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Company-Spruce Power of Houston Texas. Spruce Power took over my solar lease in Feb 2021. Since that time each month I am billed incorrectly or charged for incorrect late charges. I have tried numerous times to call the service line [protected]-put on hold so long I am connected to an operator and when she answers the response is" I can take your information and have some one call you back". No one ever returns the phone calls. I have tried numerous times to email the customer service line-its a general email or message board and there is no response to that avenue.
I am trying to correct and clear up incorrect billing for fear they will report to a credit bureau incorrect information.
I have tried many avenues to correct this issue but I am not getting any response from that company. It has been a nightmare since this company took over my solar lease.
Desired outcome: A return phone call with an actual person who can discuss my account.I very much want to clear up these issues but so far no luck.
I have received yet another bill from Spruce Power. This is a 7 month old bill and they threaten collections action if nit paid. The bill was for November service so the complaint was nit resolved and continues.
For the last 2 years I have had nothing but trouble with Spruce Solar. They have a completely messed up accounting department and can't get the billing correct. I have tried for these years to get things straight and have gotten nowhere. The first year, no one would answer the phone and I would attach notes to my check asking for someone to call me, which they never did. Since they are now answering the phone they put you on hold, I've waited 30 minutes sometimes before finally hanging up. The lastest problem is some one from "collections" calls and says we owe past due amounts. I tell them that if they can give invoices pertaining to the "past due amounts" I'll take care of it. Since November of 2021 they have been calling and saying that they will get that information and call me back tomorrow! Today same thing happened and the man said he would take care of right now and he put me on hold. I don't plan on staying on hold while he completes this so after on hold for 10 minutes, I called Spruce on my other phone and told the lady that answered to tell Louis that I can't wait any longer and asked her to tell him to call me back when he has the information. She refused and said they don't return calls and I could call back later! If we could, I'd have the solar panels removed.
Spruce Power is one of the worst companies that I have ever delt with. They took over my account after the original company sold my account in bankruptcy. Since the day they took the account over they have had the bill messed up. After numerous calls and staying on hold for hours I finally gave up and stopped making payments. almost two years went by with a call every month from their collections dept. In June I spoke to Neicy in their collections Dept. who worked with me, and we both agreed on what the proper past due amount should be. In July I got my statement and Spruce Power says that I still owe $1900 dollars and the monthly payment is still incorrect. Before I made the payment with my credit card I asked for and received an E-mail from Neicy that stated with the payment I made the account would be up to date. Now they want another $1900 and still have the monthly payment wrong. I don't know who is doing the billing but it's wrong, you can buy the account, but you can't change the terms
That's terrible, the problems you were having are still happening to other people like you and me. File a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General, Texas at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protecion.
Also file a complaint with your state Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov and the Better Business Bureau at BBB.org/file-a-complaint.
To help others post your review at energysage.com/Supplier/21406/spruce-finance. And Bizapedia.com/txt/spruce-power-3-llc.html. And scam report.com.
And Yelp.com, type Spruce Power for the business and Houston, Tx for the location in their search box. Scroll down, click on Spruce Power. Spruce Power is negatively affecting hundreds if not thousands of people.
The preceding comments are very similar to my experiences with Spruce.
I bought a home a few years ago that already had solar service through Spruce (Kilowatt Financial), and I assumed the contract. Big mistake. Their billing system and department is a perpetual train wreck. I have been a homeowner for forty years and dealt with countless businesses over the years, utility companies, banks, mortgage companies, etc, and I have never encountered such a frustrating, disorganized, unprofessional entity. One hand doesn't seem to know what the other hand is doing and despite their promises of improving their billing system and updating their web site, as of today it's as bad as it ever was.
