<html class="apple-mail-supports-explicit-dark-mode"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Steve, thank you for so much for opening this up. As a Solar contractor I fully expect the manufacturer of the failed product to make me whole with the product and sometimes that does include freight costs. We would not even be talking about it if the product had not failed for some reason. It would also be reasonable to expect some type of labor compensation for my time troubleshooting and repairing or replacing the product that has failed. Some manufacturers do this somewhat and some don't do it at all. The best solution would be for distribution to step up and help accommodate replacement of a battery or inverter or solar panel, typically they would have replacements in stock and then ship them back to the manufacturer as time allows.<div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Michael D Nelson</div><div>MD Electric & Solar, Inc.</div><div>707-684-0064 mobile</div><div>707-884-1862 office</div><div>www.mdelectricsolar.com</div><div>www.facebook.com/mdelectricandsolar</div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Feb 26, 2026, at 9:25\u202fAM, Steve Higgins via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">\ufeff<div dir="ltr"><div><p>Not that anyone asked for it \u2014 and I hope this doesn\u2019t come back to bite me \u2014 but here\u2019s a view from the manufacturer\u2019s side. These are my personal experiences based on more than 30 years in the industry, not the official position of Surrette/Rolls Battery.</p><p>I\u2019ve worked for manufacturers for the majority of my career. Back in the old Trace Engineering days, around 1995, I was fresh out of college (2-3 years) and new to the industry. I remember sitting in a meeting with upper management and asking this exact question. At the time, I believed that if something was determined to be a warranty issue, we should also cover the shipping costs under that warranty.</p><p>One of the senior managers explained it this way: manufacturers have to control costs carefully. Warranty is often the \u201cred-headed stepchild\u201d of a company \u2014 yet it is a necessary part of doing business. If it isn\u2019t managed properly, it can quickly become unsustainable and can definitely give the company a black eye. </p><p>A significant portion of the customer base in this industry does not live in urban or suburban environments. Many customers live in remote locations \u2014 often down a dirt road or in the mountains. Shipping to these areas can be extremely expensive. In some cases, freight costs alone can rival the cost of the product itself.</p><p>The perspective shared with me was that while we absolutely stand behind our product when there is a legitimate defect, a manufacturer cannot reasonably absorb unlimited shipping costs based solely on a customer\u2019s geographic location.</p><p>That conversation has stayed with me. Over the years, I\u2019ve come to better understand the balance manufacturers must strike between supporting customers and maintaining financial responsibility.</p><p>At Surrette, when we process a warranty replacement, we typically piggyback those shipments with normal distributor stocking orders. We do this at no additional charge. However, if a shipment needs to go directly to the customer, or if shipping originates from a distributor\u2019s warehouse to the end user's or installer's site, we do not cover those freight costs.</p><p>
</p><p>There are exceptions. Usually, for verified out-of-the-box failures, I can get shipping covered under warranty, but shipping to locations without loading docks or down a dirt road is usually a non-starter. </p><p>Steve Higgins. </p><p><br></p></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 8:50\u202fAM Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">
<p>Bill for everything ! </p>
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<pre><strong><span style="font-size:small">Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar
"we go where powerlines don't"
<a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> </a><a style="color:blue;font-size:11px;font-family:"Lucida Grande",Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-weight:400;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" href="https://offgridsolar1.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12pt">https://offgridsolar1.com/</span></a><a href="http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> </a>
e-mail <a href="mailto:offgridsolar@sti.net" target="_blank">offgridsolar@sti.net</a>
text 209 813 0060</span></strong></pre>
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<p id="m_5028707523673131788reply-intro">On 2026-02-26 7:59 am, Laura Conchelos via RE-wrenches wrote:</p>
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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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