Let's Talk Deceptive Sales Tactics

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Navigating the solar marketplace can feel like walking through a minefield of misleading claims and high-pressure tactics. From "free solar" promises to salespeople pretending to represent your utility company, deceptive practices have unfortunately become commonplace in an industry that should be focused on transparency and sustainability. Ralph and Ben draw from years of frontline experience to expose the most common solar sales deceptions. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The solar energy market has become increasingly
saturated, leading to widespreadmisinformation and a lack of
transparency.
Welcome to the HarmanSolarpodcast, offering a
straightforward, honestperspective on going solar.
Each episode dives into keytopics to help you better
understand the industry.
Our goal is to educate andempower you to make informed

(00:20):
decisions about solar energy.
While solar may not be theright fit for everyone, we
believe everyone should take thetime to explore it.
Our mission is to increase yourknowledge, not your bills.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to another edition of the Harmon Solar
Podcast.
I'm Rob Romano, vp of Sales andMarketing at Harmon Solar, and
with me, as always, my co-host,ben Walschlager.
You guys know him as mreverything ben how you doing ben
good it's good to be here.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
I don't see you a lot lately, I know, because you're
not in the office.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Start coming to the office, you'll see me all right,
ben, today it's just me and youjust you.
Yeah, you and I me and you usjust the two of us all right,
I'm not gonna sing on this.
All right, and today's a greattopic it's an important topic.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, I agree, we've showed on this a long time ago.
We've talked about it actuallya few times yeah, a few bits and
pieces here and there but nowwe've decided why don't we just
do a whole podcast on it?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
you know, I think you know you went on you had
mentioned some places that wereonline I'm not going to go into
where but, uh, you had mentionedthat you had seen some stuff
online, people that wereactually talking about the way
they do things, and so so wedecided I started watching this,
going, wow, this is horrendous.
We should do a deceptive, adeceptive, um, a deceptive
podcast.
We should do a deceptivepodcast.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
It's very deceptive sales tactics.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, we wanted to look at sales tactics that maybe
aren't the most true, right, alittle, you know, a little
deceptive.
So, and there's actually I wasshocked there's places online
that they actually teach peoplehow to be deceptive they do.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
They teach them what to say, how to get people to
sign.
Doesn't matter if you're lyingor not, get them to sign here
today, things like that.
It's all about close, close,close.
I was floored when I saw thatonline.
I'm like how do you do thatonline?
I don't know, how do you dothat online?
I don't know how do you leavethat room and feeling ready to
go and not just scummy?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
There's a big place and guys out of Texas that are
doing it and some other places,and I'm just like, wow, this has
got to be exposed.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, I mean I don't want to say I get it, or in
their defense because no, it isscammy.
But you know, a lot of theseare like you know, door to door
people or like cold callingpeople, things like that.
If I came to your door, knockedon your door and trying to sell
you solar, you'd probably shutthe door right in my face.
I would Right and you wouldshut the door just because you

(02:35):
saw me.
But you do that because you'relike I don't want to hear
another solar sales pitch, butat the same time you don't know
who you're talking to.
We're a legitimate company.
We're a reputable company.
We do the right things.
I'm a legitimate person.
Yes, as a salesperson, I can setmy own commission.
But I'm not going to do that totake advantage of someone and
make a $50,000 commission on a7KW system.

(02:57):
I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to do the right thing.
But you, as the homeowner who'sanswering the door, you don't
know that, right, you just seesome guy selling solar, so you
shut the door.
So they have to come up withthese weird tactics to get you
to at least listen and sign andall that stuff.
But in my opinion it's stillwrong.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
You see some cowboy trying to sell you solar.
It just doesn't make a wholelot of sense, right, right, like
what are you doing?
What are you doing?

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Absolutely so we're going to expose some of this
Right.
But you know, should thehomeowner be open to everyone
who comes to their door orshould the salesperson just be
honest and ethical 100% of thetime?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Well, but here's the problem, right, and this is a
good way for you to realize thatyou're being taken.
You're falling into theirlittle trap.
A lot of times, when someonewill start talking to you about
solar, you won't even knowthey're talking about solar,
right, you have no clue.
They're talking about solar,until you realize you just
bought a solar system Until.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I sign on to that line.
I've seen that, yeah, becausehomeowners know, when I hear the
word solar, what do I do?
Shut the door?

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Nope, not doing it, I don't think this is on your
list, but I remember a companythat was in Arizona and what
they used to do is they, they,they sold, um, they were a
dealer for Sunrun.
They're not Sunrun, but theywere somebody that sold Sunrun.
Right, that was their big thing.
So they weren't, they weren'tSunrun.
I just want to make that veryclear.
I'm not disparaging Sunrun, uh,but but they used to do is tell

(04:19):
people hey, you know, we're,we're here in the neighborhood
and we're going to take a lookat your roof and stuff and we're
going to do an inspection tosee how things are going.
Energy efficient, wise, can yousign this and approve for us to
come out and do that?
Wow, and people would sign itand they didn't realize they
were signing to buy a system andthey had no clue.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
They just signed it.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
And next thing you know they're doing a site survey
, which is what they thoughtthey were coming out to survey
the house.
But that survey was to putsolar on the house, right, so
totally deceptive.
And all of a sudden the truck'sarriving with solar.
It's like what are you talkingabout?
Yeah, we're here to mount thison your roof.
Yeah, we're going to mount thisfor you.
Oh, this is part of the survey.
Don't worry about the billyou're.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
I get it because sales people know that
homeowners, 99% of the time theydon't read everything they sign
.
I'm sure you're guilty of it.
I'm guilty of it.
You see these long documents.
You kind of know what you'regetting into.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
I'm a reader, I know.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Me too.
For the most part, if I'mbuying something new that I'm
not familiar with, I'll read it.
No-transcript system.

