me to write this essay on LinkedIn:
<a class="OWAAutoLink" id="OWA89b868c3-05e9-cf5d-57ff-a438bde6571a" href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beware-new-mousetrap-solar-storage-systema-lesson-learned-arey/?trackingId=%2FaRY5bBuQUSjz%2B88d17%2BUA%3D%3D">
(40) Beware the new mousetrap (or solar storage system)...a lesson learned from PowerStation247 | LinkedIn</a></div>
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My email to Sol-Ark a few days ago; no response from anybody in management:</div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><i>"</i></span><span style="color: black;"><i>I am writing to express my deep frustration with Sol-Ark warranty support.</i></span></div>
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<i>I just paid $3,465 to replace a defective Sol-Ark 15KW that lasted about one month on the wall. While I acknowledge I'll get back the $3,000 "deposit" back, I won't get back the $465 for the shipping labels to receive then send back your defective inverter.
Not to mention my time invested on this! I literally rolled out on New Years' Eve when this inverter's grid relay failed and the inverter would not connect to the grid. And the truck rolls to install the grid relay you sent us (with no torque specs or instructions)
also not reimbursed. You've taken about $2,000 from me on this project not to mention the lost goodwill of a longtime customer (we were AC-coupling his existing ground mount and inverters to this Sol-Ark.)</i></div>
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<i>I am de-emphasizing Sol-Ark as an inverter solution based on this. I just can't put myself at financial risk to fix your inverters. You have shifted your costs to my balance sheet and that is not right. </i></div>
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<i>Adding to my frustration is that I was told by the RMA manager that he'd call me back to see if shipping charged might be alleviated based on the multiple truck rolls and recency of installation. No call back and finally, I recognized that I was not going
to do what Sol-Ark did to me and I would not push these costs to the end consumer.</i></div>
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<i>I've been installing solar for 13 years. I can't say I've ever had another inverter manufacturer tell my I needed to pay S/H for its defective inverter. Shame on me for not reading the fine print.</i></div>
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<i>Please expedite getting this inverter to me as the customer has been out of solar for more time than he has had it with this inverter."</i></div>
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<b>Howard "Scot" Arey</b></div>
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<b>Owner, Solar CenTex</b></div>
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254-300-1228 </div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 26, 2026 10:22 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Jason Szumlanski <jason@floridasolardesigngroup.com>; Laura Conchelos <lauraconchelos@gmail.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Discover battery RMA costs</font>
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<div class="x_gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Oh boy, does Sol-Ark charge for shipping... The costs for warranty on their inverters are ridiculous, not to mention the $3,000 deposit they require before they advance ship a unit.
For this reason, among others, including lack of compensation for their ridiculous diagnostic hoops and replacements, I stopped selling Sol-Ark altogether. They have no idea what damage the service department is doing to their brand.</div>
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<div class="x_gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">I haven't had to RMA many batteries, but in every case, the costs were covered by the manufacturer (EG4, Tesla, Enphase, HomeGrid, Midnite, etc).</div>
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Jason Szumlanski
<div><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51); font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:13px">Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51); font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:13px">
<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51); font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:13px">NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP)</span><br style="color:rgb(51,51,51); font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:13px">
<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51); font-family:Roboto,RobotoDraft,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:13px">Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956</span></div>
<div><font color="#333333" face="Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208</font></div>
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<div dir="ltr" class="x_gmail_attr">On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 11:00 AM Laura Conchelos via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Hi all,
<div>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!</div>
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<div>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. </div>
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<div>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? </div>
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<div>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?</div>
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<div>Laura Conchelos</div>
<div>Sandhill Solar LLC</div>
<div>Monte Vista CO</div>
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