At Claim Experts 4U our team have many years of experience in arguing consumer mis-selling claims. We are experts in presenting claims and one of the most important parts of our job is to listen to our clients and make sure we have all the information to put together a strong argument and in turn produce a successful outcome for them. Often a legitimate claim can be ruined if it is incorrectly presented which could compromise the opportunity to make a successful claim in the future. We take pride in our work and always work on behalf of our clients to ensure we gain a successful outcome, and we enjoy sharing this journey with others to show that if they have been a victim of a mis-sold financial product, all is not lost, and they could still make a claim.

One such recent outcome involved a couple who in 2014 were forced to endure a high-pressure sales presentation in relation to solar panels. Solar panels had been making the headlines a lot and the benefits of installing them seemed to out way the initial cost. There were also schemes available whereby you could sell back any extra energy your system produced to the grid and possibly make a profit. They were being marketed as an asset and seemed very appealing, so they agreed to listen to the presentation. What they did not expect was to have to endure a high-pressure sales presentation for hours on end. The salesperson was incredibly persistent and explained that the package would cost over £8,000 which was way above what our clients could afford. They declined the offer, however the salesperson agreed to lower the price to just over £5,000 and after hours of hard selling our clients agreed to pay the reduced price and signed up to a finance agreement the salesperson organised for them.

It was not until later that our clients discovered that the promises made to them by the solar company were completely false. In fact, they became significantly out of pocket because of this purchase. They were promised that the money they would make off the solar panels would pay in some way towards the loan repayments and this would be less than they would pay for normal electricity. The exact opposite was true, and the panels failed to make enough energy to cover this. The amounts made by our clients and the amounts saved during the production of energy fell far short of the loan repayments and they did not save any money on their energy bills.

After arguing a successful claim to the finance company, the money has been repaid to our clients in full and they are no longer burdened with repaying an unaffordable loan and free from the stress this caused them. If you have had a similar experience and were mis-led into purchasing solar panels our team of solar panel claims experts can help you make a compensation claim. We may be able to pursue a claim even if the company who sold you the panels has since gone out of business. This may be subject to how you paid for the panels i.e., loan finance or credit card purchase in part or full.

History of Solar Panel Mis-sellingSolar panel companies have been mis-selling the benefits of solar panels, having consumers believe that it was a way to save money on their electricity bills and earn money on their investment at the time by selling electricity back to the National Grid for a guaranteed amount, this is what is known as a “feeding tariff”. Many companies misled their customers into believing that they would make these savings and make money however, these claims have proven to be, in many cases grossly exaggerated.

Many of the solar panel installations were purchased using loan finance or credit, leaving their customers with expensive monthly loan payments with no way of covering the cost of the installation and the purchase of the solar panels. Following an investigation by the consumer group Which? In 2011, it was discovered that 9/12 companies selling solar panels gave inaccurate estimates about how much energy they would actually produce, and 7 out of 12 failed to survey the panel installation correctly leaving the panels in a shaded area which affected the panels ability to produce the promised amount of electricity. This along with the aggressive nature in which the solar panels were sold as left many consumers in debt and having to repay substantial loans and finance.