Advance Solar Electrical - Company Review Notice Advance Solar Electrical - Company Review Notice
Advance Solar Electrical

Advance Solar Electrical Reviews

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4.1

Based on 63 ratings

About

Advance Solar Electrical is a solar energy company based in Bendigo, Victoria. The company says that its services include solar design, installation and grid connect. They say that their installers are CEC (Clean Energy Council) accredited, and that their installations are covered by a 12 months workmanship guarantee and after sales service.

Customer testimonials for Advance Solar Electrical are available, and include the following:

“This company was very good to deal with. I did not choose them on price. I made the choice on customer service, and knowledge of the product they were selling.”

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Panel brands previously installed

The views expressed by reviewers are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Peacock Media Group, which makes no representations as to the accuracy of the reviews. For our full disclaimer and further information, see our Terms of Use and our Review Guidelines.

Advance Solar Electrical Reviews (63)

Show Most Recent reviews from All timeacross Australia

Average Scores

4.1/5

Value for money

4.1/5

Quality of System

4.3/5

Installation

3.9/5

Customer Service

  • 5 star 8
  • 4 star 37
  • 3 star 14
  • 2 star 4
  • 1 star 0

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Excellent installation

After researching several companies, we decided on going with Advantage Solar. The Rep that we had Tom Considine, had the answers to ALL questions regarding Solar Power and then some, that we required of him regarding all things Solar and also his recommendation for the System size that suited our situation which suited us perfectly and within our Budget. The lady on the admin side of the business Bianca, went above and beyond our expectations with her efficiency and her " Nothing being a problem attitude ".
The installers on the Electrical side of the Installation, and the Solar panels were both exceptional Tradesmen and polite to go with it, turned up at the designated time, and on completion of the install, all rubbish was cleaned up and taken away by them.
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If you are in the Shepparton area consider a local firm for your Solar system. Our system was installed 3 years ago and is now only producing half the output it used to. We have been waiting to have the system repaired, under warranty, for 2 months. This firm do not return phone calls, or email enquiries in a timely manner. They have been to look at the system and identified the problem and promises have been made but still we wait. There seem to be plenty of excuses but no action.
If you want after sales service buy in Shepparton.
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Original Review on 23-08-2012:

3.04kW - 16X190w Sunrise Monocrystalline panels
3.2kW - EverSolar Invertor

Standard fitout onto single story, sloped corrugated iron roof, with good access, staggered array following roofline, all north facing, no shade. Panels arranged in 1x4, 1x3, 4x2 and a single mounted transversely to the staggered grid

Quality of materials and finished product is excellent. Fitout to our architecturally designed home was absolutely first class - brackets for the panels on the roof, cabling in the roof eaves, cut over to the mains power box, installation of the inverter, switching were all better than we could have hoped for.

Components used were high end commercial quality, fixtures, piping and fit result were very obviously carried out by experienced professionals who take pride in their work.

From a service perspective, 3 people at all times, well presented, polite & knowledgeable, very informative, entertaining to our 2 small children during the time they were there.

Fitout was across two days, due to inclement weather. If it had been a sunny day, they would have done it in 1 day across 6 hours.

Clean up including taking all packaging, removal of all cabling and cut off debris and vacuumed all around the house where they spent time, on the roof, around the meter box.

They then spent time going through system use, warranties, and follow up process that their head office would go through.

Extremely impressed and pleased with service, quality of installation and the "no surprises" approach.

Well done Advance Solar Electrical!
Original ratings

Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 4/5
Quality of System: 5/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 5/5

22 months later we asked Colin: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Performance has been far in excess of our best expectations. The original fitout has lived up to its initial high quality and the system has not skipped a beat. I've estimated our payback period is around 2 to 2.5 years rather than the traditional 3 to 4. Exceptional.
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Original Review on 23-12-2011:

Advance Solar were local to Bendigo and had their own technicians and the system was in and running in 3.5 hours from the time they arrived. The Electrician explained how it all worked before they left. We were very happy with all their processes from the representitive to the technicians. Advance Solar were one of the 3 companies that replied to the 3 quotes. The others only made one phone call and never followed through with anything else. The website that Finn has proved to be brilliant especially the weekly subjects such as \\\'How to spot Cowboys\\\'. Original ratings

Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 5/5
Quality of System: 4/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 4/5

30 months later we asked Robert: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Yes,the current configuration is very good.
The only thing I would change is to have had a bigger system put in.
To get the benefit of not having to pay Power bills I felt in hind sight that the consultant didn't approach that as well as he should have.He mainly looked at the current bills at the time, and based it on that which was OK but as we were only in the house for 3 months, a little more investigation should have been taken because it was at a low usage time of the year.
We are still very happy with the set up though.
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Original Review on 21-03-2012:

Original ratings

Panel rating: 4/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 4/5
Quality of System: 4/5
Installation: N/A
Customer Service: N/A

26 months later we asked Bill: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Yes. Since the system was fitted in early 2012, and following accounts where I paid for the Smart meter, I have had 1 power bill for $80 at the end of Winter 2013. My power bills previously were about $1400 per annum. I couldn't be happier. Figure the system will be fully paid for in next 2 years.
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Original Review on 23-03-2012:

Original ratings

Panel rating: 4/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 4/5
Quality of System: 4/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 4/5

26 months later we asked Greg: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Yes . A great purchase which has halved our power bill per annum.
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Original Review on 15-03-2012:

Of the 3 quotes- 1 did not answer, 1 was only stand alone only,- the other, called within 2 days and came and climed up on the roof to measure it, gave the quote and paperwork. Very professional.

To be installed in 3 to 4 weeks.

6 weeks later it was installed only after I made 4 calls to see what was happening. The installationing crew were very good helpful and polite.There were 4 workers.

I did mention I wanted my Deposit back if it was not done by the end of the week.

It was.

The unit is working well, not connected to the grid yet, but my meter is going backwards.

Advance Solar Electrical has a good product, competitive price, good workmanship but lousy communication.
Original ratings

Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 4/5

Value for money: 4/5
Quality of System: 4/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 3/5

27 months later we asked Max: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

The whole system has performed well. We have a 4.2 KW system and have not paid for any power since it was installed. Even though we have electric floor heating and have $400 credit. Great investment.
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Original Review on 12-12-2011:

I am very happy with the service and installation of my system was carried out with a minimum of fuss and I would recommend Advance Solar for people in Central Victoria. Original ratings

Panel rating: 4/5
Inverter rating: 4/5

Value for money: 3/5
Quality of System: 4/5
Installation: 4/5
Customer Service: 4/5

29 months later we asked Alan: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Yes
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Original Review on 08-02-2012:

Everyone I dealt with from the company was very responsive and helpful, patiently responding to all my queries and providing references and evidence - from the CEO on down through sales and office staff and the installation team. We were able to negotiate a very good price for a top-quality system, which certainly showed a clear advantage over the several other companies I'd sought quotes from and haggled with.

The installation was very competently managed and conducted. The system looks great, is very well located, and is now working happily, spinning the meter backwards at a great rate.

After the wholesaler installs my smart meter, I am keen to see the difference in my electricity accounts.
Original ratings

Panel rating: 5/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 5/5
Quality of System: 5/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 5/5

27 months later we asked Michael: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

After initial hiccups with Powercor, not the installer's fault, the system has been excellent and given great savings and returns.

Prospective solar system purchasers should be warned that the power companies (wholesal and retail) seem to be stricken by endemic confusion - or worse, recalcitrance - but they can and will get through it if they are determined.
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Only completed yesterday. So, we need time to properly rate the service and product.
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We had a bad experience with our retailer. The whole procedure took alot longer than it should have. Our retailer delayed providing us with a smartmeter for a couple of months and we threatened to go to the Ombudsman if they didn't hurry it up.

Our installers started fitting our system on 22/5/12 but had to come back because of our meterbox. We had taken photos of our meterbox on 14th April and sent the photos of our meterbox to different installers representatives including Jim from Advance Solar to make sure they all knew that we needed to have our meterboard replaced, in order to pass an electricity inspection, as the first time an electrician from Agnew Electricals had come out to give us a quote- he had told us we would need one. Subsequently, another local electrical engineer from Re-energy had also come out to give us quote and he confirmed we would need a new meter box.. so we were pretty sure it needed replacing. Ours was old, bidirectional with many fuses having been replaced sitting on chipboard that needed replacing. It's a wonder our retailer never told us this on reading meter in the seven years we lived here from a safety perspective.