I have been fighting a running battle with Spruce over a payment from 2021 that they did not credit to my account. The payment was made, I have emailed them copies of my bank statements that show it was made, the Spruce billing agents I have talked to nearly every month since then acknowledge that my bank statement shows the bill was paid, they express confusion as to why it didn't get credited and promise that they will "forward" it or "escalate" it to someone who will get it corrected, but the next month we're right back where we started, with the bogus "past due amount" added to my bill along with a late fee. I almost feel sorry for their billing agents on the phone. It's not their fault they work for a train wreck of a company. They're just caught in between. With one notable, extremely unprofessional and bizarrely argumentative exception, all of the agents have been friendly and understanding and readily acknowledge their system's error, but month after month the problem does not get corrected.
Also, their customer portal looks like something from the '90s. What little bit of information there is on the portal makes no sense, and more often than not does not match the paper statements. I once asked one of their billing agents on the phone if she knew what their portal looked like from the customer's point of view. She did not, so along with a copy of my bank statement once again showing the supposed "past due" amount had actually been paid, I emailed her a screen shot of my account page on the customer portal so she could better understand why a customer could be so frustrated. She received both while I was on the line and chuckled when the saw the screen shot. She agreed with me that the past and current payment amounts it showed made no sense. It just shows seemingly random dollar amounts in columns nonsensically labeled "pay" and "paid".
The latest silliness? After months of pushing customers to "go paperless" and use their online bill pay portal, starting this month and contrary to every other monthly online bill I pay, Spruce now charges a $4.75 "convenience fee" (whose "convenience"?) for the privilege of paying your bill via their website, no matter if you use credit, debit, or ACH. Almost $5 a month just to pay their bill? Not hardly. It's back to old fashioned paper checks and snail mail for me.
I can't even imagine how hard Spruce would be to deal with if I ever needed service work done on the solar system. Judging by my experiences with their billing and accounting department, they act like a company that knows they have you locked into a contract and, short of selling your house and finding another sucker to take over the contract, you're not going anywhere. What are you going to do, change solar providers? You can't, you're locked into a long term contract. I love my house and neighborhood, but my experiences with Spruce actually have me considering selling the house. In fact, I suspect that may be why the previous owners sold it to me.
I highly recommend to anyone looking to add solar or buy a house with solar already installed, if the servicing company is Spruce Power/Kilowatt Financial, run away as fast as you can. At the very least, do a lot of research and read the many similar complaints online (the BBB website, etc) from frustrated customers talking about class action lawsuits and trying to get state AG's involved.
For existing customers, I strongly recommend that you do not give Spruce access to your bank account via the "autopay" feature. If you already have autopay, discontinue it as soon as possible. Their billing needs to be watched closely and analyzed each month for bogus amounts before you deciding for yourself how much to pay.
Yes, since February of 2021 I have been going through the same bad experience with Spruce Power. Exactly the same issues.
I am so glad that I'm not the only one with troubles with this company. My contract was bought by them as I was with Greenday Financial, initially. I purchase the electricity generated by their panels. Not a lease or a buy I just purchase the electricity generated. The panels stopped generating electricity back in June of 2021. They finally sent someone at the end of October but kept charging me for electricity that they were not generating. The person was unable to fix the issue and the system as of today June 2022 still does not work. They have called me several times to collect and the only way I hear from them is not to pay them. They now threatened to turn off my electricity and charge me a $335 to reconnect. My question is reconnect what, the system is broken. They have admitted that they show me offline and I have been offline so long that they can't go back far enough. Their billing system is extremely screwed up and they have no urgency except to try to collect false charges. I am so tired of these knuckleheads that I'm telling my neighbors if approached to tell them to pound sand.
they are absolutely horrible. I can't understand how their employees sleep at night knowing they get up every morning to go to work to scam hard-working folks out of their money.
That's terrible. File a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General, Texas at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protecion. Also file a complaint with your state Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov and the Better Business Bureau at BBB.org/file-a-complaint. To help others post your review at energysage.com/Supplier/21406/spruce-finance. And Bizapedia.com/txt/spruce-power-3-llc.html. And scam report.com. And Yelp.com, type Spruce Power for the business and Houston, Tx for the location in their search box. Scroll down, click on Spruce Power. Spruce Power is negatively affecting hundreds if not thousands of people.
