Shop around for more client oriented alternatives
This evaluation concerns the installation of solar panels that took place in November 2023. I waited to post this review to compare with the installation process that two other neighbors had (in the same types of house) with other providers in the meantime.
Overall, I must say that the prices offered by Saman are not much better than other places, and the installation seems to be better done by other companies. I would recommend others to consider their alternatives and do not default to the choice of Saman.
Overall I can divide the process into three stages: the intake, the installation and the customer service.
The intake process was well done and an expert was very helpful in providing suggestions and alternative quotes for the installation of solar panels in our home. The offers was complete but the prices were not much better than other places.
The installation process was however extremely disappointing. First, the approach differed from that explained in the intake process. Customer service (see point below on customer service) responded that we were informed about this change in approach by the technician but we stand on the fact that we would for sure know when a technician is telling us that they were going to drill holes in different parts of the house. Overall the technicians only spoke to us three times: when arriving to cover their parking, to get the signature to leave and to tell us we should clean some sullied walls. The different approach taken by the technicians lead to increased difficulties in the installation which consequently led to bad quality finishings. Recently painted walls were (extremely) sullied, the technical shafts covering the cable were not well placed against the wall leaving very visible gaps, and holes were done in removable wooden panels that were not necessary and horribly done. Overall the installation took the whole day from 8am to 4pm. Originally I believe the fact that the job was complicated led the team to have insufficient time to complete this well but customer service argued that they always plan sufficient time, but they do not then realize then that the bad quality of work is therefore not a consequence of the more difficult approach, it is simply bad quality work of their technicians. In response to the sullied walls we received the blunt response of "You can clean it" as they were leaving. One big error in our part here in that we signed the final document at the end of the day which we should not have to hold them accountable.
My recommendation here is also based on the comparison of the job that two other providers did in our neighbors houses where the job was done in less than 4 hours, with better quality and less damage to their homes. If only we would have chosen better...
The overall negative installation experience could have been compensated by a good after customer service but unfortunately that was also not up to the standard. We were first asked to provide a review directly to Saman, when providing the same feedback as above they followed up calling us and with e-mails very insistently to provide more detail. Once I provided the additional information their go to response was that we were wrong (technicians told us they would be drilling holes in another place), that technicians did everything right (without acknowledging the unnecessary damages) and that they would not correct anything. What was the point of following up, calling and e-mailing us if they just discarded our view? The exchanges with customer service left us with an even worse feeling about our choice then after the installation.
Overall, I would really encourage people to shop around. Other providers seems to be much more attentive to the clients needs, more responsive to issues that may occur and equally well priced.
My rating of two stars is then justified by the fact that the intake was good and the material used is of high quality. But the rest was not up to the standard and think other firms can provide better service at similar prices.
One could argue that my experience was particularly unique and bad but that means it should have been compensated somewhere with good customer service which it was not and I would not like others to face what happened to us.
8 November 2023
Unprompted review
