Consumer complaint received 2024-03-21
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Getting the loan — 
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION (ME)

We applied for a solar power installation back on XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX XXXX. They prepared a proposal for us for XXXX panels ( later dropped to XXXX after our survey ) to be installed on our home, plus the inverter and necessary electrical hookups for just shy of {$62000.00}. We signed this contract in good faith after the sales people explained to us that this contract was for multiple days of electrical and construction labor, expensive permits, and multiple surveys of our property, plus premium components to the system. 

The contract was then signed with XXXX XXXX XXXX to finance the system. This was the first red flag for us- XXXXXXXX XXXX proposal misleadingly includes a {$18000.00} incentive from the federal government for the install of this system. It is not guaranteed that any borrower will qualify for this credit, so XXXX XXXX terms show this as a lump sum payable to them at a period of 18 months post-loan start date. If this is unpaid, the monthly installment goes up significantly for the XXXX term. While this is a minor footnote in XXXXXXXX XXXX proposals, it is misleading to include and then back it out, presenting it as thought it is a savings to the consumer. They should eliminate this entirely and then separately let consumers know a credit/rebate MAY be available to them. 

We still proceded with our system against our better judgement, with the promise from XXXX that they provide a level of quality and service that other providers do not. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, two days before our installation, we received the permits necessary to display for our construction. Much to our surprise, the cost of labor and materials on the permit were only listed as {$32000.00}. While we understand permit cost is not an inclusive cost, we were shocked it was half of the price of the system. We immediately reached out to our sales rep and customer service team and let them know the installers could not touch our house until we had clarity on what the cost breakdown was, and why it was substantially lower than our contracted price. 

When they installers arrived XX/XX/XXXX ready to start work, they were shocked to hear we had been told the contract was for 2-3 days of electrical and 2-3 days of construction. They said they had been doing this for " a very long time '' and had " never gone more than a day. '' We spent an hour on the phone with the XXXX team, who seemed wholly unable to provide the granularity of detail that we needed. By the time we got any semblance of a cost breakdown, we found that they had essentially padded every single line item - materials, construction, permit costs, etc- so that the net impact on the overall " cost '' was substantial. Our best guess is $ XXXX {$15000.00}, but we truly have no way of knowing without seeing a detailed bill of goods or receipts from the service people. ( Please note in the attached texted breakdown of the cost as an example - electrical labor is listed at a cost of {$6000.00}. That would mean the hourly cost for an electrician given the single day install would be {$750.00} per hour. Not even master electricians in the state of Maine make anywhere NEAR that amount. ) We also found out that day that we were paying a premium of {$10000.00} on the cost of the system for the " luxury '' of financing it. This is in addition to the 6.99 % monthly interest being charged on the loan, so we are still not sure what this contributes to - buying down the rate, perhaps? 

The sales folks also tried to tell us that if we canceled the contract that day, we would incur a a {$3000.00} penalty PLUS all costs incurred to date, resulting in a " substantial '' bill. I pointed out to them that I had read their contract cover to cover multiple times the night before and they were once again trying to pull one over on us. Their contract states that not only would there be a solitary flat fee of {$3000.00}, but their company would be respoisble for the pickup or return shipping of the equipment. 

With multiple service people in the driveway who had now been ( kindly ) waiting nearly 2 hours, and thousands of dollars of solar panels sitting on our lawn, we felt pressured to move forward with the project, despite knowing that we were being royally taken advantage of. XXXX was skimming a ton off the top or each line item, significantly increasing our total amount financed and total cost over the life of the loan substantially. 

In the time since we first discovered this fraud, we have read the contracts no less than a hundred times. We were shocked and appalled that there is a clause that says that if actual costs exceed the contracted, they will be passed on to the consumer. If this is the case, AND the crews only typically go for one day, why would the sales people not sign the contract at the best case scenario rate, and then amend if there are additional days of electrical/construction needed? The only reason we can think of is to finance a significantly higher amount with XXXX, thus making them both heaps more money. Please see this clause in particular : " XXXX. Total Price. The Customer agrees to pay the Company the Total Price in exchange for the System, on the payment terms shown above, and further agrees as follows : a. Change Orders/Extra Work. If the Customer, the Customers agent or representative, or any governmental agency requires any changes to the System beyond what is initially agreed to by the Company, the cost for any such change will be added to the Total Price, and the term Total Price as used in this Agreement will mean the adjusted higher Total Price. The cost of any such change order will include direct labor, materials, subcontracts plus supervision, general conditions, overhead, and profit. The Customer will also be required to pay all expenses incurred by the Company because of unanticipated or unforeseen circumstances ( such as a faulty roof or inadequate electric service ). '' I should think that the last sentence " unforseen circumstances '' would certainly cover an electrician or construction crew needing to come out for additional days. Why they bloat the cost to cover worst case scenario if their contract clearly has protection if it it isn't best case scenario, I can't figure out for the life of me if not to defraud the consumer. 

Again - these are just a few of the examples we can see. I'm sure once you investigate that you'll find even more transgressions once you have visibility into the information we didn't have the luxury accessing, like actual costs incurred by the project. 

We don't want either of these companies to ever be able to take advantage of consumers again the way that we were taken advantage of. We are embarrassed, demoralized, and broken hearted that businesses would prey on consumers who are already struggling under the heavy burdens of rising utility rates and inflation in this way. 

While we appreciate that the sales team at XXXX was ultimately willing to forfeit their commission to give us a pittance of a reduction in our total cost, we still estimated XXXX and XXXX took advantage of us and scammed us to the tune of $ XXXX when everything was said and done. Who knows how much they have made over the years from foolish consumers just like us.