(05:32):
I never had solar in my house.
I never tell this company orthis install or whatever.
I'm reading that, yeah, everypage.
I am too.
You're not going to get me tosign right then.
And there I'm, like I will takea month to read this, thank you
.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
A friend of my wife's called us.
This is two weeks ago, maybethree weeks ago.
She's like hey, you know, thisguy came by and told me that
he's working with the utilityand we'll get into that.
I know you've talked about thatand they have this great
program they put together butthey're only giving away a few
in our neighborhood and it'sbasically a free battery.
She already has solar on herhouse, right, and they knew that

(06:07):
.
And they said yeah, but we'rejust going to give you a free
battery.
All you got to do is sign.
I said, well, tell him to sendyou the contract and then send
it to me, Let me look at it.
So they did, and what they weredoing is signing up for a lease
for an 8K system with twobatteries.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
And none of it was free.
Sure, it was about 300 bucks amonth, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Companies don't give away $10,000 products for free.
Yeah, they might go out ofbusiness if they just did that.
When you see the word free,know that it's not free.
Someone else is paying for it.
Someone's paying for it.
It's usually you.
Usually you, yes, usually you.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
And a lot of stuff that we're going to talk about
comes from personal experience,stuff that we've seen in the
industry, stuff that Ipersonally see.
For example, before I was withHarmon, I was with another solar
company, which I won't mention.
I left there because they werejust telling me to be dishonest.
I remember they were blatantlysaying you need to say this if

(06:59):
you want to get sales.
And I would push back and go,but that's not true.
And they would say we don'tcare, this is what you need to
say.
And that's when I said allright, I'm out, I'm done, I
can't do this.
You know, we would, you know,go into our meetings and it
would just be a rah, rah, hypeyou up, let's get out there and
knock doors and do this and saythat and do this.
And I was like no, this is,this is not right.

(07:21):
And if you watch online, that'swhat you see.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
That's what you see.
You see them in a room goingrah, rah, rah.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Let's go gang, let's go screw people, yeah let's
celebrate our big paycheckfridays and stuff like that.
Like why, what do we do?
What are we celebrating here?

Speaker 2 (07:36):
you know it goes back to our last zoom cast.
Member provost yeah, andpre-vote yeah pre-vote I'm sorry
, and who they were dealing with, and they're dealing with a lot
of these people, so they're theend result of somebody that's
going through what we're aboutto talk about.
Yeah, which is very typical,right, and you saw what he said,
how many they were running into, especially in Texas, sure,
sure, which makes sense, becausethere's one company we were

(07:57):
looking at that's doing thisonline is from Texas, right?
So, yeah, I can kind of seethat, and we kind of hit on the
first one a tiny bit already.
You know, beware Lie.
Number one is it's free, right,right, we know it's nothing
Like you just said nothing'sfree.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
And we see that all the time on social media ads and
you know, door knockers andpeople call, calling you like no
, no, no, don't worry.
So this solar system is free,it's free, it's free.
Trust me, it's not free.
The company does not keep thelights on by giving away free
systems.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Someone's paying for it, and it's it's you, it's when
someone says that something isfree, Say let me see the
contract.

Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, let me see what I'm signing, see if it's
actually free.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's the key.
That was just like the ladythat I talked about, our friend
who's it's free, it's free, Ifree, it's free.
I didn't even realize I wasgetting into number one, but
yeah, that's number one.
First thing I did was let mesee the contract and, after
reading it, realized it was a 25year lease for 300 bucks a
month.
That's how free it was.
So you have to be able to stop,pause and go start asking the
questions.
First of all, nothing's free.
You know nothing's free.

(08:57):
I know nothing's free.
Let me see what I have to sign.
I want to see it and go awaybecause I want to see it.
Yeah, and go away because Iwant to take my time to read it.
I'm not doing it right thissecond.
You're going to send it to me.
I'll read it and then, if it'ssomething that I'm interested in
, I'll let you know.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Right, and the saying , you know, oh, it's too good to
be true.
Sometimes that applies in solar, sometimes that doesn't apply
in solar.
You know if they're saying it's, but I've sat in some homes
where people looked at theproposal that I've given them
and they go this is too good tobe true.
I'm like well, it is true.
And here's the facts.
I can provide every bit ofinformation.

(09:29):
This is exactly what you'regetting into.
This is exactly what to expect.
I've explained it in a way thatit makes sense to them, and
that's when they're sayingthings like this is too good to
be true.
Why doesn't everyone do this?
I'm like well, that's a goodquestion.
You didn't have me explain toyou.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
That's why I would say because not everybody's
going to be in the same boatyou're in, not everybody is you?
How many times have we talkedabout in this podcast?
This is a it's not a cookiecutter situation.
So right, it's alwayscustomized to you and what you
do, your house, et cetera.
So it's never it's.
It could be too good to beterrible for your neighbor.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Right, You're like, yeah, I was just at your
neighbor's house and I told themno, I'm at your house and I'm
saying yes.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
So if you fit into the too good to be true, I mean,
there's categories.
There's that too good to betrue.
There's that yeah, this isactually pretty good for me.
There's this like yeah, it'sokay, I can save some money and
it's too good to be true.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, and I think a lot of it comes from the
difference between the proposaland the contract too.
From what we see On a proposal,it shows you your system size
and how much it's producing andyour savings and all that stuff.
Here's probably the thing thatnobody wants to.
No sales reps wants me to say.
Sales reps can manipulate that,what I know what.

(10:43):
You can change all kinds ofnumbers and make it look great
and flashy and your savings isphenomenal and you know every
year you can buy a Lamborghinibecause that's how much money
you've saved.
On the contract, though that'ssomething that you're signing.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, proposals are estimations based on what that
company and the software toolthat they use inputs into it.
Correct, so I would say thebiggest contributors, two
contributing factors to that.
Factor number one would be theamount of escalation by utility
year over year.
Until, I would say recently,utilities didn't used to

(11:20):
increase very much, about a 2.5%, 2.75% on average.
It was all over the place, yeah, but it was never really crazy,
right, right.
In the last five years it'sgotten nuts.
Sure, it's 15%, 18% I mean.
So I think we use between 4%and 5% for that escalation rate,
which is conservative but fairright If someone's putting 9% or