A few of the companies recommended by your site sent salespeople out who had no idea about the replacement if the meterbox, cost etc, so we ruled them out straight away. The representative from Advance Solar came out physically to check our house and agreed that the meterbox needed replacing and confirmed that this would be included installers' in quote- it wasn't- although we didn't know until the installers came out, when they told us that the information hadn't been relayed to them. They fixed it straight away however- we paid more but understood the mixup in communication and they sorted it asap getting Powercor out the next day to replace the meterbox (irony is that they would then have to come and replace it with a smartmeter after that so had to come out twice). Fortunately, our installer had other jobs to work on in the area and so coming back was not a big deal. They did what they could on 22nd May 2012 and then came back after Powercor had been on 23rd may to replace meterboard. They then came back on 24th and did more installation of panels etc, they then had a job in Ararat later that week so came back again on the 29th May 2012 and we were all kitted out.

We were meant to get a solar eye/solar bee as part of our package and were waiting on one but installers said as soon as they received it they would bring it out and show us how to use it. We rang our retailer to tell them our system was installed and they should be getting notice from installer soon.They told us to ring installer to make sure all sent. The installer arranged for the electrical safety compliance officer to come but he couldn't come out until June, as so busy, and when he did come to inspect, something wasn't right so installer came back to fix it and we rang installer's office again mid June 2012 and left message that all was fixed now for electrical safety person. It then passed inspection and our installers then sent paperwork off to our retailer with electrical compliance safety who gave them noticed that they had received it by email on 26th June 2012.

We were glad that after 2 months all seemed to be Ok now and we expected to hear from our retailer who we had phoned in June and July, with regards to the installation of our Smartmeter. However In the first week of August 2012 a contractor came to our house to do our usual 3-monthly reading and was surprised to fins solar panels on our house. The retailer had not attended to the paperwork even though they had acknowledged they had received it on 26th June 2012.

Consequently, we had supplied $500 + worth of electricity to our retailer and were not refunded for it (as far as they were concerned we didn't have a solar system). We expected someone to follow up the contractor's meter reading within the week- they didn't so we then rang and complained to them on 17th August as it had been over a week since the contractor would have notified them about our panels. We mentioned in our phone call that we would call the ombudsman if we didn't get our Smartmeter in ASAP as they had acknowledged receiving installation paperwork on 26th June and now 17th August so over 30 days and not good enough. The retailer sent us out a contract that day, which we had to sign within 30 days ie by 17th August. It did not state if we were going to get the transitional feed in tariff or the standard tariff and it did not mention rates or much information at all. We rang them to ask them what we were signing exactly what are rates etc and what time of tariff we would receive. We were told standard a 1:1 rate and we were happy enough with this, however we wanted to know when we would be getting smartmeter, as we had rung Powercor ourselves who said as soon as retailer requested they come out they would come to install smartmeter but no
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There seems to be some conflict whether the panels should be facing north or west and whether it makes much difference on a shallow roof. In our instance the property is in northern Victoria and an 11 degree pitch. We bought from the guy who said emphatically west.

We are currently awaiting the construction of the building and hope installation will be within the next 30 days.
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I don't know yet ... He (ASE) has not responded to my emails for a start date and has my deposit. I am becoming concerned. I know he has received my emails (receipt) and candidly it is poor business in my view. He did visit and spend 2 hours here and it was this excellent attention that we chose them. I hope things have not changed. A simple I do not know when we will start but I will keep you informed or a phone call would have been a more professional approach.
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We found it hard to choose between Advanced Solar and Cola Solar. Equally impressed with both companies, and both were local to our area.
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When we signed up we were told that the system would be installed before the Christmas break, when we had not heard from them two weeks before the expected installation date, I rang the company and was told that they were closing for three weeks holiday and we would be a priority on their return. On 20th Dec the installer called at 7.30 p.m. to tell us that they would begin installation the next morning, we had made other plans for that day but managed to change our plans to accommodate.