I feel so relieved I’m not the only one with this problem! I have been trying for months…sending emails, calling trying to get 2 months of statements from April and May 2021! They said no statement were generated and are not sure what they can do…we were threatened with collections or our solar would be turned off and we would be charge $350 to reconnect! We mail our check to them the day after we receive our bill and we’re still charge a $10 dollar late fee and our invoices are never updated with our payments! Please any advice on what we can do! I’ve never experienced such an awful company! We couldn’t even do the buy out option because our account was on hold! We also have 2 broken panels they won’t fix because our account is on hold!
That's terrible. File a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General, Texas at https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protecion.
Also file a complaint with your state Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov and the Better Business Bureau at BBB.org/file-a-complaint.
To help others post your review at energysage.com/Supplier/21406/spruce-finance. And Bizapedia.com/txt/spruce-power-3-llc.html. And scam report.com.
And Yelp.com, type Spruce Power for the business and Houston, Tx for the location in their search box. Scroll down, click on Spruce Power. Spruce Power is negatively affecting hundreds if not thousands of people.
Here is a letter that I recently wrote to the Spruce Power CEO. Like every other Spruce department there has been no response.
If you consult the included chart you can see how erratic their billing has been. They never explain their fictitious charges and threaten to send my account to collections. When their collections department called me, they got a two-barreled blast, with specifics about their laughable billing practices. Obviously, the inmates are running the asylum. I continue to pay the correct charge and write them letters and emails. Their default is to ignore the facts. I would LOVE to get them in court, but I am sure that they do not want to let the happen.
July 7, 2022
Mr. Christian Fong
Chairman, President and C.E.O.
Spruce Power
2900 North Loop West, Third Floor
Houston, Texas, 77092
Re: Spruce Agreement Number 884-xxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Mr. Fong:
Spruce Power purchased the loan on my solar system in October 2020. I understand that Spruce is a rapidly growing organization and, as such, is subject to growing pains. I am sure that evolving into one of the largest organizations in the industry has many challenges.
As a Spruce customer, I wish to apprise you of my experience dealing with Spruce. I attribute many issues that I have encountered to staffing and training shortfalls. My decades in management have hard-wired me to identify and try and fix problems.
Although there are signs of pending improvement, Spruce has not responded to letters written or emails sent, and it is difficult to take Spruce billing seriously. Allow me to elucidate.
The following chart lists the Spruce Bill Summary documents I received during the selected period. None of the past-due charges or credits include an explanation, and I have only received three responses to my many emails and letter requests for clarification. The Credit Dispute department, the billing department referred me to, has never responded to any communications. Two of the bill summaries indicated that there was no payment due! The $ 609.49 past-due amount billed on 11/08/21 changed to $ 168.23 the following month, but I had never missed a payment. I have the original documents and can provide copies if asked.
SUMMARY DATE TOTAL DUE PAID DATE AMOUNT PAID
02/17/21 $ 118.23 03/01/21 $ 118.23
03/17/21 $ 118.23 04/01/21 $ 118.23
04/18/21 $ 118.23 04/30/21 $ 118.23
05/18/21 $ 118.23 06/01/21 $ 118.23
06/18/21 $ 00.00 07/01/21 $ 118.23
07/20/21 $ 118.23 08/01/21 $ 118.23
08/20/21 $ 176.80 09/01/21 $ 118.23
09/09/21 $ 151.80 10/01/21 $ 118.23
10/13/21 $ 00.00 11/01/21 $ 118.23
11/08/21 $ 724.72 12/01/21 $ 118.23
12/14/21 $ 286.46 12/31/21 $ 118.23
None Received ? 02/01/22 $ 118.23
02/09/22 $ 193.23 03/01/22 $ 118.23
03/11/22 $ 193.23 04/01/22 $ 118.23
Those responsible for the billing department activities will find this embarrassing. I have provided this information to the billing department and am sure they have kept it confidential.