(11:43):
10% in that escalation piece,if the software will even allow
it.
just make sure you look and seewhat is my overall savings over
a period of time.
What is that escalation ratebased at?
It should be there, right.
If it's not there?
Number one, that's a red flag,sure.
Number two ask the question andsee what kind of answer you get
.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
I bet you you'll get 5% is what they'll tell you,
yeah, and when you're looking atthe proposal and they don't
have, you sign it and review it,all that stuff.
But then you sign the contract.
You want to make sure thatthose two are matching.
The proposal says I'm gettingthis system, it's producing this
or it's costing this.
What am I actually going tosign, though?
What am I actually getting?
That's the important thing.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
And the other factor is shading Sure.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
That's a big one.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
I live in a forest.
You can't even see my roof, butI got 100% sun access.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
I actually dealt with that yesterday with a customer.
They had me do a proposal andthey said I got this proposal
from this other company.
I took a look at it and go theydidn't account for the trees
that you have.
Sure, your production is reallyhigh, but my production is
coming in like 5,000 kilowatthours less.
I'm sorry, I'm honest.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, and it's funny, People will sit there and look
at that and you can tell themthat and they'll still go buy
the other one.
I know They'll go buy the otherone Because they think it's
going to get more.
It's producing more.
It's saving me more.
Remember, there's no productionguarantee, so producers he's
going to make it say whatever heneeds it to say.
So you assign right and thenwhen you get mad in about six
months he's going to be likethat's just an estimate, right,

(13:09):
right that's nothing legally.
You're, you're, yeah, you'rekind of you know, unless you
call our buddies, you know, butother than that you're kind of
in a bad place yeah, good, good,good.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Segue into our next one, though the.
Oh, you'll have no utility bill.
That's lie number two.
That's lie number two.
No utility bill.
Yeah, not gonna.
You're gonna have no utilitybill.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
That's lie number two , that's lie number two no
utility bill.
Yeah, you're going to have azero bill.
Heck, you're going to even havea negative bill all the time.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
And you're going to get a check at the end of the
year.
Yeah, and all that fun stuffLie.
Those days again this is all Iknow.
We're, you know, comingnationally and we're throwing
this out to everyone.
That's true, it's going todepend on utility rates and all
that stuff.
But here in Arizona we have twobig utility companies and from
what I've seen on most recentinstalls you're going to have a

(13:53):
bill.
The days of not having a billin solar it's tougher here.
Those are gone.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
I mean I think you even did a test on having a 200%
offset, a big system thatproduces twice what their total
usage was, Yep, and they stillhad a bill.
I mean it was small.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Right Sure and the cost of the system.
Obviously you have to take thatinto account, but they still
had a bill.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Since we are nationwide.
I was talking to a friend ofmine in Texas who wants to go
solar and I kind of helped himwith a proposal that was put
together that I looked at it andthey had told him that he would
have no bill.
And I looked at it and it's103% offset, right so and I
looked at it and I showed him.
On the proposal there's a,there's a monthly grid and it

(14:34):
shows consumption, so how much,how much power they use and
production, how much solar isproduced.
And I showed him that therewere months March, april, may in
his area in Texas where hisproduction was way outweighing
his consumption.
Sure, so in those months it'svery plausible he could have no
bill, or even a negative billVery possible In those months,

(14:57):
in those months In those months.
And then I showed him monthslike January and February where
his production was this and hisusage was this.
And I said in those monthsyou're going was this and his
usage was this.
And I said in those monthsyou're going to have a pretty
good size bill, no doubt aboutit, I go.
And in the rest of the year itwas almost equaled out.
I said does?

Speaker 3 (15:14):
the thing produce at night, he's like no, I said.

Speaker 2 (15:16):
hmm, I said you're going to have a bill.
It probably won't be huge, it'sgoing to be smaller, but you're
going to have a bill andoverall you could save money.
But get out of your head thatyou're not going to have a bill.
It's true for a few months ayear on your situation, but
that's it and that'll be offsetby January and February, which
are going to destroy you, right,right.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, so 100% offset doesn't mean 100% offset of your
bill, right, it's 100% offsetof your energy usage.
But again, your energy usage isgoing to fluctuate throughout
the day and the night and theyear and the month and all that
stuff.
So you will have a bill.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Right, we don't have those nighttime solar panels
anymore.
They all.
We're out of them.
We ran out.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
We sold the last one.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
I know it's rough.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
Put them on your house.
I think I did, I did, maxed itout.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
So if anyone ever tells you that you're not going
to have a bill, just know thatthat's just not true In Arizona,
that's absolutely not true.
To Ben's point, there may besome states I know there is some
states where they have what'scalled SRECs and other things
that you get to where yeah, Imean solar is it's almost free.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Those places Right.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
But I'm talking Massachusetts, I'm talking to
Northeast, so it's a littledifferent up there.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
But yeah, but like like Ralph said, again, it
depends on your utility companywhen you got solar and and all
those other aspects.
Cause I do run into those caseswhere people say like, oh, you
know, oh, here in in Arizona, myI'm an APS and my neighbor he
never has a bill.
So then I ask him when did heget solar?
Oh, he got solar in 2006.
Okay, well, he's grandfatheredin.

(16:45):
Therefore, that rate no longerexists.
You and your situation, it'sgoing to be different.
So, like I said earlier, thedays of not having a bill, those
are gone.
I'm sorry you missed it.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
In Arizona, in Arizona, in Arizona In.
Arizona you missed it InArizona, in Arizona, in Arizona
and even in most of the country,you could build a system in
Arizona that could have somemonths like that Not very many,
but because we got greatproduction, like in March and
April, sure, and depending onwhat you consume, it's very
possible, it's plausible, thatyou could have a zero bill or
maybe even a negative bill.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Yeah, you definitely can have negative bills in those
months.
Talk to me in the summer,because the system ain't going
to be able to produce.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
There's no way, right , it's 110 at night.
Okay, lie number three this isone of my favorite.
This is a good one.
It's your favorite lie thegovernment is paying for your
system.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
I've seen that too.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
You know how the?

Speaker 3 (17:34):
government.
They love just handing us freethings.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
And what they're talking about.
Typically they're trying totalk about the tax credits,
because there is a federal taxcredit as we record today.
Right, we know that that'sprobably going to be gone by the
end of this year, by the end ofthis podcast.
It's true, the Senate did passit today, but we're still going
back to the House.
But that doesn't mean that thegovernment's paying for your

(17:59):
system.
It's just a subsidy where theygive you 30% and again you have
to qualify for that 30%.
We've had all those podcasts,don't want to get into that.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's related to the it's free thing, people are like
okay, I know it's not free, butI don't want to pay for it.
There's a lot of upfront costs.
Those door knockers or coldcallers or whatever.
They'll say like no, no, no, no.
You know, with all thesegovernment things and this and
that it's free to you, justsomeone else is paying for it.
The government's paying for it,right?