The mountings and preliminary wiring were installed on that day and the installer told us that they were waiting for the panels to arrive from the supplier and would return in the new year to complete the installation. On 27/12 the installer arrived without notice to finish the job.

We are now waiting for the system to be inspected so that can be switched on. So far we are happy with the installation but as it is not yet operational I shall reserve judgement until then.

Thank you Finn for your service, the information that you provided helped greatly in making up our mind on which supplier and system to choose.
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Signed acceptance of quote on 15 October 2012 at my home. Paid 10% deposit on 18 October 2012 and at this stage still awaiting installation.

Salesperson appeared professional and response however office communication is somewhat tardy in that all contact so far has been initiated from my end.

Would have thought it would have been good business practice to have kept us informed regarding installation time line. You would imagine the business would operate from a work/job schedule that would enable them to keep clients informed of progress.

Hopefully, we may have installation next week which will be somewhere around 7 weeks from payment of deposit.
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Original Review on 17-08-2011:

The system has not been installed yet, but have been very happy with the prompt response to enquiries and an honest and frank approach to all aspects of our discussions.
It is interesting to note that other companies I have approached have been emailing and phoning with discounted once only offers. and please sign up now to take advantage of this once only offer! (that appears again the following week)
Original ratings

Panel rating: 3/5
Inverter rating: 1/5

Value for money: N/A
Quality of System: N/A
Installation: N/A
Customer Service: N/A

15 months later we asked This person: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Glad we have the system now as it is definitely saving us money.
(still a long way to go to get our money back on the purchase.)
Took 7 months (and a complaint to the ombudsman) for Tru energy to acknowledge that we had a solar system feeding into the grid!
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ASE was the only company that bothered to visit and give a quote. Jim was extremely helpful & answered all my questions thoroughly. We had a few teething problems (which were out of ASE's control) which delayed our installation but once they got here they had the whole system up & running in a day and the office girls were extremely helpful. Finn's website is also invaluable.
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Took a lot longer from paying the deposit to getting our system installed, and we had to chase them up a bit. Installation was pretty disjointed too, with the installers not turning up at the time we expected them and taking 3 days to install the system.
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Original Review on 02-02-2012:

The whole team was very freindly and did the little extras that make you want to recommend them to all you know. Original ratings

Panel rating: 4/5
Inverter rating: 5/5

Value for money: 4/5
Quality of System: 5/5
Installation: 5/5
Customer Service: 5/5

7 months later we asked Lindsay: "Are you happy with the performance of your system so far?"

Yes, 3.2 Kw system and has peaked at 3.5 Kw
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Solar is not connected yet. Sales were fantastic. I originajlly wanted to go with a company recommened by family. Even though they would cost more, I couldn't get them to contact me. I went with the company cause service was excellent. Hope the product is as good.
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When first requesting quotes, all you get is information overload. There are so many firms into this it's very hard to make a decision. I ended up with 23 quotes, and sorting through it all is a bit of a nightmare. Some are easy to dismiss, as they are basically sales call centres, a lot of whom are staffed by people who really can't answer the harder questions, and are therefore easily dismissed. In the end, we went for a local (country Vic.) installer as they made the effort to come up to the property and explain things face to face. They also had done plenty of installations locally and I could speak to some of those customers even though I didn't inform the company I had done so. Most were very happy with their experience and that convinced us to go with the company we did.
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The main reason we jumped in with Advance Solar was the great price they had. On top of that, all the work and organisation was done quite quickly and the system worked straight off and the paperwork sent off to power company efficiently, too.
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Very quick to sign you up and get a deposit, but after that they do not follow up at all and keep you up to date with what is happening, system was to be fitted be end of June then end of July now first week in August waiting to see if they ring me and fit the system .
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The installation team was very professional, courteous and cleaned up after themselves. The sales team were thorough in the review of the house roof, climbed the roof and design for the placement of the panels.

I am still waiting on them to install an Energy monitor (with bluetooth) for me; which was part of the package and it's well affter 3 months.
I spoke to them a few times before and again today and they have promised to come back to me on
16/7/12.
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Not installed as yet, mid July.
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System has been installed over the last couple of days so I am looking forward to seeing it working.

