Many people view their retirement as their golden years, which are a time for them to finally get to enjoy some downtime after working so hard their entire life. However, seniors in Florida say that their golden years are now tarnished thanks to solar scams that have been targeting the Treasure Coast.
Several homeowners spoke with WPTV News about the solar hustles they say have robbed them of their money, with some of the seniors saying they’ve been saddled with decades of debt as a result. But it’s not just any one scam or scammer hitting the area; instead, experts say the poorly regulated door-to-door solar industry is to blame.
That’s because many of the complaints come from homeowners who got into trouble when salespeople came out to their homes, selling them bogus equipment, terrible deals, or making promises on behalf of companies that later disappeared.
Here’s what we know.
Sales Representatives Lacked Proper Licensing and Paperwork
According to WFLX, several of the homeowners reported they were visited by reps who didn’t have the type of licenses Florida requires for these types of sales. Not only that, but the paperwork they handed out was also missing the proper disclosures, which kept some seniors in the dark about what they were getting themselves into.
In one example, a Treasure Coast couple was sold a solar system that would cost them between $40,000 and $60,000 over the course of 25 years. However, the homeowners say they weren’t aware of that when they signed up, nor were they aware of just how little money they would save by switching to solar panels.
Homeowner Paula Wass called the system a “waste of money” in her interview with WFLX, where she says the salesperson’s pitch didn’t match the documents she and her husband signed. “You feel like a sap, and you feel like, ‘I should have known better,'” she told the reporter. “We did what we thought was the right thing in helping the environment, but here we are.”
Meanwhile, Ana Perez told WFLX that her electric bill initially dropped after she had her panels installed, only to climb right back up again a few years later. She went from a $100 monthly electric bill to about $30, before it jumped up to around $300 a month, which included the $150 she owed for the solar lease as well as her monthly electric costs. When she looked into the issue, she learned that her solar system had gone down because the company went out of business, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Do Your Research Before Installing Solar Panels
These scams are frequent enough that the Federal Trade Commission has a whole page dedicated to them, informing the public about some of the things they can do to protect themselves when installing solar panels. Among them, the agency warns people against signing up for anything that seems too good to be true, saying that there’s no such thing as a “free” or “no cost” solar panel system.
Additionally, they say to avoid any high-pressure tactics and to avoid signing up for anything quickly or without doing your due diligence. Lastly, the agency suggests protecting your personal information, especially when it comes to online offers or quote requests on social media. The Federal Trade Commission says that those “see if you qualify” offers tend to just be companies or salespeople trying to generate leads.
Unfortunately, scams like the ones that hit the Treasure Coast recently are becoming more common as more people adopt solar power as a way to cut costs, so it’s important to spend some time doing a little extra research before you commit to any company or salesperson who comes your way.