Speaker 2 (18:26):
for you.
There's a state it's moststates have a state credit.
There's the federal credit, aswe speak today, and then there
are states that have townshipsubsidies or utility subsidies.
So these are the things youhave to look into wherever
you're watching this podcast.
Whatever state you're in, youneed to do the research and see

(18:47):
what your state offers, becauseevery state is different.
I can tell you, in Arizona,it's up to a thousand dollar tax
credit and the federal creditand that's it.
There's no utility incentives.
There's nothing.
Yeah, so, but it all doesdepend on what state you live in
.
So that's what they're tryingto talk about.
They're just wording it in avery deceptive way, especially
if you look at the ads onFacebook.
You know, in your state myfavorite one is because I live

(19:10):
in Peoria They'll say Peoriaincentives will pay for you, and
it's just a bunch of lies.
It's not true, it's clickbait.
There is no government programthat pays for your solar system.
There's not a hundred percenttax credit.
There's not.
It's not that high it doesn'texist.
Okay, right now there's a 30,which probably won't exist at

(19:30):
some point yeah, um.
So yeah, just know that when yousee the word government, it's a
lie.
It's a hundred percent lights.
I guess it's not really a lie,it's misleading, it's very lie.
It's a hundred percent lights.
I guess it's not really a lie,it's misleading, it's very
misleading.
It's very misleading.
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's likeone of the things that I told
my wife in order to get her togo out with me.
They're a little misleading,right, just a little, you're
still misleading her 30something years later.

(19:53):
All right, next one, oh lie,number four I love this one.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
What four you have to sign today.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Today.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Today.
You have to Because you knowwhat the paper dissolves tonight
.
It's going to this message willself-destruct in five seconds.
I always laugh because you knowwhen people say like, oh, you
have to sign today.
Why do I have to sign today?
Is your company going out ofbusiness tomorrow?
Usually that's the reason whymost of your paying cash.
Again, it's a sales tactic andI'm sorry to all these.
You know gurus in the industrykind of exposing your secrets

(20:22):
and you know showing you what'sbehind the curtain.
It's a sales tactic.
Tactic because they know peoplehave that fear of missing out.
They don't want to lose thisdeal.
Um, you know they come to thehome like, oh, we're only, we're
only in your neighborhood todayand if you say no, the price is
going to go up.
All these scare tactics is whatthey're doing.
I'm telling you that's not true.

(20:43):
I guarantee if they tell youyou can only do this today and
you tell them, no, get out of myhouse and they leave and you
call them tomorrow and say, hey,I want to do this now, they're
not going to go.
Nope, the deal was onlyyesterday and you missed it.
They said they were only in myneighborhood today.
No, you call them up tomorrow.
I guarantee they're going to go.
All right, we'll still do it.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
But if I call the next day, they said the deal
expired in 24 hours.
No, that's again scare tacticsand all that stuff I saw the
paper.
It said it expired in 24 hours.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, it's probably expiring today, because you get
those companies that do thoseblitzes, as they're called.
Again, sorry, people in thoseindustries, but I'm just telling
you what it is.
You get these people from outof state and they fly to your
state.
They really don't know what'sgoing on in your utility and how
to sell it and all that stuff.
Their goal is to try to make asmuch money as possible, get you

(21:33):
to sign contracts and thenthey're gone.
That's it.
When they come to your house,they knock on your door and
they're like hey, we're withthis company, we're doing this
install.
You know, you got a site heretoday.
We're all in the neighborhoodtoday, all that stuff.
Yeah, because that sales repmight only be there today
because they're flying out.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
But they said they were only picking five houses in
the neighborhood and they saidNancy and Tom already did it.
I have no idea who Nancy andTom are, but but they said they
already did it.
So there's only four spots left.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
That is a real, real sales tactic, I know, and that
was the reason why I left myprevious company.
It's because they said you needto tell them that we're only
doing four homes in yourneighborhood.
So I go, okay, so if I get fourhomes, do I just stop?
Is that?
It Like, what if I go to thefifth home?
What if the fifth home wants it?
And they're like, well, yeah,you can do that.

(22:24):
Like that's dishonest, that'sthat's not right.
Right, you're gonna sell five,six, seven, eight homes if you
want, yeah, but you tell peoplewe're only doing four.
Because it's again that scaretactic, that fear of missing out
.
Oh, we want to be part of thatexclusive club.
And my neighbor who you justthrew out a random name at, they
already got it too.
Again, those are all salestactics, you know, trying get
you to sign.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
And one of the things that I like about how we do
stuff we encourage people to geta second or third opinion.
Go get a second quote, a thirdquote, it's fine.
Go take a look at what otherpeople will offer you and then
come back and talk to me aboutit.
I encourage that.
People that encourage that youcould probably trust them a

(23:00):
little bit more.
People that don't want you tolook at anybody else there's a
reason for it.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
I was talking with a customer today right before the
show, and I've been talking tothem since October.
Yeah, a mass comment.
The deal did not expire.
Right, our pricing and panelsand things like that have
changed.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Quit making change.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
But I've updated them on all the different changes
because we've had questions.
We're going back and forth, butI didn't just leave them
hanging and say, no, you need tosign today, in October.
No, I'm giving them the benefitof the doubt.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Like, hey, I'm going to be here for you, we're
sticking around, we're not goinganywhere and if there's front
that you're going to make adecision today, we're going to
do this today, or I'm notwasting my time talking to you.
That was kind of his attitudeabout it.
I was like what a douche.
What do you mean?
I mean, he, he, he cared lessabout that customer right.
You're going to not waste mytime.

(24:05):
I need to sell.
You know I could just bragabout it.
He would sell, you know, two$300,000 a month.
You know $40,000, $50,000 amonth selling solar and they
have zero referrals.
Zero referrals because that'snot about referrals, it's about
moving to the next guy and thenext guy Right, because nobody
wants to deal with youafterwards.
So I just man, I see thatonline.

(24:26):
I'm like what a douche.
I can't believe they're outthere promoting this stuff.
But you know, they absolutelyare.
You know, and I'll give, theseguys were a scam.
As soon as we found it,obviously we went after it and
all that.
But they were going to people'shouses that had solar.

