Beware of free health checks for Solar PV

By John Swindells 25 Mar 2019 | Comment
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Have you had an unsolicited letter from a company you've never of, offering a free health check for your solar PV system? My recommendation: bin it!

If you have had solar electric panels on your roof for several years then the inverter (usually in your loft-space) may well be out of warranty. Companies like BTSA (British Solar Trading Association) have somehow obtained this information and are offering a free health check. In all likelihood they will do a sales pitch on you to buy an extremely expensive extended warranty, or will try to sell you a new inverter. The best thing for you to do though, if you're concerned about your inverter's performance, is to get back in touch with your original installer or to look one up on the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) website. Unsolicited communications should always be treated with extreme suspicion, and these letters from the "BTSA" are no different.

According to Companies House, "B T Solar Ltd" was incorporated in March 2018 and is involved in environmental consulting activities. It has just a single director, and is registered at 39 Halton Brow, Runcorn WA7 2EH - which appears to be just an ordinary house on a residential street. It doesn't seem to stack up as a real association, does it?

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19 Comments

by nathan Jowett on 15 November 2023
I have 11 Panels 6SE5SW only 7years old but finding ~30-40% fade? As for the FIT, it's an absolute pittance:

Eon Next ~5p & a little bit over 6p on the higher 50%?!

Yet they are charging me 27p/kWhr. Oui,Oui mon capitaine!

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by John Swindells on 15 November 2023
Hi Nathan, that is quite a reduction in performance. Our panels are around 13 years old, and around 25% drop in expected output. As for the FiT payments, it's worth checking that they've been going up as scheduled in your contract - usually in line with RPI?
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by Steve on 15 March 2022
My parents had received a phone call from this company, "a nice lady who was very helpful" my mum said. After that they "BTSA" put them in touch with a second company who had a very pushy salesmen. Apparently they had to "sign up today" for a maintenance contract as they had "limited" spaces in our area. Thankfully we looked up this other company online (Solar & Shine) and found a very bad review which steered us away.

Thank you for sharing this information, it was incredibly useful in reassuring us that we had dodged a scam

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by Chris on 29 July 2020
I have started getting phone calls from various companies telling me they are working alongside the manufacture and are saying I missed my free check and they need to come out and do a safety check. They did not even know the make of my inverter or the panels. once I started to dig I could tell I was on the phone to a con artist. Be careful they just want to get there sales rep in to your house.
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by Nelson on 02 September 2019
Thank you for your posting. It is good that I have checked first before I call them, I am going to put the letter from BSTA in the bin straight away.
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by sophy on 14 July 2019
Yes, same story here. The letter is almost convincing but not quite. I'm glad to have found this post so quickly
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by Andrew on 10 July 2019
Got a letter from B T Solar today and its the same as one I got within the last year but they have changed their name. Company address may be Goodlass Road and if you look at the company on the Companies House register you'll see they change names around at will. Got a phone call from them to say they offered a free check and asked them who is going to pay for the scaffolding to the my Solar Array? They said they just need access to the inverter. So it's not a free check to the whole system was my reply. I soon 'ran rings' around them as they are not engineers just scamming sales people and they rang off.
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by Jean West on 02 July 2019
I also had a letter to The Homeowner which made me suspicious, I thought I would investigate before ringing the Freephone so was interested to hear all the remarks. Shall bin it now.
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by Susan on 01 July 2019
Thanks everyone for your comments. I received my letter from BTSA today and have binned it.
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by Pat on 26 June 2019
Thank you for saving me a lot of hassle and worry. I letter is now binned.
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by Susan on 01 July 2019
Thanks everyone for your comments.I received my letter from BTSA today and have binned it.
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by Anne on 25 June 2019
Like others I got a letter a couple of weeks ago but only got round to doing anything today. I did wonder how they got my details as GDPR has been in place for a year now but it was addressed to the homeowner so maybe an up to date Google map shows who has panels. I'm glad I checked here before doing anything else. I will bin the letter.
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by Eric on 25 June 2019
Received this unsolicited letter today no name yet say they have records with our details so checking it out and will bin the letter.
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by Andy on 23 June 2019
I received this letter on Friday and contacted them. I go their prices and said that I would think about it.

I decided that I would check them out on the internet.

I put their name into Google and one of the links is a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about this letter.

There have been complaints about the whether the letter was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and whether it was misleading because it implied that your solar panel systems warranty was conditional on responding to the letter.

In their assessment the ASA noted that the trading body for Solar Panel systems is actually the Solar Trading Association.

I'm glad I took the time to check the company out. I going to throw the letter in the bin and block their number on my phone.

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by Mike on 19 June 2019
Just received this letter today, did not look official, so decided to look them up online, clicked onto this post. Thanks for saving me a lot of time and money.
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by Kev on 18 June 2019
This is their companies house record.

Registered office address

39 39, Halton Brow, 39, Halton Brow, Runcorn, England, WA7 2EH

Company status: Active - Active proposal to strike off

Company type: Private limited Company

Incorporated on 12 March 2018

Accounts: First accounts made up to 31 March 2019 due by 12 December 2019

Confirmation statement overdue

First statement date 11 March 2019

due by 25 March 2019

Nature of business (SIC)

74901 - Environmental consulting activities

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by Kath on 16 June 2019
I was suspicious of the letter and glad I have looked it up. I shall rip it up as advised. Thanks for the info.
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by Angela on 13 June 2019
Just had one of these letters. So glad I looked them up and thanks for your information.
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by Paul on 11 June 2019
Just been on Companies House and they are applying to strike BT Solar Trading from Companies Register

Looks very suspicious and I would avoid,

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by Nigel on 11 June 2019
Both my son and I have just received letters from BTSA. I was a little suspicious and the letter was addressed to just "Homeowner" with no actual name given in the address. I then went on to the internet and found this site. I contacted my original installer who were aware of this scam and stated that BTSA or BT Solar Ltd will try to persuade you to let their salesman call, who then spends two hours or so pressurising you to replace your existing inverter at a huge inflated cost of £900.00 plus and to extend the warranty or your existing warranty by £20.00 a week. BT Solar Ltd have no business address in Goodlass Road Liverpool. BTSA and BT Solar Ltd are clearly a SCAM. I hope that mine and the previous comment will prevent any one else being potentially scammed.
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by Maggie on 28 May 2019
Just had a letter and phone call from this company.

Since their information was wrong I got suspicious and asked a lot of questions. She soon rang off. This is a scam.

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