A Rancho Bernardo man contacted NBC 7 Responds after he said his roof was leaking where his solar panels were installed; the company that installed those panels was not returning his calls.
Mark Huettinger is all about alternative energy, from his electric cars to the solar panels on his roof.
“I think every home that’s built in San Diego should have a 2-3 kilowatt system,” Mark said.
But Mark thought the solar panels were causing problems inside his home.
“The leak was in the roof and I’ve got one bedroom that has a big stain on the ceiling,” he said.
Mark suspected the solar panel installation nine years ago was causing water to seep into his home, so Mark called Borrego Solar, the company that did the original installation.
“I called for three or four weeks and kept doing that; finally I got an email from somebody saying sorry it took so long for me to get back and then I never heard anything for another week,” Mark said.
Local
When Mark did talk to someone, he said nothing changed. So his wife suggested he call NBC 7 Responds.
Within days, a Borrego Solar employee contacted Mark and made it clear that they would get to the bottom of the leak.
“He said ‘it doesn’t matter what else is going on, I’m going to remove your panels at no charge and get them put back at no charge, even if it’s not our fault,’” Mark said.
Borrego Solar officials told NBC 7 Responds the company got out of the residential solar business years ago and which is part of the reason no one had gotten back to Mark. The company explained the problem came out of company reorganization and Mark’s calls were simply not being relayed to them.
“No matter what, we were a part of the install and we’re definitely going to be a part of fixing anything that happens,” Borrego Solar Employee David Marks said.
Borrego Solar took off the panels and inspected the roof, to determine the damage.
“They took off one tile and said you’ve got a really big problem here,” Mark said.
Borrego Solar told Mark the solar panels were put on incorrectly the first time so the company offered to make it right.
Mark only had to pay one subcontractor $400, but he says the value of the entire work done by Borrego Solar was probably worth more than $12,000.
“They really stepped up and took care of it,” Mark said.
Borrego Solar said they were sorry for the way Mark was treated at first and made an exception to their own warranty to fix Mark’s roof.