(24:47):
So that was their target wasyou had solar.
And they would go and say, hey,we've been looking at your
production and we noticedthere's an issue, so we need to
come do a inspection of yoursystem, right.
And then they would make themsign something which was
basically for a new solar system.
And then they would direct allthe phone calls from the
installer to phony numbers, andso they would say they were the

(25:12):
customer.
They would say they knew whatthey had bought.
Customer never received thephone call.
It was always this company's,you know, derailing that phone
to one of their calls, one oftheir places, and they had
people that were just sit thereand respond, and so to the point
where the then that we would goout and install it and just
about to and you had nevertalked to a customer, even
though you thought you talked tothem all the time.

(25:32):
Yeah, it was total lie.
Yeah, and the reasons companiesdo that I'll give you a real
benefit benefit they do that isthey get some paid, some money
up front, so they've gottentheir up front money and then by
the time you figure out whothey are, they're gone.
Yeah, so that's the way thatthey go after us, to try to go
after us.
But they also put that customerthrough a bunch of turmoil and
garbage because now it's likeall this stuff's been laid out.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
It's like, wow, people are dirty in this
industry yeah, yeah, related tothat, let me tell you about
permit poachers.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's a good one that's a good one.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
I had a experience with this.
I had one of my customers, youknow they they signed up with
Harmon, everything was movingsmoothly, all that stuff, right.
The customer called me one dayand said, hey Ben, I didn't know
we're going to be changingpanels, changing our modules,
and I was like, well, you didn'thear it from me, so I don't
know what you're talking about.

(26:23):
He was like, yeah, someonecalled me.
They said they're from Harmanand they had to adjust the
contract and we're going withdifferent modules.
It's going to be a little bitof a cheaper price and all that
stuff.
But you know, we had thisdiscussion.
I wanted these modules and thisis how I wanted it.
And he was saying that you knowhe's from Harmon.
He literally said he's fromHarmon and this is how it's

(26:44):
going on.
So I later found out that thiscompany they find out who is
getting permits in thisjurisdiction.
You can pull that person'sinformation, find out.
You know who the company isdoing.
The install their name, theiraddress, their phone number, the
email.
They're calling these potentialcustomers and trying to steal
that business by saying thatthey are that company.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
There are two companies in Arizona that that's
their tactic.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
And it just makes me think they're only doing this
because obviously they'resuccessful.
Well, yeah, I got that callfrom the homeowner and I'm just
thinking how many other peoplehave they done this to?
It's true, how many of thesuccessful stories do they have?
The only reason why this wasstopped is because my homeowner
called me and said this doesn'tsound right.
I'm going to call my sales rep.

(27:30):
That's how we found out aboutit.
Every time it's yeah, permitpoachers.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
So that's a very common practice in solar.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yeah, I know if I can't sleep at night, knowing if
I'd be doing that to somebodyyou know I mean, I couldn't
either that's just anyway, nextlie next one it adds fifty
thousand dollars to your homevalue.
I bought a fifty thousanddollar system.
It's gonna add fifty thousanddollars to my home.
It absolutely will not.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
It does not do that can it add value to your system
absolutely to your house?
I mean absolutely.
Um that, can it add value toyour system Absolutely To your
house?
I mean absolutely.
That's something that, in the12 years that I've been doing
this, home inspectors have beenkind of battling back and forth
with, trying to figure out whata true value is and put a value
on the system.
Ten years ago they didn't evenvalue the systems at all.
They felt they had no value tothem because they didn't
understand it Right.

(28:17):
They've done the work tounderstand it a little better
now across the country and Ifeel like now they are starting
to add value to it, especiallyif it's a cash purchase system.
Finance ones not as much.
Yes and no.
Yes and no.
Everything's going to vary.
It's going to vary, rightLeases?
Absolutely not Because there's.
It's not yours, it's not yours,you're just renting it.

(28:37):
That's different.
That value of that is more ofthe savings on the utility bill
that you would try to sell as ahomeowner, but it does not add
what you pay for, right?
That's ridiculous, but peoplesay that all the time.
That's a really common one thatI hear.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
Yeah, Even just providing, like I know, if you
buy a $50,000 system, it's notgoing to add $50,000 to your
home.
I would even question anynumber that a sales rep gives
you.
If they say like, oh, you'rebuying this $50,000 system, it's
going to add $20,000 to yourhome, I would be like where'd
you get that number?
Yeah, How'd you?
How'd you come up with that?
Show me the facts.

(29:12):
Show me the facts that that'swhat it does.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Does.
Here's a good example.
So if I, if I redo my kitchen,I spend a hundred thousand
dollars on my kitchen, does itadd value to my house?
Sure, does it add a hundredthousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
No, exactly.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
If I redo my bathroom ?
Same scenario, right, samescenario.
Exactly.
You can add value to your home,but you're never going to get
dollar for dollar value inanything that you do in home
improvement.
We all know that.
Right, right, same thing.
So this doesn't play anydifferently.
So don't ever take a valuequote from a salesperson who
thinks he knows yeah, because hedoesn't.
Absolutely not.

(29:44):
There's so many factors itdepends on, so that's a good one
.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
That's a really common one too, okay another one
, um, that I've seen pretendingto be from the utility company
yeah, I love that with a badgeand everything they got.
Yeah, like, oh, I'm, I'mso-and-so from aps and I'm here
to inspect you know your, yourroof and you know all this stuff
.
We're doing this program to getyou solar to help reduce your
bill.
Obviously, you're going toanswer your door when you see
someone with a utility companylogo on their shirt.

(30:12):
Yeah, here I am.
There are companies that dothat.
Yes, they say I'm working withthis company, I'm working with
APS or I'm working with SRP.
No, they're not.
They might be a preferredinstaller, like on their website
, right, which we are, but Iguarantee that those preferred
installers aren't going outthere and doing those shady
tactics.
We're not going to go out thereand pretend like we're from AP.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
The utility is not going to knock on your door and
try to sell you solar Right.
That should be a red flag foryou right off the bat.
A lot of them will sit thereand say, without even a tag or
anything they're going to say wework with this utility, we work
with that utility, we're apartner.
Right, work with a.
We work with this utility, wework with that utility, we're a
partner.
That was what they had toldthat lady friend of ours.