Need to focus in customer service a little more. Although they said there would be a 4-6 week wait for the installation, I had to call them after 6 weeks to find out when they would be installing the system.

Workmanship looks fine and they were happy to work with us to have the inverter moved down a little from its original location.
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Office communication very poor. Had to come back 2 more times after the original installation to fix shading from panel to panel (did not measure up properly in the first place).
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Have not yet had the smart meter installed and we are in early days yet. However, from conception to installation has been a breeze.
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Came and got on the roof unlike others and informed us of our options.
Waiting for system to be fitted but happy knowing they are local and will be around in the future if we have any problems.
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Easy people to deal with. Slow from paying the deposit to actual installation (2 months), but kept us informed....they were moving premises. Took about 8 hours to install, with 5 men working. It was difficult to decide which company to go with...varying prices, varying recommendations as to size and orientation. Even the salesman and the 'boss' had differing opinions! In the end, after closely looking at 4 installations done by Advance Solar, and speaking to the owners at one property by chance, we decided to bite the bullet and get on with it. No regrets so far. Not generating full capacity yet, but will improve as next spring and summer arrive. We really appreciated the help provided by you...we felt that your advice was well researched and could be trusted. Thanks Finn!
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Jim from Advance sat with us at the kitchen table and went through things thoroughly in spite of being based over 100km away. A local supplier failed to show up for an appointment. So far Advance has been reliable and easy to deal with. Prices have been more than competitive with local and internet businesses. Workmanship has been professional and thorough.
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First of all thanks to Finn and a fabulous site he set up. What you are happy to share with all of us who really know nothing about this sort of thing and could easily be conned is amazing. You should be very proud of yourself. We sat down with 2 suppliers to do quotes and I have to say Jim from Advance Solar Electrical was the better of the 2. I appreciate someone who can talk to me in terms I understand and I especially liked the fact I was given all the information, including a quote to take to the bank, but didn't need to sign anything. The first company we had around wanted to have a contract signed at point of contact (you had a cooling off period) and this was to "hold" the rebate at the current amount should it drop before installation. They also wanted a "small" deposit of $200-$300 to show we were serious. I did get wowed by the shop talk and signed the contract but as I had no cash and no cheque book the salesman was due to come back the next day. I felt physically ill thinking about it overnight so rang up the next day and cancelled immediately. When we met with Jim and ASE the difference in service and price was amazing and much more suited to our budget. To confrim ASE weren't too good to be true I contacted our local towns council selected solar installer for a comparison and they were higher but still in the ball park area of ASE so I was comfortable to proceed. We are now waiting for our connection which will happen in about 4 weeks. In the meantime I am very confident as my parents also just had solar connected from ASE and are happily watching their power go back into the grid. Obviously, as we haven't had ours connected I cannot guarantee these guys are the best, but up to this point I am very happy with their service.
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The only company that was interested. ASE from Bendigo. Excellent from start to finish. I tried to obtain 5 quotes 2 could not be bothered 2 seemed half hearted, one of the half hearted tried to quote from a google map. As I live in NSW I wonder if the other companies would have been more serious if NSW had a solar feed in rate, by saying that perhaps they thought I was only kicking tyres!
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The company told me it would be four weeks before installation it was closer to six weeks when they finally installed but was quite pleased with the outcome.
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We were quite pleased with all things relating to the system except they took two weeks to come back to fit the earth straps to the panels. also the paper work to our electricity supplier took longer than they suggested. As a consequence we are still not hooked up to the grid. This could be because of holidays etc this time of the year but they did not keep us informed, we had to chase them.
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Although they said that they would have it done in one day in fact it took a day and 3/4, however I did not believe it would take only a day, so this was fine! They were very polite, clean, orderly, and did a very neat job of the installation, and completely cleaned up afterwards. The salesman was also very informative and much more honest than any others I dealt with. (I obtained quotes from 12 companies!). The owner as well as the salesman were very clear about the process of approval and licensing, something unusual according to friends who have had big companies install their solar electric systems. I would be happy to reccommend Advance Solar Electric to anyone who wants a system.
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