The April 2022 bill summary included user taxes, but the charges were incorrect for El Dorado Hills, California. They charged a city tax when El Dorado Hills is unincorporated and there is no city tax. They also included a non-existent $ 1.77 District tax. I notified them of the error, but have yet to see a correction. I short-pay the incorrect taxes. They add the short-pay amount to my past-due balance. One wonders why they did not verify the applicable taxes before including off-the-cuff charges in the bill summary.
The latest issue was three $ 25.00 stop payment charges for payments that I made on time. Your collection department called, and I had to provide proof of payment for the months in dispute. I provided the data, including trace numbers for the electronic payments. You are paying people to resolve collection issues created by incompetent billing.
I pay my bills on time, but I only pay what should be billed. I demand explanations for unusual charges and wait for an acceptable answer before paying. Spruce is unresponsive to inquiries.
I provide this information to assist in the improvement of Spruce billing practices. There is vast room for improvement. I wish you the best.
Sincerely,
M. West
I am about to send a letter to Christian Fong that is almost the same as the one you sent. I found out Spruce has administrative offices in San Francisco, CA. 201 Mission Street Floor 11, San Francisco CA 94105. Since you sent yours to Texas he may not have seen it.
In our case, I finally spoke with Juan in accounting about those monthly taxes ad fees. I pointed out that my contact is INCLUSIVE of all taxes and fees. He agreed and said he would credit me back all that I've been overcharged. We shall see.
In the meantime, my leased system has been down for one month and still no idea when their repair person will come "take a look-see". While it is not illegal to be a crappy company, I too wish we could get a class action lawsuit started.
I had heard thru the grapevine that this company is China owned..What a mess...I have had problem after problem with them. Thought I got it straight but it has started all over..with bills I don't owe..late payments..They threaten to report to credit bureau..I have excellant excellant credit and have had it for years. They want you to sign up and push it..for auto pay...I HAD auto pay at first but when the first mess with over billing and late fees started I stopped it and will Never allow them to take out of my account with them dishonest ways. I send a check..Problem there is they Never send out bill statement on time..They state it is sent on the 10 of month but I only live in Arizona and it takes at least 22 days to receive it..by the time I mail them the check which is the next day they say they don't receive it on time and don't deposit it until at least the 5 or 6th of the month..I get regular mail from Houston Texas in 3 days? Something is wrong with this company..Lie and deceiving people is their game. No one answers...emails or phone. or they take days to get back to you if they do at all. No one ever know what they are doing and can't answer questions..You wait wait wait wait and wait some more for someone to answer the phone. When I had the first MESS..IT TOOK at least 6months to get it straightened out. Then they wanted me to auto pay..I said NO..NOW THEY ARE STARTING IT again by saying I didn't pay and charging LATE FEES AGAIN..I WILL NOT PAY LATE FEES OR FOR WHAT I ALREADY PAID FOR ON TIME..THEY I BELIEVE LIE. They say to send a check 2weeks before it is due to get credit without being late and charged a LATE FEE...YOU CAN'T DO THAT WHEN YOU DON'T GET THE BILL ON TIME AND CAN'T GET IT BACK TO THEM BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T SEND IT ON TIME...THAT WAY THEY CAN CHARGE A LATE FEE...WRONG..AND DISHONEST...BAD COMPANY
I live in Placerville and they are charging me for service I'm not even getting. I'm looking for class action lawsuits that I can be apart of or start one.
I also would like to joint a class action lawsuit. I am petrified of this company. They’re stealing my money.
will join in class action -- borderline fraud practices
Spruce Power has since merged with XL Fleet. Spruce Power is the combined company's name. The executive offices have been moved to 1875 Lawrence Street, Suite 320, Denver Colorado 80202.
The amount of people have problems with this company is overwhelming. Please consider joining our Facebook page. If we can get enough people we may be able find an attorney they will file a class action suit. We have get out from under this companies control of our homes .
Thank you
https://www.facebook.com/groups/361666668690515
I would like to join your Facebook group but I was unable to create an ID and password.