(30:54):
They were partnering with theutility to do this program.
No, you're not, because there'sno program.
What you best for you to do,number one is close the door.
But secondarily is you can goonline to the utility and, like
Ben just said, there's always apreferred partner list of who
they work with and you'll likeif you were to do that over here
, you would find Harmon on thosewebsites because we're
preferred partners with theutility.
What does that really mean?

(31:15):
It just means we're a qualifiedinstaller.
They have a program that youhave to go through to be
qualified.
In their eyes, can someone elseoutside of that list install
your solar?
Yeah, of course they can.
But the utility would ratheryou go through one of their
partners because they trust themand they know there's not going
to be issues I know probably 99of people.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
When they have someone come to the door and you
see them on their like littlesegue or they have their
clipboard, whatever, 99homeowner's probably just ignore
, they don't answer it, theypretend like they're not home,
all that stuff.
Yeah, I'm that one guy.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
You have to answer.
I answer it because you want tosee what he's gonna say I
answered every.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
I don't care what they're selling, I'll answer it.
I'll talk with you.
I'll invite you in, especiallyif you're a solar rep.
Oh, come on in, those are myfavorite.
Come on in, sit down, let'shave a talk.
You don't know who I am.
You don't know that I have apodcast about solar.
So let's talk and then you knowI usually like well, I'll
educate them afterwards.
I was like you know everythingyou said was fine in your book,
but let me tell you the realityof things.

(32:10):
Let me tell you how things work,and people would tell you know
friends and family like Ben,that's mean.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
No, it's not.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I was like no, I'm trying to help the industry.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
It's not Cause you know what they always say, cause
I did, I'd do that to the solarguys that come First of all.
I go.
You realize I have solar in myhouse, right?
Oh, I didn't.
Yeah, I said so just so youknow.
When you go to bed tonightyou're deceiving people and what
they're telling you.
Yeah, this is the reality andyou figure out what you want to

(32:39):
do from here.
That's all I can do is help you, right and then done.
I'm doing a service right.
You're welcome, because thereare genuinely a lot of these are
young kids and they reallydon't know.
They don't, yeah.
They only know what they'retold.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yes, they're not malicious, they're not.
It's the people that train themthat do know better.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
It's the guy coming in behind that person.
That's the dirt bell.
He's the scumbag.
Yeah, he's the guy that knowsthat he's going to mess you up.
He's going to take you for whathe can.
That's the guy.
Yeah, this guy's just being,he's just doing what he's told.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
He's doing his job and it's a hard job, knocking
doors, sure, sure door knockingis tough.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
We've had door knocking crews here before.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yeah, you remember that I mean and it's.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
It's a tough gig to run because it's number one it's
hard to find people that wantto go knock doors when it's 100
degrees outside yep, 120 degreesoutside.
Number two is trying to keepthose people honest too, because
you know they are so badlytrained from other people they
worked with that they tend tofall back into those scripts and
it doesn't really work.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
You have to retrain them.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
And it's tough.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I remember talking with some of them and they would
say, like I learned more in youknow the hour talking with you
than I did, that my previouscompany that I was with for an
hour or for a year, yeah, likewell, yeah, because they were
just trying to get you to signon the dotted line.
We're trying to teach you solar.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
It's hard to reprogram people, I know I guess
would be the word to use.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, probably one of the biggest things.
And again, this is just ashifted mentality for me.
I hate when salespeople use theword close.
Okay, I don't like it whenpeople are closed.
I mean, you think about it, youas a homeowner, do you want?
I'm very close.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
That's different, that's different.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Like me when I'm talking with a homeowner.
I'm more into opening up arelationship with him, Like, hey
, we're in this together for thenext 25, 30, 40 years, or
whatever.
You can always call me.
I give them my personal cell.
You have my email address, youknow where I work, you can
always call me.
And I still get customers callme five, 10 years later just
asking questions.
I do too.

(34:29):
I open up relationships.
I don't close it.
I don't say hey, thanks forsigning on the dotted line,
You'll never hear from me again.
That's, that's just not who Iam.
So the term oh, I closed thisor I closed so many deals to me
that just seems very scumbag ish.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Sales is a relationship.
Yeah, if you don't trust me,why would you buy anything from?

Speaker 3 (34:46):
me.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Right, so I can.
Can those people?
They, they try to come off asthey're these.
You can just tell how phonythey are when they're talking to
you.
They're so phony, I know, butthere's so many people that fall
for that.
I don't.
I don't get that.
But I mean, you see people onthe internet.
They get scammed out of theiryou know and whatever from the
people in india and other places.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
I mean people are just susceptible to getting
scammed, I guess, especiallyelderly people I had a guy,
probably a little over a yearago, asked me his opinion on two
different electric cars that hewanted to buy.
We don't sell electric carshere, by the way, no, but he was
my customer, my solar customer,that I've had him you know, he
was a solar customer of mine forthe past 10 years.
But again, like ralph said, hetrusts me, he knows like I can

(35:28):
look into details, I research,research things.
So he said, hey, I'm debatingbetween these two cars.
In your opinion, which onewould you get?
Those are the type ofrelationships that you want.
That's cool.
I like that Not.
I closed this deal.
He signed it Bye.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, that guy that works with these companies that
are deceptive.
He can care less about you.
You're just nothing more than acommission to him, and once you
sign on the dotted line, all hecares about is getting that
thing on your roof as fast aspossible so you can't turn back
and he can collect his moneyyeah, he makes a hundred grand a
month right, but he has to dothat every month because he gets
no referrals, right?
or yeah, you have put down heredoor knockers that um ask to

(36:04):
inspect your panels.
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
They have no clue what a panellooks like yep, you got a panel,
that and we're talking aboutelectric panel, that's what it
looks like yeah yeah, so we'retalking about the actual
electric panel, your breakersand stuff.
I'm gonna tell you right nownone of those guys have a clue,
yeah, none.
So what they do is this is avery, this is a very basic
tactic is they go there, theylook at it and they look at the

(36:25):
round and they go take somepictures.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
They open it up and they go, hmm breakers.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
And they take some pictures.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Oh, we've got some spaces there.
That's good.
So you've got a couple ofspaces, because we're going to
need to put a breaker there at60-amp back feet.
Yeah, okay, yeah, this is great.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
No clue what he's looking at.
I've dealt with that personally.
I've been in homes where theywould say do you want to look at
my service panel?
Be like no.
And they're like the other twocompanies did it like yeah, I'll
be honest with you, I don'tknow what I'm looking at.
That's.
We have a design team, we haveauditors to come out and they
know what they're looking for.
I'm gonna look at and just belike cool they're gonna pull the

(37:00):
dead front off.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
They're gonna do load calcs, yeah, to see what works
and what doesn't work.
Ain't nobody else taking apicture going?
Yep, I got that figured out.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Yeah, I've been doing this for you know, 10, 11 years
and I don't know what I'mlooking.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
I mean do we want pictures?
Other thing?
Of course we do, because wehave other things we're looking
at.
But that door knocker or that,that scummy sales guy who's
sitting there going oh yeah, letme go look at that, oh my
goodness.
And then they take a look atyour roof and go it's a roof,
yeah, I mean, that looks goodman.
Oh my gosh, that is solarfriendly, right he?

