Consumer complaint received 2018-05-16
Company: Service Finance Holdings, LLC
State: FL
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments

Complaint:
Our Experience with XXXX Historical background : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX approached us ( unsolicited ) back in XX/XX/XXXX and offered to do a free Energy Audit and to recommend energy saving ideas for our home in XXXX, Florida. Upon arrival and after reviewing our past electric bills, the salesperson ( XXXX  ) offered to install a solar system that would completely offset our electric bills from XXXX XXXX XXXX for a cost of {$18000.00}. He said we could easily qualify for no money down loan from another agency ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) that XXXX had a good business relationship with. He went on to say that the loan would be structured with a low enough interest rate ( 2.99 % ) payable in 12 years so that our monthly/yearly loan payment ( PITI ) would always be less than our future electric bills from XXXX. In fact, we would be saving enough money in the process that it would also pay for our gas bills from XXXX. He wrote his offer down on a Purchase Agreement form with XXXX XXXX logo on the upper left corner and quite a few clauses in fine print ( see attachment ). We trusted him and signed Purchase Agreement without reading it thoroughly- thinking we would be generating green energy at our home while saving some money in the process. That was our mistake number 1 since we did not know what was meant by a 3.48 kW solar system and trusted XXXX when he claimed to have a lot of experience in sizing a solar system just by reviewing past electric bills. We also were unaware that XXXX was not connected to XXXX XXXX in any legal sense. 
The very next day ( XX/XX/XXXX ), two of their field personnel showed up at our home to install the two solar attic fans that were part of the purchase agreement. They proceeded to cut two large holes on our roof and installed the fans very quickly giving us the impression that they knew what they were doing. They said they would be back to install the solar panels at another time. When we asked if they were concerned about getting approval from our HOA first and whether or not all of the solar panels would fit on the sunny side of our roof, they said they were confident of getting all the approvals on time and did not have any concerns about the roof space since they would be installing only 12 solar panels. At this point an alarm went off in my head since I had seen at least another home in our neighborhood that had gone solar and had quite a few ( more than 12 ) solar panels. I asked them if they thought 12 panels would be adequate to totally offset our electric bills, they said it would be better if they could add 6 more panels but suggested that I called XXXX ( salesperson ) first. I agreed to call XXXX while the field crew waited in their truck in front of our home. 
When I told XXXX of our concerns, he expressed slight displeasure at first and asked me why I wanted to add more panels? I told him that I wanted to make sure that the system would be capable of producing enough electricity to offset our electricity use like we had discussed before. He said he did not have a problem as such personally to entertain such a request ; however, the purchase agreement had to be redone since it would cost us additional {$6000.00} or a total of {$24000.00} to do the entire project now. We faced a real dilemma since we had just signed a purchase agreement with XXXX the day before and they just cut two large holes on our roof to install two impressive looking attic fans indicating they meant business and we did not want to back away from a situation/prospect of not paying for our future electric bills. XXXX asked me to hold the line while he discussed our situation with the owner of XXXX and came back to ask me how much money was I willing to put down as a down payment towards {$24000.00} total cost. I told him that we could come up with {$4800.00} ( 20 % of {$24000.00} ) as down payment since thats how much money we had in our savings at that time. After consulting with the owner, XXXX said that we would qualify for a loan of {$19000.00} under the same terms we discussed the day before provided we could make the down payment first. Without a second thought we wrote them a check for {$4800.00} on the spot and that was our mistake number 2 since we were so nave and did not realize what kind of mess we were getting ourselves into. We did not have any chance to do any type of research on the company to find out if any consumer complaint existed against them on line. XXXX told us the previous day that out of hundreds of customers they served, they had only one unresolved case against them with XXXX XXXX XXXX which was affecting their rating with XXXX  and we believed every word he told us and were fully trusting of him. 
