In the spring of 2022, Sandra Cuenca planned to install solar panels on her roof to help the environment and save money. She and her husband claimed that instead, they were forced to pay more than $100 per month for solar panels that wouldn’t even start working until March, almost a year after they were first installed.
Cuenca, a Florida resident, told USA TODAY that by trying to save money through this, she really ended herself spending more. “That was just another stressor in our lives that we didn’t need.”
Cuenca is one of over two dozen plaintiffs in a recent class action complaint against Vision Solar, a New Jersey-based firm that installs solar panels, for forcing clients into purchasing a product that fell short of what salesmen had promised.
The lawsuit claims that Vision Solar frequently installed the panels without the necessary permits, leaving homeowners to pay for a system that wasn’t linked to the electrical grid. At instances, salespeople reportedly misled clients about the savings that may be realised.
Ian Sloss, a partner at Silver Golub & Teitell, the law firm representing the claimants, said: “This involves thousands of people who have been charged for panels that Vision Solar knows are not functional.” “We just think the behaviour is terrible,”
Bennett Andelman, chief marketing officer of Vision Solar, told USA TODAY that the business is working hard to address “every single historical issue our clients have had with Vision Solar” and that the majority of the projects linked to the consumers named in the lawsuit had advanced significantly.
According to Andelman in an email statement, “We will continue to engage with each of them, and anybody else who files a claim, until their projects are completely functioning and they are satisfied, or through their request for cancellation.”
Although the corporation is accused of misleading activities impacting homeowners in five more states—Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania—the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey on Monday.
Plaintiffs demand reimbursements, release from financing obligations, removal of the panels from their homes, and repair of any damage caused by the contractors.
