The Financial Ombudsman has said today that some solar panel contracts signed by consumers often don’t outline the real costs after installation.
Many of those who contacted the organisation said promises made by salesmen are often not kept.
In some case consumers were told that the installed panels would “pay for themselves” only to find that they are often left holding the bag financially.
A spokeswoman for the Financial Ombudsman said: “There is consistency in what we’re hearing from consumers. We often hear from people who’d thought they were doing the right thing by having solar panels fitted on their homes – but now have concerns they’ve lost out.
“Many of these people are looking to reduce their bills, and are often retired or approaching retirement. Typically, having been cold-called, they’ve agreed to have the panels installed – taking out a loan to pay for them. People often tell us they were told the panels would “pay for themselves”, and even make some money.
“Unfortunately, for some people – taking their loan repayments into account – the solar panels are actually costing them money. And in some cases, people are being left in financial difficulty.”
The Financial Ombudsman said that in many instances consumer are victim to “pressure sales techniques” and “misleading sales literature” or unrealistic representations by the salesperson.
On one occasion, a salesperson told a customer that solar panels were “better than free” only to find out later that there was a significant shortfall between what was then paid out and what the consumer got back.
Daryl Akers, a former solar panel salesman who worked all over Scotland, said: “There’s definitely [people] out there using shoddy tactics to sell. It can be very confusing for the consumer but you’ve just got to look at the money people can make from it. I could work a weekend and make £500 a sale so that gives people an incentive to make the sale at any cost.
“One of the big problems is that many of these solar panels out there aren’t even made in the UK and the warranty doesn’t mean anything here so it’s difficult to get it to come back on the seller. They’re only doing it for the money, that’s it. How do you protect older people when it’s set up like that?”
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