Within a week after we wrote our check, on XX/XX/XXXX another XXXX representative a young woman named XXXX XXXX showed up at our door with a revised purchase agreement ( see attached ) for us to sign. She told us that our loan has been approved and they were going to install the 18- solar panels with one inverter system as soon as the rest of the paperwork was finalized. Again we signed the purchase agreement without knowing the difference between a 3.48 kW system and a 5.22 kW system ; no one from XXXX would ever explain to us their significance either. All we knew and believed from our conversation with various XXXX personnel at that point was that the 5.22 kW system would be fully engineered and designed to meet our needs of offsetting our electric bills. 
About one week after that, XXXX called to schedule a time for the installation of the panels. The same field crew came back on XX/XX/XXXX to install the panels on our roof and an inverter was placed inside our garage. They told us that they had done all the necessary electrical wiring ; however, we had to wait for the XXXX people to install a Net meter switch and the City of XXXX to come and inspect the installation before our system can be turned on and then we should start seeing the results ( reduction in our electric bills ). They showed us the switch which would turn the solar system on and assured us that they were one phone call away and would be back if we needed any help. Then they left, and we never heard back from them again. We were hoping they would call us to find out if the system was working or not or if we are still satisfied with their work or not. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, the City of XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) conducted an inspection and did not report of finding anything unusual ; although the Net Meter had not been installed by XXXX and the solar system was not operational at that time. We had to wait until end of XXXX when XXXX installed the XXXX XXXX and gave us the okay to turn the system on. When we turned the system switch on as was instructed by XXXX personnel, we noticed green, blue and red lights flashing across the inverter panel which turned into a steady glow of red light and an Error Message came across the inverter display panel. The message did not make any sense to us but we knew something was not right, turned the system off and called XXXX main number. There was no one to take our call but we left several messages. Not hearing anything back from XXXX, we called several times the next day and was finally able to talk to a person ( XXXX  ) and told her what had transpired. She assured that she would request one of their service technicians to come and rectify the problem. We waited for another week and since no one came, we called her again ; this time she apologized and said that all of their service technicians were extremely busy but she could find out immediately when someone would be available and put me on a hold for a few minutes, then came back on line to say the technician would come for sure next Friday on the way back from working on another project in our area. However, no one came the following Friday and this became a pattern. I felt frustrated and personally harassed by XXXX personnel. I tried calling XXXX direct number but no one answered and finally I got a message that the number I had on my possession of XXXX the salesperson was no longer in service and no further information was available about this number. We had become quite worried by then but finally on XX/XX/XXXX, one of their technicians showed up to investigate our situation and after spending some time at our home, wrote a report that said the inverter was turning on for a few minutes and then turning itself off ( see attachment ). He left without rectifying the problem or giving any reason the system was behaving in this rather odd way. He said he would report the problem to his company and would ask to send someone more knowledgeable. When I asked him about the two men ( XXXX and XXXX ) who installed our system, he said he was not sure but one of them ( XXXX ) might have left the company but the other person ( XXXX ) was still working. 
Next time I called XXXX I asked for XXXX by name and asked them to please send him our way since no one else seemed to resolve this issue. XXXX came to our home around middle of XXXX ( dont remember the exact date ). However, he said that the wiring was not done properly by XXXX when they were first installed and now that he had changed the wiring to the right order, the system should be working all right. He also mentioned that if we wanted to install a monitoring device to determine the energy output by the solar panels and an emergency power outlet by the inverter, we should contact him or his company which gave me the impression that he was trying to sell us some additional features that were not included when they installed our system. After XXXX left, the inverter continued to display green light during the day and there was no error message. We started to get hopeful thinking XXXX may finally have figured out a solution to the problem. However, hopefulness did not last very long and within a month after XXXX left, the inverter switched back to the red signal mode and started to display the same error message again- increasing our frustration and anxiety. We felt we were totally at XXXX mercy since their system was unable to produce electricity as promised from day one and no one seem to be able to fix the problem for any length of time. Every time we were calling their office we were getting the run around from their service department and their service technicians were blaming one another for erroneous work, we did not see much of a reduction in our electric bills plus we had to start paying XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX towards the loan we took from them. The whole thing started to cause us quite a lot of anxiety and worries. 