Speaker 3 (37:29):
happens to be an electrical engineer a structural
engineer and doing solar.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
He doesn't see that dip in the middle.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
He doesn't see that mold up there or in all those.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, but it's so funny the tactics that they go
through to try to make him.
They try to validate themselvesto you.
But there's some kind of expert.
Most of the guys that sell inthis industry for those kind of
companies come off and sell anduse cars, yeah.
Yeah, they have no clue aboutsolar.
Yep, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
How about this one?
Actually, I dealt with ityesterday with the customer
Lowball proposals, or proposalsthat are incorrect.
They get them to sign on thecontract.
Here's why they do that.
And again, sorry if I'mexposing you, but oh well, they
get them to sign the contract.
So the homeowner is invested.
Maybe they're doing a cashpurchase.

(38:13):
They put their down paymentdown.
We've started the process, we'vedone our inspection and now we
come out and go oh, by the way,we have to change this because
you know we didn't account forthe setbacks, or you have this
or this.
Now you have to change it.
The homeowner is already soinvested into it.
They've already been a monthinto this, so they're.
Do I really want to cancel thiscontract or do I want to just
sign this change order for$10,000 more?

(38:35):
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, that's what these salescompanies will do.
They know that this is notgoing to fly, but it's going to
get you to sign because you'renot going to want to sign with
somebody else and do this wholerigmarole thing again.
So, yeah, I had a customerwhere I looked at his proposal

(39:00):
and you know I'm probablytalking about.
He had modules that justwouldn't fly because they were
past.
The fire code setbacks, the,the spacing of everything was
wrong.
He didn't account for shade.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
And I said, you know, to be honest, this is this
would never, this would neverfly as far as install, because
all they're trying to do isthey're trying to get you to
sign so they can come back andredo it the right way and charge
you more for it.
That's, that's probably themost common practice you'll ever
see.
Yeah, it's so true.
When we, when we give um, Ithink we're starting to do that
now is we actually outline thesetbacks on the proposals?
Yeah, so you can see a panel'snot in it and what a setback is.
Just go back up a second.
There has to be spacing on theroof for the fire department.
If there's a fire or something,that they can get up there and
that they can walk around theroof a path to walk.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Because they're not going to walk on the modules.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Right.
So there has to be a path upthere and they do that by
creating a spacing like threefoot from the top and around
different areas.
So what companies do, like hesays they put the panels all
through there, I've like he saysthey put the panels all through
there, I've seen panelsfloating before not even on the
roof, hanging off the edge likehalfway off the roof just so
they can get you to sign it,like he said, and that's exactly
what they do.
We've had people that haveactually said I'm gonna go with
them because it's just a better,they can get more panels on the

(40:00):
roof and I want more panels.
It's a bigger system then youget that call back and say, well
, they couldn't do it.
Well, no kidding, I told you,yeah, yeah you can't magically
make a panel float.
We haven't figured that partout yet.
So that's a really good point.
That happens probably more thannot.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Yeah, always breaking into the fire setbacks To make
the proposal look fantastic, toget you to sign.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
And then you have a point here disguising leases or
PPAs as ownership.
That's a big one too.
So a lease is obviously it'snot yours, you don't own it, the
company owns it and you'rebasically just paying for the
power and usually a good reducerate, a set rate, hopefully not
an escalated rate.
There are different leases wecan talk about later, we have
talked about, but anyway, ifthey sit there and tell you you

(40:42):
own this system, yet you sign alease, that's like going to get
a car and you're leasing it, butyou actually think you're
owning it.
You don't own it, it's theirs.
I've seen that twice I think inthe last six months, where
someone signed one for a lease.
They thought it was ownership.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
They thought they were owning it.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
They thought, because they tried to take a tax credit
for it and they were told youcan't take the tax credit for it
because you don't own it.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
So make sure you know what you're signing.
I mean you have to read thepaperwork and see.
It'll say it says lease 25-year, lease 20-year lease, whatever
it is.
It says it.
You'll know if you're financingit.
But you've got again.
It's so important to read thepaperwork, don't just sign
something.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
So I know this is a lot of information, a lot of
things to look out for, but as ahomeowner, what can you do?
What can you do, I'd say,obviously, ask questions.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Of course, ask questions.
We just said it.
You don't sign anything untilyou've read it, yeah, and if you
don't feel comfortable readingit, have someone else read it
for you.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
I'm putting this out there.
Send it to me, I'll read itno-transcript.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
People trying to help the industry.
We're our.
Our following is growing, soyou're asking us off a lot of
phone calls.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
We're not going to flash my phone number.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
I already did Dang it , it's there, it's right by your
shoe and the email address it'sright by your shoe and my
ripped jean it's right there.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
No, but I think that's doing a service to the
industry to let you know, getsecond opinions.
Call other solar companies, getmore quotes.
Call us get a quote from us orhave us look at your quotes.
You know it hurts us if you doit the wrong way.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
And the world of what I call dealer partners, which
is the world we live in today,which I think will change soon.
Know who's installing yoursystem.
They're not.
They're typically just a groupof people that go out there and
knock doors and sell solar andthey have a company they work
with.
Know who that is and do yourresearch on that company.

(42:49):
Make sure they're a goodinstaller.
Understand the warranties thatthey give you.
So remember you have two sets ofwarranties.
You have the warranties you'regoing to get from the equipment.
So you have your panelwarranties, you have your
inverter warranties.
That's the basic stuff.
And then you have thewarranties that you're going to
get from the installer.
What's their workmanshipwarranty?
Is it for parts and labor?

(43:10):
Is it just labor?
Um, is it just parts?
I mean just, hey, I'll go upthere and fix that cable, but
I'm going to charge you for myguy's rose truck and for that
guy to get on your roof.
Understand the warranties thatyou're getting from that
installer.
That's really important.
So when you're taking andreading everything, you have to
look at that stuff.
It's critical.
We give a 25-year workmanshipwarranty.

(43:31):
That's pretty impressive, yeah.
Yeah.
There's a lot of companies outthere that say they give a
lifetime workmanship andlifetime this and most of them
run a business right now.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
So that life is over.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
It's their lifetime, right, not not your lifetime, so
to that point is how long hasthat installer been in business?
Are they just a bunch of guysthat are traveling through the
state and they're using somebodyelse's master GC license and
they're installing solar?

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Very common nowadays Very, very common?

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Or are there a company that's in the state,
like we are, that's been aroundfor a long time, like we have?
Those things are important,they're really important Because
, remember, if they're justmoving around and they haven't
been around very long, and theyinstall your system and
something goes wrong, and I canthink of this in Oklahoma, a
company that was doing installsthat they're gone now and those
customers are all left holdingthe.
They're holding it now.

(44:18):
There's nothing they can doabout it.
And it was one of thosecompanies fly by night.
They just kind of went fromstate to state.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
Yeah, we have a lot of solar companies, probably
2020, 2021.
I think in Arizona there wasover 400 solar companies 460
something.
But there was only what 50installers.

(44:43):
Think about that 400 companiesbut 50 installers.
I don't think there was 50installers, I think it was less
than that.
It was some dramatic difference.
I know that.
So again, like Ralph was saying, yes, you might have a solar
company selling it to you andgiving you the proposal, but
find out who's doing yourinstall, because at the end of
the day, that's who you'remarried to.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
That's the guy putting the holes in your roof.
That's the guy messing withyour electrical box.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Right.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Right, make sure they know what they're doing,
because otherwise you might wakeup to a burning inferno.
I mean, you know, just sayingI've seen firehouse fires
because of solar Sure.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
So I mean that's the guy that's putting it on your
roof.
Do you want all that weight upthere and do you want lot of
companies that cut cornersbecause it's all about the?

Speaker 3 (45:30):
dollar amount.
Right, trying to get donefaster, trying to get cheaper,
trying to get this, trying tothat, and guess what?

Speaker 2 (45:35):
now they're trying to stay in business yeah, I mean
ben said it earlier, I think Isaid it.
No, solar can be an amazingthing for you if it's done
honestly and it actually fitsfor you.
It might it might it might not,but you got it.
You've got to protect yourself.
You know what.
You guys can't play victim ifyou haven't done the things to
protect yourself.

(45:55):
And there's too many people outthere that like to play victim,
but they're a victim ofthemselves.
Don't be a victim of yourself.
Right, you control what you'regoing to buy, what you're not
going to buy, what you're goingto sign, who you're going to
work with.
We're arming you with all thatinformation to make you, um,
smarter, yeah, better, when itcomes to buying solar.
Right, there's no excuses, noexcuses, no excuses.

(46:16):
If you watch this podcast.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
If you watch this, there's no excuses don't become
the victim, right?

Speaker 2 (46:22):
so that's really all I can say.
Is you just got to watch out?
I'm telling you, go online, goon instagram, go on those places
and type in.
You know, I don't know solar,what would type in?
I don't want to give companiesaway, but we could like solar
solar solar, sales solar solarsales, solar pitches, solar
sales guys, solar script, solarscript.
Type that in on the internetand go see what you find.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
Go to.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Instagram.
Go to YouTube, go type that inand tell me I'm wrong, tell me
you're not hearing everything wewere just talking about.
I guarantee you are All right.
That's our show.
That was good.
That was a good show.
I like it.
Got it out, man.
I was like, yeah right, I likethat.
I feel like I need to take ashower now though.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Like, just talking about it makes me feel all dirty
.
It needs to be talked about,though.
Yeah, it does it does.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
I still want to do an SRP podcast because things are
changing in SRP.
So if you're in Arizona andyou're an SRP, the rules are all
about the change for SRP and itchanges dramatically what makes
sense for you and if you havesolo already in SRP, it's going
to impact you in about fouryears.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
And we're always open to ideas.
We look at our comments andwhatnot.
So if you have any ideas,comment below.
If ideas for podcasts, we'llignore most of them, I guess.
So no, we won't.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
But we'll definitely.
We're going to do an SRPpodcast here real soon again and
then we're definitely going tohit on the ITC and where it's at
right.
So we know that today theSenate just passed its version.
It's going back to the House.
We don't know what it's goinggoing back and forth.
We want it to be stable.
We know what gets passed beforewe do a podcast on it, so we
can be very clear to you guysabout what it means.

(47:54):
I can tell you this much Solaris not going anywhere.
Solar will be around.
It just will be different.
That's just always what happensin this industry.

Speaker 3 (48:02):
We're not doing that scare tactic.
Right, you have to sign todaybecause the tax credit's going
away.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
You might want to take a look at this.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Now's a good time.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Now's a good time to take a look, right?
So it is, it's a good time totake a look at it, but and we'll
get into detail there's a lotthat goes into the changes that
are going to happen, that you'regoing into before you sign
anything with anybody once thisgoes down, so we'll have that

(48:30):
next as well.
Anyway, this was fun.
Thanks for joining us.
As always, you can like andsubscribe to our podcast on
YouTube.
We're all over the place onInstagram and other places.
You'll see us on Facebook, butfollow our podcast.
It's a good thing, man.
We enjoy doing this and we'regoing to do a lot more.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
So thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time.
See you, Bye.
You've been listening to theHarmon Solar Podcast, with Ben
and Ralph bringing clarity tothe intersection of solar power
and smart home ownership.
If you found this episodehelpful, don't forget to like,
comment and subscribe, and alsoshare the show with others
navigating the solar journey.
For questions and topicsuggestions, call 800-281-3189

(49:17):
or visit harmandsolarcom.
You can also connect with theteam on social media.
See you next episode.