This is another facebook page with people who are having issues with this BANK?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1405078486973553
I have had trouble with the way Spruce solar sends me my bill sometimes 3 months go by without a bill , then there is the late charge . I have called asking where is the bill and they acknowledge that they haven't sent one
There is definitely a pattern of abuse by this company. I am experiencing the same horrendous service from Spruce ever since they took over accounts from NRG-Solar. I used to pay NRG 3 to 4 months in advance to eliminate wasting money on monthly stamps. When they took over, I had a balance in my favor. Spruce ignored it and never applied that to my account. I reached out by phone calls and by emails. To the point it was taking up way way too much of my time. My last email to them was "fix this by applying the correct credit to my account OR I will stop making payment. They never responded. Now they want me to settle my account but they refuse to waive the frivolous late fees on an issue they created. I am filing a complaint with the state's attorney general office.
I hope you have resolve after contacting the AG's office. Please share what your findings are. Best of luck!
contact the investor relations , put out your comments. go on facebook, social media.
PS NRG sold them your paper - they did not care that the company has almost fraudent billing practices
please share thanks - on facebook social media
Add me to the list. I have a paid up lease whereby when Spruced power bought from NRG they were committed to maintenance and reimbursement of energy lost when the solar system is not operating. This is all contractual. So THEY OWE ME MONEY! I have been complaining now for months about them fixing the system to no avail. Looking for a method to take ownership and then repairing myself.
What joke of a company. Why haven't they been forced into bankruptcy. I would think small claims court might be able to pressure them if everyone filed that way. I am going to look into it.
A.Herzberg
The Woodlands, tx
go after XL fleet they owned SP now.
They have an arbitration clause in your agreement. You have to take them to arbitration first. Then if you win they are not legally obligated to comply with the arbitration decision. Then you have to take them to court to have the arbitration decision enforced. Never enter into a long term agreement with any company that has an arbitration clause.
hi i am experiencing similar situation with SP. FYI in sept 2022 they were acquired by XL Fleet.
Send your comments to their investor relations, go on facebook , any social media.
My experience is they do not care, only thing is making money.
Suggestion: If you are experiencing problems with Spruce Energy Service Experts and live in Texas then I suggest that you contact the Texas State Attorney General's Office. Also, no matter where you live file with the Better Business Bureau. Filing complaints on boards like this does no good.
they have an address in colorado
Spruce Power is headquartered at 1875 Lawrence Street, Suite 320, Denver CO 80202.
they are a money machine - screwing people appears to be their business model
I live in the state of Maryland and now they are putting a so call State Tax on my bill. I have never had state tax on my solar lease. Does anyone know where is this state tax coming from? I call billing after trying for over 6 hours and there answer was they changed to a new billing system and now they are able to check a flag. I said checking a flag ia not a valid answer of why I am seeing state tax charge. They just disconnected the phone call.
Spruce Power installed my roof solar system that was broken since Feb 2022 after 3 years of service. There is no solar generation according to PG&E electricity municipal company. Spruce Power then falsified solar generation data, printed a charge and continued to withdrew money monthly from my account since Feb 2022.
SPRUCE POWER is the absolute worst BANK! They can't seem to get it together. What company has this many complaints ACROSS THE UNITED STATES? When I ask a question on their website via chat I receive a response "You will need to call!" ARE YOU KIDDING? I was on hold for over 30 minutes the other day. If you leave a message you do not get called back. They can't seem to get their billing straight and if you are selling your house the fees which ARE NOT IN MY CONTRACT are absolutely OUTRAGEOUS! Is it not a solar company, or a bank? THE CEO and the rest of the company have no clue what they are doing nor do they care. THEY NEED A WAKE-UP CALL! I ONLY HOPE THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STEPS IN AND DOES SOMETHING TO CORRECT THIS MESS!
Spruce Power kept draw fund from my bank ($320 total) in 14 months while falsify the solar production data when solar was offline (not operating). Spruce ignored my request to refund me or credit me.