At this point ( XXXX of XXXX ) we decided to call XXXX to find out if they could shed any light as to why our 5.22 kW system which was supposed to produce enough electricity to totally offset our electricity consumption from XXXX grid was only producing a small fraction ( 22 % ) of our overall electricity consumption on a good month when the system was working without error message. XXXX representative told us that we needed at least a 9.0 kW system to offset our electricity consumption based on our consumption history- a 5.22 kW system was simply too small for that purpose. That was the first time we realized that a fraudulent business has deceived us. To verify if XXXX assertion was correct or not, we contacted three independent solar contractors. After reviewing our past electric bills, they all confirmed that we needed a 9.0 kW, or a bigger solar system installed if we wanted to offset our electric bills. We were shocked but still wanted to find out if XXXX would do something to remedy the situation. Around middle of XXXX, XXXX we heard from the owner ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) of XXXX. XXXX XXXX said he was away on a medical leave and did not know much about our situation. However, he was taking over our case from this point forward and would try to help us any way he could. XXXX XXXX asked us to send him our last 5 months of electric bills from XXXX which we did right away and requested him to let us know what remedial actions his company would be willing to take to rectify the problem, but we did not hear back from him. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX returned to our home for the first time since he and XXXX installed our system back in XX/XX/XXXX. After he inspected the system, he told us he needed to come back later that week to rectify the wiring problems at the panels once again and offered to put a monitoring device. By this time, we had lost all our trust in XXXX and their verbal assurances. XXXX did not return by the end of that week ( XX/XX/XXXX ) as he verbally promised. We then sent XXXX a letter requesting them to remove the solar panels and the inverter from our home and terminate our Contract. 
Points, Counterpoints : By now it was becoming clear to us that XXXX likes to make fictitious promises to innocent consumers to sell their products and then pin them down with fake ( with XXXX XXXX logo ) purchase agreements that is not clear to ordinary folks, perhaps only a seasoned attorney could understand their pitfall. They engage services of registered engineers to produce fictitious design documents to pull permits very fast. They quickly install the system on site and then move on to deceive their next customer. Servicing their customers is not a priority item for them and then every opportunity they can get or create, they try to sell more of their products and services. 
Realizing the difficult situation, we were under, we started to bring our complaints to various agencies such as XXXX XXXX XXXX, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, XXXX County Department of Consumer and Veterans Services, Federal Trade Commission and Florida State Attorneys office. All these agencies except for Federal Trade Commission have assigned investigators and case numbers to handle/monitor our case. We were told by several agencies that there were other cases open and/or pending against XXXX in Florida, like ours. However, no one except XXXX County Department of Consumer and Veterans Services has provided  any assistance to us so far. 
We have had several email and letter exchanges, phone calls between XXXX XXXX and myself since XXXX became aware of our complaints to various agencies. XXXX XXXX would prefer that we honor their purchase agreement and keep paying bills from XXXX XXXX XXXX, in exchange he agreed to send their technicians to fix the existing problems with their solar system and place a new monitoring system at no additional cost. My wife and I on the other hand think that our relationship has soured to a point that its not possible for us to work with XXXX anymore. They violated our trust in them beyond repair and we would like to terminate our agreement. To that effect, we have proposed to pay them additional sum of money if they would remove the panels and inverter from our home, please see our letter dated XX/XX/XXXX to XXXX. Since receiving our letter of XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX exchanged emails with XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX of XXXX County Consumer and Veterans Services, please see attached email chains between these two parties. In the beginning, XXXX XXXX indicated that he would be willing to remove the panels but later he changed his mind and now he is refusing to remove the panels and take me to court. 
My wife and I are both retired and can not afford to pay our regular electric bills from XXXX while keep paying XXXX XXXX XXXX for their loan. We would like XXXX to remove the panels as they once agreed to do and terminate the agreement. We have already spent a quite a lot of money ( {$5000.00} ) and countless hours of our time on this project without seeing any financial benefit. We do not wish to add lawyers fee into this pursuit. We stand ready to answer any question and welcome any help/ mediation effort from any taxpayer funded agency that is willing to help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief